[Curvball]

Hi everybody,

Not sure where to post this as it doesn't really fit into any of the sections.

I run an online punk rock magazine making use of the flash page flip system. I'm looking to improve this in a big way. You can see what it looks like here: http://www.distortedmagazine.com

Current workflow process is as follows:
Page layout in inDesign -> exported to PDF -> PDF converted to JPG -> JPG pulled into page position via XML.

Issues with the current system is that I'm loosing tons of quality on my pages when going from PDF to JPEG. Also even if a user zooms in, the copy etc all appears blurred because of the JPEG file.


I've tried to import PDFs into illustrator and then export as SWFs and this does keep the vector information making the copy nice and crisp which will be perfect for zooming by the user. The only problem I have with this is that Illustrator pretty much ignores certain page blocks in the PDFs and it create's 'ghost' spaces that affect the dimensions of the pages - all round it doesn't really work.


I've had a look around and I've stumped across PDFtoSWF by http://www.swftools.org
I've tried to get it to work but I just can't understand how to install the system on my Mac.


Can anybody help me or point me in the right direction?
Thanks.

[Roberto]

Hello

If you've got Studio 8 you could try using Flash Paper - http://www.adobe.com...cts/flashpaper/ .When youve created your document,you select file-> print - its one of the options in the print drop down menu. It can convert to pdf and flash documents. Looks impressive on the adobe site and people were none to pleased it was not included in CS3. Dont know if thats what you looking for?

Rob

[Subhajit]

Curvball, on Apr 21 2008, 16:35, said:

Hi everybody,

Not sure where to post this as it doesn't really fit into any of the sections.

I run an online punk rock magazine making use of the flash page flip system. I'm looking to improve this in a big way. You can see what it looks like here: http://www.distortedmagazine.com

Current workflow process is as follows:
Page layout in inDesign -> exported to PDF -> PDF converted to JPG -> JPG pulled into page position via XML.

Issues with the current system is that I'm loosing tons of quality on my pages when going from PDF to JPEG. Also even if a user zooms in, the copy etc all appears blurred because of the JPEG file.
I've tried to import PDFs into illustrator and then export as SWFs and this does keep the vector information making the copy nice and crisp which will be perfect for zooming by the user. The only problem I have with this is that Illustrator pretty much ignores certain page blocks in the PDFs and it create's 'ghost' spaces that affect the dimensions of the pages - all round it doesn't really work.
I've had a look around and I've stumped across PDFtoSWF by http://www.swftools.org
I've tried to get it to work but I just can't understand how to install the system on my Mac.
Can anybody help me or point me in the right direction?
Thanks.

I think you have photoshop..
If you have photoshop the open the layout in indesign and printscreen and paste it to Photoshop and from there you crop the required areas and then save it in JPEG and you will get a fine quality.

[Curvball]

Roberto, on Apr 22 2008, 11:20, said:

Hello

If you've got Studio 8 you could try using Flash Paper - http://www.adobe.com...cts/flashpaper/ .When youve created your document,you select file-> print - its one of the options in the print drop down menu. It can convert to pdf and flash documents. Looks impressive on the adobe site and people were none to pleased it was not included in CS3. Dont know if thats what you looking for?

Rob

Cheers Rob - yip, I'm using CS3 and there is no flashpaper:( And also Flashpaper 2 doesn't work on the Intel Mac's - I'm very very annoyed! I tried copying the flashpaper print driver from my work machine for home but it won't work.
Yeah, last night I found many very frustrated people who are not happy that Adobe has discountinued Flashpaper - I really thought it was the answer the my problems. Thanks for the input, really appreciate it.

[Curvball]

Subhajit, on Apr 22 2008, 11:45, said:

I think you have photoshop..
If you have photoshop the open the layout in indesign and printscreen and paste it to Photoshop and from there you crop the required areas and then save it in JPEG and you will get a fine quality.

Hi Subhajit, yes I'm using photoshop (the whole CS3 package). Thanks for your kind words but it isn't the solution I'm looking for.


I need to go straight from a PDF to a SWF file to retain as much vector information as possible - especially the copy/fonts.


Anybody else able to offer some light on this? I've looked into the PDF2SWF system by SWFtools again but I hit another stumbling block, the stupid system it's built on is only compatible with OS X 10.4 and I'm running 10.5.... grrrrrrr!

[J.P]

Hey, im not sure what this is like but you could try this

[Curvball]

J.P, on Apr 22 2008, 13:19, said:

Hey, im not sure what this is like but you could try this

Cheers JP - however that link only has a PDF creation program. At the moment I have no problems creating my PDFs - it is getting the PDFs converted to SWFs that I'm after.

Thanks again for the suggestion - I do appreciate it.


...it seems like I'm searching for holy grail.... grrrrr

[Subhajit]

Curvball, on Apr 22 2008, 17:06, said:

Hi Subhajit, yes I'm using photoshop (the whole CS3 package). Thanks for your kind words but it isn't the solution I'm looking for.
I need to go straight from a PDF to a SWF file to retain as much vector information as possible - especially the copy/fonts.
Anybody else able to offer some light on this? I've looked into the PDF2SWF system by SWFtools again but I hit another stumbling block, the stupid system it's built on is only compatible with OS X 10.4 and I'm running 10.5.... grrrrrrr!

Check the links below...

http://www.bytescout.com/swfprinter_conver...e_tutorial.html
http://www.labnol.org/internet/tools/conve...converter/2280/
http://davidhayden.c.../04/15/213.aspx

[Curvball]

Awesome! Thanks Subhajit

Will take a look at them a little later and report back to everybody.



Thanks again to everybody and your help in this thread.

[Curvball]

I've browsed the above links and I'm still no closer to solving my problem...


Any other ideas?

[Curvball]

Hey everybody,

Thought I'd let you know that I have sorted out this issue. Since upgrading from CS2 to CS3, Illustrator actually hands the PDF import much better than AI CS2.

So although it is a little more time consuming, I can now export to PDF from inDesign, import the PDF to AI and then export that to a SWF! I'm really really stoked about this and this means the next issue of my digital magazine will have crisp clear copy, perfect for zooming in.



Thanks to everybody that tried to help me - sometimes the solution is right in front of ya, ha ha.

[wizely]

I know this won't win me any friends but who cares?!

Considering how much hassle it is to turn PDFs to swf - have you considered changing the format to good old fashioned XHTML? I know it's a whole online magazine concept and the page-turning gizmo is very pretty - but I never got to read anything coz I got bored of watching the little circles going round and round!!!

I'll stop poking my nose in - but couldn't stop myself!

[Curvball]

wizely, on Apr 29 2008, 07:09, said:

I know this won't win me any friends but who cares?!

Considering how much hassle it is to turn PDFs to swf - have you considered changing the format to good old fashioned XHTML? I know it's a whole online magazine concept and the page-turning gizmo is very pretty - but I never got to read anything coz I got bored of watching the little circles going round and round!!!

I'll stop poking my nose in - but couldn't stop myself!

I have considered going the 'standard' web mag way but once we do that we'll become just like any other website - as far as I can tell, what we're doing with the digital magazine is pretty unique to our scene.

Are you finding things take too long to load?

[gizmo]

I'm trying to set up a flash catalog similar to your online magazine. But I've run into two problems. 1. converting pdf files to swf files. I've done it a few different ways and using the swfs converted from pdfs always make the page flipping functions bog the computer down. Also, when I pull the pdf into Illustrator, Illustrator changes the files a bit (usually gradients). What pdf presets did you export with out of InDesign? And, 2. my flash page flip application is loading the pages all wrong and I'm not sure why. You can see it at www.ams-test-site.byethost13.com The first 10 pages are preloaded; the rest are not. The first 10 take forever to preload because they are big jpgs (72 dpi 612x768px) (so people would be able to read text) and the others simply don't load because, well, my code isn't working...and I'm not sure why? Anyway, let me know if you have any ideas.

Thanks.

Also, your magazine look good and the pages load quickly enough on my intel iMac (OS X.5) in both Safari and Firefox and on my ghetto Dell 8300 (from 2001) using IE.

[karcoos]

http://board.flashki...d.php?p=4266433

I found this post by Google. May it help