Hi All.
I hope somebody can help. I am really very new here. Until yesterday, I have never used a vector graphics program. So please excuse stupid questions.
I did the "Basic" tutorial on the Inkspace website. No Problems. Then I went to the next chapter on "Shapes"
"shapes worked fine in chapter one, but now they keep disappearing. All except "Spiral", which makes me think "Fill" and "Stroke" are set to "No fill" and "No stroke".
So I try to set a color fill and a solid line stroke, but still, all I get is the outline, with corner or center markers. Even these disappear when I click elsewhere on the page.
I use Windows 7.
Please remember that I'm a total novice at this, so kindly keep answers simple.
Many thanx.
Mahttp://www.inkscapeforum.com/posting. ... t&f=5#rtin.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

There are a few things to look for when you draw and nothing shows up. First draw a new object. Without deselecting it, look at the bottom left corner of the window. There are fill and stroke indicators, as well opacity and layer indicators. If you click on any color from the palette, does the fill indicator show that the object is the color you clicked? If it doesn't, and it shows a checkerboard pattern, open Object menu > Fill and Stroke > Fill tab. Look at the bar labelled A. Make sure it's all the way to the right and value is 255. If the fill indicator does show the color, look at the O value (opacity). Does it show 0 or 100? Make sure it's 100.

If you've checked all that, open Layers menu > Layers. Check the opacity for that layer. It should be 100%. Still no joy? If there are multiple layers, you might be trying to draw on a locked or hidden layer. Make sure the proper layer is selected. Probably you only have one layer though. If you've done all that, and still have the problem we might need to look at the SVG file. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11753

Let us know how it goes

Many thanx Brynn. You were right about the opacity. Once I moved that over, my rectangle was there. Stroke was still missing, but after a lot of playing around I found it was the thickness which was at zero. Then I had rounded corners, I kept on selecting the sharp corner in the stroke style box, but in the end discovered I needed to move the one small handle in the top right hand corner of the rectangle. Not as easy as I was hoping for, but I need it, so will press on with the tutorials.
Just wondering: is there not a setting somewhere, that will put all settings back to original? Especially when starting a new document or drawing.
Thanx again, you were a great help.
Martin.

Hi Martin,
You're welcome In the end, I suspect the time you spend learning how to use Inkscape will be worth the investment.

For the rounded rectangle corners, there's another, perhaps more precise way to make them sharp again, if your work requires precision. Dragging the handles works ok, but they could still be so slightly rounded that you don't notice it. With the Rectangle tool engaged, look at the tool control bar. The rightmost button is Make Corners Sharp. If you've dragged the handles and not gotten them all the way back, that button will be activated, and you can click it to automatically make the corners sharp. If you dragged the handles and the corners are completely sharp, that button is grayed out, and can't be clicked.

Some tools have a "Reset Parameters to Defaults" button, which I think is always the rightmost button (on tool control bar), on those tools which have one. So that's one way to approach the problem.....except that not all tools have a default button.

The other way requires some tweaking of settings in Inkscape Preferences. If you double-click on any tool, it opens Inkscape Preferences to that tool's settings. (Or you can open through File menu.) All the shape tools, and several other kinds of tools allow you to choose whether you want the next object drawn to have the style of the last drawn object (color, stroke width, opacity, etc.); or whether you want that tool to always draw the same style; and you can also set the always drawn style. The default when you first open Inkscape, is the former.

To have it always draw in the same style, first draw an object with the tool and give it the style that you want it to always draw. Leave it selected and open Inks Prefs for that tool. Choose "This tool's own style", then click the long bar that says "Take From Selection". That's it! Well, that's it, except that if you're like me, you'll need to do that for all the tools that offer it.

Personally I think the default is rather silly (last drawn/next drawn) and can't imagine many situations where that would be helpful. And it certainly is frustrating for new users, as you've seen.

Anyway, after doing those tutorials, I would recommend Help menu > Inkscape manual > Quick Start. That's a small collection of tutorials, which show how to use the basic features in "real life" situations.

Have fun

Many thanx Brynn.
Cheers.
Martin.