PDF to Illustrator back to PDF

[Lenny]

Hey people,

We've been given a PDF file to put in the newspaper but the complexity of it crashes our RIPS. Opening the PDF file in Illustrator reveals the thousands of layers (I'm not kidding - there are oodles of them!)
We run Pitstop over the PDF and gives us 177 pages of warnings on the colour used. While it's CMYK, it also includes Index which we don't like. We think the problem is the gradients used and the sheer complexity of the graphics. Can we somehow, in Illustrator, flatten this to one layer so it's treated as a single image rather than multi layered beyond belief? Also face the problem of missing fonts opening it in Illustrator.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!:confused: :confused:

[scottie]

go ahead and flatten the file. Make sure you save an original copy first. Now, on the flattened version select all, apple-a. Now see if you have a font problem. With the flattened file still selected do apple-sht-o or choose outline from the menu. If you don't get a error message your good to go. If you get a message like, can't find outline file for font.....you'll have to have your client outline the file and resend it to you. Hope this helps

[Lenny]

That sounds like the way to go but when we first open the file, the fonts are all wacky and shooting here and there, can Illustrator be told to outline all text on opening?

BTW, we use PCs but I know which keys to substitute Apple etc for but just for future ref! :D

[scottie]

I sounds to me, from your description, that you don't have the fonts used by your client. The easiest thing to do is have your client outline the font on their end before they send it to you....or have your client collect all the fonts used and send them to you on disk or in a folder using ZIPIT or Stuffit. Then you will have to install the fonts on your end. This font loading could be a problem if the client is on a MAC and you are on a PC. My choice would be to have the file outlined by the client before you get it.

[Paul C]

Tell the client that without the fonts or outlines, your only option is to rasterize the file, which is the truth.

peace

[Lenny]

I thought as much with the font issue! It's an ad we're picking up from another newspaper which I'm guessing their artists did - whether we can convince them to outline the fonts is a whole other challenge!
Guess it will be a raster job! Oh well.

Thanks for the feedback.

[The Repro Kid]

That sounds like the way to go but when we first open the file, the fonts are all wacky and shooting here and there, can Illustrator be told to outline all text on opening?

BTW, we use PCs but I know which keys to substitute Apple etc for but just for future ref! :D

Illustrator can't turn the fonts to outline when opening or even after opening, if you don't have the fonts needed loaded in your system.

But Illustrator can tell you what fonts are missing if you don't have the fonts needed loaded in your system.

In any event, open the file in illustrator and go to the type menu. Select "find fonts" to discover what fonts you are missing. The missing fonts will have an asterisk next to them. When you find out what fonts you are missing then you may be able to just find a copy of the fonts for yourself without the help of the client.

Come to think of it, you shouldn't even have to go to "find font" because Illustrator tells you what fonts are missing every time you open a file that is missing fonts.

My big guess is that maybe the art was done on a mac and you are on a PC so maybe someone is trying to avoid a cross platform font issue, but they are going about it in the wrong way.

But the thing with the layers is easy to solve. Unlock all and then select all, then copy and paste to a new document. No more layers, unless of course you use "paste remembers layers." But then again it may not have hundreds of layers, the layers might just be "open." Now with illustrator, you can open a layer to see it's sub-layers, each sub-layer is a separate object, whether it's a shape, line, block of type, or an image, each object has it's own sub-layer. If the illustrator file was a complex drawing, and if you opened the layer to reveal the sublayers it would appear to have hundreds layers, even though there may just be two or three, or even one real layer. Scroll up and down in the layers palette and close any arrows that are spilled open, this will hide your sublayers.

Index color in a CMYK file? That can't be printed on the cmyk plates. You would have to have a spot plate for each indexed color. An indexed file with a color table of 16 could have as many as 16 plates. Convert any index file to process before attempting to output.