Getting vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape
Hi,
I got a CDR file from a customer. I have a copy of Corel Draw 11. So I opened the file in my version of Corel Draw and exported it as CGM, according to the Inkscape FAQ. But I can't open the CGM file generated by Corel Draw 11 in ooimpress. Then I tried to export it as SVG and AI file (Version 7).
I had to note that this what Corel calls SVG should rather be called Corel-XML because it is completely incompatible with any other SVG-Viewer/Editor. Firefox just showes an error message about an unknown namespace, Imagemagick could just render aprox. 10% of the graphic, but Inkscape still does a relative good job, by rendering aprox. 85% of the vector graphic. I was already able to open SVG files generated by Corel Draw, which contains just a few trivial objects, in inksape without problems. But if the graphic is a little bit more comlex than just a converted text, you can forget Corel Draw's SVG encoding, if you intend to open it by something else than Corel Draw itself.
Inkscape claims to be able to import Adobe Illustrtor. But in my case it failed. I think either Corel Draw generates similar crap when genereating AI files as when generating SVG files or Inkscape is just incompatible with Version 7 of Adobe Illustrator.
So, is there any known reliable method, which works to get a vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape? And which version of adobe Illustrtor is supported by Inkscape?
Regards Sebastian Noack
On Mon, 6 Nov 2006, Sebastian Noack wrote:
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2006 10:16:02 +0100 From: Sebastian Noack <sebastian.noack@...2040...> Reply-To: Inkscape User Community inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net To: inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [Inkscape-user] Getting vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape
Hi,
I got a CDR file from a customer.
Chances of CDR support are slim but good work is being done on WPG support, another Corel format which might be another path worth considering.
I have a copy of Corel Draw 11. So I opened the file in my version of Corel Draw and exported it as CGM, according to the Inkscape FAQ. But I can't open the CGM file generated by Corel Draw 11 in ooimpress. Then I tried to export it as SVG and AI file (Version 7).
I was going to ask why not use SVG exported from Corel Draw but you do get around to mentioning it eventually:
I had to note that this what Corel calls SVG should rather be called Corel-XML because it is completely incompatible with any other SVG-Viewer/Editor.
Adobe SVG sometimes contains huge amounts of information dumped in the file as CDATA and embedded images but I know at least in the case of Adobe Illustrator there are many export options which can results in SVG files more suitable for sharing with other programs. Perhaps Corel Draw also includes SVG export options that will provide better results.
Firefox just showes an error message about an unknown namespace,
How to politely describe SVG support in Firefox? A work in progress might be the nice way to describe it.
Frankly I'd expect better results from KSVG and librsvg and it is unfair to judge any application based on how well Firefox renders the SVG, at least for the moment.
Batik is a high quality renderer often mentioned on this list, and is suggested for comparison purposes against Inkscape. The Adobe SVG Viewer is also of high quality but not an option for Linux users last I checked.
Imagemagick could just render aprox. 10% of the graphic, but Inkscape still does a relative good job, by rendering aprox. 85% of the vector graphic. I was already able to open SVG files generated by Corel Draw, which contains just a few trivial objects, in inksape without problems.
If you could attach a small sample file to a feature request in our tracker and provide a PNG of what it should look like then maybe we can track down if certain features of Corel are unsupported in Inkscape or where exactly things are going wrong.
But if the graphic is a little bit more comlex than just a converted text, you can forget Corel Draw's SVG encoding, if you intend to open it by something else than Corel Draw itself.
Inkscape claims to be able to import Adobe Illustrtor.
I urge caution when making claims about what Inkscape supports, especially since quite a lot of that support is indirectly through helper applications and not necessarily available on users setup (as can be seen from user questions about where the DXF support is hiding).
But in my case it failed. I think either Corel Draw generates similar crap when genereating AI files as when generating SVG files or Inkscape is just incompatible with Version 7 of Adobe Illustrator.
You have to understand there are two major and distinctly different types of Adobe Illustrator which complicates matters. From Adobe Illustrator 10 onwards AI files are a special form of PDF.
Inkscape does not currently support PDF import, which rules out many of the more recent Adobe Illustrator files. Perhaps work using the Poppler library will allow support to be added but I dont believe anyone is working on import at the moment, the focus is on consolidating the three different PDF exporters. If I recall correctly the other AI files require you to also have Skencil/Sketch installed as it converts the file to SVG which inkscape then opens.
So, is there any known reliable method, which works to get a vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape?
Reliable? Not really, and not really known either, very much a case of Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV). If you were willing to document the process you have gone through in the Inkscape wiki then perhaps others will add their own experiences and we can hash out a some sort of recommendations for those coming after you. Such an approach has worked well in the past to gather information and help users to help each other to gradually improve troublespots.
And which version of adobe Illustrtor is supported by Inkscape?
I would be hesistant to use the word "supported" at all. Inkscape is provided in the hope that it is useful but without warranty. Some versions may be more stable than others but Inkscape is under constant development and there still hasn't been any release the developers have declared as really stable (although branching and providing minor releases almost implies a stable maintained build, at least until the next release) and Inkscape is a long way from releasing version 1.0 such that no one is even estimating when that might happen. (Others may prefer to view the situation less harshly.)
Sincerely
Alan Horkan
Inkscape http://inkscape.org Abiword http://www.abisource.com Open Clip Art http://OpenClipArt.org
Alan's Diary http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/
I was going to ask why not use SVG exported from Corel Draw but you do get around to mentioning it eventually:
I had to note that this what Corel calls SVG should rather be called Corel-XML because it is completely incompatible with any other SVG-Viewer/Editor.
Adobe SVG sometimes contains huge amounts of information dumped in the file as CDATA and embedded images but I know at least in the case of Adobe Illustrator there are many export options which can results in SVG files more suitable for sharing with other programs. Perhaps Corel Draw also includes SVG export options that will provide better results.
There are no embedded images and I also can't find any CDATA region in the XML. I don't tried other export options than the default. But there were only options about format of embedded images, converting of text and using of CSS. The first both don't apply here and for the last one I think inline-CSS is quite fine.
Firefox just showes an error message about an unknown namespace,
How to politely describe SVG support in Firefox? A work in progress might be the nice way to describe it.
Frankly I'd expect better results from KSVG and librsvg and it is unfair to judge any application based on how well Firefox renders the SVG, at least for the moment.
I noted that firefox is a horrible svg renderer. Often the app even crashs on rendering svg.
Batik is a high quality renderer often mentioned on this list, and is suggested for comparison purposes against Inkscape. The Adobe SVG Viewer is also of high quality but not an option for Linux users last I checked.
I guess that such software like Adobe's or Corel's SVG Viewer are optimized on the SVG dialect of the corresponding vendor. And thereby not a reasonable comparison. I don't expect from Inkscape that it can understand any crap which somebody calls SVG, like I don't expect from firefox that it understands any bad ie-specific html-tag.
If you could attach a small sample file to a feature request in our tracker and provide a PNG of what it should look like then maybe we can track down if certain features of Corel are unsupported in Inkscape or where exactly things are going wrong.
Well, I did that. Here is the link. http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1592292&gro...
But in my case it failed. I think either Corel Draw generates similar crap when genereating AI files as when generating SVG files or Inkscape is just incompatible with Version 7 of Adobe Illustrator.
You have to understand there are two major and distinctly different types of Adobe Illustrator which complicates matters. From Adobe Illustrator 10 onwards AI files are a special form of PDF.
Inkscape does not currently support PDF import, which rules out many of the more recent Adobe Illustrator files. Perhaps work using the Poppler library will allow support to be added but I dont believe anyone is working on import at the moment, the focus is on consolidating the three different PDF exporters. If I recall correctly the other AI files require you to also have Skencil/Sketch installed as it converts the file to SVG which inkscape then opens.
Well, I talked about Version 7 and Skencil is installed on my system, but what is sketch?
So, is there any known reliable method, which works to get a vector graphic from Corel Draw into Inkscape?
Reliable? Not really, and not really known either, very much a case of Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV). If you were willing to document the process you have gone through in the Inkscape wiki then perhaps others will add their own experiences and we can hash out a some sort of recommendations for those coming after you. Such an approach has worked well in the past to gather information and help users to help each other to gradually improve troublespots.
I figured a very reliable way out, to get a vector graphic lossless out of Corel Draw. But it requires another non-free expensive software.
1. Open the graphic in Corel Draw and export it as AI file. 2. Open the AI file in Adobe Illustrator. 3. Export it as SVG.
The svg file generated by Adobe Illustrator is much better than the svg file created by Corel Draw, at least in my case. Even firefox can render it. :)
Regards Sebastian Noack
participants (2)
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Alan Horkan -
Sebastian Noack