Printing as pdf - problems

Post questions on how to use or achieve an effect in Inkscape.
Eyesintheskies
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:41 pm

Printing as pdf - problems

Postby Eyesintheskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:11 pm

I'm attempting to make a pdf out of an svg.
My method:
1. Open svg.
2. Select FILE / PRINT / General Tab / PDF Complete / Print.
3. Inkscape will go into a state of "Not Responding" for about 5-minutes.
4. Then a message will come up saying "Location is not available. Filename refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on hard drive on this computer, or on a network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet on your network, then try again. If it still cannot be located,, the information might have been moved to a different location.'
5. 'PDF Complete Document Creations Options' pops open. In DRIVES it will show the wrong folder every single time, always the same folder, it will not display the folder my svg was selected from.
6. I will change DRIVES to the correct folder.
7. It will then give a message saying "No items match your search." :evil:
8. Process has failed and I am unable to select my file (which I had open right at the beginning of the process.)

I have a few hundred Inkscape svgs and exactly the same thing happens no matter which one I try to get a pdf out of.

Any ideas from those much wiser than me? :?: :?: :?:

I've also tried 'SAVE AS' a pdf. See below... After I select SAVE the pdf is created but it is always blank..
Attachments
inkscape grab of 'save as' pdf fail.png
inkscape grab of 'save as' pdf fail.png (52.57 KiB) Viewed 2096 times

User avatar
druban
Posts: 1917
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 10:48 pm

Re: Printing as pdf - problems

Postby druban » Sun Jun 23, 2013 5:34 pm

1. Are you running as admin? Do you have AV or other antimalware tools hat might be blocking this attempt? Look in their logs to see if you see a lot of 'successful protections at the same time as you were trying to print.
2. without seeing the file or knowing what is in it it's quite impossible to tell what the problem is. Is there a particular attachment you have to "PDF Complete"? Have you tried PDFprinter, Nitro PDF, and PDFcreator? These strike me as PDF virtual printers with a certain track record.
3. Why is the save as PDF function in Inkscape not working for you?
Your mind is what you think it is.

Eyesintheskies
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:41 pm

Re: Printing as pdf - problems

Postby Eyesintheskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 5:52 pm

"3. Why is the save as PDF function in Inkscape not working for you?"

I have no idea. 8-hours of hunting the internet and I can't find anything that gives a step by step guide on saving as a pdf - not even the Inkscape manual. Some box is probably not ticked - maybe. Finding it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

It's really quite impossible being a novice!

Back after more attempts....

I've now got 1 successful pdf in terms of the Inkscape pdf function working. No smooth sailing yet, tho. Most of the pdf is extremely faded to the extent quality and sense is totally lost. Now querying if anything can be done to preserve the original integrity of my svg?
Side by side screen grab examples showing loss below...
Attachments
pdf washed out.png
pdf washed out.png (104.6 KiB) Viewed 2065 times

Lazur
Posts: 4717
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2016 10:38 am

Re: Printing as pdf - problems

Postby Lazur » Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:23 pm

That example image shows your svg is full of rasters.
Apart from there seems to be some transparency issues,
keep in mind that most filters are raster based, and,
you have to set a resolution for turning filters to raster images, which results in enormous big files.
Also pdf jpeg compresses any raster element by default, so basically pdf won't give you the highest quality for such images.
In this situation exporting to png images would be better in my opinion.

Eyesintheskies
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:41 pm

Re: Printing as pdf - problems

Postby Eyesintheskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:16 pm

"In this situation exporting to png images would be better in my opinion."

I mastered producing gorgeous clean pngs - but the new book site don't want them. (AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!) They want pdfs.

Can I turn a nice clean png into a pdf? Will that turn out sharper/better?

"keep in mind that most filters are raster based, and, you have to set a resolution for turning filters to raster images, which results in enormous big files."

Lost! :cry: How is a resolution set for turning filters into raster images?

Lazur
Posts: 4717
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2016 10:38 am

Re: Printing as pdf - problems

Postby Lazur » Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:42 pm

When you save as pdf, a panel appears where you can set the rasterisation resolution of the filters, as well as turning fonts to their outlines and setting the pdf's canvas area to the drawing or to the page.

Turning png-s to pdf-s will cause some quality loss.
Just with any method that embeds raster images to a pdf. Pdf automatically jpeg compresses the rasters, which isn't a lossless procedure by itself.
So for the best quality, you have to find a pdfprinter, that you can set the compression ratio to a minimum.
Don't know which can be set with the less compression, but mentioned bullzip and cutepdf before.
Here are two others:
http://www.dopdf.com/
http://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator

Stating the obvious -more compression=less file size.
If there is a file size restriction as well at the page you want to upload, your highest quality pdf files could turn out too big for them, so
printing pdf-s with the smallest compression to produce a file that isn't bigger than the limit is the right workaround.

Eyesintheskies
Posts: 55
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:41 pm

Re: Printing as pdf - problems

Postby Eyesintheskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 9:43 pm

I'll check out bullzip, cutepdf, http://www.dopdf.com/ and http://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator.

And they say on these sites that uploading your book is easy.


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