help! Can't view this svg file

[wkhan69]

Hi all,
I just bought Corel Paint Shop Pro X7 Ultimate. One of the big reasons of choosing Paint Shop Pro was that it could read svg files. Well, just for experimentation purposes, I tried loading an svg file and it came up with an error: "Unable to open file. Please verify that the file is valid". When I try to open this file with a web browser, it opens perfectly, so I'm guessing the file itself is OK. I obtained the file from the web in internet explorer and right-click, save picture as. Here is the original link to the file: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... meline.svg

Can anyone tell me if this file is OK, or should I do something different to view it in Paint Shop Pro?

Interesting note: If I try to open the file with PaintShop Pro 32 bit, it brings me to an import screen which shows a pixel size of 2220x10112, which to me sounds possibly right. Then the error pops up. When I open it with the 64 bit version, I get no error, but the pixel size shows 176x800, which sounds very low. As well, the image is completely messed up in the 64bit version. My PC has windows 7 pro 64bit. If svg has vector graphics, how are pixels associated with the file?

Thanks,
Will

[LeviFiction]

Okay, something very important about PSP's ability to read SVGs.

PSP can only import SVG files, and convert them to raster graphics. Also PSP's SVG importer, in my experience, only supports small portions of the SVG standard.

If you want to import an SVG and export out a raster image I would suggest a dedicated vector editor like Inkscape and not PSP.

[cadudesun]

Hi,
From the date of this post up to PaintShop Pro 2019, is there any improvement in SVG handling?
I used PSP many years ago and stopped using it because of very bad SVG support at that time.
I'm considering come back to PSP if there are SVG improvements.
Thanks for info!
Cadu

[ehume]

I have recently (2 nights ago) opened an SVG file in PSP 2018. The original had a gradient that PSP did NOT replicate. Then I used an old standby -- Inkscape, which is freeware. Inkscape was designed for SVG files.

I have used Inkscape for more than a decade and a half. I started with it to make icons for my Firefox themes. I would export them to PNG and picked them up with PSP7 (not x7) for touchup work. That will tell you how long Inkscape has been around. They improve it, incrementing the version number as they do.

I did to the graphic what I always have done: I saved the SVG file to disk, then opened it in Inkscape, exported the PNG version to disk, then finished the PNG with PSP -- this time PSP 2018.

Based on my recent experience, I would recommend opening any SVG file with Inkscape, not PSP. As a raster editor PSP stands out. As an SVG editor, not so much.

As you can tell, this agrees with LeviFiction.

[Ken Berry]

I only have a couple of SVG sample images. Although PSP 2019 lists SVG as one of the formats it can open, it would not open either of my samples. It came up in both cases with a msg saying it could not open the image, and told me to check the file was valid.

FWIW I could open both samples in CorelDRAW 17. I tried saving it in DRAW setting the new image to compatibility with SVG 1.1. That came up with the same error message in PSP 2019. I saved it again with compatibility to SVG 1.0. That opened in PSP, but the image was solid black. Nothing else was visible, and the original had no black in it at all!

I got exactly the same results in PSP 2018.

[ehume]

I tried opening OP's sample in PSP 2018, got a validity error. It opened easily with Inkscape. Since I have Affinity I tried with that too. It was even faster than Inkscape! And this was without converting it for SVG 1.0 to 1.1.

[LeviFiction]

What level of SVG support do people want in PSP?

Obviously, one that doesn't error out on 90% of all SVG files would be nice. xD But PSP right now can only rasterize an image. It should be possible to use scripts and an external program in order to convert SVGs to PNGs with minimal issues. But are you hoping to simply open and convert an SVG? Or are you hoping to import an SVG as an actual vector file into PSP? That would be harder as PSP ddoesn't support everything that SVG does. So some elements will be lost on import. If you only care about the paths and none of the colors, that might be workable.

[cadudesun]

Many thanks all of you for the replies and feedback!
It seems PSP still struggling with SVGs.
On the other hand, Microsoft Office improved its SVG handling, and it is being pleasant to deal with SVG in PowerPoint.
I'm not comparing PSP with PowerPoint at all. Apples and oranges
But just emphasizing SVG is becoming more and more popular, and PSP is being left behind.
PSP isn't a vector dedicated software as Inkscape but as a supposed powerful image editor, it should provide decent SVG support at this time.
Cheers!

[AlicatArt]

Corel Draw is a Vector Program will that support SVG? or Ai?

[ehume]

Corel Draw is a Vector Program will that support SVG? or Ai?

Really? Get Inkscape for free, then export the png to whatever size you please. Then PSP will edit any png. No need to spend ANY money.

[AlicatArt]

Thanks!!!

[LeviFiction]

Gravit Designer, also now owned by Corel, is a free both online and downloadable app for vector design as well. the pro vesion is $99 a year but the lite version is still free. And SVG is supported.

[LeviFiction]

I have a new dumb solution to this.

I have made an electron application that reads in SVGs and exports PNGs. I then edited the Nik Script to run my program, and import the resultant PNG. You will have the option of importing as a new image or as a new layer into the current image. The best part, is it seems to work on every SVG I've tried. Including the one linked to by the OP.

The only downside is the electron app is 148MB. It's insane how large this thing is. When I consider the fact that it only converts SVG files to PNGs for importing into PSP, I can't justify the size.

If anyone is interested in trying this method, let me know and I will post it in the scripts section. Otherwise, I'll write it off as an interesting experiment.

[ehume]

PSP does an incomplete job on SVG files. Inkscape is free. It is a native SVG app. Its normal raster output is PNG, with transparency preserved. Raster size is completely adjustable.

[LeviFiction]

xD yes we've been over that before ehume. Inkscape and other vector editors are superior in their handling of SVG files. Some are free, some are not. And almost all support transparent PNG export.

This script and program simply make it easier to do the same thing, transparent PNGs at any size as a new image or layer without having to figure out another program. Just download and run from inside PSP. It uses the chromium web browser to interpret the SVG image and javascript to write it to a file. And PSP scripting to read the result in as either a new image or a layer. The dialog even slightly resembles PSP's.

If you want I can also make a version that uses inkscape's commandline options to do the importing. I'm sure it'll be almost exactly the same. So those with inkscape can just use that, and those without an option can choose which program they want to use.