This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2012) |
Sodipodi is a free and open-source vector graphics editor, superseded since 2003 by Inkscape, an independent Sodipodi fork.
Sodipodi started as a fork of Gill (abbreviated from "GNOME" and "illustration"), [1] a vector-graphics program written by Raph Levien. The main author is Lauris Kaplinski , [2] [3] a son of the famous Estonian writer and poet Jaan Kaplinski, [4] and later there were several other people who also contributed to the project.
Sodipodi means "mish mash" or "hodgepodge" in Estonian child-speak. [5]
The primary design goal of Sodipodi was to produce a usable vector graphics editor, and a drawing tool for artists. Although it used SVG as its native file format (including some extensions to hold metadata), it was not intended to be a full implementation of the SVG standard. Sodipodi imports and exports plain SVG data, and can also export raster graphics in PNG format. The user interface of Sodipodi is a Controlled Single Document Interface (CSDI) similar to GIMP.
Sodipodi was developed for Linux and Microsoft Windows. The last stable version is 0.34
released on February 11th 2004. Released under the GNU General Public License, Sodipodi is free software.
Even though there are no new releases since 2004, [6] Lauris Kaplinski continued development of Sodipodi for years in a minor way, mostly contributing code refactoring and bug fixes. The latest commit for the trunk
branch was pushed on September 12th 2023. [7]
Sodipodi started a collection of SVG clip art containing symbols and flags from around the world. [8] This work helped inspire the Open Clip Art Library. [9]
In 2003 a group of Sodipodi developers decided to improve Sodipodi with different goals, including redesigning the interface and closer compliance with the SVG standard. [10] The initial idea was to create a separate Sodipodi Hydra (hydra-oct
) branch, [11] planned to be merged into trunk
, but as it was difficult to make such a merge developers later decided to create an independent fork and named it Inkscape. [12]
Dia is free and open source general-purpose diagramming software, developed originally by Alexander Larsson. It uses a controlled single document interface (SDI) similar to GIMP and Inkscape.
In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphical shell. The desktop environment was seen mostly on personal computers until the rise of mobile computing. Desktop GUIs help the user to easily access and edit files, while they usually do not provide access to all of the features found in the underlying operating system. Instead, the traditional command-line interface (CLI) is still used when full control over the operating system is required.
Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design software developed and marketed by Adobe. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud, Illustrator CC was released. The latest version, Illustrator 2025, was released on October 14, 2024, and is the 29th generation in the product line. Adobe Illustrator was reviewed as the best vector graphics editing program in 2021 by hpMagazine.
Pango is a text layout engine library which works with the HarfBuzz shaping engine for displaying multi-language text.
Inkscape is a free and open-source vector graphics editor for traditional Unix-compatible systems such as GNU/Linux, BSD derivatives and Illumos, as well as Windows and macOS. It offers a rich set of features and is widely used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming and flowcharting. It uses vector graphics to allow for sharp printouts and renderings at unlimited resolution and is not bound to a fixed number of pixels like raster graphics. Inkscape uses the standardized Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format as its main format, which is supported by many other applications including web browsers. It can import and export various other file formats, including SVG, AI, EPS, PDF, PS and PNG.
freedesktop.org (fd.o), formerly X Desktop Group (XDG), is a project to work on interoperability and shared base technology for free-software desktop environments for the X Window System (X11) and Wayland on Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Although freedesktop.org produces specifications for interoperability, it is not a formal standards body.
Skencil, formerly called Sketch, is a free software vector graphics editor, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License.
Cairo is an open-source graphics library that provides a vector graphics-based, device-independent API for software developers. It provides primitives for two-dimensional drawing across a number of different backends. Cairo uses hardware acceleration when available.
Raphael Linus Levien is a software developer, a member of the free software developer community, through his creation of the Advogato virtual community and his work with the free software branch of Ghostscript. From 2007 until 2018, and from 2021 onwards, he was employed at Google. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley. He also made a computer-assisted proof system similar to Metamath: Ghilbert. In April 2016, Levien announced a text editor made as a "20% Project" : Xi.
Openclipart, also called Open Clip Art Library, is an online media repository of free-content vector clip art. The project hosts over 160,000 free graphics and has billed itself as "the largest community of artists making the best free original clipart for you to use for absolutely any reason".
A number of vector graphics editors exist for various platforms. Potential users of these editors will make a comparison of vector graphics editors based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the software license, the feature set, the merits of the user interface (UI) and the focus of the program. Some programs are more suitable for artistic work while others are better for technical drawings. Another important factor is the application's support of various vector and bitmap image formats for import and export.
Design Web Format (DWF) is a file format developed by Autodesk for the efficient distribution and communication of rich design data to anyone who needs to view, review, or print design files. Because DWF files are highly compressed, they are smaller and faster to transmit than design files, without the overhead associated with complex CAD drawings. With DWF functionality, publishers of design data can limit the specific design data and plot styles to only what they want recipients to see and can publish multisheet drawing sets from multiple AutoCAD drawings in a single DWF file. They can also publish 3D models from most Autodesk design applications.
librsvg, is a free software SVG rendering library written as part of the GNOME project, intended to be lightweight and portable. The Linux command-line program rsvg-convert uses the library to turn SVG files into raster images.
sK1 is an open-source, cross-platform illustration program that seeks to be a substitute for professional proprietary software like CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator. Unique project features are CorelDRAW formats importers, tabbed multiple document interface, Cairo-based engine, and color management.
The Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) is an annual international convention for the discussion of free and open source software used with graphics; The first Libre Graphics Meeting was held in March 2006. Communities from Inkscape, GIMP, Krita, Scribus, sK1, Blender, Open Clip Art Library, Open Font Library, and more come together through the Create Project to assemble this annual conference. It was co-founded by Dave Neary and Dave Odin.
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Alludo. It is also the name of the Corel graphics suite, which includes the bitmap-image editor Corel Photo-Paint as well as other graphics-related programs. It can serve as a digital painting platform, desktop publishing suite, and is commonly used for production art in signmaking, vinyl and laser cutting and engraving, print-on-demand and other industry processes. Reduced-feature Standard and Essentials versions are also offered.
Boxy SVG is a proprietary vector graphics editor for creating illustrations, as well as logos, icons, and other elements of graphic design. It is primarily focused on editing drawings in the SVG file format. The program is available as both a web app and a desktop application for Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, and Linux-based operating systems.
I have worked for several (mostly gnome-related) software projects, the main one being vector drawing program Sodipodi, whose principal author and project leader I am.