inkscape - Converting large SVG to PNG file

26
2014-04
  • user209128

    So I have a 16mb SVG file with about 30,000 nodes and I've been trying to convert it to a 10,000x10,000 png image. I tried a lot of stuff and the closest I got was with inkscape, but it got some weird error halfway through the command and only rendered half the image. Does anyone know the best way to do this?

  • Answers
  • Paul

    Imagemagick is a dedicated command line tool for converting and manipulating images, so may product better results:

    convert -density 1200 -resize 10000x10000 your.svg your.png
    

    You may need to change the density command to get optimal results


  • Related Question

    import - Inkscape: what are "line" objects?
  • Peter Mortensen

    What is a "line" object in Inkscape? Drawing lines in Inkscape is by using the tool "Draw Bezier curves and straight lines (Shift+F6)". This creates objects of another type, "path".

    Using Inkscape: is there a way to convert an object of type "line" into an object of the more general type "path"?

    I have imported a drawing (mostly lines, rectangles and text) that has been through Adobe Illustrator: originally made in Inkscape, imported into Illustrator, edited, saved from Illustrator as SVG, imported into Inkscape.

    Sample from the imported SVG file:

    <path
       id="path5855"
       stroke="#000000"
       d="  M320.198,275.935" />
    
    <line
       fill="none"
       stroke="#000000"
       x1="348.553"
       y1="45.097"
       x2="348.553"
       y2="185.346"
       id="line3368" />
    

    Update 1: I have inspected the original XML (SVG) file from 2006 and it does not contain any "line" XML tags. Thus it must be a crime of Adobe Illustrator.

    When a line is selected in this imported SVG file the bottom panel displays: "Line in root. Click selection to toggle scale/rotation handles.".

    When a line is selected that was drawn in Inkscape the bottom panel displays: "Path (2 nodes) in Layer 1. Click selection to toggle scale/rotation handles."

    What is the difference between "line" and "path"?

    Is "line" some kind of read-only/non-editable object?


    A generic term like "line" is not easy to use in search, but I have now found the definitions for "line" and "path":

    SVG line: http://www.w3schools.com/svg/svg_line.asp
    
    SVG path: http://www.w3schools.com/svg/svg_path.asp
    

    Platform: Inkscape v0.46 (2008-03-10), Windows XP 64 bit, 8 GB RAM.


  • Related Answers
  • Ludwig Weinzierl

    A line is just what it says, a straight line. A path is more versatile and can represent almost any curve.

    You can always convert a line into a path, but not vice versa in the general case. In Inkscape use the menu item Path/Object to Path or the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+C.

    You can't edit nodes on line objects because a line object has just start and endpoint, but no nodes.

    As a path can also be a straight line Inkscape doesn't bother to create line elements. It always creates path elements. If your SVG file contains line elements Inkscape can read them and you can manipulate them.

  • Jared Updike

    Inkscape is built around SVG:

    http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/

    (although Inkscape supports more effects and probably more features than most browsers, IIRC, YMMV)

    Wikipedia's SVG entry says that although a Path is very general (and I remember from experience can represent line(s) as well as splines), there are Line objects as a basic shapes.

    Perhaps you can load the .svg file in a text editor (if you are so inclined) and inspect the SVG xml code to determine how it is representing the data.