Ubuntu Manpage: pdfposter - Scale and tile PDF images/pages to print on multiple pages.

NAME

       pdfposter - Scale and tile PDF images/pages to print on multiple pages.

SYNOPSIS

       pdfposter <options> infile outfile

DESCRIPTION

       pdfposter can be used to create a large poster by building it from multiple pages and/or
       printing it on large media. It expects as input a PDF file, normally printing on a single
       page. The output is again a PDF file, maybe containing multiple pages together building
       the poster.  The input page will be scaled to obtain the desired size.

       The program uses a simple but efficient method which is possible with PDF: All new pages
       share the same data stream of the scaled page. Thus resulting file grows moderately.

       To control its operation, you need to specify either the size of the desired poster or a
       scale factor for the image:

       • Given the poster size, it calculates the required number of sheets to print on, and from
         that a scale factor to fill these sheets optimally with the input image.

       • Given a scale factor, it derives the required number of pages from the input image size,
         and positions the scaled image centered on this area.

OPTIONS

General Options
-h, --help
Show help message and exit

--help-media-names
List available media and distance names and exit

--help-box-definitions
Show help about specifying BOX for --media-size and --poster-size and exit

--version
Show program's version number and exit

-v, --verbose
Be verbose. Tell about scaling, rotation and number of pages. Can be used more than
once to increase the verbosity.

-n, --dry-run
Show what would have been done, but do not generate files.

Defining Input
-f, --first
First page to convert (default: first page).

-l, --last
Last page to convert (default: last page).

-A, --art-box
Use the content area defined by the ArtBox (default: use the area defined by the
TrimBox)

Defining Output
-m BOX, --media-size=BOX
Specify the desired media size to print on. See below for BOX. The default is A4
in the standard package.

-p BOX, --poster-size=BOX
Specify the poster size. See below for BOX. pdfposter will autonomously choose
scaling and rotation to best fit the input onto the poster (see EXAMPLES below).

If you give neither the -s nor the -p option, the default poster size is identical
to the media size.

-s NUMBER
Specify a linear scaling factor to produce the poster. Together with the input
image size and optional margins, this induces an output poster size. So don't
specify both -s and -p.

The scaling factor is applied to the width and height of the input image size.
Thus, a scaling factor of 2 results in a poster 4 times the area compared to the
original.

Default is deriving the scale factor to fit a given poster size.

Box Definition
The BOX mentioned above is a specification of horizontal and vertical size. The syntax is
as follows (with multiplier being specified optionally):
box = [ multiplier ] unit

multiplier = number "x" number

unit = medianame or distancename

Many international media names are recognised by the program, in upper and lower case, and
can be shortened to their first few characters, as long as unique. For instance 'A0',
'Let'. Distance names are like 'cm', 'inch', 'ft'.

Medias are typically not quadratic but rectangular, which means width and height differ.
Thus using media names is a bit tricky:

10x20cm
obvious: 10 cm x 20 cm (portrait)

20x10cm
same as 10x20cm, since all boxes are rotated to portrait format

Now when using media names it gets tricky:

1x1a4 same as approx. 21x29cm (21 cm x 29 cm, portrait)

1x2a4 same as approx. 21x58cm (21 cm x 58 cm, portrait)

This are two a4 pages put together at the small side: One portrait page wide and
two portrait pages high.

2x1a4 same as approx. 42x29cm, which is rotated to portrait and is (approx.) the same as
29x42cm (29 cm x 42 cm)

This are two a4 pages put together at the long side: Two portrait pages wide and
one portrait page high.

EXAMPLES

       pdfposter -mA3 -pA0 a4.pdf out.pdf
              Prints an A4 input file on 8 A3 pages, forming an A0 poster.

       pdfposter -p3x3Let a4.pdf out.pdf
              Prints an inputfile on a poster of 3x3 Letter pages.

       pdfposter -mA0 input.pdf out.pdf
              Enlarges an inputfile to print on a large-media A0 capable device.

       pdfposter -s4 input.pdf out.pdf
              Enlarge an inputfile exactly 4 times, print on the default A4 media, and let
              pdfposter determine the number of pages required.

       pdfposter -m10x10cm -pa0 a4.pdf out.pdf
              Just to show how efficient pdfposter is: This will create a file containing 192
              pages, but only 15 times as big as the single page.  With a4.pdf being a quite
              empty page, this ratio should be even better for filled pages.

       More examples including sample pictures can be found at
       https://pdfposter.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Examples.html

   Examples for automatic scaling
       • For printing 2 portrait A4 pages high (approx. 58cm) and let pdfposter determine how
         many portrait pages wide, specify a large number of vertical pages. eg:

            pdfposter -p999x2a4 testpage-wide.pdf out.pdf

       • For printing 2 landscape A4 pages high (approx. 20cm) and let pdfposter determine how
         many landscape pages wide, specify a large number of horizontal pages. eg:

            pdfposter -p2x999a4 testpage-wide.pdf out.pdf

AUTHOR

       Hartmut Goebel <h.goebel@crazy-compilers.com>

       License: GNU Public License v3 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later)

COPYRIGHT

       2008-2022 by Hartmut Goebel