topic Re: How to crop PDF files ?? in Modeling

How to crop PDF files ??

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 13:46:51 GMT

Well, this isn't specifically an ArchiCAD problem.

I use scanned bitmap PDF files in my ArchiCAD files. Often these are cropped from multipage PDF files in Acrobat Pro.

The problem is that any cropped drawing (a detail, for example), when made into a file, the file size is no smaller than the original file.

That is to say: the cropped drawing is the same file as the original multipage file, but only the viewport has changed.

I can 'extract' the relevant page from the multipage PDF and then crop it, but it is still large as that full page. This also puts and extra stage in dealing with these files.

Is there a way to actually CROP the PDF, losing all uneeded data, quickly? Acrobat Pro can't seem to be able to do this with scanned bitmap files.

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

TomWaltz — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:02:50 GMT

In Adobe Pro, after you crop, perform a "Save as" instead of a "Save." It will remove any extra data that you cropped or pages that were deleted.

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:43:45 GMT

Hi Tom.

Er, are you sure? That's what I do. I have tried all the different types of Crop type in Acrobat too: crop, trim, bleed, art.

It seems whatever I do, the extra data is there, and only the viewport changes. The best I can do is 'extract' the relevant page from a mutipage file - but even then, a cropped detail on that page still has the rest of the page in the file.

Remember that I am only talking about scanned bitmaps, so Acrobat seems to be treating the whole page or muiltpage file as an element.

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:42:12 GMT

have you tried "PDF Optimizer" under the advanced... menu? At least that's where it is under Acrobat 6. That should throw out any extra datas left over from things like cropping if the save as doesn't get it...

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

TomWaltz — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 17:52:04 GMT

SuperJasE wrote:
Hi Tom.

Er, are you sure? That's what I do. I have tried all the different types of Crop type in Acrobat too: crop, trim, bleed, art.

It seems whatever I do, the extra data is there, and only the viewport changes. The best I can do is 'extract' the relevant page from a mutipage file - but even then, a cropped detail on that page still has the rest of the page in the file.

Remember that I am only talking about scanned bitmaps, so Acrobat seems to be treating the whole page or muiltpage file as an element.

Maybe I'm wrong. I know it works with removing and replacing pages and thought that it applied to cropping as well. I know Adobe uses non-destructive editing for cropping, but I thought the "Save as" made it permanent... maybe not?

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Steve Jepson — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 06:48:52 GMT

SuperJasE,

IBM XT 4.77mhz, 360k 5.25, Floppy, 10MB HDD, 640k RAM, MS-DOS 3.3, mouse.

Do you need a Math Co-processor with that?

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Djordje — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 04:34:08 GMT

Steve wrote:
SuperJasE,

IBM XT 4.77mhz, 360k 5.25, Floppy, 10MB HDD, 640k RAM, MS-DOS 3.3, mouse.

Do you need a Math Co-processor with that?

Yes he does!

At least, I did for AutoCAD 2.62 back in 1988 ...

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Steve Jepson — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 14:51:03 GMT

What is the modern day equivalant of a math co-processor ?

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

TomWaltz — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 14:22:06 GMT

Steve wrote:
What is the modern day equivalant of a math co-processor ?

There isn't one, really. There's a lot more than a CPU in a "processor" anymore, and the math part is not really though of as a separate element.

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Steve Jepson — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 14:58:08 GMT

Thanks Tom, I was curious about that.

SuperJasE,

Instead of cropping your PDF's why don't you just change the size of your viewport window and change the scale?

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 12:16:31 GMT

Steve wrote:
Instead of cropping your PDF's why don't you just change the size of your viewport window and change the scale?

Hi Steve. The last few days whenever I've tried this forum it seems to have been down.

I'm not sure why you suggest changing scale, as this is not a problem, and there is no problem with setting the drawing scale or rescaling the PDF image in ArchiCAD.

What has bothered me about this is say if I crop a few images from a large multi-page PDF file: all the cropped pictures are in separate PDF files, but all those files are the same size as the original multi-page file file. So what I am essentially doing is just changing the viewport. This could potentially also be a problem if you don't want the rest of the file to be viewed by the recipient for whatever reason.

However, the PDF Optimizer that has been suggested does make the files quite a lot smaller. I'm not certain if the other data has been removed, but it seems to be a good solution. The only problem is that it adds another step to an already clumsy process when cropping out details.

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Thomas Holm — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:49:32 GMT

I've checked, and it's true that Adobe Acrobat only adds a cropping viewport, it doesn't reduce the content of the PDF. If that is what you want, and the PDFs really contain nothing but bit-maps, a photo editor like Photoshop, that allows you to save as PDF is what you need. It will crop and delete the content outside of the crop.

You might also try to print the cropped PDF to a new PDF file, using a PrintToPdf utility. In MacOSX, you can do that with Preview. Adobe won't allow it. In Windows, Aymuni might do it, I don't know.

If the PDFs also contain vector data, it's trickier to crop-and-delete. Illustrator will do it, but not always the way I like it.

Re: How to crop PDF files ??

Steve Jepson — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 14:56:30 GMT

SuperJasE,

I had trouble with the website for a while too.

I think I know what you mean about your PDF files.

Like when I get a set of truss drawings in PDF format and I want to add a few profiles to my drawings. I crop off a lot of the mubojumbo below the diagram and drop that into my ArchiCAD drawings. When you try to do something like this you are getting more than just the image you cropped in Arcobat. Is that right?
I don't seem to have that problem. I am using Acrobat 7.0.8
I go to the page I want a part of, crop it to what i want to see, then I click on Document-Extract Pages-check the Extract Pages As Separate Files box-and save to my job folder. Then place it in ArchiCAD using the Drawing Tool.

Is that what you do too?