Controlling dimensions in Inkscape

The irritating thing:

1st issue: It doesn't obey you, and gives a segment of 50.095 mm length.

Third attempt, you re-enter  50 mm : at last, you obtain 50.000 mm.

 

After two attempts, you eventually obtain a line 50.000 mm x 0.500 mm.

First conclusion : For some strange reasons, when you re-dimension an object using the keyboard, you must make several attempts and persevere until you reach the wanted dimensions  ...

 

Let's verify now the accuracy of our line in QCAD (see the article).
Again, it is surprising : Our line is now only 49.5 mm  long (we can spare it the 0.022/1000) ! And our width has been lost, we now have in Qcad the default width of the layer, and not the one set in Inkscape.

 

 

Explanation:  Inkscape and Qcad have two different philosophies concerning the size of objects. Inkscape : It takes into account the width of the contour stroke. The 50 mm line is indeed constituted of two nodes,  49.5 mm apart, with at each end, the width of half a stroke. So : 50=0.25+49.5+0.25.  The SVG format records, for that object, on one side,  the nodes, and separately, the style of the stroke, including its width. One can have a look at the xml file to understand that. Moreover, in the SVG file, the unit is the pixel, not the mm. It is the reason why you never retrieve exact numbers in millimeters. Inkscape converts the dimensions set in millimeters into pixels, using a default resolution of 90 dpi (pixels per inch of 25.4mm).   Qcad : Its SVG import function is quite rudimentary. It only takes into accound nodes. It is the reason why our line is only 49.5 mm long. Its width is the default one from the layer into which the object has been imported and doesn't take into account the styles in the SVG file.

The concept of  Cap

In the  "Fill and Stroke" box, Inkscape offers a way to specify how the line should end:

You can choose between "end on the stroke" or "end on the node" ,  rounded or square.

Beware: These modifications are only style modifications. That is to say they do not modify the position of the nodes in the SVG file. They are not taken into account if you import the file in QCAD...

The concept of  bounding box

The "bounding box" is the rectangular selection box that surrounds the selected objets.
In the selection bar, it is the dimensions of this box that are indicated with the "W" and "H" parameters.

It is possible to specify in Inkscape two different behaviours of this bounding box :

• The first is the "Visual" bounding box.
  The selection includes the stroke width of the contours.
• The second option is the "geometric" bounding box.
  In this case, the selection ends on the nodes of the object.
  
  When you work with the goal of exporting your drawing towards QCAD, it is more interresting tu use that second option, so that you visualize the dimensions that will really be taken into account in QCAD, which are only depending of the position of the nodes.

The choice of the bounding box is set in the "File/Inkscape preferences/Tools" menu :

Note : When you use the "geometric" bounding box, it is no more possible to change the dimensions in the fields "W" and "H" of the selection bar.
 You must use instead the box  "Object/Transform.../Scale tab". (see summary below)

Mastering the dimensions in Inkscape

To summarize, in order to master the lengths and dimensions in Inkscape, here are the steps you need to follow :

Here you go,  comments are welcome.

Christophe