subject: SVG and InDesign: is it reasonable? [print this page] SVG and InDesign: is it reasonable? SVG and InDesign: is it reasonable?
If you have ever been in touch with desktop printing, prepress, or something like that, you definitely know, that there are very few vector graphic formats, which are really suitable for these needs. Probably, the most widespread is EPS, but there is one more image file format, which has a lot of trump cards in the sleeve.
So, what is the alternative? SVG is an open royalty-free standard, it has rich amount of graphical features and wide possibilities to work with text. Based on XML page description language it provides identical online and hardcopy display and is almost ideal for both online and print usage. Leading print hardware companies are currently developing the SVG Print specification: a version of SVG specifically suited to hard-copy output. SVG Print also integrates with common job description formats such as PODi's PPML and CIP4's JDF.
The irony is, that being potentially so good-looking both on the screen and on the page, preparing SVG images for printing can be inconvenient; having so many features, applying even simple effects to SVG image can baffle you easily.
Traditionally, when we are talking about professional or even half professional software for all these needs, we think about Adobe, so I'm not going to break this tradition. The problem is, that only few Adobe products have native support of SVG format. You can use Adobe Illustrator, but if you are preparing your book in InDesign, you are not welcome. Of course you can always convert it to EPS, then change, then convert, then change again, and don't forget that you deal with lots of images...Well, you understand.
Here I'd like to share with you, how you can easily avoid all of this problems. I'd like to tell you, how to make SVG images native for Adobe InDesign and experience all the advantages, which this can give you. If you go to svg.scand.com, you'll find there a set of plug-ins, called "SVG Kit for Adobe Creative Suite". The purpose of the tool is clear: as I have mentioned above, it adds SVG file format support to InDesign. Now you can work with SVG images like with all the other ones and even better: all benefits of using EPS are there, but no conversions, or other disadvantages. Just import an image and let your fantasy and skills do all the rest, without any inconveniences.
In conclusion I'd like to say, that, if you would like to combine all the best, that both SVG and InDesign can offer you, you should definitely try it.
