Hi

This is my first query. Hoping it's a simple one, but I have been trying to work out what I'm doing wrong with this for days. I've gone through the online manuals and searched the tutorials for relevant examples, but I just can't seem to make it work!

I have two separate, but related problems and they're both to do with colouring a drawing that I've been working on in Inkscape. I think I'll just start with one here and see how I go and whether it answers both questions anyway.

With the first one, I have scanned in some paper cut outs to create my original drawings, so they are solid objects. They were originally used for screen prints, and that is the effect I want to keep - just solid colour in the shapes that I've scanned in - very simple. They started off black with a white background. They were about the second thing I ever did with Inkscape (and before I finished going through tutorials, etc) so all I did after scanning them in was use the paintbucket to colour them.

Now I want to change the colour of one of the items. It is repeated quite a few times in the overall design, and I want to change the colour in every instance, so I thought I would just use "extensions > color > change color". I looked up the hex value of my original colour and of the new one and tried it. It doesn't seem to work. In fact, in this doc when I click on the item I want to recolour and then look to find out the hex value (using fill and stroke) it says that no colour is selected.

Is this because I filled it originally using the paint bucket and not just by filling an object - like I can do with a square or similar that I have drawn in the program (rather then scanned in)? Is there a way to change this design now to one that I can colour by just clicking on each object in it? I have tried everything I can think of for this.

I finally just went to recolour it all by tipping a new bucket of paint over each of the pics that I want recoloured, but that doesn't work now either, because although it does recolour the object, it is putting the colour on top of the old colour. I need the new colour to have a little bit of transparency, and when I change the transparency of the new colour using fill and stroke, I just get the old colour showing through.

So how do I do this? Suggestions? Hope my explanation is clear. If it helps to picture what I'm talking about re the design, I scanned in two different flowers cut from paper and a bird, they were each made different colours using the paint bucket. Then I copied each one numerous times and arranged them so they overlap in some places (hence needing transparency). This is repeated to make a design to cover yards of fabric. I just don't like the bird colour so want to change that. I am pretty sure the correct way to change colour is with "replace color" but I just can't get it to happen, so I'm wondering if I need to change something in the format of it all or if there is some other way I can change my original artwork to make it easier to change the palette in future too.

Try this :

Select together all your instances of the same object

Go to Filters/Color and click on Tritone (they will be all colored in lilac)

Now open Filters/Filter Editor and select each instance separately. For each one in Filter Editor click on "Flood" in the list you see in Effect and Connections Window

Click on the Flood Color Tab below

Now you can change your color with all the tools of the new dialog box.

It works on all kind of objects, vector or bitmap.

ivan

Oh, instructions from the master -- how lucky you are, tomatojam!
You should definitely try what ivan louette has suggested, as that is probably the best solution.

I was going to suggest converting your basic shapes into vector, and using Fill, rather than Paint Bucket. Then you can change colors to your heart's desire, and never see the previous color peeking out from below. But definitely give ivan's idea a try, as it is probablly the best solution

(PS - ivan, I PM'd you a while back, but now I'm guessing that address is expired. Would you mind PMing me?)

Thanks for the replies. It looks as though it should work using your method Ivan - thank you.

I got through the first three steps with no problems except for as described below (ie, up to click on "flood"), but I can't see the "Flood Color Tab" then.

There is one little issue when I try to do that though. When I select all instances of the object (using the selector tool and holding down shift) and then click on Tritone, it turns every object that the selected objects touch to a shade of lilac. I've only actually selected the ones I want to change, but they are overlapping with others so the colour change seems to flow in.

I tried then doing the whole process with each object individually - selected, changed to tritone, etc, and that seemed to work, but as I said, I couldn't find a Flood Color Tab so I then tried the paint bucket to fill and it did fill with a nice translucent colour, but again, the colour flowed into anything that the object to be changed was touching. I'm guessing the paint bucket wasn't the way to make the colour change after everything else?

I then moved the object away from everything else to change it's colour, and then did the procedure with just the one instance of the object, and that was great - good colour, etc. When I moved it back though, there were two copies of the object to move, so when I only move the one with the colour I want in it (which I thought would solve everything, and then I was just going to copy it freshly and replace all of the others) I get the "shadow" of the shapes from beside it showing through - the issue I asked about in my other question.

I'm sure it's just that I did it all the wrong way to start with and I should probably start from scratch. If I can start with my original scanned in images should I use "trace bitmap"? If I do that, can I just colour them by clicking on them and then change them easily? If I can solve the issue with them overlapping (from the other message) I'll be happy to do that so they'll be easy to change again in future. It is such a simple design that it seems silly to fiddle with it all rather then just start again.

Hmmm ... Can I just attache the files using the "upload attachments" tab in the post message page, or do I need to upload the images to an image hosting service then insert them as images? I'll try attaching the original file and the one I've just been playing with as attachments so that you can see but please let me know if that isn't the way to do it.

So re the uploaded files - I am trying to change the dark red of the bird colour to something a lot lighter - a kind of light mauve colour.

BTW, I'm considering just leaving the whole thing in the lilac it goes from tritone as another option - nice colours for this purpose!

Okay, I just went to each original scanned jpg and started with that, used "trace bitmap" and then recoloured them, moved the opacity down to near 70% and put them into the one picture then by adding a layer and importing the image for the second and third images. I changed the blend mode to Multiply. The whole process was really easy and the colouring is easy, but now I have the problem that I wrote about in my separate question - with the overlap of the images showing.

Is there a way to stop that?

Thanks so much for the help so far. I really appreciate it.

Fiona

Hi again tomatojam,
I replied in the other topic, but it helps seeing exactly what's happening, and even easier to have the SVG that I can examine directly.

You're asking about the bird, how it looks like there is something under it, 2 rectangles under it (at least 2), right? I can't explain exactly how it happened, but somehow that problem "came with" the shapes. Because there is absolutely nothing else there behind it. That image contains only those 3 objects period. But as I was playing around with your image, I found that if I moved the bird to its own layer, and left the layer Normal mode, that mysterious stuff underneath disappeared.

What I would suggest, instead of using Multiply in all the layers, change one, 2, or all or them to normal, and try to achieve the effect you want with opacity. You'll need to move the bird from the root layer, to probably a layer above the flowers. Although you'll have to play around with it. I found that I could get something pretty close. (For example, leaving the bird alone, changing the 2 flower layers to normal got rid of the problem. Then adjust opacity. Or make the bird layer normal and leave the flower on multiply. Or once I switched the flower layers, and only needed to change one of them to normal. Etc.)

So you'll have to experiment to see if you can get something you like. But I think the multiply mode is the culprit....or rather the solution. Somehow those shapes are the culprit, where they came from, how they were traced, I'm not sure. Maybe someone else will know how to create them without that anomaly. Maybe trace them by hand instead of trace bitmap?

Also, there's one other thing I wanted to show you. There are some sort of rogue nodes in the 2 flower objects, that you'll probably want to delete. And now that I think of it, they could be related to whatever is causing the problem. Maybe you can investigate further, now that you know about it. So here is a screen shot of the bird on it's own layer, just to show you what I did. Plus do you see the cluster of nodes on the yellow flower, that lie just outside the page border? There are similar nodes on the green one. Unless they are there for a reason, I'm thinking you'll want to delete them.



Well, I guess I didn't technically solve the problem, but this is a fix, in any case. And I'm pretty sure you'll be able to settle on something you like, even though it won't be exactly the same as now.

I do hope this helps, but if not, just reply again, and I or someone will try again
All best.

Thanks again brynn.

This stuff sure can eat up the hours in the day, can't it? Anyway, I think I'm happy with what I've got now. I have taken bits of the advice (and in the process learnt heaps that I'll be able to apply to other situations) and added a bit more experimentation, and I'm really pleased with my current result.

I drew a box closely over each of the flowers and used Intersection to get rid of a lot of the space that was included in the rectangle with each of the flowers. I couldn't work out why the rectangles had ended up so big, but it must have been from the "rogue nodes" that you found. I'm wondering if they were even just from something like a smudge on my scanner that I hadn't noticed with my bare eyes before?? Anyway, they were gone after I cropped the flowers using intersection, so that was solved.

Then, as I had all the separate files open, rather then adding layers and importing each graphic, I just cut and pasted each one from the separate inkscape windows. Surprise - no overlap shadow bit. Perhaps that's because it got around me using multiply or something? I'm not sure, and I did think I'd tried doing that before, but for some reason it was fine this time - perhaps because they were all traced??? And when I opened the exported bitmap in a different program to change the format, I could see that everything that wasn't one of my coloured shapes was completely clear, so that is what I wanted (and will now also allow me to add colour to the background I think - something to play with once I get through some other work that I've been putting off all day).

You know, I've been through all the tutorials that come with inkscape and a heap of others that are linked from here and from the inkscape site, but there is so much to it all. It's been a steep learning curve this last month.

BTW, I have now often been tracing with the pen or other tools rather then using the automatic trace bitmap function with other pics. I would quite likely do that in future. I had just wanted to keep this looking "fresh" like a paper cut out screen print, so I didn't want to play with tidying up curves etc. There is another design that goes with it too, using some of the shapes, so I didn't want it to be changed too obviously from the original.

*brain explodes*

Wow,... that was quite some reading.... admittedly, I couldn't finish it all.... ^^;

Inkscape can be kind-of sort-of a drawing tool, but it's not really optimized for that purpose and I'm not sure if these tutorials are explaining that properly as many of the new posts I've seen here come from users approaching this from a more traditional standpoint and rightly getting stuck. I may have to look at the tutorials eventually myself, maybe even restart my own tutorial on how to "sculpt" with Inkscape, lol. ^___^'

I don't know what to say, so I'll draw it instead. Attached is the bird and flower thing, but with a new layer called "Geometric" that includes the same shapes but created with geometric shapes, the Pen Tool, and a few other tricks.

It also contains the source shapes used for some of these creations.

For example, the yellow flower was constructed with a rounded rectangle , converted into a regular path using . I bring the center nodes closer to get that "pinched" look and tweak the nodes of the petals so they look a little more rounded. This single shape gives me two petals -- utilizng , I duplicate one (CTRL+D), rotate it, the duplicate that and rotate (or flip that one into the remaining position). Finally, I select all three shapes, and hit CTRL+SHIFT++ (or Path>Union) to make it all into a single shape.

The green flower is comprised of a series of circles -- one circle , duplicated several times and moved using -- to form the petal ends, interlocked to give me a nice "ring of circles". I draw a much larger circle in the middle to cover up the white space, then I select all and do a CTRL+SHIFT++ to convert it all into a single green shape. I rinse and repeat to form a slightly smaller "inner flower", then select both green and inner flower, and do CTRL+SHIFT+- (or Path>Difference) to have the inner flower "cut" into the big green flower.

The bird I drew using the Pen Tool , since its an amorphic chape. When clicking on a node that is part of a curve, be sure to hold and drag to produce the bezier handle on the spot, before proceeding to create the next node. That way, even if you have to go back and tweak it, at least it will save you some time. ^^b

Hardly a mirror-image of the hand-drawn version, but this "Lego-like" approach took me about 7 minutes, give or take.

Wow c-quel, thanks for taking the time to do those pics. As I'm learning more about inkscape I am using the tools it has - the shapes and pen etc to create my images more. Looking forward to knowing the tools well enough to do a super simple flower in "about 7 minutes" as you have done (and had fun with the star shape in creating various things like that) but I'm sure that will come. Certainly nice even just using the pen and bezier tools to have it all automatically smooth out and to be able to play with adding and taking away nodes and moving them around - I'm completely new to this and am learning a lot.

This pic and my other earlier ones though were all done before I learnt about doing all of that, and I've actually had a bit of interest from people in them as fabric designs (I think some of the appeal might be that they are a bit "rough"), so my problem now is playing with those earlier images and doing things like making co-ordinating fabrics, without having the new pics/co-ordinates seem "too smooth" - ie they need to look hand drawn to match. So I'm doing a combination of using the new things I've learnt on new designs and still a bit of hand drawing/cutting and scanning with just a bit of "tidying up" in inkscape to do those designs. At the same time, I've started some completely new ones that I start in inkscape - using the tools there to draw them.

Anyway, just rambling now (I type fast so often write way too much - as you've seen from my previous posts). Thanks again for all your help.

Coolness. ^^b

I can definitely see how the hand-drawn look would be essential, and lately I've been experimenting with getting quick amorphous shapes and textures done in Inkscape (although admittedly, it is best served with a tablet, lol). ^___^

Here's a recent example of mine that uses a little bit of everything, from embedded PNGs to scattered dotted lines, but also very conservative use of filters and blurring (since I often draw on a netbook, I don't want to tax the poor thing unnecessarily). ^^

http://c-quel.deviantart.com/art/BSD-Visual-Novel-Main-Menu-143015232

Source:
http://pigux.com/deviant/source/mainmenu.svg

And just for fun, you might want to check out my Snowman "half tutorial". ^___^'

http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=19454#p19454

Feel free to poke fun at my mouse raster-drawing abilities -- you can kinda see there why I fled crying over to vector graphics and never looked back, lol.

Actually, I got a tablet, which has been what has helped me to "cross over" into starting my design rather then with a scanned in drawing.

Love the pic that you linked to. Can you give me a rough idea how long it takes you to do something like that?

I had a tablet back in my old raster days, stopped using it around the time I got more comfortable with Inkscape, but now using it again for more advanced stuff. It's like a fashion trend, I reckon, but I am happier using it since that way I feel I get my money's worth. ^^;

Hmmm.... hard to really say since I cheated an awful lot with that drawing. The background, for example, is a free PNG downloaded online. The text is of course text. The texturing on the sandwich and basket rely on the Pencil tool, a dotted stroke, a gradient, variable transparencies, and the Simplify command to prevent it from bloating up the image size. The basket weave itself is a pattern fill, with gradient lighting and a clipped layer on top used to trick the eye into seeing a "bulge" (despite the fact that a closer look will reveal it's all the same weave pattern, lol). The tablecloth pattern was done with variable-width strokes, all converted to paths and tweaked a little further, with a Cloud Filter overlay just to break it up a little....

And of course the girls are just a collection of shapes utilizing what I call "thin-lining" -- a method to hide the fact that no variable-width lines are used.

Cumulatively, with fuss and muss, I would say this could be about 6-8 hours worth of work nonstop, that taking into consideration that you may not have time (or inspiration) to do this all in one shot, so you might need to break it up a few hours each day.

Looking forward to knowing the tools well enough to do a super simple flower in "about 7 minutes" as you have done (and had fun with the star shape in creating various things like that)

Oh, for flowers, don't miss the Spirograph rendering extension (Extension menu > Render > Spirograph! It does take a lot of experimentation, at least that's how it is for me, because the math behind those spirograms is WAY over my head. So I just put in numbers blindly and wait for the surprise on the canvas! (If you have to wait over a minute, close the dialog, as you have asked too much of your machine, and Inkscape may crash.) Or I'd be glad to send you some spirograms, or even some files -- I've easily made 100s of them, it's a passion

Also, speaking of fabrics, I've just dived into the new (in 0.47) Filter Editor, with the goal of creating fabric textures. None now currently exist, as far as I know, except for the Tartan one, which really is more of a pattern. So if I can figure out that editor, I hope to contribute a bunch of different fabric textures to the community. And if I ever reach my goal (or someone else beats me to it) you could take your images which you intend to apply to real fabric, overlay a fabric texture, and get some idea what the finished product will look like. Talk about serendipity! (Although I just had cataract surgery yesterday, on one eye, with the other eye left to do in a few weeks. So it will be a while before I can seriously make any progress. But I can't wait for my eyes to heal!)

Anyway, I'm glad you got it worked out

You're all a bad influence (hope you can detect my sarcastic tone)! I'm suppose to be getting other stuff done, and now I'm playing with spirographs, reading tutorials for creating all sorts of different things, and reading through more archives here!

Really though, thanks for all the tips and help. Right now I have to just walk away from the computer and try to stay away just until I cross a couple more things off my list, then I can come back and play with all of this some more.