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>2006-03-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID20"
        >Skencil mailinglists migrated to wald.intevation.de</a>
        <br />
 <b>2006-03-08:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID19"
        >Debian Sarge backport available</a>
        <br />
 <b>2006-02-18:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID18"
        >Daniel Baumann official Debian Maintainer</a>
        <br />
 <b>2006-01-03:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID17"
        >New Softproof plugin (colour management);
        updated Debian packages and screenshots</a>
        <br />
 <b>2005-10-30:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID16"
        >New Gallery Image: Anna04</a>
        <br />
 <b>2005-09-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID15"
        >Build notes for Mac OS X</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 />

</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	title: Skencil, a vector drawing program
2
3	<h2>Latest news</h2>
4
5	<p>
6	<!--
7	<b>2005-:</b> <a href="news.html#newsIDx"
8	></a>
9	<br />
10	-->
11	<b>2006-03-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID20"
12	>Skencil mailinglists migrated to wald.intevation.de</a>
13	<br />
14	<b>2006-03-08:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID19"
15	>Debian Sarge backport available</a>
16	<br />
17	<b>2006-02-18:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID18"
18	>Daniel Baumann official Debian Maintainer</a>
19	<br />
20	<b>2006-01-03:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID17"
21	>New Softproof plugin (colour management);
22	updated Debian packages and screenshots</a>
23	<br />
24	<b>2005-10-30:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID16"
25	>New Gallery Image: Anna04</a>
26	<br />
27	<b>2005-09-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID15"
28	>Build notes for Mac OS X</a>
29	<br />
30	<b>2005-07-12:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID14"
31	>New Binaries and request for packaging help</a>
32	<br />
33	<b>2005-06-19:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID13"
34	>New stable version, Skencil 0.6.17</a>
35	<br />
36	<b>2005-03-10:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID12"
37	>Experimental binary packages for 0.6.17pre3</a>
38	<br />
39	<b>2005-01-20:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID11"
40	>Waratah plant drawing new in gallery</a>
41	<br />
42	<b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
43	>German Manual updated</a>
44	<br />
45
46	</p>
47
48	<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>
49
50	<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>
51
52	<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
53	appliction. Known to run on
54	<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
55	UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
56	powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
57	purposes.</p>
58
59	<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
60	Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
61	very high-level, interpreted language,
62	<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
63	object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
64	<hr />
65
66
67	<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>
68
69	<ul>
70	<li>Bézier Curves</li>
71
72	<li>Transformed text and images</li>
73
74	<li>Bézier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
75	be used as guides</li>
76
77	<li>Gradient fills</li>
78
79	<li>Blend groups</li>
80
81	<li>Writes EPS files</li>
82
83	<li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
84	path</a></li>
85
86	<li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
87	</ul>
88
89
90	<h2>Status</h2>
91
92	<p>The current stable release is 0.6.17. Skencil is quite
93	usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
94	The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
95	important features such as good text support.</p>
96
97	<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
98	over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
99	more improvements in the import and export filters,
100	though.</p>
101
102	<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
103	<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
104	major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
105	support and a multi document interface.</p>
106
107	<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
108	(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>
109
110
111	<h2>Features</h2>
112	<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
113	etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
114	more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
115	<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
116	features.</p>
117
118	<h2>Requirements</h2>
119
120	<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
121	additional software. See the
122	<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
123	on what software and where you can get it.</p>
124
125	<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
126	you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
127	transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
128	Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>
129
130	<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
131	depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
132	visuals.</p>
133
134	<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact & Mailing
135	list</a></h2>
136
137	<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
138	You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
139	<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
140	http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
141	or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
142	subject to
143	<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
144	[email protected]</a>.</p>
145
146	<p>You can also
147	<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
148	me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
149	the mailing list.</p>
150
151	<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
152	<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&group_id=828&func=browse">
153	bug tracker</a> first.</p>
154
155	<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
156	SourceForge
157	<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
158	page</a> and on
159	<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>
160
161	<h2>License</h2>
162
163	<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
164	<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
165	(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
166	not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
167	Python-style license.</p>
168
169	<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
170	Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
171	that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
172	normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
173	distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
174	a different license.</p>
Name	Value
svn:eol-style	native
svn:executable	*
svn:keywords	Author Date Id Revision