Village University:
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Welcome to Making Scroll Saw Patterns with Inkscape. This class will last for 4 weeks with 2 lessons released each week. Each class will include a video demonstration, written out instruction, downloadable source materials, and an open forum where you can get your questions answered. I encourage you to ask lots of questions. That's what this class is all about.   Here's a quick rundown of what you can expect from this class: Lesson 1 - Introduction To Inkscape Lesson 2 - Creating Simple Shapes Lesson 3 - Aligning Our Objects Lesson 4 - Building Complex Shapes Lesson 5 - Nodes and Editing Lesson 6 - Working With Text Lesson 7 - Designing A Trinket Box Lesson 8 - Designing A Desk Clock This class will be a bit more difficult than the GIMP class. Mostly because Inkscape is a different way of thinking than what we're used to. The first 6 lessons will be mostly fundamentals without much inter-connectivity to one another. But these are the essential building blocks we use to create our scroll saw patterns. Everything will start to make sense in Lessons 7 & 8 when we start applying what we have learned to create a scroll saw pattern. So if you feel a bit lost, you won't be alone. Just stick with it. You'll get it soon enough. Once all the lessons are completed, I suggest you go through the class again. I have a feeling the second time around, everything will click for you.   What Is Inkscape? Inkscape is a free vector-based graphics program similar to programs like Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator. It can be used to design scroll saw patterns like trinket boxes, candle holders, trivets, and other functional/decorative type items. It is also very useful for traditional fretwork designs. Inkscape is open-source software. A large community comes together and programs this software in their spare time. The source code is available for anybody to download, study, modify or improve. Since a large community programs the software together, no one person actually owns the software. This is why Open Source Software is free. There are several advantages to open-source software. First, obviously, is the fact it is free. Second, since a large community is programming the software, the program is always advancing and adding new features (assuming the community is active). Lastly, since the software source code is open to scrutiny, it is very unlikely that viruses or other malware can be inserted into the code. Someone will spot it and remove it immediately. So you can feel safe about downloading this great software.   Bitmaps vs. Vectors There are two basic types of graphics out there. There are vector-based graphics created by programs like Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, and Inkscape. Then there are bitmap or raster graphics like those created by Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, and GIMP. Vector-based graphics are mathematical representations of an image. Vectors are composed of nodes that define the space in relation to other nodes to create shapes, lines, and curves. These complex shapes are then layered upon each other in order to define an image. The advantage of vector graphics is the file size tends to be much smaller. You may enlarge or shrink down a vector graphic without losing quality because the nodes stay within the same relative position to one another. The mathematical formulas recalculate the image based on node information, so there is no information that is lost (or gained) during resizing. Bitmaps are rectangular grids of pixels (blocks of color) used to define a picture. The more pixels that are used in an image, the more information the image contains. This is called resolution. The higher the resolution is, the more detail you can pull from an image. You can enlarge a low-resolution graphic. But since a low resolution only has so much information (number of pixels), when you enlarge it, it only spreads that information over a larger area. You do not gain additional detail by enlarging a low-resolution graphic. (You can see an example here). So why would we want to work with vectors? Scaling is a big advantage. Often, we scale our patterns to the size we need for the stock we have on hand. Since quality is not lost with resizing, vector base graphics very useful. The second is the ability to quickly alter a graphic. If a line or edge isn't quite right, we can go in and move the line to the appropriate place. We can also add and subtract from the image quickly and efficiently. The ease of editing also comes with the ease of designing. Each element is separate from one another and its properties independent of other objects. So it's very easy to move things around, line them up, flip, rotate, and any other function. Once you know how to use the tools, you can make a simple scroll saw pattern in a matter of minutes. One drawback to vector graphics is that vector graphics can only be viewed by people who have a vector graphic program installed on their computer. To work around this shortcoming, it is advised that you export your vector graphics to a bitmap before sharing your patterns. Bitmaps have the advantage of being universally accepted.   Downloading Inkscape You can find a copy of Inkscape on their website at http://www.inkscape.org. At the upper right of the screen, you'll see a "Download Now" button. Click this and you'll automatically download the latest edition of Inkscape. Once it is downloaded, go ahead and install your new program.   Inkscape Resources The Inkscape website has a number of really great resources. They have their documentation/user manual, tutorials, wiki, and support forums. Be sure to check out what they have to offer. This would be the first place I'd turn to if you wanted more information on a certain function. Inkscape is a popular program. You can find lots of tutorials on the internet. Just Google "Inkscape Tutorials" and you'll find a lot of great resources. YouTube is another great place to find some great video instruction. Most of the tutorials on the internet focus on illustrations since that's really what Inkscape is intended for. So you may have a tough time finding a tutorial focused on what you want to do with it. However, this is a great way to learn the ins and outs of Inkscape. Once you understand the tools, you can do anything you want.   The User Interface Go ahead and launch Inkscape. The program will launch with a brand new document. In the center of the screen, you'll see a rectangle. This represents your printable document. Anything inside the printable document will be printed. Anything outside will not. By default, the document size is A4. But since I live in the US, I prefer working with US Letter (8.5x11"). To change my document size, go to File>Document Properties. This will pop up a new window. Choose "US Letter". You may be looking for an OK button or an Apply button, but there isn't any in this pop-up window. You'll notice whenever you choose a preset, the paper on your screen automatically updates. When you chose the document size you prefer, just click the red X in the upper right corner.   File Menus This should be no surprise. This section is the menu section you find on any program across the top of the screen. Each menu has a number of options organized under a menu title (File, Edit, View, Layer, etc). These menus contain access to all of the functions within the program. The very first thing I do when learning a new program is to go through each of these menus and look to see what they offer. This will give you a good idea of what the program can do and how it's organized. You'll also notice shortcut keys next to the menu options. For functions that you use on a regular basis, it is very helpful to learn those shortcut keys.     Tool Bar Directly below the file menus, you'll see a toolbar with your most commonly used buttons. It starts with your traditional buttons such as File, Save, Import, Export, Undo, etc. You'll also find access to other Inkscape-specific functions like duplicate and grouping. Probably the two tools you'll use most often are the Text Property button and the Align And Distribute button. You can see what each icon represents by hovering your mouse over the icon for a moment. A tooltip will pop up with a short description of what that tool does. Take time to look at each tool. Below the Tool Bar is the Options Bar. We'll discuss this in a moment. Just know that it is directly below the Tool Bar.   Tool Box Along the left side of your screen is the Tool Box. This houses the tools you'll need to build your shapes and drawings. Most of the tools deal with making shapes or lines. However, there are a few editing tools available there too. Hover over each tool to pop up a tooltip that explains what the tool is used for. Take time to see what tools are offered.             Bottom Options Along the bottom of your screen, you'll see a color palette that spans the width of your screen. You have a number of colors to choose from. This is the area where you set the color for your fill (color of the object) by clicking and where you can set the stroke (outline of the object) by right-clicking and choosing Set Stroke. Below the color palette in the left corner, you'll find a section that says Fill and Stroke. This indicates your chosen fill and stroke colors. Next to the stroke color, you'll see a number. This shows the size of the stroke. Right-click on this number and it will pop up a number of presets along with a remove option. Next to the Stroke and Fill area is a box with up/down options. This refers to the opacity/transparency of your selected object. For this class, this should always be set to 100%. Next are a few icons; an eye, a lock, and a pulldown that says Layer 1. This is your layer options. While layers are very useful for complex illustrations, they're not necessary for what we want to accomplish. We won't be using these options. Following that is the tooltip area. Whenever you have a tool or option selected, this area will show some helpful tips or instructions on how to use this tool. The last box shows you where your cursor is located. This may be helpful to some, but I don't use it. Next to that is your zoom box. This allows you to zoom into the area where you are working so you can see the detail easier.   Options Bar We're returning to the section directly below the Tool Bar. This area changes depending on which tool you have selected from your Tool Box. This will give you a lot of control over whatever tool you are currently working with. Be sure to click each tool in the Tool Box and see what options you have available in this section. You will start to see the possibilities opening up from the basic tools in the Tool Box. The most common option you'll use in this class is the scaling options when your selector tool is active. Here you'll be able to lock the aspect ratio and type in specific sizes for your objects.   Rulers Along the top and left side of your work area, you'll see a ruler. This comes in handy when laying out objects. You can change the unit of measure in your document properties (File>Document Properties). Look for the Default Unit section under the General section (Page tab). Choose whichever measurement you're comfortable with from the pulldown menu.           Dialog Boxes We'll have a lot of dialog boxes pop up from time to time. These dialogs offer additional control over a particular function. There are two types of dialog boxes. The first is pop-up dialogs. These will float on your screen until you close them. Often you'll only use them once, and you'll close them when you're done. The second dialog is docked dialogs. These are dialog boxes that you'll use a bit more often. These will dock on the right side of your screen. If you open multiple docked dialogs, they will stack on top of each other. Just use the scroll bar to navigate to the dialog you need. You can close any of the dialogs by clicking the X in the upper right corner. These dialogs do take up a bit of space, so in order to keep them handy, but not in the way, you can make them into buttons. To the left of the X in the upper right corner, you'll see a small triangle. When you click that, that dialog becomes a button on the right side of your screen. When you need the dialog again, just click the button and it pops up. This is especially handy for dialogs that are only accessible through the menu system.   Navigating your Document You'll need to move around your document quickly and easily. There are a number of ways to navigate your document. Panning up and down, or left and right is pretty easy. You can simply use the scroll bars located on the bottom and right side of your work area. Alternatively, you can click the middle mouse-wheel button and drag. Zooming in and out is necessary for seeing small detail. You'll be doing this quite a bit. To zoom in and out, use the + and - keys on your keyboard or number pad. Alternatively, you can roll the middle mouse wheel to zoom in and out. You can also use the Zoom tool in the Tool Box. Clicking will zoom in, whereas Shift-clicking will zoom out. You can also use the zoom box in the lower right corner of the screen.   Assignments:   Download and install Inkscape Check out the menu options. Click each tool and see what options are available in the Options bar. Start playing with the program.

Welcome to Lesson 2. In this lesson, we'll be working with shapes. We'll be using the tools located in the Tool Bar to create basic shapes. Then we'll manipulate those shapes to create effects we're looking for. This is a pretty easy lesson. We'll only be using a few tools in the Tool Box to create our shapes; Rectangle Tool, Circle Tool, Polygon/Star Tool, and the Bezier Tool. Other than the Text Tool, we won't be using the other tools in this class.   Tool Options If you remember from the last lesson, we have the Options Bar across the top of the screen. This area changes, depending on which tool you have selected from the Tool Box. You'll find many additional options for your tools so you can have greater control over your shapes. When working with a tool, be sure to check this section and see what options are available. There may be times when you change these options to create a certain effect, but when you try to make a simple shape again, it may inherit your previous options. Usually, the Options Bar will have a reset button to reset the values to default.   Rectangle Tool Click the Rectangle Tool from the Tool Box, then on your work area, drag your mouse to create a rectangle. To create a perfect square, hold down the Ctrl button and drag. After you created your square, you'll notice a small square in the upper left corner and lower right corner. These are resizing nodes. With your Rectangle Tool still selected, click and drag on one of these nodes. You will notice it will resize your square along the X & Y axis. If you hold down the Ctrl button while dragging, you can constrain the aspect ratio and resize along the X & Y axis proportionally. In the upper right corner of your rectangle, you'll see a small circle. Click and drag this node. This will round the corners of your rectangle. This is a very handy feature that we'll use a fair amount. It adds a softness to your patterns. After creating a square, choose your Selector Tool from the Tool Box and click the rectangle you just created. You will see arrows on each corner pointed diagonally and arrows on the center of each side pointing in and out. These are resizing nodes. (If the arrows on the corner look like they're curved, click the rectangle again to get to your sizing options) If you grab the corner node (diagonal arrows) and drag them out, you will notice that you resize the rectangle along the X & Y axis. This allows you the greatest freedom of resizing. If you hold down the Ctrl button while resizing, this will constrain the aspect ratio, which enlarges the X & Y axis proportionally. The arrows on the center of each side will only resize the rectangle along that axis. This is a great way to elongate one side without affecting the other side. Click your rectangle again. Now you'll see curved arrows on each of the corners and arrows on the center of each side that is parallel to the side. We are now in Rotation and Skewing mode. Click and drag the curved arrows in the corner. You'll notice that you're rotating your rectangle. If you wish to constrain the rotation to 15-degree increments, hold down the Ctrl key. This is very useful if you want to change the rotation to a common angle like 45 degrees or 90 degrees. Let's move to the center of your rectangle. You'll notice a + that looks like a crosshair. This is your rotation's center point. By default, it starts in the center. However, we can move this crosshair to anyplace you'd like. Click and drag the crosshairs outside the rectangle, then rotate the rectangle. You'll notice the rectangle now rotates around this new point. This is a very useful option, especially when you want to duplicate a pattern that radiates out from a common center point. Now, let's return to the arrows on the center of each side of your rectangle. These are skewing nodes. Click and drag these arrows and you'll notice the rectangle becomes skewed. It will keep the edge parallel to the original, but move the corner up and down equally along both edges. This allows you to modify your shape in a symmetrical way without any advanced editing. Using a combination of rotation and skewing, you can come up with a lot of unique shapes.   Circle Tool The Circle Tool works much the same way as the Rectangle Tool. Click and drag to make an ellipse. To create a perfect circle, hold down the Ctrl button and drag. Choose your Selector Tool from the Tool Box. Click the circle to get your resizing nodes. This works the same way the Rectangle Tool works. You have the arrows in the corners that will enlarge the X & Y axis. To constrain the aspect ratio, hold down the Ctrl button. The center arrows will resize only along the chosen axis.   Click the circle again to get your Rotation and Transformation options. Again, this works the same way the Rectangle Tool works. The curved arrows in the corner allow you to rotate an object. Hold down the Ctrl button to constrain the rotation to 15-degree increments. The center crosshairs can be moved to change the rotation center point. The arrows in the center of each side of your selection will allow you to skew your circle. Let's go back to the Circle Tool. Select the Circle Tool from the Tool Box and select the circle you've been working with. You will see two small squares along the edge of your circle. Just like the Rectangle Tool, these allow you to scale the object. You'll also notice a small circle on the edge of your drawn circle. By clicking and dragging this circle, you can make a partial circle. With the options in your Options Bar, you can choose if it will make a partial circle or a pie-shaped circle. The pie-shaped circle will use the natural center point of the circle to make its pie shape. Now here's a trick to switch between a partial circle and a pie-shaped circle. When you're dragging, the circle node that's being manipulated (highlighted in blue, you can control whether it's a partial circle or pie-shaped circle by dragging your mouse through the blue node. This will toggle between the two options. Also note, if you're trying to draw a new circle, but it's coming up as a partial or pie-shaped circle, you can click the button in the Options Bar to make it a full circle.   Polygon/Star Tool The Polygon/Star Tool works much the same way as the Rectangle Tool. Click and drag to create a polygon or star. You'll notice that you can't make a polygon/star elongated. By definition, polygons are symmetrical. If you wish to elongate an axis, you must resize it using the Selector Tool. Choose your selector tool from the Tool Box and click your polygon/star. You will receive the same resizing options as the Rectangle Tool. You have the arrows in the corners that will enlarge the X & Y axis. To constrain the aspect ratio, hold down the Ctrl button. The center arrows will resize only along the chosen axis. Click the polygon/star again to get your Rotation and Transformation options. Again, this works the same way the Rectangle Tool works. The curved arrows in the corner allow you to rotate an object. Hold down the Ctrl button to constrain the rotation to 15-degree increments. The center crosshairs can be moved to change the rotation center point. The arrows in the center of each side of your selection will allow you to skew your circle. Select the Polygon/Star Tool from the Tool Box and select your polygon/star. You can choose whether the shape you drew is represented by a polygon or star by selecting the appropriate icon option in the Options Bar. If the polygon option is selected, you'll notice a single square node on the edge of your polygon. This is a resizing node and will resize the polygon proportionally along the X & Y axis. If the star option is selected, you'll see two squares along the edge of the star. The square on the outside corner is a resizing node and will resize the star proportionally along the X & Y axis. There's also an inside square. This node will change the sharpness of the star. You can also add a skewed spiral to the star as well by moving the node off-center. Holding down the Ctrl button will keep this node centered between the outside points, thereby making a perfect star. You'll also notice in the Tool Options that you can choose how many corners your polygon/star has. You can also round the corners of your polygon/stars here. There is also a randomization option, while not having much practical use, is kind of fun to play with. Lastly, there's an icon to set your polygons/stars to the default setting.   Bezier Tool The Bezier Tool is a unique one and I'll only be covering the very basics in this lesson. We'll really look at what it can do in Lesson 5. But for now, know it can create lines or shapes. Select the Bezier Tool from the Tool Box. Click once in on your document and release (it is important that you don't drag.). Then move your mouse to another location on your document and click again. This created a straight line from one point to the next, much like a dot-to-dot puzzle. Hit Enter on your keyboard, and now you have a straight line. We'll learn to turn this straight line into a curved line in Lesson 5. You can also create closed shapes. Click once in your document, then click somewhere else. Create 4 or 5 points, then return and click on the beginning point (it has a small square node at the beginning point). This will close the shape. You'll notice that this tool doesn't have any options in the Options Bar. This tool will be used to make line drawings, add detail, and create more complicated shapes later in the class.   Working With Color Now that we are creating shapes, it is important to look at how to color these shapes. Coloring is a great organizational tool to color-code shapes based on purpose. It also helps for illustration. But in the end, you'll most likely use a gray interior with a black outline for easy cutting and making your pattern printer-friendly. To color a shape, simply choose your Selector Tool from the Tool Box, select your shape and click a color in the color palette. It is as easy as that. To color the stroke (outline), right-click on the color you wish to choose and select Set Stroke. You can also hold down the Shift key and click a color in the color palette. To change the stroke width, right-click the number to the right of the Stroke color box (lower-left corner of the screen). A pop-up menu will have a number of presets available. Note that a single straight line is considered a stroke and is colored as such. However, curved lines can have a fill, which could cause problems later on. We'll cover this topic later in the class. But be aware that lines made with the Bezier Tool may cause problems if a fill color is applied. To remove the fill color or stroke color, right-click on the Fill or Stroke boxes in the lower-left corner of your screen and choose Remove Fill or Remove Stroke. For better control over your color, click the color box next to the Fill or Stroke boxes in the lower-left corner. This will pop up a docked dialog box. You have a number of options to choose from, including color selection preferences, opacity, and gradients. Since we don't use color when creating scroll saw patterns, we won't be covering these options in this class.   Duplicating You'll be duplicating shapes a lot. You'll do this to make copies of a shape to use in a different part of your design, or you may duplicate an entire design as a backup copy, in case your experiments go terribly wrong. Duplicating can be done in a couple of ways. You can copy and paste an object. Copy by going to Edit>Copy (or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C). Paste by going to Edit>Paste (or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V). You can also duplicate an object by going to Edit>Duplicate and a copy of your object is placed directly on top of your original. However, I prefer using the shortcut Ctrl+D for duplicate.   Selector Tool Options With your Selector Tool active, click your object. On the right side of the Options Bar, you'll see the Height and Width boxes (H and W) along with a pull-down menu that offers various measurement units. I'll choose inches. You'll notice that the height and width change to reflect the dimensions in inches. You can type in specific values in the height and width fields and it will change your object dimensions accordingly. You'll use this a lot when creating scroll saw patterns, especially when size plays an important role. There is also a lock icon between the height and width fields. This will lock the aspect ratio. So whenever you scale the object (with either the height or width fields or by using the resize nodes on the object), the resizing will occur equally along the X & Y axis. Next to the height and width area, you'll find X & Y access fields. This is where your object appears in the X & Y coordinates of your document. This is represented in pixels and references to the bottom left corner of your object selection. You could use this for specific placement, but I find it much too cumbersome to use. To the left of the X & Y coordinates, you'll find quick layering tools. This is different from the Document Layers hinted at in the previous lesson. Rather this is the order of objects within the layer. We'll be covering this in the next lesson, so we won't dwell on that now. To the left of the layers buttons are the flip and rotate options. This is very useful for flipping your objects. Select one of your shapes and choose either Flip Horizontally or Flip Vertically. When you combine this with duplicate, you can start to put together a nice symmetrical pattern. Try selecting an unusual shape. Then duplicate it (Ctrl+D). Then click the Flip Horizontally button in the Options Bar. Then move over your object to the right of the original object. Now you have a mirror image. Select your object again, duplicate it, then lip vertically. Put that directly below your original object. Do the same for your first object. Now you can see that you have the beginnings of a pattern. You can rotate an object 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise by using the Rotate buttons. However, I usually prefer using the rotation nodes on the object while holding down the Ctrl button.   Assignments:   We've learned how to use the basic shapes and how to manipulate them. Take a little time and play with these tools, rotate, resize, skew, duplicate, flip, and whatever else catches your fancy. The more you play with this program, the quicker you'll learn how the tools work with one another.

Welcome back to Lesson 3 as we learn to use Inkscape to make scroll saw patterns. In this lesson, we'll be aligning our objects. This will play an important role in designing our patterns as we line elements up for symmetry or distribute them equally across our pattern.   Layers Inkscape offers layers much the same way GIMP does. Each layer can hold any number of elements. The visibility can be toggled on and off and you can lock the layers from being edited. This is a very useful tool if you are working with large and complex graphic art illustrations. However, for our needs, we'll only use the default layer (layer 1) to put together our designs. We won't be discussing Layers in this class, but if you wanted to play around with them, you'll find the Layers menu at the top. There you can create new layers, delete them, reorder them, rename them, and more.   You can choose which layer you're working on at the bottom of the screen. You can also lock the layer, and toggle visibility in this section as well.   Object Order Within a layer, we can have multiple objects. These objects have an order. One object will stack (or cover) another object. By default, the object order depends on the order in which you create them. So your first object will be on the bottom, your second will be on top, and your third object will be on top of all 3. We'll be needing a way to change this order when we create our patterns. Create 3 shapes to experiment with (a square, a circle, and a star). Move each object so that it overlaps the other two. Choose your Selector Tool from the Tool Box and select an object. In the Options Bar, you'll see an object order selection. By clicking one of these buttons, you can raise or lower your selected object's order. The first button will send the selected object all the way to the bottom. The next button will move your selected object down one level. So if you want the top object in the middle, you'd select the top object and push this button once. Now it will be in the middle. The next two buttons work the same way but will raise the selected object instead. I prefer using keyboard shortcuts. Page Up and Page Down will raise the object one level above or one below respectively. Home and End will either raise the object to the top level or the bottom level respectively.   Groups Grouping is a way to organize elements and makes manipulation of those elements easy. When several objects are grouped, those objects act as a single object. When you ungroup them, they become separate objects once again. To create a group, select several objects. At the top of your screen in the Tool Bar, you'll find a Group and Ungroup button. I prefer using the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+G for group and Ctrl+Shift+G for ungrouping. When you have a group, you can manipulate that group as if it was one object. You can change the fill and stroke color of all of the objects within that group. You can resize and rotate the entire group. Their same relative position remains the same within the group without coming out of alignment. Groups also make it easy to organize elements. Perhaps several shapes will make up a more complicated shape. You can group these objects into one object, then duplicate them for use in another part of your design. Moving the objects and manipulating them as a group will make your life so much easier.   Guidelines You can use horizontal and vertical guidelines to line up objects and for reference points. You can add guidelines by moving your mouse into the rulers on the top and left side of your work area and dragging them out. To move an existing guideline, hover over the guideline. When it turns red, it means you can click and drag the guideline to where you need it. If you need the guideline at a specific area, double-click the guideline and a pop-up dialog box appears where you can type in the specific location. To remove a guideline, simply drag the guideline back into the ruler. Objects will automatically snap to the guidelines, so you can use them to align objects pretty easily. You can also use a horizontal guideline as a reference for placing objects. If you need to rotate a pattern so that two points meet a horizontal surface for stability (a puzzle, car, or word art), a horizontal guideline is a great reference.   Align & Distribute The Align and Distribute tool will take all the guesswork out of lining up your objects. It will place items in a precise area relative to other objects. You'l be using this tool constantly. So take some time and get familiar with it. To use this tool, click the Align & Distribute button on your Tool Bar. This will pop up a docked dialog box with your options. You'll notice the Align & Distribute dialog is broken up into 4 sections. The first two sections are where we'll focus our attention. The Align box starts with a pulldown menu next to Relative To: When aligning objects, you must tell the program what to reference when aligning. You have several options. First Selected and Last Selected refer to an anchor object. This is the object to which the other elements will align themselves to. So if you chose First Selected, the first object you select becomes your anchor object. Likewise, Last Selected, the last object you select becomes your anchor object. We'll discuss how this works in a moment. Biggest and Smallest will choose the object in your selection that is the biggest or smallest (depending on which you chose) as your anchor object. All other items selected will position themselves relative to this anchor object. I've never used these options, but on rare occasions, they could prove useful. Page is nice when you want to center your pattern on your page before printing. Group your pattern and center on the horizontal and vertical axis. Now you're ready to print! Drawing refers to the entire drawing. This includes elements inside and outside your paper. It figures the perimeter based on objects on the outer edges of all of the elements (top, bottom, left, and right), based on that, it will align your object relative to this calculated perimeter. I've never used this option and really don't see the value. But it is available if the time arises. Selection is the option I use most of the time. When you select multiple objects, it will position those objects relative to one another. So if you want to center everything, you select your objects and align them to the center. This works especially well when working with small groups of objects. Below the Relative To pulldown menu, you'll see a row of buttons. These are the horizontal alignment buttons. The first button requires an anchor. This is where the Relative To First Selected (or Last Selected) comes into play. First you select your anchor object, then select any other objects you wish to align. When you click this first button, it will align the right side of your objects to the left side of your anchor. The next three buttons are pretty straightforward and work similarly to word processors. The first button will align all of your selected objects to the left side (left-justified). The next button will center all of your selected objects (center). Then we have aligned all of your selected objects to the right side (right-justified). The next button is the reverse of the first button that requires an anchor object. But this one will align the left side of your selected objects to the right side of your anchor. Finally, the last button is for text only and does not work with objects. This will align all of your selected text objects along the left side. The next row of buttons is the same as the ones above, but instead of horizontal alignment, they modify vertical alignment. The next box is the Distribute section. This will distribute objects evenly within a selection. To calculate how to distribute your selected objects, you must first have the two outside objects (right and left or top and bottom) in the correct place. All other elements will be distributed relative to these two objects. The first row of buttons distributes objects horizontally. The first button takes the left edge of all the objects and evenly spaces them. The next takes the center of each object and evenly spaces them. The third button takes the right edge of the object and evenly spaces them. The fourth button will calculate the gaps between each object and makes them even across your selection. And lastly, the final button is used only for text. This will distribute text objects evenly between two objects, much the same way as objects. The next row of buttons is similar to the first, however, they distribute vertically instead of horizontally. We also have one last row of buttons. The first one will randomize the placement. The second button will distribute the items equally from one another. I don't really use this tool, so I'm not familiar with the application. We won't be using them in this class.   Assignment   Play with each of these tools until you understand how they work. Try designing an American flag. This is a great way to use simple shapes and use what you've learned in this lesson. If you do it right, you'll only have to draw 3 shapes; a square, a rectangle, and a star. You'll have to rely on grouping, duplicating, and distributing objects to make it look correct. Here's a hint: Duplicate the red rectangle, and change the fill color to white to get your white stripe. Give it a try and see how well you do.   Solution:  

Welcome to Lesson 4 as we learn to use Inkscape to create scroll saw patterns. In this lesson, we're going to learn to create complex shapes by using additive and subtractive tools. With these tools, we can take any number of simple shapes to create unique shapes. These tools are found under Path menu. We'll be discussing Union, Difference, Intersection, Exclusion, Division, and Cut Path. We'll also touch briefly on Combine and Break Apart. These tools will play a vital role in creating our scroll saw patterns, so take some time and play with them. On the plus side, using these tools is very easy to understand and explain, so this lesson should go fairly quickly.   Begin by creating two shapes (square and circle) and place them so they're overlapping a bit. Make sure they have a fill and stroke color assigned. We'll use these two shapes to demonstrate how our Path tools work. After testing each of the tools, you may want to undo (Ctrl+Z) the transformation to get back to your original square and circle.     Union Union will merge (weld/melt) two objects together to create a single object. Try selecting your square and circle, the choose Path>Union. You'll now notice the two objects merged into one object. The stroke now goes around the perimeter of the new shape. This is the easiest way to make complex shapes and will be your most used tool in the Paths menu. It is worthwhile to learn the shortcut keys Ctrl++ (hold down the control button and press the plus key).     Difference Difference is the exact opposite of Union. Instead of merging two objects, one object subtracts from the other. This will use the concept of a cutter. The cutting shape will be the shape on top. Select your square and circle, then choose Path>Difference. You'll notice that the top object cuts into the object below. Hit Ctl+Z to undo the Difference to get back to your original square and circle. Now change the object order and repeat the process. You'll now see that you get a completely different shape, based on what shape is your object, and which shape is your cutter. This will be your second most used tool in the Paths menu. It is worthwhile to learn the shortcut keys Ctrl+- (hold down the control button and press the minus key)   Intersection Intersection will take two overlapping objects and leave the overlap area as your new shape. Select your square and circle and choose Path>Intersection. You'll see immediately that the overlapped area is all that remains from your two objects.     Exclusion Exclusion is the exact opposite of Intersection. Instead of leaving the overlapped areas, the overlapped areas will be removed, leaving behind a hole. Select your square and circle and choose Path>Exclusion. You'll notice the overlapping areas are now a hole, and the remaining parts of your two objects are now one object.     Division Division is similar to Difference in the fact that it requires a cutter. Your cutting object is the object on top. This option will take your top object and cut the bottom object where they intersect. Select your square and circle and choose Path>Division. You'll notice your top (cutter object) disappears. What you're left with is the same shape as your original bottom object, but now its in two pieces. Select the area where they overlapped and move that cut piece away. You'll also notice that the cut edge of the cut piece has the same shape as the cutter.   Cut Path Cut Path works much the same way as Division, but instead of a solid object, it cuts the path (outline) instead. This option also requires the cutter to be on top. Select your square and circle and choose Path>Cut Path. Your bottom object will be converted into a path (outline). Where the two objects intersected, the path will be cut into two paths. With your Selector Tool, move the overlapping path away. Now you have two separate pieces of line art.     Combine and Break Apart This tool is a little complicated to wrap your head around, but it will play a role when we start editing nodes. We'll also use these options when working with text so we can work with individual letters. Combine will take two objects and make them into one object. Unlike Union, the two shapes still remain. However, the lines of the two shapes now become sub-paths. The advantage of Combine is that you can use your node editor (we'll be discussing the next lesson) and edit the nodes of all the shapes that were combined. When using Combine, your shape-specific transformation tools (like rounding square corners) will be lost. Break Apart is the opposite of Combine. It will take one object, and separate them into separate pieces. This allows easy manipulation of shapes within the original object without relying on node editing. Once your editing is done, you can select all of your pieces and Combine them once again to make a single object.   Assignment   Try putting together a shape by using each of the Path tools (excluding Combine and Break Apart). Once you have your shape put together, try playing with Combine and Break Apart (Break your shape apart first).

Welcome to Lesson 5 as we learn to use Inkscape to make scroll saw patterns. This time, we'll be talking about nodes and how to edit them. This could be the most important lesson in the series. We'll really start to see the power of vector graphics to create scroll saw patterns. If you can get a good feel for node editing, there's no stopping you!   What Are Nodes? If you remember back to the very first lesson, we discussed the difference between vector graphics and bitmap/raster graphics. I basically said that vector graphics are a mathematical representation of an image. This is where nodes come in. An easy way to think of a vector graphic is to think of it as if it was a dot-to-dot puzzle we did as kids. To get to the hidden image in a dot-to-dot puzzle, we'd connect the dots with straight lines in a certain order. In a vector graphic, nodes are those dots. There is a mathematical formula between those two dots that will tell the program where the lines are positioned and whether that line is curved or straight.   Object To Path When working with shapes with special edit options (square, circle, star, text, etc), you'll have to turn these shapes into a path. This will strip away your special editing options (such as rounding corners, or editing text), but will allow you the freedom to edit the nodes instead. To do this, select your Node Editing tool in the Tool Bar and select your shape. You can click the Convert Selected Object To Path button in the Options Bar and that will convert your shape into a path. You can also convert the object to a path by choosing Path>Object To Path from the menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+C. Now you're ready to edit nodes. Another option that you may want on occasion is to turn the outline or line into a shape you can edit. To do this, you can choose the button Convert Selected Object's Stroke To Path from the Options Bar. This will change the stroke (outline) into an editable shape. You can also choose Path>Stroke To Path from the menu or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+C.   Selecting Nodes When you have your object selected with your Node Editing tool, you'll see small diamond shapes at the intersections. These are the nodes. You can select a node by clicking it, and the node will become bold. You can select as many nodes as you want. You can hold down the Shift key and select another node to add to your selection. You can also use your marquee to select multiple nodes. The line between two nodes is called a Segment. By clicking the segment, the two nodes attached to the segment will automatically be selected.   Moving Nodes You can move your selected nodes by dragging the node into the proper place. You can also use the arrow keys to nudge them with a bit more control. If you wish to constrain the movement to the X or Y axis, hold down your Ctrl key while dragging the nodes. Nodes do not have to be next to each other to select and move You can select outside nodes, leaving the nodes in the middle selected. When you move those nodes, the center nodes will remain, but the selected nodes will move to where you want them.   Adding & Subtracting Nodes You can add additional nodes to any segment by simply double-clicking on the segment. If you want to add a node exactly in the center a segment, select the nodes that make up the segment. Then click the Insert New Nodes In The Selected Segments button (looks like a plus sign above a square) from the Options Bar. This will place a node exactly in the center of the chosen segments. You can do this as often as you'd like, and nodes will continue to be added to the center of the selected segments. Removing nodes are about as easy as can be. Select the nodes you wish to remove and hit the Delete key or the Backspace key. You can also click the Delete Selected Nodes button from the Options Bar (looks like a minus above a square).   Creating A Curve Having straight lines between nodes is fine when roughing in the general shape. But you'll soon want to finesse those lines to make them a bit more graceful and flow. You'll be needing to make these straight lines into curved lines. Creating a curve between nodes is simple. Click and drag a segment and you'll notice that the segment begins to curve. You'll also notice two blue lines with circles at the end appear at each of the nodes on either side of the curved segment. These are called Bezier Handles. (If you don't see the Bezier Handles, click the Show Bezier Handles On Selected Nodes button from the Options Bar.) These handles are what control the depth and sharpness of the curve. By clicking and dragging the circle on the Bezier Handle, you can control how the curve behaves on that node. It will take a little playing to get used to using the Bezier controls to get the curve you want. But once you get a feel for it, you'll be able to get the curve to do exactly what you want it to do. Often, I'll drag the segment out to make a curve and try to get the curve to match as close as possible. I'll then use the Bezier Handles to fine tune the curve to get it exactly where I want it.   Types Curved Nodes When working with curves, you'll be wanting to accomplish different effects. You may want two curves to come together at a point. Other times, you want to be sure that the incoming curve and outgoing curve on a node are smooth. And other times, you'll want the curves to be symmetrical. You can control how a node behaves by clicking one of the node behavior buttons in the Options Bar.   Make Selected Nodes Corner - This option is intended to allow you to create a sharp corner. While this is absolutely true, the reality is that this option removes all restrictions on that node. You have full control over the Bezier Handles. So you can have each Bezier Handle come in at different angles to create a sharp corner, or you can keep them parallel and have the curve smooth out. This option has the most freedom. However, if you want to ensure a smooth transition, one of your other options is better suited. Make Selected Nodes Smooth - This option smooths out the transition between the incoming segment and the outgoing segment. You'll notice that when you move one Bezier Handle, the other Bezier Handle is parallel and moves with it. This eliminates a nub where the two segments meet. You'll also notice that the length of the Bezier Handles is independent of each other. One handle can be longer than the other, which allows the depth of the curve to be different from one segment to the adjoining segment. Make Selected Nodes Symmetric - This option works much the same way as the previous option. However, this time, the length of the Bezier Handles is the same on both sides of the node. This will create a symmetrical incoming and outgoing curve.   Adding And Removing Segments There are times when an open shape (line drawing) needs to become a closed shape or a closed shape needs to open up to a open shape. We can do that with our segment tools from the Options Bar. Break Path At Selected Nodes - This tool will split the path (outline) so that you can separate the paths. It will create two nodes out of one. These nodes will become the beginning/end nodes. You'll notice when you move the nodes apart, there isn't a line connecting these two nodes. Basically, you have an open shape (line drawing).   Split Path Between Two Non-Endpoint Nodes - This is similar to the previous tool. But instead of creating a new node, it will remove the segment between the two nodes. Again, you're left with an open shape (line drawing).   Join Selected Endnodes with A New Segment - This will add a new segment between two end nodes. If you have an open shape, select the two nodes where there's only one incoming segment (end node). When you click this button, a straight line will connect these two nodes. You can also use this option to add a segment between two open shapes (line drawings) to create a new open shape.   Join Selected Endnodes - This works much the same way as the previous tool, however, this does not add a new segment. Rather, it moves each end node equally to meet in the center to become one node. You can use this option to close an open shape or to join two open shapes into one open shape.   Assignment:   Find a few pictures or clip art from the internet that is copyright safe. Pick images that you may someday use for your own scroll saw patterns and start building your own personal clip art library. Using your node editing tools, trace your picture. Be sure to use the Bezier Tool in the Tool Box to create simple lines for interior details

Welcome to Lesson 6 of our Inkscape class. This time we're working with text. Working with text is relatively easy and I'll show you the basics. We won't get into the advanced topics of working with text in this class. But you'll certainly be armed enough to tackle some of your basic word art. There will be many times when you work with text. You may want to create some word art or write instructions on your pattern. At the very least, you should be signing your patterns with your name and date so other scrollers can give you credit for the design. Inkscape doesn't have many options regarding text, however. It's a little disappointing because text is a major part of graphic arts. I'd imagine in future updates, you'll have many more options. Regardless, we're still able to do a lot with text in our patterns.   Text Text is easy to add to any document. Simply click the Text Tool from the Tool Bar and click on your document. A cursor will show up, and you can begin typing. When you are done, select another tool, and your text will now become an object. You can edit your text the same way as with any other object. You can scale, rotate and skew. Later, you can change the words in your text by simply clicking the Text Tool and clicking your text. A cursor will show up, and you can edit your text accordingly.     Text Box Another option for adding text is by creating a Text Box. Simply choose your Text Tool from the Tool Bar, then click and drag a box. This box becomes a container for your text. Try adding several sentences to your Text Box. You'll notice when you get to the edge of the Text Box, your words will wrap around onto a new line. If the sentences go beyond the bottom of the Text Box, the overflowing words will be hidden. Now try resizing your text box by dragging the small diamond in the lower right corner of the Text Box. You'll notice as you change the size of the box, the word-wrap changes. This is a handy tool when creating brochures or any document that requires columns. It is much easier to size the text box to the size you need, rather than formatting the text by hand. You can also use this option if you have assembly instructions for your patterns.     Font Properties When you have your Text Tool selected, you'll notice a bunch of Font Properties that appear in the Options Bar. This works much the same as a word processor. Simply select your text and choose your options. You can choose your font from the pulldown menu, change your size, change justification (left, center, right, or justified), as well as bold and italics. You'll also notice you can make the text vertical or horizontal.     One quirk I've noticed with Inkscape is that the Font Selection pulldown doesn't always work. More often than not, I have to use the Font Properties popup window. You can find this at the top of your screen in the Tool Bar. The icon looks like the letter 'T.' Clicking this will pop up a window with the exact same options you had in the Options Bar. Make your selection, then click Apply, then close the window.     Kerning Every once in a while, certain letter pairs look a bit odd when placed next to each other. There appears to be much more white space than is needed, despite the fact they are properly spaced. Letter pairs such as TA or VA. You can reduce the amount of space between letter pairs by Kerning. Simply place your cursor between a letter pair, hold down your Alt key and use your left or right arrow key. You'll notice the letters begin to nudge closer or further away depending on which arrow key you press. You can also raise (superscript) or lower (subscript) your letters by pressing the arrow key up or down. Kerning gives you creative control over your text without altering the text functions.   Text To Path When creating word art, sometimes you want to have complete control over the letters. Unfortunately, the text tool is rather limited. However, you can take the text you created and turn it into a path. When this happens, you no longer have text that you can change, but rather a shape. But this also affords the luxury of editing the nodes and moving individual elements wherever you want them. To turn text into a path, simply select your text with your Selector Tool. Then go to Path>Object To Path. Now you have full control over the nodes and you can edit your new shape any way you want. There may be times when you want each individual letter to be separate. To do that, go to Path>Break Apart. This will break apart your object into individual objects. You may notice that some closed letters such as 'a' 'o' 'e' 'd' etc, lose the hole in the center. This didn't really disappear. Remember that Break Apart breaks a complex shape into multiple simple shapes. So the hole in the center is also a shape. To bring those back to what they were before, simply select the letter and the hole and go to Path>Combine. This will combine the two objects into one object. The smaller object will become the hole for the larger object. So now your closed letters are back to their former glory. Now that your word is broken into individual letters, you can now manipulate them any way you want.     Text On Path This is a fun option you may want to play with. You can make text flow along a path. Using your Bezier Tool in your Tool Box, create a straight line. Then turn that straight line into an 'S' curve with your Node Editing Tool. Select your text (it has to be editable text, not a path like we created in the previous section), then select your path. Choose Text>Put On Path. You'll notice the text now follows the line you just created. If you edit the line, the text will follow suit. If you wish to hide your path, simply choose the path and remove the stroke and fill colors. The path is still there, you just can't see it. If you need to select your path again, use your Tab key to select objects until you find your path. One note. When creating a path for your text to follow, it will always place the beginning of the text at the first node of the path. So if you created a path that started on the right side of the screen and ended at the left side of the screen, when you place your text on the path your text will be upside down. To fine-tune the location of your text on the path, use a combination of spaces and Kerning.     Assignment   Play around with the text tool. Create some text, turn it into a path, break it apart, combine any closed letters, and start manipulating individual letters to create some word art.

Welcome to Lesson 7. This time, we're actually putting together what we've learned up to this point to design a scroll saw pattern. We will be designing a simple trinket box. Since the lid will have some nice fretwork, you can also use this box to hold potpourri. This video demonstrates the entire process. We move fairly fast and don't spend much time teaching you how to use the tools. But everything that I have done in the video (with the exception of the Dynamic Offset tool) has already been covered in previous lessons. There is too much information to cover in written instructions, so I've provided a general overview instead. You probably won't understand the written instruction without seeing the video first. Create Lid and Base The box lid and base will be made of 1/4" material. First, we have to come up with a general shape for our box. First, I create a perfect circle. I duplicate that circle, center the two circles vertically and stack them on top of each other. I group the circles and duplicate them, then rotate them 90 degrees. I group both of these groups, duplicate, then rotate 45 degrees. Now we have a nice shape for our trinket box. I ungroup all of the groups, then union each of the pieces until we have a single shape. Then using the scaling tools, I lock the aspect ratio and make the box 5.4" tall so it will fit nicely on a 1x6" stock. Duplicate this object so we have two copies (1 lid, 1 base). Create Box Walls The box walls will be made of 2 or 3 pieces of 1/2" or 3/4" stock, stacked and glued. The box walls will be inset from the base and lid a bit for a nice shadow line. I duplicate the lid and scale it down to 4.9". I draw a small square and scale it to 1/4". We will use this as a measuring tool. I center the walls and the square vertically, then align it to the top. This will give us a visual indication of what 1/4" measurement. We now need to make the inner walls. I then duplicate the wall again, then use a new tool. Choose Path>Dynamic Offset. Grab the diamond-shaped node and drag it down to the bottom of your 1/4" measuring square. It doesn't have to be exact, just get close. Set the square aside to use later. Duplicate the inner wall and set that aside, we'll use that for the Lid Insert. Select the outer wall and the inner wall and choose Difference. Create Lid Insert The Lid Insert will fit snuggly inside the box walls. This will be made of 1/4" or 1/8" stock. We'll glue this to the lid so it positions the lid precisely. Since we want to add piercing cuts to the lid, we must make this lid insert into a ring so the fretwork shows through. Repeat the same process as we created the Box Walls. Put the measuring square in place, duplicate the insert, then dynamic offset it until it reaches the bottom of the measuring square. Duplicate and set the inner ring wall to the side for reference for when we add the fretwork. Then select the inner and outer ring and choose Difference. Create Fretwork for Lid Now it's time to add a bit of fretwork to the lid. But first, we need to know where the safe areas are to place the fretwork. We don't want the Lid Insert or the Box Walls to show through the fretwork. Choose the Lid Insert the inner wall and center that in the lid. The Lid Insert inner wall will now be our boundary. For the fretwork, I decided to use a DingBat font. Find a design that you like. You can find the Dingbat font that I used from DaFont.com. Find the pattern you want, and begin placing the pattern within your boundary. Once everything is in place, remove your boundary reference. Then choose your fretwork patterns and choose Difference. Finishing Touches Now that we're done, go through and label all of your pieces and add any necessary instructions. Be sure to sign and date your work so that scrollers can give credit where credit is due. Upload a copy to the Pattern Library to share your pattern with the world! It's a huge thrill when you see your pattern cut by another scroller. The pattern that was designed in the video demonstration is below.    

Welcome to the very last lesson in our Inkscape class. Time flies, doesn't it? We're doing another demonstration. This time we're creating an elk mini-clock for a desk. The project takes a standard 1 7/16" mini-clock insert you can find online or at some craft stores. This video runs a little long, but you'll see the entire process of putting together this project. There is too much information to cover in written instructions, so I've provided a general overview instead. You probably won't understand the written instruction without seeing the video first.   Making Clock Template The clock insert we're using requires a 1 3/8" hole to be cut. Most will use a Forstner bit and drill the hole. So let's make a clock holder. First I draw a 1.375" circle. Then I add crosshairs to mark the center of the hole by taking a vertical line, duplicating it, and rotating it to horizontal. I center everything and group it. I want a 1/4" border, so I'll draw a 1/4" box to act as a measuring device. I stack the center hole with the measuring box. Then ungroup the center hole, duplicate the center, then use dynamic offset and enlarge it to the top of the measuring box. Delete the measuring box, select the outer circle and inner circle and use Difference to make a donut. Group this new shape with your crosshairs and set aside.   Making Frame We'll create an oval frame to contain our scene for the clock. First, I make the main oval and size it to the size I want. Then create a measuring square at 1/2" square. Select your oval and square, center horizontally, and push the square to the top of the selection. Duplicate the oval and use dynamic offset and scale it to the bottom of your measuring square. Delete the measuring square, select the inner oval and outer oval and use Difference to create your basic frame shape. Now we need to make some feet. Draw a square about the size you need, then turn it into a path. Using node editing, give the legs a nice gentle curve. When you reach a shape you're happy with, duplicate the shape and flip it. Place each leg into the approximate place. Then center vertically, group them, then select both the feet group and the oval frame and center them horizontally. Ungroup everything, then use Union to make it one shape. Now to make sure everything sits on the same plane, draw a large square that overlaps your new shape. Select both shapes and choose Difference. This will flatten out the bottom of the feet and flatten the bottom of your oval frame.   Making The Base Draw a square a little longer than the width of your frame. I usually like 1/2" or 3/4" on each side of the frame. Then I choose a height wider than the stock I'm using. So if I'm using 3/4" stock, I might make the height 1.5" or 2". Once you have the dimensions figured out, round the corners of the rectangle to soften up the base.   Tracing Our Subject Find a picture you'd like to use in your clock. I chose to use an elk. You can find the elk here if you want to follow along. Import the picture into Inkscape to begin tracing. I use a square that I turned into a path as my starting point. Then it's just a matter of placing the nodes and adjusting the Bezier handles to match the picture. You may need to create multiple shapes and use Difference to punch a hole into the silhouette. You can also use the Bezier tool in the Tool Box to add some veining. Once done, group your elk and delete your source photo.   Arranging Our Elements Now you can take your traces subject and place it where you want it within the frame. You can also place your clock template within the frame too. Once you get everything placed, it's a good idea to duplicate everything and set it aside. Someday, you may want to use your tracing again. This way you can have that element separate from the pattern you're creating. When you're happy with the placement, it is time to start to Union the pieces together. You'll have to ungroup any groups before using Union. If you run into further trouble, breaking apart elements will sometimes help.   Finishing Touches When you're finished, you can start labeling your pieces and signing your work. Add any instructions if required. Print out your design or upload a copy to the Pattern Library. The pattern that was demonstrated in this lesson is posted below.   I hope you guys enjoyed this class and learned a thing or two. Inkscape isn't a hard program to learn, it just takes a little practice (just like anything else). The possibilities are endless with this program and you can come up with unique designs that nobody else has. I hope you choose to share your talent with the rest of us. Scrollers are very appreciative of pattern designers. Plus, it's a huge thrill when you see someone cut one of your patterns. I can't wait to see what y'all will come up with. Happy designing!