PDF documents are blurry after update

Forum for the PDF-XChange Editor - Free and Licensed Versions

Moderators: TrackerSupp-Daniel, Tracker Support, Paul - Tracker Supp, Vasyl-Tracker Dev Team, Chris - Tracker Supp, Sean - Tracker, Ivan - Tracker Software, Tracker Supp-Stefan

Post Reply
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Hello, recently we have updated from version 9.0.352.0 to 9.5.366.0. We have some forms created in our former version, but now these forms are blurry. I have checked and tried some DPI-settings, but i can't find a solution.

Does anyone has a solution for this? Thanks in advance!
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello owl99,

Has anything else changed as well at the same time?
Maybe video drivers or maybe you also upgraded from Win 10 to Win 11?
As far as I am aware we have not changed anything related to the way files are actually rendered in quite some time, so I suspect that such blurriness is due to either something external live drivers/OS update, or maybe the file was processed between the previous use and the new one and e.g. an optimized copy with reduced image quality was created?

Kind regards,
Stefan
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Hello Stefan,

Thanks for your reply.

No, there are no other changes to our system or different video drivers. Also it is not saved as Optimized.

I have checked another form, but this form is not blurry. The only difference i have noticed is the font. In the blurry pdf it is "mixed", in the non-blurry pdf it is Calibri. When i edit the blurry text and choose for the option "clear text style", the text area is readable again.

Does this look familiar?
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello owl99,

I've not seen this before, so can you share with us a copy of the blurry file?
If sensitive, please do not post the file here but instead mail it to support@pdf-xchange.com with a link back to this topic.

Kind regards,
Stefan
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello owl99,

Thanks for the sample file! I've managed to reproduce the issue, and have passed your sample to our devs so that they can look at it in detail. We will post here when we have any updates.

Kind regards,
Stefan
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Are there any updates on this?
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello owl99,

One of my colleagues observed that all the "blurry" text in your sample file has a white stroke with border width of 0 pt, and this was passed on to another developer for a further investigation. I have just asked for a further update by the other dev.

Kind regards,
Stefan
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Just for additional information: I think this is also related to another topic: viewtopic.php?p=166967

I wondered why there was still a difference between text with BorderWidth=0 / StrokeColor=somecolor and text with BorderWidth=0 / StrokeColor=none (in build 9.5.366.0). If the BorderWidth=0 then the StrokeColor should play no role at all.

I tested now with an older version of PDF-XChange Editor (build 8.0.343.0) and there, there is NO difference.

A work-around for owl99 could be : set the StrokeColor of the blurred text to "None".
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Willy Van Nuffel,

Thanks for bringing that up!
Indeed the two might be related.
The developer who this case is now with is in our Canadian office, so I've still not received any update, but I should get some shortly.

Kind regards,
Stefan
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Hello Willy,

Thanks for the tip! It was the solution. We can use this as workaround.

But unfortunately i have secured the forms with a password. Before my colleagues can adjust the stroke color they have to take security off the PDF-file. This is not workable for our employees.

@PDF X Change, i hope you can fix this. Otherwise we have to downgrade. Which version does not have problems with Stroke Colors?
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello owl99,

Yes - we are certainly looking into why the Stroke Colour is applied when the width is 0, and will be working on a fix.
Happy to hear that what Willy offered is a viable workaround - even if not ideal for your environment, and not a long term solution!

Kind regards,
Stefan
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

@owl99
Maybe it would be good to stay with build 366 for now. There is only a problem of a poor rendering of the characters.

@Tracker Support
After testing with different builds, it seems like the problem has come with build 360. Build 359 was still good.

Kind regards.

Willy
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Willy Van Nuffel,

Thanks for your tests! The issue is confirmed and our devs asked me to make a ticket:
#6401: PDF documents are blurry after update
So that this can be resolved.
They could not promise that the fix will be for the immediate next build - but we will try to get this resolved as soon as possible!

Kind regards,
Stefan
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Thanks for the information.

Kind regards.

Willy
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

:)
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Hello all, what is the status?
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello owl99,

The ticket has been assigned to a developer and a work item started, but has not yet been marked as resolved.
As soon as there is further news on the ticket we will let you know!

Kind regards,
Stefan
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Hi Stefan,

Has the issue been solved by update 9.5.368.0 ?

Thanks in advance.

Greetings,
Patrick
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Hello,

Verification with build 368 showed that the problem is still not solved.

@Tracker Support
Maybe with the next release?

Best regards.
User avatar
Paul - Tracker Supp
Site Admin
Posts: 6829
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:37 pm
Location: Chemainus, Canada
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi guys,
Maybe with the next release?
Maybe. As much as I'd love to be able to commit to a delivery schedule, the reality is that the devs have a huge load on their shoulders and we can't guarantee delivery.

I bumped the priority on the ticket, but I am afraid that may not be enough. At the end of the day this will be at the discretion of the development team leader.
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
Tracker Support North America
http://www.tracker-software.com
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

The issue with the stroke color seems to be better with build 370 but it is still slightly visible (see screenshots).

PDF-XChange Editor - build 359
PDF-XChange Editor - build 359.png
PDF-XChange Editor - build 359.png (4.58 KiB) Viewed 1143 times
>
PDF-XChange Editor - build 370
PDF-XChange Editor - build 370.png
PDF-XChange Editor - build 370.png (5.03 KiB) Viewed 1143 times
>
Sample PDF (Stroke color.pdf) attached.
Attachments
Stroke color.pdf
(9.48 KiB) Downloaded 19 times
User avatar
TrackerSupp-Daniel
Site Admin
Posts: 8436
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:52 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, Willy Van Nuffel

Thank you for the update, the ticket is still flagged as "open" so it seem the Dev team also recognizes this is not quite resolved yet, I expect this improvement is a midway point for their efforts.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
owl99
User
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:31 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by owl99 »

Hi guys, any improvements with build 371?
User avatar
TrackerSupp-Daniel
Site Admin
Posts: 8436
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:52 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, owl99

It looks nice and crisp to me personally, but I don't have the best eyes, what do you think?
PDFXEdit_wp6zIskvpS.gif
Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
https://www.pdf-xchange.com
Support@pdf-xchange.com
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

At 100% zoom in PDF-XChange Editor v10.0.1 build 371, using my "Stroke color.pdf", I can still see the contours of the red stroke color (also visible in your animated GIF-file here above). When I set the stroke color to "None", I can see the difference.

If possible, please compare with build 359, where this problem was not yet present. It started from build 360.

Kind regards.

Willy
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Willy Van Nuffel,

I do see what you mean - even when the border width is set to 0 - the stroke of those letters is still rendered. I've asked our devs to confirm whether this is working as expected, and will post again here when we have any update!

Kind regards,
Stefan
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Willy and all,

Just got an update from our devs that it is the specification that does require the Stroke colour to be rendered at least 1px thick even when the Border Width is set to 0pt (Unlike for e.g. annotations).

If the Stroke/Border colour is not desired - then the value of "none" should be selected for the text in question:
image.png
Kind regards,
Stefan
Willy Van Nuffel
User
Posts: 2347
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:10 pm

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Thanks very much for the information.

However, for me it is a strange specification with no logic in it.

To be sure, I compared with Ad*be Acr*bat Reader and it renders the "Stroke color.pdf" just the same as PDF-XChange Editor v10.0.1 build 371 does. So, we can assume that there is finally no problem.

For what me concerns, this case can be closed.

So "If the Stroke/Border color is not desired - then the value of "none" should be selected for the text in question".

Kind regards.

Willy.
User avatar
Tracker Supp-Stefan
Site Admin
Posts: 17818
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:07 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: PDF documents are blurry after update

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Willy Van Nuffel,

Actually - annotations MUST have a colour specified - you can not select "None" as the stroke colour for an annotation:
image.png
image.png (14.06 KiB) Viewed 953 times
So that's why the specification stipulates that when an annotation's border is set to 0 - then the colour is not shown.

Base content objects (like the text in your sample) on the other hand are allowed to have a stroke colour of "none" - and that's why you need to set it to that value to have the stroke/border colour not display for base content objects:
image(1).png

I believe this might be inherited all the way back to PostScript from which the PDF specification was created, so it dates decades back and is how things are.

Kind regards,
Stefan
Post Reply