Opening PDFs in Photoshop

[him up north]

When opening PDFs in Photoshop the dialogue box's page options always defaults to Crop to Bounding Box. I want it to default to Media Box. How do I set the default? I'm sure there's a setting somewhere if one drills down a bit.

 

[InvisSoul]

I don't know how to set the default to Media Box, but you can always drop your PDFs into a folder and setup and action to open the PDFs with the option you want (Crop, Size, Color space, etc...)

 

[couriergraphics]

bigger question is why are you rasterizing pdf files in photoshop?

 

[him up north]

bigger question is why are you rasterizing pdf files in photoshop?

Good question. Our workflow is pure pdf but our customer services department uses a MIS system which requires images in jpeg format. It's enough to make one weep.

 

[PDL]

Open your PDF files with Acrobat Pro. 9, you can then Export as a .jpg (File/Export/Image/JPEG) and choose settings such as compression and resolution etc.. You could even create a batch command and attach it to a folder. Good luck. - peter

PS - I only have Acrobat 9 (don't keep older versions around) so I am not sure how long that function has been around.

 

[mattbeals]

Depending on the frequency and volume of PDF's that you need to do this with you can use callas pdfToolbox Server to "rip" the PDF into a JPEG, TIFF or PNG file. For lighter duty work you could probably set up a batch sequence in Acrobat Pro to export the PDF (as someone else had suggested) or a PhotoShop batch (again as someone else suggested).

But then again, depending on what you are doing and how you are doing it with your MIS then pdfToolbox should be easy to put in there and eliminate the problem.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

bigger question is why are you rasterizing pdf files in photoshop?

There can be legitimate reasons for doing this, most often for client email approvals for artwork or design.

Some clients have aggressive spam or virus filters on their email and PDF files are rejected out of hand or go to a quarantine folder, where as JPEG/GIF files make it through. PDF file MIME type appears to be "application" which is a hurdle.

Some clients are not "sophisticated" enough to have Acrobat Reader, or their IT Departments do not let them install it etc.

For some clients, we do not wish to send data that they can use at another printer without first paying us for our work (yes, we can use security measures in Acrobat and or watermark and or downsample images etc...however this can be a lot more time or work than quickly rasterizing the whole file).

---

There are problems with using the Acrobat export image option, it does not anti-alias and text and vectors often look like crap. This means that one then has to export to a higher resolution and resample down to fudge "anti-aliasing". Additionally, one can't choose what is exported from Acrobat (bounding box, trim box, media box etc).

The problems with opening vector/raster PDF files into Photoshop for creating raster email "visual drafts" are that Photoshop can often crash if the parser does not like something in the PDF.


Stephen Marsh

 

[WharfRat]

The menu opens up to the last thing you said there.

MSD

 

[leonardr]

Some clients have aggressive spam or virus filters on their email and PDF files are rejected out of hand or go to a quarantine folder, where as JPEG/GIF files make it through. PDF file MIME type appears to be "application" which is a hurdle.

Some clients are not "sophisticated" enough to have Acrobat Reader, or their IT Departments do not let them install it etc.

Do you really have clients that meet such criteria or are you speculating? I would LOVE to speak to a specific person/IT dept/etc. that has adopted either (or both) of these two scenarios.

There are problems with using the Acrobat export image option, it does not anti-alias and text and vectors often look like crap. This means that one then has to export to a higher resolution and resample down to fudge "anti-aliasing".

Export image uses the same anti-aliasing settings that are used for rendering to screen. What version of Acrobat are you using?

Additionally, one can't choose what is exported from Acrobat (bounding box, trim box, media box etc).

We export what you see on screen - that's the Crop box. I could see the use case for TrimBox, but not the others. Can you expound on why the other options would make sense from Acrobat?

The problems with opening vector/raster PDF files into Photoshop for creating raster email "visual drafts" are that Photoshop can often crash if the parser does not like something in the PDF.

Photoshop uses the same PDF library that Acrobat does to read/write documents. So any PDF that opens up in Acrobat will open up in the "matching" version of Photoshop.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Leonardr, thank you for the reply. I will have to reply to your post in chunks...

Photoshop uses the same PDF library that Acrobat does to read/write documents. So any PDF that opens up in Acrobat will open up in the "matching" version of Photoshop.

OK, be that as it may, PDF files created by myself in InDesign CS3, or PDF supplied by third parties can crash Photoshop CS3 (Tiger, PPC, G5). Not every time, but it happens often enough. Sometimes I can attempt to open the same PDF up in Photoshop, five times in a row, the first four times it crashes and then the last time it opens. This appears to be random. Another time the PDF will open up first time without crashing Photoshop.

EDIT: A sample crash log is attached...

Photoshop has then usually lost/reset it's preferences after such a crash - however this is a separate issue!

Export image uses the same anti-aliasing settings that are used for rendering to screen. What version of Acrobat are you using?

I am running Acrobat 9 Pro (9.4.0) on Tiger on a PPC G5.

Sample images attached below:

Acro9-JPEG-Export.psd = Result opened in Photoshop (screen cap of PDF export options superimposed for reference).

Photoshop-Rasterize-PDF.psd = PDF rasterized directly in Photoshop, note the edges of vector elements being smoothly anti-aliased when compared to the PDF export. This is not due to JPEG, the same result is found on TIFF files.


Best,

Stephen Marsh

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Part 2 of my reply to leonardr...

Do you really have clients that meet such criteria or are you speculating? I would LOVE to speak to a specific person/IT dept/etc. that has adopted either (or both) of these two scenarios.

leonardr, we get rejected email messages from different clients, usually the larger corps or multinationals. I seem to remember that these are commonly MS Exchange server messages, although I could be wrong. I usually delete such messages, however I may have some if you would really like to see the header message etc. Some others we do not even get a rejected message, the reciever never gets the email with PDF attachment.

Sometimes "wrapping" the PDF in a .zip file will result in the file getting through, when the PDF failed.

Some other clients email servers reject .zip files and allow PDF files through!

Some servers reject both PDF and ZIP...So it is next to impossible to develop a simple email attachment approval workflow, one never knows if the message will be rejected or simply "lost" without notice.

JPEG/GIF/PNG image attachments never seem to cause issues. If a PDF is really needed, then I may use YouSendIt so that they can download the file, bypassing email attachments.

Some corporate clients can't install software, their IT departments have to do it for them. I don't know of any firm policies that deny the installation of Acroabat Reader (apologies if this was not clear in the OP).

Some small clients do not have Acrobat Reader installed, they don't wish to download the installer and they are not even comfortable with computers (yes, believe it! Think Bob the Builder, Paul the Plumber etc). They are just checking content - so an attached JPEG or GIF or PNG version of the PDF art is all that is wanted by them and they simply wish to view the attachment directly in their email (this can sometimes also be smaller in size than PDF).

We export what you see on screen - that's the Crop box. I could see the use case for TrimBox, but not the others. Can you expound on why the other options would make sense from Acrobat?

Agreed on TrimBox, that would get the main use (bleed confuses some clients). Why the other options? Photoshop offers them all as rasterization options. In order for Acrobat to be a viable alternative over Photoshop for rasterizing PDF files, should not Acrobat offer all the same options? This is my simple thought on the issue. From a user pespective, more choice is better, is it not? From a developer perspective, less could be better to reduce programming, support and documentation costs?


Stephen Marsh

 

[leonardr]

OK, be that as it may, PDF files created by myself in InDesign CS3, or PDF supplied by third parties can crash Photoshop CS3 (Tiger, PPC, G5).

Can't comment on CS3 as that's a pretty old version and I don't have it installed any longer. I would certainly suggest that you upgrade and see if the problem persists.

I am running Acrobat 9 Pro (9.4.0) on Tiger on a PPC G5.

Yeah, just tried this - I see the difference. I think PSD may be adding some of their own anti-aliasing above and beyond what we do, but I'll investigate.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Yeah, just tried this - I see the difference. I think PSD may be adding some of their own anti-aliasing above and beyond what we do, but I'll investigate.

It is even worse with small serif type!

I will look forward to enhanced rasterizing in a later version of Acrobat leonardr.

___

Back to the email server rejections of PDF files. As I remembered, the problem appears to be with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Diagnostic-Code: smtp;554 5.6.0 STOREDRV.Deliver; Corrupt message content. This error happens with multiple clients. The common issue is MS Exchange Server and PDF attachments.

Making a .zip file of the PDF and there is no problem, nor is there a problem using JPEG/PNG/GIF attachments.


Stephen Marsh

 

[mattbeals]

I wonder if it's thw virus scanner for Exchange. It wouldn't be the first time a virus scanner screwed up an email...

 

[Stephen Marsh]

I wonder if it's thw virus scanner for Exchange. It wouldn't be the first time a virus scanner screwed up an email...

Agreed Matt, I believe that the attachment MIME type of PDF is "application" - so it my be thought to be spam/virus by some systems.

Stephen Marsh