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  1. #31
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    San Francisco, CA USA
    Posts
    281

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    Say Klaus,
    What new features in Acrobat5 do you consider worth the upgrade? I too am thinking of upgrading, but ver4 seems to be pretty stable.

    Sheff,
    Having Acrobat is just part of being in the business. Costs $$, we wish it was free, but at least now we can get things done. The irony for me is that my service bureau "extracts" an eps file from the pdf I give them. However, should I give them any type of eps file myself, things always go wrong.
    Now, if you do get Acrobat, beware of Distiller and start out using the PDF Writer. Distiller can do most anything, but has been known to drive perfectly good designers to the verge of madness.
    And you need to relax about Illustrator. Of course it doesn't work. NOTHING works! Xara crashes on me all the time. You just have to roll with things. You really want trouble, get on deadline. Then your HARDWARE starts to go.
    Hang in there, guy. It will all be over in about a hundred years.

    Rgds,,,,,,,,,,,,Tad...

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Las Vegas, NV, USA
    Posts
    1,188

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    Everyone please forgive my ranting, but I am on a deadline. Illustrator has been giving me a major headache. I have been given a bunch of files that are all outlines instead of text and images with content that has been flattenend and are uneditable.

    With Xara, given the text and pictures, I could have had this job done in an expedient manner, inspite of Xara crashes that occur, because I do push it to the limit. With regards to the job, I'm done with it. Just getting it into a format that my client can open/edit is the problem. Then getting it to the service bureau is the next hassle.

    It would have been far cheaper for me to buy Xara for my client and service bureau than to have bought Illustrator just to open illustrator files.
    I realize that I will have to buy something reliable to create PDF's. I personally prefer to create PDF's using Freehand. I'm more familiar and more comfortable with it and I can cut and paste back and forth between Freehand and Xara. So that isn't a problem.

    But if Acrobat is the only way to create a PDF directly from Xara it looks as if I have no other choice. Having to do this job with Illustrator and Photoshop is a pain.

    What is annoying is that when all is said and done, I will have spent more time and money on software than I'm being paid for this job.

    Thanks for the suggestions.

    Sheffield Abella
    sheff@sheff.com
    www.sheff.com

    [This message was edited by Sheffield Abella on August 21, 2001 at 16:36.]
    Sheff
    My Site

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Las Vegas, NV
    Posts
    819

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    Tad and Klaus

    Can you give me an example of when you would use distiller as opposed to PDF writer. I'm finding distiller really confusing and don't really know why I should try it...Acrobat's help files are in my opinion the worst I've come across in awhile.

    Mickie

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN, USA
    Posts
    52

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    There are a number of software solutions to creating PDF files from XARA (or any other application) via the printer interface.

    The one mentioned above is Adobe's PDF writer and that has worked fine for me in other applications the few times I used it. It comes as part of several Adobe products.

    Another option is pdfFactory from FinePrint Software. It's much less expensive and appears to be easier to use than the Adobe products. I don't own a copy (yet) but am a very happy customer and long-time user of FinePrint Software's flagship product FinePrint. FinePrint is a virtual printer driver that provides print-preview and allows you to print n-up to any printer. Another inportant feature here is that it allows you to print to bitmap graphic files such as tiff, thus providing another export function for Xara or other applications.

    A third option is to use the wonderful publicly licenced and freely available Postscript rasterizer Ghostscript and it's associated free utilities GSView and Redmon. GSView is an essential GUI for Ghostview and Redmon is a port redirection monitor that lets Ghostscript capture Postscript printer driver output and thus create a virtual postcript or PDF file printer. Yes, Ghostscript creates PDF files as well as bitmap graphic files or printer code from postscript source.

    Finally, a tip - if you want to try version 3 of Adobe's PDF writer, go to http://online.courier.ups.com/download/download.html and download the freely available electronic document courier software from UPS. It installs the adobe PDF writer and I discovered that it leaves it installed even if you un-install the courier software.... Not sure of the legal ramifications if you wanted to use the PDF writer installed that way for business, but at least it's a good way to check out the software!

    Good luck with the PDF files!

    - Pete

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    San Francisco, CA USA
    Posts
    281

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    Sheff,
    Hope you don't think I was making light of your situation. I was only trying to cheer you up a bit by pointing out that we are all in the same boat.
    Sadly, lots of us have known since Dec 2000 that Illustrator9 has MAJOR problems. In fact, I think you can't use its EPS files in Photoshop at all (unless you upgrade to PS6). AND, I fear, things are only going to get worse.
    PDF is probably not the answer for your use unless you go right to the printer. Peter's info on alternatives is excellent. Thanks Peter.

    Mickie,
    If phrases like "Device N colorspace is converted to alternative colorspace" are not clear to you, I say don't use Distiller. In fact you CAN'T use Distiller until the file is already in Postscript. Stick with PDF Writer and listen to what Peter has said.

    Klaus,
    I just read an article in Electronic Publishing re. Acro5:

    http://ep.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Su bsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=112781

    That mag really pushes PDF workflow, but as I read between the lines, Acro5 sounds bad not good. Would be interested in your take on the issue.

    Regards to all,,,,,,,Tad .

 

 

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