Yet another PDF to LRF converter

[cacapee]

Originally Posted by cszhy

It's in Chinese , thanks

That file doesn't work in ghostscript by itself. Can you help me figure out why?
The problem looks not to be in pdflrf.

[cszhy]

the previous version of pdflrf before 0.6(I forgot which one)can do that pretty well, but I already delete it when the new version came,so would you mind upload it again? I think that will save your time, thanks

[Fallen angel]

I'm sorry, I don't know if that would be easy to do, but it would be really great if .chm support could be also added. Also, it would be useful (but not absolutely necessary), if we could convert multiple files per time.

[ashkulz]

Originally Posted by Fallen angel

I'm sorry, I don't know if that would be easy to do, but it would be really great if .chm support could be also added.

You can easily extract CHM to HTML and then use libprs500 to convert from HTML to LRF. I'm sure if you request chm support from Kovid (author of libprs500) he'll be willing to add support for it

[Bob Russell]

I was thinking the same thing - chm support would be wonderful.
And that's right... David's program certainly seems the right place for it.

[cacapee]

libprs500 is the better place to have chm support. Also you can batch by dragging multiple files over to the pdflrfwin window.

[ereszet]

Originally Posted by cacapee

Hi, I've taken some of the ideas of existing tools along with a few refinements of my own to code this one up. I've attached a few sample conversions to get an idea of what the tool can do.

The refinements are --runpages (which causes adjacent pdf pages to be spliced into the same image if possible) and --smartcut (which avoids the annoying splits at the edge of the image) Another feature is that landscape mode (which is the default) rotates the image but doesn't actually use the Reader's landscape mode.

Cacapee, can you disclose what GNU/Open Source libraries/modules do you use for fattening the fonts?
I convert all my small print documents to images that can be zoomed (for some of my documents pdf or djvu display is not big enough even with your pdflrf conversion). While I wait patiently for your pdflrf release with png export, I would be quite happy in the meantime to try my hand with direct processing of my images to fatten the print. I can do it now with ClearImage demo, using some tricks to do it in batch, but your processing is blindingly fast (taking into account a number of processing steps that pdflrf includes).

Nothing can substitute your refinements but for the time being, I need something to help me read small print without wasting my time with programs less efficient than yours.

[cacapee]

I use CImage to do the erosion (which is fattening the lines). This is the most time consuming part of the entire process by far. I think paint.net and even gimp has this filter.
The key is to achieve a balance between the original image size, the final image size and the erosion factor. Are you finding that it is not thick enough? Can you pm me an example.

[cacapee]

This version adds lots of improvements to comic strip output.

version 0.99 Fixed Librie compatibility (maybe). Adjustable image size on output. Output zip files (if extension is cbz or zip). Added RGB output. Added post stretch of image to fit page. Added options to fit image by height/width/2*height etc. Sort files in rar and zip.

[bookworm]

The 0.99 version is really excellent. I always log in to mobile read forums to see what developments you made on PDFLRF. Thanks a ton. This version gives excellent flexibility

[godel10]

Originally Posted by cacapee

This version adds lots of improvements to comic strip output.

version 0.99 Fixed Librie compatibility (maybe). Adjustable image size on output. Output zip files (if extension is cbz or zip). Added RGB output. Added post stretch of image to fit page. Added options to fit image by height/width/2*height etc. Sort files in rar and zip.

Thank You. Your efforts about Librie compatibility are much appreciated. But unfortunately it is still not working.

In version 0.9 when I was trying to use editlrfmeta with an lrf file generated with pdflrf all what I was getting was an error. In version 0.99 what I get is something like

title:
author:
bookid: PDFLRF046ff8d14
publisher:
description:
date: 2007-09-30
error displaying meta information: unexpected end of file. Current depth is 3 Line 17, position 14.

That is, first of all we can see the metadata, but later we get the error. What it is surprising is that we always (it does not matter what lrf file you generate) get the same error talking about depth 3, Line 17 and position 14.

[ereszet]

Originally Posted by cacapee

I use CImage to do the erosion (which is fattening the lines). This is the most time consuming part of the entire process by far. I think paint.net and even gimp has this filter.
The key is to achieve a balance between the original image size, the final image size and the erosion factor. Are you finding that it is not thick enough? Can you pm me an example.

I would think that image extraction is the most consuming part of the process but you know it better. The fattening is ok in lrf but you cannot increase the size of small fonts display beyond what the Sony landscape mode allows. That is why I asked for png output, that allows panning the display view. You have done it in version 0.99 in a marvelous way. See my next post with image examples.

[ereszet]

Originally Posted by cacapee

Adjustable image size on output. Output zip files (if extension is cbz or zip). Added RGB output. Added post stretch of image to fit page. Added options to fit image by height/width/2*height etc. Sort files in rar and zip.

I do not exaggerate in my post title. In version 0.99 pdflrf can output zipped png images of any size and they can be refined to be viewed with probably any portable readers (not just Sony or Archos).

For the Sony Reader it means that in can display small print and even city maps.

For the Archos it means that it becomes a reader. Pdf reading in Archos is almost useless for the long time it takes to load or zoom every page. Pdf converted to png images can be resized and displayed immediately from its folder page by page.

BTW. Cacapee, if the Archos people buy an adopted pdflrf from you (which they should do right now) do not allow them to ask for a buyers' telephone number and e-mail address before selling it (they do it with their plug-ins, which means that my Archos stays crippled because I cherish my privacy).


The images in "quick fox" photo are from left to right:
1. the original color pdf
2. lrf by pdflrf
3. like image 2 but splitted in two for maximum size
4. png output from pdflrf (can be panned)

The images in "city map" photo are from left to right:
1. lrf by pdflrf splitted in two for maximum size
2. png output from pdflrf
3 and 4. panned image 2

The images in "archos city map" photo are from left to right:
1. pdf zoomed to maximum view (takes 2 minutes to prepare the image and another two minutes to zoom)
2. double size png output from pdflrf zoomed to maximum view (loads and zooms almost immediately, can be panned)

[cacapee]

godel10 - editlrfmetadata works for me in both .9 and .99 Can you pm me a pdf file which has that problem.
cszhy - Similarly regarding ghostscript support in 0.5, I get the same error.
Someone complained about TOC support. Again I can't reproduce the problem. Please pm me the file that shows the problem.

[ereszet]

Cacapee, would asking for png input be too much?

You see, I photoscan the books/documents with my camera in an image format, so the convertion to pdf/djvu is a step that could be skipped when I need to process them through pdflrf.