HELP! OMEGA EXPORTING ISSUES-Urgent

[Pat White]

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping someone can help with this issue. I'm trying to export my Gerber plt. file as a PDF for our large format printer. When I export it changes the jpg within the layout drastically. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this job is supposed to be sent out to print today and I have 12 of these layouts to deal with.
:thankyou::thumb:

[Pat White]

bump

[beckys]

Pat,
you dont want to do an export, just a "save as" the file as a pdf

[fenris242]

download this print driver, and print a PDF out of omega...i've found that when you try to save a PDF in omega it always distorts or saves it funky.....i've played with all the settings, and primo pdf is just so much quicker, easier, and reliable with results...... just make sure to set the page size in the advanced options correctly.....any issues, feel free to PM me...i use primo all the time for customer sketches..

http://www.primopdf.com/

[hydo1]

I second the PrimoPDF suggestion, generating correct PDF files from omega is tedious.

[iSign]

did you create the layout entirely in Omega?

I can't speak to the other advice, and it may be the entire solution right there, but I wouldn't know because I never did it...

...but my workflow is to use industry standard software like Illustrator and Photoshop as the "hub" of all my graphics work, and then files may spur out in multiple directions as Omega, signlab, enroute or Flexi files are created from those Adobe source files.

For me this leads to always having a copy of my files in common familiar software, that can later be sent out in another direction, from that reliable, predictable "hub"... whether it is out to a .pdf, or a different sign software, or an outside vendor.

I would suppose Corel could work in the same way, so if the above methods don't work, I'd try removing the .jpg, exporting (or doing a save-as) only the vector content to be opened in Corel, re-introduce the .jpg, & then I would expect you to have more familiarity with a reliable process exporting out of Corel. (as well as a much larger user base to solicit additional help from, for future export capabilities out of the more commonly used software)

[animenick65]

Omega sucks at making PDFs. Problem with primo PDF is it doesn't output perfect documents. Most of the time they have small imperfections. What about saving the entire file as a big .jpg or tiff?? I know this isn't ideal for your RIP but if you don't have any other options....

[fenris242]

Omega sucks at making PDFs. Problem with primo PDF is it doesn't output perfect documents. Most of the time they have small imperfections. What about saving the entire file as a big .jpg or tiff?? I know this isn't ideal for your RIP but if you don't have any other options....


if you have problems with the imperfections, then you need to change your printer preferences within the printer properties and not through composer....i leave mine at 72dpi for customer sketches, but you can adjust it up to 600+ dpi

[Fred Weiss]

I would agree with iSign 110%. Gerber has structured Omega 2.6 to handle the opening of PDF files into Composer to be adequate but not the reverse. The last thing on their minds is providing you a quality export in that format. Gerber has a long history of going their own way in how their software interfaces with industry standards like Adobe Postscript and PDF.

[GB2]

If I make the mistake of designing something for large format print in Omega, usually I'll just import the PDF, or whatever other format you may try such as EPS, and then make the corrections in the new file and save it. They usually turn out to be a series of relatively minor corrections, typically reassigning colors to vector objects and anything white and deleting any raster images and replacing them with the original images in the new file. If you do this on a regular basis, it's a trial and error process to see which export/import process works best with the software you are using.

[Pat White]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their suggestions/tips last week. I was (finally) able to get the files to export properly and fill as they should. After almost a full day of designing and exporting, we got the files sent and had the signs (11 4' x4' 10mm coro) printed and in our hands within 4 hours. We got an phone call from the customer the next day and he was amazed with the results. He said he would be going out of his way to recommend our company to all his contacts. So in the end everything worked out great! :)
Thanks again, and when I have time one of these days I will put together a tutorial showing how i got everthing to work.
(and in the meantime...I'm going to work on my Corel skills so I don't have to design digital print files from Omega anymore!)

[Billct2]

Pat,
I still design almost exclusively in Omega,
I found a lot of things that are simple in Omega are a PITA in Corel.
(Such as outlines and shadows, I mean real outlines not strokes)
So if I'm designing a sign for digital production i do my layout in Omega,
export all the copy as .ai outlines, import into Corel and then add back the images/effects. I have become more profiecient in Corel but Omega still
works for many tasks.

[Pat White]

Bill,
I know what you mean about Corel. I've rarely used it in the past but now I'm beginning to design more intricate files that I find Omega isn't that great for.
I'm still quite "clumsy" in corel... although the similarities are more apparent between the two programs everytime I use corel.

As for exporting .ai files from composer to corel, I don't think I had ever really tried that. I'll be doing some tests this week to establish what my best options are, because this type of job will be repeating itself in the near future. Thanks for the info!
Pat