EPS Files

EPS files are comprised of two parts: the actual PostScript code describing the file contents and a low-resolution preview header. Choose the PostScript option if the PDF will be output on a PostScript device. (Note that a placeholder indicating an embedded EPS file will be placed in the PDF preview; however, the PostScript portion of the EPS file will print to a PostScript device.) Choose Preview for screen output and proofing.

Colors

As with other output methods from DRAW, you have color conversion choices for Publish to PDF. Color management for print output is discussed in detail in Chapter 27, as are DRAW 9’s Help files, and this information is applicable to the Publish to PDF feature as well. But here are a few simple rules of thumb.

Output All Objects As This option controls the color conversion of all objects in the original file, unless Preserve Spot Colors is checked at the top of this dialog page. If the Use Color Profile option below is unchecked, and you choose to output as RGB, all document colors will be converted to DRAW 9’s currently active default RGB profile. Use the Set Profiles button to set DRAW’s internal RGB profile. If you choose output as CMYK, all CMYK objects will be untouched; all other objects will be converted to CMYK through DRAW’s default colorspace. For grayscale, objects will be converted to grayscale based on their RGB values.

Use Color Profile If you check this option, you have two choices for color conversion: the active composite printer profile or the active separations printer profile. To make another profile active, click the Set Profiles button and browse to the ICM file you wish to activate.

Document

The settings on the sparsely populated Document page are for PDF files created as the final destination: screen presentations, Web pages, and archives, for example. You should disable all of these options if your PDF will be output to a PostScript device.

Include Hyperlinks

In DRAW 9 you can assign URLs to artistic and paragraph text, as well as graphic objects (which can be managed through DRAW 9’s Link Manager docker). Enabling the Include Hyperlinks option will create a clickable “hotspot” in the PDF file which will open your Internet browser to the Web page assigned to the link.

Generate Bookmarks

Generate Bookmarks is similar to Include Hyperlinks, except that the bookmarks generated will jump to and from page locations within the PDF file itself. DRAW 9 includes a Bookmark Manager docker to manage these links. In addition, Adobe Acrobat will display the bookmarks as a table of contents next to the main PDF window.

Generate Thumbnails

If you check this option, DRAW will create thumbnails of each page in the PDF file. When you view the file in Adobe Acrobat, you can view the thumbnails in a separate window and use them to navigate through the PDF file.

On Start, Display

These four options—Page Only, Full Screen, Thumbnails, and Bookmarks—control how the PDF file initially displays in Adobe Acrobat. Page Only will show you only the main page of the PDF file, regardless of whether thumbnails have been generated. Full Screen will display the PDF without the Adobe Acrobat standard toolbars and menus (the Esc key returns the application window). The Thumbnails or Bookmarks options will direct Adobe Acrobat to open the PDF file and display either the thumbnails or bookmarks generated for the PDF. (You must select the option to generate thumbnails or bookmarks for this display option to be available.)

Should You Dump Distiller?

If you haven’t already purchased Acrobat Exchange and Distiller, you may no longer find a compelling reason to do so. If you already own it, you should be aware of some of its features not yet implemented in DRAW’s Publish to PDF engine.

•  With Distiller, you can generate preseparated PDF files. However, by preseparating PDF files you give up some of the biggest reasons PDF is becoming so popular: editability, soft-proofing, fast and efficient transfer, and the benefits of in-RIP functionality. There are better tools available to separate PDF files at the right point in the workflow, such as CrackerJack and PostScript 3 RIPs.

•  If you cannot live without preseparated files but still don’t wish to invest in Distiller, you can take the long way around by creating preseparated PostScript files, importing each separation back into DRAW and publishing separate PDF files. Hey, where there’s a will, there’s a way.

•  In Acrobat Exchange you can “combine” multiple PDF files into one. Again, you can also do this in DRAW, by taking advantage of its excellent PDF import filters and then publishing the whole enchilada to PDF. Still, it’s easier to do it with Exchange if you own it.

•  Acrobat Exchange allows you to set various levels of file security, such as password protection, printing rights, etc. We’ve found no workaround for these options in DRAW 9.

•  Distiller allows “watched folders” for automatically generating PDF files from using preset options. Of course, with Publish to PDF, you create the PDF file automatically.

•  And the most conspicuous limitation, jobs that require bleeds are not as easily produced with DRAW and Publish to PDF. With Distiller, you create a print file, and therefore it is simple to define a page size larger than the actual page in DRAW. But Publish to PDF concerns itself only with the page, not any elements that hang over it. To create a bleed and output it with Publish to PDF, you would need to adjust the page size in DRAW first.

Aside from the above, we haven’t seen much that Acrobat Exchange and Distiller can do that you can’t do directly with DRAW’s Publish to PDF engine. And with it, we’ve seen some things that Acrobat Exchange and Distiller can’t do. The best news for you, though, is if you need to create solid PDF files, you won’t have to leave home to do it.

We think DRAW 9’s Publish to PDF is the Rookie of the Year for 1999.