Using version pre0.46 (built from SVN on Feb. 9, 2008), importing EPS files works inconsistently and, depending on the particular strategy chosen, with a frustrating bug. This is related to multiple unresolved bug reports marked with many different statuses and priorities (#168448, #169125, #168777, #168370). The issues were largely worked out in a previous report (#168777), but the bug triager closed it because it was "messy" and encouraged a fresh report. So, here's the fresh report.
This bug affects anyone who attempts to edit an EPS file produced by an external program (e.g., matlab, gnuplot, and even files produced by Inkscape and saved as EPS). A common workflow that leads one to quickly encounter this bug is using Inkscape to combine files produced by different programs into a single figure (e.g., for a scientific publication).
Steps to reproduce the problem:
1. Starting with a blank canvas in Inkscape, draw something (e.g., a circle)
2. Save as EPS
Now, there are (at least) 3 methods to import this file into Inkscape, and the outcome is bad, in different ways, for two of the three methods:
1. Import through the GUI, #1: open the file in the file dialog (Ctrl-O). This seemingly works fine.
2. Import through the GUI, #2: start with a blank canvas and "import" the file (choose "Import" under the File menu, Ctrl-I). The odd thing here is that the imported graphic is very, very small. Other than this glitch, it appears to work correctly.
3. Import by manually running "pstoedit -f plot-svg" from the command line to convert the EPS file to SVG: this method produces the biggest problems. It initially appears to work well, but then from that point on, if one tries to add text with the "text tool", the font sizes are very weird, ending up as a multiple of 720. A workaround is to open the SVG file in a different window, and copy & paste the graphic into the window you are working with.
According to previous discussions with developers, the bad behavior may in part be caused by problems with Inkscape's handling of a "viewboxes" element (see bug #168370) produced by pstoedit.
I would like to add further information to this bug report. The problems I describe happen for me on inkscape 0.46-0ubuntu2, but the origin (in my opinion) of the problem, namely eps import through pstoedit -f plot-svg, has been there since May 2007. I will also add some files to reproduce these problems.
Inkscape shows several bugs when importing eps. Internally, inkscape uses pstoedit -f plot-svg to convert eps to svg. Some of the problems experienced in inkscape also happen in other programs, such as svg viewers as eog or firefox and are thus not a problem of inkscape, but due to pstedit creating messy svgs. Other problems however are inkscape specific.
Consider the file original.svg containing a rectangle and the letters aeodqb (which all contain some sort of white space fully enclosed by black lines). When this file is exported as EPS (original.eps), it displays nicely in all kind of applications, such as gv etc.
However, when this EPS file is opened again in inkscape, all kinds of problems happen:
A) Openining the EPS file in inkscape (as opposed to importing)
A.1) All the "holes" in the letters are filled
A.2) The bounding box does not enclose the figure, but is much larger. In addition, the figure is shifted outside the bounding box.
A.3) Probably due to the strange bounding box, inkscape creates some huge drawing area that you can scroll with the scroll bars. The figure is not centered, but at the upper left corner. It can be hard to find it again, when you scrolled away, simply because the figure is very tiny compared to the whole drawing area.
A.4) When inserting text, the text size is always increased to 23040 and cannot be made smaller.
A.5) The thickness of the contour lines is set to 720.
A.6) Eventually, after drawing some things, inkscape simply behaves weird and doesn't do anything useful any more.
B) Importing the EPS file
B.1) All the "holes" in the letters are filled
B.2) The bounding box does not enclose the figure, but is much larger.
B.3) The imported figure is tiny. In fact, it is so tiny that it is almost impossible to find it again, if you deselect it before making it bigger.
(The other problems of A don't appear here)
This confirms the observations of the previous bug report, and adds more information (filled letters, bounding box.) Unlike the previous bug reporter, I did not find any difference between opening an eps in inkscape and converting it before with pstoedit -f plot-svg. Both ways give the same behaviour for me.
Problems A/B.1 and A/B.2 are in fact a problem of the svg generated from pstoedit -f plot-svg . Consider the file svg-frompstoedi
In contrast, previously inkscape used pstoedit -f sk and then skconvert to convert an eps to svg. Doing this manually (files sk-frompstoedit.sk and svg-fromskconve
As it is ...