Welcome to the free software Inkscape beading diagram tutorial! You can download Inkscape for free from inkscape.org. If you have any difficulty following this tutorial, please post a comment at the bottom of the page on which you are stuck, and I'll do my best to help!
Things to know ...
I have no affiliation with the developers of Inkscape. I merely stumbled upon their program through a link on another website that specializes in vector designs.
This program is freeware and has no adware associated with it. We are very fortunate that the authors have generously provided this program to all for their free enjoyment. Download Inkscape for free from inkscape.org.
To explain the lingo, I will use double arrowheads ">>" to refer to a menu item at the top of the screen, followed by a submenu item within that menu. (e.g. File >> Save, or Effects >> Modify Path >> Add Nodes)
Part I - Setting up Inkscape: Installation and Preferences
1) First we must install the program. Visit inkscape.org and click on "Download Now" in the top right-hand corner of the page. Simply select a folder on your computer where to save the setup file for the program. Save the file onto your computer. The download should take about 2 minutes on high speed, or maybe half an hour on dial-up. Once downloaded, double-click on the setup file you saved on your computer. You may wish to exit other open programs, but I doubt it matters much. Follow the instructions in the setup screen until the program is installed. The setup program will create shortcuts and will add Inkscape in your start menu programs list. It will start up the program for you when you are finished installing, if you so desire.
2) Once the program screen is open, you'll find it's not maximized on your screen. This would make working with it inefficient, so resize the window. Simply drag the four corners of the program to the four corners of your screen. You could also click the maximize button, but you'll find that everytime you minimize the screen, it will revert back to its original size. If you drag out the four corners, it won't resize again. In the next few steps, I will teach you how to make this permanent in your Inkscape settings so that Inkscape opens full screen every time you launch the program.
3) Now we want to set up the program preferences to match our needs. Do one of the following:
-- Either go to File >> Inkscape Preferences...
-- Or click the button that looks like a wrench and screwdriver, which is on the top row of buttons, second from the right
I recommend that you make the following changes to the preferences:
A) In the left list, click "Windows": select "remember and use last window's geometry" under "Saving window geometry (size and position)". This will cause the window to be the size you last set it to when you resized the window. In other words, for us, this makes our full screen size permanent until you decide to change it. It will always remember what your most recently chosen window size.
B) In the left list, click "Grids": select the following options from the Default grid settings for "Rectangular Grid":
-- Grid units: px (unchanged)
-- Origin X: 0.00 (unchanged)
-- Origin Y: 0.00 (unchanged)
-- Spacing X: 15.00
-- Spacing Y: 15.00
-- Grid line color: click the blue colour box and drag the sliders to select a colour (I selected light blue as seen in the photo)
-- Major grid line color: click the blue colour box and drag the sliders to select a colour (I selected black as seen in the photo)
-- Major grid line every: 4
-- Do not select show dots instead of lines
If in doubt, the photo shows you what your settings should look like exactly.
Setting the grid size is very important because we will be making heavy use of the grid to position our beads very easily.
C) In the left list, click on the [+] sign beside the word Tools. Then click the [+] sign beside the word Shapes: Make sure that for all shapes listed (Rectangle, 3D box, Ellipse, Star, Spiral) as well as for all other tools (Pencil, Pen, Calligraphy, Paint Bucket, Text), "Last style used" is selected rather than "This tool's own style".
This will ensure that when you use a tool or shape, it will remember what you last set the colours, stroking colours, gradient, etc. for that tool or shape. This is very important for us because when we type all our numbers on each bead, we want the program to remember the style from one number to the next without having to reset all the text properties again!
4) We are now going to edit the Document Properties for our document, and then we are going to save the settings we set here as our default template so that we don't have to change them again. To open the Document Properties box, do one of the following:
-- Either go to File >> Document Properties...
-- Or click the button that looks like a wrench head on a piece of paper, which is on the top row of buttons, on the very right
I recommend that you make the following changes to the document properties: (Go to page 2)
| Add a Comment (No sign-up, just post) | |||
| Beader Comments: | |||
| ShadoKat on December 24, 2008: | |||
| I just want to say THANK YOU for taking the time to write this tutorial for us. I draw a lot of patterns, usually in MS Word, and Inkscape is far superior to that. This is very much appreciated! Since I'm writing this on Christmas eve, I'll say happy holidays! :-) | |||
| Allegra on November 2, 2008: | |||
| Okay I see what you mean. Do you have snapping turned on? Turn on snapping by pressing the % key on your keyboard. This should snap the bead into place on the intersection points of the grid. As long as your bead and your grid squares are 60 by 60 pixels, and your minor grid lines are 15 by 15 pixels. You should have no problem centering the beads on the intersection points. If you pay careful attention to the screenshots on the next pages of these instructions, you'll see that there is a 4 by 4 square around each intersection point (only the borders aren't dark). I hope I'm being clear. Just give it a try! Let me know what happens when you try.
As for the default file, it opens by default for me with no problems. One thing I can think of is to make sure it's saved to the right folder. It must be in a very specific folder for it to be active. Did you save the file to the templates folder? You can email me the piggy or post it on the forum for everyone to enjoy! Look forward to seeing it!! | |||
| Kirsi the Troll on November 1, 2008: | |||
| It doesn't open automatically for me... But as long as I use it every time, it should appear in the latest documents.
With crosses I mean the points when x & y-lines of the grid intercept. In other words, on top of the corners of each square. So that the bead is "cut into four". I can't think of more phrases :D The rotating didn't help, but for this design I decided to just let go of the symmetry a little bit, the main purpose is to make an understandable pattern anyway :) Just finished my little piggy, I'll try to remember to e-mail a picture to you. | |||
| Allegra on November 1, 2008: | |||
| Hi Kirsi! I'm glad this will help you!^^ The default file doesn't need to be opened. It opens by default when you launch the program. That's why it's called default. LOL! Once you've saved the default file, you don't need to ever think about it again. The program will take care of the rest. For the crosses, I don't know what you mean. Crossing a bead with two ends of string, or an actual cross shape that you're making out of beads? | |||
| Kirsi the Troll on October 31, 2008: | |||
| I'm in Finland appreciating my a** off! You're saving so much time for so many people with this tutorial. Now I can make tidy thread paths, and maybe finally finish the pattern I started working on last spring ;D I have one question though: how do I find the 'default' file? I can only find it when I'm saving something, not when I'm trying to open. Ok, two questions... Have you tried placing the beads on the crosses? I could use this with my pattern, it has diagonal parts that are with odd number of beads. Maybe the rotating feature could be used for this... I'll give it a try... | |||
| Celeste on October 21, 2008: | |||
| Trying this program out now, hope I can figure it out, lol! | |||
| Allegra on October 20, 2008: | |||
| Before you print, do you go to File >> Print Preview in your browser? What you do in print preview is click on "Options", then you specify to shrink the page to fit the width of your paper. Hope this helps! If you're still having problems, try switching to landscape orientation instead of portrait. | |||
| beady on October 19, 2008: | |||
| having trouble printing without missing bits out,any ideas? | |||
| Allegra on September 23, 2008: | |||
| Hehe, it wasn't that hard, just a matter of typing the words to explain rather than just doing it, and saving all the screenshots. This is only installment 1!!! I'm planning to do a whole series.. First inkscape for right angle weave patterns, then this other free software for peyote stitch (called easy bead patterns), then a powerful free software called Gimp for editing photos. You may wonder what photo editing has to do with beading, but it's actually quite crucial, especially if you ever sell your pieces... the picture is the only sales pitch you have! | |||
| Jennie AKA The Bead Doodler on September 23, 2008: | |||
| Thank you so much for this tutorial. I'm sure bead designers everywhere will appreciate your efforts to document this! | |||
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