RE: FM/Acrobat/Friday! problem

["Yves Barbion" <YBarbion -at- uni-learning -dot- com>]

Hi Damien,

I don't know which versions of FrameMaker and Acrobat you're using but I
had a similar problem some months ago.

This is what Dov Isaacs, the PDF expert by excellence at Adobe, wrote:

"2) There is a known problem with FrameMaker under Windows only in which
text may disappear from the output page (i.e., selective text dropout)
when printing to PostScript devices, including Acrobat Distiller.
Unfortunately, the problem is NOT reproducible from system to system or
document to document either user sites or within Adobe itself. What we
do know is that the larger the logical page size in combination with
higher resolution settings aggravates the problems (i.e., makes it more
likely that you will actually see the symptom). It is for this reason
that we most strongly recommend that you NEVER use a Windows PostScript
printer driver setting higher than 600 dpi with FrameMaker. If necessary
to print to a higher resolution device, create PDF first (with the Adobe
Distiller / Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance set to no more
than 600 dpi) and then do the final print from Acrobat / Adobe Reader to
the actual print device. In the rare instances where there is still
selective text dropout, set the driver resolution to 300 dpi. We know of
no situations in which the selective text dropout persists at the 300
dpi setting. What are the ramifications of the lower resolution
settings? The resolution of image data is not downsampled or degraded by
this resolution setting. Nor is any damage done to vector graphics or
the quality of text. What it does control for FrameMaker is the
granularity of spacing, especially of text. Setting 600 dpi permits
"only" 600 starting positions per inch and interword spacing in 1/600
inch increments. Images and vector graphics positioning is likewise
limited to such increments. At 300 dpi, the value falls to 300 starting
positions and 1/300 inch increments. Anything under 300 dpi is
absolutely not recommended and could yield some rather gnarly text
spacing. 
Again, we recommend you start at 600 dpi and stay with that if you have
no problems. (Note also that 600 dpi gets around another Windows GDI bug
in which text formatted in larger point sizes is converted to unhinted
outlines. 600 dpi allow for text in pointsizes up to approximately 100
points to remain as text for printing purposes.) "

I resolved the problem as follows:

1. Open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\ADPDF6.PPD
in a plain text editor.

2. Search for "DefaultResolution" and change it to 600dpi.

I also followed Dov's recommendations for Job Options (Adobe PDF
Settings) and the settings of my printer driver instance (Adobe PDF):

-----Original Message-----
From: Dov Isaacs [mailto:isaacs -at- adobe -dot- com]
Sent: 03 May, 2002 1:01 AM
To: framers -at- FrameUsers -dot- com
Subject: Driver & Distiller Settings Phor Phun & Prophet!
Importance: High


You asked for it ...

The question has been posed as to what settings should be used for both
the PostScript driver's "Acrobat Distiller" printer instance and for job
option settings for the Distiller under Windows.

Entries marked with (*) apply to ALL PostScript driver instances, not
just the Acrobat Distiller driver instance. Entries marked (**) apply to
ALL PostScript driver instances except those going to network print
queues.

The following applies to Windows 2000 and XP (all flavours) in
conjunction with Acrobat 5. These settings apply for all applications,
including FrameMaker 7 when released:


Acrobat Distiller printer driver instance:

Properties => Advanced (tab)

	Change "Print directly to the printer" to
	"Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster"
		with "Start printing after last page is spooled" (**)

	Why? Speeds up spooling process dramatically!

Properties => Advanced (tab) => Printing Defaults ... (button) => Layout
(tab) => Advanced (button)

	Open trees and make sure that the following are set
	(other options leave at original default settings):

		Graphic => Print Quality => 600dpi

		Why? Gets around known Windows 2000/XP GDI bug
associated
		with large point size & high resolution text being
converted
		to outlines. Also gets around FrameMaker bug associated
with
		higher resolution settings in combination with large
page sizes
		(similar bug in other applications as well). Using this
setting
		does not restrict the resolution at which the PDF file
can
		print and has no known bad effects.

		Graphic => TrueType Font => Download as Softfont (*)

		Why? Turns off damnable font substitution mechanism.

		Document Options => PostScript Options =>
			TrueType Font Download Option => Native TrueType
(*)

		Why? Assures that proper font type is selected, even if
not
		embedded in job stream at this point. "Automatic" should
work,
		but this is explicit.

Properties => Advanced (tab) => Printing Defaults ... (button) => Adobe
PDF Settings (tab)

	Choose appropriate joboptions

	Check ALL the boxes.

	Why? Best options for making sure that the correct fonts are 
	embedded properly in the PDF file, that you are properly
prompted
	for location of the PDF file being produced, that you are warned
	if overwriting an existing PDF file, and to display the
resultant
	PDF file delete the log file if and only if the distillation is
	successful.

Properties => General (tab) => Printing Preferences ... (button) =>
Layout (tab) => Advanced (button)

	Open trees and make sure that the following are set
	(other options leave at original default settings):

		Graphic => Print Quality => 600dpi

		Why? Gets around known Windows 2000/XP GDI bug
associated
		with large point size & high resolution text being
converted
		to outlines. Also gets around FrameMaker bug associated
with
		higher resolution settings in combination with large
page sizes
		(similar bug in other applications as well). Using this
setting
		does not restrict the resolution at which the PDF file
can
		print and has no known bad effects.

		Graphic => TrueType Font => Download as Softfont (*)

		Why? Turns off damnable font substitution mechanism.

		Document Options => PostScript Options =>
			TrueType Font Download Option => Native TrueType
(*)

		Why? Assures that proper font type is selected, even if
not
		embedded in job stream at this point. "Automatic" should
work,
		but this is explicit.

Properties => General (tab) => Printing Preferences ... (button) =>
Adobe PDF Settings (tab)

	Choose appropriate joboptions

	Check ALL the boxes.

	Why? Best options for making sure that the correct fonts are 
	embedded properly in the PDF file, that you are properly
prompted
	for location of the PDF file being produced, that you are warned
	if overwriting an existing PDF file, and to display the
resultant
	PDF file delete the log file if and only if the distillation is
	successful.

Properties => Device Settings (tab)

	Open trees and make sure that the following are set
	(other options leave at original default settings):

		Output Protocol => Binary

		Why? Much more efficient than ASCII, PostScript file
size
		reduced by up to 30 to 40% (your mileage may vary!).

		Sent CTRL-D Before Each Job => No
		Sent CTRL-D After Each Job => No

		Why? CTRL-D is inconsistent with binary PostScript
interpreters
		even though Distiller has hackery to try getting around
such
		spurious characters.

		Convert Gray Text to PostScript Gray => Yes (*)
		Convert Gray Graphics to PostScript Gray => Yes (*)

		Why? Normally, black and grayscale text and vector
artwork
		is output as RGB values. These options convert any R=G=B
text
		and vector artwork to PostScript grayscale. This is much
more
		efficient and can avoid improper "rich black" syndrome
on
		certain PostScript color output devices.

		Add Euro Currency Symbol to PostScript Fonts => No (*)

		Why? If you need access to the Euro symbol, you should
use a
		font that indeed has that symbol. This hackery is just
that.
		It could cause output problems even if you don't have
any
		Euro use in your document. Avoid like the plague!

		Job Timeout => 0 (*)
		Wait Timeout => 0 (*)

		Why? This eliminates the possibility of jobs being
prematurely
		terminated if some other task on your computer hiccups
too
		badly for too long.


Distiller Job Options

Fonts:

	Select "Embed All Fonts".

	Why? Forces all fonts to be embedded.

	Select "Subset embedded fonts when percent of characters used is
	less than" and enter "100%"

	Why? Forces all fonts to be subsetted. Note that in most cases
with
	TrueType and OpenType fonts, you get subsets anyway, regardless
of
	this option. Contrary to popular misconception, subsetting or
not
	subsetting a font has no bearing on whether you can or cannot
use
	"text touchup" on the text later in the workflow in Acrobat
itself.
	This feature requires the font to be installed on the system
anyway,
	so whether it is embedded subsetted or not is totally
irrelevant!

	Select "When Embedding Fails: Cancel Job"

	Why? You don't like nasty surprises later on.

	Make sure there are no fonts in the "always embed" and "never
embed"
	lists.


Questions? I'll be glad to answer them in person at the FrameUsers
seminar
in Durham, NC this September 24 - 27 and at the 2002 PDF Conference East
in
Bethesda, MD this June 3 - 5.

Running Windows'95, Windows'98, Windows Me, or Windows NT 4? You have
my sincere condolences and best wishes for a speedy transition to
Windows 2000 (any flavour) or XP ("professional" only).

	- Dov ("time to duck and cover ...")
 

Hope this helps.

Best regards and good luck.

Yves Barbion
Senior Technical Writer
Adobe-Certified FrameMaker Instructor
____________________________________

U&I Learning NV (formerly ATEK NV)
Molenaarsstraat 111
B-9000 Gent
Belgium
Tel.: +32 9 265 74 72
Fax: +32 9 265 74 84
www.uni-learning.com
____________________________________
  


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT - EDIT AND REVIEW, REDEFINED
Accelerate the document lifecycle with full online discussions and unique feedback-management capabilities. Unlimited, efficient reviews for Word
and FrameMaker authors. Live, online demo:
http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 7.5 Professional: New version with new features, improved performance and reliability, plus much more!  Download your free trial today at www.componentone.com/techwrlfeb.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.