pdf export issues - principally transparencies causing problems

[mg.architect]

Hi Steve,

I use Xara to create forms, photo reports, flyers (with photos), business cards, project presentations, greeting cards, sympathy cards, thank-you cards, and lately resumes.

The final product is usually converted (exported, printed) to a pdf for emailing purposes.

I have found that the Xara pdf export doesn't deliver consistent results like I get using PDF995. Random images will drop out (most common), others will randomly print as black squares, and others seem to display a serious loss of quality.

But I can take the exact same image, print it to PDF995 and get very good results. So my conclusion is, based on my experiences, that the Xara pdf export is broke.

mg

[Big Frank]

I have run this test again and it does look like mg has a valid point. However, I have saved the file to 300 and 600 dpi PDF using Adobe Acrobat 9 Extended, supposedly the flagship PDF maker, and it too had problems, although not with the bevels or transparency. See below for examples.

You're clearly creating a problem for yourself by insisting on not changing the template for your design. Apart from the PDF creator that mg uses, the ones I have used all do not like that file in one way or another.

[amoore]

But I can take the exact same image, print it to PDF995 and get very good results.

Have you ever tried importing or opening the 995 pdf in Xtreme? If so, were you able to edit it?

AIR, most of the freebie pdf generators worked on a screen capture principle. I sorta think that 995 was one of them. If so, that explains why 995 prints your image the way you expect it to.

OTOH, it's been a few years since I last tried 995. It could have changed since then.

The pdf format has only acquired the ability to handle any transparency relatively recently. AFAIK, it still won't handle all the transparency types Xtreme offers.

[mg.architect]

Have you ever tried importing or opening the 995 pdf in Xtreme? If so, were you able to edit it?

Hi Amoore,
Normally I don't need to since I have the original .xar file for editing, so then I simply make a new pdf from the edited .xar file.
OTOH I do occasionally import 995 created pdf's of Autocad files into Xara and haven't been disappointed.

Yes 995 does create pdf's the way I expect it to...that's why I use it :-)

mg

[amoore]

Yes 995 does create pdf's the way I expect it to...that's why I use it :-)

Of course you do. 995 did not meet my needs when I tried it, so I don't use it. I have other pdf apps that do.

Perhaps I should have phrased the statement differently: If 995 is operating on the screen capture principle (IOW, creating a bitmap image of the file), that could explain why it doesn't have a problem with things like transparency or Live Effects filters.

[GerryI]

PDF995 works by the application printing the document and converting the printed output to a PDF. When Xtreme is printing it converts all areas of the document that have transparency or other special effects into bitmaps (and even simple graduated fills get output as a series of flat filled shapes).

The issues with the bevels getting corrupted is not limited to export. If you set the "dpi when autogenerated" option in the view tab of the options dialog and then convert the bevel to editable shapes then you will see the same corruption. This is something to do with the size of the resulting transparency bitmap generated for the bevel object (at 300 dpi it is 9451 x 2034 pixels) but exactly where it is going wrong will need to be investigated. I am unable to repeat the access violation issue here but that will also be investigated further.

I would suggest that you select the export option you want and then set the resolution down to 200 dpi in the advanced options as this does appear to work with no problems. 300 dpi for a poster is very high. You could probably get away with 96 dpi at the normal viewing distance of most posters. It is only the areas that need to be converted to bitmaps that will be at this resolution, e.g. all the text should still be output as normal text and printed at the full resolution of the printer.

Gerry

[Big Frank]

At 300dpi for the A0 I had no problems - perfect result using Xara. It was at 600dpi that Xara had problems but, frankly, there's no need for 600dpi. All that page is is text and a few embellishments.

But at least the Xara export did a better job than Adobe Acrobat 9, LOL.

[amoore]

But at least the Xara export did a better job than Adobe Acrobat 9, LOL.

Wouldn't be the first time that Xara did a better job than Acro.