The complete list of options is available in the manual, or by typing inkscape –help at the command prompt. In general, you can use the Inkscape CLI to convert graphics, modify them, or check their structure and properties. Some operations will work even on systems without any graphical desktop installed, that is, should you ever need it, on remote servers. That way to use Inkscape may seem unnatural, but can make it much more usable (by making you open the GUI only when it’s really needed) even on very slow hardware. Like many other good Free Software tools, Inkscape has a command line interface (CLI).

create sketches, containing all the objects of the final graphic, ready to be rearranged or completed manually without starting from scratch (this may be useful to teachers using vector graphics as parts of personalized homework).

create many, slightly different versions of the same base graphic, for personalized logos or banners.

one for Web publishing, one for printing business cards or brochures, and one for printing large posters)

save many vector graphics in different formats and/or at different sizes and resolutions (e.g.

Why would you want to learn something like this? Well, because the techniques described here may save a lot of time and boring, repetitive work for anyone who has to:

If you need more details on specific points, just ask for them in the comments, and I’ll devote another post to them. This time, I’ll introduce some general methods to automate generation or modification of images of the same kind with Inkscape and a bit of scripting. I have already shown, here on TechRepublic, how to insert interactive vector charts in your Web pages. The most popular Free Software editor for vector graphics is the cross-platform Inkscape.

The reason why, to put it simply, is that such graphics don’t contain low-level lists of colored points (pixels) but computer instructions on how to draw each of their geometric elements. Vector graphics are digital images that, unlike what happens with digital photographs, can be redrawn or rescaled at any size without any loss of quality. For more info, visit our Terms of Use page. This may influence how and where their products appear on our site, but vendors cannot pay to influence the content of our reviews. We may be compensated by vendors who appear on this page through methods such as affiliate links or sponsored partnerships.

Marco Fioretti shows you how to use the open source program Inkscape to automatically generate or modify vector graphics. Four ways to generate or process Inkscape vector graphics automatically