Skip to main content

I have a workbench that is taking a DWG and converts it to a PDF and then I want it to also create a TIFF of the PDF.

If I have a normal PDF writer it works fine but if I try and add a FeatureWriter that creates the PDF and feed that to another FeatureWriter to create the TIFF it fails.

 

I have attached my workspace and a sample drawing

 

 

I could create a separate workbench reads the PDF and outputs the TIFF after the first one runs but was hoping to do it withing the same workbench.

 

The output port from the FeatureWriter is not the PDF. It doesn't "re-read" the output PDF back into the workspace. Instead, the port is a pass-through of the feature(s) written to the PDF.

An option is to instead pass the features through any other TIFF Transformer preparers and output this in a parallel FeatureWriter rather than one in Sequence.

However, if the requirement is explicitly to read back into the workspace the written PDF, and then write that to a TIFF, then the Workspace needs to look more like this.

Note that the "Summary" port has the attribute "_dataset" which in this case would be the file path(s) set on the PDF FeatureWriter. This can be used as the DataSet input for the following FeatureReader via the Initiator Port.


The output port from the FeatureWriter is not the PDF. It doesn't "re-read" the output PDF back into the workspace. Instead, the port is a pass-through of the feature(s) written to the PDF.

An option is to instead pass the features through any other TIFF Transformer preparers and output this in a parallel FeatureWriter rather than one in Sequence.

However, if the requirement is explicitly to read back into the workspace the written PDF, and then write that to a TIFF, then the Workspace needs to look more like this.

Note that the "Summary" port has the attribute "_dataset" which in this case would be the file path(s) set on the PDF FeatureWriter. This can be used as the DataSet input for the following FeatureReader via the Initiator Port.

Thanks @bwn, that makes sense but unfortunately it looks like it may be better to have a second workbench as what I need is a TIFF of the PDF not a TIFF created by the DWG features. I have not been successful in generating the TIFF directly from the DWG but it is very close using the PDF creators and was hoping I could just send that PDF to a TIFF.


Thanks @bwn, that makes sense but unfortunately it looks like it may be better to have a second workbench as what I need is a TIFF of the PDF not a TIFF created by the DWG features. I have not been successful in generating the TIFF directly from the DWG but it is very close using the PDF creators and was hoping I could just send that PDF to a TIFF.

The PDF Reader has a rasterizing mode that you can use (under the Non-Spatial options). You can then use this raster however you like, including sending it to the TIFF writer.


Thanks @bwn, that makes sense but unfortunately it looks like it may be better to have a second workbench as what I need is a TIFF of the PDF not a TIFF created by the DWG features. I have not been successful in generating the TIFF directly from the DWG but it is very close using the PDF creators and was hoping I could just send that PDF to a TIFF.

That is what the sample workflow above is trying to illustrate:

  • FeatureWriter_3 writes a PDF
  • FeatureReader reads the written PDF
  • FeatureWriter_4 writes a TIFF

You can read the output files/data of a FeatureWriter within the same workspace, but it just needs a FeatureReader, of the same data format as the FeatureWriter, to follow the FeatureWriter.


That is what the sample workflow above is trying to illustrate:

  • FeatureWriter_3 writes a PDF
  • FeatureReader reads the written PDF
  • FeatureWriter_4 writes a TIFF

You can read the output files/data of a FeatureWriter within the same workspace, but it just needs a FeatureReader, of the same data format as the FeatureWriter, to follow the FeatureWriter.

Thanks @bwn, I didn't realise that is what you were trying to point out to me. Thanks for the follow up and hopefully I can get it to work based on the extra info.


Reply