2004.10_A Look at Some Popular Vector Graphics Programs.pdf

KNOW HOW

Vector Graphics Programs

Line by Line

After years of waiting, Linux users now have a choice of programs for drawing

maps, business graphics, and other illustrations. We tested seven challengers

that aim to take the crown from non-Linux kings of the hill, such as CorelDraw

and Illustrator. BY FRANK WIEDUWILT

pixel graphics on Linux typically

opt for the Gimp. However, the

Gimp is not designed for highly-scalable

graphics. Instead you need a vector

drawing program, a tool that creates

images made up of individual objects

that will scale or distort without impact-

ing quality.

None of the programs we will be look-

ing at, apart from OpenOffice Draw and

xfig, has reached version 1.0. So expect

the occasional rough edge, and don’t be

disappointed if things don’t turn out just

as you anticipated.

All of the programs we will be looking

at are free of charge and that is more or

less the only thing they have in common.

and Knoppix 3.4. This was followed by a

drawing test where we put the programs

through their paces to demonstrate:

•how well they construct graphical

objects

•how well they fill and manipulate

those objects

• if they are capable of grouping objects,

and

• if they can arrange those objects in dif-

ferent layers.

We were also interested in finding out

just how precisely you can draw with

these programs, and what kind of draw-

ing tools they provide. For example, for

posters and menus you need advanced

text manipulation capabilities. This

prompted us to check out our candi-

dates’ text handling capabilities.

The ability to exchange data with

other programs, including commercial

products that run on the Windows or

Macintosh platforms, is another impor-

tant aspect. SVG looks set to become the

globally accepted

standard format.

This said, you

might still experi-

ence some diffi-

culty, as most pro-

grams do not fully

support SVG at

present. Even a

perfect program is

useless without

documentation.

This prompted

us to check out

the online help

and manuals. The

table at the end of

this article gives

you an overview of the most important

characteristics of all the programs.

Gestalter

Gestalter [1] is a very new program. It is

Gtk-based, although it was written in

C++, and thus needs the gtkmm [2]

and gnomemm [3] libraries, which in

turn require libsig++ [4]. Make sure

that you have version 1.0 of gtkmm

because Gestalter is based on Gtk 1.2.

Users who don’t happen to work with

Debian “Woody” or a distro based on

“Woody” might experience some diffi-

cult getting Gestalter to install. In our

tests, the tool would not build with the

latest version of gtkmm on Fedora Core 1

and Core 2, or on the current Mandrake

release. We finally resorted to the slightly

ancient 1.2.5 version of gtkmm along

with gnomemm 1.2.3 to complete the

build.

After building and installing Gestalter,

the program comes up with a very neat

interface (see Figure 1).

There are tools for drawing lines, rec-

tangles and ellipses, and happily they all

work. You can also insert simple text

objects, although the program did crash

quite often when we attempted some

simple text editing. Gestalter also has

trouble with its native file format. You

can store your work in SVG-formatted

files, but Gestalter quite often fails to

restore the files correctly when you

attempt to open them. There is no docu-

mentation.

At this time of writing, Gestalter must

be regarded as more of a design study

than a usable drawing program. We liked

the direct approach, the ease of use, and

the speed on older hardware, all of

Our Lab Setup

Each of our candidates was put through

the following series of tests. First of all,

we checked how well the programs

installed on Fedora Core 1, Mandrake 10,

Figure 1: Gestalter is still in the early stages of development. It should only

be regarded as a design concept at the moment.

October 2004

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Vector Graphics Programs

U sers who need to manipulate

Vector Graphics Programs

KNOW HOW

Inkscape uses

the SVG format to

save image files,

and can read a

whole bunch of

formats, including

Adobe Illustrator,

Postscript, and

Skencil. It imports

external formats

extremely well,

and we had no

trouble at all edit-

ing the images we

had imported. Be-

sides its own na-

tive format, Ink-

scape can also

store images as Postscript, Adobe Illus-

trator, and compressed SVG.

For each drawing, Inkscape opens up a

program window complete with tool

bars and menus, meaning that the tools

are accessible at all times.

Inkscape already has a full-featured

collection of drawing tools. Besides the

standard set of primitives , the program

can also construct spirals, and stars with

an arbitrary number of points (see Figure

2). Calligraphic lines, which are more

typically the domain of bitmap-oriented

drawing programs, are also supported.

Inkscape comes complete with a col-

lection of help files, and tutorials that

give users a useful introduction to work-

ing with the program, and add a few tips

and tricks. The help texts were all cre-

ated using Inkscape, and that means that

you can copy and experiment with them

rather than just reading.

While working with the program, you

can expect to run into the occasional

development glitch. There is a dialog

defining a grid, and a snap to grid

option, but the snap option does not

work. When you quit the program, it

unfortunately forgets the units you have

been using, forcing you to select your

preferred units whenever you launch the

program.

Despite the relatively low version

number (0.39), Inkscape is extremely

stable. The missing snap function means

that Inkscape is not capable of precision

drawing at present, but it is perfectly

okay for illustrations and text-oriented

jobs such as manuals or menus.

Figure 2: Inkscape supports spirals, stars, can calligraphic lines.

Karbon14

Karbon14 [6] is part of the KOffice pack-

age. The program is not as ambitious as

the rest of the programs we are looking

at in this article. The developers just

want to make a simple drawing program.

Karbon14 is the successor to Kontour,

which was the original KOffice drawing

program. In contrast to its predecessor,

Karbon14 is restricted to basic geometric

forms. The program is easy to use, and

the tools easily accessible (see Figure 3).

The program supports multi-layered

drawings; it has various line types and

widths, and a basic selection of primi-

tives. Sinus curves, spirals, and stars, all

of which can be colored, and filled with

patterns or gradients, are Karbon14’s

highlights. The tool supports only single-

line text, although you can apply various

effects to the text.

Karbon14 has its own native file for-

mat, but it can read formats such as

SVG, Adobe Illustrator, and WMF . This

allows users to edit drawings composed

in other programs. On the downside,

Karbon14 had some difficulty reading

SVG-formatted files, crashing at times,

and taking minutes to draw the screen

on other occasions. The program does

not have a manual or online help,

although it is admittedly self-explanatory

for the most part.

Karbon14 achieves its self-set goal of

being a simple illustration program. It

would benefit from an extended text

which are indicative of the potential that

this simple drawing tool will hopefully

live up to in the near future.

Inkscape

Just like Gestalter, Inkscape [5] is

another newish project. The developers

aim to write a vector graphics drawing

program capable of holding its sway

with Adobe Illustrator or similar tools.

The developers make no attempt to con-

ceal the fact that they have used ideas,

and source code, from other projects –

specifically from Kontour and Sodipodi.

Some dialogs have been taken directly

from Sodipodi.

Installing Inkscape is just as compli-

cated as it was for Gestalter. Inkscape

needs the gtkmm library version 2 or

newer, and libsigc++ version 1.2 or

newer. Assuming you have both of these

libraries, you should have no trouble set-

ting up the program. When you launch

Inkscape for the first time, you will prob-

ably appreciate the program’s neatly

organized main window (see Figure 2,

above).

Pixel and Vector Graphics

The difference between vector graphics pro-

grams and drawing or image manipulation

programs is the method they use for storing

graphics. Vector-oriented programs store

drawing objects as a collection of mathe-

matical formulas that describe individual

shapes without using much disk space or

memory. For example, to describe a circle, all

you need is the radius and the origin.

Because they use such precise descriptions,

vector graphics will scale up or down with-

out impacting their quality.

Image manipulation programs like the Gimp

store each pixel of an image along with its

characteristics. This uses up huge amounts

of memory, and manipulating an image will

typically impact the image’s quality.

Vector drawing programs are extremely use-

ful for graphics such as maps, plans,

technical drawings, or even menus and con-

struction plans.

GLOSSARY

Pixel: A pixel is a dot on screen, or on a page.

SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics. An XML-based,

standardized file format for vector graphics.

Primitive : Primitives are basic geometrical

shapes, such as rectangles, ellipses, or lines. A

vector drawing is composed of a large num-

ber of primitives.

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October 2004

KNOW HOW

Vector Graphics Programs

manipulation function to support multi-

ple lines of text.

OpenOffice Draw will have it. In fact, fil-

ters are the only thing that the program

lacks.

available for more precise drawing, and

facilitate object alignment.

Skencil can read and save files in the

Adobe Illustrator file format, PDF, and

SVG. Exchanging drawings across multi-

ple operating system platforms is no

problem. If you have older xfig-format-

ted drawings, you can use Skencil to

modify them.

There were occasional glitches with

fonts. Even if you have installed a font

correctly, Skencil may be incapable of

displaying it, or might tell you that it

can’t find the metrics. We even had sce-

narios where fonts were displayed

correctly the first time we opened a

drawing, but disappeared without trace

on re-opening the same drawing.

Skencil is useful for construction

plans, cardboard models, or other preci-

sion drawing tasks. Skencil has restricted

text manipulation capabilities and is not

recommended for text-oriented tasks.

Skencil has a comprehensive online help

that describes the use of the program.

OpenOffice Draw

OpenOffice Draw [7] is a real heavy-

weight. Just like all the programs in the

office suite, Draw takes too long to start,

but does compensate the user with a

seemingly inexhaustible range of fea-

tures (see Figure 4).

Draw has a full range of drawing tools;

it is the only program that supports 3D

objects. Besides the normal text tools,

which can handle and format texts of

arbitrary lengths, there is a tool that can

create a legend and a connecting line to

any other object.

OpenOffice Draw has everything you

need for precision drawing – a grid, snap

to grid, snap lines, and multiple layers.

This allows Draw to support precise

technical drawings. The only thing we

could find is that the program lacks a

hair-cross cursor.

OpenOffice Draw can import and

export various bitmap and vector graph-

ics formats. Apart from Skencil, it is also

the only program in our Linux labs test

with native support for creating PDF

files. The comprehensive online help

really does help users to get started with

the program.

OpenOffice Draw is the most feature-

rich program in the test. It is the only

program that can create multiple page

documents. Thanks to the integrated

PDF export feature, it supports online

publishing, and transfer of documents.

Whatever drawing function you need,

Skencil

Skencil [8], which was known as Sketch

until the end of last year, has also set its

sights on replacing CorelDraw on Linux.

The program has reached version 0.6.16

by now. The Skencil GUI uses Tcl/Tk,

and that gives the program a slightly

older look and feel, although the devel-

opers have tried to compensate by

adding new icons for the tools.

The program itself is written in

Python. Besides Python and Tcl/Tk, you

also need the Python Imaging Library

(PIL). The Skencil homepage has links to

downloads of the required programs and

libraries.

Besides the stable version that we

tested, the developers are working on

porting the GUI to Gtk 2. However, this

port has nothing like the functionality of

the stable version.

Skencil is an extremely stable pro-

gram, and did not crash at all during our

testing. Anyone who has worked with

another vector drawing program in the

past should have no trouble finding their

way around, as the interface and menus

are well thought out (see Figure 5).

Skencil has all the primitives you

need; it supports cross-fading, and can

fill objects with various patterns and gra-

dients. It can handle multiple line text

objects, although each text object sup-

ports only a single font type and size. A

hair-cross, grids, and snap lines are

Sodipodi

Sodipodi [9] is designed to supplement

the Gimp, and this explains why it emu-

lates the Gimp’s look and feel. We had

no trouble building and installing the

program, and the Sodipodi homepage

has links to binary packages for various

distributions. Sodipodi integrates neatly

with Gnome and is a Gnome Office [10]

component.

After launching the program, the Gimp

users should feel right at home. A single

large palette groups the tools, which

Figure 3: Karbon14 is a KOffice tool designed for simple illustrations and

replaces Kontour.

Figure 4: OpenOffice Draw has the best range of features of all the programs

in our test.

October 2004

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Vector Graphics Programs

KNOW HOW

have their own setup dialogs. Unfortu-

nately, Sodipodi does not have the latest

menus unlike the the Gimp2 document

window. That means having to drag the

palette out from under a pile of windows

and dialogs from time to time, before

you can get on with your work (see Fig-

ure 6).

Sodipodi has reached version 0.34 and

has more or less anything the drawer’s

heart desires. The tools are grouped on a

single large palette, and easily distin-

guishable. Right clicking a drawing pops

up an extensive context menu, which is

well organized and gives the user access

to the drawing object manipulation func-

tions.

Sodipodi has a variety of text manipu-

lation features, but again it only supports

one kind of text formating per object.

This makes creating text objects with dif-

ferent formats very complicated (see

Figure 7). The program has tools such as

snap lines, grids, and snap to grid, but as

is the case with Inkscape, they are not

reliable in the present version.

If you like the way the Gimp 1 works,

and do not need precision drawing tools,

GLOSSARY

WMF: Windows Meta File, a file format for

bitmap and vector graphics that is quite

widespread under Windows.

PDF: Portable Document Format. A format

developed by Adobe to platform independent

document exchange.

Table 1: Overview of Drawing Programs

Program

Gestalter

Inkscape

Karbon14

OpenOffice Draw

Skencil

Sodipodi

xfig

Version

0.7.4

0.39

0.1

1.1.2

0.6.16

0.37

3.24

Homepage

www.linotux.ch/

www.inkscape.org/

www.koffice.org/

www.openoffice.org

http://sketch.

www.sodipodi.com

www.xfig.org

gestalter/

karbon/

sourceforge.net

License

GPL

Open-Source-License

Interface language

Multiple

English

Drawing Tools

Poly line

Bezier curve

Freestyle line

–

Rectangle

Ellipse

Text tool

Advanced functions

Gradients

–

Transparency

–

Grouping of objects

Layers

–

Document formating

Arbitrary page size

–

Multi-page documents –

–

Units

point, inch, cm,

point, mm, cm,

cm, mm, point,

mm, cm, m, km,

point, inch, cm,

point, mm, cm,

cm, inch

mm, pica

m, inch

inch, pica, didot,

inch, foot, mile, pica,

m, inch

cicero

point

Hair-cross cursor

–

Grid

–

(1)

Snap to Grid

–

(1)

–

(1)

Snap lines

–

Data exchange

Import

SVG

Adobe Illustrator,

Kontour, SVG, Adobe Adobe Photoshop,

eps, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Illustrator,

–

EPS, DIA, Skencil,

Illustrator, XML, WMF, Autocad, BMP, CGM,

SVG (2)

EPS, DIA, Skencil,

SVG, WMF and many MS Office drawing,

EPS, GIF, JPEG, Kodak

SVG, WMF and various

Bitmap formats

Photo-CD, MacPict,

bitmap formats

OS/2 Metafiles, PCX,

PGM, PNG, Portable

Bitmap, PPM, Sun raster

file, TGA, TIF, WMF, XBM,

XPM

Export

SVG

Adobe Illustrator,

EPS, Gimp, Adobe

BMP, EMF, EPS, GIF,

WMF, PDF (2), PS,

Adobe Illustrator,

GIF, HGL, JPEG, latex,

EPS, PS

Illustrator, WMF

JPEG, MacPict, OS/2 CGM, SVG (2)

EPS, PS

PCX, PIC, PNG, PPM,

Metafiles, PDF, PGM,

TIF, XBM, XPM

PNG, Portable Bitmap,

PPM, Sun raster file, SVG,

TIF, WMF, X PM

User Support

Online help

–

HTML (English)

Manual

–

HTML, PDF (English)

(1) Planned, (2) Using plugins

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October 2004

KNOW HOW

Vector Graphics Programs

Figure 5: Skencil’s Tcl/Tk-based GUI looks slightly ancient.

Figure 6: The Sodipodi user interface is modeled on the Gimp.

Sodipodi gives you a stable program that

integrates well with the Gnome desktop,

although it lacks help at present.

Conclusion

The range of drawing programs has

improved greatly over the last few years,

although we still haven’t found the all-

round program we were looking for.

OpenOffice Draw has the best range of

features, and can be used for more or

less any task. If you mainly need to cre-

ate technical drawings, and can live with

the restriction to a single page of draw-

ing, Skencil could be your program of

choice.

In contrast to OpenOffice Draw, Sken-

cil performs quite well on older

hardware. Inkscape is probably the best

of the rest and has developed into a

clear-cut, but powerful illustration tool

in a very short time. This is obviously

one to keep an eye on for the future.

Xfig

Xfig [11] will be celebrating its twentieth

birthday next year; that makes xfig it a

lot older than Linux and almost every

Linux distro includes it (see Figure 8).

Although xfig is old as Methuselah, at

least for a computer program, the devel-

opment and maintenance work has just

kept on going. The tools are grouped in a

tool bar on the left-hand border of the

program window, although it is not

immediately apparent what tools the

icons actually represent.

Xfig has the major geometrical shapes;

it supports text input, and can assign

various text formats. Xfig has multi-layer

support, and a variety of line types and

thicknesses.

The xfig format

is still quite wide-

spread in the

Linux world, but

the program can

also handle files in

a variety of vector

and pixel formats,

to support the

exchange of data

with other pro-

grams. The online

help and the PDF-

formated manual

are well designed

and will answer

most users’ ques-

tions.

Figure 7: Sodipodi has a wide range of text for-

mating features.

Xfig is good for graphics, wiring

diagrams and drawings. Graphics can

be exported to documents that use

the LaTeX typesetting program. If you

do not like the Xfig interface, you can

always try Figurine [12]. The program

supports xfig graphic manipulation

tasks with an interface similar to the

Gimp.

■

INFO

Figure 8: Xfig is the great granddaddy of all drawing programs for Unix and

Linux.

[1] Gestalter:

http://www.linotux.ch/gestalter/

[2] gtkmm: http://www.gtkmm.org/

[3] gnomemm:

http://gtkmm.sourceforge.net

[4] libsigc++: http://libsigc.sourceforge.net

[5] Inkscape: http://www.inkscape.org

[6] Karbon14:

http://www.koffice.org/karbon/

[7] OpenOffice.org: http://www.openoffice.

org

[8] Sketch: http://sketch.sourceforge.net

[9] Sodipodi: http://www.sodipodi.com

[10]Gnome Office:

http://www.gnome.org/gnome-office/

[11] Xfig: http://www.xfig.org

[12] Figurine: http://figurine.sourceforge.net

October 2004

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