PDF file creation problems.

[Ben Clayton]

Hi,

I am having problems creating PDF files from Vectorworks 11.01. I am using Acrobat 6 (both standard and professional) on a PC. In some cases PDF files are blank, in other cases random lines are missing.

This is happening on different machines and seems to be very erratic.

Cheers

Ben

[Travis]

Ben,

I'm not sure this will be the whole solution, but verify that you're working @ 300dpi, not the VW default of 360. For some reason that difference in resolution makes a huge difference to Acrobat.

You should also do a search here on this board. PDF is discussed frequently and you'll likely find useful suggestions.

Good luck,

[ 02-16-2005, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

[mike m oz]

Something I discovered purely by accident after being very frustrated with the quality of the Save to PDF option on a Mac. (The standard of VW drawings printed this way is very bad with poor linework and lousy colours. In my view it verges on the unuseable.)

The procedure I now use produces very good results.

- When printing select Output Options and choose Save as File : Postscript. This creates a postscript file. (Do not select the PDF option!)

- Double clicking on this postscript file will open it up in Preview. In doing this Preview converts the PS file to a PDF file.

- Save As a PDF file by just adding .pdf to the file name.

- Do a get info on the file created (Command+I) and change the 'Open With' application to Acrobat Reader

The quality is excellent - the linework is crisp and the colour translation is good.

The only drawback is it can only be done one sheet at a time.

Elsewhere on this site I have read that to use Batch printing you need to purchase Adobe Distiller so that you can select it as a Printer.

[ 02-17-2005, 09:40 PM: Message edited by: mike m oz ]

[G-Pang]

A little correction... It can handle multiple sheet at one time.

It depend on your need when creating such files.

Normally... Postscript files give a good result on printing compare to PDF files.

If you need the files for viewing only. Better go for PDF.

If you what it be printed on good quality.. simply go for postscript.

PS files normally 20 times bigger than PDF. ( No images embeded in the file. )

[Ben Clayton]

Travis,

Thanks for this. Changing the DPI to 300 seems to have resolved this problem on at least one machine I have tested so far.

Ben

[Travis]

The thanks goes to Katie. Some time ago (a year or more?) there were many of us struggling with this, long posts, some acrimony, etc. One day out of the blue, she posts the answer. All hail Katie.

[ 02-18-2005, 10:15 AM: Message edited by: Travis ]