Inkscape filling inner polygons

[MC-GDB]

Hello,

I miss this place.

Quick question: I have started getting a little more familiar with the quirks of InkScape and have taken to using it for sprucing up some silkscreens and importing them into pcbNew via the SVG import utility.

However, I’m seeing the inside of letters being filled in, like this:

when in inkscape, they look fine:

Notice how the capital “D” is filled in…Same thing for "A"s, "O"s, "Q"s, "d"s, etc. Anything with a closed polygon seems to get filled in.

I’m sure there’s a box that I’m not checking, but is there any literature that ya’ll can point me to in order to get this figured out?

I’ve tried playing with these two buttons:

and I’ve also tried going to the extreme with this parameter too:

This certainly had some affect on the outcome (the lines for the SVG in kicad was thinner, but certainly not 0.001mm), but did not seem to have any impact on the filling of enclosed paths.
Thanks!

[paulvdh]

I was interested in Inkscape a long time ago, but I could not get over it’s interface and quirks.

Inkscape has also been handicapped by it’s early adoption of the .SVG format. I’m not sure, but from what I remember, they started with .SVG before it was much used and settled on some things that have later become non-standard.
For the last 5 to 10 years development also seems to have slowed down a lot.
Just did a check on https://inkscape.org/ and I was surprised that Version 1.0 has finally been released.

I see that you’ve made a .PNG screenshot of your .SVG file. All modern web browsers understand .SVG. What does your picture look like in a web browser? I would have more trust in that than in Inkscape.

However, according to the link below, Inkscape claims to be fully standards compliant.
https://inkscape.org/develop/about-svg/

[BlackCoffee]

I was curious because I forced myself to become an SVG expert (including having written code to make PCB’s from SVG’s).

First: Question - I don’t see any SVG import tool in Kicad 5.1.7 What version and what tool are you using?

Second: I can use the BMP tool and load PNG’s, including SVG saved as PNG. The BMP tools does fine without closing the holes…

Aside from that, I suggest after making the Text in Inkscape, select it and make it a Path (from Path Menu).

Also, try using either OCR and/or Droid_Sans fonts (they work very well with Paths)

Screenshot of Fonts done in Inkscape, Saved as PNG, Converted in the BMP tool and loaded into PCB.
Then, edited selected letters and changed Layers…

[paulvdh]

I see red and blue for tracks in MC-GDB’s screenshot, which implies KiCad V5.99 which can import .SVG via: Pcbnew / File / Import / Graphics

[BlackCoffee]

Thanks (I won’t be upgrading for many months - wait for the dust to settle…)

I think just Making the Text into a Path will fix it but, perhaps not. I’ll watch for comments…

[qu1ck]

That is a bug in svg importer, it seems it doesn’t process holes in polygons correctly. I tried to import this test image
https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/images/painting/fillrule-evenodd.svg

And got this

[BlackCoffee]

The last one is what’s called an “Intrinsic Subtraction” (uses ClockWise outer and subtracts CounterClockWise inner shape). But, yeah, looks like a bug.

Curious: Try the attached svg… Right-Click it and Save-As

[paulvdh]

@qu1ck: Where did the other pictures with the arrows go?

[qu1ck]

I think it’s still there but tiny. Something in forum uploading postprocessing broke it, I added a text link.

[MC-GDB]

The BMP import method seems to make things work over here too!
Thanks!

[mxa]

Is there an issue in the gitlab filed for this bug?

[BlackCoffee]

I have no involvement in/with filing bug’s… @qu1ck may provide an answer…

[qu1ck]

I filed https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/6739

Note I’m just external contributor not kicad team member. Anyone can file issues.