PSD type becomes jaggy when placed into...

I created a Photoshop CS3 file which contained Adobe OpenType fonts, then saved it as .psd. Then placed that file in ID3. Then I exported it to PDF for use on a direct to plate RIP. The type created in ID3 is crisp but the type created in the placed PS3 is jaggy when viewed in Acrobat.

Shouldn't all the vectors in the .psd file be retained and not rasterized when exported to PDF?

I can't find any settings in either PS3, ID3 or the export PDF that could be to blame. I also searched all the help topics as well as this forum. Only thing I found was this in the Photoshop help:

''Photoshop preserves vector-based type outlines and uses them when you scale or resize type, save a PDF or EPS file, or print the image to a PostScript printer. As a result, it鈥檚 possible to produce type with crisp, resolution-independent edges.''

What am I missing?
PSD type becomes jaggy when placed into...
You need to save as PDF from Photoshop and place that in InDesign in

order to retain vector information.



Bob
PSD type becomes jaggy when placed into...
Thanks Bob,

Even tho I didn't post it, I tried that as well with the same result. I also tried saving the PSD file as an EPS and also didn't work.

I think I remember doing this successfully in the past, I'm sure it must be some small detail I'm forgetting.

If you placed the PDF and the exported file appears jaggy in Acrobat, it might be your Acrobat settings for smoothing. Check you acrobat prefs.



Peter

Thanks Peter:

All my Preferences-%26gt;Page Display-%26gt;Rendering are set to smooth line art and smooth images. (Which shouldn't apply because this is vector data I'm dealing with.)

I'm now testing with just a couple lines of PS text to make it faster.

Save as PDF in PS3, place PDF in ID3, export PDF, view in Acrobat. When viewed in Acrobat ID3 text is sharp...PS3 PDF is jaggy.

I have since also tried turning off ''Compress text and line art'' in the ID3 Export PDF compression settings. I also tried turning off all compression when I saved the text to PDF in PS3.

I also tried using the 'Print' command in ID3 to create a postscript file, then open with Distiller to create the PDF. Same result.



Would someone try this to see if it works for them? I just don't know what to try next.

Is the font really embedded? I don't know why it wouldn't be if you made the Photoshop file, but...



If you post a link to your samples I'll have a look, or you can email to me at spammercatch at comcast dot net if they're small enough.

Thanks again Peter:

I'm emailing you an ID packaged zip file. Its only 574kB. Shouldn't take you too long to repeat what I did.

James

James,



I think this is a bug in Photoshop CS4. Selecting an anti-aliasing method for the type in Photoshop improves the appearance, but the type is still both jaggier and bolder than the same type set directly in ID.



I set some samples in Photoshop CS3 to see if there was a difference, and they work as expected.



Peter

Thanks for taking the time to do this test for me Peter!



Hmmm....you're saying that you got no jaggy type using all CS3?

I haven't upgraded to Photoshop CS4 yet. So I guess at least you found a bug there.

All my files were created in CS3. So if you got good results with CS3 it means that there's something that I'm not doing correctly. Or perhaps I should reinstall or dump the prefs or something. I'll keep working on it. I need to get this file sent to the printer's FTP site tomorrow. So if I can't make it work, I'll just have to strip out all the text from PS3 and reset it in ID3.



James

I didn't check CS3 without an anti-aliasing choice, I was already preset to ''sharp.'' I placed my CS3 PDF into your CS4 ID doc to compare.



I just did another test using ''Sharp'' and ''None'' in CS3 and placed it into ID CS4, and they both come in identical to ID set type.

Peter:

It just occured to me to use the preflight command in Acrobat to list the attributes of all the objects on the final PDF.

If you choose the ''PDF Anaylsis'' option and run ''List All Page Objects'' you will see that there are 2 bitmap objects and 1 type object. This means that the vector data from PS3 and the PDF did not pass thru as vectors but was rastered during the export PDF process. I don't know if that normal or not. It seems to me what is the purpose of including the ability to set type in photoshop if when you create a PDF the vector data of that type is lost?

Can you do the same thing with the PDF you created?

Also keep in mind I don't have any CS4 products, I'm using all CS3 and Acrobat 8.

Thanks, James

Well this is pretty weird.



I started from scratch instead of using your file and things have just gotten weirder and weirder. First I was able to make a good PDF in CS4, then I wasn't, and I think it was after opening yours. CS3 continues to work perfectly for me.



If I start from your psd it doesn't work in CS3 or CS4, so I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with that. Plus, now new files I make in CS3 don't work either. How did you get to the point of having only one layer?



Try replacing the Photoshop preferences and see what happens.

Pretty weird indeed.



But you're on the right track by deleting Photoshop prefs. That allowed me to get the exported PDF and EPS to work correctly. (Placing a PSD file into InDesign won't carry forward vector info as stated by Bob)

But I still have a file from my customer that she created in PS3 that contains fonts which when saved as PDF and placed in ID3 still gets rastered. The file doesn't break Photoshop or anything but I still can't figure out why that particular file doesn't work.



Thanks for taking the time to run thru this with me. And I'm sorry that my files may have fubared your copy of PS. You could probably trash your prefs too. I know what a pain it is to have to rebuild all your prefs. Hopefully you have a backup copy of your previous .psp file.

Oh yes, and the way to get to one transparent layer is to create a new layer and trash the background layer.

What's the font? Perhaps it doesn't allow embedding?



Don't worry about my prefs. I keep rigorous backups for occasions like this. ;)



I don't think that trashing the background should have caused the corruption, but I wondered if that was it. If you start with a new file and make the content transparent to start, you should wind up with only the text layer without having to do anything else. After export though, the PDFs I was getting seemed to have a white background, but that well could have been a byproduct of the corruption.



Peter

Well I came back this morning and did another test same as before. And the jaggys are back.

So I deleted my Photoshop CS3 prefs file once again and created new PSD, PDF and EPS test type, placed into InDesign CS3 and exported to PDF as before and it cured the problem.

So I think I just confirmed that the Photoshop prefs are the cause of the problem. So something is triggering the prefs to go fubar. I had opened some customer's Photoshop Elements files inbetween my testing so maybe thats the culprit. I'll have to do more testing to find out.



In answer to your question I'm only using Adobe OpenType fonts for the testing. However the other files I have been opening have all manner of customer fonts in them (mostly TTF). Perhaps there lies the problem.

And I also tried testing with both white and transparent backgrounds in PS and they came out the same.



Thanks again for your help Peter. :)

Whatever is going on is coming from some file you are opening which is corrupting the prefs (and the files, too -- your test .psd was enough to create the issue when I opened it and tried to export a PDF). %26lt;br /%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;I don't know what to tell you other than to ask whoever sent you the file to replace their preferences and make a NEW file, not just resave, and provide that. I's also make a copy of a good set of prefs on your system to save yourself some time because I think you're gong to be replacing them regularly for a while. \Documents and Settings\%26lt;username%26gt;\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Adobe Photoshop CS3 Settings\%26lt;br /%26gt;%26lt;br /%26gt;I'd back up the whole folder, just to be sure, but if you've been using the three-key shortcut the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Prefs.psp file is probably all you need.

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