🎨 Illuscape

Inkscape that feels like Adobe Illustrator — keyboard shortcuts, scroll behavior, palettes, and templates, without touching Inkscape itself.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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Uninstall

./uninstall.sh

Your original Inkscape config is restored from the timestamped backup created at install time.

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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

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Planned (post-v1)

• Artboards panel
• Character Styles
• Recolor Artwork
• Object Styles
• Export for Screens (1x/2x/3x batch)

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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.