Is there a way to draw tapered brushstrokes with the line tool? I want to try doing tattoo-style shading with tapered lines but I can't see a way to do that in inkscape. I remember there is a way to set a triangle to the path or something but I forgot how to do it. I want a tapered line stroke sort of like a paintbrush stroke or something, but straight with the line tool.

well I sort of thought of a way just now... I could just draw a long triangle without a stroke and then duplicated a bunch of times and strech it to the size I want it, but that seems like a lot of work.

In the development version you can choose this option under Pencil tool, in the version I use I see these optiones for it: Triangle In, Triangle out, Ellipse and From Clipboard. Then last one means you can use any object to be applied to the line you draw.

Here's a screenshot I posted elsewhere on this forum, the first 2 lines were drawn using Pencil and the other 2 Pen tool.




In the 0.45 version (and in 0.46 you also have it under Path effects) you can draw a very thin triangle, then draw a curve, and use Pattern along path effect, see here
http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gal ... ngpath.png

Pattern-along-path, thats what you're looking for.

Incase you're wondering how it works (pretty sure you'll find more info on the forums if you do a search on it) then:
- Make the tapered shape (a triangle in most cases)
- Select the triangle and go to edit -> copy (ctrl + C)
- Now, select the line that you want to apply the tapered shape to
- Go to Path -> Path Effects (Ctrl + Shift + 7), a new dialog will open up
- Select "Pattern along path" from the drop down list, and hit 'apply' and new options will appear
- In the 'Pattern Source" area, you'll see three icons, select the clipboard icon on the far-right (it'll say 'paste path' when you move your mouse over it)
- Now the triangle shape is applied to the stroke! (if you drew the triangle vertically, then click the "pattern is vertical" option)
- If you want to modify the triangle shape, click on the "edit-on-canvas" button (looks like but its in the filter effects dialog). With it selected, your original triangle will show up and you can modify it.

You'll notice the the original line is still editable with the tool, but it might get deformed if you flip or rotate it. You can select it and then go to Path -> Object to Path (Shift + Ctrl + C) to make the changes permanent.

prkos wrote:In the development version you can choose this option under Pencil tool, in the version I use I see these optiones for it: Triangle In, Triangle out, Ellipse and From Clipboard. Then last one means you can use any object to be applied to the line you draw.

Here's a screenshot I posted elsewhere on this forum, the first 2 lines were drawn using Pencil and the other 2 Pen tool.




In the 0.45 version (and in 0.46 you also have it under Path effects) you can draw a very thin triangle, then draw a curve, and use Pattern along path effect, see here
http://www.inkscape.org/screenshots/gal ... ngpath.png

Awesome... That was exactly what I was looking for... I forgot that feature existed in the new version. Thanks

Is this listed on the inkscape wiki yet?

how much longer before the new version is out!?