GIMP only contains the most barebones implementation of vector paths, and as soon as you try a dedicated vector app, you’ll see why they are so much better.Īdobe Illustrator is the most popular vector graphics app in the world, although it’s got some competition from Affinity Designer, which just recently released version 2.0. The best choice for making SVGs is to use a program that is dedicated to vector graphics. Alternative Option: Use a Vector Graphics App
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If you’re dedicated to the Paths tool and/or you’re working on a very simple JPG image of a shape or logo, you could hand-draw a series of paths overtop of an image and then export them using the method described above, but this is a complex and clumsy solution. JPG is a raster format, while SVG is a vector format. As you learned earlier in the post, there are two ways to make a digital image: a raster image made of pixels or a vector image made out of mathematical expressions. GIMP does not contain a tool for automatically converting JPG files into SVG files. Give your SVG file a name, and then click Save.Ĭongratulations, you just made an SVG file with GIMP – but you’ve probably also realized that it’s not going to be capable enough for your needs. Switch to the Paths tool using the Toolbox or the keyboard shortcut B. The Paths tool is probably the most familiar to anyone who has used a vector drawing app before. You can create vector paths in GIMP in a couple of ways: using the Paths tool or the Path from Selection command. SVG files in GIMP are created using the Paths panel, and they can only contain vector path data. If you’re new to the world of digital image editing, all this might be a lot of new info to learn, but the actual process of making an SVG file in GIMP is fairly simple once you know where to look.
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There’s an excellent free and open-source option included there as well! Making an SVG File in GIMP If you want to make a complex SVG file, or even if you just want to make more than one, I strongly recommend that you use one of the dedicated vector graphics apps mentioned at the end of this post. In most situations, this isn’t good enough to make a useful SVG file unless you’re creating a very simple icon or logo. This means that any pixel data, color information, or text layers in your document cannot be included in the SVG file. In the example above, only the outline of Wilber’s head and paintbrush can be saved as an SVG with GIMP. SVG files created by GIMP are exclusively made from vector paths, so while you technically can make them in GIMP, you’re making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Yes, GIMP can export SVG files, but it has extremely limited support for drawing and editing vector paths.
That covers the basics, but you can learn more about the technical details of raster graphics and vector graphics on Wikipedia. Vector graphics are made up of mathematical expressions that describe the shapes, lines, colors, and all other image data.īecause they’re just math, vector graphics can be enlarged easily without losing image quality, while raster graphics quickly become blurry (unless you use a fancy AI-powered upscaler, and even then, the results aren’t perfect). Raster graphics are images made up of pixels, and the vast majority of digital images, like JPG photos, use this format. However, as I mentioned earlier, GIMP is a raster graphics editor, not a vector graphics editor. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a widely-supported vector graphics format and one of the few vector formats that can be used on the web since they can be read by all major web browsers. vector graphics, then read on for more details. If that all makes sense to you, then you might want to skip ahead to the step-by-step section below – but if you’re confused about raster vs.
Vector graphics and raster graphics are two different ways of creating digital images.SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics.Alternative Option: Use a Vector Graphics App.
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