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Low resolution preview .png file


Susan

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I am creating a job with variable maps. Each map was saved as a 300dpi 5.217x6.25 .png and they are being used at 100%. The preview in FusionPro appears lores and when I compose a pdf the preview of the map appears lores. When I print the pdf to a color inkjet it prints fine. When I compose a vdx for the Nexpress it prints fine. I am not downsampling when composing. Is there an explanation that I can give the customer as to why the pdfs he is seeing appear lores but the job will print okay.
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I'm can't think of a good reason that an image would appear low res in a PDF but print fine in VDX format. My first suggestion, obviously, is to check the log file after composing for any indication of errors. Full disclosure: I do not have any experience with VDX format or Nexpress.

 

But a few things come to mind:

If the maps are generated by some sort of web API, the chances are that they are not CMYK format. You may want to check (and convert if necessary) that the maps are not of RGB or Index color space.

If you're scaling the image in FP (fill, proportional fill, etc) that will have an affect on the resolution of the image.

 

If you aren't downsampling the images (and none of the above apply to you), and the image only appears low-res on screen, it could have to do with how images are scaled on a retina display. It could also be a setting in Acrobat that is opening PDFs at a lower (on-screen) resolution. If the original image looks fine on-screen in Photoshop or wherever you created the image, you'd probably be safe ruling out the retina scaling.

 

Alternatively, you could try saving your images as a PDF (rather than png) and see if that gives you a better proof file.

 

If all else fails and the customer isn't buying that Acrobat is the culprit, just send the man a hard proof of a few "audit" records and let him see what you're seeing to put him at ease.

 

Please let me know what you discover though. We have a job like this on the horizon.

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We will be sending him hard proofs. Since there are over 25,000 maps we don't want to have to make any changes to them. Just was curious why the preview on the pdfs is low resolution but it prints fine.
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when I compose a pdf the preview of the map appears lores..

Everything is not always as it appears in Acrobat. The fact that the same output prints differently than it looks on the screen proves this.

 

If you're doing an actual composition, and creating an output PDF file (as opposed to doing a Preview), and then viewing that output PDF in Acrobat, then it's probably an issue of the version of Acrobat you're using not supported hi-resolution Retina display on your Mac. Try opening up the output PDF in the application named Preview.app instead of in Acrobat, and it will probably appear with higher resolution.

 

Later versions of Acrobat, such as 11.0.4 and DC, support high-resolution Retina displays, and are able to display PDFs as crisply as Apple's own Preview.app does. This is 100 percent an issue with Adobe Acrobat.

 

The only setting in FusionPro that might possibly affect this is if you have an older version of FusionPro where the Graphics tab of the Composition Settings dialog has a group box reading "Down Sample All Graphics to 72 dpi" and the option reading "For On Screen Preview, graphics are used at 72dpi AND their full resolution (full resolution printing and faster preview)" is selected. If that's the case, just check the "Never" button instead. (This option was removed in recent versions, as its utility is questionable. In a newer version, you probably want to un-check the "Down Sample All Graphics to 72 dpi or full resolution, whichever is lower" box.)

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Updated to Acrobat Pro DC for viewing the file but it still previews the same. I was able to use Flattener Preview to flatten the pdfs in Acrobat XI and the images previewed as they should, not low res. I suppose the inkjet and Nexpress flatten the files as they print so that is why they print okay. Thanks for the input. Edited by Susan
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