For this week’s Freeware Frenzy, I will take a look at Inkscape 0.44.1. Similar to Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape lets you create professional vector graphics quickly and easily. What are vector graphics? Traditional bitmap images use fixed resolutions, making them blurry when stretched to new sizes. Scalable Vector Graphics instead can be displayed correctly at different resolutions, hence the scalability. I rarely use graphics programs such as these, but a professional appearance can give a business or school project an edge over the competition. So being familiar with these programs can certainly be worthwhile.

As with any freeware program, ease of use is paramount. Not matter how powerful a free program is, if the user is quickly frustrated and gives up trying to use or learn it, the program is essentially useless. In highly technical environments, spending long hours learning programs can be necessary, but I believe that the personal use freeware that I feature should be relatively simple to grasp. Reading a tutorial is welcome, as I don’t want to fumble around blindly, but I do want to use a program at least semi-confidently in the least amount of time possible. So that is why I was surprised at how much I could create in around an hour of reading and playing in Inkscape. If you’re unfamiliar with image programs, or even if you have experience with one, the tutorials offer an excellent run through the Basics, Shapes, Advanced, Tracing, Calligraphy, Elements of Design and Tips & Tricks.

My next screenshot shows my work in progress: a colorful layout for my reviews, though don’t expect to see it on the site anytime soon. While I created it, I tried to use as many of the major features and options as possible.

I first zoomed in to fill my screen with my page. The program allows you to zoom in ridiculously close for minute touchups. Next, I created a rectangle using that tool and opened the Fill and Stroke options from the Object Menu. Fill refers to the color within the object, while stroke refers to the border color. Inside the menu I chose to remove the stroke simply by clicking the X and selecting a gradient for fill. Again, simply by clicking on the gradient button. The gradient button will show a line through your object, which represents the direction of the gradient. I rotated my gradient line to vertical, but you can set it to any angle you wish. Using the keyboard, Ctrl rotates the line at 15 degree intervals. This is true for rotating any object, instead of free handing with the mouse. To create the bottom gradient rectangle, I duplicated the first with Ctrl + D, rotated it 180 degrees and lowered it to the bottom of the page.

Using the text tool, I added “PCMechanic” to the top, changing size and font. I again duplicated the text, added a gradient with low opacity (with an easy slider bar) and offset the duplicate to show a drop shadow effect.

Using the calligraphy tool, I free handed the top dividing line, colored it red, duplicated it and dropped one to the bottom. Color changing is very easy in Inkscape, including adjustable RGB bars or the familiar color wheel. The calligraphy pen can be heavily adjusted, for width, thinning, fixation (difference between thick and thin), tremor (because natural strokes are not perfectly smooth), mass and drag. All of these options are explained further with examples in the calligraphy tutorial.

Next, using the polygon tool, I added a few stars. Using the Tools Command Bar, the bottommost of the three toolbars, I customized my shape for a 5-pointed star a thin “spoke ratio,” meaning the points were thinner than the default, and no rounding. The Tools Command Bar will change automatically depending on the tool you’re currently using. Lastly I added a text box with some article text, and a few spirals in the upper corners. I used the Align and Distribute menu to even out my star spacing, align my calligraphy strokes and center my text.

In this short example, I have barely scratched the surface of Inkscape’s capabilities, proving that it is an incredible value for free software. The download is a bit large, 17MB, but it contains an incredible package of tools and options. Check it out at: http://www.inkscape.org/