Beginner

This is a basic guide on using the Inkscape Path Operations. After writing a lot of intermediate tutorials on creating vector art, I found that I extensively use the path operations. Many questions were asked on how one can get a specific shape in other tutorials, and the answer would be obvious if you have a in depth understanding of these operations.

Path operations are performed between two shapes. All the path operations can be found in the Path menu. Depending on the order of the shapes, and the operation performed, you can get various derived shapes. The different operations we will look at in depth are the following.

1. Union
2. Difference
3. Intersection
4. Exclusion
5. Division
6. Cut Path

I use the Union, Difference and Intersection a lot, and the knowledge of these three operations should be sufficient for most of what you want to get. For completeness, I will discuss the other three operations too. To apply all these operations, you select two shapes, and then choose the operation required from the Path menu.

Union

Hot key: [Ctrl] + [+]

It combines two shapes into one shape. Even if the two shapes are not overlapping, it makes it into a single path object. You can use it in vector illustrations, when you create it part wise, and then want to combine them to give uniform effects like gradients.

Difference

Hot key: [Ctrl] + [-]

The Difference operation punches out one shape from the other. The one that is on the top is used as the stencil to cut out the shape from the lower shape. Observe how the same operation is performed on the above shapes, when their order is swapped.
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• Software: Inkscape (or other vector graphics editor)
• Level: Beginner
• Subject: 8 Ball

It has been a while since a beginner level tutorial was published at KalaaLog.com and hence I thought I would show how to do something simple.

The 8 ball is pretty important ball in the game of snooker or pool as it is called. I remember the days when I would go with my friends during my bachelors and the glossy balls of vibrant colors, with stark hightlights and shadows from bright lights. Before I get all nostalgic, we will see how we can create a vector art of the 8 Ball.

Create Basic Shape

It is pretty easy to create the basic shape. Create two circiles – one black and one white. Use the text tool to create the digit ‘8′.

Unless you want to create a very symbolic looking vector art, you would want to get a 3d shape. And for that, group the white circle and the ‘8′ text; and then rotate and skew it a bit. Move it over the black circle and roughly to one corner.

The mid-tone shade

Assuming the light source to be on the left, we need to create a mid-tone shaded area.

Create another circle that overlaps the top left area (shown in red). Make a copy of the black circle and paste it exacly over the original. Select the overlapping black circle and the red one and perform intersection operation. (Use the [Ctrl]+[*] or choose intersections from the Path menu). Change the fill and outline color of the newly created shape to white. Make it transparent – opacity around 10% to 15%.

Highlight

As I mentioned earlier, the combination of glossy finish and the bright lights cause the hightlights to be pretty stark.
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• Software: Inkscape or other vector graphics editor
• Level: Beginner
• Subject: Axe

I watched Pathfinder the other day. Not a great movie, but I got inspried to vector an axe. So, here is the tutorial.

First we need to create the basic shape of the axe.

Start of with a circle. Make copies of it and place it at the top right and bottom right of the first circle. The blue and the green ones are copies. Color is not important – I put them so for reference.

Select the black circle and perform a subtract operation with the blue circle. Do the same with the green circle. Here you have a basic axe shape.

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• Software: Inkscape (or any other vector graphics editor)
• Level: Beginner
• Subject: Feather

It was quite some time since I did vector artwork, and seeing that how much popular the other peacock feather tutorial had become, I thought I would give another try at a simpler tutorial.

Try to study induvidual feathers of different birds. The come in all shapes and colors, but they have a basic form. They have a spine or step like structure with plumage growing out of it.

Step 1

The first step is quite simple. Take the polygon/path tool and draw a triangle – a long lean one.

Step 2

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