Topic: SKUNKY PDF

[Dent Cermak]

We finally got some guys in one of our remote offices that are not allowed to have cad for fear of the damage they might do. Yet they are the ones to review some survey plats and mark them up to fit those Godawful specs ya'll have in Florida.
OK, for the first time, I jumped into PDF's. I've found 3 ways to create PDF's. They all look pretty much the same. AWFUL!! The resolution is terrible. Text looks like pixel blobs from Hell. How do I set stuff to give better resolution?? They need to be able to at least read the text. Much of it is L120 so should be easily readable, insted bigger text just makes bigger blobs.  
What am I missing ? (here comes Keith to say, "Everything Dude!!) Need help, but keep it simple. You must remember who you are dealing with here.  

[Slim©]

Check this out, Dent. They have a trial version, that's fully operational.
BlueBeam
I have used it in the past, if you can plot from AutoCAD you can get good PDFs from this.

[Dent Cermak]

There's GOT to be a way to do it in Adobe.Surely they are not putting out a POS program that will not produce a useable product. BIGBOSSMAN isn't going to put in almost $300 for more software!!

[hendie]

DWF, that's all

[M-dub]

Hey Dent,
What lineweights are you using in Acad?  Are you using the Distiller to create your PDF's?  If so, you should be able to change the resolution in the Distiller's Advanced Options...see below:

[Darryl]

Some in our office use Adobe Acrobat Distiller and make good PDF's, but like you said, you've got to pay the big bucks.  But some others and myself use PDF995 with also very good results.  It's a free program, if you can put up with some ads, or only $9.95 for a key to eliminate the ads.  Go to www.pdf995.com.

The quality of our PDF's is just as good as if I print them to the printer from within AutoCAD.  I'm not sure how you would set your up different to get better resolution.  When you install PDF995, it sets up a new printer, which you print to in AutoCAD.  And I've looked at the properties of the PDF995 printer, etc. and cannot tell which settings might be different than yours.  Also, if you've tried 3 different ways to make PDF's, I suspect that trying another way isn't going to help.  Maybe it's something else that we're overlooking.

[daron]

I agree with Hendie. DWF has far better resolution than PiDdlyF and it's designed for cad. You can do so much more with it now. As far as the resolution goes on DWF, I don't remember the exact number they told us at AU last year, but it was an extremely huge number, in that you could plot real close and still get a good quality plot. The only problem with DWF is that most companies are stuck in PDF and don't understand the value of DWF.

[hendie]

aren't DWF vector based ?
I have PDFXchange and I can create pretty good PDF's but I have my system set up so that outputting DWF's is completely automatic in one click.

[Dent Cermak]

I'm working in Adobe Standard 6.0. I reduced the drawing to 8.5"x11". I set the resolution to the max (4880)dpi and it still sucks. I just sent the Floridians a link to download the free volo view viewr (which has been replaced with a pay to use package for 2000+ drawings). i'm still stuck in R14 and they don't have any cad so this should work.
If I'm not missing something, what good is Adobe straight out of the box?? This really sucks !!  

[daron]

aren't DWF vector based ?
I have PDFXchange and I can create pretty good PDF's but I have my system set up so that outputting DWF's is completely automatic in one click.

Doesn't sound like it. Pixel based. lot's of them. Is PDF vector based?

[M-dub]

Here's another suggestion:
Don't resize your PDF to 8.5 x 11.  If it's a B-size or larger, set the PDF to 11 x 17.  I do it all the time.  They can reduce it if they need to actaully PRINT it out, but for viewing it on screen, it should improve a little.

[hendie]

I've no idea 'bout other PDF packages but in PDFXchange, I set the following and it gives me a decent print (but still a larger file size than DWF)

Compression (monochrome) ~ CCITT Group 4
Compression (colour/greyscale) ~ JPEG High
Resolution ~ 400dpi
Scaling ~ 100%

[Dent Cermak]

WE WIN!! WE WIN!! We win the "Crappiest IT Guy" Award!! I sent them the link for the Volo View download. The poor ole RLS doesn't know much about pooters, bless his heart. (It's mandantory in the South to add "bless his/her heart" when you talk about someone in a negative manner.) SO, he turns it over to his local IT guy. IT Guy can't figure out how to use the link I sent them and is unable to access the AutoDesk site.We are talking a college graduate here. I really need to throw up at this point.

[PDJ]

My guys in the bush are all usin Voloview for viewing and redlining drawings.  I've got one map of Bethel that they were screaming about being too large so I found a .dwf writer in a Cadalyst magazine article that was FREE and I've been using that.   The problem I had with text being unidentifiable was solved by telling the .dwf writer that I was plotting on a 100' x 80' sheet of paper.. Now, when you zoom into itty bitty text, you can read it fine.. The 6mb drawing size is down to just under a meg and everyone in Bethel, AK is happier than a teething baby suckin on a graham cracker..

Keep an eye on those folks at AutoDesk though concerning voloview.. I've heard vicious rumors they're trying to discontinue it.

[daron]

Yeah, it's called viewer. Then there's dwf writer for a fee. I thought you could write dwf natively from autocad?

[Dent Cermak]

Volo View is being discontinued. We just paid $100 for the full blown copy a few months ago only to find that it will not open dwf"s from 2005. You now have to BUY the new stuff. no free samples.

[t-bear]

you usd to be able to....then Autodork found that people liked it so they made it an "extra" and are now charging for it.  Like express tools.  You know, I'm using 2K4 mech now and have "migrated" the old R14 Bonus Tools menu thru 2000, 2000i & 2K2.  Them things is great!  They sit right up top next to the Express menu........

[M-dub]

Volo View is being discontinued. We just paid $100 for the full blown copy a few months ago only to find that it will not open dwf"s from 2005. You now have to BUY the new stuff. no free samples.

DWF Express Viewer

www.autodesk.com/expressviewer

Keyword - FREE

Other keyword - DWF Only (no dwg's)

[PDJ]

Here's the .dwf writer I was talkin about:

http://www.nxtbook.com/fx/books/cadalystmay04/

actually, go to page 24-25 and look at the snippet in the top left corner of page 24 and it'll tell you all about it.  The .dwf composer from AutoCad is like $149.00.. This one is FREE. But, I recommend you hurry up and get it before they throw a price tag on it as well..  

Voloview will view .dwf files just fine.

I really think Autodesk needs to rethink getting rid of voloview..  I think we have around 60 -75 seats of Voloview and to replace that would be ugly, seeing that 50-60 of them are in remote villages around the state.

[Kate M]

Dent, have you tried making full-size PDF's and scaling them down when you print (Adobe's "shrink oversized pages to fit" box)?

[Dent Cermak]

yeah. That made itty-bitty blobs out of the big blobs.