New effects appear when saving as pdf

Post questions on how to use or achieve an effect in Inkscape.
acurt7
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:19 am

New effects appear when saving as pdf

Postby acurt7 » Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:32 am

I'm trying to convert some figures I've made in inkscape to flattened 300dpi tiffs for publication, but have been unsuccessful so far. I originally submitted the figures by exporting as 300dpi .png files then converting to .tiffs with image magick, but those were deemed to be too low quality.

The journal recommended I saved my .svg as .pdf then used another program to save as a .tiff. However, when I do this an effect appears in the upper right hand corner of many of the individual images that make up the figures. It only seems to happen to figures that someone else had originally worked on in illustrator/photoshop. Is there any way to get rid of these, or to force inkscape to save exactly what appears?

I'm attaching two images as an example.

Thank you for any ideas, I'm really stuck on this!

SVG.jpg
SVG.jpg (187.75 KiB) Viewed 910 times

pdf.jpg
pdf.jpg (190.84 KiB) Viewed 910 times

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: New effects appear when saving as pdf

Postby Moini » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:11 am

Mmh, yes, this is interesting. Would you be able to share the svg file, or perhaps a file that produces the same result, if you are not allowed to share the original ELISA images?
Something doesn't work? - Keeping an eye on the status bar can save you a lot of time!

Inkscape FAQ - Learning Resources - Website with tutorials (German and English)

acurt7
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2017 4:19 am

Re: New effects appear when saving as pdf

Postby acurt7 » Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:39 am

Hi Moini,
Thank's for the reply!

I can't share the file because they are pending publication in a journal, but I uploaded a single image that recreates the issue to dropbox.

I export them using File>save as>pdf>300 dpi.

svg: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ldusp8vtuh2tvq9/test.svg?dl=0
pdf : https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bz9q7rjpdaqouk/test.pdf?dl=0

Thanks! :D

Moini
Posts: 3381
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 10:44 am

Re: New effects appear when saving as pdf

Postby Moini » Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:43 am

The fix is easy, acurt7 (I don't know what causes it, but I guess it's some pdf transparency issue, or ... no idea.):

Select the object, ungroup, then do Object -> Mask -> Release and delete the mask object (black rectangle).

Instead of 'Save as', better use 'Save copy as', then you will not lose information (or add cruft). It's always best to keep an up-to-date version of the original SVG image.
I suspect the mask has been created during a roundtrip through pdf, but it is not needed at all.
Something doesn't work? - Keeping an eye on the status bar can save you a lot of time!

Inkscape FAQ - Learning Resources - Website with tutorials (German and English)


Return to “Help with using Inkscape”