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wannabee · 11-17-2010, 07:59 AM

I don't know Yuxi because I didn't try that method because I assumed it was just too complicated a way of getting an ePub from PDF. Did you try ORIGINAL from the IMAGES selection when exporting from InDesign? FORMAT will turn any placed image in InDesign to whatever the selected output is . . . GIF, JPEG or AUTO all become images at the same size they display in InDesign. Because that's what FORMAT does it converts placed images in InDesign into ePub readable images at the size they are displayed in InDesign.

So I'm sure InDesign is treating the placed PDFs as images because they are, after all, in an images box. You could try ORIGINAL and see what result you get. I've not tried this because I hadn't thought that Adobe would have a converter for PDF built into the export feature when they don't even supply an input field for the date metadata.

Having not actually solved your problem others may be searching for similar reasons so I'll mention a few other things I've gleaned.

Another step I'd try if you can cope with the page as a resizable image is opening the PDF in Illustrator and converting the file to SVG. However this wasn't as simple as I thought. I had to track down a third party supplier that has an Illustrator plug in for SVG support as it's not a standard Adobe supplied format any more.

SVG opened up a whole new can of worms for me because every post I found on using SVG on Mobile Read was by people that could actually write SVG and were writing it into there XHTML files or using it for scientific glyphs embedded in text. I'm more of a cut and paste guy and code at the end when I have absolutely no choice.

I have only been successful with SVG from InDesign for my needs while treating it as an image. So, from Illustrator, I converted all text as outlines and treated the converted PDF as an image.

I know we have come full circle with PDF as images, but at least they are scalable images (on an iPad - or futurePad) which are perfectly readable.

It's great on an iPad. Double tap and the image explodes and you scroll around the image. However not searchable. Also any jpg, tiff or similar image in the PDF which converts to SVG is lost. People that can really code xhtml and svg together can put them back together but I can't and just getting my head around basic xhtml to make ePubs is filling my little teacup to overflowing.

Boy would I like to see lots of replies to your problem because it's certainly going to help me too.

To finish and to quote those that precede me

There's the hard way and there's hard way. (you know who you are, I'm new and still getting my head around this like Yuxi)

11-17-2010, 07:59 AM	#10
wannabee Media Bloke Posts: 2,382 Karma: 113956855 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NSW - Australia Device: iOS	I don't know Yuxi because I didn't try that method because I assumed it was just too complicated a way of getting an ePub from PDF. Did you try ORIGINAL from the IMAGES selection when exporting from InDesign? FORMAT will turn any placed image in InDesign to whatever the selected output is . . . GIF, JPEG or AUTO all become images at the same size they display in InDesign. Because that's what FORMAT does it converts placed images in InDesign into ePub readable images at the size they are displayed in InDesign. So I'm sure InDesign is treating the placed PDFs as images because they are, after all, in an images box. You could try ORIGINAL and see what result you get. I've not tried this because I hadn't thought that Adobe would have a converter for PDF built into the export feature when they don't even supply an input field for the date metadata. Having not actually solved your problem others may be searching for similar reasons so I'll mention a few other things I've gleaned. Another step I'd try if you can cope with the page as a resizable image is opening the PDF in Illustrator and converting the file to SVG. However this wasn't as simple as I thought. I had to track down a third party supplier that has an Illustrator plug in for SVG support as it's not a standard Adobe supplied format any more. SVG opened up a whole new can of worms for me because every post I found on using SVG on Mobile Read was by people that could actually write SVG and were writing it into there XHTML files or using it for scientific glyphs embedded in text. I'm more of a cut and paste guy and code at the end when I have absolutely no choice. I have only been successful with SVG from InDesign for my needs while treating it as an image. So, from Illustrator, I converted all text as outlines and treated the converted PDF as an image. I know we have come full circle with PDF as images, but at least they are scalable images (on an iPad - or futurePad) which are perfectly readable. It's great on an iPad. Double tap and the image explodes and you scroll around the image. However not searchable. Also any jpg, tiff or similar image in the PDF which converts to SVG is lost. People that can really code xhtml and svg together can put them back together but I can't and just getting my head around basic xhtml to make ePubs is filling my little teacup to overflowing. Boy would I like to see lots of replies to your problem because it's certainly going to help me too. To finish and to quote those that precede me There's the hard way and there's hard way. (you know who you are, I'm new and still getting my head around this like Yuxi)