trunk/pages/index.html

title: Skencil, a vector drawing program

<h2>Latest news</h2>

<p>
<!--
 <b>2005-:</b> <a href="news.html#newsIDx"
        ></a>
        <br />
-->
 <b>2005-01-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID11"
        >Waratah plant drawing new in gallery</a>
        <br />
 <b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
        >German Manual updated</a>
        <br />
 <b>2004-11-11:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID9"
        >Screenshots updated; BuildImage 1.0</a>
        <br />
 <b>2004-09-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID8"
        >New Add-ons: skLaTeX, Calendar, 
        Equal-area proj, PolygloText, Autoshapes</a>
        <br />

</p>

<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>

<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>

<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
appliction. Known to run on
<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
purposes.</p>

<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
very high-level, interpreted language,
<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
<hr />


<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>

<ul>
  <li>B&eacute;zier Curves</li>

  <li>Transformed text and images</li>

  <li>B&eacute;zier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
  be used as guides</li>

  <li>Gradient fills</li>

  <li>Blend groups</li>

  <li>Writes EPS files</li>

  <li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
  path</a></li>

  <li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
</ul>


<h2>Status</h2>

<p>The current stable release is 0.6.16. Skencil is quite
usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
important features such as good text support.</p>

<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
more improvements in the import and export filters,
though.</p>

<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
support and a multi document interface.</p>

<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>


<h2>Features</h2>
<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
features.</p>

<h2>Requirements</h2>

<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
additional software. See the
<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
on what software and where you can get it.</p>

<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>

<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
visuals.</p>

<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact &amp; Mailing
list</a></h2>

<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
subject to
<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
[email protected]</a>.</p>

<p>You can also
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
the mailing list.</p>

<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&amp;group_id=828&amp;func=browse">
bug tracker</a> first.</p>

<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
SourceForge
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
page</a> and on
<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>

<h2>License</h2>

<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
Python-style license.</p>

<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
a different license.</p>
1	jpaalasm	606	title: Skencil, a vector drawing program
2
3			<h2>Latest news</h2>
4
5			<p>
6			<!--
7	bernhard	629	<b>2005-:</b> <a href="news.html#newsIDx"
8			></a>
9	bernhard	626	<br />
10	jpaalasm	606	-->
11	bernhard	629	<b>2005-01-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID11"
12			>Waratah plant drawing new in gallery</a>
13			<br />
14	bernhard	626	<b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
15			>German Manual updated</a>
16			<br />
17	bernhard	625	<b>2004-11-11:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID9"
18			>Screenshots updated; BuildImage 1.0</a>
19			<br />
20	bernhard	618	<b>2004-09-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID8"
21			>New Add-ons: skLaTeX, Calendar,
22			Equal-area proj, PolygloText, Autoshapes</a>
23	bernhard	625	<br />
24	jpaalasm	606
25			</p>
26
27			<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>
28
29			<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>
30
31			<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
32			appliction. Known to run on
33			<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
34			UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
35			powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
36			purposes.</p>
37
38			<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
39			Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
40			very high-level, interpreted language,
41			<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
42			object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
43			<hr />
44
45
46			<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>
47
48			<ul>
49			<li>Bézier Curves</li>
50
51			<li>Transformed text and images</li>
52
53			<li>Bézier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
54			be used as guides</li>
55
56			<li>Gradient fills</li>
57
58			<li>Blend groups</li>
59
60			<li>Writes EPS files</li>
61
62			<li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
63			path</a></li>
64
65			<li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
66			</ul>
67
68
69			<h2>Status</h2>
70
71			<p>The current stable release is 0.6.16. Skencil is quite
72			usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
73			The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
74			important features such as good text support.</p>
75
76			<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
77			over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
78			more improvements in the import and export filters,
79			though.</p>
80
81			<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
82			<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
83			major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
84			support and a multi document interface.</p>
85
86			<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
87			(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>
88
89
90			<h2>Features</h2>
91			<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
92			etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
93			more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
94			<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
95			features.</p>
96
97			<h2>Requirements</h2>
98
99			<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
100			additional software. See the
101			<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
102			on what software and where you can get it.</p>
103
104			<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
105			you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
106			transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
107			Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>
108
109			<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
110			depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
111			visuals.</p>
112
113			<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact & Mailing
114			list</a></h2>
115
116			<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
117			You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
118			<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
119			http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
120			or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
121			subject to
122			<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
123			[email protected]</a>.</p>
124
125			<p>You can also
126			<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
127			me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
128			the mailing list.</p>
129
130			<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
131			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&group_id=828&func=browse">
132			bug tracker</a> first.</p>
133
134			<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
135			SourceForge
136			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
137			page</a> and on
138			<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>
139
140			<h2>License</h2>
141
142			<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
143			<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
144			(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
145			not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
146			Python-style license.</p>
147
148			<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
149			Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
150			that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
151			normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
152			distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
153			a different license.</p>
Name	Value
svn:eol-style	native
svn:executable	*
svn:keywords	Author Date Id Revision