lossless Rasterization of a PDF

[funwork]

Hello,

You are using PDF to do VDP with our PRINT SHOP MAIL software.

We work after communication agency so basicly what we do is :
- Receiving a PDF, sometimes editing it with Pitstop or Illustrator (When I say editing, I mean 99% of the times removing line that contains fiels that will be personnalized)
- Receiving recipients data, filtering it, cleaning it, etc
- That we load the PDF onto Print Shop Mail and then we add on top of the PDF the personnalized elements (text or images)

So far, we have been working like this without any problem.

When we output the result it's done in optimzed PS so we speed up the printing process.

Our problem is that sometimes, the received PDF isn't printed as it looks on the screen in Optimized PS. In normal PS no problem...

We think it may be something about transparency or superposed layer, we don't really know.
One sure thing is that when we convert the PDF to Tiff or to a full rasterized PDF, we don't have any problem !

My only problem is that we don't really know what would be the best method to convert a PDF (any one) to a flatened image without losing any quality.

- So far, we open the PDF in Photoshop who then ask us to flaten it...It's quite OK but there is a loss
- Maybe with Acrobat or Illustrator ?

We are more a database company than a graphic company...
This is why we use PRINT SHOP MAIL and not an InDesign Plug In, because we don't want (when possible) to play with the designing of pages, we just want to use the way a painter use a blank sheet !

So my question are :
- What tool would you recommand to "edit" PDF when we need to remove objects : Illustrator or PITSTOP ?
- What is the most reliable and lossless method to flaten (rasterize) PDF so when can print in Optimized PS everytimes ?

We are using the following equipement :
- Xerox 7760 (no RIP) we print straight from the PC
- Acrobat 7 + Pitstop pro
- Adobe CS3 (illustrator, photoshop and indesign)

Next month we will move with a more professional printer (a Xerox 242 with a CREO Rip) so I guess this flatened PDF won't be an issue anymore.
Still, I want to understand and know what will be the best method for the asked questions !

Thanks for your feedback.

Frank

[John Clifford]

If you're using PS then you'll have issues with transparency. Postscript, even level 3, has no idea what transparency is. While it's not a cheap solution, I highly recommend changing your RIP to an APPE (Adobe PDF Print Engine) type RIP which completely understands PDF and then Ripping directly from the PDF. Adobe has stopped developing PostScript. At some point you will really need to upgrade anyway.

[funwork]

Thanks for your feedback.

In the meanwhile, I'll try to remove all transparency from the PDF.

Best regards

[mattbeals]

1) Do NOT edit a PDF with Illustrator. Illustrator only understands PDF's that Illustrator saves when using the option allow for editing. When it comes to a PDF some other application generated Illustrator is NOT for editing. Use PitStop for editing PDF's.

When you rasterize the PDF what resolution are you using? What is the resolution of the printer? If you need to batch process the PDF's into 1 bit TIFF's then I'd say get a Harlequin RIP. You can buy one for about $1,500 that is limited to 1500 DPI (or around there).

If you don't edit the PDF's in Illustrator and only edit in PitStop, does the PDF print "correctly"? If you need to just optimize PDF's then you should try Apago PDF Enhancer. Have you tried outlining the text? I know, it's a bad idea. But it may eliminate one variable when trying to figure out what else, if anything else, is going on.

[pacart]

I know the transparency problems can suck. I have found a tried and true way of resolving them on about 99% of the pdf files i make.

I always export my pdf files from indesign, even if a customer sends me a pdf, i will edit it in pitstop - save - place into indesign - export the pdf - this works almost every time.

Below are my settings i use, these settings let you keep your quality because of the zip compression, as well as any vector art. You should also know that sometimes the compression can cause problems - so if all else fails, after you make the pdf from indesign you can always open up that file in pitstop and remove the compression.

Below are my settings for exporting a pdf from Indesign CS3 (the Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5) is very important) don't forget to set this.



*****************************************

Description
[Based on '[High Quality Print]'] Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents for quality printing on desktop printers and proofers. Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.

PDF Preset: Nexus_PDF

Compatibility: Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5)

Standards Compliance: None

General
Pages: All
Spreads: Off
Generate Thumbnails: On
Optimize PDF: Off
Create Acrobat Layers: Off
Export Layers: Visible and Printable Layers
Include Bookmarks: Off
Include Hyperlinks: Off
Export Nonprinting Objects: Off
Export Visible Guides and Baseline Grids: Off
Create Tagged PDF: Off
Include Interactive Elements: Off
Multimedia: N/A

Compression
Color Images
Bicubic Downsample at: 300 ppi
for images above: 450 ppi
Compression: ZIP
Tile Size: N/A
Quality: 8 Bit

Grayscale Images
Bicubic Downsample at: 300 ppi
for images above: 450 ppi
Compression: ZIP
Tile Size: N/A
Quality: 8 Bit

Monochrome Images
Bicubic Downsample at: 1200 ppi
for images above: 1800 ppi
Compression: CCITT Group 4

Compress Text and Line Art: On
Crop Image Data to Frames: On

Marks and Bleeds
Crop Marks: Off
Bleed Marks: Off
Registration Marks: Off
Color Bars: Off
Page Information: Off
Page Mark Type: Default
Weight: 0.25 pt
Offset: 0.0833 in
Use Document Bleed Settings: On
Bleed Top: 0.125 in
Bleed Bottom: 0.125 in
Bleed Left: 0.125 in
Bleed Right: 0.125 in
Include Slug Area: Off

Output (use your own settings here)
Color Conversion: No Color Conversion
Destination: U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2
Profile Inclusion Policy: Don't Include Profiles

Simulate Overprint: N/A
Output Intent Profile Name: N/A
Output Condition: N/A
Output Condition Identifier: N/A
Registry Name: N/A

Advanced
Subset Fonts Below: 1%
Omit PDF: Off
Omit EPS: Off
Omit Bitmap Images: Off
Transparency Flattener Preset: N/A
Ignore Spread Overrides: N/A

Security
N/A

Warnings

[funwork]

Thanks a lot for all this precious feedback.
Again it is really helpful to benefit from all your experience !

Thanks and have a nice week-end.

I'll try the settings and let you know.

[eskopdl]

Here is a PDF Editor you can try for free.
It's called Neo. It is from EskoArtwork and can be downloaded here -> Efficiency and productivity for editing and correction of multipage PDF files

[pacart]

I have tried NEO, but pitstop works great and doesn't cost a ton of money. Doesn't neo cost something like 4-5k?