Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

bluskool

Well-known member
Ok, it seems I have been getting quite a few PDF's lately that are about a half an inch too small. I can scale the artwork in Acrobat, but, as far as I know there is no way to change the size of the bounding box. So, my usual procedure is to open the PDF in Ai and resize. However, when I don't have the fonts that are embedded in the document, I have to open in PS at a resolution of at least 800, resize, save as an EPS and distill (don't save as an PDF out of PS in this case because the file size is way too big.) Doing it this way keeps the text pretty sharp, but this just does not seem like the best thing to do. I want to keep it vector, but I don't see any other option. How does everyone else handle this situation (don't give the obvious answer of telling the customer to fix it, we all have deadlines and can't always get up with the designers in time.) I would be interested to know if anyone has a better method for handling this situation.

Dan R.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Ever thought about placing it into AI and resizing? You seem to be over-complicating the issue.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Or placing in ID, tthen resize.

Works Well.

AjR
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Hi bluskool,

In that situation, we would likely place the PDF into InDesign and resize as needed and then "re-bake" the PDF from there.

If that's not an option, some modifications to page box definitions in Pitstop would be attempted.

Hope this helps!
Jon Morgan
Hopkins Printing
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

What the hell????? Where did Peter's response go??????????
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

For those that missed it.
I found that if you open the PDF in Acrobat 8 Pro, go to the Document menu, and Crop Pages, you can alter the page size up as well as down. Make sure you select All Pages. This changes the total page size but not what is defined as the "trim size". I have to test the file I cropped UP to see how its dimensions come into a workflow - I think it will be ok. What did you find bluskool ?
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Yeah, it worked great. I just used it to resize an ad. I resized the box to what it needed to be, then just shifted the vector elements so that they fit because this particular ad was not proportional. I needed a half inch Vertically and about an inch horizontally. This worked much better than resizing in ID or Ai because I could shift the elements instead of scaling it and having it looked slightly stretched. Great tip Pete, thanks... this will save me from having to scale or rasterize.


Dan R.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Why not just use PitStop which is a native PDF editor? Illustrator is not a PDF editor despite it's ability to "open" a PDF.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

In cases where I need to enlarge or reduce the contents of the page instead of just the media, bleed, trim, crop, art, bounding, fuse, mail, ice, or corrugated boxes, I've set a custom page size in "Page Setup..." with zero margins to be the final size after scaling, then printed the PDF to the printer "Adobe PDF" with page scaling set to "fit to printer margins.". I've often wished Acrobat had a scale option in the print dialogue like the other Adobe applications.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Matt, since you mentioned it , ;-) , EskoArtwork has several PDF editing options, PitStop, Neo, and PackEdge that would be an advantage in these scenarios.
http://www.eskoartwork.com - peter
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Kyle,

That is what Pete was saying. Acrobat can do this. Just go to document > crop pages, then enter the size you want in the margins. If just want to scale the art, you can select all with the object editor and crab the corner to scale up or down. The only problem is that is must be proportional. You can get around this by pulling objects into Illy. My problem was text defaulting, but now I just won't pull text into Illy when I don't have the font. So the only thing I can think of that can't be done using Acrobat would be to scale text unproportionally when I don't have the font, but it would be a pretty rare occasion when I would want to do this.

Oh, and I didn't use PitStop because I don't have it. $600 is a much more expensive solution than using what I already have. However, with all the bugs in Acrobat, I may just change my mind soon.

Dan R.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Oh I have no doubt that PitStop is better for editing PDF's. However, I don't have it right now and am able to fix problems with what I do have.

But, why do you think that Illustrator converts fonts to outlines. You have the option to do this, but it doesn't happen automatically. I have heard a few other people say this too. I have to say, I am not well versed in Illustrator as I am mainly a photo editor, but I can do many basic things in it. When I open a PDF, it maintains fonts unless I don't have them. In this case it defaults to a similar font that I do have. When I place a PDF, I can't edit it beyond scaling and rotating it until I flatten it. When I flatten, I have the option to keep fonts if I have them or convert them to outlines or have them default to a similar font that I do have.
But again, what I was saying is that I open a PDF in acrobat then select objects, right click and pull them into Illustrator. Acrobat and many design programs (even Quark) let you pull objects in your layout into a proper editor. When you close it and save it, it just updates in the program you are using. It just stores these files temporarily somewhere within the hidden (to finder anyway) var folder.

Thanks for the link. Sounds like an interesting read. With so many legitimate ways to do the same thing, I usually find it funny when someone says that they will show you the absolute best way to do something. Many times there are quite a few equally good ways to do the same thing.

Dan R.

P.S Maybe these are all new features of Illy. Not really sure since, like I said, I am just beginning to really get familiar with it and am using CS3. I have to say, when you have been using Photoshop for such a long time, Illustrator can be really frustrating to learn.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

If this is happening alot then I would suggest a workflow solution. "Odystar" or "Pitstop Server"

If this is just a random think that you need to fix every once in a while the easiest tool I have seen is Artwork Systems NEO. It is a pure PDF 1.6 editor. It makes changes like that easier than using pitstop or Acrobat.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

> {quote:title=prepression wrote:}{quote}
> I have to agree with Matt. PitStop is the best way to edit a PDF file. Illustrator doesn't have the tools to properly edit type (text is converted to outline objects anyways when you open a PDF in Illustrator).

This is not correct.

bluskool,
You can't survive in the PDF age without PitStop, yet. I hear Neo is nice, but take a peek at that price tag. Incidentally, with PitStop 7 you CAN convert all the text to outlines - then you can open the file in Illustrator without fonts. You can justify the $600 in just a couple of corrections.

rich
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

But Rich, that still doesn't get around the problem that Illustrator doesn't know "generic PDF". Illustrator understands "illustrator PDF". Just as it only understands "illustrator EPS" and not generic EPS.

Whether the fonts are outlined or not Illustrator is going to screw up the PDF when it opens it and then saves it. You need a true PDF editor. Illustrator is NOT a true PDF editor. It is a true Illustrator PDF editor.

Neo is a great application. Much faster than PitStop Pro and Acrobat because, well frankly there's no Acrobat...The loss of productivity is as expensive as the retail cost of Neo. Where do you want to spend the money? Do you want to spend it dinking around in Illustrator hoping that Illustrator doesn't screw something up? Do you want to spend it waiting for 200MB PDF's while editing in PitStop/Acrobat? Or would you rather spend the money on a more productive PDF editor and reduce the time spent on labor?

The ROI is different for everyone, but it's there.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Ok, I'll try the demo.

However, I think you are being a bit overly pessimistic. 200MB PDF's? The only time I have ever seen that is when there was a ton of hidden content (usually from Photoshop) or the resolution was absurdly high and aside from the font issue, I have yet to see Illy do anything crazy with PDF.

I am going to give it a try though. Acrobat is so horribly buggy that I am getting sick of even tring to use its editing capabilities.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

200MB PDF's is not that unusual for some of my customers. For some of them 200MB is a small file. Generally editing in Neo once you get used to it (it's different than what you're used to) it is quite fast and very flexible. Remember though that it's still a 1.x release so we have some room for growth in terms of features.

I will say that for general PDF editing on my PowerBook G4 1.5GHz with 1.25GB of RAM that it is faster than PitStop/Acrobat.
 
Re: Workflow question regarding fixing PDF's

Once you try neo you will love it and realize that the cost will be made up in no time with the time savings.

when you download the demo. Make sure you try editing text. It does it 1000 times better than acrobat with or without pitstop. but don't miss the hiden menu.

go to window/object then click on the green expand button on the palate that opens up. its a sweet application.
 

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