Inkscape for Beginners Vector Flip Clock Digits Video Lecture - Inkscape

this is Nick with logos by Nick comm and
in today's tutorial I'll be
demonstrating how to create this vector
flip clock graphic using Inkscape and at
any point in this tutorial you could
look down at the bottom left hand side
of my screen to see which mouse clicks
and keystrokes I'm using so I'll
minimize this and we'll get started
in Inkscape and if you're familiar with
Inkscape you'll see on the left hand
side here that the traditional icons
that are normally there are gone I've
instead created some new icons for
Inkscape and I've installed them and
I'll put a link in the description if
you'd like to download these icons and
use them yourself I'll also have
instructions on how to install these
into Inkscape so the first thing we're
gonna do an escape is set our view to
custom and then we'll zoom in at a
hundred percent and these windows won't
be open your first opening scape we're
gonna open them up by clicking on this
button the align of distribute menu will
click on that and that'll open up that
one we're gonna want last selected
chosen from that drop-down and then
we'll go to the edit objects colors
gradients and Stroke menu and we'll have
those two panels open for our use so the
first thing we're going to do is create
a rectangle so let's come over to the
squares and rectangles tool and let's
click and drag on the canvas to create a
rectangle that's narrower than it is
tall so slightly less wide than high
maybe about that width and height right
there and we're going to take this
little node at the top and click and
drag this down just to give these
rounded edges and then we'll convert
that to a path by going to path object a
path and then we'll go back to our we'll
go back we'll go to our select tool and
we're gonna take the opacity of this and
drop this down about in half and then
I'm gonna go back to the squares and
rectangles tool and I'm gonna create
another rectangle maybe about this size
I'm gonna come up here to get rid of the
rounded corners there's a little box
icon on top of the toolbar you click on
that and that'll make the other corner
sharp again and I'm gonna go to the
select tool and I'm just going to alter
this a little bit I'm gonna make this
about this wide and this high and then
I'll hold shift on the keyboard and
click on the large
black rectangle and I'll Center that on
the horizontal axis and click off of the
graphic to deselect everything so let's
take this little rectangle with let's
make this red for now and then I'm going
to hold ctrl and click and drag this
over to the left until the left sides
overlapping the left edge of the black
rectangle right there just by a little
bit and it'll right-click this and go to
duplicate
I'll hold ctrl and click and drag this
over to the right so it's in the same
position and then I'm gonna click and
drag over both of those and unify them
together by going to path Union it'll
hold shift in the keyboard and click on
the large black rectangle and I'm going
to Center that on the vertical and
horizontal axis and then go to path
difference so we end up with this shape
right here and what I'm gonna do with
that shape is I'm gonna right click that
and go to duplicate and I'll turn that
red and I'm going to lower that beneath
the black circle with this button lower
selection one step and I'm going to give
that a red outline or a stroke as it's
called by holding shift and clicking on
the color red and that'll put a little
red outline around the outside of that
and we're gonna make that a little
thicker so let's come over to the stroke
style tab and whatever numbers here just
erase that I'm gonna try out a 10 pics
or stroke and see how that looks still
not big enough I'm gonna try 20 see what
that looks like all right that should
work and once you have it at about a
width that looks about like that let's
go to path stroke the path path break
apart path Union and we're going to do
this one more time we're going to go to
edit duplicate and we're going to turn
this duplicated copy green and then
we're going to send that to the bottom
lower selection to the bottom and then
give that a green outline by holding
shift and clicking on the color green
only this outline is gonna be a lot
thinner and I'm gonna go with maybe 8
for this one yeah it's pretty good and
then we'll go to path stroke the path
path break apart paths Union now let's
grab the the zoom tool the little
magnifying glass and let's click and
drag over the left-hand side to zoom in
over here on this left-hand little chunk
that's missing and I'm gonna go to the
Bezier pen which is this tool right here
you could just press B on the keyboard
to get the bezzie a pen and I'll turn on
the snap to cusp nodes and I'm going to
snap the cursor onto this corner and
click snap it on to that corner and
click and then I'm going to bring this
line through the graphic like this going
all the way through the graphic and then
connect it back to the starting point so
we end up with that right there and then
I'm going to shift over to the other
side and do the same thing and to shift
over I'm just going to press down on the
mouse wheel and move the mouse to pan
the page over I'm gonna do the same
thing start at the corner and then at
this corner go through the graphic and
back to the starting point and then we
could press 1 on the keyboard to zoom
back out to a hundred percent and I'm
going to go back to the Select tool and
hold shift in the keyboard and click on
that other shape we just drew so we have
them both selected and let's go to path
Union and then we're going to click on
that green rectangle on the background
you might have to zoom in a little bit
to be able to grab it it's gonna hold
control and roll up on the mouse wheel
to zoom in and I'm gonna click on that
and you'll know you'll have the green
one selected and you see that little
green stripe in the toolbar down here if
you see the red stripe that means you
don't have it selected you have the
wrong one we want the green one selected
and with that selected I'm gonna hold
shift and click on those two shapes that
we just drew that are now unified
together and go to path Union and then
pressed one on the keyboard to zoom back
out and I'm going to duplicate that by
going to edit duplicate and I'm going to
turn that one blue I'm going to send
that to the bottom with this button
right here lower selection to the bottom
and then hold shift and click on the
color blue to give it a blue outline and
I believe
same thickness that we used for the
green one that should work and once you
do that let's go to path stroke to path
path break apart path Union and once
we've done that we can click and drag
over this entire thing and let's bring
the opacity all the way up so we end up
with something like this right here and
click off of the graphic to deselect
everything now let's zoom in to this
left-hand side right here by holding
ctrl and rolling up on the mouse wheel
and I'm gonna grab the bezzie a print
bezzie a pen by pressing B on the
keyboard and I'm gonna snap the cursor
onto this corner and click and then snap
it onto that corner click snap it onto
this corner click and then onto that
corner click and put it on this corner
right here click and I'm gonna turn that
black and I'm gonna turn off the outline
by holding shift and clicking on the X
and we'll go back to the Select tool and
I'm going to right click this and go to
duplicate and I'm going to press 1 on
the keyboard to zoom back out and I'm
just going to take this square and snap
it onto the corner over there so we have
them both set up over here and then
let's zoom back in you could press you
could also press plus and minus on the
keyboard to zoom in and out I'm gonna
click on this green object and I'm going
to turn that black so make the green
object black then let's press 1 on the
keyboard to zoom back out now let's
click on this big black rectangle in the
center here and we're gonna make this
I'd say we're gonna make this 90 percent
gray if you hover your cursor over the
color it'll show you it's the first one
next to the color black so 90 percent
gray and we're going to give this a
linear gradient so let's come over to
the fill tab and let's click on this
little box this is linear gradient and
we're gonna get our gradient tool by
pressing G on the keyboard and once you
do that these little gradient handles
should show up and we're going to click
on this one right here on the right in
order to come over to this toolbar over
here gonna take the opacity and bring
that all the way up and under the HSL
tab we're going to take the L column and
just slide this to the right make this a
little lighter and then I'm gonna take
this stop and put
click and drag this up here and then
I'll hold control and I'll take this
stop and just bring this straight down
and I'm actually gonna click on this one
and make this one a little lighter
actually maybe maybe like 84 that should
do the trick
and then let's click on the red object
behind it and once you have that
selected you know you'll have it
selected when you see the red stripe in
the lower left hand side and I'm going
to give that a linear gradient as well
and from this drop down I'm just going
to go ahead and pick the same gradient
we just created only this time I'm gonna
put the dark cop the dark book stop up
the top here and I'll take the lighter
stop and I'll hold ctrl and click and
drag this down to here
down on the bottom okay so let's go back
to the Select tool click off of the
graphic and deselect everything and
let's zoom in on this left hand side
again I'm trying to press + on the
keyboard to zoom in pressing down on the
mouse wheel and moving the mouse to pan
the page round and let's take this
little black rectangle and let's
right-click that and go to duplicate and
let's just make that a shade of grey
maybe maybe 40% gray 50 40 should be
good and then I'm gonna hold ctrl and
I'm gonna grab this arrow on the right
and I'm gonna click and drag that
inwards about this far and then I'll let
go of control let go of the click and
then I'll just take this side and just
bring this out a little bit so that it
looks like it's consistent the black
padding around that thing needs to look
consistent somewhat consistent and we're
going to give this a linear gradient as
well by letta so let's go um click on
the linear gradient tool and let's press
G on the keyboard to get our gradient
tool and I'm gonna put this this lighter
stop up top and I'm gonna put this
darker one at the bottom or the lighter
one at the bottom of the darker one up
top now let's click on this first stop
and we're gonna take the opacity and
bring that all the way up and let's
double click on that blue line right
here to create a stop right there and
I'll double click on the blue line right
here to create another stop right there
and I'm gonna take this stop here and
I'm gonna make that white I'm going to
bring that all the way to the right the
L column all the way to the right
and I'll take this stop beneath it and
I'll make that I'll bring that to the
left maybe almost not quite black almost
black maybe like that and I'm going to
take this top stop I'm going to hold
control it's gonna click and drag that
down a little bit and then I'll take the
bottom one hold control and bring that
up a little bit
and that should do the trick so we'll go
back to the Select tool and let's take
this and right-click it and go to
duplicate and hold shift and click on
this object right there and let's align
the right edges click on the button this
is align right edges and then we could
press one to zoom back out and we'll see
what we pretty much did was we took that
and we put it up against there you see
if I did that right yeah I didn't okay
so that's well that's where we're at
right now and the next step for us is to
create a little rec create another
rectangle so let's come to the squares
and rectangles tool again and let's just
click and drag it across to make a
little rectangle maybe like that going
across the graphic and I'm gonna go to
the Select tool I'm gonna hold shift and
click on the graphic in the center there
let's Center that on the vertical and
horizontal axis and click off of the
graphic to deselect everything and then
let's click on just this graphic and
let's lower this a few steps let's go to
the lower selection one step we're gonna
click that once twice let me zoom in and
see now we're gonna lower that a few
more times one two so four times in
total we lowered that we lowered that
four steps in total and I'm going to
make that one black as well and I'll
give this a linear gradient with this
button right here and let's go to our
gradient tool by click pricing G on the
keyboard and I'm gonna click on this
tool right on this node right there
bring the opacity all the way up and
make this one gray about we'll try out
about 122 and the L column and see how
that looks and then I'm just going to
take this little gray stop and put this
towards the bottom and I'll take this
black stop put this towards the top and
I'm gonna hold ctrl when I get up here
so go straight up and down let me zoom
in a little bit you
press plus and minus on the keyboard to
zoom out do that maybe put that like
that and let me press one on the
keyboard to zoom out and see how that
looks alright that's pretty good we can
go back to our select tool and then
click whoops click off of the graphic to
deselect everything and what I'm gonna
do now is I'm gonna put a digit in here
so let's come to the text tool and then
let's just click on the canvas and I'm
just gonna write I'm just gonna use the
number zero and you can choose a font
with the text editor up here click on
that and the font that I'm gonna use is
lead gothic you could use any font you'd
like if you have leak gothic installed
go right ahead and use that if you want
but any font should work any heavy font
that's pretty thick it should should
work well and I'm going to take the
Select tool and then I'm gonna hold
shift and click on the box in the middle
and I'm going to Center it on the
vertical and horizontal axis to put that
letter inside of there and then click
off of the graphic to deselect
everything and then I'm gonna take this
this letter and I'm gonna hold ctrl and
shift and click and drag it out until
it's about about that big and I'm going
to lower that one step so it goes
beneath that little rectangle we just
created and I'm gonna make this about
30% gray yeah 30 percent gray that
should work and I'm gonna give this a
linear gradient up here and press G on
the keyboard to get the gradient tool
and let's click on this stop on the
right we'll bring the opacity all the
way up and none of the L column will
slide that all the way to the right to
make that white and it will put the
white part of the stop up here hold ctrl
and click and drag the um the other stop
down there and maybe bring that down a
little bit bring that up let's say that
looks pretty good
and let's go to our squares and
rectangles tool and let's just click and
drag on the cams to create a big
rectangle covering the whole graphic
it's gonna be white by default but we
could turn this black
we go to the select tool and let's go
lower selection to the bottom click on
that button and put that beneath
everything I'm going to position this
right here for now and this black
rectangle in the background I'm gonna
give this the same gradient that this
object uses right here so with that
selected I'm going to click on the
linear gradient and I believe that was
the first gradient we created so and it
comes down to the bottom one on the list
and I'll press G on the keyboard to get
the gradient tool and I'll take the
darker stop and put it up here and I'll
take the lighter stop and put it down
here and then I'm gonna click on that
blue shape in the background over there
but I'm going to zoom in in order to
grab it so I know just press plus in the
keyboard to zoom in a few times and then
I click on that blue object and you'll
know you have it selected when you see
the blue stripe and let's turn that
white and let me zoom out a little bit
and let's give that a linear gradient as
well and then we'll take this this stop
on the right and put this towards the
middle about and it'll take this stop
and just hold ctrl and click and drag
this down to about here so it kind of
creates the effect of somewhat of like a
bevel against the surface there and go
back to the Select tool click off of the
graphic deselect everything let me zoom
out a little bit see how this looks and
that's pretty much it that's how you can
create the flip clock digit using
Inkscape now let me show you how to
create additional digit so I'm gonna
click and drag over this whole thing
and I'm just gonna hold ctrl and move
this over to the left and then I'm going
to with all of these selected you want
to have all of those selected I'm going
to right click that and go to duplicate
and I'll hold ctrl and click and drag
this over to the right click off of the
graphic to deselect everything and let's
click on just the number 0 we'll go back
to our text tool and I'll just erase
that and write a 1 it'll hold shift
click on that graphic Center it on the
vertical and horizontal axis and there
you have it you can go and create digits
0 through 9 or whatever you'd like using
that technique so that's how you can
create some vector flip clock digits
using Inkscape so if you have any
questions let me
and as always thank you for watching