So I just bought two PDFs from your store, the "Game Master Map Pack Jungle" & "Game Master Map Pack Ruins" and was just now gonna open them in photoshop to combine the maps parts into my new map for my game session. But the security say I need a password to edit the images.
Now from the start I figuered "well okey... I must have missed my password in the order confirmation or something" but as I read around on the forum it appears that you intentionally lock the PDFs even from your customers?
Why is that? I mean, Iv bought the product already, why dont I have complete access to it?
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Just use any PDF browser that allows you to screenshot/snapshot the image and copy-paste them into an image editing program such as Gimp or Paint.net or Photoshop.
The lock-out from editing is for various reasons such as to prevent people from removing digital watermarks. What you want to achieve can be done without resorting to PDF editing.
All of our PDF products we sell on paizo.com are secured. We do not give out passwords or anything for "unlocking" the PDF. However, you should be able to select the image in Adobe Acrobat/Reader and paste it into your image editor of choice. Other customers have some success using various image extraction programs for larger documents as well.
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Then why do you use a the security system at all, if as you say, the only difference is that I first have to "convert/extract" the PDF image and make it into another file format, then I can edit it?
It only makes using the product that much more irritating for me as a customer.
To explain why I want to open my file Photoshop you can look at this preview image you have from the Jungle pack:
http://paizo.com/image/content/GameMastery/PZO4023-RopeBridge.jpg
The river isnt complete, its contains alot of black, and I want to edit the image and add the missing water, and also combine it with some of the other pack parts.
Im a bit confused.
Does the PDF file contain all the original layers and you want to restrict that information, or is it as Gorbacz said, that its to "prevent" removal of watermarks?
Paizo don't generally go into specifics, but as I understand things adobe is a bit "all or nothing" when it comes to security features. They can't allow access to some features without also making some of their security measures worthless.
....
Does the PDF file contain all the original layers and you want to restrict that information, or is it as Gorbacz said, that its to "prevent" removal of watermarks?
That's pretty much it.
Using the Adobe Acrobat Reader's snapshot tool to copy the image is the common method here for getting maps and handouts in PBP games that use them.
I guess it depends on one's expectations. It doesn't seem necessary to point out to me. They haven't been willing to remove their piracy protections in the past (no doubt theres more to it than just a watermark) and it seems unlikely they'll do so now. Maybe if adobe make their security options a little more nuanced, I guess.
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The images are layered..if you use the extraction program in my profile you can get the naked map without room numbers or secret entrances..... vic has said that they need to turn the security features on for certain anti piracy things to work, and to turn on some in adobe you need to turn on all...but that is a detailed an answer as I think you are going to get
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Why it is that way has been explained several times.
I do think probably putting a brief explanation of how the .pdf security works in the FAQ would be a good idea -- while anyone should expect encrypted .pdfs from an officially published company, a little disclaimer wouldn't hurt. The suggestion to copy with the photo capture could also be included.
Since it's actually IMO much easier to photo capture than otherwise extract and edit the image anyway, I've no problem with how the .pdfs work, personally. And I'm not going to begrudge Paizo a few simple security measures.
We have no plans to adjust the security of our PDF files at this time. These measures do not prevent taking images/text out of the files for personal use, as discussed above. I have put updating the PDF FAQ questions on my to-do list.
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I just want to thank you guys again for how enlightened your policy actually is, letting us extract images. I know perfectly well that you could interfere with that kind of use if you wanted.
I've tried over the years to generate as much good will in the VTT community as possible, regarding your policy. Paizo is the best VTT content producer, hands down, and letting us pull images easily seals the deal.
Absolutely!
this drives me crazy! there is no way to get the image on mac at all! unless you can explain what I'm missing, the best you can do, is zoom way in, and use a screen capture. If I try to just select in adobe reader, I just get the top layer, which usually just some stupid border.
For instance, page 120 of Rise of the Runelords collectors edition there is map. Can you tell me how I can extract the map using adobe acrobat (10.1.6)
In acrobat reader
Go:
Edit -> Take a Snapshot
then click drag from one corner to the opposite corner.
Then open a paint program and paste,
Done
Chief Technical Officer
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The images are layered..if you use the extraction program in my profile you can get the naked map without room numbers or secret entrances.....
We keep text and images separate, but that's not the same as "layers." In the PDF spec, layers mean keeping different *parts* of each image separate; for something like a dungeon map, that might mean a layer for the floor texture, a layer for the walls, a layer (or many layers) for dungeon decor, etc. We don't use layers in that way.
azure_zero, thats not the original image, thats just a screen capture. Maybe cpt_kirstov's extraction program will work..... adobe's own extract images doesn't seem to work, or at least not on about 80% of the maps in the Rise of Runelords..
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Chief Technical Officer
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To explain why I want to open my file Photoshop you can look at this preview image you have from the Jungle pack:
http://paizo.com/image/content/GameMastery/PZO4023-RopeBridge.jpgThe river isnt complete, its contains alot of black, and I want to edit the image and add the missing water, and also combine it with some of the other pack parts.
Im a bit confused.
The image you linked simply shows you one way that three separate 5x8 tiles can be configured: there's a tile oriented vertically on the left, one more oriented horizontally in the middle, and a third oriented horizontally on the right. The PDF includes the individual tiles—there's no single 18x8 image that has black "missing water." Does that make sense?
if you want the original image(s) you Could try opening the PDF in Adobe Photoshop (and it'll likely need to be a recent version, CS 2 and up)
since Adobe owns both programs.
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Chief Technical Officer
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For instance, page 120 of Rise of the Runelords collectors edition there is map. Can you tell me how I can extract the map using adobe acrobat (10.1.6)
First, make sure Adobe Reader is set to show you the tool you need. Go to the View menu, then Show/Hide > Toolbar Items > Select & Zoom > Show All Select & Zoom tools.
Choose the Select tool from the toolbar—it's the one that looks like an insertion cursor (aka "I-beam pointer") next to a selection cursor (aka "arrow pointer"). Click on the map, away from any text area. Copy and paste, or just drag it to your desktop.
I just did it with the map on page 120 of my watermarked PDF, and it works fine.
There *are* some maps where you need to do something slightly different. When a map takes up the entire page—that means no borders or anything—Adobe treats it as a page background, and to select a page background, you need to option-click (Mac) or ctrl-click (Windows) with the Select tool. (Our Flip-Map and Map Packs are generally set up like that.)
So, now I know it does not work.
hence why I said "could try."
I have a copy of adobe reader 8 on my mac simply because it does this easily.
If you can obtain a copy of that, it should do the trick.
There are other various applications the take all the images out of a PDF. I used one for a while bit it was a little crashy.
I haven't done it in a while so I don't know what's current. I bought my PDFs for the APs I am running some 3 years ago...
Soon I can afford a subscription again. That'll be fun. Maybe one day I'll be rich enough to buy my back issues.
The suggestion to copy with the photo capture could also be included.I actually don't recommend that technique, as it introduces loss to the image data. Using the selection tool in Adobe Reader does not introduce loss.
That's the function I was referring to. I think of it as "photo capture" because of the icon on the tool in Acrobat. Sorry if I didn't know the right term.
I'm not sure how else you'd do it actually. Screen cap with printscrn I guess, but yeah, that'd produce an inferior image.
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Chief Technical Officer
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The tool with the camera icon is the Take Snapshot tool, and it's lossy; just like a screen cap, it creates a new image from the pixels displayed on your screen. The Select tool, described a few posts up, is non-lossy; it extracts the image exactly as it was when the PDF was created.
(The only time you want to use the Take Snapshot tool is when you want to capture the text and the image together, as the Select tool gets you one or the other. Whenever you do use it, set your zoom to 100% if you can; that way, you'll avoid scaling artifacts, but you will still get compression artifacts.)
The tool with the camera icon is the Take Snapshot tool, and it's lossy; just like a screen cap, it creates a new image from the pixels displayed on your screen. The Select tool, described a few posts up, is non-lossy; it extracts the image exactly as it was when the PDF was created.
(The only time you want to use the Take Snapshot tool is when you want to capture the text and the image together, as the Select tool gets you one or the other. Whenever you do use it, set your zoom to 100% if you can; that way, you'll avoid scaling artifacts, but you will still get compression artifacts.)
Huh. This doesn't seem to work for me. Have Acrobat Professional 10. Not including any text. Select it, copy it, but can't import from clipboard into Photoshop, create new from clipboard, or paste.
For personal use, I guess I'll stick with the easy way and deal with loss--not like I'm planning to create publication quality images with Paizo's IP after all. :) I just need something that is usable for my games, doesn't matter if the image is pristine for those uses. Besides, sometimes need to capture both text and image.
Maybe all the more this should be in the FAQ after all. :)
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Chief Technical Officer
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Huh. This doesn't seem to work for me. Have Acrobat Professional 10. Not including any text. Select it, copy it, but can't import from clipboard into Photoshop, create new from clipboard, or paste.
The instructions I gave are for Adobe Reader. I can't tell you how to extract images with Acrobat Pro, as I don't use it (but I'm sure there's a way!). However, Reader is free, and there's no reason you can't have both installed.
The file has two separate download options. The first option is all the tiles shoved into a single file, whereas the other files are versions that are pieced together from those tiles. There isn't a tile in the set that comprises the water that would occupy those blank spaces. You can find the Single File download on your My Downloads page.
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I'm able to extract images using the open-source package Inkscape. That's able to read in a single page of a PDF file as a vector image. It doesn't handle the embedded fonts right, so the text starts to look ugly. However, if what you're after is extracting the embedded images to make maps, that doesn't matter; you're going to throw away the titles anyway. I'll then delete the stuff I don't want, select the image that's left over, and export it as a bitmap.
Annoyingly, I don't think Inkscape tells me what the native resolution of the bitmap is. However, I can save it at some reasonable dpi, and it's always worked fine for me.
Now all I need is a 11'x17' (or bigger) printer to make battlemaps with... and an unlimited budget for ink....
Just to echo what others have said supporting Paizo in this. The PDFs I get are terrific, and open enough that I can make modifications to the adventures as needed, grab images, etc.
I do really love the fact that paizo is trying to help us, but non of this actually works for me =(. I was using acrobat, so I went and downloaded adobe reader, but still no luck with page 120 of rise of the runelords... Do I need to use the light version of the pdf or something? No matter what I do, the only thing I can get from that map is the border.
Great news! I fails totally with a non lite, but it works with lite version of the pdf, but only with acrobat, but yeah, problem solved, for me!
edit: on further investigation.. it looks like the lite version of the images have far less detail, so really, the old screen scraping way gets a better quality map... sadly
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Does the "Extract Method" work on Flip-Mat PDFs? I'm trying to modify the Pirate Ship Flip-Mat I purchased a bit for the Skull and Shackle's Campaign. My goal is to print out the decks and glue them onto thin plywood for play. I'd like to actually create the small Dinghy's hanging on the deck instead of having them be part of the deck.
John
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Some PDF Image Extract is the tool you want.
Open the PDF, press the play button, and it'll spit out all the images in the book into JPGs.
Is there a way to combine PDF's without circumventing the security protocols? I want to combine the two seperate PDF's of certain map folios (cover PDF and the actual maps themselves) into one whole file. Unfortunately when I try in Acrobat 9 PRO I get the Password Protected warning.
I don't believe so. If you look at it from a security perspective, that would be an incredibly easy way to circumvent security on any file (just merge it with one you have the password to, and you suddenly gain edit access to the entire contents) so I can't imagine there would be any (legitimate) way of making this work.
Is there a way to combine PDF's without circumventing the security protocols? I want to combine the two separate PDF's of certain map folios (cover PDF and the actual maps themselves) into one whole file. Unfortunately when I try in Acrobat 9 PRO I get the Password Protected warning.
Not sure if it works with password protected files, but PDFsam has worked for me in the past.
-- david
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That's the point of the watermark though -- they don't want you to remove it. If you could just peel it off then pirates would as well, would would make the money spent on protecting the PDFs sort of a waste.
I'm not sure I understand the issue, however. Why do you need the image to be 100% clean for your VTT? Is the watermark interfering in using the map in some way on the VTT?