sK1 Open Source Vector Graphics

While not yet complete, the "sK1 Project" aims at developing a professional DTP illustration software, for the prepress market. And the ambitions are good: Open Source, Cross-platform (Linux, Win32, OSX) and (very important) compatible with several industry formats, such as Adobe Illustrator (and various PS forms: PS, EPS, AI, PDF) and CorelDRAW.

The CDR-reading capabilities ticked my interest, as I was a CorelDRAW user (bought r7 and also used r9 at university) before I switched to OSX. While I currently have an educational license for Illustrator CS4, I'm still more fluent and productive in CorelDRAW.

I tried Inkscape recently and created a poster for the MACE project with it and a poster for a conference. But when I had to reinstall it (due to Snow Leopard compatibility), I notice CorelDRAW and Illustrator file support, much to my surprise. But the software asked for the Uniconvertor library, which is created in the sK1 project as a by-product for CorelDRAW and Illustrator file support.

So I downloaded the Uniconvertor sources (no OSX installable image was available) and compiled them with Python. That seemed to work OK and I got a build directory. Copied this into the Python site-libraries and now the importer at least tries to import the files. The CorelDRAW import failed for some reason, but Illustrator import seemed to be working fine for the few files I tried (including CS4 format).

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