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Animated objects exported to PDF?

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 12:59 am
by tfwall
Hi,
I have been experimenting with PDF creation in Writer, however, when I insert a video or animated gif, and then export the PDF,
they never seem to work in adobe reader 9 (They do in writer, so I knows the files are good)

What if anything can I do to get this right? I am sure i'm missing something, but I dont know what.

Trying to create e-book, with text, graphics and video when needed, and cant swing 7 bills for adobe writer.

Thanks in advance
Terry

Title Edited. A descriptive title for posts helps others who are searching for solutions and increases the chances of a reply (Hagar, Moderator).

Re: Totally lost in writer/pdf export

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 1:21 am
by Cambirder
I think I am correct in saying that you cannot embed animated GIFs or video files in a PDF file.

Re: Totally lost in writer/pdf export

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:09 am
by tfwall
Ummm.... I believe so. Let me explain a little more indepth.

In Writer: I can Insert/Picture, and choose an animated gif, and it shows up animated.
OR
I can Insert/Video, and it appears on page, with video controls in the prog to play.
BUT
when I export the pdf and open it in Adobe eader 9, all that shows up is a static image.
The gif is not animated, nor is there any controls for the video, and it only shows the first frame.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Re: Totally lost in writer/pdf export

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 2:31 am
by RoryOF
As far as I know, you need Adobe Acrobat to embed videos in pdf. There may be other programs with this capability, but a quick Google didn't give any clear results other than Acrobat.

Re: Animated objects exported to PDF?

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:49 am
by Hagar Delest
Remember that a PDF is a digital print. It's intended to be printed, that's all. If you need such animated objects, you should try another format.

For the record, such objects are forbidden in the PDF/A standard (for archiving documents).

Re: Animated objects exported to PDF?

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 3:51 pm
by tfwall
Rory,
I was afraid of that. Have done many searches too ;-) Darn it.

Haga, I may try it without the PDF/A and see what happens.

Thanks.

Re: Animated objects exported to PDF?

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 2:27 pm
by lrosenthol
Remember that a PDF is a digital print. It's intended to be printed, that's all. If you need such animated objects, you should try another format.
Boy, are you thinking VERY old school! PDF has enabled rich interactive documents - from forms to video-enabled content - for over a decade!! Such features are a key aspect of the PDF standard (ISO 32000-1:2008).

Adobe's authoring tools, as well as those from other vendors and open source solution such as Scribus, fully support producing documents with these features.
For the record, such objects are forbidden in the PDF/A standard (for archiving documents).
That, however, is quite true. PDF/A-1 (nor the forthcoming PDF/A-2) does not support interactive content.

Leonard Rosenthol
PDF Standards Architect
Adobe Systems

Re: Animated objects exported to PDF?

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 3:28 pm
by tfwall
Wow.....looks like I need to do more digging around ;-)

Thanks for the clarification, now to look for Scribus.

Thanks again.
T

Re: Animated objects exported to PDF?

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:48 pm
by Hagar Delest
lrosenthol wrote:Adobe's authoring tools, as well as those from other vendors and open source solution such as Scribus, fully support producing documents with these features.
More DTP than WP applications...