Shapes not clean when bringing into GIMP from inkscape

[Nightshade]

Ok, so I am trying to make some housing shapes in Inkscape since it is easier to make said shapes there. Makes sense right? Ok the issue is that when I move said shapes into gimp, they have this fuzzy outline. House 1 is a screenshot from the Inkscape program, House 2 is what happens when I put it in gimp. I'm sure there is something I'm doing or not doing but I'm stumped. So if anyone else has run into this and knows how to fix it I am all ears. I wanted to use Inkscape because I thought I could get the clean lines I was looking for.

House 1.pngHouse 2.png

[Slylok]

Since you're bringing a vector image into a raster based program then any editing you do to the image in the raster program is going to give it that pixelation. especially if you enlarge it. If you're not resizing it then it may be due to the compression format you're saving it in typically .jpg or .png. PNG would be preferred since it's a "lossless" format meaning it is reconstructed exactly as it was before.

I don't use inkscape or gimp, but its pretty much the same as going from illustrator to photoshop. Check you're settings and see what you can change.

another idea would be to use the marquee tool in gimp and then fill it with black since its basically two rectangles put together.

Hope this helps. good luck

[Nightshade]

Well I think what happened was due to the very small size and "pixel splitting" I guess would be the best term. I also played around with a larger square and found that when you zoom in closely after opening in gimp you see the very edges of it turn less opaque. Nothing you would ever notice unless zoomed in quite a bit, so I think the issue is a bit of both problems. I'm getting around this by just doing it the slightly harder way and just doing it all in gimp haha. What is the Marquee tool by the way? Is it something I'm used to using just by another name? And thanks for the quick reply!

[Gamerprinter]

So you're doing the bulk of your map work in GIMP and only using Inkscape to create simple shape objects only - correct? If your building is a solid color (like black as in your sample), you're probably better off exporting into a solid color PNG file, rather than JPG. No doubt, as you say, the small pixel size of your building shapes have a lot to do with the 'blurring' of the edges when exported to a bitmap format.

You say, above, that you're "doing it the slightly harder way and just doing it all in gimp", my question is why? If you're familiar with Inkscape, why not create the entire map in Inkscape? I prefer to use vector applications for my mapping, though I use Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 instead of Inkscape, as I can create a map that looks as good as something created in GIMP, and never have to use more than one application. You won't have blurred map object issues, if you stay in vector.

[Nightshade]

Well, I started in gimp when making maps. So the program I know better is gimp, but I like the flexibility when creating objects that Inkscape offers. I really don't know how to do most of what I'm sure inkscape offers haha, me using inkscape is probably like having a whole gourmet kitchen and only knowing how to heat leftovers in a microwave!

[Hai-Etlik]

It's because it's applying antialiasing where the edges of the shapes don't align with the pixel boundaries and you are zooming in so you can see it. The exact same thing happens when Inkscape is displaying the image on your screen. Zoom in on that screenshot from Inkscape and you'll see it there.

You should only worry about things that are a problem when viewed at the size you intend for it to be viewed. Antialiasing is normally an improvement when viewed at an appropriate size. Zooming in and looking for problems you couldn't have seen otherwise is one of the biggest time wasting traps you can find yourself in. You should zoom in to get a better idea how to fix the problems you CAN see at standard zoom, and that's it.

If you really need pixel perfect alignment, it's possible in inkscape by using a grid that's aligned to the pixel grid. You probably want one that's twice the frequency of the pixels so you can align shapes to pixel boundaries, and pixel wide lines to the centres of pixels. That said, you are probably better off with GIMP if you do need this.

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