Exporting PDFs at 200%

[yespress]

Is it possible to output PDF files at 200%. I know you can print a postscript file at 200%, but due to the size of the file it can take a while to rip. (postscript file is 1.4 gb)

 

[zoran]

As far as I know, you can't, however any decent rip should have option to rip/render at different scale.
Another option would be to use Pitstop or other third party software to scale your PDF, it's really easy to do.

 

[dabob]

Sure . . . just set up distiller with a hot folder with the settings you want and then print a postscript file at 200% to that hot folder make sure to set your page size correctly. .. . distiller will do the rest . . .

 

[zoran]

Sure . . . just set up distiller with a hot folder with the settings you want and then print a postscript file at 200% to that hot folder make sure to set your page size correctly. .. . distiller will do the rest . . .

That is if you don't care about refrying your PDF and potentially loosing transparency.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Or place the PDF in InDesign at 200% scale and export out a new PDF with the same PDF version as the original file (avoids PostScript/Distilling).

Beware that some "extra" elements may be lost when placing in InDesign (stamps, comments/mark-up?).


Stephen Marsh

 

[yespress]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The reason I am asking is that I have images with drop shadows created in InDesign. I have been enlarging the documents 200% and scaling all artwork 200%, which seemed to be working fine... until I noticed that the drop shadows weren't scaling up, so the drop shadows look thinner at 200%. I am using Prinergy so I could scale these pages there, however all the images would only be 150 dpi.
I'm trying to avoid creating fat PDFs and refining with no downsampling because the files are quite large. Has anyone had this situation before. Thanks again.

 

[DCurry]

No matter what you do, your image resolution will be cut in half wherever you apply the 200% scaling, unless the images are 600ppi to begin with and you don't downsample upon export.

 

[JasonFF]

No matter what you do, your image resolution will be cut in half wherever you apply the 200% scaling, unless the images are 600ppi to begin with and you don't downsample upon export.

He speaks the truth. I had the same question about enlarging a year ago, and what I found in practice is that while enlarging the PDF through Pitstop, Distiller, or any prepress app should technically create a better print, enlarging at machine level produces a print that is indestinguishable. Since then, I just save myself the time and effort and scale up right on my digital press.

 

[yespress]

As far as the resolution of the images, they are full size. For some reason the designer insists on creating the document at half size. (images placed are actually 50%). JasonSpr, are you saying that enlarging at the rip, even though the images would be 150dpi, would yield satisfactory results?

 

[JasonFF]

As far as the resolution of the images, they are full size. For some reason the designer insists on creating the document at half size. (images placed are actually 50%). JasonSpr, are you saying that enlarging at the rip, even though the images would be 150dpi, would yield satisfactory results?

Exactly. Especially if your images are at half size, even they would print perfectly fine. The RIP will take your PDF input and as it rips, it will render the zeros and ones at twice the size, width, etc. So any vector type aspect will be completely fine. When it goes to double the sizes of your images, it will see that the original image is large enough without doing any actual stretching.

An example: if your images are 3x3, 300 dpi, stored in the pdf at 1.5x1.5, 300 dpi, then when rendered at 200% through the rip they will be 3x3, 300 dpi. If the actual image size was only 1.5x1.5, 300dpi, then when rendered at 200% through the rip they would be 3x3, 150 dpi, but this is not the case for you.

The easy way to find out would be to print a few sample pages done with each method, or just one method and then judge the result.

 

[DCurry]

An example: if your images are 3x3, 300 dpi, stored in the pdf at 1.5x1.5, 300 dpi, then when rendered at 200% through the rip they will be 3x3, 300 dpi.

Wouldn't it have to be stored in the PDF at 1.5x1.5, 600ppi in order to produce 3x3, 300ppi when ripped at 200%?

 

[JasonFF]

Wouldn't it have to be stored in the PDF at 1.5x1.5, 600ppi in order to produce 3x3, 300ppi when ripped at 200%?

You might be right on that, although I didn't think so, but I guess the main point is that no resolution is lost (unless the PDF gets optimized or something).

 

[prepressguru]

Yes turn off any downsampling or optimization during the normalization. This way the file will be used at max resolution for the images before the scale. So in the example of the images placed at 50% if they are 600dpi then scaled 200% they would now be 300 dpi.

Good luck

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