How to extract vectors from a PDF file?





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48















I have a PDF file with vector images inside it. (I downloaded it from the internet, so I do not have any originals.)



I wish to extract the vectors so that I can overlay them on some other images; use them in print media, or on a website.



How do I extract the specific vectors from the PDF file?



Is there, perhaps, any software which can extract the vectors from a PDF file? (Preferably free.)






pdf vector-graphics







share|improve this question

























  • @slhck: I meant Vector graphics. I did use Inkscape, and It works as expected. Can you please put your comment as an Answer, so that I can mark it as accepted?

    – Devdatta Tengshe
    Jun 25 '11 at 12:04




















48















I have a PDF file with vector images inside it. (I downloaded it from the internet, so I do not have any originals.)



I wish to extract the vectors so that I can overlay them on some other images; use them in print media, or on a website.



How do I extract the specific vectors from the PDF file?



Is there, perhaps, any software which can extract the vectors from a PDF file? (Preferably free.)






pdf vector-graphics







share|improve this question

























  • @slhck: I meant Vector graphics. I did use Inkscape, and It works as expected. Can you please put your comment as an Answer, so that I can mark it as accepted?

    – Devdatta Tengshe
    Jun 25 '11 at 12:04
















48












48








48


7






I have a PDF file with vector images inside it. (I downloaded it from the internet, so I do not have any originals.)



I wish to extract the vectors so that I can overlay them on some other images; use them in print media, or on a website.



How do I extract the specific vectors from the PDF file?



Is there, perhaps, any software which can extract the vectors from a PDF file? (Preferably free.)






pdf vector-graphics







share|improve this question
















I have a PDF file with vector images inside it. (I downloaded it from the internet, so I do not have any originals.)



I wish to extract the vectors so that I can overlay them on some other images; use them in print media, or on a website.



How do I extract the specific vectors from the PDF file?



Is there, perhaps, any software which can extract the vectors from a PDF file? (Preferably free.)






pdf vector-graphics




pdf vector-graphics






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Mar 13 '13 at 2:56









Baumr

1076




1076










asked Jun 25 '11 at 11:16









Devdatta TengsheDevdatta Tengshe

1,01181527




1,01181527













  • @slhck: I meant Vector graphics. I did use Inkscape, and It works as expected. Can you please put your comment as an Answer, so that I can mark it as accepted?

    – Devdatta Tengshe
    Jun 25 '11 at 12:04





















  • @slhck: I meant Vector graphics. I did use Inkscape, and It works as expected. Can you please put your comment as an Answer, so that I can mark it as accepted?

    – Devdatta Tengshe
    Jun 25 '11 at 12:04



















@slhck: I meant Vector graphics. I did use Inkscape, and It works as expected. Can you please put your comment as an Answer, so that I can mark it as accepted?

– Devdatta Tengshe
Jun 25 '11 at 12:04







@slhck: I meant Vector graphics. I did use Inkscape, and It works as expected. Can you please put your comment as an Answer, so that I can mark it as accepted?

– Devdatta Tengshe
Jun 25 '11 at 12:04












2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















46














You can use Inkscape, which is a free, open source and cross-platform vector graphics application. It will allow you to import the PDF files and select embedded vectors. You can then edit them and process as you like.



Detailed documentation is available on the Inkscape website.



Note that on Linux it like requires X11. There is also a native Windows version.



Alternatively, you may want to give Adobe Illustrator a go (paid software).






share|improve this answer





















  • 2





    On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

    – Mark Leighton Fisher
    Mar 29 '16 at 21:38



















20














While Inkscape is an awesome way to do it, for those lacking X11, you can also extract individual pages of a PDF into SVG format using the poppler-utils at the command line. For example, to extract just page 30:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -svg  somehugemanual.pdf  myextractedpage.svg


You can then use your favorite vector editor (mine is Inkscape) to isolate the image from the text.



Alternately, if you're a hardcore command-line user, you can extract to EPS (encapsulated postscript) and use sed to hide all the text (which happens to be between BT and ET lines for pdftocairo). Here's how:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -eps  manual.pdf  - | sed '/BT/,/ET/ d' > myimage.eps


And, if you're really insane to avoid using X11, you can even shrink the bounding box of the image from the command line using Ghostscript's epstoeps command:



$ epstoeps myimage.eps myimage-bb.eps


I've tested this and it works great. However, personally, I find it easier to just use Inkscape.






share|improve this answer
























  • +1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 14 '18 at 22:01













  • Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 2:02








  • 1





    but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 15 '18 at 8:36






  • 1





    I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 23:56













  • thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

    – clarkk
    Mar 20 '18 at 11:49












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2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









46














You can use Inkscape, which is a free, open source and cross-platform vector graphics application. It will allow you to import the PDF files and select embedded vectors. You can then edit them and process as you like.



Detailed documentation is available on the Inkscape website.



Note that on Linux it like requires X11. There is also a native Windows version.



Alternatively, you may want to give Adobe Illustrator a go (paid software).






share|improve this answer





















  • 2





    On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

    – Mark Leighton Fisher
    Mar 29 '16 at 21:38
















46














You can use Inkscape, which is a free, open source and cross-platform vector graphics application. It will allow you to import the PDF files and select embedded vectors. You can then edit them and process as you like.



Detailed documentation is available on the Inkscape website.



Note that on Linux it like requires X11. There is also a native Windows version.



Alternatively, you may want to give Adobe Illustrator a go (paid software).






share|improve this answer





















  • 2





    On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

    – Mark Leighton Fisher
    Mar 29 '16 at 21:38














46












46








46







You can use Inkscape, which is a free, open source and cross-platform vector graphics application. It will allow you to import the PDF files and select embedded vectors. You can then edit them and process as you like.



Detailed documentation is available on the Inkscape website.



Note that on Linux it like requires X11. There is also a native Windows version.



Alternatively, you may want to give Adobe Illustrator a go (paid software).






share|improve this answer















You can use Inkscape, which is a free, open source and cross-platform vector graphics application. It will allow you to import the PDF files and select embedded vectors. You can then edit them and process as you like.



Detailed documentation is available on the Inkscape website.



Note that on Linux it like requires X11. There is also a native Windows version.



Alternatively, you may want to give Adobe Illustrator a go (paid software).







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Mar 6 at 13:15









DaveInCaz

19712




19712










answered Jun 25 '11 at 12:13









slhckslhck

163k47451476




163k47451476








  • 2





    On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

    – Mark Leighton Fisher
    Mar 29 '16 at 21:38














  • 2





    On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

    – Mark Leighton Fisher
    Mar 29 '16 at 21:38








2




2





On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

– Mark Leighton Fisher
Mar 29 '16 at 21:38





On Linux it like requires X11 - there is also a native Windows version (which I just used nicely for extracting a vector drawing from a PDF).

– Mark Leighton Fisher
Mar 29 '16 at 21:38













20














While Inkscape is an awesome way to do it, for those lacking X11, you can also extract individual pages of a PDF into SVG format using the poppler-utils at the command line. For example, to extract just page 30:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -svg  somehugemanual.pdf  myextractedpage.svg


You can then use your favorite vector editor (mine is Inkscape) to isolate the image from the text.



Alternately, if you're a hardcore command-line user, you can extract to EPS (encapsulated postscript) and use sed to hide all the text (which happens to be between BT and ET lines for pdftocairo). Here's how:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -eps  manual.pdf  - | sed '/BT/,/ET/ d' > myimage.eps


And, if you're really insane to avoid using X11, you can even shrink the bounding box of the image from the command line using Ghostscript's epstoeps command:



$ epstoeps myimage.eps myimage-bb.eps


I've tested this and it works great. However, personally, I find it easier to just use Inkscape.






share|improve this answer
























  • +1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 14 '18 at 22:01













  • Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 2:02








  • 1





    but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 15 '18 at 8:36






  • 1





    I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 23:56













  • thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

    – clarkk
    Mar 20 '18 at 11:49
















20














While Inkscape is an awesome way to do it, for those lacking X11, you can also extract individual pages of a PDF into SVG format using the poppler-utils at the command line. For example, to extract just page 30:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -svg  somehugemanual.pdf  myextractedpage.svg


You can then use your favorite vector editor (mine is Inkscape) to isolate the image from the text.



Alternately, if you're a hardcore command-line user, you can extract to EPS (encapsulated postscript) and use sed to hide all the text (which happens to be between BT and ET lines for pdftocairo). Here's how:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -eps  manual.pdf  - | sed '/BT/,/ET/ d' > myimage.eps


And, if you're really insane to avoid using X11, you can even shrink the bounding box of the image from the command line using Ghostscript's epstoeps command:



$ epstoeps myimage.eps myimage-bb.eps


I've tested this and it works great. However, personally, I find it easier to just use Inkscape.






share|improve this answer
























  • +1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 14 '18 at 22:01













  • Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 2:02








  • 1





    but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 15 '18 at 8:36






  • 1





    I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 23:56













  • thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

    – clarkk
    Mar 20 '18 at 11:49














20












20








20







While Inkscape is an awesome way to do it, for those lacking X11, you can also extract individual pages of a PDF into SVG format using the poppler-utils at the command line. For example, to extract just page 30:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -svg  somehugemanual.pdf  myextractedpage.svg


You can then use your favorite vector editor (mine is Inkscape) to isolate the image from the text.



Alternately, if you're a hardcore command-line user, you can extract to EPS (encapsulated postscript) and use sed to hide all the text (which happens to be between BT and ET lines for pdftocairo). Here's how:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -eps  manual.pdf  - | sed '/BT/,/ET/ d' > myimage.eps


And, if you're really insane to avoid using X11, you can even shrink the bounding box of the image from the command line using Ghostscript's epstoeps command:



$ epstoeps myimage.eps myimage-bb.eps


I've tested this and it works great. However, personally, I find it easier to just use Inkscape.






share|improve this answer













While Inkscape is an awesome way to do it, for those lacking X11, you can also extract individual pages of a PDF into SVG format using the poppler-utils at the command line. For example, to extract just page 30:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -svg  somehugemanual.pdf  myextractedpage.svg


You can then use your favorite vector editor (mine is Inkscape) to isolate the image from the text.



Alternately, if you're a hardcore command-line user, you can extract to EPS (encapsulated postscript) and use sed to hide all the text (which happens to be between BT and ET lines for pdftocairo). Here's how:



$ pdftocairo -f 30 -l 30 -eps  manual.pdf  - | sed '/BT/,/ET/ d' > myimage.eps


And, if you're really insane to avoid using X11, you can even shrink the bounding box of the image from the command line using Ghostscript's epstoeps command:



$ epstoeps myimage.eps myimage-bb.eps


I've tested this and it works great. However, personally, I find it easier to just use Inkscape.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered Mar 2 '15 at 10:31









hackerb9hackerb9

46156




46156













  • +1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 14 '18 at 22:01













  • Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 2:02








  • 1





    but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 15 '18 at 8:36






  • 1





    I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 23:56













  • thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

    – clarkk
    Mar 20 '18 at 11:49



















  • +1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 14 '18 at 22:01













  • Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 2:02








  • 1





    but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

    – clarkk
    Mar 15 '18 at 8:36






  • 1





    I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

    – hackerb9
    Mar 15 '18 at 23:56













  • thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

    – clarkk
    Mar 20 '18 at 11:49

















+1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

– clarkk
Mar 14 '18 at 22:01







+1 your command line strips all text.. but do you know how to also strip all images? I'am looking for a solution where only the vector graphic is left :)

– clarkk
Mar 14 '18 at 22:01















Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

– hackerb9
Mar 15 '18 at 2:02







Does this work for you? cat foo.eps | sed '/^8 dict dup begin$/,/^Q$/ c Q' > nobitmaps.eps

– hackerb9
Mar 15 '18 at 2:02






1




1





but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

– clarkk
Mar 15 '18 at 8:36





but is it then possible to check if the eps file even has vector graphic? :)

– clarkk
Mar 15 '18 at 8:36




1




1





I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

– hackerb9
Mar 15 '18 at 23:56







I suppose you could use Ghostscript's eps2eps to distill it down to its smallest bounding box and see if it's completely empty. But this is beginning to become a new question. Feel free to ask and I'm sure if I don't answer, someone will.

– hackerb9
Mar 15 '18 at 23:56















thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

– clarkk
Mar 20 '18 at 11:49





thanks for your help so far :) have created a question if you have time to answer stackoverflow.com/questions/49383387/…

– clarkk
Mar 20 '18 at 11:49


















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