1pdfposter(1) pdfposter(1)
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6 pdfposter - Scale and tile PDF images/pages to print on multiple pages.
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11 pdfposter <options> infile outfile
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16 Pdfposter can be used to create a large poster by building it from
17 multple pages and/or printing it on large media. It expects as input a
18 PDF file, normally printing on a single page. The output is again a PDF
19 file, maybe containing multiple pages together building the poster.
20 The input page will be scaled to obtain the desired size.
21 The program uses a simple but efficient method which is possible with
24 PDF: All new pages share the same data stream of the scaled page. Thus
25 resulting file grows moderatly.
26 To control its operation, you need to specify either the size of the
28 desired poster or a scale factor for the image:
29 · Given the poster size, it calculates the required number of sheets to
33 print on, and from that a scale factor to fill these sheets optimally
34 with the input image.
35 · Given a scale factor, it derives the required number of pages from
39 the input image size, and positions the scaled image centered on this
40 area.
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45 General Options
46 --version
47 Show program´s version number and exit
48 -h , --help
52 Show help message and exit
53 --help-media-names
57 List available media and disctance names and exit
58 -v , --verbose
62 Be verbose. Tell about scaling, rotation and number of pages.
63 Can be used more than once to increase the verbosity.
64 -n , --dry-run
68 Show what would have been done, but do not generate files.
69 Defining Output
73 -m BOX, --media-size=BOX
74 Specify the desired media size to print on. See below for BOX.
75 The default is A4 in the standard package.
76 -p BOX, --poster-size=BOX
80 Specify the poster size. See below for BOX. pdfposter will
81 autonomously choose scaling and rotation to best fit the input
82 onto the poster (see EXAMPLES below).
83 If you give neither the -s nor the -p option, the default poster
85 size is identical to the media size.
86 -s NUMBER
90 Specify a linear scaling factor to produce the poster. Together
91 with the input image size and optional margins, this induces an
92 output poster size. So don´t specify both -s and -p.
93 Default is deriving the scale factor to fit a given poster size.
95 Box Definition
99 The BOX mentioned above is a specification of horizontal and vertical
100 size. The syntax is as follows (with multipier being specified option‐
101 ally):
102 box = [ multiplier ] unit
104 multiplier = number "x" number
106 unit = medianame or distancename
108 Many international media names are recognised by the program, in upper
111 and lower case, and can be shortened to their first few characters, as
112 long as unique. For instance ´A0´, ´Let´. Distance names are like ´cm´,
113 ´inch´, ´ft´.
114 Medias are typically not quadratic but rectangular, which means width
116 and hight differ. Thus using medianames is a bit tricky:
117 10x20cm
121 obviuos: 10 cm x 20 cm (portrait)
122 20x10cm
126 same as 10x20cm, since all boxes are rotated to portrait format
127 Now when using medianames it gets tricky:
129 1x1a4 same as approx. 21x29cm (21 cm x 29 cm, portrait)
133 1x2a4 same as approx. 21x58cm (21 cm x 58 cm, portrait)
137 This are two a4 pages put together at the small side: One por‐
139 trait page wide and two portrait pages high.
140 2x1a4 same as approx. 42x29cm, which is rotated to portrait and is the
144 same a 29x42cm (29 cm x 42 cm)
145 This are two a4 pages put together at the long side: Two por‐
147 trait pages wide and one portrait page high.
148
152 pdfposter -mA3 -pA0 a4.pdf out.pdf
153 Prints an A4 input file on 8 A3 pages, forming an A0 poster.
154 pdfposter -p3x3Let a4.pdf out.pdf
158 Prints an inputfile on a poster of 3x3 Letter pages.
159 pdfposter -mA0 input.pdf out.pdf
164 Enlarges an inputfile to print on a large-media A0 capable
165 device.
166 pdfposter -s4 input.pdf out.pdf
170 Enlarge an inputfile exactly 4 times, print on the default A4
171 media, and let pdfposter determine the number of pages required.
172 pdfposter -m10x10cm -pa0 a4.pdf out.pdf
177 Just to show how efficient pdfposter is: This will create a file
178 containing 192 pages, but only 15 times as big as the single
179 page. With a4.pdf being a quite empty page, this ratio should
180 be even better for filled pages.
181 More examples including sample pictures can be found at
183 http://pdfposter.origo.ethz.ch/wiki/examples
184 Examples for automatic scaling
188 · For printing 2 portrait A4 pages high (approx. 58cm) and let pdf‐
189 poster determine how many portrait pages wide, specify a lage number
190 of vertical pages. eg:
191 pdfposter -p999x2a4 testpage-wide.pdf out.pdf
195 · For printing 2 landscape A4 pages high (approx. 20cm) and let pdf‐
198 poster determine how many landscape pages wide, specify a lage number
199 of horizontal pages. eg:
200 pdfposter -p2x999a4 testpage-wide.pdf out.pdf
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207 poster(1)
208 Project Homepage http://pdfposter.origo.ethz.ch/
210
214 Hartmut Goebel <h.goebel@goebel-consult.de>
215
218 GNU Public Licence v3 (GPLv3)
219Version 0.5.0 pdfposter(1)