Photoshop question.

boofredlay · 14 Feb 2008, 15:58

I am saving a PDF file from Photoshop and it is huge. What are the best settings when exporting a PDF from photoshop for the smallest file size?

Thanks.

P.S. Photoshop 7 is what I am using.

Jackson · 14 Feb 2008, 16:18

What size is the image? Are you using Distiller to convert to pdfs? What printer resolution are you converting at? 600dpi is enough for most purposes and 300dpi for many.

p.s. please don't anyone start lecturing me on the difference between dpi and pixels - I use PDF Creator (freeware) so when you convert to PDFs you set the resolution in dpi.

boofredlay · 14 Feb 2008, 16:31

Here is the image size... all raster graphics, no vector.

When creating the PDF I am just doing a save as. What is Distiller?

I use PDF Creator as well, inside Revit.

FYI, the PDF I created from Photoshop came out at 40.5 MB. Saved as a copy with jpeg encoding. I also tried it with zip encoding but got a 119MB file

I did a save as and saved the image as a jpeg, brought it into Revit and printed it there to PDF Creator and got a 1.5 MB file.

Confusing for me as to why photoshop creates such a large pdf and revit (pdf creator) does not.

Here is a scaled down partial of the image...

Jackson · 14 Feb 2008, 16:49

Adobe Distiller is Adobe's pdf convertor. Why not just print from PS using PDF Creator rather than via Revit? Once installed on our machines it appears in the printer list in any program you can print from- even Windows Explorer. I love it, it works so simply and so well.

I just ran a test, took a jpg photo with fair amount of detail and colour info in it, blew it up to 5000 x 4500px in PS, "printed" it to PDF Creator at A1(!), 600dpi and it came out just over 2Mb. It should work the same for you Eric.

boofredlay · 14 Feb 2008, 17:08

Well duah(he says to himself as he smacks his head against the wall).

Thanks Jackson I just ran it and got a 1.87 MB file.

guite · 14 Feb 2008, 19:04

And I bet you got a much better quality than the PhotoShop >> JPG >> Revit >> PDF route.

Jpg is a lossy compression, then you took it to another software which MIGHT* not handle raster very well and print to pdf from there. (* Sorry I have only AutoCAD experience and it does not handle raster well).

Guite