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Scribus => PDF Generation => Topic started by: jarlath on September 19, 2011, 02:16:18 PM

Title: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 19, 2011, 02:16:18 PM
Can anyone explain why this happens (see attachment)?

I've tried Scribus 1.4 (ng) and 1.5 (svn) but I get the same problem. I just want to get what's on the screen onto the pdf.

Many thanks,
Jarlath

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: Nermander on September 19, 2011, 02:59:13 PM
What PDF version do you use? Older PDF versions do not support transparency.
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 19, 2011, 03:05:55 PM
Quote from: Nermander on September 19, 2011, 02:59:13 PM
What PDF version do you use? Older PDF versions do not support transparency.
PDF version 1.5 (I've tried the other PDF versions too but they have  the same result).
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on September 19, 2011, 03:16:46 PM
which pdf reader?

if you're using something else, please try with adobe's one...

... it's the reference for now...

ciao
a.l.e
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 19, 2011, 03:41:58 PM
I've tried the latest Adobe reader (10.1.1)  on a windows vista machine - but the transparency still does not work.
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 20, 2011, 06:39:36 PM
Or could I ask it this way - for anyone who *does* have transparency working fine for them, could you let me know:

- What version of Scribus you are using
- What export format you are using
- What PDF viewer you are verifying your output with ?

Many thanks,
Jarlath
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 23, 2011, 02:02:35 PM
I've downloaded the windows version of 1.4 but the problem is the same.

So I've ended up using GIMP to do my text and saving it as an image and importing it to Scribus. It's not ideal - requires extra work and is error prone with regard to sizing and layout - but it works for now.

Am I the only person having this problem? Surely the majority of people would find Scribus unusable without a working transparency effect .... or are there other export options I don't know about? Perhaps I could export as an image and then re-import that to a new project and export again as PDF .... I'll give that a try.
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on September 23, 2011, 04:42:07 PM
ehm ehm... you're not setting a white background for your text frames, aren't you?

please share a .sla with an example and the pdf produced from it...

ciao
a.l.e
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 26, 2011, 02:54:17 PM
Thank you a-l-e. I believe the background is not set to white.. or any color. Here is the .sla and pdf (next post).

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: jarlath on September 26, 2011, 02:57:32 PM
PDF not accepted for upload so here's a link:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/464104/Document-3.pdf

It's 6 MB.
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on September 26, 2011, 03:31:27 PM
cf. http://bugs.scribus.net/view.php?id=10283
Title: Re: Text transparencies show up fully opaque in PDF
Post by: a.l.e on September 27, 2011, 09:11:53 AM
here an how-to for this issue:

http://www.graphicslab.org/Blog/Scribus-translucent-drop-shadows-for-text

i think that there is even an easier way to do it: not sure if the step with outlining and combining is really necessary... on the other side, if you do this way with 1.5 you will be able to use radial transparencies... :-)

ciao
a.l.e