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PDF and Illustrator
- Thread starter CreativeCreationGraphics
- Start date
CreativeCreationGraphics
New Member
How do I do that and what does that mean? The customer said that she had flattened it before she sent it
CreativeCreationGraphics
New Member
When I just open in illustrator, it opens both the pages on different artboards but the second page is still wrong
CreativeCreationGraphics
New Member
I just tried placing it, same thing
Rick
Certified Enneadecagon Designer
The vector Dr had a thread that explains this process but I couldn't find it so here is a link;
How can I open a PDF in illustrator and convert text with a missing font into outlines
How can I open a PDF in illustrator and convert text with a missing font into outlines
GAC05
Quit buggin' me
This used to work but not so much any more.
Maybe it is just files with images in the background but I get this error message more often than not:
When I click the embed option the missing font message pops up and we are right back to square 1.
Surprisingly when I import the same file into my old but trusted CorelDraw X5 and ask it to convert the fonts to paths on import...it does.
Providing further proof of the '1000 times faster than AI' theorem.
wayne k
guam usa
Johnny Best
Active Member
Download the .pdf file on here and we will see if we can help you, or not.
tulsagraphics
New Member
When using "Flatten Transparency" on a linked file -- make sure "Convert All Text to Outlines" is checked.
Attachments
tulsagraphics
New Member
Also, when opening a multi-page PDF... it's usually best to create a new document, then use File > Place and select "Show Import Options". You can only open a single page from a multi-page PDF when using this method (it will give you the option to navigate each page with thumbnails previews / page numbers prior to import), but this will preserve the file "linking" option, after which you can use Flatten Transparency, as mentioned in my post above.
Attachments
Opening customer provided PDFs can often be a crap shoot, even if the PDF was generated by Adobe Illustrator. There's lots of things the person creating the PDF can do to mess up things.
It's no big deal at all to convert fonts embedded in a PDF to outlines. That's easy. Just place the PDF into a new document, making sure you check "link" when placing the file. Then go the "flatten transparency" dialog box. Make sure to check "convert fonts to outlines" and pull that quality bar on vectors to 100%.
The other stuff involved with opening PDF artwork is the harder part. Lots of people will save .AI files without PDF compatibility to conserve on file size. The same thing goes with creating PDFs from Illustrator artwork. By default the option to preserve Illustrator editing capability is turned on. But you can save a good bit on file size by un-checking that box. Doing so comes at a pretty big cost for anyone trying to import the PDF. Such artwork may feature lots of objects contained in clipping masks or even clipping groups within clipping groups. Some fills and effects may be converted to raster format rather than vector. I'll sometimes resort to that stunt when saving password protected PDFs to give to customers. A rival sign company wanting to re-purpose that artwork would have some cheese grater on the forehead work to do cleaning up the artwork if they got past the password barrier. Most applications not Adobe-branded that can generate PDFs will default to every trick in the book to minimize file sizes. And that means creating PDFs that can be a real pain to import and edit.
Unless you're working with CorelDRAW X8 or later, Corel is going to be suspect at importing any PDF artwork generated by Adobe Illustrator or really anything else for that matter. Preview the PDF in Adobe Reader or Acrobat DC to get an idea of how the artwork is supposed to look. Then try importing it. Complex fills featuring gradients and levels of transparency are going to be tricky. If the application that generated the PDF made use of certain third party plug-ins that could complicate the situation.
I use Astute Graphics' Vector First Aid plug-in from time to time when importing PDF-based artwork. It's not a perfect solution, but it does cut way down on all the clipping mask objects and clipping groups. There will be less to look at and fix in the hierarchical objects tree within the layers panel.
It's no big deal at all to convert fonts embedded in a PDF to outlines. That's easy. Just place the PDF into a new document, making sure you check "link" when placing the file. Then go the "flatten transparency" dialog box. Make sure to check "convert fonts to outlines" and pull that quality bar on vectors to 100%.
The other stuff involved with opening PDF artwork is the harder part. Lots of people will save .AI files without PDF compatibility to conserve on file size. The same thing goes with creating PDFs from Illustrator artwork. By default the option to preserve Illustrator editing capability is turned on. But you can save a good bit on file size by un-checking that box. Doing so comes at a pretty big cost for anyone trying to import the PDF. Such artwork may feature lots of objects contained in clipping masks or even clipping groups within clipping groups. Some fills and effects may be converted to raster format rather than vector. I'll sometimes resort to that stunt when saving password protected PDFs to give to customers. A rival sign company wanting to re-purpose that artwork would have some cheese grater on the forehead work to do cleaning up the artwork if they got past the password barrier. Most applications not Adobe-branded that can generate PDFs will default to every trick in the book to minimize file sizes. And that means creating PDFs that can be a real pain to import and edit.
Unless you're working with CorelDRAW X8 or later, Corel is going to be suspect at importing any PDF artwork generated by Adobe Illustrator or really anything else for that matter. Preview the PDF in Adobe Reader or Acrobat DC to get an idea of how the artwork is supposed to look. Then try importing it. Complex fills featuring gradients and levels of transparency are going to be tricky. If the application that generated the PDF made use of certain third party plug-ins that could complicate the situation.
I use Astute Graphics' Vector First Aid plug-in from time to time when importing PDF-based artwork. It's not a perfect solution, but it does cut way down on all the clipping mask objects and clipping groups. There will be less to look at and fix in the hierarchical objects tree within the layers panel.
tulsagraphics
New Member
Agreed. First Aid definitely helps.
All of this fudgery and converting is great for this art. DON'T try to do it with anything more complex. All of the "flattening" and save as eps stuff can throw color in a bucket.
It's always best to just get the file in the format the art was created in. Period. It usually takes less time than diffusing the pdf bomb. And...no wondering if it's right.
It's always best to just get the file in the format the art was created in. Period. It usually takes less time than diffusing the pdf bomb. And...no wondering if it's right.
I definitely agree with getting a copy of the artwork in its original, native format. If it was created in Adobe Illustrator it's best to get a copy of the original .AI file (but with the fonts included or all type converted to outlines). The same goes for files created in CorelDRAW. Our shop uses both Corel and Adobe CC, so that makes it easy.