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PDF 1: File Contents and Structure
(4 days, hands-on)
Printable course description (PDF)

A course in interpreting and creating PDF files

PDF 1: File Content & Structure is a four-day, hands-on, technical introduction to PDF file format and structure. It discusses in detail the structure and contents of a PDF file. The class emphasizes those parts of the PDF specification most important to printer engineers and support personel. It will also be an important introduction for software engineers who will be directly generating PDF.


Objective

Students will leave class knowing how to interpret the contents of a PDF file. Printer engineers will know what their printing devices must pay attention to when printing PDF files directly. Software engineers will be able to generate PDF files from within their own software.


Prerequisites

A good technical background, including experience with a professional programming language. PostScript experience (the PostScript Foundations course or its equivalent) will be very helpful, since PostScript and PDF share an imaging model and have many concepts in common.


Audience

Engineers and advanced support personnel who need to understand the PDF file format. The course assumes you are either working with a printing device that consumes PDF or that you are a software engineer faced with generating PDF.


Course Outline

Day 1

  • PDF Data Types
  • PDF Objects
  • PDF file format
  • The Page Tree
  • Content streams
  • Simple drawing
  • Introduction to PDF color
  • Drawing text
  • Coordinate transforms
  • Transforming text

Day 2

  • Text rendering modes
  • Text parameter operators
  • Graphics state stack
  • Bezier Curves
  • Clippng paths
  • Filters
  • Color & Color Spaces

Day 3

  • Color and color spaces, cont'd
  • Introduction to function dictionaries
  • Image XObjects
  • Form XObjects
  • Transparency

Day 4

  • Annotations
  • PDF font structure
  • Character encoding
  • Embedding fonts
  • Type 3 fonts
  • Multibyte fonts
  • PDF standards: PDF/X, PDF/A, etc.


Pricing & Availability

See class schedule for a list of locations, dates and class cost.



Copyright © 2012 John Deubert

Class Locations

Acumen teaches its classes in three venues:

Our place (SoCal)

We teach regularly-scheduled classes in our classroom site in Southern California, near the Santa Ana/John Wayne Airport.

Click here for a schedule of upcoming classes and course fees.

Your place (On-site)

We can teach a class of up to 16 people on your organizationŐs site. If you have four or more people who need training, youŐll save money by arranging an on-site class.

Site requirements for an on-site are relatively minor: youŐll need a computer for each person, a whiteboard (or its equivalent), and a VGA projector. Acumen Training supplies sample files and printed student materials.

Click here for more information.

Any place (WebEx)

WebEx Logo We can teach a class of 1 to 4 students via WebEx. This completely eliminates travel expenses while providing the same quality instruction as an on-site class. The student sees the instructor, an electronic whiteboard, sample files, and everything else he or she would see if the instructor was present in the room.

Click here for more information.

Register for class

Please click here for online class registration