SVG: Handle as vector graphic and also Export as vector graphic into PDF

Idea Place
1

SVG: Export as vector graphic in PDF

The usage of SVG is now possible, but it is printed as a bitmap into the PDF. It would be great to have it as a vetor grafic in the pdf.

Use case:
Especially since PDFs are often sent per e-mail and many users use big screens. Moreover the filesize of the pdfs would be reduced.

2

Please handle SVG images internally as vector images. Currently, even in LL26, it seems that SVGs are rendered as bitmaps and then integrated into the preview or printed. So if I zoom deeply into the SVG graphic it gets pixeled and blurry. This is also a big problem, when using the new functionality to print posters!

But this would only be the first step. Next step has to be the export of SVG in PDFs as vectors: SVG: Handle as vector graphic and also Export as vector graphic into PDF

3

I suggest to implement the following feature:

Currently implementation of SVG converts it into a bitmap before exporting to PDF.

Using bitmaps has the following drawbacks:
a) the images are no longer vectorial, so quality is poor
b) the document size gets bigger, especially for big pictures
c) the text inside the SVG document is not longer searchable in the PDF

PDF format is supporting internally vector graphics, as it is somehow an evolution of Postcript, so it is technically possible.

Furthermore, there is an open source project: Inkscape that implements the components needed fo this purpose (SVG to PDF vector export).

Best regards,

JP

4

I really miss that feature. Our old handwritten PDF-creator can export vector images. Now we have such a nice programm like List and Label and it can’t do it. That is really a step back, since most of the PDFs are sent digital per Mail and if you zoom there, it gets ugly.

5

If you can create EMF files (instead of SVGs) you can still work with vectorized images. However, converting SVGs as well would definitly be a valuable addition.

6

Just had a deeper look at this. The results are not too bad, see this conversion of a quite sophisticated public domain SVG to EMF, Source.

image
image696×378 48.6 KB

However, most Inkscape code is covered by the GPL which prohibits any usage in List & Label. Anyway, this could well be a workaround if you’re affected by this - simply convert the SVGs to EMF beforehand in your own code/environment, Inkscape allegedly even has a command line switch for this.

7

We might have found a viable way to tackle this in version 30. Stay tuned :slight_smile:.