SVG can do more than you think: animated graphics in InDesign and in print
The article SVG Art by Fuma Nama brought the topic back up: SVG files can be animated, right inside the file, without JavaScript. The format dates from 1999, which makes it as old as 3f8h.net / electronic publishing. Built for the web, and that is where it works best.
Animation without scripts: SMIL and CSS
Two mechanisms do the work. SMIL elements such as <animate> and <animateTransform> sit directly in the SVG code and describe which attribute changes how over time. Alternatively, CSS animations with keyframes run inside the file. Browsers render both natively, the MDN documentation on SMIL covers the basics. The homepage of unkey.com shows what is possible, svgator.com and lottiefiles.com have collections.
What InDesign does with an animated SVG
InDesign has imported SVG natively since version 2020, as static vector artwork. SMIL and CSS animations are ignored. What you see is the base state defined in the SVG, the initial attribute values, not the end state of an animation. The PDF export contains paths and fills, nothing else. For prepress that is convenient: a preflight with callas pdfToolbox sees ordinary vector objects and checks colors, line weights and transparency like in any other graphic. Two things to check first: text in the SVG is only set correctly if the font is available on the machine (otherwise convert to outlines beforehand), and filters or masks from the SVG do not always survive the import cleanly.
If you want to keep the motion, you take the detour: Publish Online or fixed-layout EPUB use InDesign’s own Animation panel, not the animation from the SVG. You rebuild it there. An interactive PDF does not help either, Acrobat does not play SVG animations.
When do we print animated?
The question is less rhetorical than it sounds. Lenticular printing has put motion on paper for decades, analog and mechanical, driven by the viewing angle. E-paper shelf labels bring real animation to the point of sale. Neither has anything to do with SVG, but both show that the wish for motion in print is not new, only the path from the web format to the press is missing.
That leaves the question whether SVG is still a current format for publishing, or whether Lottie and Canvas will replace it. Our take: SVG stays, precisely because it is text and can be versioned and generated automatically. Only in the classic print workflow is it a static graphic like any other.
Your own experience with animated SVGs in InDesign or in print? Write to us.