Inkscape is a free, open-source, cross-platform vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, or Xara X. Its native file format is SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics).
Homepage: http://inkscape.org
Features include:
Object creation:
- Drawing: pencil tool (freehand drawing), pen tool (Bézier curves, straight lines), calligraphy tool
- Shape tools: rectangles, ellipses, stars/polygons, spirals
- Text tool
- Embedded bitmaps
- Clones (linked copies of objects)
Object manipulation:
- Affine transformations (moving, scaling, rotating, skewing), both interactively and by specifying exact numeric values
- Z-order operations
- Grouping of objects
- Full layer support
- Alignment and distribution commands
- Fill and stroke
- A gradient editor capable of multi-stop gradients
- Pattern fills (bitmap/vectors)
Operations on paths:
- Node editing: moving nodes and Bézier handles, node alignment and distribution, etc.
- Converting to path (for text objects or shapes), including converting stroke to path
- Boolean operations
- Path simplification
- Bitmap tracing
- Text support
- Kerning, letterspacing, linespacing adjustments
- Text on path
- Text in shape
- Rendering
- Fully anti-aliased display
- Alpha transparency support for display and PNG export
Misc:
- Live watching and editing the document tree in the XML editor
- PNG and PostScript export
- Command-line options for export and conversions
- Compliant SVG format file generation and editing
