Inkscape Versus LibreOffice Draw Versus Gimp

I have used Inkscape, LibreOffice draw and Gimp on and off over many years. Despite this, I have not managed to master more than a number of the basic features from those different applications. More recently, I have had more time to become more familiar with the many features available. To help in that endeavour, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to try and make a direct comparison between the features and capabilities of these three major free software graphics applications. Doing so might be a good way of learning some things, because you are forced to think about how to achieve similar results in different ways.

Admittedly, it might seem a bit odd to include Gimp in the comparison that includes two vector-based programs, but as I'm working on learning all three of them in greater depth, I felt it would be interesting to see just how far I could push the comparison.

My approach is based on going through a number of the tutorials in Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program, which as its name suggests is an introduction to Inkscape. Although it was last updated in 2017, I think it remains an interesting and useful way of introducing Inkscape. The idea is for me to follow through each tutorial and then attempt to reproduce the same thing in LibreOffice draw and Gimp, commenting on the different features and approaches in each application and what that reveals.

However, before this, I wanted to start by giving a quick overview of the three different applications and how they both compare and differ from a high level perspective.

Overview of Inkscape, LibreOffice Draw and Gimp

Note that I do not intend to compare any of these to their well-known proprietary alternatives. That is both because I am much more interested in how they compare with each other and I have never used the proprietary applications they are often compared with.

Inkscape and LibreOffice draw are most obviously similar to each other, in that they are vector-based graphics applications. However, it seems to me that they differ quite considerably in their focus. Inkscape is a standalone, general-purpose vector graphics application, with a great deal of flexibility. LibreOffice draw is part of a wider suite of applications, with potential advantages arising from the close integration with other components such as word processor and presentation. Also, LibreOffice draw is clearly print document orientated, with measurement units such as millimetres, centimetres and so on – you can't specify something is a certain number of pixels for example.

Gimp is the most different from the other two, in that it is a raster graphics based editor, with a few limited vector graphics style features. It is deliberately focused on what could be described as photo editing, rather than creating artwork from scratch, although of course it is possible to use it for that purpose. For example, it is arguably much more difficult to create shapes beyond the basics such as circles and squares than it is with Inkscape and LibreOffice draw, both of which have support for many more primitives.

A List of Some Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

Although far from vital, when going through the various exercises, they can be useful to use keyboard shortcuts from an efficiency point of view. Naturally, these often differ between the various applications, even though many functions are similar or exactly the same. Therefore, I thought it would be useful to list a set of commonly used keyboard shortcuts and which ones are used for Inkscape, LibreOffice Draw Gimp.

File Operations

View and Zoom Operations