Exporting Text To Synfig

[olladitan]

Hello. I have been having problems exporting text from Inkscape to Synfig.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCMoZkbhuw&feature=youtu.be
What is the correct way to do this?

Synfig discussion:
https://synfig.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10928

[brynn]

Welcome to the forum!

If I follow the Synfig forum thread, you have tried both that old extension (SVG2SIF), as well as saving as SIF from Inkscape - correct?  The video you referenced doesn't seem to run, for some reason.

And you also tried converting the text to path?  That should work.

Unfortunately, I don't have Synfig for testing, and no time at the moment, to download and install.

I guess, for myself, I would suggest trying this:

 -- open a new blank file
 -- create a new layer
 -- type text in the new layer
 -- Path menu > Union (this is a shortcut which does the same thing as Object to Path plus ungroup plus combine)
 -- make sure that you don't have a duplicate of the text in the file, which might be producing the problem, despite converting the original text to paths
 -- save as SIF, and then open in Synfig

Mostly I just suggest the new layer for "good measure"....or maybe call it a hunch.

If you still have the same problem, please see this message for info about either contacting developers or filing a new bug report.  I'd probably go straight for the bug report....unless someone else posts a reply here, who knows how to fix this problem.

https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?topic=628.0

[olladitan]

Welcome to the forum!

If I follow the Synfig forum thread, you have tried both that old extension (SVG2SIF), as well as saving as SIF from Inkscape - correct?  The video you referenced doesn't seem to run, for some reason.

And you also tried converting the text to path?  That should work.

Unfortunately, I don't have Synfig for testing, and no time at the moment, to download and install.

I guess, for myself, I would suggest trying this:

 -- open a new blank file
 -- create a new layer
 -- type text in the new layer
 -- Path menu > Union (this is a shortcut which does the same thing as Object to Path plus ungroup plus combine)
 -- make sure that you don't have a duplicate of the text in the file, which might be producing the problem, despite converting the original text to paths
 -- save as SIF, and then open in Synfig

Mostly I just suggest the new layer for "good measure"....or maybe call it a hunch.

If you still have the same problem, please see this message for info about either contacting developers or filing a new bug report.  I'd probably go straight for the bug report....unless someone else posts a reply here, who knows how to fix this problem.

https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?topic=628.0

Thanks Brynn. I tried the methods in this thread and the synfig thread, including the old svg2sif exporter. All of them. I have narrowed the problem down to just shapes that have enclosures like "R" "P" "A" "D" and especially "B" because it has two enclosures. There does not seem to be a way around this. Not even with "break apart" and "exclusion". I even tried using the extensions>synfig>prepare for export and got the same results. From the responses from the synfig forum I noticed that his inkscape file was 90DPI while and my inkscape wanted to convert it to 96DPI. His letters with enclosures also had an extra edge and exported properly to synfig. What is the latest version of inskape that creates 90DPI documents? Thanks

[brynn]

I doubt that the dpi would have anything to do with this problem.  If you want to export a PNG at 90 dpi, you would not have to install an earlier version.  Just change the dpi in the Export PNG dialog.

I'm not familiar with the extension you mentioned, Prepare for Export.  But you could look and see if it allows you to change the dpi yourself.

If it doesn't, then to answer your question....oh gosh, I can't remember for sure.  I'm pretty sure version 0.91 was the last which used 90 dpi as the default.  If it wasn't 0.91, then it was 0.48.5 (yes, the project jumped ahead in version numbering).

Note that your image might not be the right size, using 90 dpi (in case size is important for your project).

However, I think saving as SIF is currently the proper way to get images from Inkscape to Synfig.  It's possible those older extensions don't work, although I don't know for sure.

I don't know what you mean about the "extra edge" that someone's text has, which exported properly.  Do you mean it's a serif font?

Have you tried different fonts?  It doesn't sound like it would matter....unless it was some kind of font which doesn't have closed spaces.

What about different file formats?  Are there any other file formats which you could use, to get the text from Inkscape into Synfig?

I think I would probably go ahead and file a bug report, at this point.  Although I realize you're probably more focused on getting the text into Synfig correctly.  But once developers can have a look at the problem, they might be able to offer a workaround.  Or maybe they might even know a fix?

OH!  I just had a flash.  Look in Inkscape Preferences > Input/Output > SVG Output > Path Data.  How is that set?  For general use, Optimized is the best choice.  But maybe for your purpose, Absolute would be the best choice?  Change that before you type the text, then convert to path, then Union, then save as SIF.

If that, as well as using a 2nd layer doesn't help, then I'm fresh out of ideas. 

[olladitan]

I doubt that the dpi would have anything to do with this problem.  If you want to export a PNG at 90 dpi, you would not have to install an earlier version.  Just change the dpi in the Export PNG dialog.

I'm not familiar with the extension you mentioned, Prepare for Export.  But you could look and see if it allows you to change the dpi yourself.

If it doesn't, then to answer your question....oh gosh, I can't remember for sure.  I'm pretty sure version 0.91 was the last which used 90 dpi as the default.  If it wasn't 0.91, then it was 0.48.5 (yes, the project jumped ahead in version numbering).

Note that your image might not be the right size, using 90 dpi (in case size is important for your project).

However, I think saving as SIF is currently the proper way to get images from Inkscape to Synfig.  It's possible those older extensions don't work, although I don't know for sure.

I don't know what you mean about the "extra edge" that someone's text has, which exported properly.  Do you mean it's a serif font?

Have you tried different fonts?  It doesn't sound like it would matter....unless it was some kind of font which doesn't have closed spaces.

What about different file formats?  Are there any other file formats which you could use, to get the text from Inkscape into Synfig?

I think I would probably go ahead and file a bug report, at this point.  Although I realize you're probably more focused on getting the text into Synfig correctly.  But once developers can have a look at the problem, they might be able to offer a workaround.  Or maybe they might even know a fix?

OH!  I just had a flash.  Look in Inkscape Preferences > Input/Output > SVG Output > Path Data.  How is that set?  For general use, Optimized is the best choice.  But maybe for your purpose, Absolute would be the best choice?  Change that before you type the text, then convert to path, then Union, then save as SIF.

If that, as well as using a 2nd layer doesn't help, then I'm fresh out of ideas.

I Just downgraded to Inkscape 0.91 and everything works so far

[brynn]

Interesting.  I guess I would lean towards making a bug report about version 0.92 on this.  Except that the text in that example does not have any closed spaces.  So I can't be sure if the problem with the text is a bug, that it does not exist in 0.91, and is new in 0.92.x.

In other files, have you used text with closed spaces, to confirm that the problem is not happening in 0.91 ?

[olladitan]

Interesting.  I guess I would lean towards making a bug report about version 0.92 on this.  Except that the text in that example does not have any closed spaces.  So I can't be sure if the problem with the text is a bug, that it does not exist in 0.91, and is new in 0.92.x.

In other files, have you used text with closed spaces, to confirm that the problem is not happening in 0.91 ?

It dos work with closed letters as well. I miss the Objects panel so It would be good if this was resolved in future versions.

[brynn]

Would you like to make a new bug report for this?  If you don't want to get involved, I'd be glad to make one.  But developers may have questions which I would not be able to answer.  And I certainly would not be able to test, if they have either a fix or a workaround (since I don't have Synfig).

However, I still would make the report (if you don't want to).  It would be better to have a mere mention of this kind of problem, even if it can't be fully explored yet.

If you'd like to make it, please do that here:  https://launchpad.net/inkscape  Also please post a link to it in this topic, after you finish.

If you'd rather not make it, let me know, and I'll do it.

Thanks 

[olladitan]

Would you like to make a new bug report for this?  If you don't want to get involved, I'd be glad to make one.  But developers may have questions which I would not be able to answer.  And I certainly would not be able to test, if they have either a fix or a workaround (since I don't have Synfig).

However, I still would make the report (if you don't want to).  It would be better to have a mere mention of this kind of problem, even if it can't be fully explored yet.

If you'd like to make it, please do that here:  https://launchpad.net/inkscape  Also please post a link to it in this topic, after you finish.

If you'd rather not make it, let me know, and I'll do it.

Thanks 

https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1772342

[brynn]

While adding some notes and files to the bug report, I looked at the SVG file which you provided, more closely than before.  And I got a possible clue.  In that file, the text is already converted to paths.  And the name of the groups are like "flowRoot1234".

I don't know where that id name for the group came from, but it makes me wonder if you had been using flowed text for this.  Flowed text is created by dragging out a text box, with the text tool, before you type the text into the box (or paste it in).  Regular text is created by just clicking once on the canvas, and start typing.

The reason it would not be surprising if flowed text was causing this problem, is because there is no SVG standard for flowed text (and never will be, afaiu).  If you were using flowed text, I would ask you try using regular text.  Because if using regular text solves the problem, you can go back to version 0.92.x, and have the Objects dialog which you like so much!

Give it a try 

[olladitan]

It didn't make a difference.

While adding some notes and files to the bug report, I looked at the SVG file which you provided, more closely than before.  And I got a possible clue.  In that file, the text is already converted to paths.  And the name of the groups are like "flowRoot1234".

I don't know where that id name for the group came from, but it makes me wonder if you had been using flowed text for this.  Flowed text is created by dragging out a text box, with the text tool, before you type the text into the box (or paste it in).  Regular text is created by just clicking once on the canvas, and start typing.

The reason it would not be surprising if flowed text was causing this problem, is because there is no SVG standard for flowed text (and never will be, afaiu).  If you were using flowed text, I would ask you try using regular text.  Because if using regular text solves the problem, you can go back to version 0.92.x, and have the Objects dialog which you like so much!

Give it a try 

It didn't make a difference.

[brynn]

Oh well....it was a good idea anyway.  Thanks for letting us know