Pencil tool in PDF XChange Viewer

[sonicwaves]

First, thank you very much for a most wonderful piece of software. I am constantly blown away by just what a massive difference PDF XChange viewer makes to my everyday computing life.

I have a question about the pencil tool in the viewer. I often make written notes/draw on my PDF. When I use the pencil tool, the colour and form of my handwriting/drawing is exactly as it is on paper. However, when I stop writing/drawing, the colour of the drawn shapes/writing becomes darker and the shape of the letters/drawing becomes more pointy/jagged and less smooth/curved.

Is there a reason for this behaviour? Can I change some setting to keep my scribbled notes/drawing exactly the way they are when I am drawing/writing them? Thanks for your time!

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

Would be very nice to have some screenshots/PDF files which show what you need. Thanks.

[sonicwaves]

I am attaching 3 pairs of screenshots. What I described above is most visible in the pair labeled: WordsAFTER.png and WordsBEFORE.png

BeforeAfter.7z

BEFORE: In the fist screenshot, I have not yet finished writing (and have not lifted the stylus off the tablet).

AFTER: In the second screenshot, I have stopped writing and the stylus is off the tablet. As you can see, the curves become sharper/jagged edges and the final colour is darker.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Sonicwaves,

I can not see a change in the colour - maybe it is due to the simplification of the curves that it looks darker.
In any case please check what is the blending mode for the pencil tool, as it might be affecting the colour.

And the "edgy" result is due to the mentioned simplification we are doing with the pencil tool result.
We are vectorizing your input and are using a number of shapes to describe your drawing - for the moment there is no way to control the fineness of the result, but will see if I can get any additional information about future plans in this area.

Regards,
Stefan

[sonicwaves]

Ah, didn't know about the vectorizing part. That's quite clever! Maybe you could use another finer vectorization algorithm in future iterations.

That would explain why the output is different from what I draw/write. I have the blending mode set to "normal".

Thanks for your reply!

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello sonicwaves,

Turns out I need a better calibration of my monitor - a hard task for a TN LCD
When I looked at your samples in an image editing software and measured the colours I saw the difference.

Ivan just confirmed that this happens because of some transparency used during creation (that shouldn't have been used) and we are investigating.

The other problem with the edgy result is being worked on and a significant improvement should be available in version 3 of the Viewer.

Regards,
Stefan

[sonicwaves]

Oh wow - thanks once again for looking into this!

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

You are welcome sonicwaves

Best,
Stefan