[scribus] Huge PDF, need suggestions

[John Culleton]

On Thursday 03 September 2009 18:11:10 Craig wrote:
> John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 14:11:09 -0700
> >
> > John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> dijo:
> >> On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 20:20:00 +0200
> >>
> >> "a.l.e" <ale.comp_06 at xox.ch> dijo:
> >>> scribus can import eps as vectors since a long time...
> >>>
> >>> what you can do starting from 1.3.5, is to put eps (and 
pdfs) in image
> >>> frames and have them included as is. indeed, going that 
way may be
> >>> worth a try, if you want to reduce the size of your pdfs!
> >>>
> >>> but: don't forget that 1.3.5 is not a stable version and that 
it may
> >>> kill all your kitten!
> >>
> >> First, when I started trying to print the document there was 
only one
> >> small EPS graphic in it. I have since imported it as a vector 
file and
> >> deleted the EPS. Extras > Manage Images is now grayed 
out. There are no
> >> images in the file at all other than the graphics that were 
imported as
> >> vectors and some native Scribus objects. Still, when I export 
as PDF
> >> the resulting file is 201 MB.
> >>
> >> The problem is that there are six pages containing about 20 
rectangles
> >> created in Scribus. Each rectangle has rounded corners and 
a 10% gray
> >> fill. If I print from Scribus I get reasonable print speed, but 
all
> >> these rectangles print solid black. This is to various printers 
using
> >> their PCL and PostScript drivers. If I export to PDF the 
rectangles
> >> appear and print correctly. But then I have to put up with 
unbearably
> >> slow printing - 10 minutes per page from Okular and over 
20 minutes per
> >> page from Adobe Reader 9.1. I tried Evince but it errored out 
when I
> >> tried to print.
> >>
> >> I tried printing to CUPS-PDF instead of exporting as PDF 
from Scribus.
> >> That resulted in a PDF file of only 25 MB, but the rectangles 
were all
> >> solid black. Furthermore, the page size was messed up.
> >>
> >> I also printed to file from Scribus and I will try sending the 
file
> >> directly to the printer with lpr.  However, I don't hold out 
much hope
> >> that it will solve the problem because it was created with 
Scribus'
> >> print engine, not its export to PDF engine.
> >>
> >> I think there is a bug in the way Scribus prints, but I need to 
poke
> >> around with this some more before I can be sure. In the 
meantime the
> >> printers I am printing to are older Laserjets with PostScript 
Level 2,
> >> so if someone has similar printers you can try creating a 
rectangle
> >> with a 10% fill and see what kind of results you get.
> >
> > I just discovered something else. I had originally exported as 
PDF 1.5.
> > Later I exported as 1.4. Both were huge and impossible to 
print from.
> > Since then I exported as 1.3. The file size is only 69 MB 
compared to
> > 200+ MB with 1.4 and 1.5. The file opened quickly in Adobe 
Reader and
> > the whole thing spooled off to the printer in less than a 
minute.
> >
> > That's the good news. The bad news is that all my rectangles 
with 10%
> > gray fill appear on screen in Adobe Reader and Okular as solid 
black,
> > and also print as solid black. There were some other oddities 
as well -
> > lines placed in two text fames did not make it, but lines 
placed in
> > three other text frames did appear and print fine. They were 
the same
> > lines created in Scribus.
>
> Well, of course,... PDF 1.3 does not support transparencies...
>
> Craig
>
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Here is my solution:
1. Export the document as pdf 1.4 or pdf 1.5
2. View the pdf in Acrobat reader.
3. Print to file from Acrobat Reader, creating a postscript file.
4. Convert that file to pdf using Ghostscript script ps2pdf13.

Now you should have a smaller file with all the transparencies 
preserved. 
-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html