UPDATE: (Was: PDF Will Not Print)

["Dov Isaacs" <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

==========================================================
Jay Rush wins the "Entomology Lab Prize" du jour from Dov!
==========================================================


Yesterday, Jay Rush reported on the "framers" list that he was having
a problem printing a particular PDF file (gory details repeated below).

In any case, we have duplicated his symptoms at Adobe. Bottom line is
that he generated a perfectly valid PDF file that when sent to print with
Acrobat 5 under Windows (and probably Mac as well) to PostScript Level 2
printers (any) results in an endless loop in PostScript. The job will
either timeout causing the job to terminate, possibly with an error
handler message page that doesn't necessarily mean anything OR the printer
will look like it is chasing its tail until you press the "job cancel"
button on the printer's control panel (if its got one) or reboot the
printer. The job processes perfectly on any Adobe PostScript 3 printer.

What is happening is that the PDF file has smooth-shaded gradients. These
gradients are handled natively by Adobe PostScript 3 devices. For earlier
PostScript devices, Acrobat needs to do something "different." Acrobat
Reader 4 and Acrobat 4 would produce a low resolution bitmap for such
gradients. Acrobat Reader 5 and Acrobat 5 attempted to produce a much
better gradient in such cases. Unfortunately, it appears that in some
boundary condition(s), the result is endless looping in the generated
PostScript. This problem does NOT seem to occur with the vast majority
of gradients.

The good news is that not only have I reproduced the problem, but so
have Adobe's Acrobat QA and Acrobat Development groups. It is now a
high severity, high priority bug in our database for which we will 
attempt to have a fix in a forthcoming service pack release.

Jay, thanks from our Acrobat groups for reporting this and providing 
the evidence file.

        - Dov


At 7/11/2001 11:01 AM, Dov Isaacs wrote:
>Jay,
>
>Some preliminary results. I'll update when I know some more.
>
>(1) The PDF file prints perfectly fine to my HP LaserJet 8500 printer,
>an HP printer that is really a Canon engine, EFI Fiery RIP with Adobe
>PostScript 3 RIP, and an HP JetDirect card and logo slapped on. 
>No problem at all. Prints quickly.
>
>(2) HP LaserJet 5M with Adobe PostScript Level 2. It's been cranking
>for quite a while now as if in an endless loop of some type or another.
>You are probably getting a PostScript error due to a job timeout as opposed
>to any other reason (my printer has timeouts disabled ...).
>
>These symptoms point to the possibility (very real) that the gradients
>from the CorelDRAW EPS are the source of the problem somehow. PostScript 3
>devices support "smooth shading"; PostScript Level 2 devices don't. But
>Acrobat should be smart enough to convert the smooth-shaded gradients to
>vectors or images for anything less than PostScript 3 devices.
>
>I'll let you know whether the job ever finishes on my LaserJet 5M.
>One way or another, there is indeed a problem and I will submit the PDF
>file to our Acrobat QA organization for them to further analyze and look
>for a fix.
>
>        - Dov

*

>At 7/11/2001 10:14 AM, Rush, Jay wrote:
>>Thanks for your help. Here are my files. I believe I zipped them correctly.
>>My folder hierarchy is as follows:  I have an "art", "original art", and
>>"Symbols" folder under a "test" folder. "test" contains my Frame file and
>>the resulting PS and PDF. "art" contains two EPS files created in CorelDraw
>>8. "original art" contains two versions of the problem EPS. The non-scaled
>>version is what is imported into Frame, but both don't print. The other EPS
>>prints fine in the PDF. The "Symbols" folder is included just so you won't
>>get any missing file errors. 
>>
>>I created the PS file with the Acrobat Distiller PPD, AdobePS 5.2 driver. I
>>then distilled with the following options:  Acrobat 4.0 compatibility,
>>bicubic downsampling to 192 dpi with medium JPEG compression, embedding all
>>fonts, default color settings, no DSC. On my HP 5si PS printer, page 1 of
>>the PDF will print, it hangs on page 2 with an imported EPS, but it will
>>print the other pages, including page 6, which also has an imported EPS.
>>
>>By the way, a fellow Frame/Acrobat user responded to my initial postings on
>>the Framers list and asked to test my PDF. She printed this file with no
>>problem on a Xerox N2125 printer (what she called a true blue AdobePS
>>printer).
>>
>>Thanks again.

*

>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Dov Isaacs [mailto:isaacs@adobe.com]
>>Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 11:40 AM
>>To: Rush, Jay
>>Cc: framers@FrameUsers.com
>>Subject: Re: PDF Will Not Print
>>Importance: High
>>
>>Jay,
>>
>>First of all, the LaserJet 5siMX does indeed have Adobe PostScript Level 2,
>>not a clone. It was the last generation of HP monochrome LaserJets to have
>>Adobe PostScript. However, I don't think that this is the problem.
>>
>>Could you please send me samples off-list (including source FrameMaker and 
>>CorelDRAW documents as well as the EPS files you generated) so that I can 
>>analyze what is actually on here. The problem may be in the PostScript output
>>by Corel, but I need to see for myself.
>>
>>        - Dov

*

>>At 7/11/2001 05:14 AM, Jay Rush wrote:
>>>I have had a similar problem since mid-June. (See "Acrobat 5 created PDFs
>>>not printing" on the Archive from 6/15.) My printing problem did not begin
>>>with our Frame 5.5.6 to 6.0 upgrade, but with our Acrobat 3.02 to 5.0
>>>upgrade. We skipped Acrobat 4. CorelDraw 8, 9, and 10 exported EPSs
>>>imported into Frame by reference are our problem when we print to an HP
>>>5si PS printer, which I've been told is a clonescript interpreter printer,
>>>not a true AdobePS printer.
>>>
>>>We only have this problem if we distill our PS files with Acrobat 4 (PDF
>>>1.3) and 5 (PDF 1.4) compatibility. If we distill with Acrobat 3 (PDF 1.2)
>>>compatibility, then our PDFs print.
>>>
>>>We were going to scrap Acrobat 5 and buy Acrobat 4, hoping that it would
>>>be the fix, but if you are having this problem with Frame 6/Acrobat 4, I'm
>>>at a loss.
>>>
>>>I've posted this issue on this list and Adobe's FrameMaker and Acrobat
>>>user forums, and I've logged about 5 hours with Adobe Customer Support
>>>with no success. Something's going on with EPSs and PDF v. 1.3 and 1.4
>>>when printing to non-true PS printers.
>>>
>>>I can empathize, but until now, I thought we were the only ones with this
>>>problem. I hope Adobe pursues this issue further.
>>>
>>>Jay Rush


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