
The square handles on the top and left sides to change the size of the ellipse vertically and horizontally, respectively. To convert an ellipse into a perfect circle, click one of the handles of the squares while holding down Ctrl. To quickly restore the circle/ellipse shape, click the far right icon on the tool control bar: Create the full ellipse icon.

Would it be handy to define the handles as polar coordinates, relative to the direction of the path and the node?.Should the coordinates of the handles be relative to the node or absolute?.The handles get automatically re-calculated when the type of the node changes.I'm not too familiar with the terminology of OOP, so if somebodies feels like making corrections: please! Here is a quick, incomplete draft for the classes that would be needed. A series of classes that translate the requested functionality for other Python-classes that do the XML-handling.An API connected to the core-functionality of Inkscape.I see basically two options, please correct me if I use the wrong wording: I have no clue about how this all should be implemented. Excuse me if it looks too POSIX-style and too little Python. Examplesīefore setting up the "API", I'd like to give an example of what I envision using pseudo-code. target users Inkscape users (designers) with a basic understanding of scripting (for example from JavaScript/HTML/ActionScript/Visual Basic Macro's), but without the need or desire to digg deep into code development. This has for example happened with Blender, where the community has created a vast set of tools(among which quite many wizards) for creating and modifying the 3d models. Benefits Easier creation of "macros" in Inkscape will encourage designers to write and share the tools they need, thereby enhancing Inkscape functionality quickly and increasing the contribution of the community of users. Solution Create a series of pre-defined functions and classes that allow for direct creation and manipulation of drawing objects.

This is contra-intuitive for a drawing program and imposes a barrier to users for creating new tools. Problem Creating an effect or "macro" in Inkscape is possible using Python, but the present tools available in Python all require XML-handling. This interface was designed with non-technical users in mind and is currently under discussion on the Inkscape devel list. Summary Update A Google summer of code project is underway to address this issue.
