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gpas
Pure-blooded Human
Joined: Apr 23, 2008
Posts: 35
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 Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:24 pm Post subject: Trouble Importing Pictures |
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Hello, folks.
I've got a little problem. I've got a UML editor program (MagicDraw) and I want to insert UML diagrams in my NeoOffice Writer document.
It looks like the only way to do this is to export an image from MagicDraw and import it into Writer. MagicDraw has a number of options, but the scalable ones appear to be EPS, EMF, EPS, and WMF. EMF doesn't appear to work at all (looks good in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer), SVG looks GREAT in Safari (and IE on Windows) but messed up in NeoOffice (and OpenOffice). EPS works but it is a little off (not a good rendering of what I see in MD) and WMF seems to look OK (it's a little off, but not as bad as EPS).
I guess I the choice seems clear. Tweak the diagrams so they look good in EPS or just bite the bullet and use the non-standard crufty old WMF. Looks like OO needs a good SVG renderer, I think.
I've attached a zip containing all four files if you're interested in looking. Perhaps this is a well known problem.
Any thoughts? |
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narf
The Anomaly
Joined: Jan 21, 2007
Posts: 1075
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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I am not familiar with MagicDraw, but I took a quick look at their FAQs and I found this:
| Quote: | When I save a diagram to .emf image and try to insert this image file to my OpenOffice document I only get empty image.
Such problem really exists and will be fixed in future releases.
As a workaround we suggest to save your diagrams as SVG and then use free Inkscape editor (http://www.inkscape.org/) to export diagrams as hi-res png. |
Does this appear to be a solution that would work for you?
-- fran |
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pluby
The Architect
Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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You might also want to try installing this OpenOffice.org extension. It claims to be able to import SVG images as a Draw document.
To install in NeoOffice 3.0.1, download the .oxt from the above link, launch NeoOffice, and drag the downloaded .oxt file onto NeoOffice's icon in the Dock. A dialog should appear in NeoOffice asking if you want to install the extension.
Once installation of the extension finishes, restart NeoOffice and drag an .svg onto the NeoOffice icon in the Dock. The .svg file should open in a new Draw document window in NeoOffice.
Does that allow you to open SVG image files in NeoOffice?
Patrick |
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gpas
Pure-blooded Human
Joined: Apr 23, 2008
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:01 pm Post subject: Thanks |
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If I understand the Inkscape approach, then I don't think that will work well for me as I prefer to keep it as a scalable graphic.
I'll give the SVG importer a try and see how that works.
Thanks, again. |
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gpas
Pure-blooded Human
Joined: Apr 23, 2008
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:18 pm Post subject: SVG Import Does Not Work Well |
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Thanks, everyone, but SVG Import just doesn't seem to cut it.
It kind of works, but the results do not look good. It really looks bad where I have some curved lines in the original SVG--looks terrible.
That's OK. I'll just have to use WMF--results aren't great but they're acceptable. I'd really love to have a true SVG renderer in the base code. Maybe I should put in an enhancement request to OO. I know that isn't trivial, but then I did find this http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/ Not sure if the licenses are compatible though. |
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sardisson
Town Crier
Joined: Feb 01, 2004
Posts: 4588
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: Re: SVG Import Does Not Work Well |
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| gpas wrote: | | I'd really love to have a true SVG renderer in the base code. Maybe I should put in an enhancement request to OO. I know that isn't trivial, but then I did find this http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/ Not sure if the licenses are compatible though. |
The extension already uses that, so apparently it's not very good 
There are existing OOo issues filed on both embedding of SVG and full import of SVG.
If you open your EPS in Preview, does the image in Preview look like it does in MagicDraw? If it looks good in Preview and your final destination is print (or maybe even PDF), I think EPS would work well; as I recall, screen output of EPS in Neo never looks quite as good as print output (but I haven't played around with it in a while).
Smokey
_________________
"[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki |
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narf
The Anomaly
Joined: Jan 21, 2007
Posts: 1075
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject: Re: SVG Import Does Not Work Well |
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| sardisson wrote: | | There are existing OOo issues filed on both embedding of SVG and full import of SVG. |
"SVG support is the most requested feature" according to the OpenOffice.org wiki. The full import of SVG has over twice the votes of the next most popular issue.
-- fran |
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pluby
The Architect
Joined: Jun 16, 2003
Posts: 11949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:16 pm Post subject: Re: SVG Import Does Not Work Well |
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| gpas wrote: | | It kind of works, but the results do not look good. It really looks bad where I have some curved lines in the original SVG--looks terrible. |
It may not be the SVG import code that is causing this. Instead, the problem may be that in NeoOffice's underlying OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 code, curves are not drawn smoothly. This is because anti-aliased line and shape drawing must be enabled to draw smooth curves but OpenOffice.org did not start supporting anti-aliased line and shape drawing until OpenOffice.org 3.1.
We will probably upgrade NeoOffice to the OpenOfficeorg 3.2.x code sometime in the first half of 2010. In the meantime, you can test if lack of anti-aliased line and shape drawing is the problem by installing extension and opening the .svg file in OpenOffice.org 3.1.1. If curves look smooth in OpenOffice.org 3.1.1, then anti-aliasing is the issue.
Patrick |
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gpas
Pure-blooded Human
Joined: Apr 23, 2008
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2009 4:33 pm Post subject: EPS Fidelity and SVG Curved Line Problems |
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Hello, sardisson.
The EPS is a bit off too, but I can't blame this on anything but MagicDraw or perhaps some limitation in EPS--perhaps I should report that to MagicDraw. Straight SVG rendered in browsers is most faithful to what I see in MagicDraw.
You can see the effects of the various issues by looking at the zip file I uploaded. If you look at the SVG in Safari that's what it should look like. If you look at EPS in Preview you'll see it is a bit and of course you can import all of these into NeoOffice to see the appropriate affects, with and without the SVG importer.
Patrick, I don't think there is anything unique in NeoOffice that would be causing the problems with curved lines and I would be surprised if this is due to anything having to do with anti-aliasing in OpenOffice either. Most likely it is some limitation of the SVG importer when it converts from SVG format to Draw format.
It's good to hear that true SVG rendering is a highly requested feature in OpenOffice. I'll just stick with WMF for the time being. I need to complete my thesis by year end, so I just have to work around any limitations.
Thanks to everyone, again. The only thing better than NeoOffice is the great and responsive support I get on these message boards! |
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