Help with Photoshop graphics

[rob303]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and also new to Pagemaker. I'm trying to make a A4 PDF that consists of 6 imagescreated in photoshop, when I export through distiller the images show up one by one in acrobat and if I scroll around they show how they're layered etc. Any ideas how I can address this problem?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Eggles]

This is the Pagemaker forum. Where does PM figure in this question? Did you bring the graphics into PM? Are you making the PDF from PM?

 

[rob303]

Yes sorry, I am making the PDF in PM, the images have all been imported from photoshop into PM as eventually it will be a 2 page pdf, the front being graphics and the second page (or reverse page when printed) being text, I don't think you can do this in photoshop can you?

Thanks again

 

[BionicJohn]

Some detail please, rob303.

What version of PM, Distiller and Windows are you using?
What format are the images?
How did you import them into PageMaker?

> the images show up one by one in acrobat and if I scroll around they show how they're layered

You'll have to explain that better to me - I can't get the picture. What do you mean one-by-one and layered in Acrobat?




Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[rob303]

Right guys, sorry again, PM 7.0, Distiller 5.0, Win XP. Images are all jpegs made in photoshop 7.0. I imported them just with copy paste, which I've just read elsewhere you shouldn't do.

What I was trying to describe was sort of like the effect of a dial up connection when viewing web pages with lots of graphics kinda...ie the graphics appear slowly, one at a time, they dont just all appear together as one coherent pdf.

If I was to use photoshop to make the pdf and then made another for the same brochure can they be merged into one whole pdf somehow?

It might be worth mentioning I'm using an old 350Mhz Pentium 2 with only 380 odd ram, perhaps this is causing some problems.

thanx

 

[BionicJohn]

Hi, Rob303,

You're using progressive JPGs - don't. In fact don't use JPG format at all - use TIFF.

> I imported them just with copy paste, which I've just read elsewhere you shouldn't do.

Correct: use File -> Place

> I'm using an old 350Mhz Pentium 2 with only 380 odd ram

While it may a bit slow, it's OK. For serious daily work, you'd need to be looking at more power though.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[rob303]

Thanks Jon, I'll try with tiffs. I'm also getting a brand new PC next week with a lot of oomph, so perhaps that will sort some problems out.

Can you please advise further re: the idea is a grpahical front side backed with text on the reverse, so it can be printed as one page and displayed as a pdf in two, if I was to make the two pages in photoshop can I link them somehow? Alternatively, can I make the front photoshop and the back in PM then import the whole front page or will there be a problem with file size (the front is currently around 700KB)?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Eggles]

Don't do anything with more than a few words of text in Photoshop. Photoshop is an image editor, not a text editor.

Do both pages in PM. Text side should be straightforward, and as for the images, save as TIFs before placing them in PM. Appropriate resolution of the TIFs and their colour space (RGB vs CMYK) depends on the intended use of the PDF.

If this PDF is for viewing on the web and perhaps printing to a desktop printer, then make the image resolution around 150 dpi RGB. When you make the PDF, assuming you have Version 5 of Distiller, then choose 'eBook' as the job options setting. This will preserve the graphics at 150 dpi.

But before we can advise much further, we need to know the intended use of the PDF and your version of Distiller.

 

[BionicJohn]

Hi, rob303,

As Lyn says.

Create/edit your images in PS. Save in TIFF format.
Do your layout in PM.
Exprot to PDF using the appropriate settings.

You can always type text over an image in PM.

> I'm also getting a brand new PC next week

Have fun. PM7/Distiller5 will be OK on WinXP. With a 2GHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, good graphics card and a big monitor, you'll be fine.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[rob303]

Ok great thanks. Thanks a lot for the help.

One more question, as dumb as it may be, can I make this document so it appears online as a 2 page pdf but when printed it's one sheet, double sided?

 

[Eggles]

>>can I make this document so it appears online as a 2 page pdf ?<<

If you mean as a double page spread - No. It depends entirely on how the viewer has their Acrobat Reader preferences set.

>>but when printed it's one sheet, double sided<<

Depends on whether they have a printer that can duplex. It is not something you can set in the PDF creation.

 

[rob303]

Eggles, the double sided printing would be done professionally and distributed as paper copies to clients. The 2 pages would be just 2 normal pdf pages ie pg1 scroll down to pg2, distributed electronically for clients to print themselves then it's upto them what their printer does...Can I do this is one go or would I need to make 2 seperate pdfs? Actually how do I even make a double sided pdf in the first place can't seem to figure it out in PM?

I'm sorry to keep asking questions but I'm new to this whole DTP stuff.

Thanks for your patience and help

 

[BionicJohn]

Hi, Rob,

It's as Lyn says: .

How a PDF is viewed in Acrobat/Reader is dependent on preferences chosen by the user, though there are some view options which the creator can set in Acrobat.

Double-sided paper output (duplexing) is dependent on the printer.

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[Eggles]

If you provide a 2 page PDF to a professional printshop, just let them know you want it printed back-to-back. That's all there is to it.

However, the one you supply to the printshop will need to be of a higher quality than the one you distribute to people to print on their desktop printers.

So in a way, making two PDFs might be a good idea. Each will commence with the same postscript file that you generate from the PM doc (by choosing Distiller as your printer, and printing 'to file'). The PDF you supply to the printshop should be of the highest quality (and therefore, largest file size). If you have Distiller 5, choose the 'Press' setting in the job options before distilling the file.

For the PDF you distribute to people to print themselves, choose the 'eBook' setting - lower quality (but fine on most desktop printers) and smaller file size. PDFs are always a trade-off between quality and file size. Which is why the intended audience must be taken into consideration. But all PDFs start with production of the postscript file, where there is no choice in any 'settings' - everything is included. But from there you make the decision on the type(s) of PDF you will produce.

I hope this answers your questions.

 

[rob303]

Brilliant, thanks a million.