Blank SVG Troubleshooting

[Ellen5]

I have a few more things to add to this comment.

When your file is empty after openening in SCAL do the following:

1. Open your file in Inkskape.
2. Select all (Ctrl = A) and zoom out till you see all the selection arrows.
3. Delete some unexpected things that shows up out of the design.
4. If nothing is there, make sure that the whole design is placed on the page in Inkscape. Everything out of the page won't show in SCAL. So move it to the page if it is outside the page.

An easier way to make sure that everything is placed on the page is the following.
4. Select all again (Ctrl + A)
5. Document properties (Shift + Ctrl + D)
In the middle you see an option called something like "Page format to selection" press that button and your pageformat will be set to your selection. Now you are always sure that it will show in SCAL, unless you made it more then 11.5 inch. In that case it will show, but only partial.
If that's the case just resize with "keep proportion" ckecked.

[firstcut]

Heather, I have no idea how I did that...that's why I was troubleshooting it It is just one rectangle inside of another, nothing complicated at all. Should have worked but obviously there are a number of bugs in Inkscape and/or SCAL that give this result even when you've done everything right. Really, this is a software bug list as much as a troubleshooting list.

Ellen, thanks for the expansion on info about how to make sure your image is "in bounds"

[firstcut]

Here's the updated step by step guide for troubleshooting blank (or otherwise unruly) SVGs
Troubleshooting blank SVGs in SCAL

in Inkscape
Check the Outline View by selecting View>Display mode>Outline
to see if it looks like what you want to cut

If the Outline View does not show as expected then...
If you imported a bitmap (jpg, png, bmp, gif, etc.) did you autotrace it?
If not, select it, then Path>Trace Bitmap
Did you convert text into objects?
If not, select text then Path>Object to Path


If the Outline View does show as expected
then
Have you ungrouped everything?
If not then select all then Object>Ungroup repeatedly until the message at bottom of screen says there are no objects to ungroup.

If none of that works then
-Double check that the file you imported was really an SVG. Check this (and prevent future occurences) by not selecting "All Files" in the file type menu of the Import dialog box.
-Make sure all objects are within the page boundaries. (Select all, then View>Zoom>Selection and View>Zoom>Page to check for stray objects or parts of the image that extend past the page boundaries.)
-Make sure that all shapes are converted to paths (select all shapes, then Path>Object to Path)
-Select all, then copy, then open a new document and paste.
-Select all then change the colors (click the color bar at the bottom of the screen).