[philm]

I have usually steered clear from using the 'Save As PDF' option in the Mac OSX print dialog box as I have found that the quality of images generated in this way is not great. I always use the AdobePDF driver which comes with Acrobat with one of the high quality settings.

So, with Tiger, we now have the option to Save As PDF-X. I am struggling to find much information on this format. It seems to be a proposed 'standard' for the printing industry, but it's not clear to me what it does with images within the file. Can anyone provide any information on this point in particular, or PDF-X in general. Cheers.

[Chuckit]

It's basically a stripped-down version of PDF intended specifically for printing. It basically removes the choice to do things that aren't good for a press-bound document.

As for what it does with images in the file: It stores them just like a normal PDF, except it requires that images use the CMYK colorspace (and presumably Save as PDF-X will do the conversion for you).

[philm]

So, can it be considered to generate press-quality PDFs? Am I likely to face any problems if I generate PDF-X files from standard reports (text + images + vector diagrams) and send them to colleagues with 'average' computers - i.e. regular Macs and PCs...? Thanks for your input.

[Don Pickett]

Originally Posted by philm

So, can it be considered to generate press-quality PDFs? Am I likely to face any problems if I generate PDF-X files from standard reports (text + images + vector diagrams) and send them to colleagues with 'average' computers - i.e. regular Macs and PCs...? Thanks for your input.

"Quality" of PDFs is controlled via the options you select when you distill the document, not the end file format.

As an aside, as PDF is a stripped down subset of Postscript, I wonder hat has been taken out to make PDF-X.

[philm]

Originally Posted by Don Pickett

"Quality" of PDFs is controlled via the options you select when you distill the document, not the end file format.

OK, thanks for this. When using the system's Save As PDF-X, do I have any control over these options? I know how to alter the settings when using the 'Adobe method' (i.e. AdobePDF driver and Adobe Distiller) but not when using the 'system method'.

[Don Pickett]

Originally Posted by philm

OK, thanks for this. When using the system's Save As PDF-X, do I have any control over these options? I know how to alter the settings when using the 'Adobe method' (i.e. AdobePDF driver and Adobe Distiller) but not when using the 'system method'.

AFAIK, yes and no. . .

If you create a postscript file from an appropriate application (like Quark) by printing to a file, you have control over things like color mode, output resolution, etc. Far as I know there is no way to exercise the level of control you get in Distiller vis a vis compression thresholds, font inclusion, etc. So you have control over half the process, which is why I always use Distiller if it's important the PDF have very specific specs.

That said, Adobe apps, like InDesign, give you more control over PDF creation than non-Adobe apps, which makes sense. For the jobs I have been doing lately, which means PDFs for email distribution, I have been printing to Postscript files from Quark and dragging those files onto Preview, which does a good enough job for the relatively loose specs the files have.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Don Pickett

As an aside, as PDF is a stripped down subset of Postscript, I wonder hat has been taken out to make PDF-X.

Support for non-CMYK images, the ability to embed hyperlinks — features that they found not to be useful in a print environment.

[Don Pickett]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

Support for non-CMYK images, the ability to embed hyperlinks — features that they found not to be useful in a print environment.

Cool. Makes sense.