Inkscape is an open source cross-platform vector graphics editor. Inkscape 1.2, released on May 16, 2022, is the first major release of 2022. It includes a large number of changes, including multi-page support, batch exports, performance improvements and more.
Inkscape 1.2
Inkscape 1.2 is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS devices. The program is free and open source. Windows users may run into SmartScreen warnings when they run the installer; this is a false positive, likely because the executable file is new.
One of the main new features of Inkscape is support for multiple pages. Inkscape users may activate the “new page” icon after selecting the Page Tool in the interface to add pages to the current document.
Each page may have different dimensions; the selected dimension is applied automatically to the new page when the button is activated.
The application’s interface has seen several improvements. Context menus display only items that are available at the time. Items that are not available are no longer grayed out, but removed to help users find actions quicker.
The color palette and the Swatches dialog has been overhauled as well in the release. A preview line for the selected color palette is shown now when you switch palettes in the interface. It is now possible to display up to 5 palette rows in the interface.
Tools can be hidden from the toolbar under Edit > Preferences > Interface > Toolbars. Another change allows users to change the width of the toolbar.
Here are other changes in the new Inkscape release:
- Extract images, a command to save images, supports multiple images in Inkscape 1.2.
- Dithering is used when exporting raster images and displaying gradients on canvas; this is done to reduce gradient banding. Inkscape users may turn Dithering off under Preferences > Rendering > Use dithering.
- Extensions installed via the Extensions Manager do not require a restart of Inkscape anymore.
- Panning and Zooming performance improvements, as well as general performance improvements on Mac devices.
- Page shadows look more realistic.
- Default color of pages is white, and the default desk color is light gray. This has been done to make the differentiation between what is on and outside of a page easier.
- Snap bar was replaced with a popover-dialog.
- Two new on-canvas snapping modes added. The new modes make “aligning and distributing objects a very easy drag-and-drop operation”.
- Size of guide handles is adjustable.
- The tools pen, pencil, text and tweak tool use the last used style by default.
- Mass value of the Eraser tool has been increased.
- Default font unit for Text is pt.
- Lasso selection has two new features: node deselection and inverted node selection.
- The layers and objects dialog has been merged.
- New Tiling Live Path effect.
- Option to import SVG images from Open Clipart, Wikimedia Commons and other online sources added.
You can check out the entire release notes here.
Closing Words
Inkscape 1.2 adds a massive list of features and improvements to the graphics editor.
Now You: which image editors do you use?
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