How to convert an SVG image with LaTeX in Inkscape, to PNG?

Question

I'm using Inkscape to draw images, together with the ability to produce the separate LaTeX file with all the text, as described here. So far, this has been working great, but now I am restricted to use .png, .jpeg, or .bmp for my figures.

Is there a way for me to keep using Inkscape with SVG + LaTeX and then convert to other formats from the SVG + LaTeX image (e.g. to .png) in such a way that the LaTeX fonts and their scaling are unchanged when compared to the included SVG in the document?

Additional info:

If I just draw SVG in Inkscape, add the LaTex stuff to the picture and export it to a bitmap, the LaTex text will of course not be processed.

If I use TexTex, the scaling of the fonts is lost, which is usually there for an included SVG.

Can you try inkscape2tikz, export everything as tikz code and \input it? — , Feb 17 '13 at 13:49
Well, I'm restricted to using PNG, BMP, or JPEG for my images, so at the end, I need a bitmap conversion of the image and the processed LaTex symbols. — tmaric, Feb 17 '13 at 13:53
You may try to print the diagram in to pdf, the use imagemagick to convert it into png. — , Feb 17 '13 at 13:55
@HarishKumar Thanks, I'll try this. As another option, I just opened the pdf_tex file, and noticed the "put" command with the latex text. Would it be possible also to export the SVG without the text into a PNG and re-use the put commands to place the symbols on the image? — tmaric, Feb 17 '13 at 14:06
Another, different approach could be GIMP. It can read SVG files and can save them in (e.g.) PNG format. (I do not know ImageMagick well enough, but perhaps this is also possible with convert.) — Speravir, Feb 17 '13 at 18:41
@Speravir how do I get the LaTex symbols into an SVG, I mean, processed? When Inkscape saves SVG into a pdf, it stores only graphics, and separates the text/symbols to a pdf_tex file. — tmaric, Feb 17 '13 at 20:31
@Speravir if I deactivate the separation of text, the mathematical symbols like $\mathbf{U}$ don't get processed, they are stored as they are written in inkscape. — tmaric, Feb 18 '13 at 10:47

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 10 '13 at 14:48

Install inkscape2tikz. The following example is taken from inkscape2tikz home page.

enter image description here

Using inkscape2tikz we export this in to tikz code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{charter}               %%%% Added for demo of fonts

\usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}
\PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}

\begin{document}
\definecolor{cff8080}{RGB}{255,128,128}

\begin{tikzpicture}[y=0.80pt,x=0.80pt,yscale=-1]
\begin{scope}[draw=black,line join=round,miter limit=4.00,line width=3.200pt]
  \path[draw=black,fill=cff8080,line join=round,even odd rule,line cap=butt,miter
    limit=4.00,line width=3.200pt] (91.0455,165.7194) rectangle
    (250.7252,347.8104);
  \path[draw=black,line join=round,even odd rule,line cap=butt,miter
    limit=4.00,line width=3.200pt] (168.0839,258.1656) .. controls
    (169.6992,260.2725) and (166.0408,261.3824) .. (164.5822,260.8503) .. controls
    (160.6293,259.4083) and (160.6636,254.1057) .. (162.7146,251.1621) .. controls
    (166.3833,245.8967) and (174.0594,246.2369) .. (178.5892,250.1116) .. controls
    (185.2369,255.7979) and (184.5602,266.1224) .. (178.8226,272.1726) .. controls
    (171.1753,280.2366) and (158.1221,279.2067) .. (150.5752,271.5890) .. controls
    (141.0782,262.0028) and (142.4690,246.1872) .. (151.9759,237.1551) .. controls
    (163.4900,226.2161) and (182.0854,227.9716) .. (192.5962,239.3729) .. controls
    (204.9828,252.8090) and (202.8604,274.1941) .. (189.5613,286.1796) .. controls
    (174.2071,300.0173) and (150.0257,297.5267) .. (136.5682,282.3277) .. controls
    (121.2770,265.0577) and (124.1368,238.0757) .. (141.2372,223.1481) .. controls
    (160.4213,206.4017) and (190.2069,209.6312) .. (206.6032,228.6342) .. controls
    (224.8061,249.7311) and (221.2064,282.3227) .. (200.3000,300.1866);
\end{scope}

\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Call this file as image.tex (say). Following is your main.tex file. Put image.tex and main.tex in the same folder. For this example, I have added image.tex by filecontents.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{charter}                  %%%% Added for demo of fonts Keep this in image.tex also to have same fonts
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{image.tex}      
    \documentclass{article}            %%% tex file for image begins
    \usepackage{tikz}
    \usepackage{charter}               %%%% Added for demo of fonts
    \usepackage[active,tightpage]{preview}
    \PreviewEnvironment{tikzpicture}

    \begin{document}
    \definecolor{cff8080}{RGB}{255,128,128}

    \begin{tikzpicture}[y=0.80pt,x=0.80pt,yscale=-1]
    \begin{scope}[draw=black,line join=round,miter limit=4.00,line width=3.200pt]
      \path[draw=black,fill=cff8080,line join=round,even odd rule,line cap=butt,miter
        limit=4.00,line width=3.200pt] (91.0455,165.7194) rectangle
        (250.7252,347.8104);
      \path[draw=black,line join=round,even odd rule,line cap=butt,miter
        limit=4.00,line width=3.200pt] (168.0839,258.1656) .. controls
        (169.6992,260.2725) and (166.0408,261.3824) .. (164.5822,260.8503) .. controls
        (160.6293,259.4083) and (160.6636,254.1057) .. (162.7146,251.1621) .. controls
        (166.3833,245.8967) and (174.0594,246.2369) .. (178.5892,250.1116) .. controls
        (185.2369,255.7979) and (184.5602,266.1224) .. (178.8226,272.1726) .. controls
        (171.1753,280.2366) and (158.1221,279.2067) .. (150.5752,271.5890) .. controls
        (141.0782,262.0028) and (142.4690,246.1872) .. (151.9759,237.1551) .. controls
        (163.4900,226.2161) and (182.0854,227.9716) .. (192.5962,239.3729) .. controls
        (204.9828,252.8090) and (202.8604,274.1941) .. (189.5613,286.1796) .. controls
        (174.2071,300.0173) and (150.0257,297.5267) .. (136.5682,282.3277) .. controls
        (121.2770,265.0577) and (124.1368,238.0757) .. (141.2372,223.1481) .. controls
        (160.4213,206.4017) and (190.2069,209.6312) .. (206.6032,228.6342) .. controls
        (224.8061,249.7311) and (221.2064,282.3227) .. (200.3000,300.1866);
    \end{scope}

    \end{tikzpicture}
    \end{document}
\end{filecontents*}                   %%% tex file for image ends
% compile with pdflatex
\immediate\write18{pdflatex image}
% convert to PNG
\makeatletter
\immediate\write18{convert -density 500 -alpha on image.pdf image.png}
\makeatother
%
\begin{document}
\includegraphics[width=5cm]{image}    %%% insert .png file
\end{document}

This assumes that you have imagemagick installed.

It's very helpful indeed: with svg2tikz Asymptote pictures can be converted to tikz, since one of the supported output formats in Asymptote is svg. — g.kov, Apr 10 '13 at 20:19

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 16 '16 at 21:26

To install svg2tikz you should copy the tikz_extport.py file and the tikz_export_effect.inx and tikz_export_output.inx files to your inkscape/share/extensions directory as described on the following link https://code.google.com/archive/p/inkscape2tikz/. But this link gives download references to files tikz_extport.py, tikz_export_effect.inx, tikz_export_output.inx which are not working after installation.

Download the extension files from this links (worked on Inkscape v.0.91) and then follow installation instructions above:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kjellmf/svg2tikz/master/svg2tikz/extensions/tikz_export.py

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kjellmf/svg2tikz/master/svg2tikz/extensions/tikz_export_effect.inx

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kjellmf/svg2tikz/master/svg2tikz/extensions/tikz_export_output.inx

If the extension has been installed correctly, you will find the exporter in the Effects -> Export -> Export to TikZ path... menu. You can also select Save As and select TikZ code as output format (works on Inkscape v.0.91, but its not supported on v.0.48.5 as of my knowledge).

How to convert an SVG image with LaTeX in Inkscape, to PNG?

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