Ubuntu Manpage: Inkscape - an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) editing program.

NAME

       Inkscape - an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) editing program.

SYNOPSIS

       "inkscape [options] [filename ...]"

       options:

           -?, --help
               --usage
           -V, --version

           -f, --file=FILENAME

           -e, --export-png=FILENAME
           -a, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
           -C, --export-area-page
           -D, --export-area-drawing
               --export-area-snap
           -i, --export-id=ID
           -j, --export-id-only
           -t, --export-use-hints
           -b, --export-background=COLOR
           -y, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
           -d, --export-dpi=DPI
           -w, --export-width=WIDTH
           -h, --export-height=HEIGHT

           -P, --export-ps=FILENAME
           -E, --export-eps=FILENAME
           -A, --export-pdf=FILENAME
               --export-pdf-version=VERSION-STRING
               --export-latex

               --export-ps-level={2,3}

           -T, --export-text-to-path
               --export-ignore-filters

           -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME

           -p, --print=PRINTER

           -I, --query-id=ID
           -X, --query-x
           -Y, --query-y
           -W, --query-width
           -H, --query-height
           -S, --query-all

           -x, --extension-directory

               --verb-list
               --verb=VERB-ID
               --select=OBJECT-ID

               --shell

           -g, --with-gui
           -z, --without-gui

               --vacuum-defs
               --no-convert-text-baseline-spacing

               --g-fatal-warnings

DESCRIPTION

       Inkscape is a GUI editor for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format drawing files, with
       capabilities similar to Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Xara Xtreme, etc. Inkscape features
       include versatile shapes, bezier paths, freehand drawing, multi-line text, text on path,
       alpha blending, arbitrary affine transforms, gradient and pattern fills, node editing,
       many export and import formats including PNG and PDF, grouping, layers, live clones, and a
       lot more.  The interface is designed to be comfortable and efficient for skilled users,
       while remaining conformant to GNOME standards so that users familiar with other GNOME
       applications can learn its interface rapidly.

       SVG is a W3C standard XML format for 2D vector drawing. It allows defining objects in the
       drawing using points, paths, and primitive shapes.  Colors, fonts, stroke width, and so
       forth are specified as `style' attributes to these objects.  The intent is that since SVG
       is a standard, and since its files are text/xml, it will be possible to use SVG files in a
       sizeable number of programs and for a wide range of uses.

       Inkscape uses SVG as its native document format, and has the goal of becoming the most
       fully compliant drawing program for SVG files available in the Open Source community.

OPTIONS

-?, --help
Show help message

-V, --version
Show Inkscape version and build date.

-a x0:y0:x1:y1, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
In PNG export, set the exported area in SVG user units (anonymous length units
normally used in Inkscape SVG). The default is to export the entire document
page. The point (0,0) is the lower-left corner.

-C, --export-area-page
In SVG, PNG, PDF, PS, and EPS export, exported area is the page. This is the
default for SVG, PNG, PDF, and PS, so you don't need to specify this unless you
are using --export-id to export a specific object. In EPS, however, this is not
the default; moreover, for EPS, the specification of the format does not allow its
bounding box to extend beyond its content. This means that when
--export-area-page is used with EPS export, the page bounding box will be trimmed
inwards to the bounding box of the content if it is smaller.

-D, --export-area-drawing
In SVG, PNG, PDF, PS, and EPS export, exported area is the drawing (not page),
i.e. the bounding box of all objects of the document (or of the exported object if
--export-id is used). With this option, the exported image will display all the
visible objects of the document without margins or cropping. This is the default
export area for EPS. For PNG, it can be used in combination with
--export-use-hints.

--export-area-snap
For PNG export, snap the export area outwards to the nearest integer SVG user unit
(px) values. If you are using the default export resolution of 96 dpi and your
graphics are pixel-snapped to minimize antialiasing, this switch allows you to
preserve this alignment even if you are exporting some object's bounding box (with
--export-id or --export-area-drawing) which is itself not pixel-aligned.

-b COLOR, --export-background=COLOR
Background color of exported PNG. This may be any SVG supported color string, for
example "#ff007f" or "rgb(255, 0, 128)". If not set, then the page color set in
Inkscape in the Document Options dialog will be used (stored in the pagecolor=
attribute of sodipodi:namedview).

-d DPI, --export-dpi=DPI
The resolution used for PNG export. It is also used for fallback rasterization of
filtered objects when exporting to PS, EPS, or PDF (unless you specify
--export-ignore-filters to suppress rasterization). The default is 96 dpi, which
corresponds to 1 SVG user unit (px, also called "user unit") exporting to 1 bitmap
pixel. This value overrides the DPI hint if used with --export-use-hints.

-e FILENAME, --export-png=FILENAME
Specify the filename for PNG export. If it already exists, the file will be
overwritten without asking.

-f FILENAME, --file=FILENAME
Open specified document(s). Option string may be omitted, i.e. you can list the
filenames without -f.

-g, --with-gui
Try to use the GUI (on Unix, use the X server even if $DISPLAY is not set).

-h HEIGHT, --export-height=HEIGHT
The height of generated bitmap in pixels. This value overrides the --export-dpi
setting (or the DPI hint if used with --export-use-hints).

-i ID, --export-id=ID
For PNG, PS, EPS, PDF and plain SVG export, the id attribute value of the object
that you want to export from the document; all other objects are not exported. By
default the exported area is the bounding box of the object; you can override this
using --export-area (PNG only) or --export-area-page.

-j, --export-id-only
For PNG and plain SVG, only export the object whose id is given in --export-id.
All other objects are hidden and won't show in export even if they overlay the
exported object. Without --export-id, this option is ignored. For PDF export,
this is the default, so this option has no effect.

-l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME
Export document(s) to plain SVG format, without sodipodi: or inkscape: namespaces
and without RDF metadata.

-x, --extension-directory
Lists the current extension directory that Inkscape is configured to use and then
exits. This is used for external extension to use the same configuration as the
original Inkscape installation.

--verb-list
Lists all the verbs that are available in Inkscape by ID. This ID can be used in
defining keymaps or menus. It can also be used with the --verb command line
option.

--verb=VERB-ID, --select=OBJECT-ID
These two options work together to provide some basic scripting for Inkscape from
the command line. They both can occur as many times as needed on the command line
and are executed in order on every document that is specified.

The --verb command will execute a specific verb as if it was called from a menu or
button. Dialogs will appear if that is part of the verb. To get a list of the
verb IDs available, use the --verb-list command line option.

The --select command will cause objects that have the ID specified to be selected.
This allows various verbs to act upon them. To remove all the selections use
"--verb=EditDeselect". The object IDs available are dependent on the document
specified to load.

-p PRINTER, --print=PRINTER
Print document(s) to the specified printer using `lpr -P PRINTER'. Alternatively,
use `| COMMAND' to specify a different command to pipe to, or use `> FILENAME' to
write the PostScript output to a file instead of printing. Remember to do
appropriate quoting for your shell, e.g.

inkscape --print='| ps2pdf - mydoc.pdf' mydoc.svg

-t, --export-use-hints
Use export filename and DPI hints stored in the exported object (only with
--export-id). These hints are set automatically when you export selection from
within Inkscape. So, for example, if you export a shape with id="path231" as
/home/me/shape.png at 300 dpi from document.svg using Inkscape GUI, and save the
document, then later you will be able to reexport that shape to the same file with
the same resolution simply with

inkscape -i path231 -t document.svg

If you use --export-dpi, --export-width, or --export-height with this option, then
the DPI hint will be ignored and the value from the command line will be used. If
you use --export-png with this option, then the filename hint will be ignored and
the filename from the command line will be used.

-w WIDTH, --export-width=WIDTH
The width of generated bitmap in pixels. This value overrides the --export-dpi
setting (or the DPI hint if used with --export-use-hints).

-y VALUE, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
Opacity of the background of exported PNG. This may be a value either between 0.0
and 1.0 (0.0 meaning full transparency, 1.0 full opacity) or greater than 1 up to
255 (255 meaning full opacity). If not set and the -b option is not used, then
the page opacity set in Inkscape in the Document Options dialog will be used
(stored in the inkscape:pageopacity= attribute of sodipodi:namedview). If not set
but the -b option is used, then the value of 255 (full opacity) will be used.

-P FILENAME, --export-ps=FILENAME
Export document(s) to PostScript format. Note that PostScript does not support
transparency, so any transparent objects in the original SVG will be automatically
rasterized. Used fonts are subset and embedded. The default export area is page;
you can set it to drawing by --export-area-drawing. You can specify --export-id to
export a single object (all other are hidden); in that case export area is that
object's bounding box, but can be set to page by --export-area-page.

-E FILENAME, --export-eps=FILENAME
Export document(s) to Encapsulated PostScript format. Note that PostScript does
not support transparency, so any transparent objects in the original SVG will be
automatically rasterized. Used fonts are subset and embedded. The default export
area is drawing; you can set it to page, however see --export-area-page for
applicable limitation. You can specify --export-id to export a single object (all
other are hidden).

-A FILENAME, --export-pdf=FILENAME
Export document(s) to PDF format. This format preserves the transparency in the
original SVG. Used fonts are subset and embedded. The default export area is
page; you can set it to drawing by --export-area-drawing. You can specify
--export-id to export a single object (all other are hidden); in that case export
area is that object's bounding box, but can be set to page by --export-area-page.

--export-pdf-version=PDF-VERSION
Select the PDF version of the exported PDF file. This option basically exposes the
PDF version selector found in the PDF-export dialog of the GUI. You must provide
one of the versions from that combo-box, e.g. "1.4". The default pdf export
version is "1.4".

--export-latex
(for PS, EPS, and PDF export) Used for creating images for LaTeX documents, where
the image's text is typeset by LaTeX. When exporting to PDF/PS/EPS format, this
option splits the output into a PDF/PS/EPS file (e.g. as specified by
--export-pdf) and a LaTeX file. Text will not be output in the PDF/PS/EPS file,
but instead will appear in the LaTeX file. This LaTeX file includes the
PDF/PS/EPS. Inputting (\input{image.tex}) the LaTeX file in your LaTeX document
will show the image and all text will be typeset by LaTeX. See the resulting LaTeX
file for more information. Also see GNUPlot's `epslatex' output terminal.

-T, --export-text-to-path
Convert text objects to paths on export, where applicable (for PS, EPS, PDF and
SVG export).

--export-ignore-filters
Export filtered objects (e.g. those with blur) as vectors, ignoring the filters
(for PS, EPS, and PDF export). By default, all filtered objects are rasterized at
--export-dpi (default 96 dpi), preserving the appearance.

-I, --query-id
Set the ID of the object whose dimensions are queried. If not set, query options
will return the dimensions of the drawing (i.e. all document objects), not the
page or viewbox

-X, --query-x
Query the X coordinate of the drawing or, if specified, of the object with
--query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user units).

-Y, --query-y
Query the Y coordinate of the drawing or, if specified, of the object with
--query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user units).

-W, --query-width
Query the width of the drawing or, if specified, of the object with --query-id.
The returned value is in px (SVG user units).

-H, --query-height
Query the height of the drawing or, if specified, of the object with --query-id.
The returned value is in px (SVG user units).

-S, --query-all
Prints a comma delimited listing of all objects in the SVG document with IDs
defined, along with their x, y, width, and height values.

--shell With this parameter, Inkscape will enter an interactive command line shell mode.
In this mode, you type in commands at the prompt and Inkscape executes them,
without you having to run a new copy of Inkscape for each command. This feature is
mostly useful for scripting and server uses: it adds no new capabilities but
allows you to improve the speed and memory requirements of any script that
repeatedly calls Inkscape to perform command line tasks (such as export or
conversions). Each command in shell mode must be a complete valid Inkscape command
line but without the Inkscape program name, for example:

file.svg --export-pdf=file.pdf

--vacuum-defs
Remove all unused items from the "<defs>" section of the SVG file. If this option
is invoked in conjunction with --export-plain-svg, only the exported file will be
affected. If it is used alone, the specified file will be modified in place.

--no-convert-text-baseline-spacing
Do not automatically fix text baselines in legacy (pre-0.92) files on opening.
Inkscape 0.92 adopts the CSS standard definition for the 'line-height' property,
which differs from past versions. By default, the line height values in files
created prior to Inkscape 0.92 will be adjusted on loading to preserve the
intended text layout. This command line option will skip that adjustment.

-z, --without-gui
Do not open the GUI (on Unix, do not use X server); only process the files from
console. This is assumed for -p, -e, -l, and --vacuum-defs options.

--g-fatal-warnings
This standard GTK option forces any warnings, usually harmless, to cause Inkscape
to abort (useful for debugging).

--usage Display a brief usage message.

CONFIGURATION

       The main configuration file is located in ~/.config/inkscape/preferences.xml; it stores a
       variety of customization settings that you can change in Inkscape (mostly in the Inkscape
       Preferences dialog).  Also in the subdirectories there, you can place your own:

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/extensions/ - extension effects.

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/icons/ - icons.

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/keys/ - keyboard maps.

       $HOME/.config/inkscape/templates/ - new file templates.

DIAGNOSTICS

       The program returns zero on success or non-zero on failure.

       A variety of error messages and warnings may be printed to STDERR or STDOUT.  If the
       program behaves erratically with a particular SVG file or crashes, it is useful to look at
       this output for clues.

EXAMPLES

       While obviously Inkscape is primarily intended as a GUI application, it can be used for
       doing SVG processing on the command line as well.

       Open an SVG file in the GUI:

           inkscape filename.svg

       Print an SVG file from the command line:

           inkscape filename.svg -p '| lpr'

       Export an SVG file into PNG with the default resolution of 96 dpi (one SVG user unit
       translates to one bitmap pixel):

           inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png

       Same, but force the PNG file to be 600x400 pixels:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png -w600 -h400

       Same, but export the drawing (bounding box of all objects), not the page:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png --export-area-drawing

       Export to PNG the object with id="text1555", using the output filename and the resolution
       that were used for that object last time when it was exported from the GUI:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-use-hints

       Same, but use the default 96 dpi resolution, specify the filename, and snap the exported
       area outwards to the nearest whole SVG user unit values (to preserve pixel-alignment of
       objects and thus minimize aliasing):

           inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-png=text.png --export-area-snap

       Convert an Inkscape SVG document to plain SVG:

           inkscape filename1.svg --export-plain-svg=filename2.svg

       Convert an SVG document to EPS, converting all texts to paths:

           inkscape filename.svg --export-eps=filename.eps --export-text-to-path

       Query the width of the object with id="text1555":

           inkscape filename.svg --query-width --query-id text1555

       Duplicate the object with id="path1555", rotate the duplicate 90 degrees, save SVG, and
       quit:

           inkscape filename.svg --select=path1555 --verb=EditDuplicate --verb=ObjectRotate90 --verb=FileSave --verb=FileClose

ENVIRONMENT

       DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.

       TMPDIR to set the default path of the directory to use for temporary files.  The directory
       must exist.

       INKSCAPE_PROFILE_DIR to set the path of the directory to use for the user profile.

THEMES

       To load different icons sets instead of the default $PREFIX/share/inkscape/icons/icons.svg
       file, the directory $HOME/.config/inkscape/icons/ is used.  Icons are loaded by name (e.g.
       fill_none.svg), or if not found, then from icons.svg.  If the icon is not loaded from
       either of those locations, it falls back to the default system location.

       The needed icons are loaded from SVG files by searching for the SVG id with the matching
       icon name.  (For example, to load the "fill_none" icon from a file, the bounding box seen
       for SVG id "fill_none" is rendered as the icon, whether it comes from fill_none.svg or
       icons.svg.)

OTHER INFO

       The canonical place to find Inkscape info is at <https://www.inkscape.org/>.  The website
       has news, documentation, tutorials, examples, mailing list archives, the latest released
       version of the program, bugs and feature requests databases, forums, and more.

GUI NOTES

       To learn Inkscape's GUI operation, read the tutorials in Help > Tutorials.

       Apart from SVG, Inkscape can import (File > Import) most bitmap formats (PNG, BMP, JPG,
       XPM, GIF, etc.), plain text (requires Perl), PS and EPS (requires Ghostscript), PDF and AI
       format (AI version 9.0 or newer).

       Inkscape exports 32-bit PNG images (File > Export PNG Image) as well as AI, PS, EPS, PDF,
       DXF, and several other formats via File > Save as.

       Inkscape can use the pressure and tilt of a graphic tablet pen for width, angle, and force
       of action of several tools, including the Calligraphic pen.

       Inkscape includes a GUI front-end to the Potrace bitmap tracing engine
       (<http://potrace.sf.net>) which is embedded into Inkscape.

       Inkscape can use external scripts (stdin-to-stdout filters) that are represented by
       commands in the Extensions menu. A script can have a GUI dialog for setting various
       parameters and can get the IDs of the selected objects on which to act via the command
       line. Inkscape comes with an assortment of effects written in Python.

KEYBINDINGS

       To get a complete list of keyboard and mouse shortcuts, view doc/keys.html, or use the
       Keys and Mouse command in Help menu.

BUGS

       Many bugs are known; please refer to the website (<https://www.inkscape.org/>) for
       reviewing the reported ones and to report newly found issues.  See also the Known Issues
       section in the Release Notes for your version (file `NEWS').

AUTHORS

       This codebase owes its existence to a large number of contributors throughout its various
       incarnations.  The following list is certainly incomplete, but serves to recognize the
       many shoulders on which this application sits:

       Maximilian Albert, Joshua A. Andler, Tavmjong Bah, Pierre Barbry-Blot, Jean-François
       Barraud, Campbell Barton, Bill Baxter, John Beard, John Bintz, Arpad Biro, Nicholas
       Bishop, Joshua L. Blocher, Hanno Böck, Tomasz Boczkowski, Henrik Bohre, Boldewyn, Daniel
       Borgmann, Bastien Bouclet, Hans Breuer, Gustav Broberg, Christopher Brown, Marcus
       Brubaker, Luca Bruno, Brynn (brynn@inkscapecommunity.com), Nicu Buculei, Bulia Byak,
       Pierre Caclin, Ian Caldwell, Gail Carmichael, Ed Catmur, Chema Celorio, Jabiertxo Arraiza
       Cenoz, Johan Ceuppens, Zbigniew Chyla, Alexander Clausen, John Cliff, Kees Cook, Ben
       Cromwell, Robert Crosbie, Jon Cruz, Aurélie De-Cooman, Kris De Gussem, Milosz Derezynski,
       Daniel Díaz, Bruno Dilly, Larry Doolittle, Nicolas Dufour, Tim Dwyer, Maxim V.
       Dziumanenko, Johan Engelen, Miklos Erdelyi, Ulf Erikson, Noé Falzon, Frank Felfe, Andrew
       Fitzsimon, Edward Flick, Marcin Floryan, Fred, Ben Fowler, Cedric Gemy, Steren Giannini,
       Olivier Gondouin, Ted Gould, Toine de Greef, Michael Grosberg, Bryce Harrington, Dale
       Harvey, Aurélio Adnauer Heckert, Carl Hetherington, Jos Hirth, Hannes Hochreiner, Thomas
       Holder, Joel Holdsworth, Christoffer Holmstedt, Alan Horkan, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Richard
       Hughes, Nathan Hurst, inductiveload, Thomas Ingham, Jean-Olivier Irisson, Bob Jamison, Ted
       Janeczko, Marc Jeanmougin, jEsuSdA, Lauris Kaplinski, Lynn Kerby, Niko Kiirala, James
       Kilfiger, Nikita Kitaev, Jason Kivlighn, Adrian Knoth, Krzysztof Kosiński, Petr Kovar,
       Benoît Lavorata, Alex Leone, Julien Leray, Raph Levien, Diederik van Lierop, Nicklas
       Lindgren, Vitaly Lipatov, Ivan Louette, Fernando Lucchesi Bastos Jurema, Pierre-Antoine
       Marc, Aurel-Aimé Marmion, Colin Marquardt, Craig Marshall, Ivan Masár, Dmitry G.
       Mastrukov, David Mathog, Matiphas, Michael Meeks, Federico Mena, MenTaLguY, Aubanel
       Monnier, Vincent Montagne, Tim Mooney, Derek P. Moore, Chris Morgan, Peter Moulder, Jörg
       Müller, Yukihiro Nakai, Victor Navez, Christian Neumair, Nick, Andreas Nilsson, Mitsuru
       Oka, Vinícius dos Santos Oliveira, Martin Owens, Alvin Penner, Matthew Petroff, Jon
       Phillips, Zdenko Podobny, Alexandre Prokoudine, Jean-René Reinhard, Alexey Remizov,
       Frederic Rodrigo, Hugo Rodrigues, Juarez Rudsatz, Xavier Conde Rueda, Felipe Corrêa da
       Silva Sanches, Christian Schaller, Marco Scholten, Tom von Schwerdtner, Danilo Šegan,
       Abhishek Sharma, Shivaken, Michael Sloan, John Smith, Boštjan Špetič, Aaron Spike, Kaushik
       Sridharan, Ralf Stephan, Dariusz Stojek, Martin Sucha, ~suv, Pat Suwalski, Adib Taraben,
       Hugh Tebby, Jonas Termeau, David Turner, Andre Twupack, Aleksandar Urošević, Alex
       Valavanis, Joakim Verona, Lucas Vieites, Daniel Wagenaar, Liam P. White, Sebastian Wüst,
       Michael Wybrow, Gellule Xg, Daniel Yacob, David Yip, Masatake Yamato, Moritz Eberl,
       Sebastian Faubel

       This man page was put together by Bryce Harrington <bryce@bryceharrington.org>.

HISTORY

The codebase that would become Inkscape began life in 1999 as the program Gill, the GNOME
Illustrator application, created by Raph Levien. The stated objective for Gill was to
eventually support all of SVG. Raph implemented the PostScript bezier imaging model,
including stroking and filling, line cap style, line join style, text, etc. Raph's Gill
page is at <http://www.levien.com/svg/>. Work on Gill appears to have slowed or ceased in
2000.

The next incarnation of the codebase was to become the highly popular program Sodipodi,
led by Lauris Kaplinski. The codebase was turned into a powerful illustration program
over the course of several year's work, adding several new features, multi-lingual
support, porting to Windows and other operating systems, and eliminating dependencies.

Inkscape was formed in 2003 by four active Sodipodi developers, Bryce Harrington,
MenTaLguY, Nathan Hurst, and Ted Gould, wanting to take a different direction with the
codebase in terms of focus on SVG compliance, interface look-and-feel, and a desire to
open development opportunities to more participants. The project progressed rapidly,
gaining a number of very active contributors and features.

Much work in the early days of the project focused on code stabilization and
internationalization. The original renderer inherited from Sodipodi was laced with a
number of mathematical corner cases which led to unexpected crashes when the program was
pushed beyond routine uses; this renderer was replaced with Livarot which, while not
perfect either, was significantly less error prone. The project also adopted a practice
of committing code frequently, and encouraging users to run developmental snapshots of the
program; this helped identify new bugs swiftly, and ensure it was easy for users to verify
the fixes. As a result, Inkscape releases have generally earned a reputation for being
robust and reliable.

Similarly, efforts were taken to internationalize and localize the interface, which has
helped the program gain contributors worldwide.

Inkscape has had a beneficial impact on the visual attractiveness of Open Source in
general, by providing a tool for creating and sharing icons, splash screens, website art,
and so on. In a way, despite being "just an drawing program", Inkscape has played an
important role in making Open Source more visually stimulating to larger audiences.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright (C) 1999–2018 by Authors.

       Inkscape is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
       GPL version 2 or later.