[XeTeX] [Dev-luatex] A native support for SVG

[Hans Hagen]

TeXWorld wrote:
> Hans Hagen a ?crit :
>>
>> TeXWorld wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm a ConTeXt (and LaTeX too) user. When I want to make a vector 
>>> picture, I'm trying most of the time to use programs who can export 
>>> PGF/TikZ or PStricks.
>>> A lot of users like me don't "program" their vector pictures and use 
>>> wysiwyg programs like Inkscape or Illustrator to generate PStricks ou 
>>> PGF/TikZ code. Of course whatever program used, we can
>>> find a SVG export. SVG is the most spread and the most used format to 
>>> store vector pictures.
>>>
>>> I request a native support for SVG in XeTeX and in LuaTeX, I think it 
>>> would be a great thing.
>>> Of course when I want to include SVG pictures in my documents I can 
>>> convert them to pdf before but the problem is that labels and texts 
>>> won't be compiled : fonts will be wrong.
>>>
>>> What do you think about this ? Do you think it's something possible ?
>>
>> it would involve parsing of the svg code and that's real low on my 
>> agenda (svg is not my favourite format with all this data in 
>> attributes while actually it should in element and properly structured)
>>
>> Hans
> Hello everybody, hello Hans,
> 
> I was reading this old message I posted about ten months ago.
> I found scripts written in perl or python to include svg pictures in pdf 
> but that's not really good (to me) and it doesn't work with any pdf 
> viewer (it also requires a plugin installation in adobe acrobat ...). I 
> was thinking about the mars project : 
> http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/mars/
> 
> I thought that maybe the day when luatex and this new pdfxml format 
> would be stable enough,  it could be conceivable to give luatex this 
> ability to produce pdfxml files and maybe it would make easier the 
> integration of svg images in this pdfxml without having to parse svg 
> code. What do you think ? Pdfxml could be a good opportunity for luatex 
> users ?

you can make your inclusion code clever enough to convert the image to 
pdf before inclusions (has to be done once only) so that's a feasible 
solution for now

concerning the future, other output formats like mars or xps will be 
looked into when we have luatex version 1.0 at which point we hope to 
have the backend code redone; in order to support extra backends some of 
the now rather pdf related functionality has to be generalized as well 
(like the concept of reusing typeset content); also, when the backend 
also has the ability to plug in lua code, support for multiple backends 
is easier to implement

so, to answer the question ... indeed we will look into it once we're 
ready for it (of course this might not solve the svg solution as it then 
still demands plugins in the viewing app)

Hans

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                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
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