KindleUnpack - Fixed Layout - two pages per spread

dtx490 · 07-28-2020, 08:20 PM

Hi, I have been searching for quite a while but could not figure out. I have a fixed layout AZW3 book. I used KindleUnpack to get the epub version of the book. The book is in portrait mode and displays two pages in landscape mode in the Kindle app. It's a fixed layout picture book. I was reviewing the .opf file. Each spread is basically two [portrait mode] pages. so In landscape mode it displayed one spread/two-pages at a time. It works out all well. Now the epub version on ipad displays one spread (two pages) at a time in portrait mode and two spreads at a time in landscape mode. The code from .opf looks like below.

Has anyone run into this issue? What would I need to change to make ipad behave the same way as Kindle app?

Thank you!

Code:

<meta name="output encoding" content="utf-8" />
<meta name="RegionMagnification" content="true" />
<meta name="primary-writing-mode" content="horizontal-lr" />
<meta name="fixed-layout" content="true" />
<meta name="orientation-lock" content="landscape" />
<meta name="original-resolution" content="1152x756" />
<!-- EPUB3 MedaData converted from EXTH -->
<meta property="rendition:layout">pre-paginated</meta>
<meta property="rendition:orientation">portrait</meta>

jhowell · 07-29-2020, 08:40 AM

The entries in the spine should have properties="page-spread-left" or properties="page-spread-right" to define where each page should be placed in the spread.

The results may depend on what app you are using the read the fixed-layout EPUB on your iPad. You may want to try another reading app to see if that helps.

DiapDealer · 07-29-2020, 11:17 AM

KindleUnpack shouldn't be used to try and convert fixed layout Kindlebooks to fixed layout epubs. If a "normal" epub was not the source used to create the kindlebook in the first place, then the epub that KindleUnpack generates will only ever be an approximation of the original source material. It most definitely will not create a fixed layout epub from a fixed layout kindlebook. Not to my knowledge anyway.

jhowell · 07-29-2020, 01:08 PM

The "RegionMagnification" in the OPF indicates that this is a comic using Amazon's proprietary markup for panel viewing. That is not going to work correctly with any standard EPUB reader.

dtx490 · 07-31-2020, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

KindleUnpack shouldn't be used to try and convert fixed layout Kindlebooks to fixed layout epubs. If a "normal" epub was not the source used to create the kindlebook in the first place, then the epub that KindleUnpack generates will only ever be an approximation of the original source material. It most definitely will not create a fixed layout epub from a fixed layout kindlebook. Not to my knowledge anyway.

Thank you! Is there a was to compile the HTML pages (from the unpacked kindle book) into a PDF or EPUB? I am sorry, I am new to Kindle Unpack. I would really appreciate if you could point me to any article or other material that would be helpful.

dtx490 · 07-31-2020, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

The entries in the spine should have properties="page-spread-left" or properties="page-spread-right" to define where each page should be placed in the spread.

The results may depend on what app you are using the read the fixed-layout EPUB on your iPad. You may want to try another reading app to see if that helps.

Thank you for responding! I did not find either of those tags in the file. However I did see the below ones:

<meta property="rendition:layout">pre-paginated</meta>
<meta property="rendition:orientation">landscape</meta>
<meta property="rendition:spread">none</meta>
<meta property="ibooks:binding">false</meta>

dtx490 · 07-31-2020, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

The "RegionMagnification" in the OPF indicates that this is a comic using Amazon's proprietary markup for panel viewing. That is not going to work correctly with any standard EPUB reader.

Thank you for your response! Would there be a way to convert this into a PDF instead?

Hitch · 07-31-2020, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtx490

Sorry, my response keeps disappearing & I can't figure out why

Thank you for your response. I did not find either of those tags in the spine.

May I ask a stupid question? You seem to be trying to force the eBook to be viable for some other format, ePUB or PDF. Presumably, if you bought a Kindle eBook, you have a Kindle account and a Kindle of some kind--a software reader like "Kindle for Droid" or a real device or...?

What's the need for this other format? I'm not trying to "get all up in your business," but you're really pushing a chain up a hill, trying to take an eBook in a proprietary format, designed and produced for specific devices and then shoehorn it into something else.

And no--there's no easy way to "make it into" a PDF.

Hitch

pdurrant · 07-31-2020, 04:16 AM

Some posts by dtx490 were in auto-moderation. I've approved the one that seemed to contain the most information, and deleted the duplicates.

JSWolf · 07-31-2020, 06:12 AM

@dtx490, your best solution is to read this eBook with the iOS Kindle app on your iPad Pro.

DiapDealer · 07-31-2020, 09:04 AM

There is no turnkey solution that I know of to convert a panel-view kindlebook comic to an epub or pdf that would render just like the original. Any potential solution would be painstakingly manual, and would depend on an intimate knowledge of both the source and the target formats just to end up with what would ultimately be only an approximation of the original (at best).

Hitch · 07-31-2020, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There is no turnkey solution that I know of to convert a panel-view kindlebook comic to an epub or pdf that would render just like the original. Any potential solution would be painstakingly manual, and would depend on an intimate knowledge of both the source and the target formats just to end up with what would ultimately be only an approximation of the original (at best).

Yeah. ^, exactly. I mean...sure, you could extract the content, which would be an image of a comic book page. You could then put those into some other program, like InDesign or Publisher or whatever and build a pdf, but...WHY? Why not just read it in a Kindle reader of some kind?

Hitch

dtx490 · 08-07-2020, 12:51 AM

Thank you!

dtx490 · 08-07-2020, 12:58 AM

@JSWolf: Thank you for your suggestion!

@DiapDealer: Thank you for the details! I have been playing around with the different formats in the past few days, and I get what yo are saying. The effort does not seem to be worth it.

@Hitch: Thank you for your responses! It was part for fun and part exploration. And part for the joy of figuring things out that I had no idea about.

I am gonna stick to Kindle or Calibre for now.

07-28-2020, 08:20 PM	#1
dtx490 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2020 Device: ipad pro	KindleUnpack - Fixed Layout - two pages per spread Hi, I have been searching for quite a while but could not figure out. I have a fixed layout AZW3 book. I used KindleUnpack to get the epub version of the book. The book is in portrait mode and displays two pages in landscape mode in the Kindle app. It's a fixed layout picture book. I was reviewing the .opf file. Each spread is basically two [portrait mode] pages. so In landscape mode it displayed one spread/two-pages at a time. It works out all well. Now the epub version on ipad displays one spread (two pages) at a time in portrait mode and two spreads at a time in landscape mode. The code from .opf looks like below. Has anyone run into this issue? What would I need to change to make ipad behave the same way as Kindle app? Thank you! Code: <meta name="output encoding" content="utf-8" /> <meta name="RegionMagnification" content="true" /> <meta name="primary-writing-mode" content="horizontal-lr" /> <meta name="fixed-layout" content="true" /> <meta name="orientation-lock" content="landscape" /> <meta name="original-resolution" content="1152x756" /> <!-- EPUB3 MedaData converted from EXTH --> <meta property="rendition:layout">pre-paginated</meta> <meta property="rendition:orientation">portrait</meta>

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07-29-2020, 08:40 AM	#2
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,053 Karma: 91577715 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	The entries in the spine should have properties="page-spread-left" or properties="page-spread-right" to define where each page should be placed in the spread. The results may depend on what app you are using the read the fixed-layout EPUB on your iPad. You may want to try another reading app to see if that helps.

07-29-2020, 11:17 AM	#3
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,505 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	KindleUnpack shouldn't be used to try and convert fixed layout Kindlebooks to fixed layout epubs. If a "normal" epub was not the source used to create the kindlebook in the first place, then the epub that KindleUnpack generates will only ever be an approximation of the original source material. It most definitely will not create a fixed layout epub from a fixed layout kindlebook. Not to my knowledge anyway.

07-29-2020, 01:08 PM	#4
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,053 Karma: 91577715 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	The "RegionMagnification" in the OPF indicates that this is a comic using Amazon's proprietary markup for panel viewing. That is not going to work correctly with any standard EPUB reader.

07-31-2020, 04:16 AM	#9
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 73,779 Karma: 315126578 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	Some posts by dtx490 were in auto-moderation. I've approved the one that seemed to contain the most information, and deleted the duplicates.

07-31-2020, 06:12 AM	#10
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,413 Karma: 145491800 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	@dtx490, your best solution is to read this eBook with the iOS Kindle app on your iPad Pro.

07-31-2020, 09:04 AM	#11
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,505 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	There is no turnkey solution that I know of to convert a panel-view kindlebook comic to an epub or pdf that would render just like the original. Any potential solution would be painstakingly manual, and would depend on an intimate knowledge of both the source and the target formats just to end up with what would ultimately be only an approximation of the original (at best).

08-07-2020, 12:51 AM	#13
dtx490 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2020 Device: ipad pro	Thank you!

08-07-2020, 12:58 AM	#14
dtx490 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2020 Device: ipad pro	@JSWolf: Thank you for your suggestion! @DiapDealer: Thank you for the details! I have been playing around with the different formats in the past few days, and I get what yo are saying. The effort does not seem to be worth it. @Hitch: Thank you for your responses! It was part for fun and part exploration. And part for the joy of figuring things out that I had no idea about. I am gonna stick to Kindle or Calibre for now.

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