PDF Export

Howdy Boomers!

Doing some illustrations that ultimately need to be delivered in a vector format for printing. Thought I’d figure out the details later and dove right into the drawings with my preferred tool, TBSV3.

Now it looks like I’ll have to upgrade to V4 for PDF export. Does that export type retain the vectors or does it rasterize images?

I’m not getting anywhere looking for SWF-to-PDF/AI tools, and Illustrator’s tracing tools aren’t doing a very nice job of converting bitmap versions of my pics. Even managed to import my SWF into Illustrator but my clipping and transparencies didn’t come through. See the drawings in question here.

So how’s about that PDF export? Any good? Know of any SWF converter freeware? Or should I start over in Illustrator?

Cheers,

Burton

Hi Stickybullseye,

First off… awesome drawing! That should get any kid (big kids included) excited for taekwondo class. Next… Yes, the PDF export feature in Studio V4 retains vector information so long as the original image is in a vector format. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced that a .pdf will be exported as a yellow rectangle whenever a bitmap is vectorized along with its color in Studio. It works fine when vectorizing only the outlines in black and white, however (but I imagine that’s not what you’re looking for).

Another option available to you is the Toon Boom Studio Importer (TBSi) plug-in, which will allow you to import Toon Boom Studio projects directly into Adobe Flash, which you can then export to Illustrator (haven’t been able to find a Flash to PDF exporter yet). This is helpful if you prefer Studio’s vectorization to other software. Note that Studio does not fully vectorize bitmaps but rather creates a container for the raster image. Finally, you can check out other vectorizing solutions in the meantime such as vector magic… which might help you out. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your comments Jonah! Amazing you picked them as taekwondo mascots!!! They’re to be used to represent different age group classes.

Will give Vector Magic a go with the highest res it will allow, and if that’s not good enough (these pics are planned to go on posters as well) I’ll upgrade TBS for the PDF export. Thanks for the tip about what happens to bitmaps- not an issue for me on this project luckily!

Many thanks-

Burton.

https://forums.toonboom.com/toon-boom-animate-family/general-discussion/toon-boom-illustrator-svg