Framers Digest, Vol 23, Issue 13

[Steve Rickaby]

Hi Ron

Just noticed this, due to digest title. I will certainly look at it, as it will be useful to know for the future. However, the guts of the size problem has now gone away, as I describe below.

At 10:23 -0400 13/9/07, rradcliffe at invacare.com wrote:

>Check the Illustrator help under the "Transparency" headings. We do not
>use this feature, but glancing through, it looks like the help should
>answer your questions about placing one graphic over another.
>
>4.5 MB sounds like a large file size for your background file, Not knowing
>your experience with Illustrator and not claiming to be an expert...We
>perform the following on most of the graphics we use (Windows XP,
>Illustrator CS2, FrameMaker 7.0 and Acrobat Standard 6).

It's dropped now: it used to feature a large hi-res bitmap lurking behind a cropping mask, but that's now gone. And with it has most of this problem, because it was multiplying that bitmap by the chapter and appendix count (27) in the book that was causing the potential size issue. Now that the bitmap background pattern has gone from the design, the per-chapter opener graphics feature only a gradient fill and are about 380 KB.

>In Illustrator:
>If necessary, save a copy of the file and "Flatten Layers" (compressing
>everything to one layer), or delete unused layers.
>"Select All" to ensure there are no extra points or shapes hanging off to
>the side making the graphic larger than it needs to be and delete them.
>Apply a cropping mask to get rid of extra background (especially on the
>chapter number graphic).
>-or-
>Open the graphic in acrobat, open the crop pages window, and set the
>margins manually or check the "Remove White Margins" box. Click OK and
>save the file.

I have found Acrobat crops only to be 'soft': that is, they are often not recognised by other applications.

>In FM;  Ensure runaround properties to "Don't Run Around"
>(Graphics>Runaround Properties)
>
>If I still have problems with a graphic showing correctly (usually if
>lines are missing from a graphic)  I will then go back to Illustrator,
>open the "Object"menu and ensure "Released"
>under "Clipping Mask" and "Compound Path" are NOT selected.

I will persist: thanks for your advice.

-- 
Steve