[scribus] Merge layers capability.

[John Culleton]

On Thursday 27 August 2009 09:13:17 a.l.e wrote:
> hi john
>
> >>> Gimp has it, Scribus to my knowledge doesn't.  Is it planned
> >>> for any future release?
> >>
> >> well, basically, it's not hard to implement...
> >>
> >> and, if you don't need to retain the blend mode, you can use a
> >> simple workaround: go in the upper layer, select all, cut; go in
> >> the lower layer, paste; delete the empty layer.
> >
> > Sorry, blend mode is the whole point. If I just export a layered
> > file to e.g. pdf 1.3 then all the transparencies become opaque.
> > But some USA printers require that files be flattened before
> > printing.  With Gimp you can merge files down and retain effects
> > like blends. But Gimp won't work in or produce CMYK although it
> > is getting closer to that point.
>
> this is not what you asked in your first mail :-) or at least not
> what i understood from it...
>
> flattening on pdf export is a difficult task and is planned... but
> -- afaik -- it won't probably happen in the near future.
>
> have fun
> a.l.e

To be clear I am asking for an internal way to merge layers down in 
such a way that the overall appearance is not affected, as can be 
done in Gimp.  Scribus using pdf 1.3 output will today reduce layers, 
but effects like blends are lost. 

It is of course possible to work in Gimp and import the merged image 
into Scribus but then we run into RGB to CMYK problems.


-- 
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters