Recently, the creators of the vector graphics editor Akira , which has been under development for a couple of years, published the first test releases. The graphic package is intended for creating interface layouts.
The authors of Akira stated that their goal is to create a tool for professionals with which you can prepare high-quality interface layouts. Probably, the editor can be called a competitor to Sketch, Figma, Inkscape and Adobe XD, but it is sharpened exclusively for Linux. It also differs from Inkscape in that it is not focused on print design.
Akira has a slightly different approach to organizing the workflow. There is no way to generate code or working interfaces in it. On the other hand, developers offer professional tools for solving more universal tasks, like rendering vector graphics or creating interface layouts.
The editor treats each shape as a separate path with two levels of editing. The first level - editing the shape itself - is turned on immediately upon selection. In this case, tools are available for typical transformations, such as rotation, resizing.
As for the second level, path editing, Akira gives you the ability to move, add and remove nodes of the shape path using Bezier curves. Contours can be broken or closed.
The developers have also created their own .akira file format, which is, in fact, a zip archive with SVG files and a local git repository with changes. But if you need familiar formats, you can use the export of images to SVG, JPG, PNG and PDF.
At the beginning of 2019, the developers launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the project, but received three times less than they requested - about 15 thousand euros instead of 41 thousand. Work, nevertheless, they did not stop, continuing to use their own in the development process. resources. As far as can be judged from the available information, the finished product is exactly what the developers promised to create when launching the Kickstarter campaign.
“The best solutions are born not in another fashionable graphic editor, but in the head of an interface designer. The task of any such tool is to transfer this solution from one dimension to another. And the more effective the tool is, the faster the designer can complete his task - to deliver value to the client's world. I don’t know designers who use Linux as the main OS, but the emergence of a new tool will definitely draw the attention of some designers to this platform and will definitely delight those who already use it, ” commented Yuri Kapelko , product manager of the Selectel interface department , on Akira's release. ...