What does the error "Clipping will be lost on roundtrip to Tiny" mean?

[8575175]

It appears that importing or opening any SVG file that has a clip path in it (even ones made in Illustrator) produces the error "Clipping will be lost on roundtrip to Tiny". While there are workarounds and solutions given in other threads, I am curious about what the error actually means - I understand the "Clipping will be lost" bit, but have no clue what "on roundtrip to Tiny" means! If anyone can shed any light on this, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Roundtripping generally means that you export an SVG and then open it again in Illustrator.

Tiny is a kind of SVG, that is also not very current specification.

Generaklly: Roundtripping SVGs in Illustrator is not a very good idea. Save your workfile as AI. Export should be a one-way-ticket.

[8575175]

Thank you Monika,

I had no idea that SVG 1.1 and 1.2 Tiny existed and did not understand roundtripping in this context.

Interestingly, the same error occurs with clip paths regardless of SVG version, but I guess that it’s just a poorly worded error message.

I agree that importing SVGs into Illustrator is a bad idea, but I unfortunately have no other option in this case.

[Monika Gause]

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@8575175  schrieb:

I agree that importing SVGs into Illustrator is a bad idea, but I unfortunately have no other option in this case.

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Yes, sometimes it can't be avoided, but for my own files I would try to not let that happen.

[Jimi5C6A]

Ironic. This is the message I get when I open a downloaded svg file from Adobe QR Code Generator and try to open it in Illustrator. 

[Monika Gause]

Just open it anyway. The message can be clicked away. It's not an error, it's a warning.

Here's how to clean up your QR code https://youtu.be/KQUrluJ5CU4

You get better QR codes from InDesign.

[Astrid34826207yig0]

A workaround for this:

Open the svg in a text editor, copy the code, and paste it in Adobe XD. There you will be able to copy the vector and use it in for example Illustrator.

[Monika Gause]

"Roundtrip to tiny" is not an error, just a friendly reminder. Usually the file will open fine anyway.

[Rosie37392279s07g]

Hi Monika, I am editing a file for a client and they have sent an svg. I was going to edit it in Illustrator and have this warning message about clipping will be lost on round trip to tiny.  I can click through it and can make the edits but when I export its kind of pixelated is this because of the warning message and I dont know a way around this?

[Christopher_G]

Paste where in XD?

[Monika Gause]

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@Christopher_G  schrieb:

Paste where in XD?

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Probably in a new file.

[jkburchard73]

I've run into this multiple times now and it appears to be happening more. The .svg files that this happened on, just recently, opened fine and showed all the clipped images, but 2 of the 4 images disappeared when saved as a .pdf file. If exported as a .jpeg, all images remained. The original file, with the clipped images, was created by another person, using Canva. 

[Monika Gause]

For Illustrator SVG is not a native file format. It has to be imported, which can cause issues.

Before you exported the PDF, what did you do with the file?

Did you check the clipping masks? Were they standard, or probably some clipping mask inside a clipping mask inside a clipping mask?

You would need to clean up the file after importing. And then while you are working on it, do not save it as an SVG file, but as the native AI file format.

[Bobby Henderson]

Canva does not generate files that are edit friendly outside of that application. The SVG files Canva exports often have serious problems.

Using Canva's "PDF for Print" export filter is a better choice, but that won't be perfect either. The resulting file will be a mystery meat PDF that will likely need various repairs or clean-up work. Plugins like Vector First Aid can be a big help in that regard. There is no telling for sure what elements will import successfully or break. Clipped/masked regions in the artwork may be cut destructively.

Another factor that complicates Canva-generated artwork: many Canva users do not understand the difference between pixel-based and vector-based artwork. Their layout may be a goulash of different pixel-based and vector-based things. A bunch of the pixel-based stuff may be no better than web page quality, which is lousy for any of the large format work I do.