I'm including a png sprite-sheet in an inkscape file as a linked image. However, I don't want the entire sheet to show, only one of the sprites. I would be even more happy if I could show the animation, but that seems (reasonably) outside the scope of the software. However, there should be some way to include a section of a linked image, right?
How can I do this?
The way to do that in Inkscape is to set a "Clip" to the embedded bitmap.
After embedding a bitmap image we can create another object to define the clip path:
To clip the rectangle out of the bitmap we select both object to then apply Object > Clip > Set:
Any object can be used for clipping. To clip from several objects we need to group them first.
The clip can be released with Object > Clip > Release to reveal the bitmap and the clipping object again.
You should use a Clipping Mask by creating a path that's the same shape and position of the sprite you want, selecting both it and the sprite, and using Object > Clip > Set
