PRS-500 PDFrasterFarian v2.0 beta

[nerys]

like I said I know nothing about programming I just happened to notice that the smaller pages tended to get flipped. I am going to try to test this by making the second page difinitively smaller than the first (sine I have a 100% occurrence of first page second page swapping if this gets rid of it it increases the chances that size might be an issue)

[alex_d]

ok, nerys, you seem like you have plenty of enthusiasm to investigate this further. Open modules\kernel-processing.cmd. Near the bottom, on something like line 101, replace
del /Q "%relpath%\temp\stage1\%page%" & del /Q "......
with
REM del /Q "%relpath%\temp\stage1\%page%" & del /Q "......
this'll keep the intermediate file from being deleted.

Then, convert a pdf. When PDFrasterFarian finished, DO NOT "Press RETURN to close"
Look in the folders temp\stage4 through stage8 and also temp\result
Depending on the convert options, some of these folders may be empty. However, all the files you see are .PNG files. To open one, change its filename from, eg, 0001 to 0001.png. Please check these files to see if their filenames correspond to the actual pages they show. Also, upload temp\temp.lrs.

[nerys]

hmmmm I do not have a kerney processing cmd file

I have 4 Kernel files all are kernel-xxx
autocrop
HQ
none
simple

then 3 UI - xxx.cmd files

advanced
normal
simple

and book_thumb.gif

thats it ??

[Cogito]

Dear Alex,
Okay, I’m an idiot. And a Mac user. I only installed Windows on my computer so I can use the Sony Connect software. So forgive me for this newbie question…

When I run PDFrasterFarian (Windows NT Command Script), the screen offers three user interface levels, and no matter which one I choose, I receive the following error message:

!!ERROR: No OUTPUT filename specified in the command. NOTE: From the command line, use PDFrasterFarian “input.pdf” “output.lrf”

I know there’s something basic I can’t figure out. Would appreciate any thoughts.

Best,
Craig

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by Cogito

Dear Alex,
Okay, I’m an idiot. And a Mac user. I only installed Windows on my computer so I can use the Sony Connect software. So forgive me for this newbie question…

When I run PDFrasterFarian (Windows NT Command Script), the screen offers three user interface levels, and no matter which one I choose, I receive the following error message:

!!ERROR: No OUTPUT filename specified in the command. NOTE: From the command line, use PDFrasterFarian “input.pdf” “output.lrf”

I know there’s something basic I can’t figure out. Would appreciate any thoughts.

Best,
Craig

Craig,
After you've run the "install.cmd" batch once, you should have a context menu added for when you right-click on PDF files that says "PDFrasterFarian." Have you been using this option to convert, or have you been trying to run the "PDFrasterFarian.cmd" batch? I chose the basic setting when I installed the package and haven't encountered this error when using the context menu.

Hopefully this helps, if not I'm sure Alex will answer you shortly.

[alex_d]

dammit, nerys, download 2.1.4. you got me worried.


cogito, it's mostly what azayzel said. Also, have you read the screens carefully or been able to follow them? (i know for the most part they're pretty confusing) With a fresh windows install, you'll need Adobe Reader installed for the context menu to show up. It's a peculiarity of the way the windows registry works (and probably of my limited knowledge of it). Tips on how to reword the relevant screens or deal with the registry are appreciated.

[Cogito]

Thanks for the help Alex and Azayzel,
I was dragging my original .pdf onto the PDFrasterfarian icon, which opened the program but gave me the error I wrote of.
I then downloaded acrobat reader for the windows side of my computer and had to learn how to “right click” with a MacBook Pro which has only one button. (put two fingers on the track pad while clicking)
The program then opened and I just formatted my first book and can read it on my Sony.
Thank you again gentlemen,
Craig

[alex_d]

Ok, I was finally able to get 2.1.5 uploaded. Get it HERE (the link should work an hour after this is posted). Also, there's a copy of AutoImager here.

Some nice improvements for newbies (a few captions got reworded, esp the most confusing ones). A few minor fixes for the rest (esp. in regard to manual filename entry).

I feel this is the definitive pdfrasterfarian version. At least until I start implementing new features. (But no one's really requested any... although one-click profiles sound very useful.)

Please try it out and let me know if there's any showstoppers or if the rar is corrupt or anything.


Oh, one last thing. I found a couple PDFs that pdfrasterfarian croaks on. Just Another Printer dies on it too. Optimizing in Acrobat Pro doesn't help. If someone could please, please, please find a way to process this thing to make it work, I would greatly appreciate it.

A page from the broken PDF. PDFrasterFarian reports a page count of 0, JAP just gives an file error.

[alex_d]

ahh... ok. the problem with my pdf was the (R) symbol in the filename. It wasn't a windows script error this time (ie pdfrasterfarian itself). Instead it seems virtually every tool except for Acrobat Reader stops working when given such a filename (and doesn't tell you why).

[LockeCole]

Wow, I love you Alex! This program is BRILLIANT, seriously.

One suggestion for a future version (my appoligies if someone suggested this before) The option of choosing a range of pages, like 2-60 or whatnot to make into one file.

Seriously man, thanks alot I've been pulling my hair at the way Sony had the reader and connect handle files, you've made it so much easier. Thanks!

[pinenut]

I installed 2.1.5 but nothing happens on right clicking in Windows explorer. What else do I need to do?

[alex_d]

ok... no one's bothered to mention this, and I'm not sure why I haven't figured this out already, but blank pages, although technically work, still get autoimager to put out an error message and you have to click OK in order to continue. people... when you notice something like this, please say something.

anyway, to fix the annoyance get 2.1.6

[ogghead]

I downloaded 2.16 from the link in your comment, but both 7-Zip and UnRAR foir Windows gave me a CRC error. I downloaded it again--no luck. Does it unpack for others?

[ultim8fury]

Also getting a CRC error on 2.1.6 with MacPar Deluxe on OS X.

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by alex_d

ok... no one's bothered to mention this, and I'm not sure why I haven't figured this out already, but blank pages, although technically work, still get autoimager to put out an error message and you have to click OK in order to continue. people... when you notice something like this, please say something.

anyway, to fix the annoyance get 2.1.6

Hmmm... Alex, I've ran this on a PDF or two that had blank pages and didn't receive any errors. Not sure why, but I see the blank pages in the result. Haven't tried the latest version yet (though I'll d/l and test to check the CRC issue for you from my end), as I'm happy with how it works so far.

FYI I used you prog to prep up a manga scanlation following JE-Comic Creator and the results were friggin perfect! This is a great combination of two tools you dev's have put together. The result of the original PDF was ~26MB and after PDFrasterfarian it was down to ~12MB and pages loaded noticably quicker (not to mention the filters you run on the PDF removed quite a bit of ghosting). Here's a question though... If PDFrasterfarian transcodes the PDF to an image file, can't it be used to stitch together a bunch of images into a single file like JE-Comics Creator does? The reason I ask is that I'm trying to skip the whole convert to PDF portion of the process (though this only takes about 20-seconds).

Thanks man, have a nice day!