Drawing an SVG file on a HTML5 canvas
Further to @Matyas answer: if the svg's image is also in base64, it will be drawn to the output.
Demo:
var svg = document.querySelector('svg');
var img = document.querySelector('img');
var canvas = document.querySelector('canvas');
// get svg data
var xml = new XMLSerializer().serializeToString(svg);
// make it base64
var svg64 = btoa(xml);
var b64Start = 'data:image/svg+xml;base64,';
// prepend a "header"
var image64 = b64Start + svg64;
// set it as the source of the img element
img.onload = function() {
// draw the image onto the canvas
canvas.getContext('2d').drawImage(img, 0, 0);
}
img.src = image64;svg, img, canvas {
display: block;
}SVG
<svg height="40" width="40">
<rect width="40" height="40" style="fill:rgb(255,0,255);" />
<image xlink:href="data:image/png;base64,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" height="20px" width="20px" x="10" y="10"></image></svg><br/>
IMAGE
<img/><br/>
CANVAS
<canvas></canvas><br/>EDIT: Dec 2019
The Path2D() constructor is supported by all major browsers now, "allowing path objects to be declared on 2D canvas surfaces".
EDIT: Nov 2014
You can now use ctx.drawImage to draw HTMLImageElements that have a .svg source in some but not all browsers (75% coverage: Chrome, IE11, and Safari work, Firefox works with some bugs, but nightly has fixed them).
var img = new Image();
img.onload = function() {
ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0);
}
img.src = "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Svg_example_square.svg";
Live example here. You should see a green square in the canvas. The second green square on the page is the same <svg> element inserted into the DOM for reference.
You can also use the new Path2D objects to draw SVG (string) paths. In other words, you can write:
var path = new Path2D('M 100,100 h 50 v 50 h 50');
ctx.stroke(path);
Live example of that here.
Original 2010 answer:
There's nothing native that allows you to natively use SVG paths in canvas. You must convert yourself or use a library to do it for you.
I'd suggest looking in to canvg: (check homepage & demos)
canvg takes the URL to an SVG file, or the text of the SVG file, parses it in JavaScript and renders the result on Canvas.