.svg files in Flare 12

[Fiona]

Hope I've picked the correct category for this, could have gone in several of them!

Until now I have always included images as PNG file, and have a snippet set up that centres them in the generated PDF and left-aligns them in the generated HTML5. This works without any problems.

I have just tried to include an SVG image in a topic for the first time. Oh dear.

The issues:

• In Flare: image does not display. Instead, get a grey box containing the text "Load Failed" and a message saying "SVG Processor: <filename>.svg: Error processing SVG file"
• In generated HTML5: the image displays and is correctly left-aligned
• In generated PDF: do not get the image (although the caption is correctly centred)

What I have tried:

• Ensured I have 32-bit JRE installed as per viewtopic.php?f=4&t=18809
• Followed the advice given in the final post of viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21963

No joy. It's not really an option to have this image in non-vector format as it's one that will need to be zoomed in to. Does anyone have any other suggestions please as I've now been banging my head against this for far too long?

Thanks. Fiona

[Feebeegeebee]

Hi Fiona,
Do you know what s/w was used to create the .svg images?
I vaguely remember an issue with .svg files that had been created in Visio not displaying correctly.
If they were opened and saved in something like Illustrator they were fine.
Might no longer be relevant, but might be worth a try.
Regards,
Feebeegeebee

[NorthEast]

Have you installed Ghostscript? I think you need this to display the SVG in Flare.

Also, Flare 12 and 2016r2 are now available as 64-bit apps, not just 32-bit. Which version did you install?
You need to install the corresponding 32 or 64-bit versions of JRE and Ghostscript.

Equation rendering requires Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 7.51 or later
Note: 32-bit JRE is needed if using the 32-bit version of Flare. Otherwise a 64-bit version is required.

Support of EPS images requires Ghostscript
Note: 32-bit Ghostscript is needed if using the 32-bit version of Flare. Otherwise a 64-bit version is required.
http://ghostscript.com/download/gsdnld.html

From: http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/Content/Fl ... hostscript

[kmorrison]

We had this problem when some people had multiple JRE versions installed on the same machine. It went away when we uninstalled the old JREs.

[Fiona]

Thanks for the suggestions all

• Feebeegeebee – I created the file using Inkscape. I don't have Illustrator so can't test whether that makes a difference.
  
• Dave Lee - I have 64-bit versions of Flare 12, Ghostscript and JRE
  
• KMorrison - I have uninstalled all JREs and Ghostscripts except for the latest 64-bit versions.

Unfortunately I'm still not having any success.

One further thing I've noticed...when I go to insert an image I usually see a preview of the selected image in the right-hand pane of the Insert Image dialog box. This is true even with other SVG files. However, with this particular SVG file I'm not seeing a preview, which makes me think something is not correct with the file. Yet if the file is corrupt why is it displaying correctly when I generate the HTML5? Very confused and banging my head against the wall now...

[kmorrison]

One further thing I've noticed...when I go to insert an image I usually see a preview of the selected image in the right-hand pane of the Insert Image dialog box. This is true even with other SVG files. However, with this particular SVG file I'm not seeing a preview, which makes me think something is not correct with the file. Yet if the file is corrupt why is it displaying correctly when I generate the HTML5? Very confused and banging my head against the wall now...

You make a good case for it being an issue with that specific file rather than a JRE or Ghostscript issue.

I wonder if maybe it works in the HTML5 because all Flare has to do with it is copy the file over, and the browser can handle it from there, even if Flare can't figure out how to display the graphic. When making the PDF, Flare has to process everything and pack it into one file. Maybe at that point it matters that Flare doesn't know how to interpret this particular SVG file.

[SteveS]

We have had issues with vector images not displaying properly in all browsers. Its something to do with the image and the browser, the authoring tool doesn't seem to matter.

[Marcy]

Hi,
we've been using svg in Flare for a couple of months. Today one image did just what you described.

The image is W: 1500px H: 1650px and about 1.4 kB.
It's the widest svg we've used, so maybe something to do with width.

Throws the message "SVG Processor: i_XXX_OverviewSystem.svg: Error processing SVG file" in the Messages tab.

Off to problem solve this! Will add another comment if we sort out what went wrong.

[jjw]

I created the file using Inkscape. I don't have Illustrator so can't test whether that makes a difference.

Are you saving the files as Inkscape SVG or as plain SVG? (I ask because I'd like to be able to use Inkscape SVGs myself).

[Fiona]

Are you saving the files as Inkscape SVG or as plain SVG? (I ask because I'd like to be able to use Inkscape SVGs myself).

I tried both - still not got this working. I've had to bodge a solution whereby the HTML and PDF use different images, which is not ideal and not future-proof

[matt_lorenzi]

I am hesitant to use SVG for enything other than the simplest of files. A few things I'm not happy with, and these don't necessarly have anything to do with Flare:

• Large file size. We create images from Solidworks Composer with added clean-up in Illustrator. If it's a complex model, the correstponding SVG file can be quite huge.
• Rendering issues in HTML5 output. Again, this could be due to the complexity of the file, but some of them looks downright scary when viewed in a browser. I think it should be noted, that just because you can create something in Illustrator, does not mean SVG can parse it.

What I am not happy with in Flare is how I can't get a true sense or what an SVG will look like once target is built. This pertains mostly to PDF output. I try to bring all my images in at 100% - both JPEGs and SVGs; JPEGs behave themselves as expected, but SVGs behave differnently. Both the WYSIWYG and Preview show the image well within the Page Layout frame, but when I do a targer build, the SVG images render bigger than expected and sometimes exceed my page margine.

I would love to know if anyone can echo what I am epxeriencing with SVGs in Flare, and if they can explain what is going on. I'm trying to avoid excessive resizing within Flare as we use numbered callouts in our images and if everyone resizes at will, the callouts will appear at different sizes.

[Marcy]

Hi, we have been working with Flare for some months now explaining what a pain Flare is when creating PDFs which use svgs are! Nothing happening yet tho sorry.
Our main issues are to do with rectangular svg files that Flare wants to make square, so we have large amounts of white space top and bottom of an image.We use the same Flare topic files in an html5 output and we have trouble wrangling the images into shape for even someone using a tablet to view the page/image nicely. Nothing to add, but can confirm that Flare isn't handling svgs in a way we are happy with.

[stevenbrooks]

Here's what worked for me. I pinpointed the problem to the fact no width/height was specified in the SVG. In Adobe Illustrator, that is controlled by the "Responsive" setting in the SVG save options. Once I turned that off, width/height returned and no more white space, no more forcing into a square ratio.

[SandraF]

I am on Flare 2019 r2 and if I hadn't researched the topic on this forum I would never have been able to use .svgs with Flare. Maybe the Help on that subject needs an update. (In fairness, it's not just a Flare problem-had similar issues in FrameMaker. Couldn't get .svgs to come in right, and no explanations in Help.)

Thank you so much for that solution, Steven - the problem with extra padding has been driving me crazy. I was about to give up on using .svgs.

Now I have just one problem left. I think. If I select "SVG" in the Fonts field (when exporting a file to .svg), I sometimes get weird results. The font is sometimes not the font I originally used, or else there are weird spaces in the middle of words. It looks OK in the Flare editor but not in the Preview or PDF. The font I'm currently having trouble with is not the most common around (Univers), but I have the Univers fonts installed in Adobe and in Flare, and they work everywhere else except when exporting .svgs.

The alternative is selecting the "Convert to Outlines" option for Fonts when I export as .svg. Then the text looks right (though for some reason lower case "L" is a bit weird), but it means that if I try to edit the exported graphic afterwards, I can no longer use the text tool to edit text.
It's something I can live with if necessary- it's just annoying.

Does anyone have a solution for this? Is there somewhere else the font should be installed?
Thank you very much -Sandy

[Carlie]

Here's what worked for me. I pinpointed the problem to the fact no width/height was specified in the SVG. In Adobe Illustrator, that is controlled by the "Responsive" setting in the SVG save options. Once I turned that off, width/height returned and no more white space, no more forcing into a square ratio.

This solution SAVED me. I had been finessing square SVGs forever and I can finally go back to all my page layouts and clean them up since my rectangular logo .svgs are finally actually rectangular and not square.

THANK YOU !!!