{"id":12113,"date":"2015-09-13T18:50:47","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T22:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/?p=12113"},"modified":"2015-09-17T09:15:33","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T13:15:33","slug":"simple-tools-and-techniques-for-making-patterns-with-inkscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scruss.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/13\/simple-tools-and-techniques-for-making-patterns-with-inkscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple tools and techniques for making patterns with Inkscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might <\/em>have noticed that I’ve become a bit obsessed with Arabic\/Islamic geometric designs lately. Clues include posts like this<\/a>, this<\/a>, also this<\/a>, and maybe even this<\/a>. When I refer to Islamic Geometric Design, I’m more talking about the frameworks, repeat units or grids that are the starting point for the intricate and hypnotic abstract designs that have traditionally been used in Islamic architecture for over a thousand years. Here’s an example of the larger patterns in context:<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
\n“A close up of [The Tomb of Bibi Jawindi, Uch, Pakistan<\/em>] by Usman Ghani<\/a>” by Usman.pg<\/a> – Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a> via Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’ve been following Eric Broug<\/a>‘s methods of construction that use a ruler and compass exclusively. Not being that great with manual dexterity, I’ve found these much slower to draw than I could on a computer. Consequently, I looked around for a good, free tool that people could use to start making these drawings. Most of the operations (including drawing from one intersection to another, rotating objects around a point, buffering lines into polygons) can be done by CAD packages, but these often have a steep learning curve. CAD packages also don’t tend to have many artistic functions.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the free drawing packing Inkscape<\/a> has almost all of the features I need. Just one of the features I use quite often (creating a circle from a centre point and a point on the circumference<\/a>; in other words, emulating a compass) isn’t built in, but can be done with a simple sequence of operations. In this article, I hope to show you some techniques you can build on for making your own patterns.<\/p>\n

Installing Inkscape<\/h2>\n

This is covered well on the Inkscape<\/a> website, so I won’t repeat it here. It’s important to get the most recent stable version of Inkscape. Some Linux distributions provide a really old version, so make sure you’re using at least version 0.91<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Inkscape runs on Linux, Mac and Windows. On Mac, it’s a little slow and uses some non-(Mac-)<\/em>standard keyboard shortcuts. You may also have to install XQuartz<\/a> on your Mac for it to run. It works fine on Windows (I tested 8.1).<\/p>\n

Snapping is your friend<\/h2>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

You’re going to have to get to know and love the Snapping Toolbar<\/strong>, shown at right. When you enable snapping, the items you draw or modify are locked to the node, intersection, object centre or grid point nearest to your cursor. When snapping is active, you get a little hovering info box showing you what Inkscape thinks you want to snap to:<\/p>\n

\"2015-09-10-082038_913x440_scrot\"<\/p>\n

I’ve enlarged the screen grab so you can make the info box out more clearly.<\/p>\n

Snapping allows you to place lines in geometrically precise locations if you work up a drawing from a template or construction lines. All of the templates<\/a> I made have the most useful snapping modes enabled:<\/p>\n