A quick guide to making PDFs

Posted on November 5, 2016 by zxzxzx

So while I was making the PDF for Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi volume 6 today, I thought I’d share my process of doing things since it’s evolved quite a bit since I first started, and I feel like it’s a pretty solid process now.

Requirements

  • Microsoft Word 2010 (cannot guarantee perfect functionality with other versions)
  • Adobe Acrobat X (again, cannot guarantee perfect functionality with other versions)
  • [Optional] Photo editing tool such as Adobe Photoshop. Any version will do.

Files

Process

  1. Copy and paste all of the text into the provided template. Update title, footer and last page information.
  2. Fix formatting and styling. Ensure references are formatted correctly.
  3. Remove any hyperlinks with [CTRL + A] to select all text, and then [CTRL + SHIFT + F9] to remove.
  4. Check that all chapter titles are set correctly. You can see this by pressing [CTRL + F] to bring up the search sidebar, and then click on the first tab to see the document outline.
  5. Set furigana readings if necessary using the Phonetics Guide tool and instructions given in the template.
  6. Leave blank pages for illustrations.
  7. Convert to PDF via MS Word ribbon, or open Adobe Acrobat and choose “Create” from the toolbar, and then select the MS Word file.
  8. Ensure chapter bookmarks are correct. Fix them if necessary.
  9. Resize illustrations (to scale) so that their widths are equivalent to the template. This should be 21cm or 8.27in. I find that Photoshop is the best tool for this because it does a good job of preserving image quality.
  10. Insert illustrations where you left a blank page, and then delete those blank pages.
  11. Select and right-click on each reference to “Create Link”, and then navigate to the corresponding note and click “Set Link”. See my video demonstration here. This needs to be done for both directions so that users can move back and forth.
  12. Go to File > Properties to fill out any details necessary. I like to put down the original author and illustrator.

That’s it! Save and you’re done…it probably took a lot longer than you might have expected, especially if there are a lot of references or illustrations. If you find that the file size is excessively large, you can try compressing the PDF by going to File > Save as… > Reduced size PDF. Anyway, hope that helps for anyone looking to make a few PDFs. If you’re an experienced PDF maker, feel free to share your thoughts.

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Ah, at last…!

Posted on October 17, 2016 by zxzxzx

Hey everyone, thanks for sticking with me and being patient for so long!

Volume six of Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi is finally done. I’ll be uploading it to Baka-Tsuki along with Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha volume 7 chapter 2, and I will make a full-volume PDF a week after that.

This is supposedly Rebecca’s volume, and I feel like we’ve gotten some good character development out of it, especially when it comes to her more vulnerable side and her worries as a woman, rather than as the <Scarlet Empress> or Student Council President. Oscar’s identity was also a bit of a surprise for me, and now I’m curious to see how things will end up with her. I haven’t read ahead, despite having all of the volumes, but I get the faint feeling that she’ll be joining Ash’s list of admirers.

Only a few more hours left until the Hagure vs. Shinmai vs. neither poll closes, but it looks like the outcome is fairly clear. So there you go, thanks for voting. I’ll keep translating Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha, Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica will be lined up behind it when I catch up to all current content. I think I’ll also make a start on the first chapter or so of Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi before I take a break. It’s almost the end of semester for me, which means exam time, so I’ll be taking a break throughout the end of October and most of November.

Some of you may also be wondering about High School DxD…I haven’t dropped it, and my tentative plan is to continue starting from Life.4, sometime in November most likely as that’s when I’ll be free.

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My apologies for the extended delay

Posted on October 10, 2016 by zxzxzx

I’m sure quite a few of you may have been waiting for that Shinmai Maou update I said would be coming on the 9th, even though that was already pushed back a bit. Well, yes, I’ve finished translating it, and am still in the process of editing it. I don’t plan on uploading it until I’ve reviewed everything at least once and am satisfied with the quality. It is decently long with ~20k words, so that’s one reasons why it’s taking me a while, but I suppose the other reason is that I was planning to spend my Sunday evening going through it, but a few things popped up to stand in my way.

This next part is just me ranting a bit…so feel free to ignore it.
Working with others in a team or group is sometimes great…you’ll get along, have fun, and be productive. Unfortunately, when no one in a team is enthusiastic and no one communicates effectively with each other, everything falls apart. And that’s basically what happened today. I’m doing two courses this semester which heavily rely on teamwork, and one of those happened to have part of an assignment due on Monday. Three people in the team decided to do the same thing, but in three different ways, and on their own.

The task: A technical diagram (~3 hours of work).
Person 1: Drew up a draft on paper and sent a photo of it to the group early on, and then said they would finalise it later, but never did, and didn’t tell anyone until the day before.
Person 2: Drew the diagram up digitally, based on Person 1’s work, and then said it was complete and just wanted someone to look over it, the night before.
Person 3 (Me): Offered to finalise the draft digitally when Person 1 notified the group, and started to do so when no one gave any reply. Got halfway through before Person 2 shared their work. Discovered that Person 2’s work was more complete, but totally incorrect and only met one of the four marking criteria required. Scrambled to redo the entire diagram using their software instead.
Person 4: MIA.

Now, I’m just going to let this slide as a one-off. My team has been otherwise reliable so far. It’s just that I wish someone could’ve said that they only planned to do a draft or only that they were missing parts so that others would’ve been informed of the urgency of completion.

<!—End Rant—>

I’ll have the Shinmai chapter up in around 24 hours from now…I’ve checked over around 40% of it, so I’ll leave the rest for tomorrow. Also, regarding the translation of future Shinmai Maou content…I don’t think I’m going to continue with the project at this point. A while back, I found a few other translators willing to do the project together with me, but a few backed out after I told them about the status of the project and the ‘content’ it would involve, whilst a few also began to require more time for RL. Only one translator was willing to go forth with the project after a few weeks of planning, and at that point I just decided it wasn’t worth it. Now, given that both J2270A and I have now stated that we aren’t exactly interested in continuing, I suppose that means the project is likely to be abandoned and any future fan-translations are unlikely. While Nomi has done portions of volumes eight and nine, she has not expressed interest in doing anything but the parts which have been commissioned. This does leave a rather bad aftertaste with me for not being able to see this through to the end…and so I decided to leave it up to you.

High School DxD and Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi are my long-term projects. I plan to translate DxD content whenever it’s available, and Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi whenever I’m free.
On the other hand, I also plan to do another project concurrently to the aforementioned, or whenever I’m free. This is going to either be: Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha or Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica. If the translation of either one ever catches up to the latest release, then I’ll switch back over to the other.

Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha or Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica?

  • Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha (62%, 305 Votes)
  • Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica (29%, 142 Votes)
  • Drop them both and focus on other translations (9%, 43 Votes)

Total Voters: 490

Loading ... Loading ...

Poll closes one week from now.

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Holiday Time Over

Posted on July 26, 2016 by zxzxzx

Hey hey so I just got back home this morning. Had a long nap, then started unpacking and getting ready for the new uni semester which starts in the morning. I’ll be getting back to the comments I missed very soon and translations this week.

What can I say about Europe? I think I’ll break it down by country as that makes things easier.

UK/England: One of the most enjoyable places I went to, and I felt like I’d never really be bored. While on a Thames River cruise, I was told: “To be tired of London is to be tired of life”, and that really is quite true. There is simply so much history and heritage in the UK that makes it worthwhile. Of course, there are also many current things which make it rather fun. Highlight: Wimbledon 2016.

The Netherlands/Amsterdam: I was only there for a day but I felt it was a very clean and beautiful city. Everything is about green energy and there are hordes of bicycles everywhere. Zaans Schans was very nice to see, but probably filled with more tourists than I’d like. On the other hand, the city itself was more enjoyable as it seems to have so much liberty: people smoking marijuana on street, bongs for sale in convenience stores, and a rather inviting red light district. Highlight: The city itself.

Belgium/Brussels: I had about half a day here as it was just a stopover on my way from Amsterdam to Paris. I do apologise, but I found Brussels somewhat less interesting than other cities, perhaps due to time constraints. Highlight: Traditional cuisine.

France/Paris: Paris lived up to all of my expectations and a bit more. The first day I spent hitting out most of the top tourist attractions, and it was rather fun listening to French and just exploring the city. Days two and three were mostly spent in museums, as there are simply so many famous works and museums all over Paris. We also happened to be there while the Euro Cup was on, and that really made everything much more lively. I was on top of the Arc de Triomphe on the day of the finals and flags were fluttering about everywhere, horns were blaring, and people were fired up. It felt like French pride and patriotism at its best, which was accentuated even further by everyone’s depressing expressions the next day.

Italy: Well, there was just so much to see here. I visited Milan, Pisa, Florence, The Cinque Terre, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, The Amalfi Coast and Venice. Florence was quite a beautiful city and also where I had the best homemade pasta. I did an AirBnB stay at an apartment in Vernazza and it honestly felt amazing to be living like a local would in the Cinque Terre. Rome felt like another place all together because it felt “Roman” rather than “Italian”, and there was so much to see and do there. Naples was the least enjoyable place, probably because I had the wrong impression of it before I arrived. I thought it would be just another major city like Rome or Florence with tourists out and about, but I was wrong. It felt seedy, dangerous and dirty wherever I went and there were very few tourists around. Just a short train ride away and we were in the ruins of Pompeii, which was an incredible sight to behold, especially those body molds. Taking the train to the end of the line, we came to Sorrento, which was an pleasant place to stay and certainly quite nice. Of course, Positano and Amalfi were even better, and the Amalfi Coast really lived up to my expectations of how beautiful the coastline was. I went kayaking and swimming around there and the water was simply beautiful. My last stop in Italy was Venice, and I found it rather boring. Sure, the photos will look nice and I’ll have been there but the experience itself wasn’t that enjoyable as it was way too touristy. Highlight: Vernazza.

Spain: Madrid was a pleasant city, and a nice place to be in. The Spanish I learnt in Peru certainly paid off in communicating with some of the locals and the food was also great. Of the two cities I visited however, Barcelona was definitely much more enjoyable. Barcelona felt fun and lively at any time of the day and it was filled with interesting spots all of the city such as the Parc de Laberint, and Gaudi’s architectural works. Being able to speak Spanish was again quite helpful, although most signs were actually in Catalan. That’s also why I found it to be a peculiar city, as that is the only place (correct me if I’m wrong) where Catalan is used, yet it seems to be the dominant language there. Highlight: The Tapas.

So, that roughly sums up my trip. I had a great time, so thanks for being patient. I’ve probably visited the countries that some of you live in, so feel free to let me know about what you think.

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Daniel Yang’s blog has moved!

Posted on May 29, 2016 by zxzxzx

So, it’s now my turn to be hit with exams and etcetera which means I’ll probably slow down immensely or stop with translations very soon, but the good news is that daniel Yang, our DX translator will soon be translating the short stories of DX2!

His old site will no longer be updated now, as he has a new one at danielyang.ninja

On another note, has anyone read “Another Story of Panatea”? I bought the first volume a while ago because it was on some super clearance sale for ~ $2 or less, and was wondering if there could be something wrong with it.

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