3 bookmaker.py is a helper for optimizing PDFs of books for the production of small self-printed, self-bound physical books. Towards this goal it offers various PDF manipulation options that may also be used indepéndently and for other purposes.
8 Concatenate two PDFs A.pdf and B.pdf to COMBINED.pdf:
9 bookmaker.py --input_file A.pdf --input_file B.pdf --output_file COMBINED.pdf
11 Produce OUTPUT.pdf containing all pages of (inclusive) page number range 3-7 from INPUT.pdf:
12 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf --page_range 3-7 -o OUTPUT.pdf
14 Produce COMBINED.pdf from A.pdf's first 7 pages, B.pdf's pages except its first two, and all pages of C.pdf:
15 bookmaker.py -i A.pdf -p start-7 -i B.pdf -p 3-end -i C.pdf -o COMBINED.pdf
17 Crop each page 5cm from the left, 10cm from the bottom, 2cm from the right, and 0cm from the top:
18 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf --crops "5,10,2,0"
20 Include all pages from INPUT.pdf, but crop pages 10-20 by 5cm each from bottom and top:
21 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -c "10-20:0,5,0,5" -o OUTPUT.pdf
23 Same crops for pages 10-20, but also crop all pages 30 and later by 3cm each from left and right:
24 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf -c "10-20:0,5,0,5" -c "30-end:3,0,3,0"
26 Rotate by 90° pages 3, 5, 7; rotate page 7 once more by 90% (i.e. 180° in total):
27 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf --rotate 3 -r 5 -r 7 -r 7
29 Initially declare 5cm crop from the left and 1cm crop from right, but alternate direction between even and odd pages:
30 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf -c "5,0,1,0" -s
32 Quarter each OUTPUT.pdf page to carry 4 pages from INPUT.pdf, draw stencils into inner margins for cuts to carry binding strings:
33 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf --nup4
35 Same --nup4, but define a printable-region margin of 1.3cm to limit the space for the INPUT.pdf pages in OUTPUT.pdf page quarters:
36 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf -n --print_margin 1.3
38 Same --nup4, but draw lines marking printable-region margins, page quarts, spine margins:
39 bookmaker.py -i INPUT.pdf -o OUTPUT.pdf -n --analyze
43 For arguments like -p, page numbers are assumed to start with 1 (not 0, which is treated as an invalid page number value).
45 The target page shape so far is assumed to be A4 in portrait orientation; bookmaker.py normalizes all pages to this format before applying crops, and removes any source PDF /Rotate commands (for their production of landscape orientations).
47 For --nup4, the -c cropping instructions do not so much erase content outside the cropped area, but rather zoom into the page in a way that maximes the cropped area as much as possible into the available per-page area between printable-area margins and the borders to the other quartered pages. If the zoomed cropped area does not fit in neatly into its per-page area, this will preserve additional page content.
49 The --nup4 quartering puts pages into a specific order optimized for no-tumble duplex print-outs that can easily be folded and cut into pages of a small A6 book. Each unit of 8 pages from the source PDF is mapped thus onto two subsequent pages (i.e. front and back of a printed A4 paper):
58 To facilitate this layout, --nup4 also pads the input PDF pages to a total number that is a multiple of 8, by adding empty pages if necessary.
60 (To turn above double-sided example page into a tiny 8-page book: Cut the paper in two on its horizontal middle line. Fold the two halves by their vertical middle lines, with pages 3-2 and 7-6 on the folds' insides. This creates two 4-page books of pages 1-4 and pages 5-8. Fold them both closed and (counter-intuitively) put the book of pages 5-8 on top of the other one (creating a temporary page order of 5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4). A binding cut stencil should be visible on the top left of this stack – cut it out (with all pages folded together) to add the same inner-margin upper cut to each page. Turn around your 8-pages stack to find the mirror image of aforementioned stencil on the stack's back's bottom, and cut that out too. Each page now has binding cuts on top and bottom of its inner margins. Swap the order of both books (back to the final page order of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), and you now have an 8-pages book that can be "bound" in its binding cuts through a rubber band or the like. Repeat with the next 8-pages double-page, et cetera. (Actually, with just 8 pages, the paper may curl under the pressure of a rubber band – but go up to 32 pages or so, and the result will become quite stable.)
67 def handled_error_exit(msg):
68 print(f"ERROR: {msg}")
74 handled_error_exit("Can't run at all without pypdf installed.")
76 # some general paper geometry constants
77 POINTS_PER_CM = 10 * 72 / 25.4
78 A4_WIDTH = 21 * POINTS_PER_CM
79 A4_HEIGHT = 29.7 * POINTS_PER_CM
80 A4 = (A4_WIDTH, A4_HEIGHT)
82 # constants specifically for --nup4
83 A4_HALF_WIDTH = A4_WIDTH / 2
84 A4_HALF_HEIGHT = A4_HEIGHT / 2
85 CUT_DEPTH = 1.95 * POINTS_PER_CM
86 CUT_WIDTH = 1.05 * POINTS_PER_CM
87 MIDDLE_POINT_DEPTH = 0.4 * POINTS_PER_CM
88 SPINE_LIMIT = 1 * POINTS_PER_CM
89 QUARTER_SCALE_FACTOR = 0.5
90 PAGE_ORDER = (3,0,7,4,1,2,5,6)
93 class HandledException(Exception):
96 def validate_page_range(p_string, err_msg_prefix):
97 prefix = f"{err_msg_prefix}: page range string"
98 if '-' not in p_string:
99 raise HandledException(f"{prefix} lacks '-': {p_string}")
100 tokens = p_string.split("-")
102 raise HandledException(f"{prefix} has too many '-': {p_string}")
103 for i, token in enumerate(tokens):
106 if i == 0 and token == "start":
108 if i == 1 and token == "end":
113 raise HandledException(f"{prefix} carries value neither integer, nor 'start', nor 'end': {p_string}")
115 raise HandledException(f"{prefix} carries page number <1: {p_string}")
119 start = int(tokens[0])
123 if start > 0 and end > 0 and start > end:
124 raise HandledException(f"{prefix} has higher start than end value: {p_string}")
126 def split_crops_string(c_string):
127 initial_split = c_string.split(':')
128 if len(initial_split) > 1:
129 page_range = initial_split[0]
130 crops = initial_split[1]
133 crops = initial_split[0]
134 return page_range, crops
136 def parse_page_range(range_string, pages):
138 end_page = len(pages)
140 start, end = range_string.split('-')
141 if not (len(start) == 0 or start == "start"):
142 start_page = int(start) - 1
143 if not (len(end) == 0 or end == "end"):
145 return start_page, end_page
147 def draw_cut(canvas, x_spine_limit, direction):
148 outer_start_x = x_spine_limit - 0.5 * CUT_WIDTH * direction
149 inner_start_x = x_spine_limit + 0.5 * CUT_WIDTH * direction
150 middle_point_y = A4_HALF_HEIGHT + MIDDLE_POINT_DEPTH * direction
151 end_point_y = A4_HALF_HEIGHT + CUT_DEPTH * direction
152 canvas.line(inner_start_x, A4_HALF_HEIGHT, x_spine_limit, end_point_y)
153 canvas.line(x_spine_limit, end_point_y, x_spine_limit, middle_point_y)
154 canvas.line(x_spine_limit, middle_point_y, outer_start_x, A4_HALF_HEIGHT)
157 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__, epilog=help_epilogue, formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter)
158 parser.add_argument("-i", "--input_file", action="append", required=True, help="input PDF file")
159 parser.add_argument("-o", "--output_file", required=True, help="output PDF file")
160 parser.add_argument("-p", "--page_range", action="append", help="page range, e.g., '2-9' or '3-end' or 'start-14'")
161 parser.add_argument("-c", "--crops", action="append", help="cm crops left, bottom, right, top – e.g., '10,10,10,10'; prefix with ':'-delimited page range to limit effect")
162 parser.add_argument("-r", "--rotate_page", type=int, action="append", help="rotate page of number by 90° (usable multiple times on same page!)")
163 parser.add_argument("-s", "--symmetry", action="store_true", help="alternate horizontal crops between odd and even pages")
164 parser.add_argument("-n", "--nup4", action='store_true', help="puts 4 input pages onto 1 output page, adds binding cut stencil")
165 parser.add_argument("-a", "--analyze", action="store_true", help="in --nup4, print lines identifying spine, page borders")
166 parser.add_argument("-m", "--print_margin", type=float, default=0.43, help="print margin for --nup4 in cm (default 0.43)")
167 args = parser.parse_args()
169 # some basic input validation
170 for filename in args.input_file:
171 if not os.path.isfile(filename):
172 raise HandledException(f"-i: {filename} is not a file")
174 with open(filename, 'rb') as file:
175 pypdf.PdfReader(file)
176 except pypdf.errors.PdfStreamError:
177 raise HandledException(f"-i: cannot interpret {filename} as PDF file")
179 for p_string in args.page_range:
180 validate_page_range(p_string, "-p")
181 if len(args.page_range) > len(args.input_file):
182 raise HandledException("-p: more --page_range arguments than --input_file arguments")
184 for c_string in args.crops:
185 initial_split = c_string.split(':')
186 if len(initial_split) > 2:
187 raise HandledException(f"-c: cropping string has multiple ':': {c_string}")
188 page_range, crops = split_crops_string(c_string)
189 crops = crops.split(",")
191 validate_page_range(page_range, "-c")
193 raise HandledException(f"-c: cropping does not contain exactly three ',': {c_string}")
198 raise HandledException(f"-c: non-number crop in: {c_string}")
200 for r in args.rotate_page:
204 raise HandledException(f"-r: non-integer value: {r}")
206 raise HandledException(f"-r: value must not be <1: {r}")
208 float(args.print_margin)
210 raise HandledException(f"-m: non-float value: {arg.print_margin}")
218 import reportlab.pdfgen.canvas
220 raise HandledException("-n: need reportlab library installed for --nup4")
222 # select pages from input files
226 for i, input_file in enumerate(args.input_file):
227 file = open(input_file, 'rb')
228 opened_files += [file]
229 reader = pypdf.PdfReader(file)
231 if args.page_range and len(args.page_range) > i:
232 range_string = args.page_range[i]
233 start_page, end_page = parse_page_range(range_string, reader.pages)
234 if end_page > len(reader.pages): # no need to test start_page cause start_page > end_page is checked above
235 raise HandledException(f"-p: page range goes beyond pages of input file: {range_string}")
236 for old_page_num in range(start_page, end_page):
238 page = reader.pages[old_page_num]
239 pages_to_add += [page]
240 print(f"-i, -p: read in {input_file} page number {old_page_num+1} as new page {new_page_num}")
242 # we can do some more input validations now that we know how many pages output should have
244 for c_string in args.crops:
245 page_range, _= split_crops_string(c_string)
247 start, end = parse_page_range(page_range, pages_to_add)
248 if end > len(pages_to_add):
249 raise HandledException(f"-c: page range goes beyond number of pages we're building: {page_range}")
251 for r in args.rotate_page:
252 if r > len(pages_to_add):
253 raise HandledException(f"-r: page number beyond number of pages we're building: {r}")
255 # rotate page canvas (as opposed to using PDF's /Rotate command)
257 for rotate_page in args.rotate_page:
258 page = pages_to_add[rotate_page - 1]
259 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=-A4_WIDTH/2, ty=-A4_HEIGHT/2))
260 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().rotate(-90))
261 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=A4_WIDTH/2, ty=A4_HEIGHT/2))
262 print(f"-r: rotating (by 90°) page {rotate_page}")
264 # if necessary, pad pages to multiple of 8
266 mod_to_8 = len(pages_to_add) % 8
268 print(f"-n: number of input pages {len(pages_to_add)} not multiple of 8, padding to that")
269 for _ in range(8 - mod_to_8):
270 new_page = pypdf.PageObject.create_blank_page(width=A4_WIDTH, height=A4_HEIGHT)
271 pages_to_add += [new_page]
273 # normalize all pages to portrait A4
274 for page in pages_to_add:
275 if "/Rotate" in page:
276 page.rotate(360 - page["/Rotate"])
277 page.mediabox.left = 0
278 page.mediabox.bottom = 0
279 page.mediabox.top = A4_HEIGHT
280 page.mediabox.right = A4_WIDTH
281 page.cropbox = page.mediabox
283 # determine page crops, zooms, crop symmetry
284 crops_at_page = [(0,0,0,0)]*len(pages_to_add)
285 zoom_at_page = [1]*len(pages_to_add)
287 for c_string in args.crops:
288 page_range, crops = split_crops_string(c_string)
289 start_page, end_page = parse_page_range(page_range, pages_to_add)
290 crop_left_cm, crop_bottom_cm, crop_right_cm, crop_top_cm = [float(x) for x in crops.split(',')]
291 crop_left = crop_left_cm * POINTS_PER_CM
292 crop_bottom = crop_bottom_cm * POINTS_PER_CM
293 crop_right = crop_right_cm * POINTS_PER_CM
294 crop_top = crop_top_cm * POINTS_PER_CM
295 prefix = "-c, -t" if args.symmetry else "-c"
296 suffix = " (but alternating left and right crop between even and odd pages)" if args.symmetry else ""
297 print(f"{prefix}: to pages {start_page + 1} to {end_page} applying crops: left {crop_left_cm}cm, bottom {crop_bottom_cm}cm, right {crop_right_cm}cm, top {crop_top_cm}cm{suffix}")
298 cropped_width = A4_WIDTH - crop_left - crop_right
299 cropped_height = A4_HEIGHT - crop_bottom - crop_top
301 zoom_horizontal = A4_WIDTH / (A4_WIDTH - crop_left - crop_right)
302 zoom_vertical = A4_HEIGHT / (A4_HEIGHT - crop_bottom - crop_top)
303 if (zoom_horizontal > 1 and zoom_vertical < 1) or (zoom_horizontal < 1 and zoom_vertical > 1):
304 raise HandledException("-c: crops would create opposing zoom directions")
305 elif zoom_horizontal + zoom_vertical > 2:
306 zoom = min(zoom_horizontal, zoom_vertical)
308 zoom = max(zoom_horizontal, zoom_vertical)
309 for page_num in range(start_page, end_page):
310 if args.symmetry and page_num % 2:
311 crops_at_page[page_num] = (crop_right, crop_bottom, crop_left, crop_top)
313 crops_at_page[page_num] = (crop_left, crop_bottom, crop_right, crop_top)
314 zoom_at_page[page_num] = zoom
316 writer = pypdf.PdfWriter()
319 print("building 1-input-page-per-output-page book")
321 for i, page in enumerate(pages_to_add):
322 crop_left, crop_bottom, crop_right, crop_top = crops_at_page[i]
323 zoom = zoom_at_page[i]
324 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=-crop_left, ty=-crop_bottom))
325 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().scale(zoom, zoom))
326 cropped_width = A4_WIDTH - crop_left - crop_right
327 cropped_height = A4_HEIGHT - crop_bottom - crop_top
328 page.mediabox.right = cropped_width * zoom
329 page.mediabox.top = cropped_height * zoom
330 writer.add_page(page)
331 odd_page = not odd_page
332 print(f"built page number {i+1} (of {len(pages_to_add)})")
336 print("-n: building 4-input-pages-per-output-page book")
337 print(f"-m: applying printable-area margin of {args.print_margin}cm")
339 print("-a: drawing page borders, spine limits")
340 printable_margin = args.print_margin * POINTS_PER_CM
341 printable_scale = (A4_WIDTH - 2 * printable_margin)/A4_WIDTH
342 spine_part_of_page = (SPINE_LIMIT / A4_HALF_WIDTH) / printable_scale
343 bonus_shrink_factor = 1 - spine_part_of_page
349 for page in pages_to_add:
357 new_i_order += [8 * n_eights + n]
358 new_page_order += [eight_pack[n]]
363 for j, page in enumerate(new_page_order):
365 new_page = pypdf.PageObject.create_blank_page(width=A4_WIDTH, height=A4_HEIGHT)
367 # in-section transformations: align pages on top, left-hand pages to left, right-hand to right
368 new_i = new_i_order[j]
369 crop_left, crop_bottom, crop_right, crop_top = crops_at_page[new_i]
370 zoom = zoom_at_page[new_i]
371 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(ty=(A4_HEIGHT / zoom - (A4_HEIGHT - crop_top))))
373 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=-crop_left))
374 elif i == 1 or i == 3:
375 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=(A4_WIDTH / zoom - (A4_WIDTH - crop_right))))
376 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().scale(zoom * bonus_shrink_factor, zoom * bonus_shrink_factor))
378 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(ty=-2*printable_margin/printable_scale))
380 # outer section transformations
381 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(ty=(1-bonus_shrink_factor)*A4_HEIGHT))
383 y_section = A4_HEIGHT
384 page.mediabox.bottom = A4_HALF_HEIGHT
385 page.mediabox.top = A4_HEIGHT
388 page.mediabox.bottom = 0
389 page.mediabox.top = A4_HALF_HEIGHT
392 page.mediabox.left = 0
393 page.mediabox.right = A4_HALF_WIDTH
395 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=(1-bonus_shrink_factor)*A4_WIDTH))
397 page.mediabox.left = A4_HALF_WIDTH
398 page.mediabox.right = A4_WIDTH
399 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=x_section, ty=y_section))
400 page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().scale(QUARTER_SCALE_FACTOR, QUARTER_SCALE_FACTOR))
401 new_page.merge_page(page)
403 print(f"merged page number {page_count} (of {len(pages_to_add)})")
408 packet = io.BytesIO()
409 c = reportlab.pdfgen.canvas.Canvas(packet, pagesize=A4)
411 c.line(0, A4_HEIGHT, A4_WIDTH, A4_HEIGHT)
412 c.line(0, A4_HALF_HEIGHT, A4_WIDTH, A4_HALF_HEIGHT)
413 c.line(0, 0, A4_WIDTH, 0)
414 c.line(0, A4_HEIGHT, 0, 0)
415 c.line(A4_HALF_WIDTH, A4_HEIGHT, A4_HALF_WIDTH, 0)
416 c.line(A4_WIDTH, A4_HEIGHT, A4_WIDTH, 0)
418 new_pdf = pypdf.PdfReader(packet)
419 new_page.merge_page(new_pdf.pages[0])
420 printable_offset_x = printable_margin
421 printable_offset_y = printable_margin * A4_HEIGHT / A4_WIDTH
422 new_page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().scale(printable_scale, printable_scale))
423 new_page.add_transformation(pypdf.Transformation().translate(tx=printable_offset_x, ty=printable_offset_y))
424 x_left_spine_limit = A4_HALF_WIDTH * bonus_shrink_factor
425 x_right_spine_limit = A4_WIDTH - x_left_spine_limit
426 if args.analyze or front_page:
427 packet = io.BytesIO()
428 c = reportlab.pdfgen.canvas.Canvas(packet, pagesize=A4)
432 c.line(x_left_spine_limit, A4_HEIGHT, x_left_spine_limit, 0)
433 c.line(x_right_spine_limit, A4_HEIGHT, x_right_spine_limit, 0)
436 draw_cut(c, x_left_spine_limit, (1))
437 draw_cut(c, x_right_spine_limit, (-1))
438 if args.analyze or front_page:
440 new_pdf = pypdf.PdfReader(packet)
441 new_page.merge_page(new_pdf.pages[0])
442 writer.add_page(new_page)
444 front_page = not front_page
447 for file in opened_files:
449 with open(args.output_file, 'wb') as output_file:
450 writer.write(output_file)
453 if __name__ == "__main__":
456 except HandledException as e:
457 handled_error_exit(e)