[scribus] Drop Shadow

[Vladimir Savic]

On 01/17/2012 07:25 PM, Louis Desjardins wrote:
> 2012/1/17 Gregory Pittman<gregp_ky at yahoo.com>
>
>> On 01/17/2012 12:11 PM, Vladimir Savic wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 01/17/2012 04:22 PM, Gregory Pittman wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 01/17/2012 10:11 AM, Gregory Pittman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 01/17/2012 09:59 AM, Stefan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Only the newest PDF versions support transparency.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> And many commercial printers forbid transparency in PDF
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   It's important to note that one can flatten transparency. One way to
>>>>> do
>>>>> this is to print from Scribus to a file, which creates a PS file, which
>>>>> can then be converted to PDF 1.3 with the appearance of having the
>>>>> transparency.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Oops! not this way.
>>>>
>>>> Instead export to pdf1.4 in Scribus, then pdftops, then ps2pdf13.
>>>>
>>>> Greg
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Why don't we just get rid of PDF 1.3. It's of little use for anyone
>>> these days. Yet, it can render many users confused. I'm aware of need
>>> for supporting PDF X-3, but what if we pay much more attention in
>>> Preflight process on X-3 export? Informing user what might get wrong
>>> and/or even employing ghostscript for converting some temp file created
>>> by Scribus, if transparency is present, that is. In this part of Europe
>>> we have no need for X-3, so I have a little insight on potential
>>> problems by pdfX3-ps-pdfX3 conversion.
>>> Being realistic, it's unlikely we'll get useful flattener anytime soon.
>>> I'm not even sure I want it now since it would drive developers away
>>> from much more needed stuff. I don't like excuses for not having
>>> "native" blur objects in Scribus. :) It affects SVG import, on which
>>> many, if not all, designers on Linux rely, and makes work-flow for
>>> getting soft shadows so complicated that I could understand if one would
>>> never get into.
>>> I know this "solution" is radical, but I don't think it's insane.
>>>
>>>   It's neither radical nor insane, but what if you want to create PDF 1.3,
>> and don't have any transparency? The basic capability is there. I think the
>> default setting for Scribus export is 1.4; the warnings from Preflight
>> Viewer are nonetheless a good thing -- we might change the language to
>> "advisory", but I think it's still worthwhile.
>>
>
> Hi Vlada and all,
>
> This might help get the full picture.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/X
>
> PDF/X-1a:2001 is still used a lot in North America.
>
> Taking away an Export option is debatable of course but really I would not
> advise to do so. The Preflight warnings are based on the Export chosen by
> the user. It's so easy to use that it's not an issue. While printers may
> ask for a specific flavour of PDF/X... again a good communication will only
> help dealing with exceptions. PDF/X-... is there to help good communication
> but exporting to PDF 1.4 does not mean that the file won't print.

Hi Louis! It's been a long time...

I didn't advise removing X-3 since it is still used. What I suggest is 
involving gs conversion method for all PDF 1.3 based formats (that 
includes x-3, I believe) so we can use transparencies - Drop shadow in 
this context.

Vlada

> Cheers!
>
> Louis
>