PDFs - Tips for reducing size / scrolling speed?

[Selena_VBD]

Hi all,

I'm running into PDF file size and navigation issues. Wondering if anyone has tips on how to avoid or reduce this.
Main issue: Scrolling through or zooming in on an iPad is very slow, requiring the PDF to re-load every time the screen moves. Major productivity obstacle... I'm getting messages from other designers/eng/contractors saying they have the same issue with viewing these files.

Possible reasons:?
-Site model in background (however, source polys were simplified so it's not very heavy graphically)
-Presence of custom paving tiles and sand & skipping pen hatches
-Presence of custom hardscapes

There are no bitmaps in the background, and it's an average amount of linework for a residential property. Really stumped here. Any input appreciated!
Rasterizing the PDF helps with iPad navigation/zooming but balloons the file size.

Screenshot below shows a portion of the plan with custom hardscapes / tiles and stakes (2D graphic only, no site modifier).

 

[rDesign]

Here are a couple of links to older threads discussing this — they may offer some solutions.
 

Dense hatches or patterns can slow things down; try turning them off and creating a new PDF as a test to see if things are any speedier. You can also try reducing the PDF size with an online service, links in the threads below.

 

[Selena_VBD]

Update: Through process of elimination I found out it was 3D objects slowing down the scrolling; specifically walls and hardscapes.
This isn't ideal, since I modelled everything in 3D... Strange that it's messing with 2D top/plan projection PDF exports.

Now I know it's not the file size affecting the scrolling, just the presence of the walls & hardscapes.
Looking through export and viewport settings... don't see anything that might help yet.
I'm going to dive into the hardscape styles and see if I can somehow reduce graphic load from the bottom up.

Anyone else experience this before?

[Tom W.]

For me, like @rDesign says, it's dense Hatches + Tiles which result in large unwieldy + un-compressible PDFs. So in my case it's never been a Hardscape per se that's been a problem, only the Hatch it uses in 2D...

[Selena_VBD]

I reduced the hardscape source tiles (Rectangular pavers, 3'x5' and 4'x6') to one unfilled rectangle each, with a solid background applied via settings, and turned off the densest tile completely. Still slow PDF scrolling. Strange that such a large and simple tile is creating such a heavy graphic load. Should I try making them hatches instead?

 

I think I'll have to re-trace the hardscapes in a separate '2D Only' file. I want to take the 2D/3D hybrid approach but this PDF viewing issue is a big obstacle when it comes to reviewing/redlining/collaborating with others.

[Poot]

I've had this issue in AutoCAD/Civil3D as well, depending on the publishing settings and drawing size/complexity. If there is a lot of vector geometry, it can slow things down.

Sometimes having a raster output for the PDF, for collaboration and easy commenting, was the best solution even though the quality was reduced compared to vector geometry. 

In VW, I am wondering if page-based hatches aren't the way to go....vs. world based. Not sure if it applies to your situation, but world-based hatches definitely make pdf files for large plans/plots much more dense. Of course, this would have a lot to do with office standards for drawings.

Edited January 16, 2024 by Poot

[taliho]

HI-

 

I posted a similar issue yesterday.

My typical file size for a project is about 220MB - when I publish to pdf I get on average a 16MB file. - then compress further with Adobe. This works for me.

But one particular Vectorworks file is 168MB  - and publishing to pdf results in 129MB file. All settings are the same as other files.

 

Here is what I tried so far

 

In a test file I systematically and cumulatively

- removed all objects outside of the sheet border

- removed imported bitmaps, pdfs, sketchup and dwg,

- removed all sheets that were not sheets I needed for the project (I sometimes draw a sheet to explore a detail, or a camera view, without including it in the construction set)

- deleted the title block (since individual sheet exports to pdf were over 30MB, and the TB was the only common object). The project has 15 sheets so far.

- changed the resolution in publish pdf options from No reduction to Low reduction

 

all these steps reduced slightly. The biggest drop was when I changed every viewport to "solid"  - the resulting published pdf dropped from 103MB to 20MB.  

 

However, back in the original file, when I only changed the viewports to solid, there was no change in the size of the resulting pdf....

 

I will check on any hatches today.

So many non-billable hours...... and no progress towards my deadline.....

 

Thank you everyone for contributing ideas.

[Poot]

Maybe @Tony Kostreski or @Tamsin Slatter have some insight to reducing PDF sizes, or what might be causing the issues.  You might need to share the file.

 

128mb for a PDF is insane if you are not using uber-high quality raster images with heavy vector graphics (e.g. from Adobe illustrator you can make huge PDF files for printing).

Even 20mb seems a lot, but not unheard of with other software I've used.

[Selena_VBD]

Once I replaced my 3D hardscapes/walls with tile-filled or solid polygons the issue went away entirely.

 

Obviously I'd love to keep the 3D hardscapes in place but my hand was forced. 3D now lives on separate layers, to be turned on only when studying shadows or spatial relationships.

Not the solution I was hoping for, but figured I'd share anyway.

[Benson Shaw]

Another item to look at is textures.  Before you went to solid fill, were those hardscapes and walls textured?  eg via a vwx Material?  Some textures (including textures associated with Materials) include "high density" parameters, esp things like Noise in the Reflectivity, Transparency, and Bump settings.  A simpler texture might help the PDF.

 

-B

[Tom W.]

9 hours ago, Selena_VBD said:

Once I replaced my 3D hardscapes/walls with tile-filled or solid polygons the issue went away entirely.

 

Obviously I'd love to keep the 3D hardscapes in place but my hand was forced. 3D now lives on separate layers, to be turned on only when studying shadows or spatial relationships.

Not the solution I was hoping for, but figured I'd share anyway.

 

I don't really understand this. In your screenshot all the geometry is 2D because it is a Top/Plan viewport so turning off layers containing 3D objects shouldn't make a difference as the VP is 2D-only... Are you able to post a test file?

 

My worst offending file for huge PDFs has no 3D geometry in it at all because it is a 2D-only map:

 

  

 

 

Here it is the large amount of vector geometry that VW struggling with + giving me enormous uncompressible PDFs. This VWX file is only 13.4MB yet most of my other files are over 2GB + chock-full of hybrid objects + the PDFs are all fine, unless I combine too many vector-dense Top/Plan VPs onto a single sheet.

[Peter Telleman]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm struggling with PDF sizes as well. I now have a simple overview drawing of 15.4MB, and then when I publish it's 9.4MB. I looked at the mentioned tips, and I think I've done some of those. Is the 10MB a normal size, or am I doing something wrong?

 

thanks,

 

Peter

Business Rooms v1@A1LS.pdf Business Rooms .vwx

[mjm]

I got tired of all the foo-foo surrounding this and now regularly use this pdf conversion website. The free version works well for me.

[Peter Telleman]

Does that mean the 9.4 MB is a normal PDF size for a 15.4 vectorworks drawing? It just seems so large

[Tom W.]

1 minute ago, Peter Telleman said:

Does that mean the 9.4 MB is a normal PDF size for a 15.4 vectorworks drawing? It just seems so large

 

As per my earlier post my experience is that yes, small 2D-only VWX files with lots of vector geometry can result in very large PDFs that can't be reduced in size using iLovePDF or whatever. iLovePDF is great on raster geometry but ineffective on lines.