3.6 KiB
🎨 Illuscape
Inkscape that feels like Adobe Illustrator — keyboard shortcuts, scroll behavior, palettes, and templates, without touching Inkscape itself.
Illuscape is a config patch for Inkscape, modeled after PhotoGIMP. It installs replacement and overlay config files — keyboard maps, scroll/zoom prefs, palettes, templates, and a symbol library — so Inkscape behaves the way Illustrator users expect.
Nothing in Inkscape itself is modified. Uninstalling fully restores your original config.
What changes
| Feature | What Illuscape sets |
|---|---|
| Keyboard shortcuts | Adobe Illustrator CC or CS6 presets — choose at install |
| Scroll and zoom | Mouse wheel pans (not zooms); Ctrl+wheel zooms |
| Canvas | White background, cyan guides, rubber-band selection (touching, not enclosed) |
| Node handles | Square handles; rotation handles hidden until needed |
| Palettes | Illustrator Defaults, Grays, and Earth Tones swatches |
| Templates | Letter, A4, Web 1920×1080, Web 1280×720, Print CMYK Letter, Print CMYK A4 |
| Symbol library | Arrows, checkmark, star, cross |
| Recent files | 20 entries (Illustrator default; Inkscape default is 4) |
| Single-window mode | On by default |
Quick start
git clone https://git.opensourcesolarpunk.com/Circuit-Forge/illuscape
cd illuscape
./install.sh
Follow the prompt to choose your Illustrator era (CC or CS6), then open Inkscape.
Install
Requirements
- Inkscape 1.2 or later
- Python 3.8+
- Bash 4+
Supported Inkscape installs
- Native (apt, pacman, dnf, etc.)
- Flatpak (
org.inkscape.Inkscape) - Snap
Non-interactive install (scripts / automated setup)
# Illustrator CC shortcuts
./install.sh --preset=cc --yes
# Illustrator CS6 shortcuts
./install.sh --preset=cs6 --yes
Uninstall
./uninstall.sh
Your original Inkscape config is restored from the timestamped backup created at install time.
Tool reference — Illustrator to Inkscape
| Illustrator tool | Key | Inkscape equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Selection | V | Selection tool |
| Direct Selection | A | Node tool |
| Pen | P | Pen tool |
| Pencil | N | Pencil tool |
| Paintbrush | B | Calligraphy tool |
| Type | T | Text tool |
| Rectangle | M | Rectangle tool |
| Ellipse | L | Ellipse tool |
| Rotate | R | Transform — Rotate |
| Scale | S | Transform — Scale |
| Reflect | O | Transform — Flip |
| Gradient | G | Gradient tool |
| Mesh | U | Mesh Gradient tool (direct equivalent) |
| Eyedropper | I | Dropper tool |
| Zoom | Z | Zoom tool |
| Hand | H / Space | Pan (Space held) |
| Scissors | C | Scissors tool |
| Eraser | Shift+E | Eraser tool |
| Blob Brush | Shift+B | Spray tool (paint mode) |
| Symbol Sprayer | Shift+S | Spray tool (clone mode) |
| Live Paint | K | Paint Bucket tool |
Planned (post-v1)
- Artboards panel
- Character Styles
- Recolor Artwork
- Object Styles
- Export for Screens (1x/2x/3x batch)
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md. Issues and PRs welcome.
Development tooling
All code in this repo is reviewed, tested, and owned by human contributors. LLM (large language model) coding tools are part of our development workflow.
License
GPL-3.0 — see LICENSE.