Cropping: "Set to white margins" doesn't work with plot-transparencies

[pumpaij]

Hello!
I used to work with Adobe Acrobat and recently changed to the PDF-XChange Editor.

My working life revolves around Autodesk AutoCAD where I produce plans on a daily basis. Since the plans vary in size and might not even have standard paper sizes, I usually place my drawings on a very large paper format (A0) and crop the PDF to its margins.
This worked perfectly in Adobe and it also works in PDF-XChange Editor.

However:
Once I enable plot transparency in AutoCAD (that's a checkbox in the plot dialog that defines whether or not objects that are set to a certain transparency should be plotted with that value) the transparent objects are plotted just fine but I can't crop the PDF afterwards. XChange Editor doesn't find any boxes.
(The outermost border isn't set to be transparent - it's the same it would be if I didn't plot with transparencies.)
Adobe didn't have this issue. Is there a way to fix this? Transparent objects are crucial in my line of work - omitting them isn't an option.

Thank you and cheers!

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello pumpaij,

Could I ask for a sample file showing this issue for investigation? Also, does the Editor show any errors when opening the document, If so please include screenshots of these messages.
If the files contain sensitive information, you can email them directly to us via support@pdf-xchange.com

Thank you!

[pumpaij]

Hello Daniel!

Thanks a lot for the quick response. I don't get any error messages, it just won't find the borders.

I created and attached some quick test files:

This is the plotting dialog. I can set the drivers and I can check or uncheck whether or not AutoCAD should use plot-transparencies (I'm sorry it's all in German...)

I've done two plots using the PDF-XChange Standard Driver ("_PDFXChange"-Extension) check and unchecking plot-transparencies.
I can crop the file where I didn't use transparencies without a problem but I can't crop the one where I want to see transparent objects.
(I just now noted the different "looks" of those *.pdfs when using a small zoom-level like 30% - the borders of the one with plot-transparencies look almost transparent. Once you zoom to 100% the borders of both *.pdfs look the same though.)

Afterwards I've done the same two plots using a different driver ("_differentDriver"-Extension).
I can crop both files without a problem.

Is there a way to achieve the same result using the PDF-XChange-Driver?
Can you point me in the direction of where I have to tweak driver settings?

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello pumpaij,

Thank you for the files,
Looking over this, It appears that for some reason, the application is sending a series of images to our printer giving results like this:

I am unsure why it only does this with the transparent image, or why PDFPlot14 is better able to create this document, and correctly uses path objects. I am currently speaking with our Development team to identify if this is something we are doing wrong, or if possibly AutoCAD simply thinks that our printer is a physical printer and is sending the wrong information.

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

The Dev team has come back with a few items.
As pdfplot14 is an Autodesk product, they are able to communicate with it more intimately than with any other printer, allowing it to circumvent the usual printing quirks and other mechanisms. As an example, it can print directly with layers, which is simply not possible with any existing printing mechanisms. Likely the method of transparency autoCAD uses also falls into this category.

It may be possible if you try changing our driver to XPS mode, that it could be seen differently and may improve the output somewhat. If that does work let us know.

Beyond that, this is due to how AutoCAD is sending the information to other printers, and you will need to reach out to their support team as it is not something we can tackle from our end. I apologize for the inconvenience.

[pumpaij]

Changing the driver to XPS mode didn't do much unfortunately.
It seems like I have to keep using different drivers for different tasks...

However: Thanks a lot for the quick and professional support!

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

And thank you for allowing us to take a look at the issue.

Best Regards,