PImage.mask() with PDF Renderer

Core Library Questions

csteinleh..

PImage.mask() with PDF Renderer

in Core Library Questions • 11 months ago

Hi,

is there any way to get masked PImages with the PDF-Export? While rendering to the screen everything displays fine, but if I export to PDF, the clipping is gone.

Thanks.

Replies(4)

PhiLho

Re: PImage.mask() with PDF Renderer

11 months ago

Probably not. Masking is a bitmap operation, which isn't supported on vector renderers like PDF.
Vector masking is much harder to do...

csteinleh..

Re: PImage.mask() with PDF Renderer

10 months ago

any idea how to crop then images in an pdf export? is there maybe a way to get the masked picture with transparent pixels as PImage and draw this instead of the masked picture itself?

PhiLho

Re: PImage.mask() with PDF Renderer

10 months ago

Yes, you can operate on PGraphics, then image() them on the sketch area, they will be drawn cropped.

csteinleh..

Re: PImage.mask() with PDF Renderer

10 months ago

Thank you PhiLho for this hint!

For everybody hitting the same problem with transparency in PDF export, a few hints how to maybe (really depends on how your drawing is layered) solve this problem:

First: As far as I know, you can't really write a transparent PImage/PGraphics to a PDF file. You get black pixels instead of the transparent ones.

So what I did now, and it only works, because all pixel-based things are in the background, is the following. I mask each image individually and draw them on a PGraphics object which has a white background. After drawn everything to this object, I draw this assembled graphic to the stage. Over this I draw then the objects which are vector-based. So I get a nice PDF with one pixel-picture in the background and individual vector objects in the foreground.

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