distorted .pdf's

[jarchitek]

Using VWArchitect 9.5.3 on Mac OS 9.1;

When I print a VW drawing to a pdf file using Acrobat Distiller 5.0 (with Acrobat 5.0) I always get distortion in the printed file of some of the drawing elements and text. Most of the distortion is in circular elements and bold typefaces.

I have tried changing some the the "printer specific" settings in the printing dialog box, but nothing I do seems to yield a non-distorted pdf file. Any suggestions to corrct this?

[Guest]

Do you have anti-aliasing turned on or off?

Are you opening the file in Adobe to view it?

If you print it out (if you've tried it), is it printing out with the wavy lines?

Do you notice this distortion when printing and viewing the file or durring print preview?

[jarchitek]

[Do you have anti-aliasing turned on or off?]

In what dialog box do I have the option of turning this on or off? I don't know anything about this.

[Are you opening the file in Adobe to view it?]

Yes.

[if you print it out (if you've tried it), is it printing out with the wavy lines?]

Yes, I've printed out the pdf image and yes, the distortions are printed

[Do you notice this distortion when printing and viewing the file or durring print preview?]

I notice it when viewing and printing, I've never used print preview.

[BHowell]

Interestingly enough, I never had the problem in 9.5.2 on OS 9, but now have the problem in OS X running 10.0.1. all arc's and circles do not render properly, along with some text. When I print to postscript file, and then drag and drop to distiller 5.0 (a royal pain in OS x, since distiller must run in OS 9 classic) everything comes out fine.

The quality setting in the page setup options box seems to have some effect, as setting the print quality to 72 dpi causes the distortion to get worse. Make sure the 'Hi-resolution printing' check box is checked and your resolution is not set to 72 dpi.

Brooks

[jarchitek]

Thanks Brooks for you comment. I'll try your drag-and-drop work around.

Interestingly, I've just been doing a bit of experimenting and I've found that if I change my work area to white background (under VW prefs) and then print to pdf, I have NO PROBLEMS with distortion at all. I've always prefered black backgound and have never had any trouble with that in earlier versions of VW, but I guess I'll have to change my ways.

[Stefan]

I have a question along the same lines.

When i try to .pdf my files, the text of the dimensions that are at an angle get all screwed up. Im using Adobe PDFwriter 4.0 with Vectorworks 10.1.2 and OS 9.0.4.

I've then tried to use my existing printer (HP Laserjet 4000) to "save as file", tried making a new printer using the Acrobat Distiller PPD - this results in 3 possible printers being made (HP laserjet 4000, Virtual Printer, and Create Adobe PDF). As for all these senarios, i get an error log saying...

%%[ Error: invalidaccess; OffendingCommand: def ]%%

Stack:

{transform 0.25 sub round 0.25 add exch 0.25 sub round 0.25 add exch

itransform}

/pl

/Courier

%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%

%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

Please any ideas?! I've tried to put the font courier in any font folder that doesnt have it on the machine and that didn't do a thing.

[Kevin]

Why do you not update your system software to OS9.2? I don't know if this is the answer, but it seems like a good place to start.