Inkscape

Here is a sampling of the infinite variety of shapes that are possible using the new Roundedness control of the Star tool - from plain useful, to weird, to beautiful... and beyond. Playing with this tool is more fun than ever. Note also the new Commands bar under the menu, with buttons for the most frequently used commands (it can be shown or hidden permanently, as can any other part of the window layout). (Source file: stars.svgz.)

One of the most exciting new features in 0.39 is the support for pattern fills. Any object or group of objects can be converted to pattern (Alt+I) to fill any other object; moreover, an object with pattern can itself be part of another pattern, and so on. Note that this allows you to easily mask an imported bitmap - just make a pattern out of it and then node-edit the path with such a bitmap pattern fill.

One of our most exciting things in 0.39 is support for markers. Simarilius, Bryce, Carl and others have been hacking on this for a while, and now the work has reached critical mass. All of the fun in this screenshot is nothing but Inkscape's standard markers (applied to start, end, and mid nodes) and dash patterns. The Fill and Stroke dialog reflects the markers on the selected object and allows you to select any others using menus with convenient previews. Also note the new W/H lock button on the selector top panel. (Source file: markers.svg.)

Here are some of the new dialogs in 0.39: Metadata tab in Document Preferences, Find, Inkscape Preferences, and the much reworked Stroke Style tab of the Fill and Stroke dialog.

Andy Fitzsimon has put Inkscape to some very real use. Much of his SVG art and icons can be found at openclipart.org. This shot shows a typical work session with Inkscape 0.39 CVS. Note the configurability of the editing windows (you can show/hide any of the toolbars, menu, or statusbar) and the streamlined Fill and Stroke dialog.

This shot shows the use of the new marker support with large dots for the mid-node markers. Also, please note the great selection bounding box that Bulia has added. A user may turn this off, use our nice diamond selection shape or the aforementioned bounding box. (I prefer the dotted-line bbox for shapes, as it really helps see how many shapes are selected in large compositions).