Transform AI to SVG, requires Inkscape

ai2svg.md

Save this file as ai2svg, make it executable via chmod +x ai2svg then run it optionally passing the folder to look for.

It will convert in that folder, or the current one, all .ai files into .svg

#!/usr/bin/bash

createsvg() {
  local margin="$1"
  local d
  local svg
  for d in *.ai; do
    svg=$(echo "$d" | sed 's/.ai/.svg/')
    echo "creating $svg ..."
    # old version: inkscape "$d" -l -o "$svg"
    if [ "$margin" != "" ]; then
      inkscape "$d" --export-area-drawing --export-margin $margin "--export-plain-svg=$svg"
    else
      inkscape "$d" --export-area-drawing "--export-plain-svg=$svg"
    fi
  done
}

if [ "$1" != "" ];then
  cd $1
fi

createsvg "$2"

I had to add d=$(echo "$(cd "$(dirname "$d")"; pwd)/$(basename "$d")") as the first line of the for loop to make the path to $d absolute, otherwise inkscape just erred that it couldn't find the file.

since inkscape > v1.0 the parameter did changed:

inkscape "$d" -l -o "$svg"

@mrohnstock updated, thanks

with the v0.92.3 (default version with ubuntu 18.04), -o are not defined, so I remove it (and add --export-area-drawing) :

inkscape myDrawing.ai --export-area-drawing -l myDrawing.svg
# or with full text option :
inkscape myDrawing.ai --export-area-drawing --export-plain-svg=myDrawing.svg

I would like to add margins around drawing but it seems not possible

@bcag2 thanks

Can you please add instructions for the AI to SVG for people that have no idea what to do with the above and how to get it to work?

I have a folder full of AI that I need to convert to SVG. Google gave me this as a top search result, but I do not see an explanation or instructions how to get this to work on PC. Thank you.

./ai2svg ./folder/path

You need a command line on Linux, it might work on macOS too, if you have Inkscape, but if you’re windows’ user please look at any further result in Google or try with WSL

Thank you for replying that doesn't work on Windows. I will see other options.

@MaydayGD no problem, but in general, when you see #!/usr/bin/bash (shebang) on top of any script/file, that's usually for linux/macos shell, not windows 👋

Contrary to what I wrote in my previous post, It is possible to add margins, look at SO ticket :
https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/a/155523/144183
--export-margin 20 where 20 is in pixels "user unit"

@bcag2 so ... optional extra arg?

Yes!

A useful options to know is also --export-text-to-path :)