The Letterville BullBoard: Corel 9 to .PDF... Too Big!

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Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :

Hi Heads,

I've been designing some adverts for a customer using Corel 9, then converting them to.pdf and sending them out e-mail or ftp upload.

My problem is that the 3 inch square Corel files, running at around 400k, are becoming 4Megs plus as .pdf's. Way too big for the local newspaper's ad dept. to handle efficiently.

I've tried several of the .pdf settings, resampled my images, everything that I can think of, yet these files are still too large.

Has anyone run into this before?
Aren't .pdf's supposed to reduce the size of the file as well as make them easier to distribute?

This is an ongoing account, so I must come up with a solution ASAP. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

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Purcell Woodcarving & Signmaking
spurcell99@mediaone.net
Cape Cod, MA

Posted by Robb Lowe (Member # 2121) on :

I'll assume you're running a Windows based machine here, and you're advert is for a newspaper or some sort of greyscale printed media. If its color, the same steps apply, except you'll need to download a color laser printer driver as opposed to the monochrome one listed.

You've gotta couple of options. Here's what I would do....

From the desktop, go My Computer > Control Panel > Printers > Add Printer.

Using the drivers provided by Microsoft, in the left column choose HP, and in the right choose the 4MV/Postscript. Click OK and as you wander thru the remaining tabs of the wizard, set the defaults to "print to file". Close up the printer folder, and return to Corel.

Open your file, and print it to the newly installed 4MV. The defaults should be fine, but you might want to adjust the linecount (ask your printer for their preferences) if there are any fades in the design. Once you've set all your standard printer settings, check the box that says "Print to File" and let'er rip.. it will then pop up a "Save" window, and you can call the file whatever you wish, and it will end in .ps

This .ps is a postscript printer file - which is all a PDF really is. Send them this, if its small enough. Chances are, the Corel PDF engine bloated your work, and this technique will skirt around it this time.

Your other option would be to convert everything in your design to curves, which is a good idea anyway, and PDF it then. Is there a bitmap in the file? Bitmaps are always spacehogs, you might want to reduce the dpi of this within PhotoPaint, or save it as a gif (For solid colors) or jpg(photo, tones, etc.).

If all else fails, save the design as a .ai and send that.

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Robb Lowe
Hub City Graphics
Spartanburg, SC

Posted by Jim Doggett (Member # 1409) on :

Hi Steve:

I'd vote for staying in CorelDRAW 9 and sending out a PDF. Depending on how your recipient wants the graphics, such as for viewing, printing or high-res image setting, your files can either be large or small.

For viewing, for example, 120 dpi sampling is the highest quality you'll ever need, and still yields a small file. You can even go lower, but I'd not suggest less than 72 dpi.

Here's the settings I'd suggest for high quality on-screen viewing, within the "File >> Publish To PDF" options:

Regards,

Jim

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Jim Doggett
Vice President
Summa, Inc.

Seattle, WA USA
jim@summusa.com

Posted by Big bly (Member # 1630) on :

Pdfs use jpeg bitmap compression to achieve their famous excellent quality/small file size. Just experiment with quality/compression settings to get the settings right. We use Acrobat Distiller & the 'automatic' compression - 'high'(not maximum) quality settings. View the pdf file in Reader & zoom to 'actual size' to have some idea of image quality. Sure if you view at 500% you'll see jpeg artifacts.
Embed fonts - don't save as outlines to make an even smaller file.

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Brian Bollard
Rip Graphics
Neutral Bay, NSW
brian@ripgraphics.com.au

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