[Swftools-common] Flash Player Crash with pdf2swf containing transparent shadow

[Rob Nielsen]

I’m running the latest dev snapshot. I had a customer’s PowerPoint that crashes Flash Player. The PPT is being converted to PDF using OpenOffice.org and then to SWF using pdf2swf.

 

I’ve tracked the problem down to a semi-transparent shadow (PPT terminology) on the left side of the object. The shadows doesn’t render properly in OO or the PDF viewer. The resulting SWF crashes the Flash Player.

 

The PPT, PDF and SWF are all available if anyone wants to looks at them.

 

If you want to create your own follow the steps below:

 

1. Create a new blank presentation.

2. Create a diamond shape (rectangles do not exhibit them problem).

3. Apply a shadow to the shape, place it on the lower left side and set it to be semi-transparent in PowerPoint (50%-60% in OO Impress)

4. Export the presentation as a PDF. I use OO Impress.

5. Convert to SWF with pdf2swf –T 9

6. Open with Flash Player.

 

In PPT the shadow displays properly. In Impress and the PDF, the shadow is just an outline. I assume this is contributing to the problem.

 

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Rob