Sometimes wonder about this mailing list format. >I want to color parts of what has been sent to me as a black-and-white >pdf (line drawing, basically). What I usually do in a case like this >is to change the original layer to Multiply, then duplicate this and >multiply again.
Guessing that the line drawing is faint and the multiply operation is to make the outline darker. No need to set the base layer to multiply, it has nothing to act on. As an alternative, have you tried Filters -> Generic -> Erode which shrinks lighter areas, making the lines more distinct, or Color -> color Curve and pull the curve down and to the right, that often works. >Then I select each part of the drawing I want to color >and bucket fill it (different colors for each). if I save this as a >pdf and open it, all it shows is the colors without the line drawing. I can not reproduce that. >if I save it as a png, all is preserved. > >My question is--should I save the pdf as a png or jpeg first before I >start the entire process? It's a very low resolution drawing. Or does >it matter? It's a big file (the original is on a 24"x36" sheet and it >will probably be printed out at some point). > >I thank you for your help in advance! First the PDF, which might contain vector objects incl text which can be scaled to any size. Equally might contain an embedded bitmap which has an original pixels-per-inch (ppi). Low resolution original then scaling that up will degrade the line drawing in Gimp. Next, Gimp will by default use 100 ppi when importing a PDF. It is up to you to set the ppi value in the import dialogue. ***Warning*** a 24" x 36" image @ 300 ppi is seriously large (see screenshot). A poster-size image rarely needs printing at a photographic quality 300 ppi. Depending on viewing distance, a rough guide is ppi = 1/((distance-in-inches x 0.000291) / 2) which for about 6 foot is 95 ppi. What you need to do is ***ask the printing company*** for their requirements. They want a monster image like a hole-in-the-head. FWIW, my advice, import the PDF with say, 150 ppi. It will still be a large size in memory maybe 500-600 MB) but not unmanageable. Save in Gimp xcf format. Save frequently, careful when saving, make sure the save procedure completes or you might lose it. Lots of solid colour compresses well so a final export as png and the file will be much smaller. Need a PDF for the printing company, very popular these days. Open your png file, export as a PDF. rich: www.gimp-forum.net Attachments: * http://www.gimpusers.com/system/attachments/707/original/300ppi.jpg -- rich404 (via www.gimpusers.com/forums) _______________________________________________ gimp-user-list mailing list List address: gimp-user-list@gnome.org List membership: https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-user-list
