How To Fill Between Paths In Inkscape

In this tutorial we'll be going over hoe you can fill between paths with Inkscape. There are several methods for accomplishing this, including the Fracture path operation, the Shape Builder, and the Paint Bucket Tool. Watch the video to see how to use each.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:40 Fracture Path Operation
00:56 Shape Builder
01:21 Paint Bucket Tool
04:47 Using Fracture with Duplicates
05:43 Learn More

[@doctormo]

The shape builder in 1.3.1 will have a retain shapes option. I've already coded it, it's just waiting for release. It was in my raster-image shape-builder feature set.

[@victorwestmann]

👏👏👏

[@sheaulle]

We owe you :-*

[@SteveMacSticky]

That's great Mr Owens . My only gripe with inkscape is its fill bucket tool, and the fact it's not pixel perfect like Corel draw's or illustrators

[@Mariam-Mina]

Nick you are the best of the best in teaching Inkscape!!!!

[@wavetro]

my paint bucket suffering is over, thank you so much!

[@AlanRebane]

Great tutorial! Thank you for making it.

[@matiasgoinheix366]

I don't think I ever used the paintbucket tool, always learn something when you post

[@alliancecloudsolutions]

My favourite Patrick Bateman sounding Inkscape instructor ❤

[@SenfSenferson]

i still think the fill tool is bugged the way it works right now...

[@CTRL_SMarcos]

Thanks for the video. One of the things with this tool is that the more you adjust the object to full screen, the better it will do the job. In other words, it's zoom dependent.

[@doctormo]

Yes. It's taking a screenshot of the screen, using a raster paint bucket feature and then tracing bitmap the resulting image. It's the most hacky idea of a feature I've ever seen.

[@sheaulle]

@@doctormo And it is great if you know when to use it.

[@PicSta]

Very good tutorial. Keep up the great work, Nick!

[@williamalves8820]

Essa versão do Inkscape está fantástica!!!

[@victorwestmann]

👏👏👏

[@lasouteavoile8550]

Great, as usual. Thank you for sharing 🙏

[@ThiagoPrego]

Thank you

[@DontCallMeBillieJean]

Thanks for the perfect workflow! 😊👍🏻

[@derpderp9281]

Awesome! Thank you for your videos 🎉

[@qutie424]

YEEEEEEEEES! THANK YOU!

[@dieahassan3621]

Excellent explanation

[@Supercaculo]

You could also duplicate the paths/ skip combining/ and then use the shape builder tool.

[@pmdinaz]

Thanks!!

[@pixelrabbit261]

LIFE SAVER! subbed ;)

[@franciscocadenas8768]

I have tried the bucket technique. I've noticed that to avoid the gaps when filling a shape with a bucket you have to zoom it and then fill it with the bucket. The object has to fit in the window. If not, the bucket doesn't fill the areas out of visible area.

[@gabrielfair724]

I'm new, why didn't you use the new flatten tool?

[@geoffphil]

I used to use Path/Combine, the sit a filled rectangle behind this, then select both and use Path/Divide. The last fracture you showed saves a step - thanks! The trouble is, I had to uninstall version 1.3 and revert back to 1.2.2 as "Save as pdf" failed in 1.3! It seems 1.3 was released prematurely with major flaws.

[@sheaulle]

Thanks for the video. The new features are awesome. I think you agree that the Paint Bucket Tool isn't the right tool for what you want to achieve here. Maybe you could do a clip about the Bucket Bucket Tool and explain when it is really helpful. There is so much confusion about this even among more experienced users as you can see in the comments here. I think the Paint Bucket Tool is one of the most misunderstood tools in Inkscape. What is does is to fill an area based on the colors that or shown on the screen. It does not take into account the boundaries of shapes, but the pixels. So it does a good job to create a single vector shape that covers an area with similar colors, e.g. to extract a logo from a photo. Also it works on gradients based on the similarity of the actual colors, not the underlying shape. It even works when shapes and pixel images with similar colors overlap, it can create a single shape of all adjacent areas with just one click. The only thing that could be improved is its name, while "Paint Bucket Fill" is a good metaphor as it works as if someone pours paint on the screen and it flows until it hits a "color boundary", something like "Trace Shape", "Pixel Trace" or "Pixel Fill" would maybe cause less confusion.

[@PixelOutlaw]

Coming from a CAD background, the widths of lines causing undesirable accuracy issues is annoying. It comes up in positioning, boolean operations, and also filling apparently.

[@Amipotsophspond]

So something you should know at the paint bucket it changes depending on how much you are zoomed in. like really try it make a shape zoom out fill the shape and you will see large gaps delete it, now zoom in to the exact same shape as much as you can fill it and you will find the gaps are much smaller. this is a another symptom not a cause but the stroke size is changed depending on the zoom, even without any stroke the paint bucket will still fill differently. using paint bucket without stroke then adding and increased stroke size is a way to over fill with out using grow, but you still have a lot of the same problems as grow. I like to use paint bucket grow -20 px then paint bucket grow +5 px then paint bucket grow +5 px... to make quick nice rounded corners, it's so fast.

[@lex_yol]

Every time I use the Tool Bucket in Inkscape, I have one reaction and three questions: The reaction - it's good that even so) with a filthy sheep - at least a tuft of wool. Questions: a) who did it? b) what was he thinking at that moment? c) Who did he do it for?

[@sheaulle]

It does what is should, it creates a filled shaped based on the underlying pixel colors other than depending on shapes only.

[@dougrodrigues]

Can I open .AI and .EPS files (and save as .AI) using Inkscape?

[@richardstewart6900]

Long-time vector user here, latterly CorelDraw X7. However, we closed our engraving business a couple of years back and I can no longer justify the price of the latest full Corel package, hence considering Inkscape for when I get a new pc in the next few months. Caution: for space reasons on this pc, I haven't yet installed Inkscape - just watched videos etc. That paintbucket method seems like a rough equivalent to CorelDraw's Smart Fill Tool but I'm curious why it puts in rough curved lines rather than just the 3 point triangle it's filling in.

[@dewanata_armoon]

paintbucket are not as powerfull as smartfill... still have a some weird result... not very usefull

[@qunas101]

because, as I understand, paintbucket in Inkscape works pretty much in raster mode. The result completely depends on your zoom level. It's really weird and probably my least favourite feature in Inkscape

[@DieTabbi]

​@@dewanata_armoonI am with you. None of the other vector programs has a tool such powerfull and easy as Corels smsrtfill

[@lex_yol]

@@qunas101 Yes, this can be filled over a png or jpg inserted into an inkscape. (And in principle, this could have been mentioned here, but I guess Nick already has a video about it.)

[@doctormo]

@@lex_yol That is the actually useful part of the paintbucket tool. You can use it on raster images. Inkscape developer here to answer the question: The paint bucket tool is a raster tool that uses trace bitmap to turn the raster paint bucket fill back into a vector. I have looked at developing a smarter fill mode, but haven't been able to schedule the time to do it. It's on my list, if anyone wants to commission it.

[@andrewpullins8817]

I feel like the best method would have been the last option but using the shape builder tool instead of fracturing it.

[@DaTux91]

It's kinda weird that the paint bucket tool doesn't just work the way you've explained at the end: get the actual shapes that exist, fill in the one that the tool is over and then delete the other ones, all while retaining a copy of the original paths. Maybe I'm missing something here, but that seems like the obvious way to implement the tool, at least in this version of Inkscape...

[@sheaulle]

I think this is a misunderstanding of what the Bucket Fill tool is meant to be. It is a pixel to vector tool that creates a vector shape based on adjacent pixels of similar colors. It does a good job with photos when you want to quickly extract a single shape from a photo. It never was meant to replace path operations which are used to create vector shapes from other vector shapes.

[@francootaola9172]

I can not understand the why in the behavior of the fill tool. I mean clearly Inkscape is capable of detect the perfect empty space. Why so crumble with extra options when someone wants a simple fiill inside this.

[@reubenpilli6549]

Very unhelpful video. You should start by stating what version of Inkscape you are using. I am using ver 1.2.2 and I don't see "Fracture Path" feature or "Shape Builder tool".

[@geoffphil]

Stick with 1.2.2. I had to uninstall 1.3 as it failed to save as pdf files, which is crucial to my business! I reinstalled 1.2.2 and it works OK again!

[@victorwestmann]

I think he should be using the latest one which is 1.3.

[@sheaulle]

I think it's harsh to call it unhelpful just because the current version is used.

[@reubenpilli6549]

Sorry, if my comment seems harsh. I did not mean it to be. It was just a moment of frustration that resulted in my inappropriate words. I apologize.