This is a summary of
yesterday's discussion regarding a Pagemaker 6.52-made PDF which the poster was
trying to convert from color to grayscale.
The black and white
conversion file (redistilled) was made available to both myself and
Dov Isaacs from Adobe.
The quick fix (print
to Adobe PDF) I suggested was acceptable, albeit not the best method, nor
did it fix the major problem: The fact that the PDF was made incorrectly to
begin with, and the b/w version was huge (15 MB for 7-11 x 17 pages). While I
have no proof, I doubt if the Acrobat Distiller printer and/or PPD was used in
its creation. Also, if the DSC comments are turned on in Distiller (specifically
the OPI selection), the PDF will include X Objects, which means that the images
are not selectable in Acrobat for Photoshop touch-up.
In this case, there
were some 50 images, they were RGB, and the resolution of each image was far
greater than necessary. Dov was able to use Pitstop Professional to get inside
the X Objects. My older version of Pitstop (2-3 years ago) couldn't do
this.
The problem facing
most of us in the printing industry is time, or lack thereof. Does the
production coordinator for an in-house print shop have time to teach dozens, if
not hundreds of people who are likely using older versions of software how to
make PDF files? In this case, the person had Pitstop but was unfamiliar with its
capabilities. Having been in her shoes, I suggested the quick
fix.
The morale to the
story is the same old tale: education is paramount. There will always be tens of
thousands of people using outdated software, and who don't know the difference.
After all if it looks like a PDF, it must be a PDF. Right? I know people who
are, heaven forbid, still using AB3 or 4.
We need to do our
best to educate people on the benefits of keeping their principal software
up-to-date. If they can't, or won't do this, then we need to make it easy for
people to submit half-baked files. When all else fails, there are quick fixes
and professional tools to make things better.
That's all for
now.
Rich
