10 tips for creating good looking diagrams using inkscape

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10 Tips For Creating Good LookingDiagrams Using Inkscape

y CARSON | Published: JULY 11, 2007

After multiple attempts to find a good free diagraming application I think I have

found a decent solution. I'm not creating enough diagrams to justify buying

something expensive and I don't feel like finding a graphics designer to make Dia

diagrams prettier. If you have a Mac you are probably not in as bad a situation

since you can buyOmniGraffle for $79. But for those of us without a Mac or who

are just very cheap I think the best solution starts with Inkscape. I've put together

a list of 10 tips that will help make better looking diagrams with Inkscape.

You will want to download Inkscape first. They have binaries for Linux, Windows

and Mac OS X so it should be easy enough to get it installed. After installing

Inkscape it is a good idea to browse their tutorials via the help->tutorials menu.

1. Find a good color scheme

This is one of the most important things you need to do. You don't want the

boring black and white diagrams, you want something that has a little color to it.

You can use a color picker or you can check out colourlovers.com where people

vote on different schemes. I like colourlovers.com because they take items like

fruit baskets and convert those into schemes.

I'm using the following color scheme for the examples here:

2. Use all of the space

Don't be afraid to use the sides of the screen as a scratch pad. This comes in

About Me

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handy when you want to create smaller images to use in the main drawing area.

When you are ready to export you can export just the "page" and you won't see

the outside area in the final result.

3. Learn the hot keys

Learning the hot keys will speed up your drawing. The following hot keys are the

ones I use the most:

group Ctrl-G

un-group Ctrl-Shift-G

create square F4

create circle F5

create polygons *

transform F1

4. Use zoom to work close in then zoom out and scale

I use the zoom function to find a blank area in the "scratch pad" when I want to

assemble a shape that may require fine tuning. Since this is a vector drawing it is

easy to resize the item later and place it in the correct place after returning to the

normal zoom.

5. Learn how to using masking to make simple shapes

You can build complex shapes using different simple shapes with path set

operations (see the path menu and the advanced tutorial). Here is an example of

what a difference operation can create:

First draw a square:


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Then draw a circle:

Then put the circle over the square:


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Now highlight both the circle and the square:

And finally hit Ctrl:


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6. Don't use the connectors tool

I started out trying to use the connectors tool to connect the objects. I found that

the tool didn't work very well because the connections don't lay themselves out. If

you really want any type of bend you are out of luck. They do bend when you

click the layout button but they are almost always too close to the objects.

I found that it wasn't that hard to just use the polygon tool to draw the lines after

I finished laying out the objects. When using the polygon tool don't add the end

markers to the lines however because changing the color of the lines doesn't

change the color of the markers (see step #7). I've also found that adjusting the

transparency of the lines makes for a better look.

7. Create your own markers

As I said in step 6 you will want to create your own markers. For one the

attributes of a line don't carry over to the marker so you need them to be separate

objects. After you create your marker zoom to the end of the line to do the

alignment. I found that it isn't

that hard to align the markers once you have them created. Then use the group

function to group the markers with the lines.

8. Overlay text on a color to go over lines.

The easiest way I have found to overlay the text on the lines is to first create a box

the same color as the background of the drawing. After you create the box you

will need to force it down using the button. Now that you have a box create

your text and lay it over the box. Adjust the size of the box so the entire text is

inside of it and then group the box and the text together as one unit. Now you

can just place the resulting unit over the line.
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Attributes-Stroke.html#Attributes-Stroke-Markers


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9. Outline your objects

Outlining your objects seems to make them pop a little more. I also reduce the

transparency a little to allow any text on top of the object to stand out. You will

want to consult your color scheme to figure out what two colors to use for the fill

and outline.

10. Import SVG graphics

I think if I had a pen tablet I could probably draw some more complicated

objects but there is no way I could draw everything I might need. Luckily there

are a number of sources you can use to get SVG graphics. A number of places sell

their art in SVG format and there are a few open source or free sources of clip

art/icons. The source I have been using is openclipart.org (one note on this site isthat they are moving to new equipment and I had to use archive.org to download

the latest open source clipart archive). Another option is to convert a raster image

into SVG and then import it that way. You can then use free icons like the

famfamfam icons in your diagrams. Although converting to SVG this way works

it is best to find images that are sourced directly to SVG from their drawing.
http://www.famfamfam.com/http://www.ioncannon.net/utilities/123/10-tips-for-creating-good-looking-diagrams-using-inkscape/http://openclipart.org/


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Bonus Tip How to add drop shadows

Someone asked if you could do drop shadows and it looks like you can by using

the Gaussian Blur. This can make things look better too but you can't use

transparent objects when you do this. After redoing the example I decided I likedthe drop shadows better so I've included it here.

The first thing is to copy the object you want to have the drop shadow for:
http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/ReleaseNotes045#SVG_filters:_Gaussian_blur


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Next you want to change the color of the copy to black and set the blur to 10 or

so:

Now you send the object to the background:


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And last you align the object a little bit offset from the original:

Here is the final result:


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And another copy of the SVG: dropshadow example

I wanted to see if I could use these tips to create a diagram that looks similar to

what is on the OmniGraffle page. Here is the result of that:
http://d28nuaxr58rcpu.cloudfront.net/inkscape-examples/example-dropshadow.svg


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commons TelnetClient

Good luck and I hope this keeps your next diagram frombecoming a joke.

Here are a couple links so you can download the example SVG and the cloud

SVG if you want.

Tags: inkscape, diagram

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14 Comments
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Demetrios K yriakis

July 11 , 200 7 at 1 2:34 pm

What about "drop shadows" and "outer glow" ?

How to do them easily with InkScape? (I only know a very complicated solution)

I think they are the most used "effects" for good looking diagrams (just look at

Omnigraffle they are default enabled so no extrawork is required). Those effects with

a few rounded corners make even black and white diagrams look good.

Thank you,

Demerios.

carson

July 11 , 200 7 at 1 2:44 pm

I'll see if I can get the drop shadows and outer glow going then update the post. I'm

pretty sure you can.

Andrew McVeigh

July 12, 2007 at 4:10 am

Hey very nice. thanks for the explanation of an impressive looking diagram.

Cheers,

Andrew

Demetrios K yriakis

July 12, 2007 at 5:33 am

Thank you very much for the update.

However, this is exactly the "complicated" method I was aware of :(. I was hoping

(wish thinking, I know :) ) that there's some trick (or plug-in or macro) to do it simpler.

This approach has several disadvantages (I mention just a few):#1. it's just too much work compared to a simple setting (or even nothing) that other

tools offer.

#2. you mentioned it no transparent or translucent "nodes".

#3. Not just creation is a lot of work, but modification too. The lifecycle of a diagram

does not consist of only one version, so every modification will imply redoing a lot of

work, since the "shadow" is not "sticky" nor "intelligent", to move or scale or transform

together with the "node".

#4. It's hard to do it uniform for all nodes

since it's not automatic, nor are there simple ways to ensure that the "delta" is equal (or

looks equal for all nodes). Even worse, after small changes, even if the shadows were

aligned perfectly it happens that the modified one is no more aligned.

(it happened to just too many times)

#5. The 10% blur doesn't make shadows look uniform on all node forms or colors. One

needs a very good eye and many adjustments

(tools do that that automatically, so one is not even aware of the problem).

#6. For lines is even worse cause one is tunning them allot to look perfect, so this

requires a lot of changes for the shadows too.

#7. Adding other effects (l ike glow or highlight) requires even more tricks with extra

layers/copies and this ampliffies the problems from #1 to #6 even more.

Sorry for the many "negative" points, but I was hoping for a "productive" solution like is

the one in Photoshop (where it's a simple click or shortcut), or Omnigraffle and other

diagram tools where is a system wide setting and the tool knows to calculate and adjust

everything to look uniform.
http://www.ioncannon.net/utilities/123/10-tips-for-creating-good-looking-diagrams-using-inkscape/#comment-24150http://www.ioncannon.net/utilities/123/10-tips-for-creating-good-looking-diagrams-using-inkscape/#comment-24142http://www.ioncannon.net/utilities/123/10-tips-for-creating-good-looking-diagrams-using-inkscape/#comment-24059http://ioncannon.net/http://www.ioncannon.net/utilities/123/10-tips-for-creating-good-looking-diagrams-using-inkscape/#comment-24058


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You own a great merit for taking the time to describe this, and it's fantastic that you

could achieve the same result.

The problem is however: what price does to user pays for using Inkscape? In this case:

extremly huge amount of time :(.

To make an analogy using Inkscape looks like using Assembler instead of a ligh level

language: one can achieve the same results, but the effort :(.

One more time, I would like to thank you for the great article.

Demetrios.

tom

July 12, 2007 at 6:44 am

Re using blur as a drop shadow,

tip 1: select *all* the objects that you what to have a sh adow of at once, duplicate,

change colour, add blur, use arrow keys to offset and then lower to bottom of the stack.

note that all the drop shadows are now the same size

This works remarkably well, and is much quicker. should address your problems 1 and5 although your other points still stand :-(

carson

July 12, 2007 at 7:07 am

I think the key is to buy something like OmniGraffle if you are creating diagrams all the

time or creating them directly to be shown. I don't mind looking at a Dia diagram or a

scribble myself but there are times when you need to convert those finished diagrams

into something that won't burn peoples eyes.

levhita

July 16, 2007 at 3:16 pm

You can always make your diagrams in Dia (easy to make and modify) and export them

to SVG (actually Dia uses SVG internally) to final editing and presentation.

Dia already has pretty neat shapes, arrows and lines. they only need a little color with

some shadows.

Alex

August 24, 2007 at 4:05 am

I think the issue with dropshadows can be simplified a bit; the workaround is as

follows:

1. create one shape of each type and size

2. place them on a pallette outside the page area

3. add dropshadows as you like

4. use Alt+D instead of Ctrl+D when you copy a shape and move it to a diagram

Alt+D will not make a copy, but use a reference to the original shape. If you modify

either the reference, or the original, a ll the other shapes that reference it will a lso be

modified automatically.

This is something like having a pointer to a variable in C :-) If you update the value,

anything else that points to it is also updated.

doug
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September 6, 2007 at 4:34 pm

You glossed over the part about creating the connectors. I've found this REALLY

challenging to do in Inkscape, so making flowcharts is a total pita.

Do you have any howto tips for creating the connectors, arrows, etc.?

Morten

September 27, 2007 at 7:50 am

Making the line markers have the same color as the lines can be done using Effects

Change Path Color Markers to Match Stroke.

Gerald

December 11, 2008 at 9:46 pm

Thanks a lot for this nice set of tips.

I found myself in the same situation as you, considering for example Jude diagrams too

boring and unpretty, and wanted something better. For now, getting used to the key

bindings of Inkscape and knowing some tips (thank you!) is enough for me to create

diagrams quite quickly.

About connectors, I was trying to use them effectively but this is a hard thing to do.

As you cannot control the path of the connectors, break them into multilines, or

choosing another anchor point than the center of objects, drawing UML diagrams is

quite a chal lenge I found that using normal path, or polygons is just worth it.

Anyway, thanks for the tips and the ideas!

artworkbean

March 19, 2009 at 8 :37 am

thank for very basic tips that average joe could do somethin cool with inkscape. check

this guy do cartoon with inkscape too:

http://inkscapetutorials. blogspot.com/2009/03/trace-marie-cats-head.html

Steve Dodier

June 1, 2009 at 2:40 am

Hey, for the arrows not being colored, you can turn the line+end marker into a path

(there's a menu entry for that, i can't remember it's english exact name though). Then,

you can colorize the whole path as any other object !

Peter

August 3, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Excellent tutorial. As for drop shadows, it looks like the Inkscape manual shows how

to make a live drop-shadow filter! Now we're getting closer to OmniGraffle territory
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