Translation Statistics

We're nearing string freeze, and here is our current translation status, averaging about 49%:

Interface translation is a great way to help Inkscape! Please see our Translation Information page for details on how to get involved, and ask questions on the Inkscape-Translator@ mailing list.

Tango Icon Theme

Michael Grosberg has produced a tango themed iconset for Inkscape. We're still bouncing ideas around on the list to optimize them, and there is not yet a consensus favoring switching to them as the default, but we hope to include them as an alternative in the Inkscape release.

New Feature: Angled Guidelines

A feature that has been requested for a long time, Angled Guidelines have been implemented by Johan. They will be usable in the next release (0.46) of Inkscape.

All guidelines are "angled", horizontal and vertical guidelines being angled at 0 or 90 degrees. To change to a different angle, just double-click the guideline you want to change and enter the values. You can also create a guideline with another angle by dragging the guideline from the ends of the rulers.

You can read the release notes for more information.

Inkscape 0.46 Frost Begins

December 21, 2007

We've made huge progress towards the Chill goals, and are now ready to move into the Frost phase.

Development is winding down, although we are granting a few frost exceptions to allow continued work for another week or so in specific areas (see below). 'make distcheck' issues have been sufficiently resolved (thanks Ted and Aaron!) Bug report triaging has gone smashingly well. The About Screen contest has kicked off. We still need to put some attention into the release notes, tutorials, and other docs, but I doubt there's any issues preventing us from moving ahead.

In the Frost phase, our objectives are as follows:

• Complete frost exception development work.
• Focus should be on bug fixes, packaging, documentation, and translation work, all of which may be committed to SVN normally.
• Gain some candidate submissions for the About Screen contest.
• Release Notes should be >90% filled in.
• Bug Hunt (details TBD)
• Post inkscape-0.46-alpha.tar.gz

The length of time we stay in Frost mode is driven by how long the Bug Hunt takes, but is expected to take on the order of a few weeks.

The Frost Exceptions for remaining features are as follows:

1. Angled guidelines, by J.B.C.Engelen (DONE): Underlying code is complete, and guidelines are rendering, but it needs a UI to allow manipulating them.
2. Python module packaging (lxml, numpy) for OSX, by jiho (ETA ___): Needs wider testing. Needs someone to build PPC packages.
3. Compilation of lib2geom on OS X 10.3 (Panther), by John Faith (ETA ___): An error is preventing builds for Panther versions of Inkscape. If this can't be resolved before release, the alternative is to drop support for this OS version.
4. Font Spec Implementation, by Gail Carmichael (DONE). Refactor patch to include some code review changes by Bulia. Also, the patch needs wider testing.
5. Win32 Uninstaller improvement, by Adib (DONE). Fix current installer to not bug user for each changed file.
6. PDF, PS export improvements, by Adib (ETA Jan 3). Implement blur as bitmap, and display a dialog with options for text-to-path, blur-as-bitmap, alpha-as-bitmap. UPDATE: Option dialog for PDF/PS exports using cairo are implemented (PDF1.4 and PS3 only). Text-to-path works, for blur as bitmap need help with converting SPItem from vector to image, alpha as bitmap being done implicitly by Cairo. UPDATE 1/13: Blur as bitmap is still in progress. Dialogs and text as path are now done.
7. Clone Tiling dialog, by Tavmjong Bah (DONE): Add a few options to Shift, Scaling, and Rotation tabs. (TBD: Bug updating blur via Blur/Opacity tab.) (Also, TBD later: some small changes for default values for turbulence and composite filters.)

Feature changes in SVN for things not on this list should be done on a branch. Any feature work not in this list committed to SVN during the Frost period may be reverted by any developer. Bug fixes, translation work, documentation updates, and packaging development may continue to be committed as normal, no permission needed yet.

About Screen Contest

December 19, 2007

The Inkscape team and community is proud to announce the About Screen contest for the upcoming release of Inkscape (0.46).

The contest begins on December 22, 2007 and the deadline is January 6th, 2008. As with the past few contests we've had, it is being done on DeviantART. You can find out more about it at Inkscape's Deviant Art site.

Additionally, if you have a DeviantART account, please show the news some "love" so we can hopefully get the story promoted to the front page.

Good Luck! Have fun! Draw Freely.

Bug Triage Update

December 11, 2007

New Bugs

Since swapping to Launchpad for tracking bugs late last month, there has been a lot of progress gained on triaging the 1800 or so open bugs. By far the biggest task is reviewing the bugs with the status of "NEW". When we switched to Launchpad, the percentage of bugs that were "NEW" was nearly 100%, but at the time of writing, the Inkscape Bug Team has reduced this number to 80%. To the left is a graph depicting the progress of The Inkscape Bug Team's triaging of the "NEW" bugs over the past week.

Open Bugs

Our number of open bugs has also seen a sharp drop, with over 100 bugs closed since we switched; mainly due to bug triagers cleaning out invalid or obsolete bugs. If you're interested in joining the Inkscape Bug Team, please join via Launchpad and read the current list of Triaging Projects on the wiki

Inkscape enters Chill for 0.46 Release

We're entering the first step of our release process for 0.46. For the Chill phase, we'll be focusing on the following:

• Development focuses on wrapping up
• Identify 'make distcheck' issues
• Triage bug reports
• Run an About Screen contest
• First draft of Release Notes
• Update tutorials and other docs

If you're interested in joining in on the release process fun, please join the inkscape-devel@ mailing list or IRC and let someone know what you'd like to help with!

The broader Inkscape community is expanding

Recent times has seen rapid expansion of the broader Inkscape community and resources (way beyond the "official" channels of the mailing list, wiki and website). Many individuals are now publishing and participating in blogs, tutorials, forums and other online community groups that are focused on Inkscape and it's use. Below is a quick wrap up of the multitude of resources makes up the broader Inkcape Community:

• Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program
• The Inkscape Tutorials Blog
• Nicu's Howto
• screencasters.heathenx.org
• Inkscape Tutorials at pixel2life

• Inkscape Forum
• German Inkscape Forum
• Inkscape Brasil Forum
• French Inkscape Forum

• Inkscape Facebook Group
• Inkscape Mugshot Group
• a Inkscape DeviantArt Group
• another Inkscape DeviantArt Group

Inkscape Switches to Launchpad Bug Tracker

We've been talking about upgrading our bug tracker capabilities for some time now, and last night the switch was finally made. We are now using Launchpad for tracking Inkscape bugs, patches, and feature requests.

If you'd like to help Inkscape, you are welcome to join the Inkscape Bugs Team. Being on the team gives you added capabilities for managing Inkscape bugs.

Another great way to help Inkscape, even if you're not a technical person, is to participate in bug triaging. It's easy - just review bugs that people have posted, and move them from state 'New' to 'Incomplete', 'Confirmed', or 'Invalid' (or mark as dupes) as appropriate.

Inkscape was SourceForge.net's Project of the Month!

A complete oversight on our part... we forgot to mention that Inkscape was chosen by SourceForge as the Project of the Month in August! A big congratulations and thanks to all who have contributed over the years. Cheers!

Estadísticas de las Traducciones

Luca Bruno nos comenta, "Después de un intenso y largo trabajo en la versión de desarrollo 0.45+, las localizaciones están bastante atrasadas. Aqui debajo teneis las estadísticas obtenidas mediante el comando make-updated po. (por favor tened en cuenta que el actual SVN puede contener menos cadenas, ejecutad el comando make update-po por vosotros mismos para comprobarlo)."

On Canvas Gradient Editing

One of the powerful new features that has been implemented into Inkscape is the ability to edit gradients on canvas. When the gradient tool is selected, the individual stops of the gradient can be selected and manipulated. It is also possible to insert new stops into a gradient on canvas, simply by double clicking the gradient where you require the new stop. Multiple stops can also be selected and manipulated simultaneously.

These new on-canvas gradient editing features vastly improve the speed and ease of editing gradients in Inkscape. For a simple visual example of how these new features work, check out this screencast. For more detailed information about the new gradient features check out the release notes.

GSoC'07 - Live Path Effects

We forgot to mention one GSoC project in the last news item - Live Path Effects. Johan has been continuing to work on this; LPE's have worked well for quite some time, but they're finally gaining the polish to make them user friendly and comfortable to use. Recently, it has become possible to edit the path parameters live on-canvas, providing a much more intuitive usability than previously.

Johan is continuing to focus on bug fixing and editing UI improvements. He's also planning on adding an effect stacking capability, and has been talking with some French students who are interested in implementing an 'envelope distortion' effect. When this effect works, it's one step closer to mesh distortion of paths!

Google Summer of Code 2007

Thanks to Google's support for the Summer of Code project, some truly revolutionary features have been added for Inkscape:

• Import PDF. The Open Source community gains Inkscape as not just a powerful SVG editor, but also as a PDF editor!
• Text style rework. While Inkscape has been nice for graphic editing, it's always been a bit clunky when working with text. Gail has completely turned this around. I'm very excited by this.
• 3D box graphics. Lays the foundation for work to make it easier to do isometric or vanishing point style graphics, for people who need something halfway between Inkscape and Blender.
• UI for SVG filter effects. Mmm. http://d-s-p.de/files/filter.png.
• Raster Functionality. Hooks in ImageMagick for use in Inkscape for bitmap effects.
• Import/Export to openclipart.org. This means ordinary users will be able to easily share and collaborate on artwork, Open Source-style.

Together, these features really extend Inkscape's range of usefulness. I also like how they are helping integrate with other open source projects.

Also, amazingly, I think this is the first time we've had 100% of our GSoC projects produce their deliverables successfully, which I would credit to the procedure improvements made by Google this year.

Libre Graphics Meeting followup

Ted wrote an article for Linux.com about LGM, summarizing it from his point of view.

An even more complete blog about LGM gives a detailed rundown, with photos.

Donation to OSUOSL

The Inkscape Board voted to send a $200 donation to Oregon State University's Open Source Lab, in thanks for their support providing hosting for our web server. Thanks OSUOSL!

Article about Libre Graphics Meeting

This article summarizes many of the activities at LGM this past week, including news that Coverity is now providing results from automated static testing of Inkscape and a couple hundred other open source graphics tools.

Libre Graphics Meeting

The Inkscape community is meeting in Montreal this weekend for the Libre Graphics Meeting. In addition to seeing each other face to face with some of us for the first time, we're also meeting developers from other projects like Scribus, Gimp, Krita, and Blender.

Sponsorship was provided to cover developers' travel costs by the LGM conference organizers. Six $250 subsidies for additional costs were provided by the Inkscape board from the funds from Google from last year's Summer of Code project, to Ted, Mental, Bulia, Jon Cruz, John Bintz; thanks go to Software Freedom Conservancy for taking care of the arrangements for this.

The Inkscape presentations at LGM include:

• Ted Gould - the SVG file format
• Bryce Harrington - Inkscape's history, current state, and goals Inkscape
• Alexandre Robin - An Inkscape overview (french)
• Jakub Steiner - Creating photo-realistic artwork based on photo reference
• Benoit St-Andre - An OpenClipart overview
• MenTaLguY and John Bintz - Creating Comics in Inkscape
• Jon Phillips - The Open Content Library: Overview of Open Clip Art Library and ccHost

Hopefully the face-to-face time will make it easy to collaborate on issues and hash through lots of ideas for fixes and enhancements!

"It's a free for all"

Alan Horkan points to an article listing the most essential open source downloads.

What does it do?
It's a vector graphics editor.
[...]
What is it undercutting?
[Adobe Illustrator] and [CorelDraw].
Both have steeper learning curves and larger feature sets than Inkscape.

Alan adds, "This is quite high praise, and the article mentions a little more about the strong focus given to usability, contrast it to the drubbing they give the gimp."

El Top Diez de Apple en descargas de Código Abierto

JiHo nos ha informado que en la lista de el top diez de descargas de Código Abierto de Apple, Inkscape está en el número 6. ¡Enhorabuena a los empaquetadores de OSX de Inkscape!

Libre Graphics Meeting

Algunos usuarios de Inkscape estáran haciendo presentaciones este año en la Libre Graphics Meeting, entre el 4 y 6 de Mayo en Montreal. ¡Los usuarios son altamente animados a venir! ¡Nos encantaría conoceros!

Nuevas características de Inkscape

Muchos usuarios están tan solo empezando a disfrutar de nuestra última versión, la 0.45, pero ya un montón de nuevas características han emergido en la versión de desarrollo de Inkscape.

Una nueva herramienta de Cubo de Pintura te permite hacer clic en cualquier area delimitada por todos sus lados y rellenarla de color. Asi que ahora puedes escanear tus bocetos hechos a lápiz, importar la imagen bitmap en Inkscape, y rápidamente rellenar sus huecos con pintura vectorial, dejandote prescindir completamente el paso del trazado del bitmap.

La herramienta caligráfica tiene ahora un nuevo mecanismo llamado Grabado para crear un antiguo estilo de arte de líneas en blanco y negro, como era comunmente usado por las imprentas hace cientos de años con la técnica de Xilografía. Esta era una tarea de proceso muy intensiva en el pasado, pero te damos algunos atajos para trazar una guia mediante un trazo, trazar fondos, y ensanchar y afinar con la pluma caligráfica que te dejará hacerlo con poco trabajo.

Selección por contacto es una nueva característica para seleccionar objetos simplemente dibujando a mano alzada sobre los objetos a seleccionar. Nuestros testeadores han encontrado esto muy útil para seleccionar entre un montón de objetos entremezclados. Para usar esta característica mantenga pulsada la tecla 'Alt' mientras se dibuja una zona con la herramienta de selección. (Nota, deberías de cambiar tu administrador de ventanas para no 'robar' la tecla Alt).

La característica de Atracción ha sido reescrita nuevamente, resolviendo un buen número de errores;afortunadamente ahora funcionará de manera más limpia. El código de las Cuadrículas ha sido reimplementado, asi que será más fácil para los desarrolladores crear nuevos tipos de cuadrículas.

Para los usuarios de la línea de comando de Inkscape, las nuevas opciones de --verb, --verb-list, y --select permitirán desarrollar un amplio rango de scripts, permitiendo a los usuarios automatizar muchas de las acciones solo disponibles desde la interfaz gráfica de Inkscape.

Un montón de otras pequeñas características y correcciones de errores también han sido realizados. Por favor mire nuestras Notas de lanzamiento para una lista completa.

Proyectos del Summer of Code de Google

Google está patrocinando a 7 estudiantes para trabajar en Inkscape como parte del Summer of Code. Los siguientes proyectos han sido aceptados:

• Mejoras en la herramienta Textos - por Gail Banaszkiewicz, supervisada por Richard Hughes
• Capacidad de importación nativa en PDF basada en libpoppler - por Miklos Erdelyi, supervisado por Jon Cruz
• Efectos de trazadas en tiempo real en Inkscape - por Johan Engelen, supervisado por Aaron Spike
• Herramienta de caja 3D para Inkscape - por Maximilian Albert, supervisado por bulia byak
• Interfaz de Usuario para efectos de filtros SVG - por Nicholas Bishop, supervisado por MenTaLguY
• Funcionalidades de Rasterizado en Inkscape - por Christopher Brown, supervisado por Theodore J. Gould
• Importar desde y Exportar hacia una instancia remota de ccHost - por Bruno Dilly, supervisado por Bryce Harrington

Las propuestas originales están en nuestro wiki.

¡Feliz Pascua de parte de Inkscape!

Hola a todo el equipo de Inkscape,
Gracias por hacer una aplicación tan buena. Como ilustrador me divierto mucho y estoy enamorado de ella desde el primer click. :) Las increíbles nuevas características de desenfoque me permiten dejar de usar mis aplicaciones de "pixeles" para el acabado final. Le ha metido una patada a mis otras aplicaciones de ilustración también ;)
Este es mi personal Huevo de Pascua para vosotros.
-- Nicole Riske

Echandole un vistazo a la nueva Open Font Library

Linux.com tiene un artículo sobre la Open Font Library.

La Open Font Library (OFL) es una filial de la Open Clip Art Library (OCAL) e Inkscape. Solo al comienzo de su puesta en marcha, su creación refleja la creciente demanda de fuentes liberadas bajo una licencia libre, asi como la aparición de una comunidad de diseñadores de fuentes libres en el último año y medio.

Inkscape 0.45.1 Lanzado

Inkscape 0.45.1 ha sido oficialmente lanzado y está disponible para descargar.

Ésta es solo una versión de corrección de errores asi que no esperes ninguna brillante característica nueva, pero disfrútala como si la hubiera. Hay bastantes errores reparados y traducciones actualizadas en esta versión de corrección de errores. Para más información sobre los cambios con respecto a la versión 0.45, por favor mira la página de las Notas del lanzamiento de Inkscape 0.45.1.

Google Summer of Code 2007

Inkscape estará de nuevo participando en el Google's Summer of Code. Por favor animad a los estudiantes a solicitar un proyecto relacionado con Inkscape. Para más información echadle un vistazo a la Guía de Google.

Los chicos de la escuela experimentan con Inkscape

Esto mola mucho... Una clase de UK de séptimo grado está creando un videojuego y usa Inkscape para crear todo el material gráfico y el logotipo. Los estudiantes han escrito sus comentarios sobre el uso de Inkscape.

¡Es realmente sencillo usar Inkscape! y lo divertido que ha sido aprendiendo a crear estrellas y muchas más cosas, ¡también la pluma caligráfica es realmente impresionante! ¡Yo creo que va a ser realmente buena cuando haga mi logo!Porque es un buen programa, y fácil de usar :)

"Evaluación en Linux.com: Inkscape 0.45 es mejor aún"

Linux.com ha publicado una buena evaluación de Inkscape 0.45.

Respecto al soporte de la exportación a PDF mediante Cairo, también tenemos buenas noticias ya que el equipo de Cairo ha creado como meta para el lanzamiento de su versión 1.4.2 centrarse en resolver los problemas de la conversión a Cairo de nuestros exportador de PDF. :-)

"La paleta abierta: Como usar el nuevo filtro de desenfoque de Inkscape"

Nicu Buculei ha escrito un artículo sobre el atributo de desenfoque de Inkscape para RedHat Magazine. Incluye un tutorial de esferas reflectantes con sombras y reflejos especulares y otros efectos ingeniosos :-)

Competición del logotipo de la Open Font Library

Via Ryan Lerch: La Open Font Library (OFL.o, www.openfontlibrary.org) está orgullosa de anunciar el comienzo de la competición para la creación del logotipo de la Open Font Library hoy, 26 de Febrero de 2007. Artistas y diseñadores de todas partes están invitados a crear un logo que ayude a identificar el proyecto.

Artículo de Inkscape en Linux Magazine España

Un articulo en la versión española de Linux Magazine escrito por Juan Miguel Ramirez muestra algunos ejemplos y hace una evaluación del programa. ¡Echale un vistazo al ejemplo de un pingüino bateando una mariposa! ;-)

Nueva herramienta de cubo de relleno

John Bintz ha añadido una nueva herramienta de relleno, que realiza un relleno basado en mapa de bits de una versión renderizada de el lienzo, después traza el resultado transformandolo en SVG. Hay un nuevo icono del fantástico cubo en la barra de herramientas para acceder a él.

Cairoficacion de Inkscape

Bulia ha informado de los buenos resultados de un experimento convirtiendo el modo de lineas de contorno usando Cairo:

...en unas 3 horas convertí nuestro modo de renderizado de lineas de contorno a cairo. El resultado de este experimento, despues de haber ajustado la tolerancia de cairo para igualar la calidad de nuestro modo de lineas de contorno, es casi idéntico. Asi que, cairo es tan rápido como nuestro propio renderizador, al menos para el modo de lineas por contornos (i.e. montones de trazos sin degradados ni transparencias).

Arte fotorealístico con Inkscape 0.45

Luciano Lourenco, un miembro de nuestra comunidad brazileña de Inkscape, ha creado un sensacional ejemplo de el poder de la capacidad del nuevo desefonque gaussiano:

Todo el mundo ama Inkscape

¡Feliz día de San Valentín! Mientras la prensa no parece estar muy excitada con nuestro último lanzamiento, Inkscape 0.45 está viendo mucho amor por parte de la comunidad, el boca a boca está realmente funcionando. Hay muchas muestras de que este lanzamiento está siendo aceptado muy satisfactoriamente.

Jon Galloway escribe en su blog sobre el lanzamiento, como lo hace Renaissance Man, #sh, y Planet Beranger. ¡Gracias a todo el mundo que ha ayudado difundiendo el lanzamiento a través de sus blogs!

Logramos tener la versión 0.45 lista a tiempo para incluirla en Ubuntu Feisty, y está siendo incorporada. Debido a la demanda se está creando también para la versión Edgy.

También es interesante que Apple esté listando Inkscape dentro de su colección de descargas de UNIX y Código Abierto.

SCALE resumen

Ted y otros fueron suficientemente amables para escribirnos sumarios de sus experiencias en el Southern California Linux Expo de este pasado fin de semana. Algunas observaciones interesantes:

• ¡El 50% de la gente alli no había oido hablar de Inkscape! ¡¡Deben de estar viviendo bajo una roca!! Venga todo el mundo, ayudadnos a difundirlo más lejos. :-)
• El stand de Inkscape facilmente hizo olvidar los stands comerciales cercanos
• La charla de David Uhlman sobre Aplicaciones de Escritorio en Linux is siempre la charla más popular y este año citó Inkscape como el mejor paquete gráfico, debido principalmente al "continuo mejoramiento" de Inkscape

"Los Angeles alberga la tranquila Southern CAlifornia Linux Expo"

Aqui teneis un artículo para poneros al día sobre las conferencias de SCALE de este fin de semana pasado:

El quinto año de la Southern California Linux Expo del fin de semana pasado en Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel atrajo a más de 1200 participantes. SCALE tuvo un amplio rango de charlas con tópicos desde Inkscape a OpenNMS, y un salón de exhibiciones con unos 70 proyectos y compañias sobre Linux y la comunidad de código abierto.

Nuevo trabajo de desarrollo

Con el lanzamiento solo hace una semana, la actividad de desarrollo está todavía haciendo ruido. Kees Cook ha comenzado a volver a trabajar en el diálogo de impresión -- una muy requerida característica, que va a ser fácil de hacer gracias a Gtk+ 2.10. Jasper ha contribuido con código que implementa un algoritmo de desenfoque más rápido para la mejor y las mejores configuraciones, que esperemos nos dirigirá a la solución de los problemas de rendimiento que algunos usuarios nos han comentado con la nueva característica de desenfoque.

Inkscape 0.45 Lanzado

Inkscape 0.45 está ahora oficialmente lanzado y disponible para descargar.

Este lanzamiento nos trae las excitantes nuevas características desarrolladas por los participantes del Google Summer of Code 2006, asi como un montón de otras mejoras. La más destacable es el nuevo Desenfoque Gaussiano que nos permite de manera suave y natural desenfocar objetos de Inkscape como trazos, figuras, grupos, textos e imágenes. El Desenfoque Gaussiano permite una amplia variedad de efectos fotorealísticos: configuración de formas y luces, profundidad de campo, sombras, iluminaciones, etc. También los objetos desenfocados pueden ser usados como máscaras de otros objetos para conseguir el efecto de "máscaras suavizadas".

Para más información por favor, echa un vistazo a las Notas de Lanzamiento de Inkscape 0.45.

Lanzamiento de Inkscape 0.45-pre3 Beta

Nuestro nuevo pre-lanzamiento de Inkscape 0.45 se puede descargar del Our next pre-release for Inkscape 0.45 is downloadable from the sitio de Inkscape en SF.

Había unos cuantos problemas de empaquetamientoen la pre2, y un número largo de traducciones han sido actualizadas. Había también algunas correcciones de bugs de última hora. Por favor pruébalo, y si no hay más problemas pondremos el lanzamiento de la versión final este fin de semana.

"Comics in Inkscape 0.45 with John Bintz"

John Bintz writes, "hey everyone, i just finished putting together the screenshot for inkscape and how I use it with my comics -- let me know what you think:"

Computerworld: "Human touch key to open source success"

There's a mention of Inkscape and the Libre Graphics Meeting in an article at Computerworld.

Speaking of the Libre Graphics Meeting, folks from GIMP, Scribus, CREATE, and other projects are are busy setting up our next get-together in Montreal, Canada. This will be held the weekend of May 4-6, 2007. We strongly encourage all Inkscape developers and users to join us. Last year's conference was an invaluable way to meet and directly work with the key developers from Gimp, Scribus, and Blender on topics of common interest. It also proved to be an excellent way for users to learn new tricks and to share ideas directly with developers.

Stay tuned for more info, but make sure to pencil in May 4-6 on your calendars!

Inkscape Translation Progress

Here's an update on our translation status for the release branch.

Inkscape 0.45-pre2 Beta Release

Our next pre-release for Inkscape 0.45 is downloadable from the Inkscape SF site.

Changes since -pre1 are largely updates to translations and documentation. Unless there are any suprises, this will probably be the last pre-release before the final official release. Problems can be reported to Inkscape's bug tracker.

Inkscape 0.45 Hard Freeze

Aaron and I are ready at this time to declare the Hard Freeze for the 0.45 branch.

From this point until the release, please do not commit to the 0.45 release branch; all changes must be posted as patches to the patch tracker for review and integration by the release wardens (Aaron and I) or translation wardens (Arpad and Cornelius).

There are still a number of critical bugs that probably won't be fixed soon. However, we will plan on producing a 0.45.1 release at a later date where we can catch some of this.

We would also like at this time to declare String Freeze, to assist translators in finalizing their translations. If there are any remaining string issues such as non-translatable strings or fixes to existing strings, please send patches in ASAP.

Inkscape Translation Progress

The Inkscape translators have been hard at work on the 0.45 release branch generating translations. Below is our current status, which you may wish to compare with our August status.

New translations include bg (Bulgarian), km (Khmer), and th (Thai). dz (Dzongkha) and en_US@piglatin (Iglatinpay) have received significant contributions since the last time we took stats.

Inkscape 0.45-pre1 Beta Release

A preview source release of Inkscape 0.45 is now available for download.

The purpose of this release is to gain feedback from users about any serious problems that should be fixed for the 0.45 release. Please report bugs to Inkscape's bug tracker.

Inkscape 0.45 stable release branch created

Today we have branched Inkscape into a stable branch for the upcoming 0.45 release and returned HEAD to unfrozen development work.

The stable branch can be checked out via (Line wraps marked »):

svn checkout https://inkscape.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/inkscape/inkscape/branches/»
RELEASE_0_45_BRANCH inkscape-0.45-release-branch

SCALE Inkscape BOF

John Taber and other Los Angeles area inkscapers will be giving demos of the new Inkscape at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE) 2007, located at the Los Angeles Airport Westin, on Feb 10-11.

Inkscape About Screen

Voting has concluded on the Inkscape 0.45 About Screen contest. Congratulations are due to Molumen on his submission.

Also, thanks go out to all of the artists who participated, and who helped break in the new features! :-)

Brazillian Inkscape Site

Yemanja and Popolon pointed out a Brazillian website dedicated to Inkscape, which includes several cool new extensions for Inkscape, two new tutorials (making an animated swirl, and drawing a lightening bolt), and a gallery.

Thrice-Daily Builds

Daniel Diaz reports that the Bleeding-Edge Inkscape Factory is back up and running, producing Windows snapshot builds three times a day.

Final Voting for 0.45 About Screen Contest

A number of excellent About Screen submissions have been submitted through the DeviantArt community. That community has voted the following as the top three:

All developers are encouraged to submit a vote for one of these three images. You can do so by posting to the inkscape-devel@ mailing list. Voting is open to anyone whose name is in the Inkscape AUTHORS or TRANSLATORS file, or who is registered as a member of the Inkscape SourceForge project as of today.

Over Two Million Served

We've passed the 2 million Inkscape downloads mark this week. Thanks go out to all the users who have enjoyed Inkscape and spread the program through word of mouth to all their friends and relatives. And thanks especially go to everyone who has left their mark on Inkscape through bug reports and fixes, new features, documentation, and translations.

Note that this counts only downloads from our website at SourceForge - uncounted more people have gotten Inkscape through Linux distros, magazine CD's, and other sources. It's truly amazing to think how much artwork has come about through all the users of this program.

"A Guide to Inkscape"

Tavmjong Bah has uploaded a new version of his book "A Guide to Inkscape". A downloadable and printable PDF version is also available for $7.50 from lulu.

Happy New Year!

All of the Inkscape developers want to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Inkscape 0.45 is currently frozen in preparation for release. We are in great need of testers to review the bug tracker and try to reproduce bugs listed there.

Regarding development, we could always use more developers or other contributors. Whether you can program or not, if you would like to contribute to the project, we could use your help.