Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- kicad:good_pdf_output_from_kicad [2013/05/20 14:32] – mithat
+++ kicad:good_pdf_output_from_kicad [2013/06/23 00:00] – [SVG version] mithat
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Getting good PDF output from KiCad in Linux ======
+====== Good PDF output from KiCad in Linux ======
-The most reliable way I've found to get good PDF output from Eeschema under Linux is to first export to PostScript (//File > Plot > Plot PostScript//) and then use the ''ps2pdf'' command from ''[[http://www.ghostscript.com/|ghostscript]]'' to convert to PDF. (The Arch wiki has a [[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ps2pdf|good writeup]] on `ps2pdf`.)
+There are several ways to generate PDF documents of Eeschema files under Linux. The most reliable way I've found is to first plot to PostScript (//File > Plot > Plot PostScript//) and then use the ''ps2pdf''((The [[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ps2pdf|Arch wiki]] has a good writeup on ''ps2pdf''.)) command from ''[[http://www.ghostscript.com/|ghostscript]]'' to convert to PDF:
+<code bash>ps2pdf -dOptimize=true -sPAPERSIZE=11x17 *.ps</code>
 The biggest problems with this are:
@@ Line 8: / Line 10: @@
   - It leaves you with both a PostScript and a PDF of the document(s), one of which is likely to get out of sync with the other, which may or may not be in sync with the actual schematic, etc.
-To help with this, I use the script below. I drop a copy of it into the root of a KiCad project and edit the ''OPTIONS'' as needed for the project. Then whenever I want PDFs of my schematics, I export PostScript from Eeschema and then click on this script in my file manager. Note that running this script will destroy any ''*.ps'' files in the directory---that’s by design.
+To help with this, I use the script below. I drop a copy of it into the root of a KiCad project and edit the ''OPTIONS'' as needed for the project. Then whenever I want PDFs of my schematics, I plot PostScript from Eeschema and then click on this script in my file manager. Note that running this script will destroy any ''*.ps'' files in the directory---that’s by design.
 <file bash makepdf>
@@ Line 28: / Line 30: @@
 done</file>
-I’ve not tried the script on PostScript files other than those produced by Eeschema, but I’ve got no reason to think it won’t work on other PS files as well.
+I’ve not tried the script on PostScript files other than those produced by Eeschema, but I’ve got no reason to think it won’t work on other PostScript files as well.
+===== SVG version =====
+I am currently testing the following for working from SVG files rather than PS. It also uses a GUI dialog based interface. It needs more testing before I'm comfortable "releasing" it.
+<file bash svg2pdf-d>
+#!/bin/bash
+########################################################################
+# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+########################################################################
+# Copyright (C) 2013 Mithat Konar <http://mithatkonar.com>
+# DESTRUCTIVELY convert all svg files in working directory to pdf.
+# Source file extension is case sensitive!
+# Requires inkscape, gxmessage.
+OPTIONS=""
+EXT=.svg
+SCRIPTNAME=$(basename $0)
+# Make list of files to be processed.
+FILES=$(ls -1 *${EXT}) || { gxmessage -title "$SCRIPTNAME" "No ${EXT} files to convert."; exit 1; }
+# Get confirmation from user to continue.
+gxmessage -title "$SCRIPTNAME" \
+  -buttons "GTK_STOCK_NO:1,GTK_STOCK_YES:0" \
+  -default "GTK_STOCK_YES" \
+"Desctructively convert the following to PDF?
+$FILES" || exit 1
+# Make a temp file to store batch commands.
+CMDFILE=$(mktemp) || { gxmessage -title "$SCRIPTNAME" "Error: Could not create temp file." 1>&2; exit 1; }
+# Build up the list of commands in temp file.
+for file in $FILES
+do
+    base=$(basename $file ${EXT})
+    echo "${file} --export-pdf=${base}.pdf" >> $CMDFILE
+done
+# Process commands in a batch.
+DISPLAY= inkscape ${OPTIONS} --shell < $CMDFILE
+rm -f $CMDFILE
+echo
+# Delete old files.
+# Since inkscape exits with 0 even with errors, we need to explicitly check
+# for conversion before deleting originals.
+rv=0
+not_deleted=""
+for file in $FILES
+do
+    base=$(basename $file ${EXT})
+    if [[ -f ${base}.pdf ]]; then
+        rm $file
+    else
+        not_deleted="$not_deleted
+$file"
+        rv=1
+    fi
+done
+if [[ "x$not_deleted" != "x" ]] ; then
+    gxmessage -title "$SCRIPTNAME" \
+      "The following files were not deleted:
+$not_deleted"
+fi
+exit $rv
+</file>