Sketching in Inkscape
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inkscape |
New
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
One of the greatest features of Adobe Illustrator is how easily you can sketch with it. That is, if you take the pencil tool and draw a curve, and then draw another curve right on top of it, the first curve is automatically removed. Or if you sketch over just part of it, then just that part is adjusted.
This is like sketching with a real pencil: you might lay down 10 or 20 (or 100) lines before you get it just right. You can sketch lightly, and then ink it, and erase the pencil marks. Illustrator allows you to use the same basic movements, but digitally, and even easier.
Inkscape right now (0.45) doesn't support this method of sketching. I can hit "delete" between lines, but then I can't see the old line while drawing the new one. Or I could just let them accumulate and clean it up at the end, but that's inconvenient. And adjusting just part (like the middle) of a curve uses a completely different interface: I have to get the little-triangle tool and drag handles, instead of just drawing what I want.
I know this feature would take a little bit of work to implement (e.g., need an algorithm to figure out what, if any, parts of the selected curve you've redrawn), and I know Inkscape isn't an Illustrator clone, but I think it's the killer feature for vector graphics editors, and would make drawing in Inkscape 10x quicker and easier for those of us who are coming from that other popular drawing platform, pencil and paper. :-)
