Where Inkscape has an xcf save option?

iskhan · Postby **iskhan** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:15 am

Hi

Recently I install 0.48.4 but I can't find xcf save option in save as option.
Where Inkscape has an xcf save option?

Postby **brynn** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:37 am

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

XCF is the native GIMP format. It's not used outside of GIMP, as far as I know. You'll have to use GIMP if you want to save something in that format

Grobe · Postby **Grobe** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:15 pm

Hi.

Export as png and THEN open that png image with Gimp.

iskhan · Postby **iskhan** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:52 pm

What is the solution?
PNG convert it to single layer and I need all layers.

Postby **brynn** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:34 pm

Hhmmm.....I'm pretty sure that GIMP can open an SVG file. Have you tried to open it directly? If that doesn't work, you could try importing. Hhmm....I'm just curious enough to try it right now, lol....

Well ok, bad news. GIMP can open SVG files directly, but the layers are not retained.

OH!! But I just remembered GIMP's Open As Layers feature! Maybe that would work for you?? (File menu > Open as Layers)

weishi · Postby **weishi** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:56 pm

Open as layers doesn't work. It's a weird thing, many articles explicitly say that Inkscape can export .xcf including the release notes of release .44 according to wikipedia, several inkscape users insist that they export .xcf with no problem, and yet there is no .xcf option available in the current release.

Is anyone able to confirm or deny conclusively whether there is .xcf export?

It is very important because .xcf seems to be the only way to get layered files out of inkscape (export .xcf - import into gimp - export psd) which is vital to integrate inkscape work with many applications

Postby **brynn** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:08 pm

In somewhat of a retraction from my original comments....it's possible that Inkscape was once able to save as XCF. I don't remember enough about this, to enable me to look it up and confirm it. But in some corner of my mind, I seem to recall that Inkscape once was able to save as XCF. I can't say it for a fact, and even if my memory is correct, it doesn't include the "why" the feature was removed. And it could be entirely untrue altogether, lol.

So for whatever it's worth, it's not now possible to save as or export XCF. But possibly it once was, which means you could install whichever older version it was, and regain that ability, although undoubtedly lose some newer features and bug fixes. However, I'm not sure if this previous ability included the retention of layers.

Edit
PT, is that 0.48.4 in you screenshot? I don't have XCF as a save option. Maybe there's some kind of extension or something, that gives you the option?

Inkspots · Postby **Inkspots** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:26 pm

Inkscape Can save files as xcf, but for now in Inkscape 0.48.4r.
it will not import and open xcf files .
Maybe that will be fixed soon though.
If they can be saved by inkscape, they should be able to be opened to.
..and as far as I know, Inkscape and Gimp developers have always tried to
support cross compatibility between Inkscape and gimp
allowing each to open, and export in the others file formats.
Inkscape will save .pat, and gpl files to.
Gimp's svg support has greatly improved over time.

Edit: In scrolling back I saw that someone else had already posted a screenshot
of the save as dialogue, showing the xcf option, so I deleted mine.

Brynn,
I seem to remember always having save and/or import options for xcf in Inkscape in the past, but my current version of Inkscape
wont import xcf. I don't know if these capabilities were available to Linux users only, but I don't think they were. I did use
windows for a while, but not since long before I got serious about learning Inkscape. I also have to confess that I haven't
used gimp much while I've been trying to learn Inkscape.

Postby **brynn** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 11:36 am

Inkspots, are you saying this is a bug? Did you see a report?

As I said, I have a vague memory of seeing the XCF option in the past. But I absolutely don't have it now:

Postby **druban** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:30 pm

I don't think the Windows packages have the xcf export plugin. Don't quote me on that!

Inkspots · Postby **Inkspots** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:46 pm

Hi brynn,
no, I'm not saying it's a bug.
I'm just saying I dont know how much Inkscape versions for Windows, mac, and linux differ
in what they do, and dont support....and that my memory on what was supported in the windows build in the past
is unclear, and unreliable.
Today I asked a relative to open Inkscape for me, on their windows computer, and sure enough...there was no xcf
option in the "save as" dialog, and the list of other available options was surprisingly short.

prokoudine · Postby **prokoudine** » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:20 pm

Inkspots wrote:Inkscape Can save files as xcf, but for now in Inkscape 0.48.4r.
it will not import and open xcf files .
Maybe that will be fixed soon though.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that

Inkspots wrote:Inkscape will save .pat, and gpl files to.

Not that I know of

Inkspots wrote:Gimp's svg support has greatly improved over time.

Has it? GIMP simply uses librsvg library for dealing with SVG. If anything actually changed for the better lately, then it's thanks to librsvg developers

Postby **druban** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 6:26 pm

Hi, if anyone is still interested in saving as .xcf from Inkscape (preserves layers) this is what you need to do:
Find your Gimp application (Gimp 2.x.x.exe). Right-click on it and open properties. Highlight and copy the location. On my installation it was C:\Program Files\Gimp-2.8.4\bin.
Find your path variable. On my system it is reached by opening the system control panel, under the 'advanced' tab, press the environment variables button. Select the PATH variable and press edit. In the dialog that opens type a ; (that's a semicolon) at the end of the string and then paste the location that you copied. Hit OK and OK and OK until you're out of the system control panel.

: image15.png (20.08 KiB) Viewed 10685 times

Now when you open Inkscape you should find the xcf option in your save and save as dialogs.

: image32.png (29.96 KiB) Viewed 10685 times

You might already have an incorrect GIMP path in your path variable, in which case you should correct it. Although adding the right path at the end should find it anyway, it pays to be neat...

sinsation · Postby **sinsation** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 8:00 pm

I can't get that to work. I've added my bin to path and nada. Inkscape ver 0.48.4 r9939 and Gimp ver 2.8.4. I also rebooted for good measure.

Postby **brynn** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 2:32 am

druban, can you explain in a general way (non-technical as possible) what that process does? Or how it creates the save option in Inkscape? I don't understand what an "environmental variable" or "system variable" is or does.

Postby **druban** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:48 am

brynn wrote:druban, can you explain in a general way (non-technical as possible) what that process does? Or how it creates the save option in Inkscape? I don't understand what an "environmental variable" or "system variable" is or does.

It's going to have be non-technical, because I don't know the technical!
But anyway, the 'path' variable allows programmers to retrieve and use bits of other programs without including those bits in their own package, which they can't (for space reasons) or aren't allowed to (for coyright reasons).
But how will they know where in your computer to find that bit of program? They could search all through your computer, but security systems get nervous when programs do that!
They could let you enter the location (path to that program from the base directory) manually - in the preferences - and I don't know why they did not use this route.
Or they can just tell Inkscape to substitute the path system variable for the location of the needed program whenever it needs the program. So Inkscape just grabs the path variable and looks for GIMP in each one of the locations specified in that variable. If it finds it, good, but if it's not specified then any routine that requires a part of the GIMP package will just fail to load. If you look in your extension errors log it will tell you which routines failed and more importantly, why.
For example 'Dia' fails to load on my computer and I guess it's because I can't set the path to a program I don't have. It's the same with the PStoedit part of Ghostscript (you can see in the screenshot the path to GS right before the path to GIMP), and I believe it's because of copyright/opensource restrictions that Inkscape can't just include the GS code in their package.
I would prefer to see the path to GIMP in the prefs, and maybe if you enter it in Prefs for Image editor it doesn't need to be part of the path variable. I could experiment, but I don't like messing with the path variable too much; one bad keystroke and a lot of programs won't be able to find the libraries they need. I really should copy it down somewhere just in case - but I haven't.

sinsation wrote:I can't get that to work. I've added my bin to path and nada. Inkscape ver 0.48.4 r9939 and Gimp ver 2.8.4. I also rebooted for good measure.

I imagine you have have checked your syntax which is all important. Other that that, I don't know what to tell you, you could paste your entire path variable here like this

Code: Select all

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\lib;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\bin;C:\Program Files\Gimp-2.8.4\bin
#Note that the path variable here uses %systemroot% for the string [b]C:\Windows[/b]. i hope you are not using it in your path to GIMP#

and something might be obvious, but only you know if the path to GIMP is correct on your computer.

Postby **brynn** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 6:30 am

Thanks druban

sinsation · Postby **sinsation** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:03 am

druban wrote:
sinsation wrote:I can't get that to work. I've added my bin to path and nada. Inkscape ver 0.48.4 r9939 and Gimp ver 2.8.4. I also rebooted for good measure.

I imagine you have have checked your syntax which is all important. Other that that, I don't know what to tell you, you could paste your entire path variable here like this
Code: Select all
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\lib;C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.70\bin;C:\Program Files\Gimp-2.8.4\bin #Note that the path variable here uses %systemroot% for the string [b]C:\Windows[/b]. i hope you are not using it in your path to GIMP#
and something might be obvious, but only you know if the path to GIMP is correct on your computer.

Here's my path:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Intel\DMIX;E:\Program Files\Calibre\;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;E:\Program Files\Gimp\bin

Everything in my path was automatically inserted by the associated installers. The only thing I manually added was the path to Gimp. Maybe it has something to do with Gimp being on a secondary drive and not C: (My C: is a 120GB SSD drive used only for the OS/drivers/security software).

Postby **druban** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:22 pm

This is where my inexpertise is really showing but I am thinking the problem is with having two program files directories on the same system! Any chance you could put GIMP in your C:\Program files directory temporarily? Just to check the xcf export? Any chance you could rename E:\program files to something else temporarily?

sinsation · Postby **sinsation** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:28 pm

I customize all of my installs during installation. Trust me, it's correct. I'm not new to computers.

druban wrote:This is where my inexpertise is really showing but I am thinking the problem is with having two program files directories on the same system! Any chance you could put GIMP in your C:\Program files directory temporarily? Just to check the xcf export? Any chance you could rename E:\program files to something else temporarily?

That wouldn't harm anything as I've been doing it for years. Two separate physical drives. The only way that would cause issue was if both Program Files folders were in the same sub-directory. Even my OS Tmp/Temp folders are housed on E: and changed in the environment variables with no issue. I'll try temporarily installing a copy to C: and see if Gimp is just being a little ass. If I absolutely can't get this to work for whatever reason, I had forgotten all about the JessyInk saving, so I can just use that to carry files back/forth.

Inkspots · Postby **Inkspots** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 10:19 am

prokoudine,

Hi

In response to your responses:
1. I'm not holding my breath.
but switching from Inkscape to gimp and back again would be easier.

2. I may have been wrong about .pat but I'd just saved a .gpl file from inkscape the day before I wrote that message.
let me doublecheck it. hmmm, I dont see the save as .pat option, but then I'm not working on a pattern. I was trying lots and lots of different things the day I decided to make one, so I'll have to wrack my brain and try to remember how I made mine. ...but Inkscape uses gpl for color palettes, so it can save to something that claims to be one.
(I think it's odd to use gpl as a pallete, since gpl is a gradient, but the files in the Inkscape palette folder are gpl files.)

: Inkscape-Screenshot_saveasgpl.png (20.54 KiB) Viewed 10491 times

However....The gpl files my inkscape saves will work as gradients, but not as palettes.
There is only one column of color information in the file, not the usual 3. It would be helpful if someone else could use that option
and let us know how it worked for them.

3.I dont know where the improvement comes from, but if you've tried importing SVG files into gimp in the past, and you do it again today, you'll see that it works much, much better.
Whatever the cause, I'm glad to be able to open Svgs in gimp, and have them look mostly like I want them to.

BobSongs · Postby **BobSongs** » Sun May 05, 2013 11:31 am

druban wrote:I don't think the Windows packages have the xcf export plugin. Don't quote me on that!

Hah! Quoted you!

I ran across this thread and thought I'd post something.

The latest Inkscape for Windows, 0.48.4 does not have the XFC export feature.

I'm currently running Puppy Linux from a boot CD (link given below). When using File > Save A Copy, one of the options is indeed
GIMP XFC maintaining layers (*.xfc)
I've unchecked the two options (after choosing a file name): [ ] Save Guide / [ ] Save Grid

After saving the file I opened it using a simple text editor.

The file was blank. I'm not sure if this is just how the export works (a failure) or if this copy of Inkscape wasn't compiled with every possible option available/enabled.

Inkscape version 0.48.3.1
Lxpup Linux

Postby **druban** » Sun May 05, 2013 12:18 pm

I'm not using the regular build of GIMP and I don't see the xcf export option either! So Inkscape must need some library in the GIMP installation that it's not finding and that was present when I was using 2.8.4. But I am sorry to say that as long as my system is kind of working for the things i use I can't install 2.8.4 just to find out the answer!

Off topic:

Just as an aside gpl is the extension for gimp palettes, written in a quite simple line by line RGB and ggr is the extension for gimp gradients, rather more complex in text form since it has to store position and alpha for each gradient stop as well, and they are obviously not interchangeable!

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