Inkscape/C3/Create-an-A4-Poster/English

Title of script: Create an A4 Poster

Author: Arthi. A

Keywords: Document properties of Inkscape, Design the poster, Saving the poster in png and pdf

Visual Cue	Narration
Opening Slide	Welcome to the Spoken Tutorial on “Create an A4 Poster” using Inkscape.
Learning Objectives (Slide)	In this tutorial we will learn to Change the Document properties Design an A4 poster and Save the poster in png and pdf
System requirement (Slide)	To record this tutorial, I am using Ubuntu Linux 12.04 OS Inkscape version 0.48.4
Open Inkscape	Let us open Inkscape.
Go to File >> New	Go to File. Click on New.
Scroll or point to the various options.	These are the default canvas sizes that are available.
Point to the canvas	My canvas is, by default, in A4 size. So we will leave it as it is. If it is not so on your machine, then select A4 size.
Go to Document properties	Let us now change some settings. Go to File. Click on Document properties.
Point to Document properties	A dialog box opens up where we can find various tabs and options. Let us learn about them one by one.
Click on the units one by one	In the first tab, Page, click on the Default units drop down list. As I click one-by-one, observe that the unit of the ruler changes. Let me keep the unit as mm.
Click on Background	Background option helps to change the transparency and color of the background. When we click on it, a new dialog box appears.
Select green color >> Alpha to 255	Move the RGB sliders to the left and right.
Point to the background color in the Document Properties box.	Observe that the color on the background option on the Document properties changes, as I move.
Change Alpha to 0 >> Point to canvas	To make the background colour visible on the canvas, move the alpha slider towards the right. Now the transparency changes to the selected RGB values. Bring the alpha slider back to the extreme left and close the dialog box.
Point to Page size options	Under Page size, we find many options. We can change the size of the canvas using these options, too. As I click, observe the change in the canvas size. Let us keep the page size as A4.
Click on Landscape >> Click on Portrait	Orientation can be changed to either Portrait or Landscape. Click on both the options and observe the change on the canvas.
Point to Width and Height parameters	We can change the width and height of the canvas using the Width and Height parameters.
Click on the Units drop down list	Click on the Units drop down list. Here we can change the units according to our requirement. Let us now change units to pixels.
Click on Resize page to content	Click on Resize page to content option. The various available options opens up.
Point to the margins.	We can set margins for all the sides here. After setting the margins, one needs to click on the button Resize page to drawing or selection.
Point to Border option	Next is the Border option. We can see 3 check-box options here.
Draw a circle in such a way that it is half in and half out of the canvas.	To demonstrate these options, let me first draw an ellipse in this manner.
Point to first option	The first option makes the page border, that is the border of the canvas, visible.
Uncheck and then check it once again	Uncheck this option and observe that the borders disappear. Then again check the option and observe that the borders re-appear.
Click on the second option. Uncheck and check 2-3 times.	The second option sets the border on top of the drawing, so that it is clearly visible. Once again check and uncheck this option and observe what happens on the canvas.
Point to third option. Point to the right and top borders.	The third option shows a shadow of the canvas on the right and bottom. Notice here, the border to the right and bottom are thicker than the other two.
Uncheck and then check the third option.	Uncheck the third option and observe that this shadow disappears. Now check it again and observe that the shadow appears.
Point to Border options	We can use all these options according to our requirement.
Point to Border color	The Border color option allows us to decide the color of the border. Let us leave the default border color as it is. <<PAUSE>>
Click on Guides tab	Next click on Guides tab. Guides help you align text and graphic objects. You can create ruler guides here.
Point to Show guides	The first option Show Guides displays the guidelines on the canvas.
Point to Guide color	Guide color is the color of the guideline.
Point to Highlight color	Highlight color is the color of the guideline when it is being dragged into a certain position.
Point to	The default colours of the guide and the highlight are shown here. You can change it as per your preference. I will leave the default colors as they are.
Point to second option	Snap guides while dragging option helps to snap the objects or bounding box to the nearest guidelines, while dragging.
Click on the Grids tab	Next click on the Grids tab. Using this option, we can set the grid that appears behind the artwork on the canvas. Grids are useful to position objects on the canvas but they do not get printed.
Click on the drop down list	Click on the drop down list. Rectangular grid and Axonometric grid are the two types of grids available.
Select Rectangular grid >> Click on New	Select Rectangular grid and click on the New button. Immediately, a grid is formed on the canvas background.
Point to grid properties	We can set the grid properties as per our requirement, using the available options.
Click on Remove	We can remove the grid by clicking on the Remove button at the bottom.
Point to Axonometric grid	In a similar way, you can try for Axonometric grid, too.
Point to the last 3 tabs >> Close the dialog box	The options in the next 3 tabs will be covered in the advanced level tutorials. So I will close this dialog box now. <<PAUSE>>
Click on the Rectangle tool >> Draw a rectangle covering the whole canvas	Now let us start creating the poster. So, first let me delete the ellipse.
Click on the Rectangle tool >> Draw a rectangle covering the whole canvas	For our poster, we will first design a background. So, click on the Rectangle tool. Draw a large rectangle that covers the whole canvas. Color it light blue gradient.
Draw a header illustration	Next draw a header area on the top and a footer area at the bottom of the canvas, using Bezier tool. We will color it dark blue.
	Let us import the Spoken Tutorial logo now.
SLIDE	This logo has been provided to you in the Code Files link. So, first of all, pause the tutorial, click on Code Files and download the zip file. Now unzip the folder and save it in your preferred location on your machine.
Go to File >> Import >> Open	Now come back to our Inkscape document. Go to File menu. Click on Import. Go to folder where the logo is saved. Select the Spoken Tutorial logo and click on Open.
Click on OK >> Point to the logo	A dialog box opens up. Click on OK. Now the logo is imported on our canvas.
Resize logo to 100x100 pixels	Resize it to 100×100 pixels. Place it on the top left corner of the header.
Type “Spoken Tutorial” >> change font to 40	Now type the text “Spoken Tutorial”. Change the text font size to 40. Place it to the right of the logo.
Type the sentence “partner with us...help bridge the digital divide”	Type the text “partner with us...help bridge the digital divide” below that.
Point to the canvas.	We will place the FOSSEE logos below the header area. Below that we will add text and some screenshots at the bottom. Can we eliminate this part - FOSSEE logo? Also, what about the screenshots? How will the learners get these? I think a simple A4 poster is sufficient for this tutorial. Let's not complicate things. Am stopping the review here.
Draw circle of 100x100 pixels >> color it with grey and white gradient	Before importing the logos, draw a circle of 100×100 pixels. Color it with a gradient of grey and white.
Press Ctrl + D >> create 9 more circles	Press ctrl+D to duplicate it and create 9 more circles. We will use these circles as a background design for the logos.
Arrange in inverted traingle manner.	Arrange them in an inverted triangle manner.
Assignment	Now import logos one by one. Select all the logos and resize them to 80x80 pixels. Place them on the top of the circles respectively.
Point to the FOSSEE logos	These FOSSEE logos symbolizes that we are creating tutorials for those softwares.
Copy and paste text from LibreOffice Writer	Let us add some text below the logos. I have already saved the text in LibreOffice Writer. Copy and paste them in the empty space.
Select the text >> Align center	Change the font size to 25. Click on Align center on the Tools control bar to bring the text to the centre of the canvas.
Import image screenshots	Still there is empty space at the bottom. So we will 4 some image screenshots. As before Import them one one by one. I have saved them in the screenshots folder.
Point to the images	Now we have 4 screenshots imported to our canvas
Select all >> resize to 400×400 pixels	Select and resize them to 400×400 pixels. Move them to the bottom area of the canvas.
Copy and paste Contact details from LibreOffice Writer	Let us write the contact details at the footer illustration. Copy and paste the text from LibreOffice Writer
Assignment	Align the logos, images, text using Align and Distribute.
Point to the poster	Now our poster is ready. Next let us learn how to save it as pdf.
Go to File >> Save As >> Spoken Tutorial Poster.pdf	Go to File. Click on Save As. A dialog box appears. Give the name in the name column as Spoken Tutorial Poster.pdf
Change the format to pdf >> Save	Change the format to pdf by clicking on the drop down list. Click on Save.
	Now our poster is saved in Desktop.
Go to File >> Click on Export Bitmap	Next let us save the same poster in png format. Go to File. Click on Export Bitmap.
Export area to page >> Click on Browse to select the location >> Save >> Export	Change the Export area to Page. Click on Browse to select the location. Click on Save. Now click on Export.
Go to desktop >> open pdf and png poster	Let us go desktop and check our poster. Now we have the poster saved in pdf and png formats.
Summary (Slide)	Let us summarize. In this tutorial we learnt to Change the Document properties Design an A4 poster Saving the poster in png and pdf
Completed assignment	Here is an assignment for you Create an A4 poster for Spoken Tutorial
Completed assignment	Your completed assignment should look like this.
About Slide	The video available at the following link summarizes the Spoken Tutorial project. Please watch it.
About Slide	The Spoken Tutorial Project Team conducts workshops and gives certificates for those who pass an online test. For more details, please write to us.
About Slide	Spoken Tutorial Project is supported by the NMEICT, MHRD, Government of India. More information on this Mission is available at this link.
Acknowledgment	We have come to the end of this tutorial. This is Arthi from IIT Bombay, signing off. Thanks for joining.

Contributors and Content Editors

Arthi, Nancyvarkey