When you wish to use an interactive PDF, such as many adventure path maps, what viewer do you use?
As far as I've seen, Firefox can only display the default view with the interactive elements static. I hate the idea of an ongoing subscription for Acrobat, and I'm trying to avoid Chrome for security reasons. All of the free readers I've tried are as limited as Firefox.
Related to that, what is your method for pulling a map out of a PDF to use on a simple VTT like Owlbear Rodeo?
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When you wish to use an interactive PDF, such as many adventure path maps, what viewer do you use?
As far as I've seen, Firefox can only display the default view with the interactive elements static. I hate the idea of an ongoing subscription for Acrobat, and I'm trying to avoid Chrome for security reasons. All of the free readers I've tried are as limited as Firefox.
Related to that, what is your method for pulling a map out of a PDF to use on a simple VTT like Owlbear Rodeo?
I use Foxit PDF Read on the PC and mobile devices.
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I use Foxit PDF Read on the PC and mobile devices.When you wish to use an interactive PDF, such as many adventure path maps, what viewer do you use?
As far as I've seen, Firefox can only display the default view with the interactive elements static. I hate the idea of an ongoing subscription for Acrobat, and I'm trying to avoid Chrome for security reasons. All of the free readers I've tried are as limited as Firefox.
Related to that, what is your method for pulling a map out of a PDF to use on a simple VTT like Owlbear Rodeo?
Just make sure when installing/updating it, they onften have checkmarks checked by default to install other apps. As long as you take time to uncheck them each time, Foxit have been working well for me yeah.
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I also use Foxit, and to grab the maps I don't use the interactive maps file but instead the AP files. I just use the Select Text and Image tool, click the map I want and right-click + copy and then paste into GIMP. I use GIMP to make any changes I may need and I am ready to go for use at the table.
I also use Foxit, and to grab the maps I don't use the interactive maps file but instead the AP files. I just use the Select Text and Image tool, click the map I want and right-click + copy and then paste into GIMP. I use GIMP to make any changes I may need and I am ready to go for use at the table.
Okay, I have some of that working, thank you. The images still show secret doors and a grid, though.
For flip-mats and the like, I've been able to open PDFs directly in GNU-IMP (I dislike the acronym). I should have thought of that, so thanks for the reminder.It would be great if I could load interactive maps into the graphics editor and delete the label, grid, and secret door layers, but I haven't been able to thus far.
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It would be great if I could load interactive maps into the graphics editor and delete the label, grid, and secret door layers, but I haven't been able to thus far.
Yeah, because of this the interactive maps files are basically useless to me. I edit the extracted images to have secret doors and the fog of war as separate layers that I enable visiblity on as the party detects them (for secret doors) or erase as the party moves about the map (for the fog of war). If Paizo produced and sold ready-made maps like this they'd make a killing. 0one Games already does this (quite well, too!), but the maps are of course original and not tied to existing adventures.
It would be great if I could load interactive maps into the graphics editor and delete the label, grid, and secret door layers, but I haven't been able to thus far.Yeah, because of this the interactive maps files are basically useless to me. I edit the extracted images to have secret doors and the fog of war as separate layers that I enable visiblity on as the party detects them (for secret doors) or erase as the party moves about the map (for the fog of war). If Paizo produced and sold ready-made maps like this they'd make a killing. 0one Games already does this (quite well, too!), but the maps are of course original and not tied to existing adventures.
There's someone who goes by "Narchy Maps" who has produced some good versions of some AP maps, but they went on to produce them for FoundryVTT. That's great, but I just want map files to put in Owlbear Rodeo, because Foundry isn't the most accessible to my vision.
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I use PDF-XChange Editor Free Edition as my PDF viewer, but though it can see and save the interactive maps from my AP PDFs well enough I often utilize TokenTool to extract the base map images.
For scaling and aligning the maps afterwards I use Map Align (Fantasy Grounds forum login required). While it was written by a FG user, it reads and writes plain graphic files and I have no problem importing the result.
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I use Okular, which has the advantage of being FOSS (so it's not nagging you to buy the paid version or showing ads) and faster than many other PDF readers. It supports Paizo's buttons for its maps and form fillable character sheets just fine. For most PDF documents I prefer Zathura for its minimal, keyboard-driven interface, but for most people I think Okular's about the gold standard for a PDF reader.
I'd have to go digging into its options, but I believe it has the ability to spit out the images embedded in a PDF, I've used that in the past to import character portraits from AP's for use in Foundry, specifically Theatre Inserts as the players getting to see the NPC's face when I'm speaking as them helps a lot with everyone being able to keep track of who is who.
I use PDF-XChange Editor Free Edition as my PDF viewer, but though it can see and save the interactive maps from my AP PDFs well enough I often utilize TokenTool to extract the base map images.
For scaling and aligning the maps afterwards I use Map Align (Fantasy Grounds forum login required). While it was written by a FG user, it reads and writes plain graphic files and I have no problem importing the result.
I've been able to use TokenTool to extract all the images from a PDF, map and otherwise, but the resolution is fuzzy. Are there settings you can recommend to preserve more clarity in the images?
I use Okular, which has the advantage of being FOSS (so it's not nagging you to buy the paid version or showing ads) and faster than many other PDF readers. It supports Paizo's buttons for its maps and form fillable character sheets just fine. For most PDF documents I prefer Zathura for its minimal, keyboard-driven interface, but for most people I think Okular's about the gold standard for a PDF reader.
I'd have to go digging into its options, but I believe it has the ability to spit out the images embedded in a PDF, I've used that in the past to import character portraits from AP's for use in Foundry, specifically Theatre Inserts as the players getting to see the NPC's face when I'm speaking as them helps a lot with everyone being able to keep track of who is who.
Okular is a good viewer, though I haven't figured out how to select the base map images in order to copy them and paste into GNU-IMP.
I've been able to use TokenTool to extract all the images from a PDF, map and otherwise, but the resolution is fuzzy. Are there settings you can recommend to preserve more clarity in the images?
I'm afraid I don't; the resolution of the image in the PDF is what it is. Map Align (or your graphics program of choice) has some upscaling options, and I've read about AI-based upscaling options though I haven't tried any of them myself.
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Adobe Acrobat Reader is entirely free and supports everything used in the interactive map pdf files, never had a single problem with it and no ads or anything. Token Tool is also my go to for pulling any images from pdfs, you're getting them at the resolution they natively are, so any fuzzyness is due to that and upscaling them rather than the actual image itself. If you don't object to using 'AI' then Pixelcut has a decent free image upscaler that can help, though it won't always provide enough detail.