Removing watermarks from assembly manuals

[giantpune]

Last week, I ordered the CD with the 6 ford assembly manuals.  UPS man delivered it today.  On the CD, there are 6 pdf files with the manuals and helpful pictures and information.  Unfortunately, the folks who made them put a huge stinking watermark of their company name over every single page.  On some pages, the watermark obscures the information I actually wanted to see.  The pages could already be a bit tough to read to begin with.  The huge diagonal banner wasn't helping.

I whipped up a bash 1-liner that takes each PDF file, decompresses it, and changes the opacity of the watermark.  It makes the thing much easier to read and see the pictures now.  I figured it would be helpful to anybody else who'd gotten these.  Obviously, you have to copy them off your CD before you can edit them.  

Bash command I made for my computer running linux with pdftk, all free and open source software.  Changes it from 50% transparent to 99% transparent.

find . -maxdepth 1 -name \*.pdf -exec sh -c "mkdir tmp ; pdftk '{}' output tmp/uncompressed.pdf uncompress && sed -e 's/^0.5 g$/0.99 g/g' tmp/uncompressed.pdf > 'unwatermarked/{}' && rm -rf tmp" \;

Before and after.

 

[vintageman]

Nice, great job.

Tom

 

[Stanglover]

In a way, kind of like Forel Publishing and their stinking "Owner Guard" copyright licensing. They were so intent on protecting their content, it was near impossible to restore or copy the discs to a new computer. I have battled this for several years and had posted here about it. Now, finally, Forel have open everything up to download in PDF format as long as you have the codes from your disc purchases. I assume one can buy in PDF format as well.

It's too bad that publishers are more intent on splashing their name over everything, that the content we need, is compromised.

 

[SteveO_71]

Wow! Looks like you used to do a lot of work with image enhancement algorithms.

 

[RC92234]

I just encountered this BIG G-D WATERMARK today when I received the same set.  You are absolutely right in that in many cases the underlying image is not that clear to begin with and then with a BIG G-D WATERMARK covering the page from corner to corner, the diagram is effectively useless. 

I am even more p-o'ed that the BIG G-D WATERMARK on every page was not in the product description.

All that said... thank you giantpune for providing a fix of sorts.  I hope my latent unix skills are sufficient.

 

[giantpune]

I am even more p-o'ed that the BIG G-D WATERMARK on every page was not in the product description.

Yep, major butthole move on them for not showing the watermark in the product description.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Damn wish I had functioning brain cells left, lol. You guys must be like my son. He writes the programs that BMW uses to track product issues world wide. He barely go out of high school but somehow knows computers. I can type really good but that is it, lol.

 

[Don C]

Yep, major butthole move on them for not showing the watermark in the product description.

They know that nobody would buy it if they showed it. If it weren't so blatant it wouldn't be so bad.

I downloaded PDFTK, tried to get it to open the Assembly Manuals, wants a password. I'm fairly computer literate, but looks like I'm going to have to get my computer progammer son to help me on this one.

Edit: I was able to remove the passwords and then removed the watermarks. Now I'll reprint the pages of the Assembly Manuals that I already printed, so I'll be able to read them in the workshop. I prefer the printed versions in the workshop, don't want to grease up my tablet.

 

[giantpune]

I just realized that the watermark on these PDF files is a separate layer.  Depending on which software you are using to view the files, it may have a menu to hide certain layers.  On the PDFs for the 71-73 mustangs off the CD, there's simply a layer called "watermark".  You can uncheck the box in your PDF viewer and the watermark from every page is not displayed.

I went and got myself a 1969 t-bird, and then ordered the USB stick with the shop manual for Falcon, Fairlane, mustang, cougar, lincoln, etc for that year.  There's a ton of layers called "watermark".  Strangely enough, all you have to do is uncheck the box for the second one and all the watermarks are gone from every page.

I still prefer the method from the original post, because it modifies the file and you never have to see the watermark again.  Just felt like updating this to add the other option for people who aren't great with computers and may not be able to edit the files.

 

[Hemikiller]

To add to this, the manuals from Forel have no watermark. The Detroit Iron (available from Rock Auto) have a small logo in the upper left hand corner, and a copyright notice at the bottom. 

 

[giantpune]

To add to this, the manuals from Forel have no watermark. The Detroit Iron (available from Rock Auto) have a small logo in the upper left hand corner, and a copyright notice at the bottom. 

You mean the paper manuals?  The digital one I got for all the '69 fords has Forel plastered on every page.

 

[Hemikiller]

You mean the paper manuals?  The digital one I got for all the '69 fords has Forel plastered on every page.

No, just bought the 71 digital, no watermarks at all. Maybe contact them for a download.

 

[Don C]

I've had the Forel for '71s for 12 years, no watermarks.

 

[giantpune]

This week I bought a 1969 mustang. The guy included a bunch of paperwork and an assembly manual. And damnit if they didn't have watermarks on every single page. Book is dated 2001.

 

[mrgmhale]

Fair is fair with folks that sell copyrighted information. I get that. But, if their protections interfere with my ability to use the information without grief than I am going to do something bout it. I have a lot of Forel PDF document files for several years of Mustangs. I licensed an app that removed all watermarks for their PDF files, and the PDF files I bought from other vendors. I also licensed another app that removed the password protection on the Forel files, as their password scheme makes it impossible for me to output any pages into another file without the resultant page(s) being blurry. I can't even do Screen Shots of a page and retain the clarity the source document has. Worse, I could not annotate the pages that I wanted to add notes to, or make corrections to the source document itself.

Now I can copy one or more pages from their PDF files, do Screen Shots if I want to, and make edit and annotations as i see fit. In trying to be fair I do encourage folks I help out with by harnessing the electrical schematics (for instance) to get their own Forel files, as they are certainly inexpensive enough. And I have never charged anyone a nickel for the snippets I put together. And I am not taking credit for, or claiming ownership of, the content of the PDF files. In short, by removing their silly protections I am able to actually use the files for something useful.

I do like the Forel files, although for 1971 and earlier Mustangs their schematics are a little on the lame side. Useful, but not nearly as good as their 1992, and especially their 1973, Mustang electrical schematics. And their 1973 Shop Manual, volume 6, is the first time they provide vacuum schematics for engine calibrations. Luckily a lot of the 1973 vacuum and electrical schematics are applicable to 1971 and 1972. Not entirely, but it is enough to be helpful.

https://www.forelpublishing.com/clickbank/index.html#Top

As for 1967 - 1972 engine vacuum schematic calibration, The Mustang Barn assembled a lot of vacuum calibrations and has made the files available for free on their web site. With the knowledge and approval I consolidated all of their individual files into a single PDF, grouped by year, and sorted by engine. The file is attached to this post. The only thing Mustang Barn asked of me is to give them credit for the content, and to also not charge for the content. Feel free to share the file with others, and keep a copy in your library in case you ever need it.

 

[Don C]

The vacuum diagrams I assembled some time ago are in this thread:
https://7173mustangs.com/threads/vacuum-hose-diagrams.23844/#post-244049