PDFs as graphics and graphics out of SolidWorks

[Art Campbell]

I just ended a year-long gig that included this, and the workflow we
developed was:
1. Get the free Solidworks viewer application. (There's a free
explorer tool that's also useful.)
2. From the Viewer, print the Solidworks file to an Acrobat printer
instance to create a PDF using the appropriate job options (high
quality print, press quality) .
3. When the PDF opens in Acrobat, optimize the file, but go easy on
the compression and downsampling. This is the key task to reduce the
file size & bloat. I don't think it would work as well on a PDF
produced directly from
4. Import into FM.

I don't have any idea if Acrobat 6 is up to the task. We used 7 pro,
and migrated to 8 pro and then 8 3D. So that would be the component
I'd upgrade.

Art


On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Linda G. Gallagher
<lindag at techcomplus.com> wrote:
> Framers,
>
>  FM 7.0
>  Acrobat 6.0
>  Win XP
>
>  I appreciated all the help a couple of weeks ago on text insets and
>  scripting. Now I have new questions related to a new client that is using
>  SolidWorks CAD to create graphics for me to use in FM.
>
>  So far I've tried importing graphics saved from SolidWorks as .tif at 50 dpi
>  (was the default) and 600 dpi. Neither looked good after I created a PDF
>  from the FM file. I've asked him to save at 150 and 300 dpi, but don't have
>  those yet.
>
>  My client also sent me a PDF of the graphic. When I imported that into FM
>  and created a PDF, the graphic looked great, but it took 8 minutes to create
>  the .ps file of just the one page with the one graphic and the resulting .ps
>  file was more than 55 MB. I envision having lots of graphics in this
>  document, so I don't think the PDF format is going to work that well.
>
>  Here are my specific questions.
>
>  - Is it common when using PDF files for graphics for the writing to .ps
>  process to take so long and for the resulting .ps file to be so huge?
>
>  - Anyone have experience getting graphics from SolidWorks? I'm told the
>  graphic formats it can produce are .tif, .PDF, .jpg, and .dwg.
>
>  Thanks for any advice you can offer.
>
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  Linda G. Gallagher
>  TechCom Plus, LLC
>  lindag at techcomplus dot com
>  www.techcomplus.com
>  303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144
>  User guides, online help, FrameMaker and
>  WebWorks ePublisher templates
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
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-- 
Art Campbell art.campbell at gmail.com
 "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent
and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
 No disclaimers apply.
 DoD 358