Circle Start/Mid/End markers

You can create custom markers with an unfilled circle or edit the marker definition of a Dot{L,M,S} marker - note though that based on how markers are defined in the SVG 1.1 specification, the stroke (and any fill) of the path/shape itself will be visible in the unfilled area of the circle marker (see attached file with a modified DotL marker (unfilled), and the stock EmptyDiamond marker (which uses a solid white fill)).

Thanks! This means that I want the markers to have a white fill. When I draw a circle, select it, and do "Object to Marker" on the menu, the object disappears and nothing new appears in the dropdown list of markers.

I looked at /usr/share/inkscape/markers/markers.svg

I'm not root, so the question is: can I put a modified version of that file somewhere under ~/.config/inkscape to override the defaults? Or add similar definitions to the existing collection by creating a file in ~/.config/inkscape?

On 18/11/11 22:04, Torquil Sørensen wrote:
> When I draw a circle, select it, and do "Object to Marker" on the
> menu, the object disappears and nothing new appears in the dropdown
> list of markers.

That's a known minor bug in the UI: click a second time on the dropdown list to update any new custom markers in the current document. The issue is tracked in
Bug #490970 “Inkscape does not show the first marker created with: "Object-> Object to markers"”
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/490970>

> I'm not root, so the question is: can I put a modified version of that
> file somewhere under ~/.config/inkscape to override the defaults? Or add
> similar definitions to the existing collection by creating a file in
> ~/.config/inkscape?

No, currently markers cannot be loaded from a user markers file (unlike extensions, filters, keys and palettes). The feature request is tracked in
Bug #171373 “Save change to markers.svg user accessible”
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/171373>

Alternatively, you could consider adding the custom marker to a custom user (default) template so that it will be available in any new document. The template could be specific to the current project. [1]

What might be of interest for you: the next release will include an enhanced version of the extension to match the color of markers to the current color of the stroke. It does allow to modify the fill & stroke of defined markers independently (i.e. you can for example change the fill color of the Dot marker to solid white using the extension):

Bug #692582 “Color markers to match stroke extension does not copy the fill mode”
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/692582>

You could install a local version of the extension files for Inkscape 0.48.2 (I'll attach a slightly modified version which does not conflict with the existing extension in 0.48.2 - the GUI of the first tab doesn't layout nicely in 0.48.2, but it should nevertheless). To modify the fill and stroke of markers independently, use the options in the second tab 'Custom' to set explicit colors).

[1] see this article for working with custom templates:
    <http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/using-templates-in-inkscape>

Copy to '~/.config/inkscape/extensions'

After restarting Inkscape, the new extension will be available as 'Extensions > Modify Path > Color markers (New)…'

Copy to '~/.config/inkscape/extensions'

Since JazzyNico's enhanced 'Color Marker…' extension from bug #692582 allows to easily change the fill and stroke colors of markers independently, I'm proposing to close this report as 'Fix Committed', milestoned to 0.49.

The other mentioned requests are tracked elsewhere:
- list not updating on first click for new custom markers (bug #490970)
- support user-defined stock markers (bug #171373)