[kreynolds] Help with PDF files

reveal · 24th July 2003, 08:43 PM

Thanx for the help. Ok. I need to do 2 things:

A) Make them smaller file size if possible.

2) Make different copies for different versions of Acrobat.

D) Get your ftp server info so I can leech goodies.

kreynolds · 24th July 2003, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
Thanx for the help.

No problem.

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
Ok. I need to do 2 things:

A) Make them smaller file size if possible.

Man, at 8MB, you ain't kiddin'! Let me take a look at the PDF and see if I can figure out why it's so damned big. I might just be page count, but I doubt it...

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
2) Make different copies for different versions of Acrobat.

This part will be easy.

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
D) Get your ftp server info so I can leech goodies.

All in good time.

Now, there are a few things I need to know first.

1) What's the source file (I assume an MS Word doc)?

2) How are you creating your PDF? Generally, there are three ways (especially if you're using word)...
A. Printing to a postscript file and processing it through Distiller.
B. Printing through the PDFWriter (Adobe PDF in Acrobat 6) printer.
C. Specialized function through another app (such as Save As PDF from within Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign, plugin from Quark, Icon from Word [which just prints it to distiller], etc).

kreynolds · 24th July 2003, 09:13 PM

By the way, if you would like, you can upload the original doc to my FTP server and I'll see if I can't get that file size down a bit.

reveal · 24th July 2003, 09:36 PM

All I'm doing is going in to Acrobat 6.0 and choosing to Create PDF from Multiple Files. I choose the files, sort them and let it run. My source files are the RTF files from Wizards. I have my options set, for Office files, to Standard (for some reason Smallest File Size came out bigger) and set to be compatible with Acrobat 5.0 and up.

If you want to download the files I have posted links to, feel free to grab them and play around with them. They're the originals and I have no protection on them.

kreynolds · 24th July 2003, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
All I'm doing is going in to Acrobat 6.0 and choosing to Create PDF from Multiple Files.

Ah-ha! That usually results in little or no decrease in file size at all. Though quite likely, its possible this may not be the case.

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
My source files are the RTF files from Wizards.

Oh. Well...crap.

Let me go grab 'em and I'll try it myself. Be patient with me though. I'm remote controlling my home machine from work and the connection can be a little laggy on occassion. Give me a few...

reveal · 24th July 2003, 10:26 PM

I think I may have found a solution to the file size problem. I tested out printing a Word doc to PDF and taking the same file and choosing the Create PDF option through Acrobat. The straight printing file was less than half the size of the Acrobat file with the same results as far as look.

I'm in the process of printing them all out and will combine them and reset everything with bookmarks, etc.

kreynolds · 24th July 2003, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reveal
The straight printing file was less than half the size of the Acrobat file with the same results as far as look.

Told you.

reveal · 24th July 2003, 10:36 PM

Nevermind. Even after combining everything, the file size was negligibly smaller. Around 100k smaller... maybe...

kreynolds · 24th July 2003, 10:59 PM

Hmm. I'll try and mess around with it tonight. If not, I'm off tomorrow, so I should be able to play around with it then.

GentleGiant · 25th July 2003, 12:51 AM

Hello,
I was discussing doing the same thing (compiling everything into a pdf file) with a friend of mine.
Now, where our plan differ from reveal's plan is when it comes to setting up/formatting the pdfs.
We were actually thinking of formatting it much like the core books, with two columns and the tables set up properly within the text.
Unfortunately neither of us are pdf experts, but I do have Adobe Pagemaker 7 installed on my computer and I can usually come up with a fairly satisfying result when fiddling about with such programs.
Now, kreynolds, maybe you, and perhaps reveal too, would be willing to help with setting everything up this way?
I know it's a way bigger job than just collecting the rtf files into a big pdf, but I also think it would greatly help with using the finished pdf as a source "book", especially if one were to print it all out to take to the gaming table. Reformatting the whole thing would should also cut down on the page count, since there is a lot of white space in the current pdf document.
Anyway, let me know if you guys would be willing to help. Maybe we can even put out the word that we were looking for even more volunteers - I would be surprised if there weren't at least a couple of interested fellow members who could help us along.

reveal · 25th July 2003, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by GentleGiant
Hello,
I was discussing doing the same thing (compiling everything into a pdf file) with a friend of mine.
Now, where our plan differ from reveal's plan is when it comes to setting up/formatting the pdfs.
We were actually thinking of formatting it much like the core books, with two columns and the tables set up properly within the text.
Unfortunately neither of us are pdf experts, but I do have Adobe Pagemaker 7 installed on my computer and I can usually come up with a fairly satisfying result when fiddling about with such programs.
Now, kreynolds, maybe you, and perhaps reveal too, would be willing to help with setting everything up this way?
I know it's a way bigger job than just collecting the rtf files into a big pdf, but I also think it would greatly help with using the finished pdf as a source "book", especially if one were to print it all out to take to the gaming table. Reformatting the whole thing would should also cut down on the page count, since there is a lot of white space in the current pdf document.
Anyway, let me know if you guys would be willing to help. Maybe we can even put out the word that we were looking for even more volunteers - I would be surprised if there weren't at least a couple of interested fellow members who could help us along.

That sounds like a good idea.

Check out this thread for someone who's doing exactly that.

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showt...postid=1028231

He's got a Demo posted of his work so far.

kreynolds · 25th July 2003, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by GentleGiant
Unfortunately neither of us are pdf experts...

No prob. Acrobat doesn't need to do anything but take what you have on screen and change the file type (in a nutshell).

Quote:

Originally posted by GentleGiant
...but I do have Adobe Pagemaker 7 installed on my computer...

My god, I'm sorry.

Give me Word, Illustrator, and InDesign any day o' the week!

Quote:

Originally posted by GentleGiant
Now, kreynolds, maybe you, and perhaps reveal too, would be willing to help with setting everything up this way?

I'm currently working on something like that for the "contest". In all honesty, it just gives me an excuse to use my digital book design I finished a long time ago and post in the Art forums. Besides, I wouldn't mind a cleaner SRD myself.

Quote:

Originally posted by GentleGiant
Anyway, let me know if you guys would be willing to help. Maybe we can even put out the word that we were looking for even more volunteers - I would be surprised if there weren't at least a couple of interested fellow members who could help us along.

For me, the most time consuming part is the reformatting of the text. The pagination should be a cinch and my graphics (cover pages and inner pages) are already done.