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I found that if I try to simply use the Copy Image functionality from PFS scenario PDF's I just get a black box. I have to enlarge the image on the screen and do a Screenshot. Unfortunately, the PDF pages cannot be brought into something like Photoshop for direct printing.
Is there a trick to copying the PDF images that I'm missing?
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It depends on the scenario. For the majority of them, if you just click on the image in the .pdf in Adobe PDF reader or another, it selects the image just fine and you can copy it into Paint or I'd presume Photoshop. There are some, 4-02 is the one I ran into most recently that have the text on the same layer as the map. I haven't run into the black box issue though, it might be an issue of trying to copy it using a pdf function rather than just clicking and using Ctrl+C. I do have issues if i try copying NPC images using that technique as it results in a black background. For those, I take a snapshot and white out the text in the background. I don't ever print anything though, so I'm not sure how those things may affect resolution.
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For me it's only been an issue with Season 6 scenarios making a black box. It was brought up before GenCon and we were promised it would be looked at shortly thereafter, but so far nothing, and the next batch of scenarios had the same problem. I don't know what changed in map formatting but it's a pain for those of us that copy the unique map images into a program so we can print them up!
My current work-around has been to save the scenario as a jpg file, which actually makes a separate image file for every page of the scenario. I then import the page I want into Paint and crop it from there, but this does not get rid of the layers with room numbers, traps, secret doors, etc like the image copy-and-paste function does on the older scenarios.
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I seem to have the black box problem across all scenarios/seasons.
As far as having those "hints" (room numbers, secret doors, etc.) removed, I've become quite adept at making them completely disappear by liberal use of the selection copy/paste and Clone tools in Photoshop. If you knew where to look on the map, in most cases you'd swear there was nothing ever there as a "hint" to begin with (including walls, textures, environments, etc.).
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there seems to be a blank 'layer' over the maps in newer scenarios. the best advice is to use an PDF image extractor which will pull all the images from the PDF at their full resolution. then just discard the ones you dont need.
you will still end up with 'secret doors' usually as these are on the map layer - but as mentioned above, some photoshop work will remove them (try the clone stamp tool to copy from a similar area)
I've had to unlock my .pdf copy, thus making it able to adjust the layers to send the "black box" to the back so I can grab the correct image. You'll need to visit this website and Adobe, which you probably already have.
As someone recently brought to my attention: NitroPDF.
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Some PDF Image Extract v1.5 will do the trick (v2 won't).
Not 100% sure on whether it'll fix the season 6 problem; I haven't had a copy to try it.
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I ran into this issue for the first time yesterday as well, and I hope that they fix it soon. Unless, of course it was planned, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
The problem with the PDF extractors is that it seems they are mostly not open source (or freeware). Now, I get that companies have to make money but I would prefer not to have to pay $139 to extract the maps from scenarios.
I give credit to Paizo and PFS for having such beautiful maps in their scenarios (anybody remember the old pale blue line maps in the old D&D modules)? Since they are paying good money for the artwork, I feel I should show it off! Why should only the GM see the pretty pretty maps?
I ran into this issue for the first time yesterday as well, and I hope that they fix it soon. Unless, of course it was planned, which doesn't make a lot of sense.
The problem with the PDF extractors is that it seems they are mostly not open source (or freeware). Now, I get that companies have to make money but I would prefer not to have to pay $139 to extract the maps from scenarios.
I give credit to Paizo and PFS for having such beautiful maps in their scenarios (anybody remember the old pale blue line maps in the old D&D modules)? Since they are paying good money for the artwork, I feel I should show it off! Why should only the GM see the pretty pretty maps?
There is a free version of Nitro (Nitro Reader, IIRC). I was able to pull the maps out of season six scenarios just fine with it.
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The problem with the PDF extractors is that it seems they are mostly not open source (or freeware).
Xpdf is open source and includes a simple (but effective) command line image extraction tool called pdfimages. It can be downloaded HERE.
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I'll put in a vote of confidence for Nitro Reader as well. I downloaded it a couple of days ago and it has seamlessly extracted every scenario I've thrown at it (including a few season 6 plus the AP I'm currently GMing).
It's free, as bugleyman mentioned, and thanks for the initial recommendation as well.
I did find one bug. When you click the 'Extract' button, you are presented with a pop up box with several options. One of which is to select the output folder for the extracted files, another is a check box to open the chosen folder after extracting is complete.
If I choose the folder before I uncheck the box, I get an error saying that the PDF is protected and can't be extracted. If I uncheck the box before choosing my destination folder it works just fine.
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I've had to unlock my .pdf copy, thus making it able to adjust the layers to send the "black box" to the back so I can grab the correct image. You'll need to visit this website and Adobe, which you probably already have.
This did not quite work correctly. It extracted everything but all the maps were just black boxes. I really wish to know what (and why) the heck Paizo did to prevent maps from being easy to extract.
I've had to unlock my .pdf copy, thus making it able to adjust the layers to send the "black box" to the back so I can grab the correct image. You'll need to visit this website and Adobe, which you probably already have.This did not quite work correctly. It extracted everything but all the maps were just black boxes. I really wish to know what (and why) the heck Paizo did to prevent maps from being easy to extract.
Whomever designed the .pdf put a transparent layer over the image, making it very annoying to take the map from the page without first removing the transparency. I should mention that I have Adobe Pro, so that might be an issue as to why it didn't work for you. The Pro version has many more features as opposed to their free reader.