PDF import problems

Retired Products Animate Support and Troubleshooting
1

I’ve run into yet more import problems. It seems that if I try to import a PDF (V5) that has a gradient fill and line the line vanishes and I can not find a way of adding it back to the shape in Animate. Probably a variant of the no line problems I had in another post - http://www.toonboom.com/support/forums/animate/index.php?board=16;action=display;threadid=1375

I tried to import a swf but that doesn’t seem to keep the various elements where they should be and also imports every shape as its own layer.

Anyone know of any work arounds? I really need to import vector info in a sensible manner. :’(

2

I was able to reproduce the problem in Animate Pro. Both characters are identical except a gradient fill was used on the eyes of the character on the left. I imported both as PDF: the character on the left had a green line around the eyes which vanished on import; the character on the right is nearly identical to the original file.


http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3223/workspace.png

In addition, the lines in the character with the gradient fill are thicker than the original illustration below.


http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/8822/oldnv.png

3

I didn’t get round to noticing the thickness.
I’ve contacted tech support with this. With any lock they’ll tell us it will be fixed in V2. This is a bit of a killer for me.
Nice character kongbot

4

I think I have a workaround for this problem; however, it’s not foolproof.

Export to PDF at 300 dpi. That solves the line thickness problem and also reduces the likelihood a line will be dropped.

Activate SHOW STROKES in the view you’re using.

If a line is dropped, select the shape and choose CONVERT->STROKES TO PENCIL LINES (Shift + F12 on Windows). The Strokes to Pencil Lines operation converts the selected invisible line to a visible pencil line. The command uses the active swatch in the color palette so set-up the target color beforehand as attempting to change the line color after the fact may mess up the gradient fill.

Hopefully this will work for you, as well :slight_smile:

5

Hello again Dave,

Thank you very much for pointing out this issue to us - we were unaware of a problem with importing a PDF with gradient losing its strokes. The problem was identified by R&D and will be fixed for the upcoming release of Animate 2.

~Lilly
Toon Boom Support