The top icon in the Toolbox panel is the Select Tool, which you can also activate by pressing F1. Learn more about creating Shapes, Paths, or Text at these links. Each drawing tool has unique options (shown in the Tool Controls bar above the canvas) that you can play around with to get different results. Most of them are used by dragging across the canvas where you want to place the corners of your shape. Inkscape has several tools for creating different kinds of objects, such as the Rectangle Tool ( F4), Ellipse Tool ( F5), Star Tool ( *), Spiral Tool ( F9), Pencil Tool ( F6), and Text Tool ( F8).

The icons along the left side of the window show all the tools for creating and interacting with your design. Read more about how vectors work at Drawing and Selecting The outline of a shape is called the stroke and the area inside a closed shape is called the fill. A shape is open when it has two loose ends that don’t connect (like a spiral or straight line). When you use the other tools, like stretching a shape with the Select Tool, Inkscape is actually editing many nodes at once behind the scenes.Ī vector shape is closed when it makes a complete loop (like a circle or square) and every node connects to two others. You can edit vector shapes by moving the nodes and changing the angles of the segments with the Node Tool, or by using Inkscape’s other tools. They are made up of points called nodes, and segments that connect the nodes. The items inside your Inkscape file are vector images, which use mathematical equations to define shapes.

Basics at - More details on how to manipulate objects.

Interface Tutorial by Roy Torley - Another overview of the interface and navigation.

Anatomy of Inkscape Window at - Diagram of the parts of the Inkscape window.

Basic Tutorial on - Quick overview of common tools and commands.

Several interactive tutorials are available inside Inkscape itself by selecting Help > Tutorials in the menu, including the Basic Tutorial below.

If you have never used Inkscape before, we recommend following an Inkscape tutorial before using Ink/Stitch. These are the basics you should understand in order to use Ink/Stitch.

Manipulating column of text in inkscape