FrameMaker 6.0 to PDF -- Graphics Nightmares, Deadline Approacheth...

["Maria Alexander" <malexander -at- octavesoftware -dot- com>]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a supertight situation here, and any insight would be greatly
appreciated!  I searched the techwr-l archives and called Adobe, but neither
were able to help me.

Problem #1:    I'm a hired gun filling in for another writer for two weeks.
I'm on his Windows2000 (quasi NT) machine, but logging in with my own
password.  I'm editing books in FrameMaker 6.0 and converting them to PDFs.
The other writer showed me that he creates PDFs by using the "Save As"
feature in FrameMaker.  His PDFs were HUGE.  Well, after incorporating
edits, I did the same thing...but my PDFs were TINY.  For example: His user
guide PDF was 8Mb and mine was 500K.  I hadn't changed any of the
settings -- not a one!  I then discovered that most of his graphics (all
GIFs, by the way) were imported by reference (I always import by copying).
The graphic artist took one of my PDFs and put it on his Mac, which is not
connected to the server.  The result: THERE WERE BIG BLACK HOLES WHERE
GRAPHICS SHOULD HAVE BEEN.  That is, everywhere a graphic had been imported
by reference, nothing showed up.  He said that this has never happened
before.  If this is true, then somehow, when the other writer was saving as
PDF, he was embedding the graphics in his file.  BUT HOW?

The problem kinda-sorta seems to be fixed by printing to a .ps file and
dropping it into the Distiller (the Adobe techsupport guy suggested this).
I saved the PDF to my desktop (there are no graphics or Frame files on my
harddrive), and all the graphics seem to be okay.  But, because I was too
stressed out to think of it, I forgot to send a file home last night to make
extra-extra sure that I can still see the graphics.  I mean, when you print
to a .ps file, it embeds the graphics, right?

Problem #2:  There is one graphic that is possessed by the devil.  Whenever
I import it (by either copying or reference -- it doesn't matter), it
becomes blurry after conversion to PDF.  All the other graphics are fine.
I've cursed so much that I think any holy water around here has probably
gone off, so whatever you suggest I will try.

Huge thanks to anyone who can offer insights, suggestions, prayers to
Hermes...

Maria Alexander



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