[P1] PDF file question: PLEASE HELP

[Larry Kollar]

Paul Miller wrote:

> ...  I also have tried creating a PDF via the print function in OsX 
> for my scans of magazine and journal articles (text and photo) but 
> they look horribly pixellated.  The original scan is fine ....  Open 
> up the newly saved OsX generated PDF with Acrobat Reader and it looks 
> like CRAP.
>
> I don't know much about adobe products and the product list on their 
> site it kinda confusing to me but I guess Acrobat 6 is the correct 
> program.  Adobe PDF Creator is for windows only it says.  But the 
> price for Acrobat 6 is INSANE.

The part you want is Acrobat Distiller, which often accompanies other 
Adobe products (FrameMaker, PageMaker, etc.) -- if you have one of 
those apps, or can get one on eBay, install it & Distiller should come 
along for the ride.

Once you have Distiller installed, you have several "job options" to 
choose from. "Screen Optimized" creates the smallest PDF files, but 
make a horrible botch of any bitmap graphics. "Press Optimized" is the 
opposite. I've found that "Print Optimized" is a good compromise 
between file size & bitmap quality, and I use that setting for creating 
PDFs from documentation in my day job.

If you're strapped for cash, or want to try something right away, 
install GhostScript and print a PostScript file from Preview or 
Quicktime. Go to the command line and type "ps2pdf -dPrinted file.ps 
file.pdf" and see if it does any better.
--
Larry Kollar     k  o  l  l  a  r  @  a  l  l  t  e  l  .  n  e  t
Unix Text Processing: "UTP Revival"
http://home.alltel.net/kollar/utp/