ayden27. The Preview app does have the ability to save a PDF as TIFF--at least with Catalina. Just open the PDF in Preview, hold down the option key and select "File" > "Save As", and select TIFF as the file format. Then, repeat this to save the TIFF as a PDF. You could automate this process with GUI scripting. It's important to note that Catalina's Preview will save a multipage PDF as a multipage TIFF.

The following will do what you want with an AppleScript but it has a fatal flaw, which is that the sips utility appears unable to create a multipage TIFF. The same appears to be the case with Image Events.

Applescript:

set sourceFiles to (choose file with multiple selections allowed)

repeat with aFile in sourceFiles
   set aFile to quoted form of POSIX path of aFile
   repeat with aFormat in {"tiff", "pdf"}
       do shell script "sips --setProperty format " & (aFormat as text) & " " & aFile & " --out " & aFile
       delay 0.5 -- test different values
   end repeat
end repeat

My guess is that ASObjC could be used to do what you want but I don't have the knowledge level to accomplish this. Perhaps another forum member will let you know if this is possible.

Last edited by peavine (2021-03-15 07:45:01 am)

If you convert a PDF to a TIFF and back again, then it is no longer searchable and can't be indexed. Possibly that is the reason, but certainly ayden27 can say more about it.

I wouldn't call it a fatal flaw.

sips is a tool for working with raster images and colour profiles. Image Events provides access to its functionality.

PDF is a vector format, and thus sips is not built for such a purpose.

There are no words. Great. I will keep both scripts for myself, as a keepsake. Your script, Shane, is what I call optimal. By the way, I haven’t found the slightest information on PDF rasterization using AsObjC before.

I tested two scripts with 168-pages PDF. The speed is almost same (my is slightly faster), but resulting PDF of Shane script is 42 MB and  resulting PDF of my script is 9 MB. I don't understand why so big difference between them.

Last edited by KniazidisR (2021-03-17 07:47:53 am)

@Shane. I agree with KniazidisR--your script is outstanding. Very useful and beautifully compact.

BTW, the script did not work until I inserted "current application's" in several spots. Is there some reason these are not needed?

@Mockman. I meant the words, fatal flaw, to refer to my script and its inability to fulfill the OP's needs. Perhaps I should have been more clear.

This version lets you specify the resolution:

Applescript:

on rasterPDF:aPDF savingTo:destPosixPath resolution:theDpi
   set aURL to (|NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:(POSIX path of aPDF))
   set aPDFdoc to PDFDocument's alloc()'s initWithURL:aURL
   set pCount to aPDFdoc's pageCount()
   repeat with i from 0 to (pCount - 1)
       set thisPage to (aPDFdoc's pageAtIndex:i)
       -- do size calculations
       set pageSize to (thisPage's boundsForBox:(current application's kPDFDisplayBoxMediaBox))
       set pageWidth to current application's NSWidth(pageSize)
       set pageHeight to current application's NSHeight(pageSize)
       set pixelWidth to (pageWidth * theDpi / 72) div 1
       set pixelHeight to (pageHeight * theDpi / 72) div 1
       -- make bitmaps
       set theImageRep to (current application's NSPDFImageRep's imageRepWithData:(thisPage's dataRepresentation()))
       set newRep to (current application's NSBitmapImageRep's alloc()'s initWithBitmapDataPlanes:(missing value) pixelsWide:pixelWidth pixelsHigh:pixelHeight bitsPerSample:8 samplesPerPixel:4 hasAlpha:yes isPlanar:false colorSpaceName:(current application's NSDeviceRGBColorSpace) bytesPerRow:0 bitsPerPixel:32)
       -- store the existing graphics context
       current application's NSGraphicsContext's saveGraphicsState()
       -- set graphics context to new context based on the new bitmapImageRep
       (current application's NSGraphicsContext's setCurrentContext:(current application's NSGraphicsContext's graphicsContextWithBitmapImageRep:newRep))
       (theImageRep's drawInRect:{origin:{x:0, y:0}, |size|:{width:pixelWidth, height:pixelHeight}} fromRect:(current application's NSZeroRect) operation:(current application's NSCompositeSourceOver) fraction:1.0 respectFlipped:false hints:(missing value))
       -- restore state
       current application's NSGraphicsContext's restoreGraphicsState()
       -- make new image and page
       (newRep's setSize:{pageWidth, pageHeight})
       set theData to newRep's TIFFRepresentation()
       set theImage to (NSImage's alloc()'s initWithData:theData)
       set newPage to (current application's PDFPage's alloc's initWithImage:theImage)
       (aPDFdoc's removePageAtIndex:i)
       (aPDFdoc's insertPage:newPage atIndex:i)
   end repeat
   set outNSURL to |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:destPosixPath
   aPDFdoc's writeToURL:outNSURL
end rasterPDF:savingTo:resolution:

Shane, thanks for your last script. I ran 2 tests.

Your script successfully worked with a 5-page PDF and DPI = 600. With a 168-page PDF and DPI = 600, the script hangs and I get a message that the Script Debugger is not responding and takes 62 GB of memory !!!

It looks like a memory leak somewhere in the script. What do you say?

I tried your handler as following. Maybe alloc() statements need some additional parentheses?

Applescript:

use scripting additions
use framework "Foundation"
use framework "AppKit"
use framework "Quartz"
use framework "QuartzCore"

set aPDF to choose file of type "pdf"
set destPosixPath to (POSIX path of (path to desktop folder)) & "/Rasterized.pdf"
my rasterPDF:aPDF savingTo:destPosixPath resolution:600

on rasterPDF:aPDF savingTo:destPosixPath resolution:theDpi
   set aURL to (current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:(POSIX path of aPDF))
   set aPDFdoc to current application's PDFDocument's alloc()'s initWithURL:aURL
   set pCount to aPDFdoc's pageCount()
   -- do size calculations
   set thisPage to (aPDFdoc's pageAtIndex:0)
   set pageSize to (thisPage's boundsForBox:(current application's kPDFDisplayBoxMediaBox))
   set pageWidth to current application's NSWidth(pageSize)
   set pageHeight to current application's NSHeight(pageSize)
   set pixelWidth to (pageWidth * theDpi / 72) div 1
   set pixelHeight to (pageHeight * theDpi / 72) div 1
   repeat with i from 0 to (pCount - 1)
       set thisPage to (aPDFdoc's pageAtIndex:i)
       -- make bitmaps
       set theImageRep to (current application's NSPDFImageRep's imageRepWithData:(thisPage's dataRepresentation()))
       set newRep to (current application's NSBitmapImageRep's alloc()'s initWithBitmapDataPlanes:(missing value) pixelsWide:pixelWidth pixelsHigh:pixelHeight bitsPerSample:8 samplesPerPixel:4 hasAlpha:yes isPlanar:false colorSpaceName:(current application's NSDeviceRGBColorSpace) bytesPerRow:0 bitsPerPixel:32)
       -- store the existing graphics context
       current application's NSGraphicsContext's saveGraphicsState()
       -- set graphics context to new context based on the new bitmapImageRep
       (current application's NSGraphicsContext's setCurrentContext:(current application's NSGraphicsContext's graphicsContextWithBitmapImageRep:newRep))
       (theImageRep's drawInRect:{origin:{x:0, y:0}, |size|:{width:pixelWidth, height:pixelHeight}} fromRect:(current application's NSZeroRect) operation:(current application's NSCompositeSourceOver) fraction:1.0 respectFlipped:false hints:(missing value))
       -- restore state
       current application's NSGraphicsContext's restoreGraphicsState()
       -- make new image and page
       (newRep's setSize:{pageWidth, pageHeight})
       set theData to newRep's TIFFRepresentation()
       set theImage to (current application's NSImage's alloc()'s initWithData:theData)
       set newPage to (current application's PDFPage's alloc()'s initWithImage:theImage)
       (aPDFdoc's removePageAtIndex:i)
       (aPDFdoc's insertPage:newPage atIndex:i)
   end repeat
   set outNSURL to current application's |NSURL|'s fileURLWithPath:destPosixPath
   aPDFdoc's writeToURL:outNSURL
end rasterPDF:savingTo:resolution:

Last edited by KniazidisR (2021-03-18 05:29:14 am)

Further to that: the poor memory management is one of the reasons I withdrew my book on how to write ASObjC-based apps in Xcode. It's just too easy to write apps that then crash intermittently because of memory problems (sometimes because a clean-up appears to have happened).

But it's generally fine in applets, which mostly just run and quit.

I wishes for other Title: ASObjC-based apps in PyObjC , or maybe it has the same fate.