Hi! This is my first topic on the forums. I'm not into graphics at all but Inkscape is brilliant and i like the possibilities of vector graphics opposed to raster graphics.

My question is - how do I export Inkscape graphic into PDF. I tried everything I could think of:

- save as PDF:
pdf is 900 KB but when I try to print it my printer window shows that 70MB "project" is being prepared for my printer and nothing is printed. Plus the transparencies (opacity 50%) are not saved (converted to 100% opacity).

- print using PDF creator:
Some vector elements are blurred.

- import SVG into scribus:
Yes, I was desperate. Many elements of my simple drawing was not imported.

The bottom line is I could not get WYSIWYG PDF out of Inkcape.

Exporting to pdf and eps has been improved since 0.46 so you might want to try a development version or wait for 0.47 to come out.

http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php ... EPS_export

The thing is I already tried the latest nightly build and it's the same regarding PDF export :/

Edit:
Anyone? It's rather fundamental functionality in this kind of software.

Nightly builds export to PDF just fine. Transparency is preserved and filters are rasterized, and the PDF is well compressed and small enough.

WIthout a specific file to look at, we can't help you. Please make sure you really run a latest build (open Help > About, report what you see in the top right corner) and if it persists, file a bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/ attaching your input and output files.

I've just made a clean reinstall (with preferences deleted from C:\...) and About screen says "built Jun 19 2009". I don't think submitting my files is necessary as I get the same results even with fresh drawing with 3 circles with opacity set to 50%. They appear in PDF at 100% opacity.

I'm using the same Inkscape version, built on June 19, 2009.

When I draw 3 circles, position them to overlap each other, all fill them and give them each a different color and set opacity to 50% for each and then save as PDF, I get a pdf that shows exactly what I saw in Inkscape, including the opacity.

So it might be worth to submit your files anyway.

By the way, what program are you using to view the PDF? Could that perhaps be the culprit?

Thank you for your reply and yes, it was partialy Foxit Reader's fault. Partialy because there is still something wrong with the Aircraft Recognition Guide exported to pdf:

- printed copy has slight grey background under bitmap 3-way views; not present in png neither in pdf

* printer set to maximum quality; HP 1005, fresh one, latest drivers

- the helmet-wing emblem renders awfully slowly in Foxit, Acrobat reader and XChange

These are the only issues left but I uploaded all the files (ARG and circles) anyway.
http://rapidshare.com/files/250998262/I ... problem.7z

I would be grateful if someone could take a look at it.

I removed Foxit Reader quite soon after having it installed, because it has many problems in displaying documents correctly. For me it's not yet a usable alternative for Acrobat Reader.

- printed copy has slight grey background under bitmap 3-way views; not present in png neither in pdf

When I look at the Hawker Hurricane front view, I see a gray background, in the SVG, in the PDF and in a PNG I created myself out of the SVG. The gray backgrund is already in the SVG, in the orignal bitmaps you used. Maybe you need to adjust your monitor settings to see it as well? Or "clean up" the original bitmap in an external raster editor and then re-import the drawing in Inkscape. Or trace the bitmap in Inkscape to a bunch of paths.

- the helmet-wing emblem renders awfully slowly in Foxit, Acrobat reader and XChange

I know......

I worked around that issue by replacing svg objects by bitmaps

Put the helmet-drawing in a separate SVG and export that to a large PNG (e.g. 300 dpi). Then include that PNG in your drawing in place of the original helmet. You will loose scalability (how much depends on the size of the PNG) but will gain a lot in rendering speed.

I use Foxit reader for like two years now and I have never stumbled on an improper doc display. This is the first time and I still consider it a minor issue because i use PDFs with vector graphics extremely rarely. Interesting thig - I bet I opened a lot of professionaly created leaflets in Foxit Reader and I have never seen any issues. Maybe because I had no comparison like in this case...

No, no, by light grey background I mean very light grey but solid rectangles under every bitmap 3-way view, the size of the bitmap. And all of the 3-way views are single bitmaps - each bitmap presents all 3 views of each aircraft. In other words - one aircraft, one bitmap.

Thanks for the possible solution for slow rendering. It is worth mentioning that I don't recall literally any kind of element to be rendered faster(including extremely high res jpegs) in Acrobat Reader than in Foxit Reader. No to mention Acrobat Reader alone is bloated.

Oh, one more thing. Using opacity gives kind of bad results on black&white printers so I will rather use lighter 100% opacity colors instead.