newbie here. I finally found the time and eagerness to learn the basics of inkscape and i was doing so well. I have been using it for a few weeks when last night I was working out gradients and colours.
I made my first rectangular shape and fill it with a colour; no problem. Then I pressed (mistakenly) a key on the keyboard (with my Left hand so we are talking about the Left lower half) and I noticed that the pointer kinda disappeared on the canvas; i can see something is moving by the rulers markings but no mouse inside the canvas is visible. As soon as i get the pointer out of the canvas, so on the side, borders, palettes, etc. it reappears.
If i try to draw a rectangle, i see nothing been made and when i release the mouse I have a dotted-line rectangle. I cannot interact with it i.e. fill it with a colour, because as soon as i click on the canvas somewhere else it also disappear. Circle: i cannot draw them anymore. If/when i select the 'Crete Circle' ellipse...' it still draws a dotted-rectangle.
The only things I can do/where i see the mouse/pointer are: typography, bezier curves, free had drawing and meshes.
I probably made it worse after bcos, hoping to restore it, I kept on pressing several keys (frustratingly).
I am using the latest stable inkscape on slackware current.
Perhaps, someone is laughing at this post because it might be something trivial but being a newbie means also accepting being laughed at ) .
Thank you in advance for any suggestion on how to restore inkscape as it was.
I'd select a shape tool and click on a color swatch, then try to draw.
Failing that, I'd open the preferences dialog (Ctrl+Shift+P) find the system menu on the left and click the "reset preferences" button.
Thank you for the reply. Sadly, neither of these suggestions worked.
I forgot to add that, the shapes i (invisibly) create are on the canvas (this is confirmed by the layers panel) but no matter what colour i choose (and now even resetting the preferences) resolves the issue.
I even tried to delete the inkscape.appimage, re-downloading it and launching it again; nothing changed.
Thanks forum's admin for allowing me to add a file (attached a screenshot of my current inkscape issue). A lot of other forums do not allow new users to attach files until after 10 posts or more.
Not sure why your mouse is disappearing, but as for the objects that you're creating... I think they're transparent, and that's why you can't see them.
Look at the bottom left of the screenshot you posted, where it says 'Fill' and 'Stroke'. See how the boxes are only half-filled with colour? That indicates transparency. Go to the Fill and Stroke tab and take a look at the colours there. At the bottom, there's an Opacity slider. Make sure that's at 100%. Also, take a look at the blocks of colour. The one at the bottom, labelled 'A' (for Alpha) should be at 100. If it's less than that, push it up to 100. Also, check the opacity of the Layer itself. This might also be at less than 100%. Hopefully, once you have an object with full opacity, it might help your other issues.
See how the boxes are only half-filled with colour? That indicates transparency. Go to the Fill and Stroke tab and take a look at the colours there.
I had noticed that but there was no way I could change it anywhere. All the opacity was 100%, etc...
But something interesting happened now. I deleted all the ~/.cache/iinkscape files; restarted the pc and voila'. I have inkscape back no normal. Not sure deleting the cache files was the correct solution here but, it worked and not I can resume my learning.
Thanks forum.
p.s.: how do i mark this post as solved (at least until the next mess-up)
I am having the same issue on my MacBook - it was fine yesterday but today (using a mouse instead of trackpad) the pointer is only visible outside the canvas which is making it impossible to draw!
I am having the same issue on my MacBook - it was fine yesterday but today (using a mouse instead of trackpad) the pointer is only visible outside the canvas which is making it impossible to draw!
It is really a matter of understanding how Colour Fill and Colour Stroke work. It did happen to me again, but this time I didnt have to delete the cache. Play with the colours panel, on the Rt side, and hopefully you will solve it.
I would like to add that Inkscape really is a HUGE software and the tweaks&twists are ad every key-stroke, so before you/we learn it all...
Beginners' Questions SOLVED pointer disappears when making shapes
Inkscape.org
hi everyone,
newbie here. I finally found the time and eagerness to learn the basics of inkscape and i was doing so well. I have been using it for a few weeks when last night I was working out gradients and colours.
I made my first rectangular shape and fill it with a colour; no problem. Then I pressed (mistakenly) a key on the keyboard (with my Left hand so we are talking about the Left lower half) and I noticed that the pointer kinda disappeared on the canvas; i can see something is moving by the rulers markings but no mouse inside the canvas is visible. As soon as i get the pointer out of the canvas, so on the side, borders, palettes, etc. it reappears.
If i try to draw a rectangle, i see nothing been made and when i release the mouse I have a dotted-line rectangle. I cannot interact with it i.e. fill it with a colour, because as soon as i click on the canvas somewhere else it also disappear. Circle: i cannot draw them anymore. If/when i select the 'Crete Circle' ellipse...' it still draws a dotted-rectangle.
The only things I can do/where i see the mouse/pointer are: typography, bezier curves, free had drawing and meshes.
I probably made it worse after bcos, hoping to restore it, I kept on pressing several keys (frustratingly).
I am using the latest stable inkscape on slackware current.
Perhaps, someone is laughing at this post because it might be something trivial but being a newbie means also accepting being laughed at ) .
Thank you in advance for any suggestion on how to restore inkscape as it was.
Might be no color assigned to the tools.
I'd select a shape tool and click on a color swatch, then try to draw.
Failing that, I'd open the preferences dialog (Ctrl+Shift+P) find the system menu on the left and click the "reset preferences" button.
Thank you for the reply. Sadly, neither of these suggestions worked.
I forgot to add that, the shapes i (invisibly) create are on the canvas (this is confirmed by the layers panel) but no matter what colour i choose (and now even resetting the preferences) resolves the issue.
I even tried to delete the inkscape.appimage, re-downloading it and launching it again; nothing changed.
Thanks forum's admin for allowing me to add a file (attached a screenshot of my current inkscape issue). A lot of other forums do not allow new users to attach files until after 10 posts or more.
Not sure why your mouse is disappearing, but as for the objects that you're creating... I think they're transparent, and that's why you can't see them.
Look at the bottom left of the screenshot you posted, where it says 'Fill' and 'Stroke'. See how the boxes are only half-filled with colour? That indicates transparency. Go to the Fill and Stroke tab and take a look at the colours there. At the bottom, there's an Opacity slider. Make sure that's at 100%. Also, take a look at the blocks of colour. The one at the bottom, labelled 'A' (for Alpha) should be at 100. If it's less than that, push it up to 100. Also, check the opacity of the Layer itself. This might also be at less than 100%. Hopefully, once you have an object with full opacity, it might help your other issues.
Here's a screenshot showing some things to check.
I had noticed that but there was no way I could change it anywhere. All the opacity was 100%, etc...
But something interesting happened now. I deleted all the ~/.cache/iinkscape files; restarted the pc and voila'. I have inkscape back no normal. Not sure deleting the cache files was the correct solution here but, it worked and not I can resume my learning.
Thanks forum.
p.s.: how do i mark this post as solved (at least until the next mess-up)
Title edited.
I was sure the "Reset Preferences" + restarting Inkscape should have cleared its cache too. Seems not the case. Interesting finding though.
I am having the same issue on my MacBook - it was fine yesterday but today (using a mouse instead of trackpad) the pointer is only visible outside the canvas which is making it impossible to draw!
It is really a matter of understanding how Colour Fill and Colour Stroke work. It did happen to me again, but this time I didnt have to delete the cache. Play with the colours panel, on the Rt side, and hopefully you will solve it.
I would like to add that Inkscape really is a HUGE software and the tweaks&twists are ad every key-stroke, so before you/we learn it all...
Good luck