Comments on: Creating PDF: Export or Use Distiller?

By: SallyJ

SallyJ — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:49:55 +0000

Great post – helped me a lot with some PDF/Distiller questions.

Where I work, we used to be able to use printers we chose but now have no say in the process and no contact with the printers which makes providing themwith their preferred print settings difficult. As a result, and after reading this forum, I will provide distilled PDF files now as it seems to be the safest option when I don’t have any communication with the printer. Particularly as I’ve had issues with transparencies in print recently.

Thanks to all for the really useful info and all varying points of view and can make a more informed decision of what I provide now. I come from a print background originally and can appreciate how different each print shop is and why.

By: Mark Godfrey

Mark Godfrey — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:59:04 +0000

PDF Print Specific PS3 Emulation PDL PPD

If printing to a device with PostScript 3 Emulation test it by distilling a PostScript file made with the device specific PPD. Compare to an Exported file using the same PDF preset options. On a Canon (PS3 Emulation PDL) we get noticeably better definition of type (OpenType, PS1, TT) using a PDF made with the Canon PPD / PS / PDF — or printing from the live application file, using the device PPD.

Mark

By: PK

PK — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:50:36 +0000

I think each printer has a preferred process and it is best to follow that process. They have seen all the errors and know how to prevent them. I output from InDesign to PS, then use Distiller to do the pdf, following all the specs the printer recommends. A 5 GB InDesign file will convert to a 8 GB pdf in this two step process, at the print quality and specs needed. Second guessing what the printer needs or why they do it is not a good idea. Just pick a good printer and work with their process.

By: kim

kim — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 02:25:02 +0000

Hi everyone, great forum. About mid way there was some mention converting a mixed size document (A3 and A4) to a pdf. I am a teacher with a little tech knowledge and have about 30 of these docx’s (between 40 and 80 pages long) to covert and need to maintain the mixed sized documents. I have the CS4 suit and tried to create pdf through Adobe Pro, Distiller and now through the Print option in Word 2007. When I conver, it reformats the pages so that they are all the same size learning reduce versions of original pages with lots of white space. My current solution is to pdf the A4 parts, then the A3, then the A4 parts, then the A3 parts and then merge -phew!!!

Can anybody help?

By: Jongware

Jongware — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:31:06 +0000

They do? It sounds logical, as the transparency flattener pixelizes everything under the topmost transparent object.

But I’d hesitate to use this as a way of upsampling lo-rez images automatically. I’m always very careful to feed ID just what I need — no less than needed for photographs, and, in reverse, no more than needed for deliberately low-res images, such as screen captures of web pages. When printed on an offset printer, these look very realistic and sharp in their original (low!) resolution but horrendous blurred when forcibly upsampled.

By: Eugene Tyson

Eugene Tyson — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:23:21 +0000

Jongware – if you have a lower resolution and you use the transparency flattener that is set to High Resolution, then the images get upsampled.

http://indesignsecrets.com/flattening-fun.php

By: nick

nick — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:11:56 +0000

jongware 25/4/10 – thanks for your answer, I can work with that.
Very helpful.

By: Jongware

Jongware — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:53:12 +0000

nick: sorry to say this, but PDF files do not “have” a resolution.
InDesign will never touch images with a lower resolution than set in the “Downsample to — for images above”. All other images are inserted “as is”. Did Quark perhaps upsample your images?

If you always need at least 300 dpi images (which is, by the way, a good number) it’s your own responsibility the images you feed into ID are good enough. Note you can have Preflight flag too low dpi as an error.

By: nick

nick — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:05:59 +0000

how do I set my indd cs4 to print PDFs at 300dpi for litho printing please? Or any other resolution I might require?

I’ve just come out of the G3 Quark/acrobat 5 world and am now using an imac and cs suite 4.
All was a POP (piece of p*** to use the vernacular) back then.

In Quark I just went to page setup, pumped in the ad size, set to cmyk or greyscale, checked the preview, hit print and got exactly what I wanted. Turnaround time was brilliant.
Why is everything now so predefined for me and confusing.
I simply want to access PDFs at 300dpi for litho print!

I can tell from a pdf file size whether something is of the proper resolution or not and when I read a csindd pdf ‘properties’ I know I’m not getting what I need.
I ran a comparison between my old and new systems and got a difference of about a 30% between old Acro 5 of 922k (spot on) and new csindd (Export>high quality print setting) of 630k.

What am I missing here?

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:14:34 +0000

Ok..using a digital printer 6500 konica
graphics dept. is confused how to package their files.
some tpye missing ..some screens / pictures coming out without melding into design…
Is there any advice on how to set-up a preset for them that will work on our printer.