#INKSCAPE CROP AN IMPORTED IMAGE SOFTWARE#
#INKSCAPE CROP AN IMPORTED IMAGE SERIES#

Thus, go to File -> Import… or hit “Command + I”, or press that arrow-point-to-a-page button at the top of the screen, to prompt the import screen.

In this case, I’ll be importing a phylogenetic tree based on the spike protein receptor binding domain sequences from various coronaviruses. So while you can start from scratch making shapes in the program itself, I’m most often using Inkscape to make adjustments to vector graphics plots generated in another program, like R. Step 4: Import some existing vector graphics data. You can just keep these default settings. The file type is will save is a “.svg” file, apparently for an “Inkscape svg” file, which is seemingly a slight derivation of a pretty genetic / standard file type for vector graphics (svg). Go to File -> Save As… and save the file in whatever directory you want to keep it. Now that you’ve made some modifications to your file, you may as well save it (since you’re going to want to start saving the file soon anyway). Thus, I next click on that box next to the text that says “Background color:” and in the bottom field that has a 0 next to “A:”, I change that to 100 (I’m assuming this is opacity, and we are turning the opacity from 0 to 100). While this isn’t problematic per-se, it usually makes sense to make figures that actually have a white background.

So if you put in some shapes / plots, they will be floating in emptiness, rather than a white background. Thus, adjust the width to 174 mm, and hit enter, and the width of that page should now shrink.Ģ) So the page settings defaults to *NO* background color (this can be revealed by clicking on that “Checkerboard background” button). It’s probably easier to plan for the smallest size of 174 mm, and just space things apart a bit / give the panels more breathing room if you end up in a situation where larger dimensions are allowed. Most journal have maximum figure widths between 174 and 180 mm (though handful allow 190 or even 200 mm). The main things I like to change are as follows:ġ) The dimensions. A new pane should open up to the right of the program, like below (if it doesn’t, try adjusting the size of your window and that should force a refresh). To do this, go to File -> Document Properties… or just hit “Command + Shift + D” if you’re on a Mac, like me. While you don’t have to start here, I like to make some basic adjustments to the page out of the get-go. Step 3: Adjusting the properties of your page. The white rectangle with the drop-shadow is the blank “page”. You should get a blank screen like this, which is the basic workspace. I’ll assume this is pretty self-explanatory unless someone tells me otherwise. Obviously, this is downloading the program.

#INKSCAPE CROP AN IMPORTED IMAGE SERIES#

To help people in my lab start using it, I’m writing up this primer describing a series of basic processes I perform when using it. It can be a little buggy, but I’ve learned to absolutely love it over the last 10 years or so.

#INKSCAPE CROP AN IMPORTED IMAGE SOFTWARE#

Inkscape is a free & open source software that works on Mac or Windows. I’ve never actually used it, mostly b/c I started using playing around with vector graphics editor software when I was a grad student, and the idea of paying for an Adobe product with my own money was unpalatable. A proprietary program some people may be used to is Adobe Illustrator. Vector graphics editor software are SUPER useful when trying to make figures.

Inkscape crop an imported image