Quote:
Originally Posted by claude72
When exporting a PDF from XPress, the PostScript intermediate file is generated by Xpress (and transformed in PDF by the Jaws software): whatever the output method you use, .PS file for PDF or EPS files with the "Save page as EPS" command, XPress always generates poor PostScript files... (almost all XPress's users have experienced problems trying to use EPS files exported with the "Save page as EPS" command, either opening them with Illustrator, or importing them in another layout!)...
... so using poor EPS or .PS files exported from XPress, even if distilled by a good Adobe Distiller can only generate poor PDF, and in most cases strange problems occuring with PDF made using an exportation from XPress disappear when generating a good .PS file on a virtual printer (or using Adobe's PDF printer: it's the same process).
Because creating the PostScript file on a virtual printer (using the Acrobat PPD is a good choice) allows you to generate the PostScript file with the PostScript driver of OS X, and avoid XPress (and it's poor PostScript) involved in the PostScript generation.
|
You are wrong in that regard. I don't like QuarkXPress at all (I had waaaay too many problems with designer's files here at my prepress department), but I feel I have to clarify a few things:
QuarkXPress will generate it's own postscript code even if you print to a virtual printer. It will always do that, by the way. And the postscript from QuarkXPress is not poor in that way; there are just certain features of postscript that Quark does not utilize at all (smooth shades come to mind).
Export to PDF or PS is the preferred and most reliable method to get a good postscript/PDF out of QuarkXPress. If you have trouble with the Jaws Engine, try deleting Jaws' font cache.
If you don't believe me, compare the generated postscript from the export to the one from the virtual printer; besides a lot of header stuff they are identical. QuarkXPress just passes it's own postscript to OS X's print driver and that driver just adds some headers, nothing more.
In the future, export to PDF will be the only viable way to go because of live transparency and other features that just cannot be transported across postscript well (color management) or at all (transparency, layers).
And as you said, you get defined trim-/bleed-boxes in the PDF/PS.
