small logo in indesign problem

[schdeve]

hi all, i have a bit of a prob here, ive created an image (small logo) with text in illy, created outlines, and saved as an eps file.
no probs there.
however, when i place it into indesign (2) and export it as a pdf file, it looks shite. its almost as if the stroke on the design is too thick, ive taken the stroke right down, but it makes no difference, it looks crap. almost smudgey at full screen. i can zoom in and it does improve, but who`s going to zoom into a .pdf just to see a small logo?
(the actual size of the logo is about 3cm by 1cm high).
its driving me nuts.
any ideas??

thanx

steve

 

[schdeve]

oh, and another thing, when trying to export to pdf, the program occasionally crashes - or actually shuts itself down with no warning. this happens on both machines, so i dont think its a dodgy installation.

cheers

steve

 

[jimoblak]

You are using Acrobat Reader 4, aren't you? Acrobat Readers 5 and 6 smooth vector art on screen.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[schdeve]

naa, im running 6.0 pro, re-installed it but it doesnt maker any difference.

the file is 466kb if anyone wants a look.

cheers

steve

 

[jimoblak]

Acrobat 5 & 6 have a preference setting to show smoothed or non-smoothed art. It is typically smoothed by default. If this is not the issue and you are willing to share your 466kb file, you can email to spamjim@yahoo.com and I can take a peek.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[Genimuse]

Based on your initial post I'd guess that you're most concerned about how it looks on screen. If that's the case then you could rasterize the eps (in Photoshop, for example) and save it out either as a regular Photoshop file, and then reimport into InDesign. It will look fine on screen in all versions of Acrobat Reader. It will, of course, be limited in printing quality to whatever resolution you rasterize it to, but should solve your problem.

 

[jimoblak]

I'm sending back a screengrab from my Acrobat 5. It seems fine. The problem seems to be in your Acrobat.

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[schdeve]

yea, the problem is, its an assignment from my teacher, i have to use illustrator eps, so theres no option of converting it.
i thinking about a complete re-install of windows and all the apps. see if that helps. my myinboard blew up the other day and took with it my processor and dvd burner, so i got a new mainboard and cpu, whacked it in and just repaired the windows installation that was already on my hd, because it had so much info i needed on it.
the problem now is, i cant back up anything because the dvd burner is in the shop. i gues i`ll have to wait.
my point here is, installing a new mainboard and processor, screws up windows, i couldnt just put the hd back in and start up as usual, i had to do a "repair" of windows with the cd. i think this has somehow screwed with many programmes - even though it shouldnt.
well, thanx all for the replies so far, you guys have been very helpfull. i`ll let you know what happens.

cheers

steve

 

[Genimuse]

I seriously doubt that it's "your" Acrobat -- I know I've had that same problem under Readers 4, 5, and 6. I have no doubt that there's a setting I could change in the latest version of the Reader, but my concern is what the average person who downloads it will see. As near as I can tell they'll see that lousy low-res "dummied" version unless they zoom in.

 

[jimoblak]

Genimuse - you are right about not knowing what the end user will be using but there are some real differences with Acrobat 4, 5 & 6. Acrobat 5 introduced the preference option of smoothing 'line art'... so you could not have experienced the same problem in all 3 Readers. The default installs of Acrobat 5 and 6 smooth these lines automatically. You would have to purposefully uncheck the preference to disable the smoothing.

The graphic will look the same in Acrobat whether it was created in InDesign or Illustrator. The teacher should know how to view the file. No worries...

- - picklefish - -
Why is everyone in this forum responding to me as picklefish?

 

[Genimuse]

I've certainly never unchecked the option. I assure you, though, that I do have that same low-quality eps problem with Acrobat Reader (which looks just fine when I zoom in) on two different machines. Both had their Readers updated when Reader detected an upgrade, from 4 to 5 to 6.

Seriously, I'm not some idiot user who doesn't know his Reader from a hole in the ground, and I promise you that I have indeed had that same problem in all 3 versions of Reader and have not turned off smoothing.

Clearly there is in fact some way for this to happen.