Troubleshooting SVGs

Apr 29, 2021

Pierre Sosa
By Pierre Sosa

Hello,

I know that there is a workflow for importing svgs through Powerpoint, but does anybody else have significant and regular problems with that workflow? I have followed several people's tutorials, including the instructions from Articulate, and I have very mixed results that usually import the svg as a png.

Has anybody had a similar experience, or does anybody have tips on better ways to approach this? I have a single object made from autotracing a bitmap in Inkscape. I tested it as both an Inkscape SVG and a Plain SVG.

Thanks,

P

3 Replies
Leslie McKerchie
almost 3 years ago05/03/21 at 6:00 pm (UTC)

Hello Pierre,

Thank you for reaching out and sharing what you are experiencing. It sounds like you are following the directions shared in this documentation:

Storyline 360: Importing SVG Images from PowerPoint

Scalable vector graphics (SVGs) on PowerPoint slides become native shapes when you import the slides into Storyline 360. 

I imported the file you shared above into PowerPoint, then imported the slide into Storyline. It imported as a black box, but removing the image fill corrects the issue. My file is attached.

Pierre Sosa
almost 3 years ago05/03/21 at 6:39 pm (UTC)

Thank you, Leslie. You've demonstrated the issue exactly.

If you check the timeline, the imported object is a .png. Also the drawing tools don't effect the shape; rather they effect the pixels in the frame. If the import was of an SVG, then the object would become a freeform graphic, and a change to the fill would color the shape, not the empty pixels around it.

For comparison, I tested the same workflow with a different shape (attached), and it imports successfully.

Regarding the svgs creation:

  • The soundwave was an autotraced bitmap, whose relevant points were copied and pasted, and all non relevant points were deleted
  • The drawing was just a generic shape made with the pen tool and nothing else.

Are there limitations on the kinds of tools I can use? Is there a limit on bezier points? Is there some other rule that can help decide workflows?

Thanks again,

P

Pierre Sosa
almost 3 years ago05/04/21 at 8:36 pm (UTC)

After creating this post, a related post proved incredibly helpful.

Gerry Wasiluk mentioned that he had more success with svgs exported from Visio. I imported my svg into Visio, then into PPT, then into Storyline, and now it performs as a freeform graphic. The root cause of that is beyond me; but I hope that helps.

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