importing vectors as PDF into XDP18.5

[handrawn]

each PDF comes in on a separate page - it does not do this in XDP15.1 where all the vectors are on the one page

is there any way to get 18.5 to import all to the one page? - I don't see any options but I may have missed them - a quick and easy way of merging pages would probably do

xara cloud is not an option

thanks

[mega]

Can you please provide steps to reproduce the issue as well as a test document to try it on?

[handrawn]

Hi

thanks for the prompt reply

I just open a new xara designer 18.5 document and imported PDF files

here is an example with two PDF's

face-hair-import 18.5.0.62892 DL x64 Aug 11 2021.xar
face*Image.pdf
hair*Image.pdf

what i would expect to see is this popup as in version 15.1:



but it does not appear; I have tried clicking turn on all popups but it appeared to make no difference - could i have switched it off in the registry somehow?

[handrawn]

P.S. the popup does not always appear in ver 15.1 most of the time it just imports everything onto the one page, which is what i need

EDit - got that in ver 15.1 popup appears if you import through menu but not if you drag drop in

in version 18.5 it make no difference, it does not merge either way; no popup

[gwpriester]

I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to, but I have a 16 page PDF and if I drag and drop it onto an empty page in Pro+ 21.5, it creates a new page for each of the pages in the PDF. And this is how Pro+ and Pro X have behaved for some time.

[handrawn]

thanks Gary

these pdf files are not paginated they contan one or more vectors on one page on one layer - importing them into version 15.1 they all stay on the page they are dragged on to, all lined up in sync ready to process

in version 18.5 the first one opens a new page and all the others open new pages one after another - I could understand this is it were one paginated PDF, but they are all seperate files

the new PDF edior seems to have lost the ability to merge onto one layer

I can do all this work in ver 15.1, but it is not an incentive to update going forward, version 15.1 is ideal for me and when dagging and dropping i get merge without the prompt [which i'd forgotten about until i tested]

Every PDF shape on it's own page is useless to me, there is no acceptable way I know to get them all [and we are talking a lot, one cut out model alone could have 20 or more, so we could be talking 100 plus easy] back on to one layer, in position, when they are on different pages

PDF is illustrators native vector shape format for file interchange; unlike SVG there are rarely if any placement registration issues; PDF is the only [practical] vector format for import into Harmony; all my vector asset is in PDF format

[Acorn]

handrawn, the best I can offer is stick with v15.1.

I have dragged onto the top bar - separate XARs created.
I have used Repeat on all pages - tedious
I have cut and shift-pasted.
I even tried multiple Placeholders.

The best I managed was with https://www.freeconvert.com/pdf-to-svg/.
Drag 100 PDFs to the Choose file drop area, click the “Convert to SVG” button and wait and then Download All.
It is a ZIP but you just open, select all and drag onto your design page.
You would need to confirm registration is maintained.

Your PDFs seem to have a Black shape and a White Rectangle with the shape as a cut-out.

Acorn

[handrawn]

thanks for looking into it acorn

yes I'll stick with 15.1 for this....

so two issues with 18.5 now, this and the issue where the colourline diamond markers are illegible on the cintiq pro

re the shapes: they were vectorised in illustrator keeping the background white; the backgrounds are all the same size and so aligning those to the same coordinates aligns the shapes; the white can then be erased/blended-out

in theory you can do that with svg, but in my experience you cannot rely on svg to maintain relative size during some of the process[es]

[RKissane]

I tested this and it works in version 17 the way you describe verision 15.

You should put in a ticket with support on this because it clearly is something that has just recently changed in version 18.

Ray

[handrawn]

hopefully they are aware of it as mega [post #2] is on record as a developer with PDF filter responsibility, but a ticket would do no harm sure

EDIT - done