Photoshop layers into SVG paths

Question

I have a set of Photoshop files which consist of a base image with a series of layers with colored overlays. The overlays are labeled using the layer names.

My task is to get these overlays as SVG paths, somehow preserving the labels. (If I can preserve the fill colors as well, that would be cool, but we can define arbitrary fill colors if needed.)

So far we have tried exporting the layers as Illustrator paths, and then exporting to SVG from Illustrator. This gets us reasonable SVG paths, but (a) we lose the labels, and (b) if a layer has more than one discrete section in its overlay, it is separated into several paths.

Is there a way to get these layers into SVG while retaining the labels? Or should we do our Export > Illustrator > SVG route on a layer-by-layer basis?

We're working with CS5, if that's important.

ETA to answerers: We've long since finished this project and delivered the job, so I can't accept an answer, but feel free to pitch in your potential solutions for others.

Answer 1

I wrote a free PS script that lets you do this automatically. Just name the PS layers you want to export with'.svg' at the end and they will be converted to SVGs, keeping the colors. the file name will also be the name of the layer. http://hackingui.com/design/export-photoshop-layer-to-svg/

The script works with CS5, CS6 and CC disclosure: this links to my site

Answer 2

Are these provided by a vendor? If so, maybe it's not doable now, but for future reference, I'd have them deliver the buttons in a format that makes the conversion much more practical. Adobe Illustrator would be better, or Inkscape would be perfect (given its native format is SVG to begin with).

Answer 3

Ultimately the (tedious) path we used was:

• Photoshop has an "export layers" command. (I think it was a script.) This generates a file for each layer in the document.
• Then we opened the files in Illustrator, selected the path, and exported that as SVG.

This was painful and work-intensive but seemed to be the only way through.

Answer 4

In a similar situation (trying to export Vector Smart Objects to SVGs from Photoshop), what worked for me was:

• Double-click on the Smart Object layer to open in Illustrator
• In Illustrator, Select All (Ctrl-A), then right-click on selection and "Export Selection..."

If I tried to export them directly from Photoshop I always ended up with PNG image data embedded in an SVG, but the above steps allowed me to produce proper vector images with paths.

Answer 5

Script export-photoshop-layer-to-svg offered by Hacking UI didn't work for me.

There are also these photoshop plugins which offer a better integration in photoshop UI (and export options menu). They also allow to export grouped layers.

• photoshop-svg-exporter which supports Multiple Layer Styles (20$)
• Zeick - video ($20 -5%)