PDF Research Adobe Acrobat Uses...
Transfer Files
Proofing
P/S Utility
Presentations
WWW
Archiving
Forms
EDMS

On-Screen Proofing...

  1. Required Components
  2. Creating On-Screen Proofs
  3. Preparing files for PDF conversion
  4. Proofing via the WWW - Sample Site

When working in a program like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop it is possible to zoom in and check the details. However, when each element is imported into either QuarkXPress or PageMaker, the representation of the final image is usually very pixelated because what you are looking at is only a coarse bitmapped representation of the full resolution or vector image.

If you are tired of receiving matchprints back from a service bureau only to discover that a photo was mis-cropped or a registration mark should have been a trademark or that a shadow had a flaw in it, you are ready to pre-flight your page compositions in PDF.

A PDF file is the first really good look at a composition before spending money on imagesetter output. All of the vector graphics retain full detail and you can proof them up to an 800% blowup view. Dithered bitmaps created in Photoshop which are impossible to view in high resolution in Quark (they frequently appear as solid black masses) come up in pixel by pixel resolution, even when compressed.This is particularly useful when creating silkscreen artwork.

1. Required Components
  • Minimum system requirements
  • Acrobat Distiller® and the free Acrobat Reader®.

Component Availability

Acrobat Distiller® is currently being bundled with Adobe PageMaker 6.5 and the 6.5 upgrade.

Acrobat Distiller® are modules of the Adobe Acrobat package that can be purchased directly via mail order for about $200.

2. Creating On-Screen Proofs

There are two quick ways to create a PDF file:

  1. Save or Export the file directly in the PDF format from a growing list of programs - Adobe Illustrator 5.x and above, PageMaker 6.5, etc.
  2. Choose PDFWriter (available in the Adobe Acrobat package) as the print driver. Instead of printing to a printer, the file will be output to the PDF format - works well for Microsoft Word, Excel. Does NOTwork well for programs using Postscript - QuarkXPress, Photoshop Clipped Paths, imported Illustrator files, etc. The other risk you run is that the fonts will not be embedded which means that you may have to reload the fonts prior to viewing the PDF, especially if you change font sets often.

The "clean" way to create a PDF file is to:

  1. Save your source file, regardless originating program, as a Postscript file with the fonts embedded. The file may be many pages in length.
  2. Open Distiller and select the appropriate "Job Options" regarding font embedding and particularly "Compression." For proof e-mailing we recommend 72dpi compression resolution. For proofing on-screen we recommend an intermediate compression resolution of 300dpi.

3. Preparing files for PDF conversion

Even if there is no Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) in place at your institution, there are steps that can be taken to prolong the shelf life of your documents and their content. The suggestions here are based on the assumption that at some future date, a PDF conversion strategy will be in pursued.

  1. Use Type 1 fonts instead of TrueType in your documents. Conversions to PDF involve converting fonts to Type 1 equivalents.
  2. Keep your vector originals. Any graphic that has been converted to GIF or JPG for inclusion in HTML webpages will not be of sufficient image quality when future technology options become available.
  3. Convert your vector originals to PDF. PDF files are smaller than EPS, PICT, and Postscript. They can embed the fonts. They can be opened within Illustrator or Freehand. PageMaker allows importing PDF files without modification and Quark is about to.
  4. When in doubt, PDF it out. Some press-ready jobs take up alot of storage space and there is a temptation to delete the original files. In comparison, PDF files are extremely compact. While you lose bitmap data in the conversion, having a searchable reference with all text and vector graphics intact, can be a valuable resource for future uses.
  5. Create an archive of your own. PDF files are easy to index, catalog and store. When EDMS becomes the norm at your institution, your PDF files will be "EDMS-ready."

4. Proofing via the WWW - A Sample Site

A Washington, D.C. graphic services company is providing PDF proofs over the internet via their innovative "ViewBoard" web site. Rather than simply emailing proofs to clients, they have generated a central posting site for clients to access their projects.

It works like this... Once the designers are ready for client review, they make a PDF and post it to their website with a password. They then fax or email the password to the client who uses Acrobat Reader (PDFViewer) over the internet to view their proof.

The client can also view any sticky note comments that the designer has chosen to include. If the client wishes to annotate comments, links on the proof provide them with a comment form for emailing back to the designer.

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