Import math equations from PDF results in question marks

[YM77]

Hi

I was trying to import a math equation from PDF, which I made with MS word (see attachment). And it ends up in all question marks. Did i messed up some setting? or it's a know problem form pdf/word?

MM_Equa2.pdf

[DWright]

This is being caused by an issue reading the font Calibri I have passed this along to our QA team in the meantime if you use the font Ariel for the equation the PDF will import correctly, I have attached a converted version of your PDF file

MM_Equa2 ariel.pdf

[Joachim_L]

2 minutes ago, DWright said:

Calibri

Calibri? You mean Cambria Math? And your PDF has only curves in it.

[DWright]

Hi @Joachim_L when this is opened in Word the font being used is Calibri while Affinity is using the font Cambria Math

 

 

[Joachim_L]

When you look into the PDF, the font is called Cambria Math. Illustrator complains about Cambria%20Math missing. Attached you will find a SVG with the equation and editable text.

Someone interested on how to convert the equation? Maybe interesting for those having only the PDF.

 

equationtext-designer.svg

Edited September 4, 2019 by Joachim_L
Originally attached SVG was a bit messy inside

[DWright]

There is an issue with Affinity not being able to read the glyph's in this font, this has been logged with our developers 

[YM77]

Thanks for @Joachim_L the SVG  file. It worked.

@DWright, I kinda figured it out, and it's a font issue. In word there is a "Normal text" function that allows you to use non-math text in equations. If that is enabled, affinity designer will just import fine, but the equation look less "math". Not sure what changed with that function. BTW i don't know why you saw Calibri. It was Cambria Math from my side in the PDF I uploaded.

[Joachim_L]

21 hours ago, Joachim_L said:

Someone interested on how to convert the equation? Maybe interesting for those having only the PDF.

Noone? I will tell you anyway, because the below told procedure saved my lower back a few times.

1. Go to mupdf.com and download the command line tool. Currently only for Windows and Linux, but there is also an old version for Mac (don't know if it still works).

2. If you want to convert a PDF to SVG keeping the text (there is also an option for converting text to curves) you have to type the following into you command line:

mutool convert -O text=text -o nameofoutputfile.svg nameofinputfile.pdf

3. Still we have a little work to do, as the converted SVG has too many curves and groups inside. 1.12 seems to produce fewer curves than the latest 1.16. Remove the unnecessary curves / groups, otherwise the SVG will be rasterised.

A lot of work I know, but in the end you get a file that plays nicely. So this is just a workaround until import of those "weird" PDF gets improved by Serif.

[RLemonache]

I need to edit a document in AD from a PDF, but the notations and equations are completely messed up in AD, is it because of Cambria Math? How can I avoid this issue?