Software Companions - Gerber Viewers and Converters

scConverter SDK Updates

The latest update will always include all previous fixes and improvements


Version 8.40
1 November 2024
Feature Update
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News:
  • Multi-page, or multi-picture, CGM files are now supported.
Changes to existing functions:
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 18: Set JPEG XL compression quality.
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 19: Enable or disable JPEG XL lossless compresion mode.
Changes to existing exported functions:
Solved issues:
  • 1630 Multi page (multi-picture) CGM files were not supported.

Version 8.30
11 October 2024
Feature Update
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News:
  • Added support for reading and writing JPEG XL file format.
  • The AddGerberLayer method now accepts HPGL/2 files in addition to Gerber and Excellon.
  • The scAddPCBLayer function now accepts HPGL/2 files in addition to Gerber and Excellon.
  • Added Excellon drill output format. It is now possible to merge several Excellon files into a single file by using the ConvertGerberLayersToCAD method.
Solved issues:
  • 1621 Some text elements were incorrectly included after converting from PDF to DWF (PDFToCAD).
  • 1619 Excellon G84 command (Canned Circle) was not supported.
  • Creating a searchable PDF from a raster file (e.g. CALS) could sometimes result in a PDF with wrong page size.

Version 8.20
26 August 2024
Minor Update
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News:
New method:
New exported function:
Changes to existing methods:
  • PDFConform - Added option value 7 (PDF/A-4e) for conform type parameter.
Changes to existing functions:
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 17: Control if transparent layers should be included when ConvertGerberLayersToCAD is used.
  • scPDFConform - Added option value 7 (PDF/A-4e) for conform type parameter.
Changes to existing property:
Solved issues:
  • 1617 DWF file from customer was converted with invalid dimensions.
  • 1616 Missing line style in DWF file from customer.
  • 1615 Extra unwanted content were included after conversion from DWF to PDF.
  • 1612 An image in a DWF file was lost after conversion to PDF.
  • 1611 Missing line styles in a DWF file from a customer.
  • 1610 Margins set by for SetMargins were not used for PDF to Raster conversion.
  • 1609 After conversion from PDF to DWF some extra unwanted content were included.

Version 8.11
29 July 2024
Minor Update
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New exported function:
  • scResizeImage2 - Resize an image using input and output DIB (HGLOBAL) with high quality.
Solved issues:
  • 1608 Design Review Markups were displaced in DWFX file from customer.
  • 1607 Design Review Markups were displaced in DWFX file from customer.
  • 1606 Transparency was lost when converting 32-bit PSD files to other 32-bit image formats (e.g. PNG and TIFF).
  • Some files were incorrectly identified as PSD file format.
  • Setting DWFLoadMarkup to 0 (false) did not turn off Design Review markup for DWFX files.

Version 8.10
18 July 2024
Minor Update
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News:
  • This update includes support for converting Adobe Photoshop (PSD) files.
  • Windows Vista is no longer supported.
Solved issues:
  • 1600 Excellon drill files from customer were converted with wrong extents.
  • 1599 Trying to obtain number of pages in, or convert, a PDF file from customer caused an exception error.
  • 1569 Text in a DWF file from customer were too narrow.
  • ConvertPageToImage failed with higher DPI settings (was not able to use the same values as the other convert functions).

Version 8.00
4 June 2024
Major Update
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News:
  • This update includes several new image processing methods, please see the documentation for more information.
New methods:
  • BinarizeImage - Convert an image file to black and white only. This filter can also be used to remove stain from a scanned image.
  • BinarizeImageEx - Same as BinarizeImage but processing a file previously opened with OpenFileEx.
  • CleanupImage - Remove noise from an image file.
  • CleanupImageEx - Same as CleanupImage but processing a file previously opened with OpenFileEx.
  • DefoxImage - Remove stain, also known as foxing from an older scanned document.
  • DefoxImageEx - Same as DefoxImage but processing a file previously opened with OpenFileEx.
  • DeskewImage - Deskew, or straighten, an image file.
  • DeskewImageEx - Same as DeskewImage but using a file previously opened with OpenFileEx.
  • GetDeskewAngleEx - Calculate deskew angle for an image file previously opened with OpenFileEx.
  • ResizeImage - A new high-quality image resize method that supports two different algorithms: Avir and Lanczos.
  • ResizeImageEx - Same as ResizeImage but processing a file previously opened with OpenFileEx.
  • VBSResize - Same as ResizeImage but processing a file previously opened with VBSOpen.
New exported functions:
Solved issues:
  • 1596 A CGM file from customer was not converted correctly.
  • 1593 Added support for DWF and DWFX hyperlinks. Any hyperlink from source file will now be included in exported PDF files.
  • 1592 Transparent markup images lost transparency after conversion to DWF.
  • 1586 DWF file from customer failed to open.

Version 7.20
24 April 2024
Feature Update
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Changes to methods:
  • PDFWriteFormat - You may now choose between all the supported PDF/A variants and use it as default PDF output variant. The following values are now supported:
    1. PDF 1.7 (normal/editable)
    2. PDF/A-1B
    3. PDF/A-2B
    4. PDF/A-3B
    5. PDF/A-2U
    6. PDF/A-3U
    7. PDF/A-4
    Previously only values 0 (editable PDF) and 1 (PDF/A-2B) were supported.
  • SetLoadPassword - This is a new method that let you set a password before loading password protected PDF, DWF and DWFX files.
Changes to properties:
  • GetLastError - Trying to load a password protected file without setting the correct password will fail and error code 15 will be returned.
Changes to exported functions:
  • scSetPDFWriteFormat - You may now choose between all the supported PDF/A variants and use it as default PDF output variant.
    Previously only values 0 (editable PDF) and 1 (PDF/A-2B) were supported.
  • scSetLoadPassword - This is a new function that let you set a password before loading password protected PDF, DWF and DWFX files.
  • All conversion functions will return error code 15 if a password protected PDF and DWF/DWFX file is loaded with wrong password.
Solved issues:
  • 1589 An image was missing after conversion from PDF to DWF using PDFToCAD.
  • 1588 Password protected DWF, DWFX and PDF files were not supported.
  • 1587 Trying to usePDFConform with Normalize flag on a PDF file that could not be repaired, created a corrupt output PDF file. The method will now return an error message and no output PDF file will be created if such files are encountered.

Version 7.10
6 April 2024
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Changes to existing methods:
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 16: Enable or disable creation of progressive JPEG files.
Solved issues:
  • 1585 Some filled elements in a DWFX file were missing transparency.
  • 1584 Line merge mode was lost after converting a HPGL/2 file from customer to PDF.
  • 1582 PDF to DWF conversion of a file from a customer caused an exception error.
  • 1579 SetPDFProperty settings didn't have any effect if PDFRASTER export format was selected.

Version 7.05
02 February 2024
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Solved issues:
  • 1578 32-bit HEIC images was loaded as 24-bit which caused transparency (alpha channel) to be lost.
  • 1573 Missing images in CGM file from customer.
  • 1567 PDF file from customer failed to convert.

Version 7.04
14 December 2023
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Solved issues:
  • 1568 Missing image after conversion from PDF to PLT using PDFToCAD.
  • 1564 Missing holes after converting an Excellon drill file to PDF.
  • 1563 Some lines had wrong line style after conversion from PDF to PLT using PDFToCAD.

Version 7.03
1 November 2023
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Changes to existing methods:
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 15: Set rendering quality for arcs when converting to raster formats.
    Default value is 360 (total number of line segments for a full arc).
  • PDFConform - Added option to conform PDF files into PDF/A-4 standard.
Solved issues:
  • 1562 Converting a 24-bit image to 32-bit PNG/BMP/WEBP/TIFF/HEIC file created only a blank image.
  • 1561 Some of the text in a DWF file were displaced.
  • 1557 An image was missing in a CGM file.

Version 7.02
15 August 2023
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Solved issues:
  • 1550 DWF file caused floating point exception error during conversion.
  • 1549 DWF file were converted as a blank file.
  • 1547 One of the pages in a DWF file was converted with wrong extents.
  • Files with HEIF extension were not recognized as valid HEIC files.

Version 7.01
12 July 2023
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
New Method:

Solved issues:
  • 1546 Converting 32-bit PNG to HEIC caused transparency (alpha channel) to be lost.
  • 1545 PDF to PNG conversion created only a blank image.
  • 1543 Freehand text annotations in a PDF file contained invalid characters after conversion to any format.
  • 1529 16-bit BMP files became only black if rotation was used during conversion.

Version 7.00
6 July 2023
Major Update
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News:
  • scConverter is now built using Visual Studio 2022.
  • Windows XP platform is no longer supported.
  • You can now create a searchable PDF from a scanned document using OCR.
    This feature requires that the Tesseract OCR engine is installed on the system.
  • New method to compress files using compression methods supported by the HTTP protocol (Brotli and GZIP).
  • All sample applications have been migrated to Visual Studio 2022.

New Methods:

  • CompressFile - Compress a file using Brotli, GZIP, BZIP2 and ZSTD compression methods.
  • CreateSearchablePDF - Can create a searchable PDF file from a scanned document if Tesseract OCR engine is available.
  • DetectQREx - Search for QR codes in a file opened by OpenFileEx.
  • GetQRTextEx - Return decoded text for a QR code previously found by DetectQREx.

New Properties:

  • OCRAvailable - Check if Tesseract OCR engine is available.
  • VBSPixHeight - Return height of file opened with VBSOpen in pixels.
  • VBSPixWidth - Return width of file opened with VBSOpen in pixels.

New Exported Functions:

  • scCompressFile - Compress a file using GZIP, Brotli, BZIP2 and ZSTD compression methods.
  • scCreateSearchablePDF - Can create a searchable PDF file from a scanned document if Tesseract OCR engine is available.
  • scOCRAvailable - Check if Tesseract OCR engine is available.

Changes to Methods:

  • SetConfigValue - Added value 11: Control Brotli compression speed and quality ratio.
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 12: Set bits per pixel to use when running OCR on a PDF file.
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 13: Set resolution to use when running OCR on a PDF file.
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 14: Set resolution to use when searching for QR codes in a PDF file.
Changes to Exported Functions:
  • scSetConfigValue - Added value 11: Control Brotli compression speed and quality ratio.
  • scSetConfigValue - Added value 12: Set bits per pixel to use when running OCR on a PDF file.
  • scSetConfigValue - Added value 13: Set resolution to use when running OCR on a PDF file.
  • scSetConfigValue - Added value 14: Set resolution to use when searching for QR codes in a PDF file.

Solved issues:

  • 1544 PDF to DWF: Some black and white images were inverted after conversion to DWF.
  • The values returned by VBSHeight and VBSWidth properties were not correct.

Version 6.20
25 May 2023
Feature Update
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News:
  • Added new method: VBSOpen
  • Added new method: VBSConvert
  • Added new method: VBSClose
  • Added new property: VBSDPI
  • Added new property: VBSFormat
  • Added new property: VBSHeight
  • Added new property: VBSWidth
  • Added new property: VBSPage
  • Added new property: VBSPages

These methods and properties were added to support development environments that cannot use the OpenFileEx based methods.
Please check the documentation for more information.

Solved issues:
  • 1539 Excellon drill file was converted with wrong extents.
  • 1538 Missing markup text in a DWF file from customer.
  • 1537 Some of the markup text in a DWFX file from customer had wrong rotation.
  • 1536 Missing a stamp in a DWF file from customer.
  • 1535 CGM files from customer were not converted correctly. Some of the files could cause a memory error exception.
  • 1534 Missing dots in a DWF file from customer.

Version 6.11
9 May 2023
Feature Update
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News:
  • Added new method: Convert3
Solved issues:
  • 1530 Missing raster data in CGM file from customer. The file could also cause memory errors.
  • 1527 TIFF files using ZIP type compression were not supported.
  • #### Some of the output format identifiers for SaveCompareResult did output wrong file format.

Version 6.10
21 March 2023
Feature Update
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32-bit 64-bit
News:
  • Added support for reading and writing HEIC file format.
  • Added SetConfigValue( 5 ) to control if a temporary user profile should be used during LibreOffice conversion.
  • Added SetConfigValue( 6 ) to control HEIC compression level.
  • Visual Studio 2010 runtime is no longer required to run scConverter and its components.
  • Visual Studio 2010 redistributables are no longer part of the SDK.
Solved issues:
  • 1525 Converting from 32-bit PNG to 24-bit PNG caused degrading of the quality.
  • 1523 A PLT file was converted with wrong color for some of the text.
  • 1520 A single page CGM file was loaded as two pages and was missing an image.

Version 6.02
1 December 2022
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Solved issues:
  • 1514 A DWFX file from customer caused exception error during load.
  • 1511 Due a clipping error several images in a DWFX were displayed but should have been discarded.
  • 1510 Converting a PLT to DWF caused paper background to be flipped around Y axis due to extreme dimensions.
  • 1506 Missing Chinese characters after converting from DWF to PDF.
  • 1503 Missing raster images in a DWF file from customer.
  • 1502 Missing content on page 2 in a DWF file from customer.

Version 6.01
18 August 2022
Maintenance Update
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32-bit 64-bit
Solved issues:
  • 1495 PDF to DWF: Some raster images (text) became fuzzy after conversion to DWF.
  • 1491 Filled black rectangles in a DWF file were covering other information.
  • 1490 Markup approved symbol would be wrong after saving to a new PDF, if the original PDF had page rotation.
  • 1489 A raster image was covering other information in a DWF file.
  • 1483 PDF to DWF: DWF files had wrong page size after conversion.
  • 1482 Some images in a DWF file had greyish background after conversion to PDF.
  •          Custom PDF Properties didn't work with the PDFConform function.

Version 6.00
4 May 2022
Major Update
Download Now:
32-bit 64-bit
News:

The converter may now use TrueType fonts for PDF files converted from file formats that support this, for example DWF.
The use of TrueType will both reduce size of the exported PDF and increase the performance.

New Methods:
New Exported Functions:
Changes to Methods:
  • SetConfigValue - Added value 4: Enable or disable TrueType text in exported PDF files (if possible).
Changes to Exported Functions:
  • scSetConfigValue - Added value 4: Enable or disable TrueType text in exported PDF files (if possible).
Solved issues:
  • 1475 A text element was displayed outside page area if the PDF file was opened as vector format.
  • 1471 Some images were missing if a PDF file was opened as vector format.
  • 1467 Text was missing in a DWF file due to clipping error.
  • 1466 A signature image had wrong colors when PDF file was opened as vector.
  • 1462 Missing alpha mask for an image when the PDF was opened as vector format.
  • 1459 Missing filled items in DWFX file from customer.
  • 1456 Some Arabic characters in a DWF file were not correct after conversion to PDF. The PDF exporter can now use TrueType to correct this issue.