Tools

SVG Validator

A validator service (and downloadable tool) is provided by the W3C. It will complain about sodipodi or inkscape namespaced items in the document, unless you've exported to plain SVG.

SVG::Metadata

Perl module and set of scripts to help in adding and processing metadata in SVG files.

Vectorize/trace

Potrace

Potrace is now embedded into Inkscape. You don't need to run it separately.

• Using Potrace through Inkscape
• Potrace page at Sourceforge

Autotrace and Frontline (alternatives to Potrace)

Autotrace an open source vectorization program by Martin Weber. That means you can convert bitmap images (like scans) to vector graphics. While not optimal for photos, it does good job on line art and poster-like images. Doesn't do too well with color.

Autotrace has some features not available in the embedded Potrace dialog in Inkscape. For example, there is a centerline switch that is especially usefull for tracing roads (in maps) or font characters.

Frontline is GUI frontend to Autotrace by Masatake Yamato. Frontline can be run as standalone aplication, but it can also be directly accessed from Inkscape and GIMP.

If you want to have tracing option, you have to install both Autotrace and Frontline before compiling Inkscape. Inkscape automatically detects these programs, and adds inline raster to vector conversion option to image menu.

Both Autotrace and Frontline can be downloaded from Sourceforge. Binaries are available for windows and linux.

Delineate

Front end written in java that does interesting things with color images.

• Delineate at Sourceforge

Convert to SVG

svg2pdf

This simple but useful application is kindly provided by Carl Worth (cairo).

How to obtain it:

git clone git://people.freedesktop.org/~cworth/svg2pdf

And to update it dive into newly created directory called svg2pdf and type this in console:

git pull

(You must of course have git package installed)

Building

If build-time dependencies are satisfied

librsvg and cairo

you only need to type

make

Usage

./svg2pdf input_file.svg output_file.pdf

NOTE! Inkscape provides this functionality internally as well as opposite direction conversation, PDF to SVG that is, since version 0.46. Both file types can be opened straight from Inkscape using regular Open file dialog. THE PURPOSE OF svg2pdf IS TO SIMPLY PRODUCE FILE FOR COMPARISON WITH INKSCAPE PRODUCED .pdf AND TO MAKE CLEAR IF THAT SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS IS INKSCAPE'S FAULT.

uniconvertor

UniConvertor is an universal vector graphics translator. The project uses sK1 engine to convert one format to another. Project has following import filters: CDR, CMX, AI, CGM, WMF, XFIG, SVG, SK, SK1, AFF and export filters: AI, SVG, SK, SK1, CGM, WMF.

• Uniconvertor

ill2svg

ill2svg (Illustrator to SVG) is a small script that helps turn Adobe Illustrator .ai files into SVG. While it doesn't always do a perfect job, it can sometimes be of great help.

To use the program, just type:

ill2svg.pl [-l "string" -h] infile > outfile.svg

options: 
    -l specify the file's line-ending convention: dos, mac,
    or unix; the default is unix

    -h print this message and exit

ai2svg.py

ai2svg (Illustrator to SVG, recoded in python) is as well a small script that helps turn Adobe Illustrator .ai files into SVG. The Python recode aims to help developers more familiar to python than perl, as well fixing some lacks from ill2svg.pl - supports dashes, layers, textboxes (ascii-latin), and joined pathes.

To use the program, just type:

python ai2svg.py drawing.ai

the result will appear as neighbour, named drawing.ai.svg

options: 
    --help print this message and exit

available at http://www15.brinkster.com/nitrofurano/python/ (that .zip file, in the tools folder)

fig2vect

fig2vector (fig vector format to other vector formats, including SVG) is a converter from 'Fig format' long time used (at least since 1998) unix vector format (Xfig, figurine, jfig, winfig...), large kind of application output on this format in unix, mostly scientific applications.

• fig2vect

gimp2sodipodi

Shandy Brown has assembled a somewhat obscure but useful set of tools to get from GIMP to Sodipodi (and thus to Inkscape). That is, convert raster to vector.

• gimp2sodipodi instructions

GIMP

GIMP is a bitmap graphics tool in the first place, but:

• it imports SVG (with help of librsvg) into bitmap or vector path, exports SVG.
• GIMP's selection can be converted to a vector path, and paths can be exported/imported as SVG.

GIMP can be used to create nice textures to use in Inkscape or shapes that can be vectorized in Inkscape. Importing SVG drawings from Inkscape to GIMP allows you to do several effects by filling and stroking shapes.

There is a limited support for drag'n'drop between GIMP and Inkscape:

• path, can be drag'n'droped from Gimp path dialog to Inkscape
• pictures can be drag'n'droped from Gimp document history to Inkscape if it's in a file format that Inkscape understands.

• gimp.org

ConversionSVG

ConversionSVG is a GUI that send command line to Inkscape to export in batch SVG to PNG, PS, PDF or EPS. It features a Wizard to help novice to use it. You can choose a size in pixels for your export and give some others parameters.

• http://sourceforge.net/projects/conversionsvg/

Kig

Kig is a geometry educational tool, it can import from most of the free geom softwares format : kig (own format), kigz (own format compresed), kgeo, seg (Kseg), fgeo (Dr Geo) anf fig, and can export them to SVG, xfig, latex, and image. This can be useful to integrate a geometry activity in a more complet document realized in Inkscape for web reading or printing for schools.

• http://edu.kde.org/kig

Color scheme & palettes

Agave

Agave is a color scheme tool allowing to create palettes based on standard color composition rules, it export it's palettes in the format managed by Gimp and Inkscape.

• Agave

Video editing, for building animation

Linux Video Editing System

LIVES is the Linux Video Editing System that permits editing and making video without worries about formats, frame sizes, or frame rates. It doesn't support SVG directly yet, but you can create animated works by moving your shapes in Inkscape and exporting as numbered png's.

• LIVES

Kdenlive

Kdenlive is a non-linear video editor for Linux, that allow editing, mixing several video and audio using several timelines with previews, add audio/video effects using effects stacks, add text for title or subtitle. It support SVG (but not svgz, at least in svn 20070410).

• Kdenlive

Open Movie Editor

Open Movie Editor is a non linear video editor, allowing editing, mixing several audio and vido, don't know if it supports svg, but as LIVES it can be used for work with png frames to build animation

• Open Movie Editor

Multipage presentation or book

slides

Slides is a command-line unix utility to create a multi-page PDF file from a sequence of SVG files. This is very helpful for creating slide presentations. For example, it is excellent for making lectures. You can make incremental slides very easily (i.e., slides which grow with each step, such as listings). This is done by marking incremental slides in your inkscape svg document. A tutorial is available on the web page.

• Slides

Scribus

Scribus is a publishing software supporting SVG, allowing to organise Inkscape documents as a full featured pre-press tool. It doesn't support SVG filters (blur/blend modes...), but manage most of other features.

• Scribus

Charts & Graphs

Gnuplot

Gnuplot, the command line (with several frontends) driven interactive data and function plotting tool has SVG output for graphs & charts.

• Input can be functions or datasets
• Output in 2D, 3D...
• http://www.gnuplot.info/

matplotlib

Matplotlib is a python plotting library and can also output SVG.

• http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/

Gnumeric

Gnumeric, the Gnome spreadsheet output a variety of graphs/charts in SVG format.

• http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/

SVG Charter

SVG charter is a perl script dedicated to generate SVG charts on web servers.

• http://charter.sourceforge.net/

Diagrams

Graphviz

Graphviz is a tool for automatic graph drawing, it produces structural information as diagrams of abstract graphs and networks in SVG and other vector formats. Several diagrams softwares use this tool or dot file managed by this tool in variety application domains including:

• UML
• databases
• networks
• source code analysers objects/functions relations
• code profiling analalysis
• web server log analyser
• packages dependencies
• ...

• graphviz
• Some free software using graphviz to output diagrams