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How to extract images from pdf using gimp

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pkladisios
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How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#1 Post by pkladisios »

Greetings!

I am a new user of gimp 2.8.2 on debian 7.11. I need to extract images from pdf files. In lieu of a better way, i open the desired pdf page, use crop on the area i want to extract and export an image in various formats (e.g. png, jpeg etc.). In all cases, the output is blurry. What am i doing wrong? Is there a simpler way to do this?

Thank you in advance.


pkladisios
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#3 Post by pkladisios »

Thanks Alan. I just tried pdfimages, one of the suggestions. It immediately extracted all images in jpg format, using a single command line. It would seem that quality is untouched. Insanely handy! In the case that anyone is interested, pdfimages is included in the package poppler-utils, a library for rendering PDFs.

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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#4 Post by bester69 »

pkladisios wrote:Thanks Alan. I just tried pdfimages, one of the suggestions. It immediately extracted all images in jpg format, using a single command line. It would seem that quality is untouched. Insanely handy! In the case that anyone is interested, pdfimages is included in the package poppler-utils, a library for rendering PDFs.
I use pdftoppm (it works great):
pdftoppm -r 300 -<<jpeg/tiff/pdf>> fichero.pdf convertido
pdftoppm -r 600 -jpeg -mono/gray fichero.pdf salida
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edbarx
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#5 Post by edbarx »

Another direct brute force way is to display an image with a pdf viewer and grab it with scrot from the screen.
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#6 Post by oswaldkelso »

pdfimages is the tool if you want to extract the images from a PDF.

If you don't want jpegs, don't use the -j flag and you get the actual ppm from the pages you chose.

pdftoppm
DESCRIPTION
Pdftoppm converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files to color image files in Portable Pixmap (PPM) format, grayscale image files in Portable Graymap
(PGM) format, or monochrome image files in Portable Bitmap (PBM) format.

When I tried pdftoppm I got the whole page as a ppm

As Edbarx says, you may as well do a screen snap if the full size images is smaller than your screen
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GarryRicketson
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How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#7 Post by GarryRicketson »

@ Diazou75 and @Sonyi
The topic is about using GIMP, to extract the images, Please do not de-rail
the topic, if you want to start a topic on using "photoshop" you can start one in
the "off topic" forum,... Photoshop is not even a Linux or Debian application,
and until the forum admins creat the new "debi-windows" sub forum, the
off topic forum is where a topic on photoshop should be.

Post by oswaldkelso » 2017-01-17 03:35
pdfimages is the tool if you want to extract the images from a PDF.
I agree here, "pdfimages" would be a better method the with Gimp,...
pdfimages , is part of a Debian package :
"poppler-utilities "
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/poppler-utils
How ever since the OP seems to want use Gimp, I had refrained from
mentioning it,..and I don't know if it is possible with gimp, I do not use that.

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GarryRicketson
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#8 Post by GarryRicketson »

pkladisios wrote:Thanks Alan. I just tried pdfimages, one of the suggestions. It immediately extracted all images in jpg format, using a single command line. It would seem that quality is untouched. Insanely handy! In the case that anyone is interested, pdfimages is included in the package poppler-utils, a library for rendering PDFs.
All though Gimp is popular, and to many people very useful, I think that is your best option, I use a different "graphics utility" (Image Magick), but the point is,
when it comes to working with PDF, documents, and extracting the images or text,etc. ... it is better to use additional utilities intended for that,
After all said and done, the "screen shot" method, is a very simple , easy solution as well. Then the image can be edited, resized, etc, with your choice of "graphics" utility,.. Gimp, ImageMagic,,etc...

pkladisios
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#9 Post by pkladisios »

Thanks for the answers guys. I have yet to try the print screen, cut and paste option that edbarx recommends. The only reason is that it is highly inconvenient when handling a plethora of images.

GarryRicketson, i am well aware of the awesomeness that is ImageMagick. My purpose, however, is to extract images at their full initial quality and pasting them to Libre writer, something i doubt it is capable of. Using the least amount of effort is, naturally, implied. So far, Gimp has been letting me down consistently, proving me with nothing but blurry images. Perhaps there are options within Gimp that i am missing. I should mention that i am open to other suggestions as well. For the time being, pdfimages works well in most cases.

bdtc1
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#10 Post by bdtc1 »

Many documents will have vector drawings, which will not be grabbed by pdfimages. For these, you may wish to try Inkscape. This will require opening a single page of the PDF, cutting out the drawing you want, and saving as svg, pdf, ps, or eps. Another choice would be to open the PDF page in Gimp, select a resolution of 300 or 600dpi, and then crop and save, but here you will be converting the vector drawing into bitmapped graphics. Similar can be done with Inkscape.

Regarding pdfimages, it is useful to use both the -j and -png flags. This gives you jpeg were it was recorded as such (good for photos), and the compressed lossless png format otherwise (good for screen captures and digital graphics).

Also look at optipng to reduce png sizes.

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debiman
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#11 Post by debiman »

to clarify:
a pdf can consist of images only, text and images, or text only.
when you say "extract images from pdf" i assume you want to get at the embedded images and save them as seperate images, without further processing? i don't think gimp is capable of that.
according to this inkscape might be more suitable.

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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#12 Post by bester69 »

hehe, the other day i upgraded Master-PDF-Editor and remembered this post,

right now, Its the most propertly userfiendly linux app we have for this kind of tasks, its free linux software (not opensource) closest to Acrobat writer.
Master PDF Editor a convenient and smart PDF editor for Linux.
https://code-industry.net/free-pdf-editor/

Master PDF Editor provides you advanced functions for working with PDF format:

• Create new PDF or edit existing ones.
• Add and/or edit bookmarks in PDF files.
• Fast and simple PDF forms fill out.
• Changing font attributes (size, family, color etc).
• Encrypt and/or protect PDF files using 128 bit encryption.
• Convert XPS files into PDF.
• JavaScript support.
• Dynamic XFA form support.
• Validation Forms and Calculate Values.
• Add PDF controls (like buttons, checkboxes, lists, etc.) into your PDFs.
• Import/export PDF pages into common graphical formats including BMP, JPG, PNG, and TIFF.
• Signing PDF documents with digital signature, signatures creation and validation.
• Free PDF Editor on Linux ( for non-commercial use)


I know you can easily copy/extract images from pdf, so i think this is the apps you were looking for since the beggining. :o
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pkladisios
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#13 Post by pkladisios »

Yes, debiman, that would be my purpose. For some reason, images exported from gimp lose quality. Decreasing their quality should be up to me. Inkscape was proposed by bdtc1 as well, though, to be honest, i have not tried it yet.

bester69, Master PDF editor has both commercial and free licenses, something i am extremely wary of. For instance, i remember how good foxit reader was in windows. So light, fast and minimal. Now it's considerably slower with has ads incorporated (!). I would much rather use open source alternatives for obvious reasons.

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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#14 Post by arzgi »

I have used pdfimages from poppler-utils package.

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bester69
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#15 Post by bester69 »

pkladisios wrote:Yes, debiman, that would be my purpose. For some reason, images exported from gimp lose quality. Decreasing their quality should be up to me. Inkscape was proposed by bdtc1 as well, though, to be honest, i have not tried it yet.

bester69, Master PDF editor has both commercial and free licenses, something i am extremely wary of. For instance, i remember how good foxit reader was in windows. So light, fast and minimal. Now it's considerably slower with has ads incorporated (!). I would much rather use open source alternatives for obvious reasons.
I dont like very much Foxit in linux, tought looks a very good linux pdf reader (and with maintenace development), i prefer using okular for this purpose, but as an pdf-editor Master-PDF-Editor its the a great we've in linux for this purposes. Im not using it very much cos i already have installed Abrobat XI with wine working gold. 8)
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debiman
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Re: How to extract images from pdf using gimp

#16 Post by debiman »

pkladisios, i asked "do you mean A, B or C?" and you answered "Yes"...
???

anyhow, whether you use inkscape or something else (pdfimages sounds like a sane choice to me), you have to start reading some documentation and find out what the software actually does. i'm sure it will tell you whether it lossily transcodes the images on the fly, or whether it extracts the actual images as they are.
and forget about gimp for this one.

always remember: in gnu/linux, the software is on YOUR side. you don't have to work against it; you can work WITH it.

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