Episode 067
Episode 067 - Intro to Spiro
by heathenx
In this episode I take a look at a semi-current development release of Inkscape to show off some of the new Spiro capabilities. Spiro is NOT included in the latest v0.46 stable release. I used Inkscape SVN Revision 19338.
Please review Andy Fitzsimon’s recent blog post on Spiro as well.
Tags: spiro
July 17th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
[...] Episode 067 is live. In it I take a look at an SVN release of Inkscape and show off the new Spiro path functionality. I hemmed and hawed over the idea of this screencast. I didn’t want to screencast features that are still be cooked but I had a change of heart during the last 3 days. Just too excited about Spiro to keep it under wraps I guess. Plus there aren’t many places that one can find Spiro tutorials on the net at this time…so…here’s mine until some one can make a nicer one. [...]
July 17th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
How can we get Inkscape SVN Revision 19338 for Windows?
July 18th, 2008 at 12:55 am
But… where is file? I can’t see download link.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:36 am
@Jarid google for inkscape windows snapshots, there used to be lots of them
@3stan Looks like Heathenx forgot to post a link to avi file, but it is on server: http://screencasters.heathenx.org/wp-content/videos/ep067.avi
July 18th, 2008 at 6:31 am
@Jarid
For Windows users they have it the easiest. Go to Inkscape W32 Snapshots and download a recent 7z archive. For instance, choose Inkscape0807171536.7z. Un-zip it somewhere on your local drive and just the run the inscape.exe inside of the root directory. Nothing to install.
If you want to keep up on the dev releases then you need to re-download a new version every so often. There is a new release every day. They are basically snapshots of that days SVN repo.
@Everyone else…
WordPress 2.6 has broken podpress. That is why my AVI didn’t show up after I posted it last night. @Inkscaper already figured out what needed to be done so thank-you for that. I didn’t even realize that it was broken until this morning. A new version of podpress should be released in the next few days. Until then we’ll get by with directly linking to the AVI’s if needed. Sorry for the inconvenience.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Re: Podpress being broken.
Update: I blame heathenx.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:18 am
HOLY CRAP!!! 0_0
I had no idea it was that easy to install the snapshots!! The entire time I was watching I was trying to come up with a “Inkscape+Spiro >= Sex” joke, but none of them did it justice.
SOOOO AWESOME!!
July 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
That is an fantastic feature ! It is very less work to create this kind of shapes, so i can drink my beer earlier :-)). Thanks for your great Screencast.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
@SureWhyNot - do beware though. I’ve downloaded nightly builds before that had half the toolbar with invisible buttons.. they worked but you couldn’t see ‘em.
It is a nice easy way to check out the latest work if you’re on Windows though.
July 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
this indeed is a very handy feature. can see it being put to use a lot. it’s development like this that keeps inkscape well within the forefront of other programs. this feature still has bugs though. if i make a custom shape, it begins to act oddly. but i can’t reproduce this with a your standard shapes,.. ie square, circle, star. perhaps it is something on my system messing it up. anyway. great feature and thanks for making a screencast for it. have you guys made any big plans for episode 100? can’t wait to see more. thanks for all the help so far.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
pretty sure you upgraded to wordpress 2.6 which breaks podpress. i found the problem and the quick fix until an updated podpress can be released. the issue lies with the new wikipedia-style revision tracking system. if you turn them off everything will work like a champ.
add this line to wp-config.php:
define(’WP_POST_REVISIONS’,0);
i’ve learned a lot since i found your tutorials (just a few days ago). hope this helps…
July 19th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
This is great! I never thought about trying the development versions until this episode. I was watching your screencast & downloading in another tab.
July 19th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
@rudeboy
sweet! I hope that little fix helps. The podpress developer says that he’ll likely have a fix in a little over a week. I doubt I’ll get a new screencast out in that time (maybe Richard will). In case I do I’ll try your workaround. Thank-you for sharing that with us.
July 19th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
it’ll work for the current post as well. the bug just prevents the media file from being attached to the post. after adding the line to your wp-config.php to disable revision tracking you just need to edit this post and re-add your media. worked perfectly on my local music podcasting site.
thanks for the awesome tutorials…
July 20th, 2008 at 8:52 am
@rudeboy
Great! I used your workaround. Podpress now working again. I appreciate this.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:04 am
“… semi-current development release… ”
Nice you want to be on the cutting edge and be the first out of the gate, but if things change in the mean time until the new stable release? I do appreciate your work but no thanks, I’ll pass on this screencast.
Cheers
July 20th, 2008 at 10:26 am
This reminds me of NURBS. Indeed, very nice designs can be made with this. Thanks for lifting a corner of the veil of 0.47!
July 20th, 2008 at 11:08 am
No he didn’t!! Everything that’s in the development snapshots won’t necessarily be in .47
July 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am
@Jaws
Fair enough but I am neither interested in being cutting edge nor the first one out of the gate. I love using Spiro. It’s a brilliant feature worth showing off.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:49 am
fantastic stuff! can’t live without Spiro now that I’ve seen it! wonderful work!
anxiously awaiting .47 - somehow missed release date - do you know when we can get the full version?
truly enjoyed tutorials, very informative - sure made me want .47!
Thanks!
k
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I have no idea when release 0.47 will be released. Rumored maybe later this year but can’t be certain. I’m not in the loop on official release dates.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Formidable,
Merci beaucoup
cordialement
JFT
July 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Man dudes, I really appreciate your great work. Please keep on doing this you guys are outstanding. I hope this pays you a little bit for your work.
Greetings from Germany
Shiloh
August 1st, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Hello guys,
I have downloaded all your episodes and i have seen them in two days. It is not because i have nothing else to do but because it is very inspiring. Now i am using Inkscape like i know it for i year (i’m using it for a last couple of months)
Anyway thank you for doing this. It is very helpful the beginners like me.
I didn’t try spiro yet but i will do that A.S.A.P. Do you know where is the name from or why spiro?
Take care.
Greetings from Serbia,
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hi Sasa,
That’s great. The quality of our early videos aren’t up to the same standards that we presently use since we made those before the Screencasters even existed.That’s why many of those are on YouTube as well.
If you can get a devel version of Inkscape and try Spiro then great. Don’t worry about it if you can’t. Ep067 was meant to be a preview for future features.
I think one of the Inkscape developers told me that the name Spiro might have originated from the word spirograph. Not sure if that is true but I have no reason to doubt it. Plus it makes sense. Once Tav adds that to his Inkscape Guide (0.47) then we’ll all get the low down on it.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Thanks mate for quick reply. Continue with a great work.
Cheers,
August 10th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Wow this is amaizing, I downloaded 0.47 dev version few weeks ago and I was bit dissapionted because I didnt noticed spiro until now, now I`ve experimented with 0.47 dev and I`m pretty amaized with spiro its so cool and option which make from clipboard “brushes” is pritty fresh for inkscape. I cant wait 0.47 to be relaesed form development.
I didnt knew for screencasters.heathenx.org till now, now its in my opera`s speed dail, and since now I will look on every next episode.
PS. maybe it will be good if you add option for viewing tutorials in low quality video, becaose not every one have fast internet conncetion, eg like me :(.
Greetings form Bijeljina.
August 10th, 2008 at 9:58 am
@Dare
Hmm…I’m not really up on all things Opera. Not sure I know about the “speed dial”.
We’re glad that you enjoy our videos unfortunately we’re a pretty small operation and do not have the means to have several more video formats. We really do understand that many of our viewers do not have the best Internet connection. However, we had to make a choice and went with higher quality videos that serve the majority of us. I hope that doesn’t scare you away but maybe you can understand where we’re coming from. If we are able to make lower quality versions in the future then we will.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:46 am
[...] Episode 067 - Intro to Spiro por heathenx (screencast en inglés) [...]
August 15th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
[...] Heathenx en fait une vidéo. [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
[...] - Heathenx en a fait une vidéo [...]
October 1st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
[...] Sehr interessant ist das Tutorial über Spiro. [...]
October 4th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
[...] SVN de inkscape, porque quería probar la funcionalidad «spiro» (que había visto ya en el screencast de Heathernx. Me he descargado el código, lo he configurado y lo he compilado sin [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I download the latest development version(Inkscape20225-0811201443 - windows). Spiro is not working at all…Can you tell me current working version ?
November 20th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
@saravanan
At certain points in the development phase the application becomes broken. Spiro is definitely broken in today’s build. You’ll need to try an older SVN version or be patient until a newer version arrives.
I’m using SVN version 19921-0809241546.7z and Spiro works just fine. I can post it for you if you need it.