Inkscape Crash usage Tips

I am not an Inkscape or graphic design expert, but since there is not a lot of material out there on Inkscape vs something like illustrator I will throw in a few things I have learned when using it that can hopefully help someone else.

First; Inkscape uses layers like other editing software

The purpose of layers is to allow you to divide up content into separate spaces so that the complexity of a drawing does not grow too high or become too hard to work with due to having so many paths and objects in a single layer. It also allows dividing content by its visual purpose so you can clearly delinate which part is doing what. I find myslef using it somewhat less in Inkscape as opposed to GIMP because I often want to work with a lot of parts at once, but it is the main feature to divide things up when you want to.

Tip 1; File > Save/Save As saves all the SVG

I know this sounds very obvious, but the outlined ‘page’ space in the workspace makes it seem like content outside of that might have a different status. It does not, unless you are using a Non-SVG format.
If you have all sorts of SVG in the work/project space, outside the page area(the outlined box), it all gets saved when you save a project, no matter where/what it is. The same goes for selected objects/paths; you can select anything you want, but it all gets saved.
By default the SVG format is Inkscape SVG, which assures that the information will all be accurately retained by Inkscape. If exporting for a web project however, I find Optimzed SVG to be the best format.

The same does not go for export however

Exporting a bitmap (any image format) just does the page part of the project, so that is affected by what is in/outside of the page area. The page area really can be ignored if you are only using SVG format.

Tip 2; Paths and Objects are not the same

When you make a circle, polygon, or various other shapes in Inkscape those are created as an object. If you then try and take that object and perform path operations on it (Path > Union/Difference/Intersection) it will fail or not do anything.

So convert Objects to Paths if you want to use those tools

Path > Object to Path.
This will transform the Object into a path and allow you to use all the path operations.

The status of a shape is in the bottom bar

If you are not sure whether something is a path or a chape, click on it and look at the bottom bar. It will either indicate Path and the number of nodes, or a type of shape, which means it is an object (ellipse, polygon).

Tip 3; use the Align and Distribute toolbox to arrange shapes/paths

You can set up grids and guides to do all sorts of alignment, but if your main goal is to align or arrange a bunch of shapes, the align and distribute toolbox will do it faster without lots of individual adjustments.

Object > Align and Distribute

Or the shorcut key C-S-a. This will open the alignment toolbox. The first option, ‘Relative to:’ is critical because it determines how the alignment tools will operate. It can be done relative to the page, objects, or seletion order, which has a major impact on the result.

Tip 4; Make a single object, then copyTransform to make many

Object > Transform has the same transform operations as you would be used to if using SVG or CSS transforms. If you need many copies of an object with different size/orientation then create one, copy it, and apply transforms. You can also do this using the object resize/rotate symbols when clicking with the mouse cursor, but they do not allow the same precision as the transform toolbar.

Tip 5; Use Union to avoid gaps/overlap

If you are trying to make a complex shape out of many sub-shapes, turn them into paths and use the Path > Union tool to remove any gaps. This has the disadvantage of merging them into on path such that they cannot have separate styles.

Tip 6; Copy and paste styles, duplicate obejcts

C-c on the object to copy from, C-S-v on the object to paste to and the styles only will be copied to the destination.
C-d Duplicates an object/path.

Tip 7; Preserve aspect ratio

Little lock button, usually in the top tool bar.
C-S - Control shift also does this, handy when making shapes when you want them even on all sides.

Tip 8; Selecting objects

S-click – add or subtract that object from current selection
Alt-click – Select next object below current selection
S-mouse drag – add all objects within box to selection
Alt-mouse drag – select all objects that the box touches

Tip 9; Make use of the Path functions

By Path functions I mean Union, Intersection, Difference, Exclusion, Division. These tools allow combining, cutting, joining, masking paths. Knowing the right combination of these makes it easy to do/undo a lot of operations on paths.

Multi-Bool Extension

This is not necessary but may be useful. It allows the above operations to operate on multiple paths, and also prevents the topmost path from being consumed in operations such as difference, but, divide, which normally they are.