ImSVG

[impdf]

Well, the SVG import to Irfanview is restricted by the shareware CADimage.dll.
So I wrote a wrapper for Irfanview to use Inkscape for rendering of SVGs in high quality.

But Irfan asks for direct feedback from the users to him, because Inkscape is a large application and the rendering to high quality (like 600dpi) takes a while. Maybe not a good idea for a fast image viewer.

So if you like to get this plugin included to Irfanview then ask Irfan.

[Frank]

Hi impdf,

It's a very nice idea to create a real free plugin to read the SVG format!

CADImage.dll isn't useable for me, because it's restricted and every opened svg file becomes a watermark!
(See the forum search using the keyword "svg", ... with the included endless discussions ... !)

If your solution will be a really freeware plugin (without any restriction),
then in any case I would prefer your ImSVG!
If other users see that also in such a way, then Irfan should change the plugin!
But then (may be after an intermediate version) Irfan Skiljan should decide for only one variant!

Please consider also, not everyone is using Inkscape! (Also me!)
(So it could be necessary to insert a small introduktion/tutorial for using ImSVG with Inkscape!)


best regards
Frank

[impdf]

The attached options dialog should tell you everything what you have to know.
Download inkscape and run the installer.
Locate inkscape.exe in the ImSVG options dialog.
Set a dpi value depending on the quality you need.

Inkscape for viewing SVG and SVGZ via ImSVG.dll in Irfanview would be simular like ghostscript for viewing PS,EPS,AI and PDF via Postscript.dll in Irfanview.

Inkscape supports SVG standard 1.1. But for sure the generated bitmaps will not contain embedded Javascript or simular code. So no animations are possible.

But at the end you have to ask Irfan because the plugin interface is not open.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

The problem that I see for this is not the slow rendering for high resolution images, but the fact that users need to install inkscape for it to work. The default can be set to 96 dpi.

Like PDF, if the user sets 96 dpi they can get a quick preview of the file, but if they set it to 600 dpi then it will be slow. They can choose what they want — fast rendering or high quality.

Users who do regularly create and work with SVG will probably have Inkscape installed. I'm not concerned about those users. Its the ones who don't use SVG, but just find images from somewhere and expect IrfanView to be able to view them without installing extra stuff.

Do users have to install the entire InkScape application, or just the executable? The executable is 12 Mbytes, the installer is 33 Mbytes, and the installed program takes 150 Mbytes. While disk space is not usually an issue, the extra hassle of downloading and installing Inkscape might be for users who only want to view SVG files.

[impdf]

Application package size is an issue. Compared to ghostscript (which you need for pdf and ps) the Inkscape package is much larger. The complete SVG specification is really complex and not quite easy to implement. Even the SVG Tiny specification for handhelds contains a lot of features. The whole automation stuff supporting Javascript and Phyton takes a lot of space. I don't know how to strip it down to minimum.

Speed is an issue too. Even 96dpi may take a while (depending on the graphic).

[stefan]

Another possibility is to ship all necessary (compiled) libraries with your wrapper library - could downsize the whole imsvg package and you Maybe can provide imsvg updates only for your own wrapper library.

Or you can include all svg sourcecode from the inkscape project in your library (if the open source licence will allow that)- which is obviously not the best and elegant way to ship your imsvg.

[impdf]

Steve

The Irfanview Plugin interface is not open in the way that the plugin can tell: Hey I'm supporting to load svg files (like the plugin interface of Photoshop does). So no chance to introduce it w/o a modifications to Irfanview.