Memory management and layers

[mconeillster]

I am trying to "flatten" my layers in Xara. In Pshop, this really helps slough off excess memory. I need a PDF file under 40 MB, but I am at 112. I know if I can just somehow flatten this document, I would be able to submit this job. Any advice would be appreciated.

[gwpriester]

You need to be a bit more specific. What kinds of things are in this document?

Flattening layers in Photoshop basically creates combines any layers into a single bitmap.

But Photoshop, as I am sure you know, is a pixel editing application and Xara is a vector drawing application. Layers in Xara can contain vector objects as well as bitmaps and text.

You can cut and paste the objects from the various layers and paste them all onto Layer 1, but this is not going to make your file size that much smaller.

If you have large photos on your page (by large I mean in terms of resolution, dpi) you can optimize the photos which will make the file size smaller.

For example, I have a 4 x 5 photo that is 1050dpi (and Xara retains the entire image even if you reduce the size of the image) and is 26.1 MB. If I know that the image only needs to be 4" x 5" when printed, I can optimize the image at 300dpi as a JPEG with an image quality of 80 and the size becomes 600K.

[mconeillster]

Ok, so optimize as a Jpeg and then export tp PDF. I'll try that.

[mconeillster]

WOW! I mean, just WOW! I've never seen a JPeg looks so amazing!
Here's what I did:
I exported to Jpeg and then I opened the Jpeg in Xara. From there, I expoted THAT Jpeg into PDF 300 Dpi Print quality. Checked my work in Xara and opened the PDF. I looks just a rich as the original Xara Master file!