Pdf fiiles created from publisher are very large

[Anonymous]

I am having an issue publishing pdf files. They are extremely large, i.e. 5-18 MB. for drawings with about 3-4 MB of plotmaker files. I just started having this problem on a project where i have successfully created pdfs before, in the past couple of weeks. Example, I had file sizes for an exterior elevation drawing of 1.6 MB. The same drawing, albeit with some revisions, is now 16.6 MB.

[Djordje]

npacella wrote:
The same drawing, albeit with some revisions, is now 16.6 MB.

Hmmm ... what were the revisions? If you added a bitmap, or an internal engine shaded view, that might well be the reason.

[Chazz]

Raster data in the PLN (backgrounds, renderings, scans, etc) can really bloat the size of AC-generated PDFs. If you have Acrobat you can use the File>Reduce File Size command. In OSX you can use the less reliable system level Compress PDF command. Both of these techniques can help with purely vectorial data too (as opposed to Raster) but not nearly as well. Neither is a solution if you are generating PDFs and uploading them to FTP space in one fell swoop which is a bummer. It appears true that PDF's generated from AC are not as compact as those made from Acrobat or other tools.

[Anonymous]

This seems like a good wish list item...

More PDF control within Archicad.

[David Shorter]

The one thing which really boats the PDF is when symbol fill are used. In 10 this is a real killer

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this helps but I had a similar problem. When I batch plotted a number of pdf's, the plot status dialog box says they all saved ok and were of a reasonable size (50-250 kb). When I looked at the files in the directory I saved them to, several had bloated to 2-3 mb. When I went back and saved each separately, they kept their original size. What is it about batch plotting pdf's that causes them to expand significantly?

Gary Bley

[Stress Co_]

Chazz wrote:
In OSX you can use the less reliable system level Compress PDF command.

Chazz:
Are you doing this in Acrobat? Finder?

[Chazz]

Stress wrote:
Are you doing this in Acrobat? Finder?

In the standard OSX 10.4 Print dialog there is command under the PDF dropdown to compress a raster-heavy PDF. See this.

[Stress Co_]

No wonder.... I'm using 10.3

[Chazz]

Stress wrote:
No wonder.... I'm using 10.3

As I said previously, the Compress PDF command in OSX 10.4 is less reliable than the Reduce File Size command in Acrobat (at least in version 6 which is my latest) but it can sometimes help.

Not that I'd want to stress you out any further, but 10.3 -> 10.4 is a yummy jump which (for me, anyway) was all goodness and no badness. In fact, unlike AC upgrades, I don't think I've ever installed an Apple OS update and regretted it. They are rock solid, deliver functionality and productivity and are nearly trivial to load. A remarkable feat when you consider the complexity underlying the act. GS would be well served to look to Apple when setting the bar for their future upgrades.