QGIS2Illustrator - SVG file importer

Introduction

This Illustrator script allows you to clean 🧹 the exported SVG file from the QGIS Composer when importing it into Adobe Illustrator 👌

🌐 From a QGIS Project :

🚀 You have to export a SVG file from the composer :

🛬 Using the scipt to import the SVG file, you will have a structurated Illustrator project :

• by maps
• by layer
  • Labels have their own groups including distinct groups for callouts

Note that the provided project contain two ✌️ imported SVG files.

Installation

The script can be run on Illustrator in the menu "Files" => "Scripts" => "Other scripts"

If you want it to appear in the scripts list, it have to be placed into the Adobe Illustrator scripts folder (then reboot Illustrator) : Example on Windows : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 20xx\Presets\fr_FR\Scripts

QGIS Configuration

❕ The SVG need to be exported from the QGIS composer. Here is some rules, advices and informations :

• You need to check the following option when exporting : "Export map layers as SVG Groups" ("Exporter les couches de la carte comme des groupes SVG" in french)
• You can use the option "Always export text as text objects" ("Toujours exporter les textes en tant qu'objet" in french) to keep the possibility of managing text properties in Illustrator
• Avoid raster layers into you map.
• Strokes and symbols sizes need to be set in point or in millimeter but never in pixel to be the same into Illustrator.
• Stroke styles are kept (join, cap, dash pattern...)
• For surfaces, fill partterns are not correctly managed by the QGIS exporter process : patterns are not clipped.
• For surfaces, shapeburst fill are not supported.
• For surfaces, outlines are managed.

In general, stay simple and do your fancy style into Illustrator 😉

Caution

The exporting process adds a lots of background objects as path whithout any stroke, a fill color of black (0,0,0) or white (255,255,255) and a fill opacity of 0%. This last properties (fill opacity) cannot been access within the script, making these backgrounds difficult to detect. But it seems that they always are behind objects groups.
The script detects and removes these objects but in case of trouble, you can choose to keep them during the process.

Testing

Open the QGIS Project into the GeoPackage nammed export_illustrator.gpkg

Export the composer "export_illustrator" to SVG file.

Open Illustrator en load the exported file using the JSX script at the root of the project. => You will see the data onto your project with the layers structured like in the QGIS document.