I have recently updated to Catalina (Mac) and like most here, I am regretting it. I've been using Inkscape successfully for years and now one of my favorite tools offset is not working like it used to. Now, after about 2 offsets of a text, it starts going weird with small holes and jagged lines instead of the usual smooth ones from before in .92. Any help or advice on where to report this bug?
I tested the Offset Path LPE, on 1.0 beta the other day. I found a couple of caveats. One, it doesn't work on very complex paths (while I've never seen the traditional offset fail to work on any path). And the other, it wants to close open paths, and thus does not make a true offset for open paths. Not unless I missed something.
Edit
Or maybe rather, for open paths, what it does is make an offset on all sides of the open path, after closing it, rather than offset only one side of it.
I've been having similar issues and came searching for info. I also get similar issues trying to use stroke to make a smoother outline. On the last version of Inkscape offset was smoother than beta, and using stroke as a workaround in cases where offset didn't work was a good work around. Now I get gaps and jagged edges, it's a mess.
I'd go back to the previous inkscape, but I have a high res screen and the icons are too small to see. I can't seem to make them any bigger.
Here's an example of what offset is doing in Beta. This is the offset you get with the keyboard shortcut of 'ctrl +)' set at 0.5 px offset in preferences and clicked a few times. Although it doesn't seem to matter what I set the offset to in preferences. Just tried it set to 10 px and it still offsets the same amount. Top is offset and bottom is doing the offset with stroke. It is smoother with stroke, but you can see that it is leaving a gap at the bottom of the g. How smooth/gappy the stroke is seems to depend on the starting path.
Offsets have only just been updated, can you try again with a recent beta version? (i.e. a development build of the 1.0.x branch - let us know for which operating system you would need a file, then we can point you to the right place)
@Snarlla In Inkscape 0.92.4 the icon size can be set to larger, large, small or smaller.
1) Got to Preferences > Interface - set Toolbox, Control bar and Second bar icon size
2) Quit Inkscape and restart it for change to take effect
I'm not sure how to quote here, did that work? @jonpatterns .. that does help, but I had forgotten another of the problems was that the node size is really tiny. Is there a way to make the nodes larger? Here's a screenshot to show how small they are showing for me. Tool icons are much better though, thank you! I thought I had tried that before without success.
Node handles can be set between size 1 and 7. It's in a slightly odd place 'Input Devices'. The good news is Inkscape doesn't need restarting for this one.
Node handles can be set between size 1 and 7. It's in a slightly odd place 'Input Devices'. The good news is Inkscape doesn't need restarting for this one. Preferences > Input/Output > Input Devices > Handle size Answer found here https://inkscape.org/forums/beyond/microscopic-handle-nodes/
Thanks! That is a strange place for that to be, lol. I wouldn't have thought to look there. That does make them bigger, still a little small for my preferences, but workable. Thank you for helping me get .92 to a state where I can actually use it if I need to :)
Beginners' Questions 1.0 Beta Offset issues
Inkscape.org
I have recently updated to Catalina (Mac) and like most here, I am regretting it. I've been using Inkscape successfully for years and now one of my favorite tools offset is not working like it used to. Now, after about 2 offsets of a text, it starts going weird with small holes and jagged lines instead of the usual smooth ones from before in .92. Any help or advice on where to report this bug?
Which of the manyfold offset options are you using?
Offset of text that had been converted to path. Path->offset.
Are you able to make a video, or share the SVG file where you've tried this? It would help if we could see what you're talking about.
I have seen the offset behave like this with text, but it's been a long time, and I don't remember what was causing it.
Try the dynamic or linked offset, or use a plain stroke. That usually works better on text (duplicate text, make stroke wider, put below).
(1.0 will have an offset path effect)
I tested the Offset Path LPE, on 1.0 beta the other day. I found a couple of caveats. One, it doesn't work on very complex paths (while I've never seen the traditional offset fail to work on any path). And the other, it wants to close open paths, and thus does not make a true offset for open paths. Not unless I missed something.
Edit
Or maybe rather, for open paths, what it does is make an offset on all sides of the open path, after closing it, rather than offset only one side of it.
I've been having similar issues and came searching for info. I also get similar issues trying to use stroke to make a smoother outline. On the last version of Inkscape offset was smoother than beta, and using stroke as a workaround in cases where offset didn't work was a good work around. Now I get gaps and jagged edges, it's a mess.
I'd go back to the previous inkscape, but I have a high res screen and the icons are too small to see. I can't seem to make them any bigger.
Here's an example of what offset is doing in Beta. This is the offset you get with the keyboard shortcut of 'ctrl +)' set at 0.5 px offset in preferences and clicked a few times. Although it doesn't seem to matter what I set the offset to in preferences. Just tried it set to 10 px and it still offsets the same amount. Top is offset and bottom is doing the offset with stroke. It is smoother with stroke, but you can see that it is leaving a gap at the bottom of the g. How smooth/gappy the stroke is seems to depend on the starting path.
Offsets have only just been updated, can you try again with a recent beta version? (i.e. a development build of the 1.0.x branch - let us know for which operating system you would need a file, then we can point you to the right place)
Great, thank you so much! I'm using Windows 10.
Just ran into someone else on Facebook who was having a similar issue. I'll pass any info on to them if I can get it solved for myself.
Ah, I just went ahead and downloaded 1.0beta2 for 64 bit Windows. So far outset seems to be working much better. Yay!
@Snarlla In Inkscape 0.92.4 the icon size can be set to larger, large, small or smaller.
1) Got to Preferences > Interface - set Toolbox, Control bar and Second bar icon size
2) Quit Inkscape and restart it for change to take effect
Technically, it's not the exact beta2 from December, 3rd, 2019, but a daily build that you get when you download the beta2 for Windows. The direct link is https://alpha.inkscape.org/snapshots/latest_1.0.x_x64.html.
I'm not sure how to quote here, did that work? @jonpatterns .. that does help, but I had forgotten another of the problems was that the node size is really tiny. Is there a way to make the nodes larger? Here's a screenshot to show how small they are showing for me. Tool icons are much better though, thank you! I thought I had tried that before without success.
Node handles can be set between size 1 and 7. It's in a slightly odd place 'Input Devices'. The good news is Inkscape doesn't need restarting for this one.
Preferences > Input/Output > Input Devices > Handle size
Answer found here
https://inkscape.org/forums/beyond/microscopic-handle-nodes/
Thanks! That is a strange place for that to be, lol. I wouldn't have thought to look there. That does make them bigger, still a little small for my preferences, but workable. Thank you for helping me get .92 to a state where I can actually use it if I need to :)