PDF Printing Problems

General HighDesign Discussions
Post Reply
simon
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:06 pm

PDF Printing Problems

Post by simon »

Just been to the print shop to run a few A1 drawings off. Already had problems with losing things when converting to pdfs in the past but thought I had overcome this by converting pdfs via the print preview screen as my previous post.The PDFs on screen are now fine however the print was missing text, lines missing, lines added it was a complete mess! The guy in the print shop converted the file to a jpeg then back to a pdf but there has been a loss in print quality which I am a bit dissapointed about but I have a deadline so the drawings will have to go as they stand.

Whats the deal with highdesign and pdfs? does anyone have any other suggestions on how or what to save a hidesign file as and be able to print drawings at a print shop.
If this carries on I will have to consider using another package. Whats the point in an architectural cad package that you can't print from!

simon
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:06 pm

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by simon »

just to add i went back to the print shop with the instructions contained within giovannis "pdf revisited" post, made no difference, the tech guys in the print shop were pretty baffled by why it was scrambling the drawing as well. They seemed to suggest that it may be a mac pc compatibility issue as the print shop worked soley from pc's.

User avatar
matthew.Stanfield
Posts: 162
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:10 am
Location: Mansfield, OHio
Contact:

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by matthew.Stanfield »

Do you know if the print shop is sending the file directly to the printer or if they are using Adobe Acrobat to send the file?

I have had all kinds of issues similar to what you are describing when printing PDFs created in HD through Adobe Acrobat. However, when the file is sent directly to the printer, the prints come out beautifully. That being said, if the print shops used Acrobat, have them try using the "Print as Image" option in the print dialog. Using this option seems to resolve random deletions and added lines. However there does seem to be a slight loss in quality using this option.
matthew.Stanfield
Principal Architect
FiELD9: architecture
Mansfield, OHio
http://www.field9architecture.com

macitect
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: California

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by macitect »

I have had issues like what both you and Matthew have described. There is definitely an issue printing PDFs from Highdesign from acrobat. The real problem is finding out where the fault actually lies - with HD, with the MacOS or with acrobat. The most frustrating thing is that PDFs are supposed to be immune to this kind of problem.

Now that a few of us have documented this problem perhaps the guys at ilexsoft might dig a little deeper to see what can be done about it. I wish I could be of more help, but in the meantime it might be worth finding a printer who can at least print from a Mac platform. THey come out beautifully from preview...

simon
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:06 pm

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by simon »

the guy in the print shop used the "print what you see on screen" option which I figure is the same as what mathew has just mentioned in his post, but there was a loss in quality. I suppose I'll just have to either spend a fortune on my own printer (never going to happen) or just continue with slightly disapointing print outs.

simon
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:06 pm

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by simon »

just to add see what you mean about printing from preview. just done it on my small home printer and there in a different league. That makes it even more frustrating when you see the difference in quality.

macitect
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:52 pm
Location: California

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by macitect »

simon,

do you produce most of your documentation at Arch D/A1 size? I've moved everything to Arch B/A3 size and can do it all from a wide format desktop printer... If you cannot find a local printer who has macs this might be a more viable option.

although, again I say (with plenty of hope!) that maybe the ilexsoft guys will look deeper into this now, as I suspect most people using this program don't waste their money maintaining a plotter.

Giovanni
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon May 03, 2004 10:28 am
Location: Ilexsoft HQ

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by Giovanni »

The forthcoming HighDesign X14 will bring a new PDF engine which will solve all these issues occurring when printing from Acrobat.
Giovanni Suraci
ilexsoft - Look Ahead

simon
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 6:06 pm

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by simon »

Macitect,

Maybe have to consider this just think when your doing small to medium extensions etc you can get all the info you need on an a1 sheet.

In response to Giovanni whilst this is good news it's a shame the currentedition has this problem. I paid for this package and I don't think it's to much to ask to be able to print simply from a PDF.

kohledfusion
Posts: 207
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2007 5:14 pm
Location: Pahoa, Hawai'i. Yes, where the lava is.

Re: PDF Printing Problems

Post by kohledfusion »

Worst case, print to PDF, then use Preview to convert the file to a high res jpg. Image quality won't be as nice, but you do get a usable print. My print shop this method out over a week of hair tearing . Another gotcha we encountered is that I could not email the jpg to them...it had to be on a thumb drive in person. I will be thrilled when this PDF issue is fixed. I had to buy my own large format printer back in 2007 (which just died of old age) because no print shop could print my HD files.
Pahoa, HI

* Architectural Drafting & Design * Metal Art *
* Custom Quilts * Web Design and Programming *

Post Reply