Xpdf Version 3.04.14 Released

2015 Aug 10

Welcome to Glyph & Cog's newsletter for August 2015.

Table of contents:

PDFdeconstruct released -- PDF-to-XML conversion
PDFtoSVG released
Emulated multi-copy printing
Using DeviceN-to-RGB mode in XpdfRasterizer
Compressed TIFF output in XpdfRasterizer

Current release: 3.04.14

PDFdeconstruct released -- PDF-to-XML conversion

Our new PDF-to-XML converter, PDFdeconstruct, is now available:

http://www.glyphandcog.com/PDFdeconstruct.html

The XML output includes a description of the text, images, vector graphics, and form fields.

The manual is on our web site:

http://www.glyphandcog.com/manuals/PDFdeconstruct/index.html

PDFdeconstruct is useful for format conversion, document analysis, and complex content extraction. It's a cross-platform command-line tool, suitable for use on servers or for batch-mode processing.

If you're interested in trying out PDFdeconstruct, please contact us at info@glyphandcog.com for an evaluation copy.

PDFtoSVG released

Continuing in the XML vein, we've released the first version of PDFtoSVG, which is (obviously enough) a PDF-to-SVG converter:

http://www.glyphandcog.com/PDFtoSVG.html

The current version is powerful enough to convert most PDF files. Future work will include:

font conversion to WOFF and/or SVG fonts
transparency support
SVG file size optimization

Emulated multi-copy printing

XpdfPrint and XpdfViewer now have an option to select "emulated multi-copy" printing mode. For printers (or drivers) that don't support collation, or that don't support printing multiple copies at all, emulated multi-copy mode will generate a print stream containing multiple copies of each page, in collated order. The resulting spool files are larger, but collation will now work reliably on all printers.

Using emulated multi-copy mode is just a matter of setting the property:

XpdfPrintObject.emulatedMultiCopy = True

Using DeviceN-to-RGB mode in XpdfRasterizer

XpdfRasterizer now includes a DeviceN-to-RGB color mode. This mode uses Xpdf's DeviceN -- CMYK + spot colors -- rasterizer, which includes optional color management and overprint preview. As a final step, the image is converted to RGB format (also with color management). This mode can be used for accurate print previews.

Using DeviceN-to-RGB mode is simple:

' load the PDF file pdf.loadFile "input.pdf" ' enable color management; set profiles pdf.setConfig "enableColorManagement yes" pdf.setConfig "cmykOutputProfile c:/icc/ISOnewspaper26v4.icc" pdf.setConfig "rgbOutputProfile c:/icc/sRGB.icc" ' enable overprint preview pdf.setConfig "overprintPreview yes" ' generate an image file for page 5 at 150 dpi pdf.writePageBitmap 5, 150, pdf.imageDevNToRGB, pdf.imageFilePNG, "image.png"

Compressed TIFF output in XpdfRasterizer

XpdfRasterizer now includes support for compressed TIFF output. Supported compression modes are LZW, G3 (fax), and PackBits.

To use it, just set the "tiffCompression" property:

pdf.tiffCompression = pdf.tiffPackBits pdf.writePageBitmap 5, 150, pdf.imageRGB, pdf.imageFileTIFF, "image.tiff"

Glyph & Cog

Glyph & Cog has been a leading provider of software components for PDF manipulation since 2002.

For more information on any of the products mentioned here, see our web site:

http://www.glyphandcog.com/

or email us at info@glyphandcog.com

This newsletter is sent to all of our customers. If you don't want to receive future issues, please email info@glyphandcog.com.