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>2005-06-19:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID13"
        >New stable version, Skencil 0.6.17</a>
        <br />
 <b>2005-03-10:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID12"
        >Experimental binary packages for 0.6.17pre3</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	bh	634	<b>2005-06-19:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID13"
12			>New stable version, Skencil 0.6.17</a>
13			<br />
14	bernhard	631	<b>2005-03-10:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID12"
15			>Experimental binary packages for 0.6.17pre3</a>
16			<br />
17	bernhard	629	<b>2005-01-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID11"
18			>Waratah plant drawing new in gallery</a>
19			<br />
20	bernhard	626	<b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
21			>German Manual updated</a>
22			<br />
23	bernhard	625	<b>2004-11-11:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID9"
24			>Screenshots updated; BuildImage 1.0</a>
25			<br />
26	bernhard	618	<b>2004-09-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID8"
27			>New Add-ons: skLaTeX, Calendar,
28			Equal-area proj, PolygloText, Autoshapes</a>
29	bernhard	625	<br />
30	jpaalasm	606
31			</p>
32
33			<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>
34
35			<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>
36
37			<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
38			appliction. Known to run on
39			<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
40			UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
41			powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
42			purposes.</p>
43
44			<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
45			Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
46			very high-level, interpreted language,
47			<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
48			object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
49			<hr />
50
51
52			<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>
53
54			<ul>
55			<li>Bézier Curves</li>
56
57			<li>Transformed text and images</li>
58
59			<li>Bézier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
60			be used as guides</li>
61
62			<li>Gradient fills</li>
63
64			<li>Blend groups</li>
65
66			<li>Writes EPS files</li>
67
68			<li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
69			path</a></li>
70
71			<li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
72			</ul>
73
74
75			<h2>Status</h2>
76
77			<p>The current stable release is 0.6.16. Skencil is quite
78			usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
79			The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
80			important features such as good text support.</p>
81
82			<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
83			over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
84			more improvements in the import and export filters,
85			though.</p>
86
87			<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
88			<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
89			major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
90			support and a multi document interface.</p>
91
92			<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
93			(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>
94
95
96			<h2>Features</h2>
97			<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
98			etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
99			more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
100			<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
101			features.</p>
102
103			<h2>Requirements</h2>
104
105			<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
106			additional software. See the
107			<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
108			on what software and where you can get it.</p>
109
110			<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
111			you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
112			transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
113			Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>
114
115			<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
116			depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
117			visuals.</p>
118
119			<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact & Mailing
120			list</a></h2>
121
122			<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
123			You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
124			<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
125			http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
126			or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
127			subject to
128			<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
129			[email protected]</a>.</p>
130
131			<p>You can also
132			<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
133			me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
134			the mailing list.</p>
135
136			<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
137			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&group_id=828&func=browse">
138			bug tracker</a> first.</p>
139
140			<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
141			SourceForge
142			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
143			page</a> and on
144			<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>
145
146			<h2>License</h2>
147
148			<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
149			<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
150			(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
151			not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
152			Python-style license.</p>
153
154			<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
155			Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
156			that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
157			normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
158			distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
159			a different license.</p>
Name	Value
svn:eol-style	native
svn:executable	*
svn:keywords	Author Date Id Revision