How come SVG support isn't native?

[nintendomaniac64]

I noticed this after I couldn't get that share-ware 3rd party plugin for SVGs to work. I found it odd that if open-source firefox can have native have SVG rendering, why doesn't XnView? O_o

I'm not asking for it to be added (though it would be nice ), I just honestly can't figure out a good reason...

[helmut]

XnView is a tool for displaying raster graphics i.e. graphics based on pixels. Webbrowsers like Firefox have a rendering engine, they render HTML code or SVG (graphic) code into a real visual graphic on your screen (which is again pixel based because monitors are pixel based).

This rendering is very complex and a very different approach to raster based images. This is why XnView does not support SVG (and other vector formats) natively.

[nintendomaniac64]

uhh... Okay... I dunno why, but that kind of answer sounds like the kind of thing a company would say to cover their butts for legal reasons

If that above seems too flame-y, I guess you can ban me...

[helmut]

uhh... Okay... I dunno why, but that kind of answer sounds like the kind of thing a company would say to cover their butts for legal reasons

Hmm, sometimes I'm a bit surprised and puzzled what people read out of texts and mails... ...and then reply. But just a bit..

In different words:
If XnView supported vector graphics like SVG, AI, EPS, DWG, HPGL, and so on properly, you would have to re-program larger parts of XnView and need at least twice the number of programmers. I'm not the author of XnView and don't know the exact reason(s), but I guess it's simply a lack of resources (time / money / man power).

Please use the forum search to find existing discussions and info on this matter. e.g. Better SVG support?.

[nintendomaniac64]

...except that topic doesn't really give an answer, nor did I want to grave-dig.

Trust me, I searched endlessly trying to get the SVG plugin to work. I probably read every topic on this board remotely related to SVGs XD

[helmut]

Ah, the plugin still doesn't work? Installing the CadSoftTools plug-in which allows for viewing SVG files is done by unpacking the ZIP archive into the right directory. Please see FAQ "Let's talk about Plug-Ins" for background info and details. Please note that the CadSoftTool format plug-in for viewing SVG, DWG, DXF, CGM, and HPGL is commercial - you will see a watermark in your picture which will be removed when purchasing the plug-in.

If you still have problems please let us know:
- Which Windows version you are using (XP, 2000, ...)
- Which version of XnView you are using
- What does not work and what happens (error message, ...)
- Is the plug-in listed in the list of Plug-ins?

[Latice]

I have a collection of SVG files, which I was hoping to view and manage with XnView.
I unpacked the file http://www.cadsofttools.com/download/cs_svg.zip in XnView “PlugIns” subdirectory. I closed and restarted XnView.

Problem: Unfortunately XnView does not seem to interoperate with CadSoftTools’ SVG plug-in:

• In XnView main menu bar, when clicking on “Info -> Plug-Ins Information…”, the CS_SVG.dll file does not appear in the list of plug-ins.
• When I try to open an SVG file with XnView, the error message “Format of the file <filename> could not be determined” pops up.

Notes:

• As instructed in CadSoftTools’ ReadMe.txt file, I made sure that there was no CADImage.dll file in XnView PlugIns subdirectory.
• Beside the SVG plug-in, I also tried to unpack CadSoftTools' CGM (CS_CGM.dll), DWG (CS_DWG.dll), DXF (CS_DXF.dll) and HPGL (CS_HPGL.dll) plug-ins in XnView PlugIns subdirectory.
  After restarting XnView and clicking on XnView main menu “Info -> Plug-Ins Information…”, only the plug-ins CS_DWG.dll, CS_DXF.dll and CS_HPGL.dll appear in the plug-in list. CS_CGM.dll and CS_SVG.dll did not appear at all in the plug-in list.
• I did read the thread http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=3793. Unfortunately, I could not find anything that would explain/resolve the problem.

Question:
1) Is there another way to display SVG files in XnView?
2) If not, is there a fix for the above problem?

Suggestion: When XnView fails to interoperate with a DLL located in the PlugIns subdirectory, it would be helpful to have XnView show the DLL in the “Plug-Ins Information” list with an error message in the “Copyright” field describing what the problem is. That way the user would at least be informed that XnView has attempted to load the DLL and why it failed.

Configuration:
- Windows 2000 SP4
- XnView 1.96.1
- CS_CGM.dll version 7.0.0.2
- CS_DWG.dll version 7.0.0.2
- CS_DXF.dll version 7.0.0.2
- CS_HPGL.dll version 7.0.0.2
- CS_SVG.dll version 7.0.0.2

[Peter2]

I think you have to use and install the "CS_Manager.exe" too which is in the download-package of Cadsofttools. Then it should display SVG too(and all the "please buy a licence" stuff) - if you have enabled the SVG-extension in Xnviews - Extension menu.

But it seem to be a bug that it does not appear in the plugin-list.

Peter

[Latice]

As instructed by Peter2, I did run CadSoftTools CS_Manager.exe. Now it is working: the SVG files are displayed in XnView.

Thank you Peter2 for your help.

[SharkD]

The rendering is pretty crappy. I don't recommend this plugin.

Examotion's Renesis Player is a pretty light weight freeware SVG renderer. Too bad there's no plugin using it instead.

[helmut]

The rendering is pretty crappy. I don't recommend this plugin.

Have you tried setting a higher resolution using CS_Manager (see posts above)?

[SharkD]

No. I also tried uninstalling it without success. I ran the uninstaller, deleted all the files that were in the archive and then rebooting, but Xnview is still able to display the SVG files. Weird.

[Peter2]

.. deleted all the files that were in the archive ...

Which archive? Have you deleted/renamed c:\Programme\XnView\PlugIns\CS_SVG.dll?

Peter

[bartman2589]

XnView is a tool for displaying raster graphics i.e. graphics based on pixels. Webbrowsers like Firefox have a rendering engine, they render HTML code or SVG (graphic) code into a real visual graphic on your screen (which is again pixel based because monitors are pixel based).

This rendering is very complex and a very different approach to raster based images. This is why XnView does not support SVG (and other vector formats) natively.

That's rather interesting considering that as far as I know both the .wmf and .emf file formats (which XnView I believe DOES support natively) both support Vector Graphics (and AFAIK XnView has no problem viewing their vector formats). Considering this I have to side with nintendomaniac64 and agree that the reply does sound a lot like the sort of response a company would give to 'cover it's ass'.

[JohnFredC]

the reply does sound a lot like the sort of response a company would give to 'cover it's ass'.

C'mon, man, show some respect!

XnView is free software, and quite excellent software, as well. It originated as a bitmap image tool and the forum has not yet been deluged with a ton of requests for vector format support.

The developer actively participates in the forum and if there are enough requests for SVG (AND such requests are part of his vision for his software), then there would be a good possibility of inclusion.

Patience and participation have worked well in this forum. No reason to think they won't continue to do so if we respect the process.