PDF cropping software: BRISS

[roger64]

If this is -probably- so, BRISS does the same as Acrobat does: it does not physically crop the file but -kind of- emulates the cropping.

Here is the display result when you look at a BRISS cropped file on the PRS-505 (from two columns to a single one):
- small : the file is still displayed with double-columns and hardly legible
- medium: easy reading with only one column cropped file
- big: lines too short, reflow problems

From it, you can see that you have in fact only one choice. I must add that the medium display above is reasonably fast, and you can "turn" the pages quickly enough to allow a sustained reading.Of course, you still get the original PDF page breaks.

[luma]

I've been using the tool soPDF -i <infile> and been very happy because it splits the page in 2.

Is it possible to do that with this program? How do I do this operation-

split page in 2 vertically and then rotate the split page by 90 deg?

[laborg]

You can split the page by manually drawing the desired number of crop rectangles onto a page, but its not possible to rotate the cropped areas. (I'll see this as a nice feature request - although I don't got the time to implement this for the next couple of weeks)

best regards,
Gerhard

[slex]

Originally Posted by luma

I've been using the tool soPDF -i <infile> and been very happy because it splits the page in 2.

Is it possible to do that with this program? How do I do this operation-

split page in 2 vertically and then rotate the split page by 90 deg?

There are tools that can rotate pages. Pdftk can do this - it is a command line program and is available for both Windows and Linux.

PDF Fill tools is a program for Windows with a graphical interface which can rotate pages. Pdfshuffler can do this on Linux.

I don't think it is so necessary to implement this in BRISS. Top priority should be to specify pages which are not following the usual formatting of the document. This, of course, is only my opinion.

[flyash]

Minor feature request - it would be nice if BRISS remembered the last directory you looked in (I suppose that merely requires an initialization file).

Great program, Gerhard. With BRISS, I am reliably able to crop pdf's down to the bone.

[laborg]

Thanks.

I opened a new feature request (this is really a minor code modification). But at the moment I have a lot of work to do so I can't promise any release date.

Greetings,
Gerhard

[gsalgado]

Hi there,

first of all, thanks a lot for this tool. It's very easy to use and does the job very quickly. However, I removed the margin of one pdf book and loaded it into the reader just to realize that the reader was still showing the margin even though I could clearly see the margin was gone when I opened the same file on the computer. I wonder if this is a known issue with the sony reader?

Cheers,
Guilherme

[greenapple]

Originally Posted by gsalgado

Hi there,

first of all, thanks a lot for this tool. It's very easy to use and does the job very quickly. However, I removed the margin of one pdf book and loaded it into the reader just to realize that the reader was still showing the margin even though I could clearly see the margin was gone when I opened the same file on the computer. I wonder if this is a known issue with the sony reader?

Cheers,
Guilherme

This, as with most other PDF tools, doesn't actually do a hard crop. It just resizes the viewable areas by changing the margins. Some readers might not be able to recognize and obey the instructions.

[frabjous]

Originally Posted by greenapple

This, as with most other PDF tools, doesn't actually do a hard crop. It just resizes the viewable areas by changing the margins. Some readers might not be able to recognize and obey the instructions.

Laborg will tell us for sure, but this does do a real crop from what I've seen.

Works for my Sony anyway.

[flyash]

Originally Posted by frabjous

Works for my Sony anyway.

Mine too.

[laborg]

My guess is that the sony reader doesn't comply to the pdf spec 100%.
And yes, BRISS doesn't do a "hard" crop, but just sets the dimension of the viewing boxes the right way.

[gsalgado]

So, it turns out the reader displays my PDF with a smaller margin but not without any margin, as the cropped PDF has. I'm attaching this 1-page PDF I used for testing. When seen in my PRS-600, the cropped version has a smaller margin than the original one, but there's still a margin there. Is this what you see on yours?

My firmware seems to be 1.0.02.13180 although http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...00&upd_id=4799 says that the latest firmware is 1.0.01.08040. I've purchased my reader less than a month ago, fwiw.

If this is not what you guys see, maybe it's because of a different version of the firmware?

Cheers,

[frabjous]

When I load test_cropped.pdf on my Sony, there aren't really any margins on the top or the bottom—or least the margins don't appear any larger than they do in a PDF reader (I tested on evince on linux). There do appear to be margins on the sides, but presumably this is just a result of the fact that the proportions of the cropped page don’t match the proportions of the reader’s screen. (I.e., it can't zoom in any more horizontally while keeping the page on the screen vertically.)

My firmware is 1.1.00.18040. My reader is about a year and a half old. I can’t believe that’s the difference, though.

Personally, I find that page to be readable if you put the reader in landscape mode.

For this particular PDF, I would have used soPDF rather than BRISS, mainly because there would be no need to manually select the crop region. Probably the results would not be much different. But if you don't need searchability or dictionary features, however, you could try feeding it through PDFLRF instead (or in addition). That deals with proportion mismatches in a different way (i.e., dividing up the page into as many chunks as necessary to maximize the width, combining the bottom of one page with the top of another if need be).

[gsalgado]

I think frabjous is right that the margins on the side are a result of the cropped pdf's proportion not matching the screen's proportion. On my reader I also see no borders on the top/bottom.

I'll give PDFLRF a try, but I guess I'll have to dig through that form thread to find where to get it from? I can't seem to find it to download anywhere.

BTW, do other readers have problems reflowing when you increase the font size of PDFs as well, or is this specific to the sony?

Cheers,
Guilherme

[jackie_w]

Thank you for a great PDF utility, Gerhard.

I hope you won't mind if I make a couple of little comments about the GUI for your consideration for your next release.

I'm using Windows XP SP3 in case it's relevant.

1. Because the Odd and Even pages are stacked vertically I am not able to see all the cropping areas simultaneously on my screen. I wonder if it might be possible to have an option to place them side-by-side instead?
   
   
2. When a PDF file is loaded the window automatically expands such that only the top 2 buttons (Load and Crop) are visible, the other 2 fall off the bottom of my screen. A manual window resize is necessary for the 2 Maximise buttons to appear. This, of course, is not difficult, but it is a minor niggle

If I have missed something obvious that would fix either of these, perhaps someone could put me straight.

Once again, thank you for your efforts.