[scribus] Loading pdf files into Scribus.

[Vladimir Savic]

On 04/21/2012 01:18 AM, john Culleton wrote:
> I have four pdfs from a customer that I need to patch a bit. They
> are roughly 14 x 11 and run about 3 to 5 mb each. As near as I
> can tell they are about 100 dpi density. These are cover
> graphics produced by InDesign.
>
> I have a problem with the density. But laying that aside I don't
> seem to be able to load them into either 1.4.1 svn or 1.5.0. I
> tried importing one of them and also loading into a graphic
> screen. They can be viewed in Acrobat Reader and Gimp. But
> Scribus (both versions) chokes. I tried converting to ps and then
> loading them but that doesn't play nicely either, and the ps file
> was huge.
>
> Any suggestions on how to tame the beasties in Scribus?
>

All depends on what you mean by "patching a bit"...

Is it a bitmap contained into PDF file or it's a mixture of bitmap and 
vector elements. If you're not sure, I suggest opening file in inkscape. 
If there are vector elements, you'll be able to select them individually 
in inkscape as separate objects. If not, you're likely dealing with 
picture (just as png, jpg or tiff) exported as PDF.

Problem with editing in inkscape is that you'll lose cmyk and spot color 
properties if exported to svg or pdf. For simple files you might be able 
to export svg from there and importing it into scribus (as vector 
graphic), where you can tweak colors.

Other solution is to import given PDF in graphic frame in scribus. If 
you've built your version with podofo library, there is an Experimental 
option in Export dilog to embed PDFs in PDF. You wont be able to edit 
them, though. This approach is the best for including adds into magazine 
layouts, for example.

If you have to tweak bitmap graphic of PDF, you might be better 
rasterizing pdf in GIMP, but bear in mind that 100dpi isn't suitable for 
home printing, let alone commercial printing, be it offset or digital. I 
would never go below 300dpi for my own work...

As you can see, there are numerous approaches to your problem, but you 
need to know what you WANT to achieve. Without seeing problematic PDF I 
can't help you any further.

Cheers,
Vlada