soPdf - Better than Yet another PDF to LRF converter - Page 8

=X= · 06-02-2009, 02:44 PM

There is your problem. When you renamed you're file you called it "Input.pdf.pdf"

type this command instead

Code:

sopdf.exe -i input.pdf.pdf -o output.pdf

or rename the input file

Code:

Prompt> move input.pdf.pdf input.pdf
Prompt>sopdf.exe -i input.pdf -o output.pdf

What happens is Windows Explorer has this "feature" that hides the extension. When you rename a file and think you added an extension it does not your only adding the filename.

The command line however does not do this and requires the exact file name.

I hate that feature and disable it immediately.

enarchay · 06-02-2009, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

There is your problem. When you renamed you're file you called it "Input.pdf.pdf"

Ouch. Can't believe I didn't notice that.

I tried another file and this one didn't work. (See attachment.) What can I do when a file doesn't work? It looks fine in PDF reader.

Also, how can I make it so the output is in portrait rather than landscape?

frabjous · 06-04-2009, 03:30 PM

Quote:

What happens is Windows Explorer has this "feature" that hides the extension. When you rename a file and think you added an extension it does not your only adding the filename.

I like that you put "feature" in scare quotes. "Annoyance" would be more like it. (Luckily you can turn it off.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by enarchay

Ouch. Can't believe I didn't notice that.

I tried another file and this one didn't work. (See attachment.) What can I do when a file doesn't work? It looks fine in PDF reader.

I think there are some PDF versions soPDF just can't handle. Not sure if that's what you're seeing or what.

Quote:

Also, how can I make it so the output is in portrait rather than landscape?

Try experimenting with the "mode of operations" options. That is, instead of what you had before, do:

("Fit Height x2")
sopdf -i input.pdf -m1 -o output.pdf

or

("Fit Height")
sopdf -i input.pdf -m3 -o output.pdf

Actually now that you've got it working for at least some files, you could also try the GUI again, and see if it works at all.

enarchay · 06-05-2009, 08:19 PM

I got the GUI working. Some files don't work because of "errors." I tried it with proceed with errors but some still do not work. Others that do work still look just as bad on my ereader - and I think it's because they are A4 size.

skyfish · 06-08-2009, 01:18 AM

I use both the GUI and the command line tool. worked great. fast and gives small(er) files.

One question, is there an option to thicken the font? The font looks too thin on the 500. I used pdflrfwin.exe. I liked its ability to thicken the font, and it looks pretty good on the PRE500. but it is slow and converted files are much too big.

Or any other tool can thicken/change the font in a PDF file?

frabjous · 06-08-2009, 12:21 PM

There aren't any options besides those provided in the GUI, currently. The source code is there, however, if you want to play with it. Too bad theguru hasn't been around lately, though.

I don't really understand what you're looking for, though. Does the PRS-500 even support PDFs? I thought it didn't.

PDFLRF works by convering the files to images, which is why the files are so big, but that's what makes it possible to darken the image. (It isn't changing the font.) If you want a different font but still a text-based file, you'd be better off, I think, trying to convert the PDF to a different format and playing with it from there. How well that works depends a lot on the specifics of the PDF.

whatnopaper · 06-08-2009, 12:38 PM

Hi theguru,

Thanks for an excellent tool. After trying a bunch of tools to convert pdfs for my sony reader, this one works best for me.

The conversion from pdf to pdf is very fast.

For further development, is it possible to slightly nudge text that is hanging off too far to the left or right as is the case with chapter headers? That way the white space crop will be able to cut more and produce a better result.

eg (original)
Chapter 1.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Should be changed to :

Chapter 1.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

skyfish · 06-10-2009, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frabjous

There aren't any options besides those provided in the GUI, currently. The source code is there, however, if you want to play with it. Too bad theguru hasn't been around lately, though.

I don't really understand what you're looking for, though. Does the PRS-500 even support PDFs? I thought it didn't.

PDFLRF works by convering the files to images, which is why the files are so big, but that's what makes it possible to darken the image. (It isn't changing the font.) If you want a different font but still a text-based file, you'd be better off, I think, trying to convert the PDF to a different format and playing with it from there. How well that works depends a lot on the specifics of the PDF.

500 does display PDF, but not well at all. I like soPDF because it keeps PDF format. But because of 500's poor support for PDF, the font still looks faint. PDFLRF works fine, but it taker much longer to convert, and much bigger because of images. also I could not get TOC to work, while soPDF keeps TOC.

I have tried converting PDF to other format. For books have relatively simple texts, it is OK. but most of my PDFs contain pictures, tables, indented codes, etc. I have not yet found any program can handle well. soPDF is the closest I can get. if I can change the font it would be almost perfect.

dracodoc · 06-12-2009, 01:39 PM

I have a question, what does 2xwidth and 2xheight mean? I tried the result but don't know why it is called that. Does that mean the page was rotated and split in half, so that each page was turned into 2 page exactly?

Besides, soPDF is much much quicker than pdflrf, but I found I still need pdflrf to process scanned pdf(not just comics, I have lots of scanned pdf. I think many google public ebook available to sony users are scanned too). The most valued feature of pdflrf to me is to crop the edge automatically -- I can crop pages in acrobat, but scanned pdf can have all kinds of layout in page, you can't have good result with fixed crop box.

I found a software called instacropper which can crop edge of picture automatically, but to export scanned pdf to jpg will increase the file size significantly(the data in scanned pdf are images, but to convert to jpg must increased file size a lot) , so it is not a good idea.

mianwo · 06-19-2009, 12:18 PM

I love this tool!

Before this, I was always painstakingly crop the pdf pages manually, which inevitably creates incomplete pages from time to time because dimension fits one page doesn't always fits another, even if they are from the same book.
Now I can use this tool to crop those pdfs for me, and won't have to worry about a wrong cropping size. That's so great!

However, soPDF seems not working very well with pdf that has variable dimensions for different pages. I have some pdfs that use landscape for some page but portrait for others. By default, soPDF will cut the page in half from the middle of the page horizontally. This worked well with portrait pages, but for landscape pages, it's totally wrong.

So I'm thinking if you can add another feature of detecting the page dimension first and then decide how to cut the page based on the real dimension, this tool will be perfect!

olin · 06-22-2009, 05:22 PM

I tried to run it on a Windows XP x64 machine and got "... side-by-side configuration is incorrect ..." error. Is it a problem with x64? Thanks.

joedevon · 06-27-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dracodoc

I have a question, what does 2xwidth and 2xheight mean? I tried the result but don't know why it is called that. Does that mean the page was rotated and split in half, so that each page was turned into 2 page exactly?

I'm totally baffled by that too. Hopefully someone will answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyfish

soPDF is the closest I can get. if I can change the font it would be almost perfect.

I agree 100%!

frabjous · 06-27-2009, 01:51 PM

Yes, 2xHeight and 2xWidth both cut the page in half and rotate it, in different ways. Just try them both and see the results you get to compare. I'm not exactly sure why they're called that myself. I would have called them something else.

Changing the font is not in the works for this kind of converter. You'd be better off trying to convert the PDF to some other format, and then change the font, and if need be, convert back to PDF.

joedevon · 06-28-2009, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frabjous

Yes, 2xHeight and 2xWidth both cut the page in half and rotate it, in different ways. Just try them both and see the results you get to compare. I'm not exactly sure why they're called that myself. I would have called them something else.

Changing the font is not in the works for this kind of converter. You'd be better off trying to convert the PDF to some other format, and then change the font, and if need be, convert back to PDF.

I've tried so many things, kinda giving up on being able to change the font. Now the only thing I'm hoping to find is a way to add bookmarks to chapters from outside the Reader. Doesn't seem like Calibre will do it & no luck w/ the other tools I've tried. BookDesigner has been way too frustrating to deal w/ ...at least w/ the PDFs I'm working on...shame because it looked to be the easiest way to deal w/ bookmarks.

frabjous · 06-29-2009, 06:27 PM

I really only use SoPDF for personal viewing, and then I don't find adding bookmarks to be worthwhile.

Since I'm a LaTeX user, if I wanted to do this, I do such things with pdflatex and the pdfpages and/or hyperref packages.

However, what is your input file format? Already PDF? Do the PDFs already have bookmarks, and you're just trying to preserve them through the conversion process, or are you adding new ones?

06-02-2009, 02:44 PM	#106
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	There is your problem. When you renamed you're file you called it "Input.pdf.pdf" type this command instead Code: sopdf.exe -i input.pdf.pdf -o output.pdf or rename the input file Code: Prompt> move input.pdf.pdf input.pdf Prompt>sopdf.exe -i input.pdf -o output.pdf What happens is Windows Explorer has this "feature" that hides the extension. When you rename a file and think you added an extension it does not your only adding the filename. The command line however does not do this and requires the exact file name. I hate that feature and disable it immediately.

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06-05-2009, 08:19 PM	#109
enarchay Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2009 Device: none	I got the GUI working. Some files don't work because of "errors." I tried it with proceed with errors but some still do not work. Others that do work still look just as bad on my ereader - and I think it's because they are A4 size.

06-08-2009, 01:18 AM	#110
skyfish Enthusiast Posts: 32 Karma: 84 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: NOOK, Win8 tablet, iPad	I use both the GUI and the command line tool. worked great. fast and gives small(er) files. One question, is there an option to thicken the font? The font looks too thin on the 500. I used pdflrfwin.exe. I liked its ability to thicken the font, and it looks pretty good on the PRE500. but it is slow and converted files are much too big. Or any other tool can thicken/change the font in a PDF file?

06-08-2009, 12:21 PM	#111
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	There aren't any options besides those provided in the GUI, currently. The source code is there, however, if you want to play with it. Too bad theguru hasn't been around lately, though. I don't really understand what you're looking for, though. Does the PRS-500 even support PDFs? I thought it didn't. PDFLRF works by convering the files to images, which is why the files are so big, but that's what makes it possible to darken the image. (It isn't changing the font.) If you want a different font but still a text-based file, you'd be better off, I think, trying to convert the PDF to a different format and playing with it from there. How well that works depends a lot on the specifics of the PDF.

06-08-2009, 12:38 PM	#112
whatnopaper Alien life form Posts: 18 Karma: 58 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Device: Kobo tablet, Forma, iPad	Hi theguru, Thanks for an excellent tool. After trying a bunch of tools to convert pdfs for my sony reader, this one works best for me. The conversion from pdf to pdf is very fast. For further development, is it possible to slightly nudge text that is hanging off too far to the left or right as is the case with chapter headers? That way the white space crop will be able to cut more and produce a better result. eg (original) Chapter 1. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Should be changed to : Chapter 1. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

06-12-2009, 01:39 PM	#114
dracodoc Connoisseur Posts: 83 Karma: 322 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle DXG, Sony T1	I have a question, what does 2xwidth and 2xheight mean? I tried the result but don't know why it is called that. Does that mean the page was rotated and split in half, so that each page was turned into 2 page exactly? Besides, soPDF is much much quicker than pdflrf, but I found I still need pdflrf to process scanned pdf(not just comics, I have lots of scanned pdf. I think many google public ebook available to sony users are scanned too). The most valued feature of pdflrf to me is to crop the edge automatically -- I can crop pages in acrobat, but scanned pdf can have all kinds of layout in page, you can't have good result with fixed crop box. I found a software called instacropper which can crop edge of picture automatically, but to export scanned pdf to jpg will increase the file size significantly(the data in scanned pdf are images, but to convert to jpg must increased file size a lot) , so it is not a good idea.

06-19-2009, 12:18 PM	#115
mianwo Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: SONY PRS-505	I love this tool! Before this, I was always painstakingly crop the pdf pages manually, which inevitably creates incomplete pages from time to time because dimension fits one page doesn't always fits another, even if they are from the same book. Now I can use this tool to crop those pdfs for me, and won't have to worry about a wrong cropping size. That's so great! However, soPDF seems not working very well with pdf that has variable dimensions for different pages. I have some pdfs that use landscape for some page but portrait for others. By default, soPDF will cut the page in half from the middle of the page horizontally. This worked well with portrait pages, but for landscape pages, it's totally wrong. So I'm thinking if you can add another feature of detecting the page dimension first and then decide how to cut the page based on the real dimension, this tool will be perfect!

06-22-2009, 05:22 PM	#116
olin Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: none	I tried to run it on a Windows XP x64 machine and got "... side-by-side configuration is incorrect ..." error. Is it a problem with x64? Thanks.

06-27-2009, 01:51 PM	#118
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	Yes, 2xHeight and 2xWidth both cut the page in half and rotate it, in different ways. Just try them both and see the results you get to compare. I'm not exactly sure why they're called that myself. I would have called them something else. Changing the font is not in the works for this kind of converter. You'd be better off trying to convert the PDF to some other format, and then change the font, and if need be, convert back to PDF.

06-29-2009, 06:27 PM	#120
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	I really only use SoPDF for personal viewing, and then I don't find adding bookmarks to be worthwhile. Since I'm a LaTeX user, if I wanted to do this, I do such things with pdflatex and the pdfpages and/or hyperref packages. However, what is your input file format? Already PDF? Do the PDFs already have bookmarks, and you're just trying to preserve them through the conversion process, or are you adding new ones?

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