A script to convert SVG to a TIFF acceptable to PLOS

svg2tiff

#!/bin/sh

# Convert all arguments (assumed SVG) to a TIFF acceptable to PLOS
# Requires Inkscape and ImageMagick 6.8 (doesn't work with 6.6.9)

for i in $@; do
  BN=$(basename $i .svg)
  inkscape --without-gui --export-png="$BN.png" --export-dpi 300 $i
  convert -compress LZW -alpha remove $BN.png $BN.tiff
  mogrify -alpha off $BN.tiff
  rm $BN.png
done

Thanks! Very useful

Perfect, Erick! I still do not understand why PLOS wants tiffs, but your script helps a lot!

My version. This autocrops the image (-trim) with convert and sets a fixed width (-geometry) with mogrify while keeping the aspect ratio.

#!/bin/bash

for i in $(ls *.svg | cut -d. -f1); do
  inkscape --without-gui --export-png="${i}.png" --export-dpi 300 --export-area-drawing ${i}.svg
  convert -compress LZW -alpha remove -trim ${i}.png ${i}.tiff
  mogrify -alpha off -geometry 1000x ${i}.tiff
  rm ${i}.png
done

Still works in 2020!

I need to save my figures in TIFF for publication, this script seems great! However, I'm pretty new to Inkscape and programming, could you please show me how to implement the script?

Thanks!
Marco

This is how I use it:

svg2tiff.sh

#!/bin/sh
# Convert all arguments (assumed to be SVG) to a TIFF.
# Requires Inkscape and ImageMagick 6.8 (doesn't work with 6.6.9).
# From matsen: https://gist.github.com/matsen/4263955

for i in $@; do
  BN=$(basename $i .svg)
  inkscape --without-gui --export-png="$BN.png" --export-dpi 300 $i
  convert -compress LZW -alpha remove $BN.png $BN.tiff
  mogrify -alpha off $BN.tiff
  rm $BN.png
done

Download a svg image and convert it:

wget https://svgsilh.com/svg_v2/2442125.svg
svg2tiff 2442125.svg

Sometimes you need to alter the size of the image to meet PLOS requirements. The following script requires two argument. $1 = name of svg file, $2 = number of pixels wide. Also note that this script generates 600 dpi image for high resolution. PLOS accepts images in range 300 - 600 dpi.

svg2tiff abc pixels

#!/bin/bash
inkscape -o "$1.png" --export-width $2 --export-area-drawing $1.svg
convert -compress LZW -units PixelsPerInch -density 600 -alpha remove -trim $1.png $1.tif
mogrify -alpha off $1.tif
rm $1.png

To export only the drawing area, but pad it with 50 points of whitespace regardless of size replace mogrify command with:
mogrify -alpha off -gravity center -background white -extent $(identify -format '%[fx:W+50]x%[fx:H+50]' $BN.tiff) $BN.tiff

I'm in 2022 and it still works. Thanks to the creators of these little scripts.

Works great! Thanks @matsen

Thank you @matsen