Thank you aimee for the response.
I was able to get an svg into an ireport locally, that is, if I hard codes the file path and preview. Via the web (tomcat) I get an error (below). I receive this error without the custom class also (just using the JRRenderable and a file). Apparently I am missing something from my classpath.
Next I will have to figure out how to scale the svg. It appears double the real size. The code I used is here: http://community.jaspersoft.com/questions/520979/embedding-flash-and-svg-jasper-report
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/batik/bridge/UserAgent
at pdf_1359697806580_374154.evaluate(pdf_1359697806580_374154:530)
at net.sf.jasperreports.engine.fill.JREvaluator.evaluate(JREvaluator.java:190)
... 33 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.batik.bridge.UserAgent
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1680)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)