Vector line wash out

[William_A._Davis@adobeforums.com]

For several years I have had a problem creating PDFs with the default line size produced by MATLAB and imported as a vector graphic to my word processor. The graphic looks fine in the wp, but when printed to PDF (screen, print, or press), the lines often get washed out and can often just barely be seen. This happens for notebooks or desktops. I like to create presentations in PDF and not PPT, since I can use all of the technical capabilities of my wp. However, this graphic limitation is a real problem. Any thoughts of what I might try. Over the years I have not seen anyone touch on this problem as such on the forum.

I am using AA5.0.5 on WinXP.

[Nathan_Strong@adobeforums.com]

Try turning on "smooth line art," which is off by default in Acrobat 5.0:

1. Click Edit > Preferences > General.
2. Click on the Display section.
3. Put a checkmark on "Smooth Line Art"

Also, if you zoom in on your vector art, does it remain sharp or does it become pixellated?

Nathan

[William_A._Davis@adobeforums.com]

Nathan, I do have the smooth feature turned on. It is not a matter of being small pixels, but of the line width and strength of the color being almost gone. In the original document I see nice crisp lines, but the PDF has faint lines that almost can not be seen. I will try to get one of the presentations and save a page along with a meta file version (or a screen capture) of the graphic and post it to my web site. It may take a day or two.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

[Nathan_Strong@adobeforums.com]

Some more tips while you do that:

1. Avoid scaling your artwork within your word processor. This is known to cause problems when going to PDF. If you need to scale your artwork, do so in the original program or in an actual vector application such as Illustrator.
2. Try lowering the resolution of the Adobe PDF driver to 600 dpi. It defaults to 1200 dpi, which can trigger some printing-related bugs in some programs (and if it affects print, you can be sure it affects PDF too).

Here's how to change the resolution:

* Click Start > Printers & Faxes
* Right-click the Adobe PDF printer and choose Printing Preferences.
* Click on the Paper/Quality tab and click the Advanced button.
* Change the Print Quality setting from 1200 dpi to 600 dpi and click OK.
* Click OK on the Printing Preferences screen and close the Printers & Faxes window.

Nathan

[William_A._Davis@adobeforums.com]

I'll give some of the settings a try. I have no problem finding the settings issue, I just never did quite get the variations in the resolutions and such that might cause the problem - your suggestions are a least something to look at and I will give them a try. Bill

[William_A._Davis@adobeforums.com]

Nathan,

Neat, I knew someone might have the answer. You got me there a lot faster. I am still not sure of the difference between the resolutions in the settings file and the Print Quality. Anyway, for screen use the change helped a lot. I got even better results going to 144dpi. As I said, I am still confused about a few items, but this has been a big help in resolving an issue for me over quite a period of time.

I guess I should have played with some of the resolution issues myself, but your guidance was a big help. I may try to see if I can find some more info in the manual to clarify my understanding.

Bill

[de_Siem@adobeforums.com]

I think print resolutions are quite well explained in Dov's pdf presentation, if i rememeber correctly.

[William_A._Davis@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, I didn't remember it there, but I only scanned his presentation. Bill