Hello again, in this Chapter we will be looking a PDF creation. Now there is a lot of different ways to make PDF, and in fact, there are different methods not only of creating PDF from your desktop, but there is even some fundamental differences between the types of PDF that you get out of say, a Creative Suite Application, and the type of PDF that you get when you print from your desktop.
The PDFs that you make when you are using a Creative Suite Application are made through what is called the Direct Export Method. The Direct Export Method uses what are called the PDF libraries to build these PDFs, and it doesn't use the fundamental printing mechanism which is driven by Distiller at all.
We'll be taking a look at Distiller in the way that it makes PDFs, because for most people who are making PDF, that's the way that they are going to be building PDF, is by using this underlying system, this Distilling system. And so that's where we will be spending our time as looking how that works. The Job Option setting that we will be looking at next are applicable in a Direct Export and Workflow saved in Creative Suite Applications, so you will be able to take the skills that we will be seeing here, and apply them there, but we won't be looking at Creative Suite Applications directly.
Let's get started. If you like to follow along, the files that you need are in the folder called Chapter 03. Now the first thing we have to do is to start Distiller. If you are in Acrobat and you are using Pro or Extended, then you can get at it from Advanced menu under Print Production. If you don't have Acrobat Pro or Extended, then you need to go to your Start menu on a Windows machine, or you need to go in your Applications folder on a Macintosh and start the application called Distiller. You can see Acrobat Distiller in All Programs at the top of the list. If you select it and it starts. You will see that you have a Window, the Acrobat Distiller Window, and represented with one option, which is the Default Settings.
The Default Settings control, what happens when you simply say, Print to PDF, or Save as PDF, and we want to be able to control how that PDF looks, and how we can use it. To do that, we use what we call PDF Settings. Adobe includes several PDF settings with Acrobat, and we will go through each one of those right now. The standard settings which is set by default includes settings that make a nice compact PDF that's viewable by just about everybody in a business setting. We also have High Quality Print, and high quality print is designed for use with colored ink-jet printers, or desktop printers in your office, or perhaps at home. You have Oversize Pages which is used for say, architectural applications or wide format printing.
There are two settings called PDF A, one for CMYK, one for RGB. This is what's called the Archiving Formats, and these two settings are designed for building a PDF that you can put in the digital archive and then know that you can open it many years in the future, and be able to read it. It has been divided into a type of workflow for CMYK files, say for high quality print, and also for RGB, which might be used say for desktop printing, and that type of application out in the future. But again, those are designed to be able to build a PDF that you can archive, and then know that you can open it far, far into the future.
There is also PDF X1A and PDF X3; these two settings are designed for high quality print applications. The PDF X1A format is designed around CMYK in spot color printing. The PDF X3 file format is designed around RGB Color Managed Workflow that results in high quality printing. If you are not sure which of these is right, and you happen to be dealing with a print shop, then just ask them, and they will tell you. Press Quality is not the same as PDF X1A or PDF X3, although it sounds like you ought to be able to send this out to a press. It might be the case, but you definitely want to talk to the print shop about the whether the press quality PDF, which is a high quality PDF, but it can contain some features that make it incompatible with some print workflows, and so, you want to ask to make sure what's right. When in doubt, in a print situation, you probably want to pick PDF X1A 2001.
There's also smallest file size, and as you can imagine, it will build a PDF that is very small in file size. However it does it, by discarding information, it does it by reducing the quality of images, and reducing the resolution of images. And so, although smallest file size maybe a small file, it may not be quite right for the application at hand.
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