Just a suggestion

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asbic consultants ltd
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Just a suggestion

Post by asbic consultants ltd »

While we have the option of filling objects with a solid colour it would be great if there were some hatch fills such as diagonal lines or crosshatch.

While most people work in colour there are still some people who photocopy my reports and they end up on site in black and white. A hatch pattern would stand out.

Regards

Bruce
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Patrick-Tracker Supp
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Re: Just a suggestion

Post by Patrick-Tracker Supp »

Hello Bruce,

Thank you for the email. Unfortunately, that is not something that we will be implementing in the near future. I fully understand the relevancy and usefulness of such a feature, however it is not possible to "Fill" space with anything aside from solid color according to the pdf specifications.

Such a feature is on the wishlist for future releases.

I do apologize that this was not the response you were hoping for.
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PeutzFrance
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Re: Just a suggestion

Post by PeutzFrance »

Hello,

I update this topic about the feature like "hatch" instead of full color objects in the software.
In our profession, we use to make schematic drawings with pdf xchange editor V8, and we would be very interested to use hatch in our drawing, instead of "solid color" objects.

The initial suggestion was made in 2015, and you told that the feature would be maybe installed soon ("the feature is on the wishlist for future releases"). We are in 2023, did you update something new related to this feature?

Maybe a new version (more than 8) of Pdf Xchange exists?

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Laurent
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Just a suggestion

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello PeutzFrance,

I am afraid that there still has not been much movement in this respect. You can read a bit more in this topic:
viewtopic.php?p=82707&hilit=hatch#p82707
We do have a feature request ticket, however due to the complexity, and the fact that even if we create such hatches - they will only 'stick' to an object until you need to make changes to it, and if these change are done in another software the hatch could be lost - it has not seen much progress.

Kind regards,
Stefan
ennessbee
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Re: Just a suggestion

Post by ennessbee »

Fully support this feature request. This is a clear advantage of Bluebeam Revu over PDF xChange - and I really don't want to use Bluebeam given how slow it is and poor at rendering vs PDF xChange

Understand custom hatches and line patterns are not supported by the PDF standard, however, the following use cases should be considered before ruling it out (same for different line and fill opacities):

1. In the construction industry Bluebeam is sufficiently prevalent that that many users are familiar that some shared annotations cannot be modified in non Bluebeam apps without clearing all the non-standard annotation styles that Bluebeam puts on - we work around this (eg. my current structural engineer sends me Bluebeam markups, I flatten them and use the content edit tool to modify if really required). Even better would be to understand how Bluebeam does it and replicate it so there can be some interoperability.

2. In a large company like ours, we have a global license of this software - so when most of our markups are for internal circulation we can assume that the application used by the receiving party is also PDF-xChange (even the same build) - then the argument to only follow the PDF standard is invalidated

3. For markups where there is a use case of having this level of style and graphic control of for the user, more often than not the author will flatten the markup to a "for issue" or "flat" file prior distribution. This is normally because they are for official use or need to be correct, and we do not want the other party to be able to edit or any chance of the markup not appearing correct. As an example, I have used PDF xChange to do Adobe Illustrator level markups, as Illustrator slowed to a crawl with the very heavy vector PDF from a cad program, whereas PDF xChange's rendering engine was more than capable.

If Tracker is still concerned with complying with the PDF Standards: Such use cases above may be a bolt on or an option in preferences to "enable additional detailed annotation styles and types not compliant with PDF standard" with a warning label that these may not appear the same in non PDF xChange viewers. Or a "drafting mode" that allows us to do CAD level sketches, but understanding we can't distribute the file without flattening comments first. This could be a different file type like ".pdfext" or ".pdfmu" specific to Tracker software for these "extended PDF markup file types".

Ultimately, user story the development team should be considering is senior architect, engineers, PMs, construction managers, etc that do not want to open CAD (or do not know how to) to do a sketch that's still detailed but is quick to do in the PDF that's been sent to us - this is what Bluebeam offers and would be great if PDF x-Change can move to fill that gap (and hopefully replace Bluebeam for some of us!).

Thanks!
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Just a suggestion

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, ennessbee

The trouble with such suggestions, and why we cannot simply "follow" in Bluebeam's steps, is that there is no documentation regarding these items, because they are not defined by the specification, it is not a simple case of "these files may not work in other software", it is a case of "if other software tries to edit this content, it could irreparably corrupt your files". We will never implement a feature which could cause that kind of incompatibility with other software, and as such, for the foreseeable future, do not have plans to bring hatching to our application. As there is no way to be certain that we could even reliably match Bluebeam's implementation, it is likely any way we try to offer this would be 100% exclusive to us, and could not be safely transferred even between our two applications.

As Stefan said, it is indeed something we see many requests for, and as soon as the PDF Specification is updated to include rules which other PDF software can follow to ensure compatibility and document stability, it will most certainly be implemented, but until that time, we simply cannot do so. We do need to keep in mind that we do not develop "custom plugins" for specific companies, and so if we offer a feature like this, everyone would have access to it. It would not be exclusive individuals or companies who strictly use our software and no others.

Regarding point 3. At best, we could perhaps make it work similar to the "signature stamp" function, where you place a "ghost" object that has to be applied and it is automatically flattened into base content upon application (which would in turn create 17 different "curve/line" objects inside an xform). The trouble with this is that until it is applied it would need to be able to be saved in this "temporary" format, which again, would not adhere to the spec, or we would need to force you to apply these items before the file can be saved, which would lead to other issues within our application for certain functions, and may cause us to damage files in the case of an application crash, which we do want to avoid.

While we do hear you, and yes, you are correct, Engineers, architects, and other CAD application users are indeed part of the userbase for our software, however they are no larger than any other group of users whom we support. Our main point here is that it is even more important because we have users who would actively use these features in our software, we ensure it is implemented in a way that absolutely will ensure document stability, so you can confidently use this feature. As such, while I appreciate the passion you have for this request, it will not be seeing light until we can ensure that this criteria is met.

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
Mathew
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Re: Just a suggestion

Post by Mathew »

I made a javascript tool to do this in PDF-XChange. Please see this topic: viewtopic.php?t=40329
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Just a suggestion

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
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
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