PDF cropping software: BRISS

[jfm]

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but Briss is not working for me. I crop the file to remove headers and footers. When I check the new pdf file all of that garbage is gone. Then, I load the file into Calibre and convert to Epub. The Epub file contains the stuff cropped out.

So, I load the cropped file back into Briss, and it looks as if two files are superimposed.

Just so you know, I had the same problem with Pdf Scissors, but I suspect that this uses the same algorithms. Any suggestions appreciated.

[markom]

Cropped area keeps coming back
...
Any suggestions appreciated.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=118605

[jfm]

Originally Posted by markom

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=118605

A lot of good info there. I have always hated the pdf format. Now I know why. Thanks for the reply.

[markom]

Originally Posted by jfm

A lot of good info there. I have always hated the pdf format. Now I know why. Thanks for the reply.

Luckily, there is a better way than pdf to epub conversion.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...12&postcount=3

We can do all that in one go within k2pdfopt only.

http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=144711

For A4 pdf's we should use k2pdfopt's reflow (for pdf scans or textual pdf) or 2-column mode (if there are two columns) and for smaller formats we can just use landscape or fitwidth mode (k2pdfopt crops margins automatically).

[forumshrew]

laborg,

When you gotta go PDF, Briss is the way to go. Great piece of software. When you have to make a precision cut, Briss is laser sharp. Thanks for your efforts, and making it available to us.

[Hershy]

Congratulations
Finally found BRISS and it is excellent.

[khin99]

I have the pleasure to use BRISS for three years and am quite happy with it. I mainly crop the headers and footers of the PDF and convert to word change fonts etc

Now I have a few two column pdf's that I wish to convert to single columns. k2PDFopt could do this quite handily but some files are poorly scanned and the k2PDFopt could not properly split the columns. I came back to BRISS and tried a few times.

My problem is merging files from the columns identified. They do not arrange properly i.e., the way I wished. Please see the screen below - the columns are numbered as 1- 2 for even pages and then 1 and 2 again for odd pages. I expect the second page to have 3 and 4 rectangles which will arrange the pages nicely. Please help.

[markom]

I don't quite get you because that's exactly what you should get.

e.g. if even page contains scanned pages numbered 1 and 2 from the paper book together, and odd page pages 3 and 4, then after cropping you shall have 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 etc. order, exactly as in the paper book.

If e.g. you change cropping box for odd pages to 2:1 (by first selecting the right column and then the left) then you shall get 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6, 8, 7 etc. order in the cropped pdf.

[willus]

Originally Posted by khin99

I have the pleasure to use BRISS for three years and am quite happy with it. I mainly crop the headers and footers of the PDF and convert to word change fonts etc

Now I have a few two column pdf's that I wish to convert to single columns. k2PDFopt could do this quite handily but some files are poorly scanned and the k2PDFopt could not properly split the columns. I came back to BRISS and tried a few times.

There are multiple command-line options that k2pdfopt has that may help with this, notably -grid and -cbox. (These can go in the "additional options" box in the MS Windows GUI.) If you want, you can post a few pages of your source PDF (or send me a private message), I can figure out a good set of k2pdfopt options for you.

[khin99]

Originally Posted by willus

There are multiple command-line options that k2pdfopt has that may help with this, notably -grid and -cbox. (These can go in the "additional options" box in the MS Windows GUI.) If you want, you can post a few pages of your source PDF (or send me a private message), I can figure out a good set of k2pdfopt options for you.

Thank you Will. Indeed I find k2pdfopt very very useful. I have reformatted quite a number of pdf with it. I have also tried the command line prompt and found to be useful.

I am stumped with a few poorly scanned two column pdf which k2pdfopt "can not" reformat to a single column. I have used erase vertical lines option and cs option. I would be obliged if you could help me with this. I attach one of the problem pdf.

[willus]

Originally Posted by khin99

Thank you Will. Indeed I find k2pdfopt very very useful. I have reformatted quite a number of pdf with it. I have also tried the command line prompt and found to be useful.

I am stumped with a few poorly scanned two column pdf which k2pdfopt "can not" reformat to a single column. I have used erase vertical lines option and cs option. I would be obliged if you could help me with this. I attach one of the problem pdf.

@Khin99 -- Thank you for the attachment. Because the scan is poor quality and the position of the pages changes a fair amount from page to page, a brute force cropping or gridding is best, I think. If you don't care about chopping up the title page, you can just do this:

k2pdfopt -grid 2x1x0 -mode fitpage source.pdf

-grid 2x1x0 breaks each page into 2 x 1 boxes.
-mode fitpage puts each of the gridded regions onto a single page

In the MS Windows GUI, you can just select "fitpage" for the conversion mode and put -grid 2x1x0 in the "Additional Options" box.

If you want to preserve the title page, it's a little trickier, but not too bad:

k2pdfopt -cbox1 0,0 -cbox2- 0,0,.5s,1s -cbox2- 0.5s,0s -mode fitpage source.pdf

-cbox1 0,0 creates a boxed region on page 1, upper left corner at 0,0 and (by default), extending the full size of the page.

-cbox2- 0,0,.5s,1s creates a boxed region on pages 2 and up, upper left corner at 0,0, with width 0.5 x the source page (0.5s) and height 1.0 x the source page (1s).

-cbox2- 0.5s,0s creates another boxed region on pages 2 and up, upper left corner starting half way (0.5s) across the source page and at the top (0s), and extending to the remainder of the source page (by default).

[khin99]

Originally Posted by willus

@Khin99 -- Thank you for the attachment. Because the scan is poor quality and the position of the pages changes a fair amount from page to page, a brute force cropping or gridding is best, I think. If you don't care about chopping up the title page, you can just do this:

k2pdfopt -grid 2x1x0 -mode fitpage source.pdf

-grid 2x1x0 breaks each page into 2 x 1 boxes.
-mode fitpage puts each of the gridded regions onto a single page

In the MS Windows GUI, you can just select "fitpage" for the conversion mode and put -grid 2x1x0 in the "Additional Options" box.

If you want to preserve the title page, it's a little trickier, but not too bad:

k2pdfopt -cbox1 0,0 -cbox2- 0,0,.5s,1s -cbox2- 0.5s,0s -mode fitpage source.pdf

-cbox1 0,0 creates a boxed region on page 1, upper left corner at 0,0 and (by default), extending the full size of the page.

-cbox2- 0,0,.5s,1s creates a boxed region on pages 2 and up, upper left corner at 0,0, with width 0.5 x the source page (0.5s) and height 1.0 x the source page (1s).

-cbox2- 0.5s,0s creates another boxed region on pages 2 and up, upper left corner starting half way (0.5s) across the source page and at the top (0s), and extending to the remainder of the source page (by default).

I tried both and found both output to be acceptable quality. As the original scan was not good quality the output reflects the poor input. As for the command options they are excellent and did what needs to be done. I will be using this to read this ancient book. Thank you so much.

[ebrahimpak]

I have already tried many magazines and unfortunately Briss would stuck at the middle of previewing pages. I instruct it not to merge any pages and to my astonishment it stops working at some random page. However it works fine when I click the 'cancel' button at first, when allowing to merge all the pages. But I don't want the default merged pages, as I cannot crop particular pages, UNLESS I CHOOSE ONLY 20 PAGES (or even lesser sometimes) TO BE PREVIEWED UNMERGED!
>> It is still possible to do the same process gain and again, but one has to run in multiple processes.

[NSLW]

I registered only to say thank you Gerhard for this excellent application. It's great solution for all my needs and works on Linux.

[enda]

Can Briss be put on Debian?