Lillie wrote:Xav wrote:5) Filters tend to pile up. Bear in mind that every time you blur an object it adds a filter. Sometimes it's better to attach an already existing filter to an object, rather than just blurring it in the Fill and Stroke dialogue, or picking it from the Filters menu again.
Could this be clarified please.
I blur a patch of colour by using the blur slider in the fill and stroke dialogue box.
Then I make a new patch of colour and blur that through the fill and stroke dialogue box.
What should I be doing?
You're not doing anything
wrong as such - I do it that way all the time. But not everyone is aware that the blur slider in the Fill And Stroke dialogue is actually just a convenience for easily applying the most commonly used SVG filter, Gaussian Blur.
Try this little experiment:
1) In a new drawing, create an object of some sort
2) Copy & paste it twice, to give you three identical objects spread around the page
3) Open the Filters=>Filter Editor dialogue
4) Select one of the objects, and in the Fill And Stroke dialogue give it a blur of, say, 5
5) Note that a filter appears in the Filter Editor dialogue, called "filter1234" or similar
6) Select one of the other objects, and in the Fill And Stroke dialogue give that an identical blur (5 in this case)
7) Note that a second filter appears in the Filter Editor dialogue, called "filter1235" or similar
8) Select the last object - the one which isn't blurred yet - and in the Filter Editor dialogue click in the checkbox next to one of the existing filters (e.g. "filter1234")
9) Note that the selected object now has a blur which matches the other two
Steps 4 and 6 show what happens when you use the blur slider in the Fill And Stroke dialogue: a new SVG filter is added each time.
Step 8 shows that you can re-use an existing filter on more than one object.
Clearly creating more filters will lead to slightly larger file sizes. The difference isn't enough to be a problem for most people, but if you
really want to keep the file size to a minimum then re-applying existing filters, rather than creating new ones, can help.
This doesn't just apply to blur - though that's the most common cause of "filter propagation". It can happen with any of the SVG filters. Try the experiment above, but instead of setting blur in the Fill And Stroke dialogue, pick a pre-defined filter from Inkscape's (0.48) Filter menu. The effect is the same - selecting from the Filter menu creates a new filter each time, rather than applying an existing filter.
I hope that clarifies what I was talking about a bit.
Lillie wrote:Love the greys, by the way!
Thanks - it's always nice to hear that people like what we're doing.
[quote="Lillie"][quote="Xav"]5) Filters tend to pile up. Bear in mind that every time you blur an object it adds a filter. Sometimes it's better to attach an already existing filter to an object, rather than just blurring it in the Fill and Stroke dialogue, or picking it from the Filters menu again.
[/quote]
Could this be clarified please.
I blur a patch of colour by using the blur slider in the fill and stroke dialogue box.
Then I make a new patch of colour and blur that through the fill and stroke dialogue box.
What should I be doing?[/quote]
You're not doing anything [i]wrong[/i] as such - I do it that way all the time. But not everyone is aware that the blur slider in the Fill And Stroke dialogue is actually just a convenience for easily applying the most commonly used SVG filter, Gaussian Blur.
Try this little experiment:
1) In a new drawing, create an object of some sort
2) Copy & paste it twice, to give you three identical objects spread around the page
3) Open the Filters=>Filter Editor dialogue
4) Select one of the objects, and in the Fill And Stroke dialogue give it a blur of, say, 5
5) Note that a filter appears in the Filter Editor dialogue, called "filter1234" or similar
6) Select one of the other objects, and in the Fill And Stroke dialogue give that an identical blur (5 in this case)
7) Note that a second filter appears in the Filter Editor dialogue, called "filter1235" or similar
8) Select the last object - the one which isn't blurred yet - and in the Filter Editor dialogue click in the checkbox next to one of the existing filters (e.g. "filter1234")
9) Note that the selected object now has a blur which matches the other two
Steps 4 and 6 show what happens when you use the blur slider in the Fill And Stroke dialogue: a new SVG filter is added each time.
Step 8 shows that you can re-use an existing filter on more than one object.
Clearly creating more filters will lead to slightly larger file sizes. The difference isn't enough to be a problem for most people, but if you [i]really[/i] want to keep the file size to a minimum then re-applying existing filters, rather than creating new ones, can help.
This doesn't just apply to blur - though that's the most common cause of "filter propagation". It can happen with any of the SVG filters. Try the experiment above, but instead of setting blur in the Fill And Stroke dialogue, pick a pre-defined filter from Inkscape's (0.48) Filter menu. The effect is the same - selecting from the Filter menu creates a new filter each time, rather than applying an existing filter.
I hope that clarifies what I was talking about a bit.
[quote="Lillie"]Love the greys, by the way![/quote]
Thanks - it's always nice to hear that people like what we're doing.
