Can anyone recommend an acrobat pro alternative?

[BigStef]

On 6/15/2021 at 2:56 PM, IndigoMoon said:

Good luck! 😉

I get a regular key @IndigoMoon! Do not ask me how : I just don't know 

And I can tell ya : A good alternative to Adobe Acrobat, at least for what I need : checking the colors layers before sending to the printer.

[IndigoMoon]

On 6/17/2021 at 2:21 PM, BigStef said:

I get a regular key @IndigoMoon! Do not ask me how : I just don't know 

Congrats @BigStef! 😀 

Well, I'm mainly a portrait photographer and perhaps they were jealous about all the beautiful girls on my website... 😛 😂

Enjoy your app! 👍

[Thomahawk]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:10 AM, Kal said:

An online demo of a JavaScript-based SDK called PDFTRON Webviewer. This isn't really a standalone product; it's something developers can license for their own apps. But by golly, the demo is pretty darn useful! It finds all the spots and lists them (alongside the CMYK inks) with checkboxes that you can turn off and on, just like Acrobat Pro. And it runs in a web browser. So I'm not sure what makes this feature so elusive for all the devs of those cheap PDF utilities out there.

This looks promising. Thanks for sharing!

[leob]

2 hours ago, Thomahawk said:

This looks promising. Thanks for sharing!

Don't know if you saw my original reply to that post by now, but PDFTron sells hi-end frameworks that are out of reach for regular developers.

[Lorox]

On 2/9/2021 at 7:10 AM, Kal said:

An online demo of a JavaScript-based SDK called PDFTRON Webviewer. This isn't really a standalone product; it's something developers can license for their own apps. But by golly, the demo is pretty darn useful! It finds all the spots and lists them (alongside the CMYK inks) with checkboxes that you can turn off and on, just like Acrobat Pro. And it runs in a web browser. So I'm not sure what makes this feature so elusive for all the devs of those cheap PDF utilities out there.

That colour separation feature of the PDFTRON Webviewer demo actually provides 99% of what I usually check with my PDF files before uploading them to my online printers‘ service. So this is in fact valuable information!
It might very well do the basic PDF checking for all those who for some reason or other cannot use the PACKZVIEW app (which of course is more comprehensive – but you possibly may never need the majority of the more specialized features it's offering).

So let's hope the PDFTRON Webviewer demo will stay accessible on the web for a while...

[Kal]

On 9/5/2021 at 7:25 AM, Thomahawk said:

This looks promising. Thanks for sharing!

You're most welcome! Also check out PDF Output Preview by fellow forum member @Lagarto if you haven't already. (Links on the previous page.)

[Dazmondo77]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:33 AM, Lorox said:

That colour separation feature of the PDFTRON Webviewer demo actually provides 99% of what I usually check with my PDF files before uploading them to my online printers‘ service.

Pretty good to view seps in PDFTRON, but one essential tool is missing from separation preview - Total area coverage view - which I'm using a lot on the current job I'm working on, as the print service provider for this job will only accept pdfs with a 280% max ink density, I've even worked with printers that will only accept 260% so this feature is a must - it's really great that it can be sorted in a few minutes in publisher using a 160% global rich black and blend ranges which can be pasted throughout a document - would be a real pain in Adobe although you could run blend ranges as an action.

Just out of interest, does anyone have an easier method of keeping within a low max ink density? 

[Lorox]

51 minutes ago, Dazmondo77 said:

it's really great that it can be sorted in a few minutes in publisher using a 160% global rich black and blend ranges which can be pasted throughout a document

Yeah, you're right a total ink coverage warning (as you can set it in Acrobat Pro) would be really helpful in PDFTRON Webviewer once the elements in your design are many and interacting with one another other than the “normal“ blend modes. And – of course – when (especially colour) pixel images are in the mix which you just cannot check every area of manually.

Could you possibly elaborate on what you mean exactly with that ”160% global rich black and blend ranges” as cited above? How could one actually use that to check for total ink coverage in Publisher?

[Dazmondo77]

1 hour ago, Lorox said:

Could you possibly elaborate on what you mean exactly with that ”160% global rich black and blend ranges” as cited above? How could one actually use that to check for total ink coverage in Publisher?

I actually set up the rich black as 140% (C0,M20,Y20,K100) as it needs slightly warmer finish once printed see grabs which prob explain better:

[Lorox]

I’m sorry Dazmondo77, but it looks like I cannot really follow what you are doing in that video by just watching. Guess I 'd need some more explaining...

[Bobster2]

I tried running version 1.0.0.10 of PDF Output Preview on macOS Big Sur 11.6 with Ghostscript 9.5 installed. Computer is the Hackintosh equivalent of an i9-9900k 2017 iMac. (I have no other issues with the computer; professional music production and notation software runs fine, as do all the Affinity apps, Final Cut Pro X, etc.)

When I hit command-P and select a PDF, it crashes.

I opened the application package and ran the executable from the Finder. Here are the first few lines of the Terminal output (happy to post the full output if it would help).

Any suggestions?

/Applications/PDF\ Output\ Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/PDF\ Output\ Preview ; exit;

[username@computername] ~ % /Applications/PDF\ Output\ Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/PDF\ Output\ Preview ; exit;

2021-10-12 13:22:35.160 PDF Output Preview[55423:1062290]

Unhandled Exception:

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path "/Applications/PDF Output Preview.app/Contents/Resources/Music-notation_cmyk.pdf" is denied.

 at System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, System.IO.FileMode mode, System.IO.FileAccess access, System.IO.FileShare share, System.Int32 bufferSize, System.Boolean anonymous, System.IO.FileOptions options) [0x001b7] in <9fb864578e404c628e2e35175aa4b697>:0 

 

[lacerto]

(...)

[Bobster2]

4 hours ago, Lagarto said:

Try to open the source file from a location where you have regular user privileges.

I thought it already was in such a location, but I moved it to another folder, and now it works!  Thanks very much!

[Lorox]

Having used PackZView for quite some time now I have to confess that I've lost touch a bit regarding Lagarto's "PDF Output Preview" app. Sorting this out reliably just from all the to and fro posts in this thread doesn't seem quite the easy task as well (at least to me).

Could anybody possibly be so kind and just state in a few concise words what the current state of affairs is? Is "PDF Output Preview" just a regular MacOS app now which can be installed like any other app or is there still the necessity to take some preliminary (or even geeky) measures to make it work (say on macOS Mojave which I'm currently running)? Which version is actually recommended?

Thanks in advance to anybody who may take the time!

[Bobster2]

33 minutes ago, Lorox said:

Having used PackZView for quite some time now I have to confess that I've lost touch a bit regarding Lagarto's "PDF Output Preview" app. Sorting this out reliably just from all the to and fro posts in this thread doesn't seem quite the easy task as well (at least to me).

Could anybody possibly be so kind and just state in a few concise words what the current state of affairs is? Is "PDF Output Preview" just a regular MacOS app now which can be installed like any other app or is there still the necessity to take some preliminary (or even geeky) measures to make it work (say on macOS Mojave which I'm currently running)? Which version is actually recommended?

Thanks in advance to anybody who may take the time!

I just installed PDF Output Preview yesterday on Big Sur 11.6. You need to also install Ghost Script (at least I think that's the case, and it's what I did yesterday (version 9.50)).

Current version for macOS is 1.0.0.10. Link is a few pages back. The page where you'll find the Ghost Script installer is also linked in this thread - try a search. 

Also see my two previous posts above (from yesterday and today) if the app crashes when trying to open a file. Moving the file to a different folder resolved it for me.

Hope this helps.

[lacerto]

(...)

[Lorox]

Hi Bobster2 and – of course – Lagarto, thank you very much for doing these quick summaries on the current state of things. It's highly appreciated!

[Dazmondo77]

PackZView users: is there a total area coverage setting in PackZView? I keep trying to open PDFs but it just bombs - I have managed to run PackZView successfully by rebooting into an Opencore Big Sur volume but I really need to use it in Mojave and it's loads of faff messing around swapping SSDs 

[prophet]

I can confirm PACKZVIEW has a coverage setting. A slider that highlights coverage based on the percent you choose, along with the eye dropper which lists all inks with their percentages along with total percentage.

And I've got it running on Mojave 10.14.6 with no issues at all.

[Lorox]

32 minutes ago, prophet said:

I can confirm PACKZVIEW has a coverage setting. A slider that highlights coverage based on the percent you choose, along with the eye dropper which lists all inks with their percentages along with total percentage.

You're perfectly right – thanks a lot for pointing this out! I hadn't actually noticed this up to now... There's that little button/icon with two drops in the „Ansichtsoptionen“ (view/display options) window which you have to click and then you get that slider at the bottom of the window where you can set the percentage of the coverage you don't want to exceed. If there are spots where there's more ink coverage you'll see them highlighted in (more or less) orange (although I liked that garish RGB-green in Acrobat Pro better for this purpose).

I didn't have any problems with PACKZVIEW running on Mojave 10.14.6 either.

[Dazmondo77]

1 hour ago, prophet said:

And I've got it running on Mojave 10.14.6 with no issues at all.

I did query the problem with the PACKZVIEW guys and ran through their suggestions with no luck, the app launches, it just bombs on opening any PDF, also tried creating a new user account, also tried running on my MacBook pro which also runs Mojave 10.14.6: still no luck

  

[Kal]

An incredibly useful thread, but yes, it takes a bit of work to sift through 11 pages of discussion! So, if you’ve just tuned in, and you’re wanting to check your print separations in a post-Adobe world (without breaking the bank), here are the highlights:

1. PACKZVIEW: a free app to preview and inspect production PDF files. This seems to be the best option out there. The only catch is, you need to register, and registrations are reserved for ‘labels/packaging’ companies. If you’re a graphic designer with a commercial website, you should qualify. Otherwise, you might want to try one of the other options. (Thanks to @leob, developer of PDF Checkpoint.)
2. PDFTRON WebViewer Demo: This isn't a standalone product; it's a JavaScript-based SDK that developers can license for their own apps. But if all you need to do is check print separations, the online demo may very well suit your needs. It finds all the spots and CMYK inks, and lists them with checkboxes that you can turn off and on, just like Acrobat Pro. You can move your cursor over the preview image and see ink coverage percentages. (Original comment)
3. PDF Output Preview: This useful little app was created by fellow forum member @Lagarto in response to this very thread. It uses Ghostscript, a free command-line tool for working with PostScript and PDF, so you’ll need to install this too. I believe the current versions (as of 15 October 2021) of PDF Output Preview are 1.0.0.16 for Windows and 1.0.0.10 for macOS. (I don't think there's currently a single web page where you can find and download the latest versions, but Lagarto can update us if that happens.)

We can update or repost this as necessary to keep the information fresh.

[Bobster2]

After open a PDF in PDF Output Preview (command-P), it vanishes from its folder in iCloud Drive.

Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution?

I moved the file to the Documents folder on my System Drive. Now when I open it in POP, POP crashes, which is the problem I had before. (IIRC, when I reported crashes before, the file was in the Downloads folder of my System Drive.)
 

[lacerto]

(...)

[iPeter]

Where are the contents of the lacerto forum posts and the tool downloads? What means „(…)“ in his posts? Was there a problem with software licenses (Adobe mafia methods  )?