Inkscape VS Illustrator

[Holammer]

Since I became aware of Inkscape and started toying with it I've noticed the friendly jabbing between users of Inkscape and Illustrator. I have surely thrown more than one off topic punch on the topic myself.
But while designing a villain for a future OotS style comic I started wondering what I might missing out on. Is there, for example some kickasssuperawesome support for speech bubbles because those are a royal pain to do by hand.

... and to illustrate a point, I did just that (quick'n dirty)

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn217/Holammer/inkvsill.png

I'd love to invite Illustrator advocates to explain the sweet sweet love Illustrator would give me if I did the switch. Because I'm pretty damn content with Inkie for the moment.

[Nameless]

Why don't we all agree that Micromedia Fireworks is the way forwards! :smallbiggrin:

[Lyinginbedmon]

Well we'll need balanced arguments and valid points before we can come to a conclusion.

[Serpentine]

Well, with Illustrator I keep having these conversations:

"Curse you Illustrator, why can't you do this thing I want you to?! ARGH!"
>checks Help<
"Oh... And you can do that too, huh?"

I can't used Inkscape so I can't compare. As for the cost, I got a <.< >.> discount.

[Trazoi]

I've been using Inkscape on and off for a while now, but a few months back I bought one of Adobe's Creative Suites to make use of my academic discount before I graduate (I got the academic version: pricier than the student version but able to be used for commercial purposes after graduation). I mainly got to play with Flash, but Illustrator and Photoshop were big draws too.

Unfortunately I've only done a very cursory exploration of Illustrator. My main beef with it is that the node tools work very differently from Inkscape, and not in what I call an intuitive way. In Inkscape you can modify the nodes with just one tool (the node tool), but in Illustrator you have to keep cycling through a bunch of different tools to do the same thing.

However Illustrator does have a bunch more functionality than Inkscape. The fill tool was impressive (until Inkscape added it in the latest version, but I think Illustrators is cleaner). And Illustrator has the ability to add different brush patterns to strokes which can add a lot to your image (Inkscape is unlikely to have the same feature as that's not part of SVG).

I'm not sure if Illustrator is better than Inkscape for text bubbles as I haven't played around enough with Illustrator's text capacity to do so. I'd wager it has better text support than Inkscape, because Inkscape's text has always been a bit flaky. Inkscape does allow you to flow text into shapes, which in theory makes things easier - you can make an oval and flow your text into it. However in practice I found it to be awkward, as when you move the text or the oval then strange things happen. I generally just have a simple centered text object and try to shape it myself with strategically placed line breaks.

You can make balloons pretty easily with standard ovals and shaped rectangles that you then combine with unions (you might already do it this way).

Overall it depends a bit on what you want to do and how much you're willing to spend. Illustrator has all the bells and whistles and is the premium tool for vector work for print and design. Inkscape is still at heart an SVG editor which puts limitations on what it can easily do, but it's fine for its purpose, free to download (great for trial purposes) and remarkably usable for an open source app.

And of course there's other tools out there like Xara if you wish you look at other options...

[Holammer]

after I posted this I made the effort to check text options and did found out about "flow into frame (http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Flow.html)", it's a bit rough, but it's worth the effort for "block of text" kinda stuff. I'll still edit smaller speech bubbles manually I guess.
Thanks for presenting two sides of a coin here Trazoi.

[Trazoi]

after I posted this I made the effort to check text options and did found out about "flow into frame (http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Flow.html)", it's a bit rough, but it's worth the effort for "block of text" kinda stuff. I'll still edit smaller speech bubbles manually I guess.
Thanks for presenting two sides of a coin here Trazoi.
I found two problems with the flow into frame method of making speech bubbles:

It doesn't leave a margin around the outside; your text will be right against the border. To counter this I tried having two ovals, an inner one for holding the text and an outer one for the margin and border line. But that starts making it harder to manage.
There were problems with moving the bubbles. For some reason when I moved the flowed in text bubble around my document, the text would move out of alignment. I'm not sure if this was intentional in Inkscape or a bug, or whether they've fixed this in the latest version, but at the time this was the kicker for me.


Generally I find the more manual methods to be okay, as it's still easier than if you were constructing these by hand on a hand-inked cartoon. If you write your scripts out first and put a bit of thought into layout before making the bubbles then you don't need to make major changes very often.

[Calamity]

Why don't we all agree that Micromedia Fireworks is the way forwards! :smallbiggrin:

Because having used MS Paint, Paint.NET, Inkscape and Fireworks, I'd give Fireworks last place. :smalltongue:

And $599? That's like nearly £300! There's no way I'd EVER pay that much for an art program. Not when ye olde Inkscape is free.

[Bayar]

Because having used MS Paint, Paint.NET, Inkscape and Fireworks, I'd give Fireworks last place. :smalltongue:

And $599? That's like nearly £300! There's no way I'd EVER pay that much for an art program. Not when ye olde Inkscape is free.

People that draw something other than OotS style could use it, but it is a ****load of money still.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Because having used MS Paint, Paint.NET, Inkscape and Fireworks, I'd give Fireworks last place. :smalltongue:

And $599? That's like nearly £300! There's no way I'd EVER pay that much for an art program. Not when ye olde Inkscape is free.

Below Paint?


:smalleek:

[Calamity]

Below Paint?


:smalleek:

Yes, Paint gives you more freedom. This is why I only ever use Fireworks for animation.

Not to mention, I usually draw the frames in Inkscape. Hehe, Nameless don't kill me.

[Nameless]

Yes, Paint gives you more freedom. This is why I only ever use Fireworks for animation.

Not to mention, I usually draw the frames in Inkscape. Hehe, Nameless don't kill me.

I don't believe this, you have Fireoworks, yet you still choose to use Inkscape.
What the hell is wrong with you people?

Photoshop and Fireowrks are better then your silly cheap vector based programs! You have more freedom, a wider range of tools, easier to fill, more options.

I'll admit, it takes time to get the hang of it, but once you do, it's really fun to use.

Not to mention it doesn't crash all the time like inkscape and it's easier to ad shadow, pluss you can add light and have a wider range of effects.

[Tiffanie Lirle]

Bah, Macromeda flash beats the living daylights out of everything else.

Edit v - I don't use a tablet. :smalltongue:

[Nameless]

Bah, Macromeda flash beats the living daylights out of everything else.

I use to use flash loads, but it's difficult to draw without a drawing tablet.

[Calamity]

I don't believe this, you have Fireoworks, yet you still choose to use Inkscape.
What the hell is wrong with you people?

Photoshop and Fireowrks are better then your silly cheap vector based programs! You have more freedom, a wider range of tools, easier to fill, more options.

I'll admit, it takes time to get the hang of it, but once you do, it's really fun to use.

Not to mention it doesn't crash all the time like inkscape and it's easier to ad shadow, pluss you can add light and have a wider range of effects.

I've got Paint.NET for effects and for filling (filling is not normally needed now I sussed out Inkscape). Very easy to add using that. :smallwink:

And my Inkscape has only crashed once. :smallamused:

[Phase]

I don't see why anyone would pay for Illustrator if Inkscape is free. If I had that kind of money lying around, I'd spend it on a nintendo Wii.

I think that it's all a matter of what you start with. Once you get used to one, the other seems off...

However, Inkscape rules. It's what I use for my OotS style comic/avatars...

[Nameless]

I don't see why anyone would pay for Illustrator if Inkscape is free. If I had that kind of money lying around, I'd spend it on a nintendo Wii.

I think that it's all a matter of what you start with. Once you get used to one, the other seems off...

However, Inkscape rules. It's what I use for my OotS style comic/avatars...


Aye, but it's completely usless for anything else.

[Calamity]

Aye, but it's completely usless for anything else.

Wrong, I designed a nifty Christmas Scrooge banner for use in RL with it. I don't know why I used the word nifty, but it turned out pretty cool. Plus it wasn't very time consuming so it was WIN! all around. :smalltongue:

[Holammer]

Wrong, I designed a nifty Christmas Scrooge banner for use in RL with it. I don't know why I used the word nifty, but it turned out pretty cool. Plus it wasn't very time consuming so it was WIN! all around. :smalltongue:

Been reading Sluggy Freelance? First thing that springs to mind when I hear the word.

[Calamity]

Been reading Sluggy Freelance? First thing that springs to mind when I hear the word.

Uhh, no, I don't read that. I just like unusal words. :smalltongue:

[Nameless]

Wrong, I designed a nifty Christmas Scrooge banner for use in RL with it. I don't know why I used the word nifty, but it turned out pretty cool. Plus it wasn't very time consuming so it was WIN! all around. :smalltongue:

I bet you coulda' made it look 10 times better with Fireworks. :smalltongue:

[Maulrus]

People that draw something other than OotS style could use it, but it is a ****load of money still.

Not if you're going to use it a lot or you're gonna draw.

I mean, Inkscape is great and all for Oots-style, but it's crap for most other stuff. And I've probably lost about three hours this month redoing things in Inkscape because it crashed just when I was pressing Ctrl+s. I would go insane if I were using Inkscape as the Giant uses Illustrator.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I mean, Inkscape is great and all for Oots-style, but it's crap for most other stuff.

Huh, oh what? Did you say something?
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/8172/vuligonhx5.png

[Maulrus]

Huh, oh what? Did you say something?
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/8172/vuligonhx5.png

Yeah, I said that it was crap for most other stuff. You should read more carefully.

>__>

Out of curiousity:

Did you draw that?

[Lyinginbedmon]

Vulion drew it, I inked, cleaned, and coloured it with Inkscape. I'm also doing another of his pieces featuring Nameless.

[Maulrus]

Mmkay.

I still prefer Illustrator.

[Sneak]

My take on the debate:

If you can get your paws on a copy of Illustrator without have to pay an shell out an exorbitant sum of money, it would be in your best interest to do so. Otherwise, stick to Inkscape.

As an aside...anyone know anything about Sodipodi?

[Bryn]

As an aside...anyone know anything about Sodipodi?

I used it before switching to Inkscape, which was originally based on Sodipodi. It seems to have vanished off the face of the internet now, but back when it was around, it had a convoluted install process and less functionality than Inkscape. Good if you like the windowed style rather than Inkscape's full screen, but really, Inkscape all the way.

[Trazoi]

The great art software debate rages on... :smallwink:

You can't really compare Photoshop with Inkscape or Illustrator. It's a completely different tool, focusing on raster art rather than vectors. Its open source equivalent would be the GIMP, and in my opinion Photoshop is the winner there due to it not having an interface that causes convulsions.

For me, I think the main reason why I'm still preferring Inkscape for vector work over Illustrator, Fireworks and Flash (they've all got a similar interface for vector these days) is that I've had much more time to practice with Inkscape. My vector development strategy has been fine tuned by Inkscape's interface, which doesn't cross over well to the Adobe family. It's the Pen tool that gets me - as well as acting a bit like Inkscape's Pen tool it also acts like the Node tool, but not in the same way that Inkscape does. I find Inkscapes node tool to be very intuitive, and I can very quickly modify shapes into the form I want. Illustrator just doesn't seem to work the way I wish it do.

Now I'm fairly sure if I spend more time learning the interface I can get around that, so maybe when I find enough time to spend a weekend mastering the interface I'll start seeing Illustrator in a different light. For now, I don't see anything wrong with Inkscape; it does everything I want it to do with an interface I enjoy. And it saves in SVG which Illustrator can read, so I can always use it to begin with and then finish with Illustrator for any fine details.

As for the statement "you can't do anything more advanced than OotS avatars in Inkscae", that's clearly not true. Here's a few images I drew a couple of years back when I was learning Inkscape (and cartooning; these images aren't perfect :smallredface:)

http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/4E5/images/060616-surgery.png

http://members.gamedev.net/trapperzoid/4E5/images/060621-robot.png


My take on the debate:
As an aside...anyone know anything about Sodipodi?
I don't know much about it other than its the software that Inkscape stemmed from. From what I know, Inkscape has more development these days, and I'm not sure what Sodipodi does that Inkscape doesn't.

[Dallas-Dakota]

My take on the debate:

If you can get your paws on a copy of Illustrator without have to pay an shell out an exorbitant sum of money, it would be in your best interest to do so. Otherwise, stick to Inkscape.

As an aside...anyone know anything about Sodipodi?


Seconded.

Mr. Saturn uses it.

[Szilard]

Used it, he's gone now. Or was it Bath, I think it was both, and Vespe too.

[Bayar]

Used it, he's gone now. Or was it Bath, I think it was both, and Vespe too.

Saturn, Vespe and Bath all left :smallfrown:

[Dallas-Dakota]

Saturn, Vespe and Bath all left :smallfrown:

Wha!? You're lying!:smallfrown:

[Bayar]

Wha!? You're lying!:smallfrown:

I wish I was...

[Sensate]

For me, I think the main reason why I'm still preferring Inkscape for vector work over Illustrator, Fireworks and Flash (they've all got a similar interface for vector these days) is that I've had much more time to practice with Inkscape. My vector development strategy has been fine tuned by Inkscape's interface, which doesn't cross over well to the Adobe family. It's the Pen tool that gets me - as well as acting a bit like Inkscape's Pen tool it also acts like the Node tool, but not in the same way that Inkscape does. I find Inkscapes node tool to be very intuitive, and I can very quickly modify shapes into the form I want. Illustrator just doesn't seem to work the way I wish it do.

That's right. I had the same problem with Illustrator, and I wasn't even used to Inkscape at that time. I thought: "If the simplest of all tools is not intuitive, then how long will it take to learn how to use this thing?" Luckily, I then downloaded Inkscape and bumped into your tutorial.

Seeing how my only aspiration for now is drawing OotS style, with a couple of enhancements like shading which can be done with no problems whatsoever, there is no reason for me to switch. Heck, I wouldn't even use Illustrator if I got it for free :smalltongue: .

The reason why I prefer all Open Source art programs (yes, GIMP too) is that I can't help the feeling Adobe's tools are overly simplified for better user support in some areas, while remaining as powerful and complex. The perfect example for this is that pen tool -- I don't need you to help me by correcting the lines automatically.

[Lyinginbedmon]

You can't be Lying, because I'm Lying :smalltongue:

Bath is still around (He was in a very recent multi-artist avatar comp and gave Salmon another landfish), I haven't seen Vespe or Saturn for a long while though.

[Bayar]

The good Dr. left


He left? As is left the boards? When did that happen?


A couple weeks ago, maybe just two. He left sometime after April fools.


...

Why am I always the last to be informed of such things?

I'll miss him.


Because you, like so many of us, don't hit up the chatter forums?

I know. I just came back a few days after he left. I was looking forward to reviving our rivalry. It made me so very sad.

I'm not making it up...


M'kay.

As much as it pains me to say so, I think that after a year on this great bastion of silliness and fun I must take my leave for the foreseeable future. You're a cool bunch, and have amused me no end. I'd hope that some of you might consider me a friend, as I certainly consider you.

I apologise to those whom I failed to complete avatars for, made shoddy avatars for, took too long to complete requests for. Sorry.

It's been fun, but due to unforeseen long known about circumstances coming to a head I gotta go. Don't think too ill of me, eh?

So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

exeunt

[Alpharius]

I've been looking for somewhere to post this for a while, and this looks the best place for it.

I recently created a new avatar in Inkscape. But when I went to upload it to photobucket, it said it was an invalid file ( .svg ). I tried diffrent formats but the same message appeared. Does anyone know how to fix this?

[Lyinginbedmon]

Open up the file normally and press Cntrl+E. That'll export it as a .png image which is accepted by most sites.

[Alpharius]

Scratch this post, I got it. Thanks, Lyinginbedmon. Truly you are a king of kings.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I prefer "High Archmage of Grand Riches" but that'll do I suppose :smalltongue:

[Lissou]

And I've probably lost about three hours this month redoing things in Inkscape because it crashed just when I was pressing Ctrl+s.

Actually, in my experience, Inkscape crashes every single time I press Ctrl+S. So I only save through the menu now, and it never crashes.

[Crimmy]

I bet you coulda' made it look 10 times better with Fireworks. :smalltongue:

Wrong again.
Fireworks leaves a white trace, even when you tell it to give transparent background.

Inkscape?
Free Program
Nice lines
Vectors allow you to re-use something by simply moving the nodes and turning them.

Show me node work on Fireworks.:smallamused:
There
is
no
NODE WORK!!!
meaning you have to redraw something, even if you wanna use the same character for another thing

INKSCAPE FTW!!!

[Phase]

INKSCAPE FTW!!!

Preach it! Brother!

[Nathan]

This is going beyond the endless IvI debate, but does anyone other than myself use Flash?

[Trazoi]

This is going beyond the endless IvI debate, but does anyone other than myself use Flash?
I use Flash for anything that involves animation, although at the moment I prefer to do any complex vector work in Inkscape and then import it across. I'm looking to expand my raw Flash art skills in the future, though.

[Bayar]

Actually, in my experience, Inkscape crashes every single time I press Ctrl+S. So I only save through the menu now, and it never crashes.

Your Inkscape hates you...apparently :tongue:

[Uncle Festy]

Aha! But can Illustrator make things black and white, sepia, and red-less?
*psst, Phase! Back me up here.*

[Phase]

Yes! It's true! Inkscape equals awesome!