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Export/Publish PDF Line Quality


ktech

Question

Issue with line rendering when exporting/publishing to a PDF. Lines (curves/arcs mostly, but really anything not in the X/Y plane) only render/publish at one resolution and are not vectored when viewing as a PDF (i.e. display on screen is choppy at full page or even 100% view and zooming in only makes it much worse).

Is there a way to avoid this so a PDF will recognize the lines as vectors and not as raster/bitmap (like how a design layer keeps updating when zooming in/out)? Upping sheet DPI helps a little, but even at a very high level (say, 1000 DPI) curves/arcs are still very choppy and uneven (appears like there are different line thicknesses, etc.)

I've received PDF's from others published via VW and when viewing them on a computer screen, they remain vectors, sharp and detailed at just about any level of zoom/page layout.

Lines are all at .05, and trying to use only wireframe only (no other background or foreground render). For reference, sheets/publishing are 11x17 and below (down to 8.5x11) for printable/scaling/collaborating needs.

Thanks.

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1 hour ago, John.lightingguy said:

I would like to add my name to this pile as well. We have three users with Mac, and both 2016 and 2017 and the pdf's look as though that they have a rendering filter applied that makes it look like it was drawn by a crayon. We to would like to know how to keep PDFs as vectors.


Post a screenshot of your Export PDF options dialogue please, as well as what OS you are currently using.

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2 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said:

What does your output look like? Can you post a screen shot?

 

KM

I cannot post the file publicly.  I am under an NDA on this project. Please pm me. Everything in the pdf appears to be printed at the fully zoomed out overview rez. The entire D sheet, including the 14pt font in the title block is completely pixelated and un readable.

Edited by JTLD
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3 hours ago, JTLD said:

I cannot post the file publicly.  I am under an NDA on this project. Please pm me. Everything in the pdf appears to be printed at the fully zoomed out overview rez. The entire D sheet, including the 14pt font in the title block is completely pixelated and un readable.

 

Ok, let's see if we can solve this. Are you outputting a sheet layer or directly from the design layers? There are a few places where output resolution can be controlled. If you're outputting from a sheet layer check its output resolution by right clicking on the sheet layer name in the Navigation Palette Sheet Layer tab and choosing "Edit". There you will find where you set the Raster Rendering DPI for that sheet. If you're using Export PDF or Publishing to a PDF, you will find another resolution setting in that dialog. Generally for final drawings I would set both of these to 150 - 300dpi. It sounds like one of these is set to a very low number if your text is rasterized and unreadable.

 

There are some other settings in the Export PDF or Publish (PDF Settings) that can affect the rasterization of your PDF. Maybe take a screen shot of the settings you are using and post it here.

 

Kevin

 

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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Another thing to look into is that some fonts export/save properly, but others get rasterized in export or publish, or even in Save as PDF.  Maybe because they are not TrueType? or just some legacy component? or mapped by vwx or pdf? who knows.  A test would be to place several text boxes in a new file and try the export, publish and save pdf. Include problem font(s) pasted from project files plus a few other text boxes with common truetype fonts eg Arial or MS Arial or Helvetica. Look in your font library to verify that some/all of these fonts are TrueType.  On MacOS open FontBook utility and check font info and status.  May as well run Verify and Repair while looking at the stats.

 

I find that often, but not always, Save as PDF produces a page with vector text where Publish produces some rasterized text.  My understanding is that Save to PDF is system operation initiated in vwx, not an actual vwx process.

 

-B

Edited by Benson Shaw
Brain waking up
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I was having the same issue but after reading through several forums and messing around with things I have found a solution that has worked for me in Vectorworks 2018 in case anyone still needs the answer to this question. What worked for me was going into Tools > Organization > Sheet Layers, selecting all of my sheets, clicking edit, and then changing the sheet dpi to something much higher. It gives you an obscenely long render time but my pdfs are no longer fuzzy! I hope this helps someone else!

 

image.thumb.png.a8edd36669a7657b6dc922a1edb43127.png

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On 10/26/2016 at 1:47 AM, PVA - Admin said:


Post a screenshot of your Export PDF options dialogue please, as well as what OS you are currently using.

Heya,

 

I am also having this problem with my lines coming out choppy and crayon like. I have tried to change the DPI on the sheet but it has not changed anything. Is there any alternative ways to do this? Thanks!

 

image.thumb.png.41c916ec3c9505e232b628209e769f86.png

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