[Scribus] scribus and pdf export

[Craig Bradney]

On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 15:02, Peter Linnell wrote:
> On Monday 03 May 2004 08:40 am, Franky wrote:
> > Peter Linnell wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 08:14, Franky wrote:
> > >>Craig Bradney wrote:
> > >>>On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 13:08, Franky wrote:
> > >>>>Hi all,
> > >>>>
> > >>>>I've come across some pdf issues with scribus (and no, it's not xpdf or
> > >>>>acrobat that has the problem):
> > >>>>
> > >>>>- when exporting a doc to pdf with png images in it that have
> > >>>>transparant background, the background get's set to black on the pdf
> > >>>>file. The print-to-file generated postscript file shows this correctly.
> > >>>
> > >>>Make sure you have the 1.4 transparency feature turned on in Display and
> > >>>exporting with the Acro 5.0 (PDF 1.4) setting. I use PNGs with
> > >>>transparencies a lot and find no issues.
> > >>
> > >>that's a weird place to put a pdf setting ... But anyway, I tried it and
> > >>it made no difference whatsoever: xpdf always shows a black background.
> > >>Acrobat reader then always shows it correctly (with or without this
> > >>setting).
> > >>
> > >>for the other stuff: I'll try to install a cvs version ...
> > >>
> > >>Franky
> > >>
> > >>______________________________________________________________________
> > >
> > > Snipping from the unpublished 1.2 docs:
> > >
> > >
> > > One of the challenges with PDF and EPS viewers on Linux, is that Scribus
> > > creates high end PS level 3 and PDF 1.4, with capabilities beyond most
> > > of the open source viewers. Some of these features are only supported in
> > > commercial pre-press or DTP tools. Two plus years of working with
> > > Scribus has led me to the current conclusion that the following three
> > > viewers are the most reliable at displaying PS/EPS/PDF created by
> > > Scribus:
> > >
> > >       * Acrobat Reader 5.0.8+ for Linux - The best and sometimes the
> > >         only choice for PDF viewing. Detailed notes and hints: Hidden
> > >         Features of Acro Reader.
> > >       * GSview 4.6+ - with the latest version of Ghostscript available.
> > >         This combination is your best choice for viewing EPS files, PS
> > >         files and most PDFs. In addition, GSview has many other very
> > >         useful capabilities with add-ons like pstoedit and epstool. For
> > >         more detailed notes and hints: GSview and Scribus. I consider it
> > >         an essential tool for DTP on Linux.
> > >       * Xpdf 3.00+ - This updated PDF viewer has a new rendering engine
> > >         and is capable of viewing PDF 1.5 files.
> > > If any other PDF or EPS viewer you choose cannot display PDFs from
> > > Scribus, but they do view properly in Acrobat Reader, file a bug with
> > > the upstream author. In virtually all cases I have tested, it is a
> > > limitation of the viewing application. Scribus PDFs are tested daily
> > > with specialist pre-press software to validate their adherence to the
> > > published PDF specifications.
> > > <endsip>
> > >
> > > Note above I mentioned Xpdf 3.00+, as it has a new rendering engine
> > > which is capable of Displaying the latest 1.5 PDF. Version 2.0x,
> > > sometimes has difficulties with certain kinds of images.
> >
> > ah, but I thought scribus generated 1.4 PDF files, and xpdf 2.0x
> > *should* be able to display those. Anyway, I tried the latest xpdf (3.0)
> > version and it's the same result: always black background.
> > But why has the "1.4 transparency feature" no effect then: it's always
> > transparant in acrobat reader, and always black background in xpdf ...
> >
> > Franky
> 
> Files a bug with the author.  It is a bug in Xpdf.

Franky, 

Basically, at this point, you cant rely on xpdf, kpdf, gpdf etc to
reliably represent your PDFs that Scribus/other PDF producers (eg ID2
etc) can output. One day they will catch up to the standards and will be
able to. They do do a great job, but for certain operations, they are
not up to scratch. As I said, the only ones you can rely on are Adobe
Acrobat Reader 5.x and then 6.0. We did recently find a bug in 5.x, that
has been fixed in 6.0. Hopefully Adobe find it a good thing and release
6.x for Linux one day soon.

Craig
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
Url : http://nashi.altmuehlnet.de/pipermail/scribus/attachments/20040503/7bd4117c/attachment.pgp