Mapsoft Blogs

With the release of Adobe Acrobat DC and Adobe Acrobat 2020 as 64bit versions, Mapsoft has released a 64 bit Windows version of its plugin, TOCBuilder. The installer is now able to determine if the installed version of Acrobat is 32 or 64 bit and install the appropriate version. Adobe is no longer supporting 32bit operating systems -  https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/kb/end-of-support-acrobat-reader-32-bit-os.html . It is important to note that this does not mean that the 32bit executable of Adobe Acrobat is not supported on 64 bit Windows. However updates of Acrobat in the future will start to update to 64bit and it is for this reason that we decided to produce a 64bit version of TOCBuilder. How do I know if I have a 32 or 64 bit version of Adobe Acrobat installed? Adobe have been good enough to output this information on the title bar of Acrobat when it runs as shown below: What else has changed in Acrobat? Enhanced Security which unfortunately can disable some functionality in the

Adobe has unveiled a ground-breaking creative generative AI model known as Firefly, which focuses on generating images and text effects.  It is designed to accommodate users of all experience levels, not just the creative professionals and is part of the innovative Adobe Sensei generative AI services which those that are already familiar with products like Photoshop will already be familiar with.   Firefly will be seamlessly integrated into various Adobe workflows, including Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Adobe Express.  The primary goal of Firefly is to provide creators with the ability to work at the pace of their imaginations, effortlessly producing countless variations of content.  FireFly will be directly integrated into Adobe's industry-leading tools and services, allowing users to harness the power of generative AI within their current workflows. The first Firefly model, now in beta, is geared towards commercial applications.  In or

  There are a number of boxes that help establish the dimensions, positioning, and viewable content for a PDF document. Here are some of the most important boxes: MediaBox: The MediaBox defines the dimensions of the entire page. It establishes the size of the physical medium on which the content will be displayed or printed. The MediaBox is specified by four coordinates (llx, lly, urx, ury), representing the lower-left and upper-right corners of the rectangle. CropBox: The CropBox determines the region of the page to be displayed or printed. By default, the CropBox is the same size as the MediaBox. However, it can be smaller or have different dimensions to remove any unwanted content from the final output. The CropBox is also defined by four coordinates (llx, lly, urx, ury). BleedBox: The BleedBox is used in professional printing. It defines the region to which the contents of the page should be clipped when the final output is being trimmed to its finished size. It usually extends be

There are several things to consider when creating PDF files from various sources to ensure that the final product is of high quality and suitable for its intended use. To begin, consider the source of the content that will be included in the PDF. If the content is scanned from a physical document, make sure the scanner is of high quality and that the document is properly aligned and lit before scanning. If the content is created electronically, it is critical to ensure that the layout and formatting are consistent, and that any images or graphics included are of high resolution especially if the pdf is going to be printed. Following that, it is critical to consider the PDF's intended use. If the PDF will be printed, it is critical that it is properly formatted for print and that any images or graphics included are of high resolution (see the adobe help system on print production tools ). If the PDF will be primarily used for screen viewing, it is critical that the document is prop

  Illustrator Scripts for changing colors These are two scripts that are almost identical but one uses RGB colours and the other CMYK. For these to work correctly the Illustrator document needs to be put into the correct color mode (RGB or CMYK) from the File menu/Document Color Mode. The parts of the scripts that you would need to change are at the top of the scripts. So for example in the CMYK variant of the script you would need to change one or more of the four values for the original color (the color that you are searching for) and the new color that you are replacing it with. Be aware that this code is searching for paths and not images or text. For it to work with text it should have been converted to outlines before the code is run. The code could be enhanced to add this additional functionality. It would also be possible to add a CEP (HTML and JavaScript) user interface so that users could change the colors that way rather than directly in the script. You will also see two fla

Type 1 Font Support Ending (Now) Adobe will no longer support the use of Type 1 fonts, also known as PostScript or Adobe Type 1, in its products by January 2023. This is due to the format being replaced by more versatile OpenType fonts. As a result, Type 1 fonts will no longer appear in the fonts menu, and previously installed Type 1 fonts will not be usable. Documents using Type 1 fonts will display as "Missing fonts". Type 1 fonts will no longer appear in the fonts menu and will not be usable. Documents using Type 1 fonts will display as "Missing fonts." Embedded Type 1 data in file types such as EPS and PDF will not be affected, but if these files are opened for editing in Adobe applications, they will trigger a "Missing fonts" error. Previous versions of Creative Cloud apps will continue to support Type 1 fonts, but any release from January 2023 and beyond will not. Users can obtain OpenType versions of Adobe-owned fonts through the Adobe Fonts servic

  Spot Colors Even if you're not in the printing industry, you've probably used spot colors. For instance, they are on our walls and cars. They are surrounding us. Spot colours are specially formulated, pre-mixed inks used in printing to achieve a specific, consistent colour. They are used as an alternative to process colours, which are created by varying the amounts of the four primary colours cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). Spot colours are especially useful for printing solid, bright colours as well as reproducing corporate colours or other specific shades that are difficult to achieve with CMYK. They're also frequently used in the printing of spot illustrations like charts, maps, and diagrams. Spot Color Systems In printing, there are several different spot colour systems, each with their own set of colours. Here are a few examples: Pantone Matching System (PMS): This is one of the most widely used spot colour systems for producing a wide range of printing colo

  The Hexachrome Color System The Hexachrome color system is a six-color printing process that employs the traditional four process colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) as well as two additional colors (green and orange) to increase the colour gamut, or range of colors that can be printed. This enables a wider range of colors to be printed with greater accuracy and more realistic image reproductions. Commercial printing applications that use the Hexachrome system include packaging, brochures, and point-of-purchase displays. Hexachrome colors are typically printed on a six-color press or with a special type of inkjet printer with two additional cartridges compared to the normal CMYK printers. Using Hexachrome in Adobe InDesign Hexachrome colours can be defined and used in a variety of ways in Adobe InDesign and their is similar functionality in products such as Adobe Illustrator. Swatch Libraries Adobe InDesign includes a built-in Hexachrome swatch library, which can be accessed by

Importing HTML into InDesign What to Import? We have recently been looking at finding a way of importing HTML files easily into InDesign. This certainly is not an easy task because HTML files have been created specifically with an online purpose while InDesign is really intended primarly for print output. For example images that may have a 72 dpi resolution in the <img> tags are not suitable for print. It is primarily text based elements in the HTML  file(including tables) that will be most useful for import. Some of the Issues One of the issues with attempting to convert from CSS is that it most often than not does not specify any values, but relies on set defaults. InDesign styles specify values for style attributes in the InDesign interface. The styles for tags can either be set directly or through classes. Any plug-in or script attempting to reproduce the styles would need to be able to reproduce the defaults and then see when they are modified in the CSS code. A much better

Illustrator PasteBoards to GIF files Script Outputing the contents of Pasteboards from Illustrator as gif files in preparation to creating an animated GIF file. // Define the GIF export options var gifOptions = new ExportOptionsGIF(); gifOptions.colorReductionColorCount = 256; gifOptions.colorReductionDither = ColorDitherMethod.NOISE; gifOptions.colorReductionMethod = ColorReductionMethod.SELECTIVE; gifOptions.ditherPercent = 50; gifOptions.interlaced = false; gifOptions.transparency = true; // Loop through all artboards and export each one as a GIF file for (var i = 0; i < app.activeDocument.artboards.length; i++) {   // Set the active artboard   app.activeDocument.artboards.setActiveArtboardIndex(i);   gifOptions.artboardRange = i.toString();   ExportOptionsGIF.artBoardClipping = true;   // Set the file name for the GIF file   var fileName = "c:\\Gif Files\\artboard" + (i + 1) + ".gif";   // Export the active artboard as a GIF file   app.activeDocument.exportFi

OpenAI and Windows Resource to HTML form I wanted to see if OpenAI could convert a dialog box windows resource to an HTML form. Here is the dialog code followed by resulting HTML code: IDD_BOOKMARK_FROM_LINKS DIALOGEX 0, 0, 211, 125&gt;STYLE DS_SETFONT | DS_MODALFRAME | DS_FIXEDSYS | WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU CAPTION "Bookmark from links" FONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg", 400, 0, 0x1 BEGIN     DEFPUSHBUTTON   "OK",IDOK,24,104,50,14     PUSHBUTTON      "Cancel",IDCANCEL,79,104,50,14     GROUPBOX        "Options",IDC_STATIC,7,52,197,44     CONTROL         "Remove leaders and page numbers",IDC_REMOVE_LEADERS_AND_PAGE_NUMBERS,                     "Button",BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_TABSTOP,19,80,152,10     CONTROL         "Use only first line of text from the link",IDC_USE_ONLY_FIRST_LINE_OF_TEXT_FROM_LINK,                     "Button",BS_AUTOCHECKBOX | WS_TABSTOP,19,67,169,10     LTEXT           &quo