[feature request] copy paste content & adjust colors

[Mathew]

When working with CAD pdf's I often need to compare two drawings by overlaying. A very useful function would be to be able to directly copy and paste a selected area, and then change the color of the linework in the pasted object. Using the snapshot tool isn't ideal because it just pastes an image, so the background is opaque.

So it would look like (the red is the overlay):

image.png

I have a workaround that I use, but it really isn't perfect:
1. extract the page I want to overlay
2. crop it to the area I want
3. using the selection tool I select everything and change the line color
4. make a new temporary stamp from that page
5. insert the stamp into my drawing and adjust the transparency.

It's messy. Also, there are problems:
stage 3 doesn't work very well, because sometimes the object's line is white in the drawing, so I get blobs
also, I cannot change the color once I've made the stamp.

If PDFxchange did this, it could have a dialog to change the colors. It would know all the colors in the objects of the pasted stamp, and be able to list them. I could pick which color I want to change (ie black) and change that one only, rather than changing "line" or "fill". Also, the multiple steps of making the stamp should be able to happen similar to a snapshot tool, but grabbing actual lines/text instead of an image of them.

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Hi Matthew,

thanks for the post and suggestion. Before I take this to the devs, I wonder, you are doing this because you need to compare two PDFs to see what is different. Is that right? Is this about finding changes/differences in the drawing?

I ask because our "Compare PDFs" doe snot currently handle drawings and I am wondering if this request is something that might be covered if we were to add comparing drawings.

Having said that, as I understand it comparing drawings is far from trivial and I am not sure if we are actively working on at right now, so I am wondering if this request is along the same lines, is the desired outcome to find changes in a PDF or do you often compare two discrete documents?

[Mathew]

Yes, in my case it is for comparing plans. But it's not something that could be automated, because I'd be comparing in this case a plumbing drawing with my structural plan, so they are completely different pdfs. But it could be an architectural/mechanical/electrical etc drawing.

Also, they may lay out differently on the sheet, or be a different scale, so I need to be able to select an area of a different drawing, and overlay it on my drawing, moving and resizing if necessary (as a stamp.) Changing the color is just so that it's a bit easier to see the different drawings on top of each other.

This is kind of the opposite functionality of the redact tool: Instead of erasing a section of a pdf, I want to grab that section as a stamp. Changing the colors of the linework in the stamp would be an additional step on top of that.

[Mathew]

Here's an example on a completely different drawing, overlaying the architectural:

image.png

I can do something similar just using the snapshot tool, but the problem with that is it brings in a bitmap image, and the background is white, so covers up my drawing. Making it transparent sort of works, but still it lightens up my lines, and if I do more than one overlay, it doesn't work:

image(1).png

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello Mathew,

After you do your crop step - why don't you then just select the objects as they are and copy-paste them between the two files?
Even if they are a different scale - you will paste them as vector objects (and they will still be selected) - so you can then Transform that selection to resize it as necessary:

image.png

You can also place your copied objects into new layers - so that you can e.g. turn them on/off if necessary later.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Mathew]

Thanks Stefan. Yes, that may work, although it adds another step (adding a layer), and adds it as content rather than a comment. But the layer option is a good one.

My hope is that since the functionality is already present inside PDFxchange but spread over a series of tools, all these steps could be combined into a single tool.

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Hi Matthew,

I understand what you mean about combining multiple steps into a single tool. I approached the dev team and floated the idea of being able to record steps to re-use, but they are not keen. I am told it opens up a real can of worms.

I doubt that we are going to see a custom tool for this, it's pretty specific. I am interested however in how to make the task easier and want to "play around" a bit. Is there any chance I can have a couple of the files in question if I keep them confidential? If so please email me at paul@tracker-software.com

warm regards

[Mathew]

OK, I'll send some drawings to you.

The only reason I thought of this is I saw someone do it in Bluebeam and was immediately jealous of how fast and easy it was. They just selected an area in one drawing, pasted onto the other drawing, and got a dialog box to change line colors of the pasted stamp. I couldn't possibly do my workaround approach live in a meeting with PDFxchange.

A problem I've discovered with the 'Layer' approach mentioned above is that once it's pasted, if it gets deselected it's hard to re-select all the pieces if I need to nudge it over, or scale it to line up.

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Hi Matthew,

I have your files and will take a look.

I cannot guarantee we will mimic the BlueBeam behaviour, but I will see what the dev team leader thinks and get back to you.

Thanks for this.

[rogerthepan]

For those who need this capability, an easy alternate method is below:
Refer to this question:
viewtopic.php?p=152523&hilit=change+pdf ... ck#p152523

This assumes that the documents are aligned. Works for documents with multiple pages instantly!

Prep:
1) using the "Content" pane, select all objects in the old document to have a stroke color (eg red). For me it was necessary to then select all text and set the text color, and set the stroke back to "none".
2) again, select all objects in the content pane and set the "Blend Mode" to Multiply - then when red is overlayed with green it will not be opaque, it will turn black.
3) save.
3) In the new document, perform steps 1 & 2 (eg set to green color), but no need to change the blend mode.
4) In the new document, click on the Layers pane and import the old file as a layer. Give it a good name like "Old" or "Structure"
Done. All pages are overlayed.

Weakness: the location of the overlay cannot be adjusted. If there is misalignment then you are back to the original post's method.
Strength: the layers tab is easy to toggle the overlays on/off! Works for documents with multiple pages instantly.

[Paul - Tracker Supp]