Episode 065
Episode 065 – LCD Digits
by Richard Querin
This screencast demonstrates a fairly easy way of creating LCD digits from scratch. It also demonstrates the use of grids and grid snapping to make drawing objects of a defined size easier.
I recorded the intro to this one about a week ago. During the week I got involved in a couple of forum discussions involving grids and snapping (which I had never used before btw). So you’ll notice that while the main screencast uses grids and grid snapping to create the digit, the intro at the beginning does not.
See, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Woof Woof! 
ps. Astute viewers might also notice that this might be the first time I’ve done two of these episodes in a row. Does that mean I can now wait 2 months before doing my next one?? 
July 10th, 2008 at 9:40 am
It’s Only Me (The Wizard of Magic Land)
Barenaked Ladies
July 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Heathenx emailed me a really useful tip, but then had to run out and get his nails done. So with his permission, I’ve posted his quickie screencast (no sound) about it for all to see.
I didn’t know this, but you can select multiple items by drawing a path over them. On windows, you can just grab the select tool (F1), then hold the Alt key while you draw over the items you want to select. When you release the mouse and key they’ll be selected. On Linux, it’s the same but you need to hold the “super” key + Alt key (the super key is typically the ‘windows’ key). Here’s the screencast that demonstrates how it would have helped me out in this episode:
Select Tip
July 10th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
definitly the best screencasts on the web! no bla bla, straight to the point and educating.
Thank you for all your work!
July 10th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
This is a fantastic series, I came across this after watching meetthegimp, and although I have struggled with comprehending the issues with Inkscape for as couple of years now, after 2 nights I have a polaroid pin-up sorted and the popping 3D effect working well. As a consequence the confidence is now sky high. I get it by doing it! Thanks very much for this resource.
A few others and I are trying to increase the uptake of FOSS in schools, so the videocasts from you will ease the introduction and assist in the process. Did I say thanks? Thanks!!
July 11th, 2008 at 4:59 am
That is a nifty trick, using a path to select items. And I like you brand new avatar!
July 11th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Sorry for the late reply. Fantastic video as usual.
Regarding the short video on touch selection, it was Ryan Lerch who taught me this method like a forever ago. I remembered it recently when I was working on a crossword puzzle illustration a few days ago.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Hey Richard
That clock’s really nice. keep up the good work dude love you and heathenx’s screencasts they really make me better at inkscape. Some people might think its wierd that a 13 years kid is making vector graphics but i do make vector graphics. you and heathenx are a great help for me, just make some more screencasts
July 14th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Awesome, thanks for the thorough tutorial.
July 14th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hey you guys, thanks for the tutorial, real thorough and easy to understand…i run inkscape using x11 on my mac, i made a few display adjustments to my own…here it is…
July 14th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Nice job! Did you have to play with the gradients much after you ‘perspectivized’ it? I also like the red diode effect on the right hand side. The devil, as always, is in the details.
The dark red tinge in the background adds a lot to the realism as well.
Good stuff.
July 14th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
@Kacy
Hey, not too shabby! I like it. Change that to AM and that’s what time I get up every morning.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
“Nice job! Did you have to play with the gradients much after you ‘perspectivized’ it? I also like the red diode effect on the right hand side. The devil, as always, is in the details.
The dark red tinge in the background adds a lot to the realism as well.
Good stuff.”
Thanks you guys, actually, I exported the file as a .png, then did the perspective in the GIMP
@heathenx
lol the crack of dawn
December 27th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I knew I saw this screencast, but Google didn’t help. I was looking for 7-segment display instead of LCD digits. Maybe you can add the keyword “segment”, that might be enough to make it come up in Google.
Also, don’t you think it might be useful to also have the SVG final product saved (say under creative commons) ?
December 29th, 2009 at 7:02 am
@Scott
Done!
December 29th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I’ve also posted some python code (part of it is an Inkscape plugin) to create the 10 digits from a template.
See: http://code.google.com/p/scott-inkscape/wiki/SevenSegmentDigits
The site also has all the digits in .svg if anybody want’s to download them directly.
http://code.google.com/p/scott-inkscape/source/browse/#hg/seven-segment