Alternatives to multi-state objects for interactive PDF's

[davidb75208007]

Hello, first post here!
I have been struggling for days trying to make something like this (you need to download the pdf in order for it to work):

PrintableHeroes_Goblin_Sword&Bow_Free.pdf - Google Drive

You can click on the art and cicle through the different versions, activate the black silhouette and change the color of the bases. I'm trying to make something exactly like that, but with my own art, and managed to make a working version with Indesign using MSO's, however, when exporting to PDF, they don't work at all. I have found an alternative, which is exporting first a .SWF, then placing that in a new Indesign document and exporting that as a PDF, but that is a pretty sub optimal way to do it, and I'm pretty sure it's not how the author of the original file has done it.

I am assuming that the original author uses MSO's and exports directly to PDF, but maybe he is not doing it like that ad there's another way to accomplish the same result that I am not thinking about. I can make interactive PDF's with text blocks with no problem, but the MSOs just don't work.

Here's how I'm exporting:

Do you think that he's using MSOs and I'm doing something wrong, or is he using any other method?

[BobLevine]

Best advice I can give you is to read my blog post on the subject of Interactive PDF.

https://www.boblevine.us/its-okay-to-say-no-to-interactive-pdf/

[davidb75208007]

BobLevine Thanks! In my attempts to make the thing work, I had already found and read your blog. Publishing online and gogle forms are not really an option for my case, and I could not make an epub that has interactivity, or at least the kind I need. I need something that people can download, interact with and then print in as few steps as posible, preferably without the need to download additional software to read formats like epub. Besides, the author of the original file make the interactive pdf work, so why can't I? Don't get me wrong, your article has helped me a lot to discover alternatives to interactive pdf's, but I don't think I have found a solution yet.

[BobLevine]

As already mentioned this looks like simple (though very tedious with this many) show/hide procedures.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Unless I'm not understanding the question correctly, it looks like it is simple hide/show form field. The graphics are simple field icons.

[BobLevine]

I concur and should mention that MSOs do not work in PDF under any circumstance.

[davidb75208007]

IDEAS-Training You're right, I have tried doing it that way and it works! The only problem I have now is that the black sihlouette that should be in the back, behind everything else, shows up in the front when I export. I've read that the order in wich the buttons are made affects the order in wich they are displayed on the pdf, but that is the only one not behaving properly, even when I made sure to do it last. Any ideas?

[BobLevine]

Try using layers and be aware that this may only work in Acrobat/Reader on desktops.

Everything else, including all mobile devices will be thing short of a crapshoot.

[JonathanArias]

If you want this to work on mobile devices the hide and show approach will not work. try it. The buttons will not function.

if this working on a mobile device is a requiremen, then interactive .pdf is the wrong format. You need to go html road. As I publish online or use a product like in5

[davidb75208007]

JonathanArias​ I do not need it to work on mobile. I need a format easy to download an use. I tried the option of exporting in swf and automatically generate an html, but that will mean the user has to download a compressed folder with both the swf and html. Which asumes they know how to decompress files and print from a browser, and while those are fairly easy tasks, many people don't know how to do one or both, and I want to make it as easy as possible.

[BobLevine]

And what makes you so sure they won’t “download and use” it on a mobile device or some lousy desktop PDF reader like Apple Preview?

[davidb75208007]

BobLevine​ I cannot be sure, of course, but the author of the original file has over 3000 followers that use the pdf format he makes, not counting the people that don't follow him and use that method, so I figured, if it works for them, I better settle for an easy to use format.
The only problem I'm facing right now is one layer not being in the right order on the pdf, but still, I have already wrestled with this for too long now.
Since it is giving me so much trouble, I might go the html road. Is there a way to produce a single file and not have to add a swf to it? Because that would remove the problem you mention of using a crappy pdf reader, but replace it with not having (or not knowing how to use) decompression software.

[BobLevine]

Forget bringing swf into the conversation. That is a very old and very unreliable kludge.

Let’s eliminate something here, try exporting with the show hide button method to Publish Online. Does the layer problem exist there, too?

[rayek.elfin · Accepted solution]

The layering can be solved in Acrobat. I noticed the same issue when replicating those printable tokens, and InDesign doesn't keep the proper object arrangement in the interactive PDF.

Acrobat is quite expensive, though, and a great inexpensive alternative is

Tracker Software Products :: PDF-XChange Editor

In PDF-XChange Editor I solved the problem by activating the black mask layer and arranging it to the back. It worked.

Or just use the Editor to create all the buttons. More work, though.

Absolutely avoid SWF: that is a dead-end, and no longer acceptable. As for HTML, unless you package the entire thing as an executable, there is no good way to create a single packaged file. It is possible to encode all the images to code (base64 encoding), but with print resolution images this is a terrible idea, and results in ridiculously big files. Files a slower computer and a browser will choke on.

Just use PDF, but you will require either Acrobat or the above mentioned PDF Editor to fix the layering.

[rayek.elfin]

Ah, I solved it! Use the Object-->Interactive-->Tab Order to control the PDF exported layer arrangement.

Forget that, it doesn't work. I was too quick on the trigger. It seems you will need to edit the arrangement of objects in a PDF editor.