freehand and converting to pdf problem

Question

Level 2

268 points

freehand and converting to pdf problem

for some reason when i try to convert a freehand document to pdf ready for printing im losing an "inline" effect around some of the text.
i've put an example to illustrate

http://simonboard.com/photos/pdf.html

can anyone on these forums help?

1.8Ghz iMac G5 1GB - 667Mhz TiBook 512MB - 500 Mhz iMac (CRT) 640MB, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Mar 18, 2006 8:07 AM

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Answer 1

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 1:00 AM in response to Simon Board

freehand forum no help, can anyone help me here?

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Answer 2

Mar 19, 2006 2:50 AM in response to Simon Board

Hi Simon,
How are you making your PDF? - are you using the export filter? if so... bad move... Freehand's filter is just not up to it.

You'll need to make a postscript file and distill it through distiller.

Do you know how to make a correct PS file? - if not I can give you step-by-step.

Regards
Piers Le Sueur

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Answer 3

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 3:12 AM in response to Piers Le Sueur

Yes im using the export in freehand, how can i make postscipt file to sort it?

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Answer 4

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 7:29 AM in response to Piers Le Sueur

if you can help me out i would really appreciate it 🙂

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Answer 5

Mar 19, 2006 10:57 AM in response to Simon Board

Sorry I only have a minute - I'll come back a little later... BUT.

The first thing you need to do is.. through Printers add the Adobe PDF printer driver.

I believe that's easily done by simply adding a printer and selecting the relevent item.

If you can do that... I'll step you through the rest.

Warmest Regards
Piers

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Answer 6

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 11:12 AM in response to Piers Le Sueur

thanks for your help...
i dont see Adobe PDF listed as a choice in printers..

i must need to add, do i need to install the printer driver?

many thanks

Simon

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Answer 7

Mar 19, 2006 11:32 AM in response to Simon Board

Did you click on "more printers"?....

if no Adobe driver there... you may need to go to the Adobe.com download section and download and install the driver... but as OSX is based on PDF then that adobe driver should be there.

Regards
Piers

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Answer 8

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 11:43 AM in response to Piers Le Sueur

yes i did click on more printers and it shows nothing from adobe,
checked on adobe website can only find stuff OS 9.
should it have installed with Tiger?

Simon

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Answer 9

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 11:58 AM in response to Simon Board

this does seem strange, why im missing adobe ps

i checked adobe and found this....

"Under MacOS X, Apple itself has assumed full responsibility for development, maintenance, and support of PostScript for printing as well as support for Type 1 fonts. If you have questions or issues with regards to MacOS X PostScript driver support, this is probably not the best forum for such discussions."

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Answer 10

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

Mar 19, 2006 12:09 PM in response to Piers Le Sueur

Couldn't he save it as an EPS file and import that into Distiller?

Or simply print and instead of printing save as PDF.

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Answer 11

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 12:14 PM in response to Kevin Horn

i cant print it because i need 5000 and all the printers near me only use adobe, i'll be using "Illustrator" from now on!

whats distiller?

Simon

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Answer 12

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

Mar 19, 2006 12:23 PM in response to Simon Board

Distiller is part of Acrobat Pro and used to set up files for output to an imagesetter.

How are you printing these? Is the printer going to make films for burning plates or is this direct from computer to printer?

If it's direct, as I suspect, then merely save the file as an EPS, then import it into Illustrator to check it over and make sure everything is good. Or just import it into Preview to look at it. They should be able to print from a Freehand EPS, but best to check with them first.

Instead of using Freehand's export to PDF simply print then instead of clicking on the Print button on the right, look to the left for a button that says "Save as PDF". This would probably be better than the EPS file, but either one can be imported into Illustrator.

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Answer 13

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 12:33 PM in response to Kevin Horn

its not being printed direct, ive tried every export format from Freehand into Illustrator but none are looking good at all.

I tried "save as PDF" already, didnt look to bad but not perfect, but when i imported into Illustrator it had white lines all over the place, a right mess!

Ive never used Distiller, but willing to import and try, how will it work?

thanks for help

Simon

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Answer 14

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

Mar 19, 2006 12:38 PM in response to Simon Board

Distiller is expensive, around $400 I think. So if you don't do this often it's not worth it.

Did you convert all your fonts to outlines or did you leave them as fonts?

What versions of Freehand and Illustrator are you using?

And when you saved as EPS did you use Save As then chose EPS or did you Export and choose Macintosh EPS?

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Answer 15

Simon Board Author

Level 2

268 points

Mar 19, 2006 12:47 PM in response to Kevin Horn

i have Adobe CS so its included in that i think...

Im using Freehand MX and Illustrator CS.

ive tried both with similar results, again lines all over the place.

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