Re: ?? Frame->PS->PDF->PS Distiller 300 dpi limit??

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

If the "Distiller Assistant" printer is limiting you to a setting of
300 dpi, you clearly have that printer setup with the wrong PPD, plain
and simple. You should run the AdobePS 4.2.6 (or 4.2.4 or 4.2.5 if either
of those are already installed) setup program and create a new printer
instance that uses the Distiller's PPD (ADSTILL.PPD as I recall) in the
Distiller's XTRAS directory. That should offer you a range of resolution
settings.

Having said that, it is also true that those resolution settings ONLY
effect the generation of PostScript for images, not for text and not
for any vector artwork. Thus, if you have no images in your document,
then resolution setting are somewhat irrelevant.

Without samples to physically look at and the files, it is impossible
to know if you "lost" anything going through PDF. If the final output
meets your quality standards, it really makes no difference.

Why is the printing of PDF faster? In the process of creating PDF,
you are eliminating quite a bit of duplication and waste in the
original PostScript files. The Distiller was named such because
it "distilled" the original PostScript down into its essence, the
graphical objects, possibly downsampled and compressed, without
duplication of font definitions, programmatic constructs, etc.

With regards to your comments about the costs of printers, I would
like to assure you and others that Adobe licensing fees are NOT
the factor in any significant price differentiations between Adobe
implementations and clones. In terms of your 1 cent per page (what
size, both sides?) cost, virtually every monochrome laser sold
today should fit that bill quite easily if all you include is
service and toner, unless your laser print engine is a real dog!
Except for the high end Docutechs and their ilk, virtually all
modern-day monochrome laser printers have exceptionally high
duty cycles and are almost totally self-serviceable.

Given that I don't have your print stream to actually analyze,
I cannot tell you whether the 36ppm to 5ppm degradation is reasonable
or not. Many factors influence such performance and remote diagnosis
is futile.

         - Dov



At 11/11/99 04:05 PM , Jay Smith wrote:
>Greetings,
>
>Question: What is the real or imagined impact of "printing" to a PS file
>using Distiller assistant, which SUPPOSEDLY limits dpi to 300?
>
>Situation: When you "print" from Frame to a PS file using the Distiller
>Assistant 3.01 [I know I need to upgrade it!], the "Printer Properties"
>for Distiller Assistant seemingly indicate that the only/maximum
>graphics dpi is 300. However, the printed images do appear to look as
>good as when printed straight from FM to a 1200 dpi laser.
>
>What exactly does this "300 dpi" refer to?
>
>MORE DETAILS:  We are testing a new laser printer which uses a
>postscript clone.  (Sorry, Dov, but when you can point me to a genuine
>Adobe Postscript laser that is a duplexing llx17 30+ page per minute
>laser for less than $5000 fully equipped, that can be honestly be
>operated at ONE CENT per page including ALL service AND consumables
>except paper & the original purchase price, I will buy a couple.)
>
>The problem is that this "sorry" clone (there IS only ONE genuine
>Postscript) completely bogs down when it prints files containing
>EPS-format images.  The clone maker needs to clean up their rip engine. 
>It does not matter if I print the file directly from FM 556 (Win95) or
>if I "print" it to a PS file (using the proper driver for that printer)
>and then use a network lpr command to throw it at the printer.  Our
>books are heavy in EPS-format images (95% are NOT vector images; we use
>EPS for other reasons).  Thus this 36-page-per-minute machine slows to 5
>ppm!  Absurd!
>
>I then "printed" a typical book to a PS file (using Distiller Assistant
>3.01) and Distilled it to PDF.  I then printed the PDF from Acrobat
>Exchange 3.x on Win95.  It printed at the full rated speed of the
>printer -- a jump from 5 to 36 ppm.
>
>That was great.  But what concerns me is: what was the effect on images
>(perhaps only certain types of images?) when Distiller limits the
>graphics output resolution to 300 dpi?  Is it really limiting it? 
>(Again, the bitmap images looked good.)
>
>Next twist:  I then "printed" the same from Acrobat to a PS file.  Using
>the lpr command on our linux server, I threw that PS file at the printer
>and again it printed at about 36 ppm.  Great!  [Our books are printed,
>using postscript files, from our network; once in production, we do not
>print from the creating application.]
>
>So... two questions:
>
>1) What is the deal with the 300 dpi limit in Distiller Assistant
>"driver"? 
>
>1a) What kind of images does this affect? 
>
>1b) Does it affect EPS-format images ("bitmap content"; grayscales and
>bitmaps created/edited in Photoshop)?
>
>2) What is the deal with FRAMEMAKER's postscript and printing EPS
>images?  If the same file content is printed from FM at 5 ppm or from
>Acrobat at 36 ppm, there is obviously something different going on.  
>
>Any ideas?  Thanks!
>
>Jay
>
>-- 
>Jay Smith
>
>e-mail: Jay@JaySmith.com
>
>Jay Smith & Associates
>P.O. Box 650
>Snow Camp, NC  27349  USA
>
>Phone: Int+US+336-376-9991
>Toll-Free Phone in US & Canada:
>         1-800-447-8267
>Fax: Int+US+336-376-6750
>
>
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