Can some layers be set to Outline?

[dzurn]

I'm drawing on top of a photo as a background template, with the photo in a locked bottom layer.

As I draw, I give the path the proper fill so it looks realistic.

Is there a way to change a single layer to outlines so i can check against the photo? If I view as outlines, then the photo is also outlined as a plain box! (not so useful).

I suppose I can just click the visibility of the drawing layer to check how it looks, but I'd like to check my drawn lines against the photos' edges.

Thanks
Darryl Z

[brynn]

Welcome Darryl Z!

I've done a lot of tracing outlines from photos or raster images, and creating a photorealistic image.  I was just working on a long term project of mine, doing just that.

No, there's no way to only have certain layers in outline mode.  Although that might make for a nice new feature (imo), if anyone wanted to formally request it.

I usually draw all my outlines first.  First I draw them in rough, at 100% zoom, then next I go back and fine tune them while zoomed in.  Then for the last steps, I add color, usually remove the strokes, and adjust the transparency, and/or use gradients for the fills.  I'm very careful about setting up the layers and sub-layers, so that with one click on 1 layer's visibility, I close off all my drawing layers, to view the photo again.  I often click them off and on 10 or 15 times, trying to get the color, transparency and shape, for each object, just right.  And with this new renderer in 0.91, I have to do it even more!

(As much as I'm SO happy with the new renderer that Inkscape acquired new in 0.91, because I can work on larger images, before I reach the limits of my RAM, it seems to have taken away the ability to see the pixels, which I rely on to locate the precise edges of of shapes, and to get accurate colors (with Dropper tool).  Even viewing raster images or photos, there are no pixels to be seen, even zoomed in to 25,600%!!  So I may have to tweak my workflow for that.  And I guess I'll have to go back to 0.48.5 to finish my in-progress drawings.      I might even have to give up photorealistic drawing, because it's impossible to find the precise edges of objects, when the colors are quite similar!   :sadb:)

Or maybe it would help you to go back to 0.48.5?  When the pixels are visible, you would not need to see your vector outlines against the photo.  You can zoom in, enough to see the pixels, select an object with the Node tool, then turn off the layer visibility, and you can see where the nodes are relative to the pixels.  With 0.91, it becomes much more important to be able to see your vector path against the photo, and maybe viewing in outline mode per layer becomes more important!

[brynn]

Update!

Ok, I found out, if you import the image, and use "Blocky" option, you can still have the pixels.  Hooray!

I guess for my old image, I would just have to import the photo again.  Hopefully I can re-align it properly....

[dzurn]

Thanks, Brynn! I guess I'll follow your suggestion and get the outlines all done before settling into filling the paths.

Odd that the new renderer would try to never show pixels! Forcing antialiasing like that is, IMHO, tampering with the drawing, and it should be possible to turn it off instead of getting anti-alias when you obviously don't want it. 

Darryl

[brynn]

Hi Darryl,
Oh, well I found out more since then.  I guess I forgot to update this topic.

You don't even have to re-import the image.  You can go to Object Properties > Image Rendering, and change to "optimizeBlocky".  And it does, in fact, return the image to it's orignal pixelization.  Precisely the same!

I've tried to use my old routine on raster images imported with the new renderer.  And I guess it would be possible.  Maybe if you never learned to do this with pixels, you would find a good routine that works for you.  But for me, I found it quite hard to estimate the boundaries of shapes, when the colors are quite similar.  With pixels, it's easy, because you see the clear "boxes".

Anyway, good luck