Inkscape adds multi-page support with v1.2 update

Open-source vector drawing package Inkscape has resolved at least one user pain point with v1.2 – multiple-page documents. multipage ahoy Multipage update plus merged Layers and Object dialog "This is one of the features that Inkscapers have been clamoring for over the past few years," the team acknowledged, and the …

[deadlockvictim]

Hmmm

Quark was dominant in the DTP world until Adobe came along with InDesign. It was a better product, had better support, a cheaper price tag and better integration with other products.

Hubris brings the mighty down.

And how much do we love Adobe and their Creative Cloud?

How many designers are still clinging onto their Mac Pro running an CS5 on a version of the Mac OS that is no longer supported?

[devin3782]

Re: Hmmm

All of them, because you can't possibly design on some other sort of the machine! The Mac makes the designer they'd be rubbish on any other computer

[Giles C]

Re: Hmmm

Personally I use the affinity suite of products (photo, designer and publisher) for my needs in this line.

No commercial interest just a user who likes the products.

Adobe is just one of those “standard” packages but at £55 month for the full set is not for anyone casually wanting to use something.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hmmm

We're in the process of standardising on the Affinity suite in the company too as our security guys have been looking at just how much data leaks via the use of Adobe. Apparently it doesn't just affect the users, but also website visitors because Typekit very much behaves like Google fonts. Ergo, it got nixed.

I suspect the fact that we're sacing a fortune on license fees helped, but the designers had to adjust a bit.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hubris brings the mighty down."

Sure, but it takes a strong company to back a new product and quickly cover all the needs of users of an "industry standard" product - open source too often lacks this kind of force.

Even Linux when it comes to a desktop GUI still can't compete with macOS and Windows - the article today about Linux desktops is spot on, the real problem is designing a full GUI framework is expensive and requires a lot of highly skilled people not only in pure code writing - the kind who likes to get paid, while no group of companies is interested to back such developments because they have no use for that, unlike Linux server which keeps the cost of software to run their ginormous datacenters very low.

In turn it's now so difficult to make money from selling software that companies like Adobe don't see real competitors arise, basic needs are usually covered by some free software, and those at the top are safe as long as they don't make truly big mistakes. Open source became to mean less choice.

[Not previously required]

Re: "Hubris brings the mighty down."

I find this an odd comment for several reasons.

Linux has several desktop GUIs available. I use KDE everyday, and it also works for the remote work I have to do in the corporate world where I am interacting with Windows data or virtual desktops. Personally I prefer it to Windows. Some of that is familiarity, some concern about corporate data sucking etc. I quite understand if you prefer another system and have the money to pay for it.

I don't believe in the theory of spontaneous software evolution, so sufficient numbers of highly skilled people must be writing the stuff. Some of them even seem to be paid by largish companies.

Hard to see why adding open source applications to the mix of paid software reduces choice. Inkscape and Illustrator may be the most obvious vector packages in those categories, but there are other instances in both.

As for Inkscape, I'm an amateur artist mainly with wet stuff slopped on dry stuff. Inkscape is fun (and less messy) and I look forward to trying the new version.

[steelpillow]

Fingers crossed

My current Inkscape has introduced an incredibly anti-productive bug, in that it insists on stretching stroke widths when stretching an object, even though that is deselected. It doesn't stretch thicken the stroke as much, though - just enough to screw your productivity. I do hope this new version fixes it.

The big problem The Gimp bitmap editor faces is that four-colour separation for print jobs is patented and the owner (Adobe?) refuse to license it to the project. I don't know if Inkscape suffers the same problem with vector formats.

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: Fingers crossed

-> The big problem The Gimp bitmap editor faces is that four-colour separation for print jobs is patented and the owner (Adobe?) refuse to license it to the project

Is that right? Four colour printing existed long before Adobe. Or is this some 'American patent', which means that they stick a stars and stripe sticker on something that somebody else somewhere else has already done?

[steelpillow]

Re: Fingers crossed

I don't know the exact legal details, such as which other countries the ban does/doesn't apply to, but the issue was thrashed out decades ago. It is possible to add CMYK to GIMP, but you have to import Adobe's colour profiles and these are released under a non-free license: https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/iccprofiles/icc_eula_win_dist.html There is the odd plugin to help with this, but you still have to do techy shit to get it all working. AFAIK tech support is basically your fave search engine. Deffo not going to eat up the mainstream.

GIMP is not allowed to include Pantone colour references for much the same reason. See for example http://s-wilson1013-dc.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-is-design-for-printmanual.html I don't know if there is a workaround for that.

[Notas Badoff]

Re: Fingers crossed

1.2 beta April still show that strangeness, until you change "Behavior" / "Transforms" to turn off "Scale stroke width", when it doesn't change the stroke width when stretching lines. Hopefully this was the preference that wasn't working for you before, that does work now in 1.2beta?

[steelpillow]

Re: Fingers crossed

Certainly doesn't work in 0.92, despite being the official fix. I look forward to 1.x arriving in my distro's repos.

[Lee D]

TIFF was industry-standard at one point.

As was .doc (not .docx).

As was .bmp

As was .wav

As was .rm

As was WordPerfect

As was Lotus 1-2-3

As was .gif for static images

As was MPEG-1, then MPEG-2...

As was .pcx

....

....

Progress happens.

[Anonymous Coward]

"TIFF was industry-standard at one point"

It is still... even most camera RAW formats are often TIFF-like. TIFF, after all, is a container. HEIF is still mostly replacing JPEG, not TIFF, although it could replace it one day.

[Anonymous Coward]

Still doesn't have a built in update facility. Uninstalling the app and only then being able to install the new version is a very outdated concept, and a bit of a mare for those of us who run networks!

[iron]

I'm a creative type and I woudn't touch Adobe's Creative Cloud with your credit card, let alone my own, so updates to Inkscape are always welcome.

But, I suspect you actually meant arty types, rather than someone who creates apps like myself.

[ecofeco]

Took 'em long enough

This lack of feature was THE very reason I un-installed Inkscape the very day I installed it.

[rfrazier]

Inkscape for watch dials

As a hobby, I sometimes refurbish old mechanical wrist watches, or build them from parts.[1] This sometimes includes making new dials from scratch and printing the dial with a pad printer.[2] I've been using Inkscape to design the dials for the past 15 or so years. It does what I want.

[1] E.g., combining parts from non-working movements of the same calibre.

[2] No replicas or fakes. The dials are original designs.

Best wishes,

Bob

[ICL1900-G3]

Re: Inkscape for watch dials

Wow. Respect to you, sir!

[David 132]

Re: Inkscape for watch dials

Indeed, I also have huge respect for horologists… assuming that’s the right word and I haven’t just insulted OP!

If you think the screws that hold a modern tablet/laptop internals together are small, then watchmakers will laugh scornfully at you…

[rfrazier]

Re: Inkscape for watch dials

Cheers! The smallest screwdriver in regular use is 0.5mm, for things like attaching the hairspring to the balance.

Best wishes.

Bob