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Post by lightning on Feb 2, 2016 10:52:06 GMT -9
I have come across my old paper models (desert village etc) and am wondering if there is a way to add a layer with registration marks into the existing pdf files. Anyone know a tool?
Would like to make cut files for them.
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Post by Vermin King on Feb 2, 2016 11:30:36 GMT -9
I don't see why you couldn't do that in Gimp. There may be other programs that are better for pdf editing, though
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Post by lightning on Feb 2, 2016 12:05:56 GMT -9
I tried it with Gimp. It's very limited. Maybe I have to redo the whole thing with my new workflow. It would be great if I could just insert that one registration mark layer I already have :-)
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Feb 2, 2016 12:16:56 GMT -9
GIMP is limited, but it's not the only free tool in the toolbox... What does your original PDF look like? Is it a layered PDF or a single-layered PDF? For single-layered PDFs, I pull it into GIMP and export each page as a PDF. I then use Scribus to build myself a multi-layered PDF with sd and cameo reg marks. There's a major gotcha you have to be aware of with Scribus -- there's a thread on the forums here where Christoper Roe (aka melebbles) discovered that you kinda have to scrub some lines of text from the resulting PDF that Scribus generates. I've been tempted to write a simple program to do the cleanup automatically, but so far, Notepad++ and some macros does the trick for me. If it's a multi-layered PDF that you're looking to add layers to, then working in GIMP is a little tougher, though depending on what the layers look like, it's not impossible. If there's anything I can try to help with, just let me know!
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Post by bravesirkevin on Feb 2, 2016 15:47:49 GMT -9
I looked long and hard for an answer to this one a few years ago, but it appears the only way to add layers was to go back to my Illustrator file and make the changes there... The reason for this is that the PDF layer structure doesn't convert back when you import it, and Adobe Acrobat Professional doesn't have many useful authoring tools because it wasn't designed to do that sort of work.
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Post by lightning on Feb 3, 2016 1:09:42 GMT -9
Unfortunately I have made these in my early paper model days with Open Office Draw exporting to single layered but multi paged PDF. Illustrator won't open the PDF. Gimp will rasterize the import but so far I have not found a way to add a layer. Silhouette Studio will import the PDF but, alas, I have drawn on the unforgiving, unspeakable, unprintable areas! So I guess when I revisit this, I will just redesign and layout it in Illustrator Thanks for you input
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Feb 3, 2016 2:34:25 GMT -9
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Post by lightning on Feb 3, 2016 22:18:10 GMT -9
I only checked the Asian Temple and because of the large roof, the parts have been overlapping the unprintable area. So I cant use them for autocutting. I will have to redo them in Illustrator. For other reasons I am very interested in Scribus but what is keeping me off, it's only available through sourceforge. The Gimp team has documented that sourceforge package stuff (from unwanted to almost malware) so it has become an untrusted source. see here
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Post by Cardstock Dane on Feb 4, 2016 19:21:56 GMT -9
Illustrator won't open the PDF. Hm, off hand, my suggestion is to try the following: 1) Export the pdf as a .png image 2) Open in PS (or similar) 3) Add layer, and save as a .psd file 4) Open in Illustrator 5) Save as layered pdf in Illustrator That's my best bet. /CD
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Post by aleks on Feb 8, 2016 4:57:41 GMT -9
What about InkScape? Obviously it can be useful only if you need to add graphics/marks and then export everything in a single layered PDF...
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Post by lightning on Feb 8, 2016 8:53:04 GMT -9
thanks for the tips, but once i found out the existing layout is outside the safe area i realized i have to redo the layout.
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