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>2005-07-12:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID14"
        >New Binaries and request for packaging help</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 0.6.17. 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	637	<b>2005-07-12:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID14"
12			>New Binaries and request for packaging help</a>
13			<br />
14	bh	634	<b>2005-06-19:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID13"
15			>New stable version, Skencil 0.6.17</a>
16			<br />
17	bernhard	631	<b>2005-03-10:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID12"
18			>Experimental binary packages for 0.6.17pre3</a>
19			<br />
20	bernhard	629	<b>2005-01-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID11"
21			>Waratah plant drawing new in gallery</a>
22			<br />
23	bernhard	626	<b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
24			>German Manual updated</a>
25			<br />
26	bernhard	625	<b>2004-11-11:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID9"
27			>Screenshots updated; BuildImage 1.0</a>
28			<br />
29	bernhard	618	<b>2004-09-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID8"
30			>New Add-ons: skLaTeX, Calendar,
31			Equal-area proj, PolygloText, Autoshapes</a>
32	bernhard	625	<br />
33	jpaalasm	606
34			</p>
35
36			<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>
37
38			<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>
39
40			<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
41			appliction. Known to run on
42			<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
43			UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
44			powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
45			purposes.</p>
46
47			<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
48			Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
49			very high-level, interpreted language,
50			<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
51			object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
52			<hr />
53
54
55			<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>
56
57			<ul>
58			<li>Bézier Curves</li>
59
60			<li>Transformed text and images</li>
61
62			<li>Bézier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
63			be used as guides</li>
64
65			<li>Gradient fills</li>
66
67			<li>Blend groups</li>
68
69			<li>Writes EPS files</li>
70
71			<li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
72			path</a></li>
73
74			<li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
75			</ul>
76
77
78			<h2>Status</h2>
79
80	bernhard	638	<p>The current stable release is 0.6.17. Skencil is quite
81	jpaalasm	606	usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
82			The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
83			important features such as good text support.</p>
84
85			<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
86			over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
87			more improvements in the import and export filters,
88			though.</p>
89
90			<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
91			<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
92			major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
93			support and a multi document interface.</p>
94
95			<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
96			(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>
97
98
99			<h2>Features</h2>
100			<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
101			etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
102			more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
103			<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
104			features.</p>
105
106			<h2>Requirements</h2>
107
108			<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
109			additional software. See the
110			<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
111			on what software and where you can get it.</p>
112
113			<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
114			you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
115			transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
116			Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>
117
118			<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
119			depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
120			visuals.</p>
121
122			<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact & Mailing
123			list</a></h2>
124
125			<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
126			You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
127			<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
128			http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
129			or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
130			subject to
131			<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
132			[email protected]</a>.</p>
133
134			<p>You can also
135			<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
136			me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
137			the mailing list.</p>
138
139			<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
140			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&group_id=828&func=browse">
141			bug tracker</a> first.</p>
142
143			<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
144			SourceForge
145			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
146			page</a> and on
147			<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>
148
149			<h2>License</h2>
150
151			<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
152			<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
153			(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
154			not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
155			Python-style license.</p>
156
157			<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
158			Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
159			that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
160			normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
161			distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
162			a different license.</p>
Name	Value
svn:eol-style	native
svn:executable	*
svn:keywords	Author Date Id Revision