JPEG output options

[DSweet]

A client of ours has requested that we output a file for them in a jpeg format in addition to the pdf output. They are setting up ads that will be placed in different magazines and other such periodicals. Some of these agencies are fine with a pdf file but others request that a jpeg or a tiff file be provided for layout placement.

 

No problem here...FusionPro has encorporated a jpeg option feature where you can set the size and the quality of the jpeg file requested. Wohoo! Whistles and Cheers!

 

HOWEVER...even though Acrobat can export a jpeg file in either a grayscale, an rgb, or a cmyk format it appears that FusionPro can ONLY output in an RGB format. This now becomes a sticking point since the requested files are almost always requested to be in a final print format...i.e. a CMYK format. Awwwww.

 

Is there any hint or smoke signals in the works to enhance the jpeg output feature (which I am assuming is produced through Acrobat's export feature) that will allow us to select the color format of the output...gray, rgb, or cmyk? Or even to export into any other format type...png, tiff, etc? Or has this feature been encorporated into verion 9 and I just need to upgrade again to get it?

 

One other observation output jpeg...whenever I set the output resolution value to higher than 100 dpi (mine were set for print values of 300 dpi) and then I go back to that same option menu, the value is once again set at 100 dpi. The output of what was produced once the value is set and saved at 300 was indeed measured at 300 dpi in Photoshop, but for some reason FusionPro resets that value back to 100 and jpegs are then produced at that level. If you are not careful you might forget to reset the value if you make other option setting changes. Bwaaahhh!

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[Dan Korn]

A client of ours has requested that we output a file for them in a jpeg format in addition to the pdf output. They are setting up ads that will be placed in different magazines and other such periodicals. Some of these agencies are fine with a pdf file but others request that a jpeg or a tiff file be provided for layout placement.

Well, I'm kind of answering this backwards, but I would think it's better to provide your clients with the unrasterized PDF output, with all the vector art and fonts preserved, as well as all the color profiles for individual page elements, not to mention things like bleed boxes, spot colors, overprint/knockout layers, and metadata. Once you basically flatten and rasterize the output to a JPEG or a TIFF or another format like that, you lose a lot of information. Maybe you know exactly what specifications your client requests, but their clients, and their print shops, might end up coming back to you if they decide they want something slightly different, especially since, as far as I know, most things like this are color corrected by the press operator anyway.

 

(On the other hand, with output based on PDF or PostScript, the discussions about things like exactly how to determine the overall "resolution" of a graphic in such a format, which is really a meta-file containing other raster and vector objects, can get complicated. But [back on the first hand?], rasterizing text, except at the very last step on the RIP, almost never seems like the right thing to do. And if your ad doesn't contain any text at all, then I'm not sure why you're using FusionPro.)

No problem here...FusionPro has encorporated a jpeg option feature where you can set the size and the quality of the jpeg file requested. Wohoo! Whistles and Cheers!

Thanks. That feature was put in primarily to facilitate things like showing an online preview from a composition performed via the FusionPro VDP Producer API, such as in a web-to-print system. It wasn't really intended for printed output, like our other output formats which preserve vector art and text.

HOWEVER...even though Acrobat can export a jpeg file in either a grayscale, an rgb, or a cmyk format it appears that FusionPro can ONLY output in an RGB format. This now becomes a sticking point since the requested files are almost always requested to be in a final print format...i.e. a CMYK format. Awwwww.

I see. Although, keep in mind that, even if FusionPro could output a CMYK graphic, that doesn't guarantee that the color profiles have been carried over from all the elements used in the composition. And even if it did, you would probably want a graphic in some other format besides JPEG, like a TIFF (as you allude to below).

Is there any hint or smoke signals in the works to enhance the jpeg output feature

Unfortunately, no, we don't have any plans to enhance the JPEG output options to support any other flavors of JPEG, nor any other image formats. I can enter an enhancement request for you, though. You may want to contact Support as well, especially since you're a Producer API customer.

(which I am assuming is produced through Acrobat's export feature)

I can see why you might think that, but in fact, this has nothing to do with any feature of Adobe Acrobat. In fact, the JPEG output feature was first available via CFG file settings in the FP VDP Producer API (Server) product (which doesn't require Acrobat to be installed at all) before it was ever made available in the Composition Settings GUI for Creator (Desktop) users.

that will allow us to select the color format of the output...gray, rgb, or cmyk? Or even to export into any other format type...png, tiff, etc?

Again, no, we don't have any plans like that.

Or has this feature been encorporated into verion 9 and I just need to upgrade again to get it?

No, sorry, there's nothing new regarding this feature in FusionPro 9.

One other observation output jpeg...whenever I set the output resolution value to higher than 100 dpi (mine were set for print values of 300 dpi) and then I go back to that same option menu, the value is once again set at 100 dpi. The output of what was produced once the value is set and saved at 300 was indeed measured at 300 dpi in Photoshop, but for some reason FusionPro resets that value back to 100 and jpegs are then produced at that level. If you are not careful you might forget to reset the value if you make other option setting changes. Bwaaahhh!

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Ah, this is actually a bug in the GUI, related to the little spin controls (up-down arrows which you can click on the change the values). I'm working on fixing this now. Thanks for the report.