Apple’s iCombiner utility

R
Posted By
Ram
Dec 19, 2008
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288
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Closed
Any thoughts on this Tiger and Leopard supported utility? I didn’t even know it existed.

From the blurb < http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/ icombiner.html>:

About iCombiner

Merges multiple files in PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG and other popular image formats into a single PDF document.
* With iCombiner documents can be merged by dragging them from Finder onto iCombiner’s dock icon, as well as directly in Finder with the contextual menu plugin.
* iCombiner can merge the following file formats: PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPG, GIF, Postscript, EPS, Windows Bitmap, PSD, PICT, SGI and TGA. * iCombiner supports merging multi-page TIFF, PDF and Postscript files.

-What’s New in this Version
– Merge documents by dragging them onto iCombiner’s dock icon – Merge documents directly in Finder with iCombiner’s contextual menu plugin
– Improved help
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R
Ram
Dec 19, 2008
This may be of interest to those looking to create multipage PDFs from images in different formats, which is often requested on this forum. $20
JJ
Jim_Jordan
Dec 19, 2008
This just looks like a front end to some basic free/GPL command line functions. One can make or google for automator functions that do this for free as well.

It does not appear to be released by or through Apple but if you prefer to get software through Apple’s third party software library, consider browsing for free apps that do the same thing < http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/combinepdfs. html>.
JJ
Jim_Jordan
Dec 19, 2008
I just caught the edit to post 1…

Why wouldn’t one use ‘Automate->PDF Presentation’ within Photoshop to make a multipage PDF from different formats? There is no need for extra software for that task.
RG
Rene_Garneau
Dec 19, 2008
Why wouldn’t one use ‘Automate->PDF Presentation’ within Photoshop to make a multipage PDF from different formats?

That feature is now in Bridge for CS4, not in Photoshop anymore. 🙂
FH
Frank_Heller
Dec 19, 2008
"That feature is now in Bridge for CS4, not in Photoshop anymore."

If it is, I’d sure like to know where, I haven’t been able to find the function. I found the contact sheet function but not this particuar function. Automate>PDF Presentation was the easiest way to make a quick PDF from open Photoshop images. Why it got moved to Bridge (and where) is beyond me.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Dec 19, 2008
And it isn’t called "Automate->PDF Presentation" in CS4 either.

It has been replaced by a multi-page PDF that you create from Bridge CS4’s Output Panel and then edit in Acrobat Pro if you need to finesse transitions etc..
FH
Frank_Heller
Dec 19, 2008
"It has been replaced by a multi-page PDF that you create from Bridge CS4’s Output Panel and then edit in Acrobat Pro if you need to finesse transitions etc.."

I did find that in my hunt. It doesn’t work anywhere near as quickly or as well as it did in PS CS3. Not even close. It can’t deal with open PS documents (at least I couldn’t find a way) and it can’t be set to completely remove the "jpg’ing". I tried for a few hours to get it to output a decent PDF within Bridge and just gave up. Moving over to Acrobat Pro to "fix" pretty much negates the whole Bridge step. It’s actually faster to completely skip Bridge and just make a PDF directly in Acrobat Pro.

There was no reason to remove this function at all. It wasn’t broken and it didn’t need fixing. Yet another reason to keep PS CS3 resident…particularly because the PS CS3 parameters actually does this trick (PDF from open PS images) faster and with better quality than Acrobat Pro does with saved/converted PDF files …in one easy step.

When you get right down to it, the function Automate>PDF Presentation wasn’t moved over to Bridge. It was removed.

Go figure.
RG
Rene_Garneau
Dec 19, 2008
For more info, see "Where did Extract & others features go?" <http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/10/where_did_extra.html>
FH
Frank_Heller
Dec 19, 2008
That’s funny. There is no other information on Automate>PDF presentation in Nack’s blog:

"* Picture Package, Contact Sheet, Web Photo Gallery, and PDF Presentation have been replaced by the new Output module in Bridge CS4. Of these the first three are in the optional download package, while PDF Presentation no longer works in CS4."

"In CS4 we made some hard calls and retired a number of features. Some of these can be added back into CS4 (see Mac & Windows downloads) while others are gone for good."

"Gone for good" applies here.

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