Sava 0.21 (SVG to PMS converter)

[Aquarius]

Sava 0.21 (SVG to PMS converter)

Now you can simply draw your Soldat maps! This application can convert Scalable Vector Graphics into PMS files (Soldat maps). You can create SVG graphics in many vector graphics editors: Inkscape (free / open source), Illustrator (commercial), Corel Draw (commercial), etc. However, Sava is optimised for SVG files saved by Adobe Illustrator.

To use it, draw a map in a vector graphics editor and save it as SVG. Then convert it in Sava. All shapes and paths will be converted into polygons and saved as PMS. Read manual (it's in the attachment with Sava) for more information.

Get Sava from attachment

Version 0.21 was released on 15 August 2005.
There will be no more updates of this application (at least in the near future), because I lost most of the Sava source code.

[bja888]

Question.

I noticed that all the map making programs only allow 3 points per poly. With Illustrator you can make as many points per shape as you want. Will this cause error?

If not then I am very intrested.

[Krillious]

Wow, that's pretty cool, makes making a map much faster 
Gj
I used it with inkscape and it worked well

[Aquarius]

Question.

I noticed that all the map making programs only allow 3 points per poly. With Illustrator you can make as many points per shape as you want. Will this cause error?

This is the biggest advantage of Sava. More complicated shapes are automatically converted into many triangle polygons. Also bezier curves will be converted into even more triangles, to make it look smooth. The level of smoothnes can be set up in configuration file.

However, there are some limitations:

 - a path of a shape can't be self-crossing (like in "8" made with one path) - a shape like this will be skipped during conversion.

 - a shape can't have "holes" inside - it can't be build from compound paths (for example like in "O" made from two circles: a bigger circle and a smaller circle as a hole inside) - a shape like this will be converted into a few non-compound shapes.

For the second problem there is a simple workaround - split a shape into 2 or more non-compound parts (for example, split the "O" shape into 2 "C" shapes, one mirrored).

[Mistercharles]

I love Sava, but it sometimes has problems with incredibly complicated shapes. Also, the fact that it doesn't use central vertices is annoying :\

[Sotija]

Oh My Gosh.I love it!

[InK$l!n3r]

It sounds good I think I am going to try it. I've heard of Inkscape before, searching through Gimp tutorial lists on pixel2life.com. Sava sounds like a good idea.

[Nfsjunkie91]

It sounds good I think I am going to try it. I've heard of Inkscape before, searching through Gimp tutorial lists on pixel2life.com. Sava sounds like a good idea.

Don't necromance! (Bring up old topics) This is from June, pay attention to the last post date, and if you have something urgent, PM the creator.

[Plonkoon]

Would this work with photoshop vector images?

[Aquarius]

Would this work with photoshop vector images?

Photoshop doesn't really create vector images.... but if you can save the paths in SVG... (AFAIK it's not possible in Photoshop).  I recommend Adobe Illustrator (if you can afford Photoshop, you probably can afford Illustrator too )

[Mistercharles]

^Inkscape usually works well enough for me, except in some cases.

[mar77a]

*bump

I just tested this and the polygons generated have 0% opacity (aka 100% transparent). Other than that, gw

[Mr]

It's because Soldat 1.4 and up needs an alpha value. If there is no alpha value, then the opacity is 0.

[spkka]

weh i've never seen this post, really gotta try it, thanks for the bump mar77a
What program did you guys use? Any free programs available?

[blackdevil0742]

Well as the first post says Inkscape is free so you might try using it.

Impressive tool and needs more attention :x

[DorkeyDear]

I've tried modifying the example.svg into the attached file. Once it says its done and the preview comes up for it, it is blank.
(Had to rename to a .allowed extention, so just change it to .svg. IT IS NOT A TRUE BMP)

[Aquarius]

Read mar77a post, it seems like in a new Soldat version polygons converted in Sava are transparent so you have to change it in a map editor.
I can't fix Sava because I lost the source code and rewriting it would be too boring and hard to do it again.