Expert: Amy - 2/12/2009

Question
Fairly new to Illustrator CS3. Using a PC. Have CS3 Design Standard Creative Suite.

I'm trying to save a set of 6 pages of A4 Illustrator files to a file suitable for printing on a desktop printer the other end. I would like it to print well and thinking of sending via email.

I have created 6 separate pages of PDF in Illustrator and then combined them in Acrobat to a file of about 23MB. (My files contain lots of images - some with transparency)

I have tried optimising the file in Acrobat and the minimum I can get it to is 20MB or 17MB if I 'attach to email'. Is there any way I could either compress this further (without too much quality loss) or perhaps there is a better way to share with an individual securely?

I hear 'zipping the file doesn't work so well with graphic design images - it's quite confusing!

I have also tried saving the files to high quality jpegs, then combined in a PDF and optimized the 6 page file, but this results in a 3.5MB file with images that have jagged edges. My designs really are not that complex compared to experienced Illustrator users work.

Thanks for your help and suggestions in advance. I've spent hours and hours trying to research and work on my problem - hopefully, you'll have an answer!
Thank you.


Answer
Hi Jenny,

Non-raster artwork is difficult to crunch. My general thoughts...

1) Don't outline your fonts, embed them. This is usually not necessary anymore, as Acrobat does a heck of job maintaining font accuracy.

2) Work in RGB if the job allows.* This is more a tip for raster art.

3) Don't do any image compression when saving the PDF in AI (I think you're saving to a PDF, right? Not printing/distilling to a PDF).

4) Let Acrobat do the compressing. Choose Bicubic downsampling to 300dpi or as low as 250dpi for color graphics. Again, this will only affect raster art.

That said, I would love to try to crunch one of your pages for you, to see if we get similar results. Then we can compare notes on what settings were used. If you've got time, email me an AI file with fonts embedded (up to 20MB) to AmyLynPace@yahoo.com and I'll see how small I can make it.

Don't worry, your artwork and your email address will not be shared with anyone else.

Hope to hear from you
Amy


++++ I forgot to mention, you need to flatten your transparency first. Actually, my initial answer was kind of rushed. There could be so many variables, I'd love to see an example of your file.