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Ellipse

With the Ellipse tool, the Inkscape artist can draw an ellipse, circle, or arc. As a Live Shape, the object created with the Ellipse tool can be converted from an ellipse to an arc, and can be transformed into any elliptical shape.

How to Use

When the ellipse is first drawn with the Ellipse tool, there are three edit handles, top, left and right.

The top and left square handles control the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the shape.

The right round handle edits the arc of the shape. Dragging the right handle with the Ellipse tool in either direction, horizontal or vertical, will start an arc. When the tool is moved inside the bounds of the shape (the whole ellipse) the arc will be open. When the tool is dragging the arc and is moved outside the bounds of the shape, the arc will be closed and create a pie shape.

 

EllipseEN

Tips

  1. Hold Ctrl while dragging the arc control to enable snapping at angles as specified in the Inkscape Preferences window.
  2. Hold Shift while drawing to draw the shape with its centre at the cursor's point of origin in order to keep position static during the drawing.
  3. Hold Ctrl while drawing to keep the bound of the ellipse always touching the cursor - otherwise the cursor indicates the intersection of the x and y bound coordinates.