[php] Convert SVG image to PNG with PHP

I'm working on a web project that involves a dynamically generated map of the US coloring different states based on a set of data.

This SVG file gives me a good blank map of the US and is very easy to change the color of each state. The difficulty is that IE browsers don't support SVG so in order for me to use the handy syntax the svg offers, I'll need to convert it to a JPG.

Ideally, I'd like to do this with only the GD2 library but could also use ImageMagick. I have absolutely no clue how to do this.

Any solution that would allow me to dynamically change the colors of states on a map of the US will be considered. The key is that it is easy to change the colors on the fly and that it is cross browser. PHP/Apache solutions only, please.

This is v. easy, have been doing work on this for the past few weeks.

You need the Batik SVG Toolkit. Download, and place the files in the same directory as the SVG you want to convert to a JPEG, also make sure you unzip it first.

Open the terminal, and run this command:

java -jar batik-rasterizer.jar -m image/jpeg -q 0.8 NAME_OF_SVG_FILE.svg

That should output a JPEG of the SVG file. Really easy. You can even just place it in a loop and convert loads of SVGs,

import os

svgs = ('test1.svg', 'test2.svg', 'etc.svg') 
for svg in svgs:
    os.system('java -jar batik-rasterizer.jar -m image/jpeg -q 0.8 '+str(svg)+'.svg')

This is a method for converting a svg picture to a gif using standard php GD tools

1) You put the image into a canvas element in the browser:

<canvas id=myCanvas></canvas>

<script>
var Key='picturename'
var canvas = document.getElementById('myCanvas');
var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
base_image = new Image();
base_image.src = myimage.svg;
base_image.onload = function(){

    //get the image info as base64 text string

    var dataURL = canvas.toDataURL();
    //Post the image (dataURL) to the server using jQuery post method
    $.post('ProcessPicture.php',{'TheKey':Key,'image': dataURL ,'h': canvas.height,'w':canvas.width,"stemme":stemme } ,function(data,status){ alert(data+' '+status) });
}
</script>    

And then convert it at the server (ProcessPicture.php) from (default) png to gif and save it. (you could have saved as png too then use imagepng instead of image gif):

//receive the posted data in php
$pic=$_POST['image'];
$Key=$_POST['TheKey'];
$height=$_POST['h'];
$width=$_POST['w'];
$dir='../gif/'
$gifName=$dir.$Key.'.gif';
 $pngName=$dir.$Key.'.png';

//split the generated base64 string before the comma. to remove the 'data:image/png;base64, header  created by and get the image data
$data = explode(',', $pic);
$base64img = base64_decode($data[1]);
$dimg=imagecreatefromstring($base64img); 

//in order to avoid copying a black figure into a (default) black background you must create a white background

$im_out = ImageCreateTrueColor($width,$height);
$bgfill = imagecolorallocate( $im_out, 255, 255, 255 );
imagefill( $im_out, 0,0, $bgfill );

//Copy the uploaded picture in on the white background
ImageCopyResampled($im_out, $dimg ,0, 0, 0, 0, $width, $height,$width, $height);

//Make the gif and png file 
imagegif($im_out, $gifName);
imagepng($im_out, $pngName);

You mention that you are doing this because IE doesn't support SVG.

The good news is that IE does support vector graphics. Okay, so it's in the form of a language called VML which only IE supports, rather than SVG, but it is there, and you can use it.

Google Maps, among others, will detect the browser capabilities to determine whether to serve SVG or VML.

Then there's the Raphael library, which is a Javascript browswer-based graphics library, which supports either SVG or VML, again depending on the browser.

Another one which may help: SVGWeb.

All of which means that you can support your IE users without having to resort to bitmap graphics.

See also the top answer to this question, for example: XSL Transform SVG to VML

You can use Raphaël—JavaScript Library and achieve it easily. It will work in IE also.

$command = 'convert -density 300 ';
                        if(Input::Post('height')!='' && Input::Post('width')!=''){
                            $command.='-resize '.Input::Post('width').'x'.Input::Post('height').' ';
                        }
                        $command.=$svg.' '.$source;
                        exec($command);
                        @unlink($svg);

or using : potrace demo :Tool4dev.com

I do not know of a standalone PHP / Apache solution, as this would require a PHP library that can read and render SVG images. I'm not sure such a library exists - I don't know any.

ImageMagick is able to rasterize SVG files, either through the command line or the PHP binding, IMagick, but seems to have a number of quirks and external dependencies as shown e.g. in this forum thread. I think it's still the most promising way to go, it's the first thing I would look into if I were you.

When converting SVG to transparent PNG, don't forget to put this BEFORE $imagick->readImageBlob():

$imagick->setBackgroundColor(new ImagickPixel('transparent'));