Best way to convert Inkscape to PDF?
Hi all,
I've created a schematic of a motor control circuit in Inkscape, and want to convert it to PDF. File-Save_as and then picking PDF for file type produces an image extremely pixelated on all curves, especially when viewed with Ghostview. Acroread looks better but is still pixulated on curves. It prints fine, but I want to use it as a presentation tool, so it must view well on the computer.
Exporting as bitmap (.png) and then converting to PDF was even worse.
File->save_as postscript and encapsulated postscript, and then converting with ps2pdf was also pixelated.
The least pixelated result I got was to save as XCF (Gimp native format), open with Gimp, save as postscript, then ps2pdf. In Acroread it looked great at all zoom levels, and in ghostview it looked great at 100%, and halfway decent at other zoom levels. However, it converted it to portrait and cut off the left side. I can fix that with a known workaround that if needbe, but before I go to all this trouble, I'm wondering if any of you know a good way to make a high quality, non-pixelated PDF from an Inkscape drawing.
Thanks
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
On 9/19/07, Steve Litt <slitt@...2357...> wrote:
Hi all,
I've created a schematic of a motor control circuit in Inkscape, and want to convert it to PDF. File-Save_as and then picking PDF for file type produces an image extremely pixelated on all curves,
Which version of Inkscape?
In any case it's hard to tell the reason without seeing the file. Please file a bug report attaching all relevant files - svg, pdf, ps.
Hello Steve,
there has been some progress with the pdf export. So if you try a current snapshot version and check again that would be perfect.
ALso you have to note that not all svg features will be converted to native pdf: -if you have transparency this will fallback to bitmap or no transparency -there might be problems with gradients as well -the development version does not export blur
HTH,
Adib. ---
Steve Litt schrieb:
Hi all,
I've created a schematic of a motor control circuit in Inkscape, and want to convert it to PDF. File-Save_as and then picking PDF for file type produces an image extremely pixelated on all curves, especially when viewed with Ghostview. Acroread looks better but is still pixulated on curves. It prints fine, but I want to use it as a presentation tool, so it must view well on the computer.
Exporting as bitmap (.png) and then converting to PDF was even worse.
File->save_as postscript and encapsulated postscript, and then converting with ps2pdf was also pixelated.
The least pixelated result I got was to save as XCF (Gimp native format), open with Gimp, save as postscript, then ps2pdf. In Acroread it looked great at all zoom levels, and in ghostview it looked great at 100%, and halfway decent at other zoom levels. However, it converted it to portrait and cut off the left side. I can fix that with a known workaround that if needbe, but before I go to all this trouble, I'm wondering if any of you know a good way to make a high quality, non-pixelated PDF from an Inkscape drawing.
Thanks
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Inkscape-user mailing list Inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-user
On 9/19/07, Adib Taraben <taraben.a@...2011...> wrote:
Hello Steve,
there has been some progress with the pdf export. So if you try a current snapshot version and check again that would be perfect.
Actually, I think it's the other way round. 0.45 did export transparency and gradients into PDF just fine. But in the devel version we switched to Cairo PDF export which indeed rasterizes a lot of stuff. We relied on the promises of Cairo guys to improve that but it's not done yet.
On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:46:44 -0300 "bulia byak" <buliabyak@...155...> wrote:
On 9/19/07, Adib Taraben <taraben.a@...2011...> wrote:
Hello Steve,
there has been some progress with the pdf export. So if you try a current snapshot version and check again that would be perfect.
Actually, I think it's the other way round. 0.45 did export transparency and gradients into PDF just fine. But in the devel version we switched to Cairo PDF export which indeed rasterizes a lot of stuff. We relied on the promises of Cairo guys to improve that but it's not done yet.
Much to my surprise, with the latest stable Cairo (1.4.10) and the current Inkscape devel version, I'm able to export gradients with transparency (both on stroke and fill) to pure vector PDFs using the Cairo exporter. I think that's better than the last time I tried, with an older Cairo version(?). However, setting master opacity to anything less than 100% on any object yields a raster PDF. Blur is ignored, but at least doesn't cause complete rasterization.
-- Gustav
Hi Steve,
Steve Litt wrote:
Hi all,
I've created a schematic of a motor control circuit in Inkscape, and want to convert it to PDF. File-Save_as and then picking PDF for file type produces an image extremely pixelated on all curves, especially when viewed with Ghostview. Acroread looks better but is still pixulated on curves. It prints fine, but I want to use it as a presentation tool, so it must view well on the computer.
I got good results using ImageMagick http://www.imagemagick.org/ (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit/channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit). I saved the SVG in Inkscape as 'Plain SVG', but probably 'Inkscape SVG' will also work. For transparency, use the option '-background transparent'.
An entire command in IM would look somewhat like this:
'convert -background transparent -depth [resolution in dpi] your_file.svg your_file.pdf'.
I am exploring the possibilities of IM right now, and imho it's a great addition to Inkscape.
HTH,
Claus
Claus Cyrny wrote:
'convert -background transparent -depth [resolution in dpi] your_file.svg your_file.pdf'.
Sorry, it should read '-density' instead of '-depth'. You can also specify the format of the page(s) by adding
'-page /widthxheight/'.
Claus
On 9/19/07, Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:
I got good results using ImageMagick (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit /channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit).
Imagemagick rasterizes SVG and makes a PDF with embedded bitmap. I assume what the original poster wanted was vector PDF.
On Wednesday 19 September 2007 15:24, bulia byak wrote:
On 9/19/07, Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:
I got good results using ImageMagick (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit /channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit).
Imagemagick rasterizes SVG and makes a PDF with embedded bitmap. I assume what the original poster wanted was vector PDF.
If possible, that would be best. Otherwise, good dithering is the key.
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
On Wednesday 19 September 2007 15:24, bulia byak wrote:
On 9/19/07, Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:
I got good results using ImageMagick (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit /channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit).
Imagemagick rasterizes SVG and makes a PDF with embedded bitmap. I assume what the original poster wanted was vector PDF.
Is there any way to make Imagemagick (convert) not rasterize the PDF? Could I perhaps save as a different vector format and go from there?
Thanks for this insight. I never knew there was such a thing as a vector PDF.
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
On Thursday 20 September 2007 09:38, Steve Litt wrote:
On Wednesday 19 September 2007 15:24, bulia byak wrote:
On 9/19/07, Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:
I got good results using ImageMagick (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit /channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit).
Imagemagick rasterizes SVG and makes a PDF with embedded bitmap. I assume what the original poster wanted was vector PDF.
Is there any way to make Imagemagick (convert) not rasterize the PDF? Could I perhaps save as a different vector format and go from there?
Thanks for this insight. I never knew there was such a thing as a vector PDF.
A little googling turned up the fact that this is a well known problem, discussed since at least 2005. So far it looks like the recommended solution is to use Batik (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/) plus FOP (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/) to convert from standard SVG to vector PDF. It doesn't look at all trivial, so if anyone's done this already, please tell us how you did it.
I also found a reference that the Inkscape project was working on a vector PDF writer, but can't remember where I found it.
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
I am using the latest build (from the autopackage builds) and I have nice PDFs exported from Inkscape. I use it to draw all my cave maps, then I export to PDF to distribute it to others and archiving.
Carlos
On 9/20/07, Steve Litt <slitt@...2357...> wrote:
On Thursday 20 September 2007 09:38, Steve Litt wrote:
On Wednesday 19 September 2007 15:24, bulia byak wrote:
On 9/19/07, Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:
I got good results using ImageMagick (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit /channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit).
Imagemagick rasterizes SVG and makes a PDF with embedded bitmap. I assume what the original poster wanted was vector PDF.
Is there any way to make Imagemagick (convert) not rasterize the PDF? Could I perhaps save as a different vector format and go from there?
Thanks for this insight. I never knew there was such a thing as a vector PDF.
A little googling turned up the fact that this is a well known problem, discussed since at least 2005. So far it looks like the recommended solution is to use Batik (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/) plus FOP (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/) to convert from standard SVG to vector PDF. It doesn't look at all trivial, so if anyone's done this already, please tell us how you did it.
I also found a reference that the Inkscape project was working on a vector PDF writer, but can't remember where I found it.
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Inkscape-user mailing list Inkscape-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-user
On 2007-September-20 , at 16:25 , Steve Litt wrote:
On Thursday 20 September 2007 09:38, Steve Litt wrote:
On Wednesday 19 September 2007 15:24, bulia byak wrote:
On 9/19/07, Claus Cyrny <claus.cyrny@...22...> wrote:
I got good results using ImageMagick (IM) for this. That way, I can even export SVGs as 16-bit /channel (but I guess that you only need 8-bit).
Imagemagick rasterizes SVG and makes a PDF with embedded bitmap. I assume what the original poster wanted was vector PDF.
Is there any way to make Imagemagick (convert) not rasterize the PDF? Could I perhaps save as a different vector format and go from there?
Thanks for this insight. I never knew there was such a thing as a vector PDF.
A little googling turned up the fact that this is a well known problem, discussed since at least 2005. So far it looks like the recommended solution is to use Batik (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/) plus FOP (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/fop/) to convert from standard SVG to vector PDF. It doesn't look at all trivial, so if anyone's done this already, please tell us how you did it.
I also found a reference that the Inkscape project was working on a vector PDF writer, but can't remember where I found it.
Inkscape 0.45.1 (the latest stable version) has very decent PDF capabilities, as bulia pointed out already. It can save transparency, gradients, etc. all in vector form (i.e. what PDF is _meant_ to be). The only limitation is about embedded bitmaps I think: i.e. you cannot import a bitmap image into Inkscape, add some vector stuff over it and export to PDF (it would loose the bitmap).
More generally, the wiki page about vector graphics is probably worth reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics
JiHO --- http://jo.irisson.free.fr/
On 9/20/07, Steve Litt <slitt@...2357...> wrote:
Is there any way to make Imagemagick (convert) not rasterize the PDF?
I guess not, since Imagemagick is a raster tool primarily. It is much more difficult to correctly translate one vector format into another than just rasterize it.
Could I perhaps save as a different vector format and go from there?
Like I said, the best and most complete vector export filter in 0.45 is PDF export. Use it directly. If you have any troubles, show us the files.
Or if you don't care if it's vector or not, just export hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape.
Thanks for this insight. I never knew there was such a thing as a vector PDF.
Of course PDF is a vector format, a descendant of vector Postscript.
On Thursday 20 September 2007 11:51, bulia byak wrote:
Or if you don't care if it's vector or not, just export hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape.
How does one export a hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape? How does one change the resolution?
Thanks
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:16:23 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
On Thursday 20 September 2007 11:51, bulia byak wrote:
Or if you don't care if it's vector or not, just export hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape.
How does one export a hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape? How does one change the resolution?
File->Export Bitmap, then set the width/height & dpi to sufficiently high values.
Jim
On Thursday 20 September 2007 19:18, Jim Henderson wrote:
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:16:23 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
On Thursday 20 September 2007 11:51, bulia byak wrote:
Or if you don't care if it's vector or not, just export hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape.
How does one export a hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape? How does one change the resolution?
File->Export Bitmap, then set the width/height & dpi to sufficiently high values.
What would be good figures for those, assuming it was going on a landscape 8.5x11 paper, but needed to also be viewed on the screen.
Thanks Jim,
SteveT
Steve Litt Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware http://www.troubleshooters.com/
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:33:17 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
On Thursday 20 September 2007 19:18, Jim Henderson wrote:
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:16:23 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
On Thursday 20 September 2007 11:51, bulia byak wrote:
Or if you don't care if it's vector or not, just export hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape.
How does one export a hi-res bitmap directly from Inkscape? How does one change the resolution?
File->Export Bitmap, then set the width/height & dpi to sufficiently high values.
What would be good figures for those, assuming it was going on a landscape 8.5x11 paper, but needed to also be viewed on the screen.
What I do is select figures that look good to me - it takes a few tries sometimes (and I don't do it often). In print, 300 or 600 DPI generally looks good, but depending on the resolution required for viewing on the screen (ISTR that 75 dpi is considered "good enough" for most desktop viewing that's not zoomed in, but might be remembering incorrectly.)
What I do is figure 300 or 600 dpi for printing, and then figure out the size of the image I need and multiply the dimensions by the DPI to get the resolution I want. Maybe doing a bit too much work there, but the results have generally been good.
Jim
On 9/20/07, Jim Henderson <hendersj@...155...> wrote:
What I do is figure 300 or 600 dpi for printing, and then figure out the size of the image I need and multiply the dimensions by the DPI to get the resolution I want.
This will give you not the resolution but the _pixel size_ of the bitmap.
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:08:34 -0400, bulia byak wrote:
On 9/20/07, Jim Henderson <hendersj@...155...> wrote:
What I do is figure 300 or 600 dpi for printing, and then figure out the size of the image I need and multiply the dimensions by the DPI to get the resolution I want.
This will give you not the resolution but the _pixel size_ of the bitmap.
Yep, that's what I meant - thanks for the clarification.
Jim
-----Original Message----- From: inkscape-user-bounces@lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:inkscape-user-bounces@lists.sourceforge.net] On Behalf Of bulia byak Sent: 21. september 2007 04:09 To: Inkscape User Community Subject: Re: [Inkscape-user] Best way to convert Inkscape to PDF?
On 9/20/07, Jim Henderson <hendersj@...155...> wrote:
What I do is figure 300 or 600 dpi for printing, and then figure out the size of the image I need and multiply the dimensions by the DPI to
get the resolution I want.
This will give you not the resolution but the _pixel size_ of the
bitmap.
True, but the "confusion" is quite typical for the way we work with Inkscape. In general, -in DTP programs-, you first specify the dimension of the document in cm, inches, millimeters, miles or kilometers (for banners on the moon). Then you decide on the resolution you need for exporting.
BUT:
In Inkscape I guess one usually starts with dimensions in pixels. When working for displays on screen, you would typically choose a dimension in pixels for your canvas equal to (for example) the size of the box you need in your website. If the bitmap-output is needed on screen, you stick to Inkscape's standard resolution of 90 dpi so that the amount of pixels stays the same. However, if you want to print, you might find this resolution not enough and you should try 200, 300, 600 dpi instead (depending on how religious you are on this subject).
-- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org
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Oops, I forgot to write my name under the last post, so it seemed it was written by Bulia Byak. Excuses, it was by me,
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On 9/21/07, Maarten van der Velde <Maarten.van-der-Velde@...2171...> wrote:
In Inkscape I guess one usually starts with dimensions in pixels.
Not necessarily. You can use cm as default units and draw your stuff watching the sizes in cm in the x/y/w/h controls. Then just open Export and set 300 dpi there. No need to manually multiply numbers.
Not necessarily. You can use cm as default units and draw your stuff watching the sizes in cm in the x/y/w/h controls. Then just open Export and set 300 dpi there. No need to manually multiply numbers.
I dont know, if it is only in svn, but: If I set File->document properties and set the default unit to mm (not pixel). Save the document, and reopen it, the default unit will be revert to pixel.
The bigger problem, that all the unit saved in .svg file are in pixel. So there are rounding error everywhere. If I want to create some technical drawing (in mm), and have some exact line (say 40mm long line), as soon as I quite inkscape and reopen that file, my line will not be exact 40mm long.
Is it a know problem?
Ps: I really love the new dockable dialogs. Its so easy to work with inkscape with this feature added. Thanks!
Best regards, Khiraly
participants (10)
-
Adib Taraben -
bulia byak -
Carlos \"Guâno\" Grohmann -
Claus Cyrny -
Gustav Broberg -
jiho -
Jim Henderson -
Khiraly -
Maarten van der Velde -
Steve Litt