Re: FrameMaker file to PDF help

[Kevin McLauchlan <KMcLauchlan -at- CHRYSALIS-ITS -dot- COM>]

Rebecca said to Theresa:

        Theresa, I think there may be an easier way -- If you have the whole
        Acrobat Exchange product loaded, you can just "print" to .pdf by
        choosing Adobe PDFWriter as your printer.  It creates the .pdf file
in
        the location that you specify (it asks).

        I've never seen a color change problem when I do it this way.
Actually,
        I've never had a problem at all when I do it this way.


Shucks, ya beat me to it!

But it might be worth adding:

FrameMaker Windoze version uses the Windoze GUI
and the RGB color space -- it don't know nuffin' about CMYK,
so color work is very chancy and imprecise with FM and
Windoze.  Use a Mac for the final output, if you can.

But if that's not the main problem, then...
FrameMaker uses the current default printer, when
"Sav[ing] as...PDF" or when "Print[ing]". So, if the printer
that was current at the time you created the doc is not the
same one that's current as you save (or print), then color
matching may be way off.

However, when you print, you at least have the opportunity
to select a printer and adjust settings.  When you "Save as..."
FM makes assumptions and doesn't let you modify them.
From either command ("Save as..." or "Print"), the process
to a PDF is the same.  You print to a Postscript file, and
then the .ps file is distilled to PDF. "Save as..." merely
hides that from you, by using a temporary Postscript file,
which it then distills.

If an actual printer is your current print device, and you
tell Windoze to print to a PS file, then the .PPD for that
printer is used, and the resulting Postscript file is "tuned"
for that printer's characteristics... including color-handling,
font metrics and all that stuff.  That could explain the green
turning blue.

For the most reliable PDFing, from FrameMaker, set Acrobat
Distiller as your default printer instance. (It should have been
set up as a Windoze printer, using the distiller .PPD file --
which I vaguely recall is named something like Adistill.ppd.)

For more detail, I highly recommend the Adobe User-to-User
FrameMaker forum and the two Framers mailing lists. The
denizens therein are possibly even more friendly and helpful
than this bunch of good Samaritans.   <g>

Kevin McLauchlan
kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com    (aka  kevinmcl -at- netrover -dot- com)
Journeyman techy writer, duffer skydiver, full-time unrepentent chocoholic

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rebecca Merck [SMTP:Rebecca -dot- Merck -at- ONESOFT -dot- COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 1999 1:25 PM
> Subject:      Re: FrameMaker file to PDF help
>
> Theresa, I think there may be an easier way -- If you have the whole
> Acrobat Exchange product loaded, you can just "print" to .pdf by
> choosing Adobe PDFWriter as your printer.  It creates the .pdf file in
> the location that you specify (it asks).
>
> I've never seen a color change problem when I do it this way.  Actually,
> I've never had a problem at all when I do it this way.
>
> Hope that helps!
>
> -Rebecca
>
> > ----------
> > From:         Theresa Wolfe[SMTP:tdw -at- PTSOFT -dot- COM]
> > Reply To:     Theresa Wolfe
> > Sent:         Friday, January 07, 2000 12:55 PM
> > To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> > Subject:      FrameMaker file to PDF help
> >
> > Hi!
> > I am having some difficulty with changing my Frame documents into
> > PDF's.
> > When I do covert the document, everything (background graphics & text)
> > that was green, turns a dull blue.
> > The only thing that survives the conversion process intact is a
> > embedded bitmap graphic.
> > The following, is the process that I have been performing to convert
> > Frame documents to a PDF format.
> > 1.  File>Save As
> > 2.  Save As type>PDF
> > 3.  Add .pdf to the end of the file name
> > 4.  Choose a destination for the file
> > 5.  Click the 'Save' button
> > 6.  Acrobat Setup> I choose the appropriate bookmark source paragraphs
> > & I checked 'Articles' (Thread by text frame)
> >
> > If anybody has an idea of what I have been doing wrong, or what Frame
> > has been performing incorrectly, please reply off list.
> >
> > Thank you for your assistance :)
> >
> > Theresa Wolf
> > Co-op Technical Writer
> > Peartree Software Inc.
> >
> > ======================================================================
> > =====
> > Send commands to listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g., SIGNOFF
> > TECHWR-L)
> >
> >
> >


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