Distiller Question

[DSweet]

I need some help from all you "actual pre-press gurus" out there. Our sister company in Seattle (which uses our FP Server capabilities) keeps getting a warning when compiling eps files as resources in their templates. I have told them to switch to pdf files to begin with since technically FusionPro doesn't even really use the eps file - FP converts it to a pdf then uses that file instead - but they don't seem to listen to little ol' me.

 

They get the message...

Converting EPS file D:\fusionProJobs\Windermere\ShippingLabels\Templates\WindSL02\Property_Management_MPG.eps to PDF format.

PDF of EPS image D:\fusionProJobs\Windermere\ShippingLabels\Templates\WindSL02\Property_Management_MPG.eps may be cropped to the size of the original EPS image.

 

Their final pdf files and images seem to still be coming out fine but they keep bugging me with why that message keeps occuring for this and other template compositions like it that also use eps files. It's getting to a point where I just want to reach through the e-mail, grab a collar and slap somebody saying "I told you to use pdf files to begin with!!":mad:

 

Any ideas as to the possible origins of this message? Are they somehow increasing or decreasing the size of the eps to begin with before saving it to a file and FusionPro is somehow seeing that change like it does when it flips rotated pdf pages back to their original orientation? This one is really bugging me.

 

Thanks

[rpaterick]

Link below does a nice job of describing the two. Between size(decreasing .eps to .pdf) and interpretation, .pdf is the way to go. Any resources that are created in Illustrator now get saved out as a .pdf. Any resources that need to be created out of InDesign, also get exported out as a .pdf. I would say your processing time and the output file will dramatically decrease and make your pressmen happy. RIP time is very crucial for us, especially when you have 70 .vdx files(500 records per batch) that need to be ran.

"A PDF file is actually a PostScript file which has already been interpreted by a RIP and made into clearly defined objects.

These objects are viewable on screen not in code, but in visual

objects that everyone can see. Because these files are already interpreted by the RIP, they can be more reliable than an EPS or

a .PS file when printed. "

http://www.adobe.com/print/features/psvspdf/

[Dan Korn]

They get the message...

Converting EPS file D:\fusionProJobs\Windermere\ShippingLabels\Templates\WindSL02\Property_Management_MPG.eps to PDF format.

PDF of EPS image D:\fusionProJobs\Windermere\ShippingLabels\Templates\WindSL02\Property_Management_MPG.eps may be cropped to the size of the original EPS image.

...

Any ideas as to the possible origins of this message? Are they somehow increasing or decreasing the size of the eps to begin with before saving it to a file and FusionPro is somehow seeing that change like it does when it flips rotated pdf pages back to their original orientation? This one is really bugging me.

This isn't an error message, it's just an informational thing. It relates to a peculiarity in the internal EPS to PDF conversion. Acrobat Distiller and Normalizer have a built-in minimum output size for PDFs of one inch on each side. So, if the original EPS is smaller than one inch, in either dimension, then FusionPro has to perform an extra cropping step after Normalizer converts it to PDF. The message is just to say that that occurred; it's not an indication of any kind of problem or incompatibility. EPS graphics are fully supported, at any size.

 

That said, your advice to use PDFs instead, where possible, is a good one. The main issue with using EPS graphics, especially if they contain text, is that they are not likely to have fonts embedded, so the text may not render correctly, or the conversion to PDF may simply fail, if the fonts used are not present on the machine where the composition or other rendering is occurring. PDF files, on the other hand, are more likely to have all the fonts and other resources they're using already embedded.

[esmith]

You thought you needed a prepress guru to answer, but you really needed a senior engineer!

 

P.S.

PDF files, on the other hand, are more likely to have all the fonts and other resources they're using already embedded.

While I would agree that PDFs are a better resource for FP than EPSs, our number one problem with PDFs from clients is a tie between RGB images and non-embedded fonts. As a result, we always place PDF pages into InDesign and re-export new PDFs to catch any problems before bringing them into FP. I assume this isn't a critical issue if your prepress facility is responsible for producing the resources though.