2003 problem - PNG Graphics print Low Res

[prynterman]

I received two 48 page manuals from a customer for commerical printing in
process color. They were produced in Publisher 2002. He did not send me a
pack & go - just the Publisher documents with all the graphics enbedded. All
of the graphics (about 400 in each manual) are screen shots and are either
jpgs or pngs. No problems opening or viewing the documents in 2002 or 2003.
But here's the problem - to impose them and output to film, I need to produce
CMYK pdf's which I can do in 2003 but not 2002. When I make the CMYK pdf's
from 2003, all of the png graphics become unrecognizable, while the jpgs are
fine. If I generate the pdf out of 2002, this doesn't happen. I get the same
result wheter I use Distiller 6 or Jaws PDf to generate the pdf (press
quality with no graphic compresiion or downsampling or with graphic
compresiion and downsampling). I get the same result if I output the pages
directly to my imagesetter form Publisher 2003.
I've also tried linking the png graphics as tiffs, jpgs and pngs in 2003,
but the same thing happens each time. Any help would be appreciated.
Prynterman

 

[Jeff Daghir]

Sounds to me like maybe the png import filter is broken in Pub 2003 - I've
never handled a Pub document with PNG graphics in it so I can't say for
sure. Could you make an RGB doucment using Pub 2002 and then convert it to
CMYK using something like Pitstop or Quite a Box of Tricks?

--

Jeff Daghir
MPS Printing, Inc.
The Ink & Paper People!
Madison, IN

 

[prynterman]

We don't have Pitstop or QBT, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[prynterman]

I received two 48 page manuals from a customer for commerical printing in
process color. They were produced in Publisher 2002. He did not send me a
pack & go - just the Publisher documents with all the graphics enbedded. All
of the graphics (about 400 in each manual) are screen shots and are either
jpgs or pngs. No problems opening or viewing the documents in 2002 or 2003.
But here's the problem - to impose them and output to film, I need to produce
CMYK pdf's which I can do in 2003 but not 2002. When I make the CMYK pdf's
from 2003, all of the png graphics become unrecognizable, while the jpgs are
fine. If I generate the pdf out of 2002, this doesn't happen. I get the same
result wheter I use Distiller 6 or Jaws PDf to generate the pdf (press
quality with no graphic compresiion or downsampling or with graphic
compresiion and downsampling). I get the same result if I output the pages
directly to my imagesetter form Publisher 2003.
I've also tried linking the png graphics as tiffs, jpgs and pngs in 2003,
but the same thing happens each time. Any help would be appreciated.
Prynterman

 

[prynterman]

I've done some testing and the problems seems to be with the picture crop
tool in Publisher 2003 when printing CMYK. All of the affected graphics are
larger pictures that have been cropped to show only a portion of the image. I
inserted several of the graphics into a new document and copied each one so I
would have 2 of each picture on the page. I used the crop tool to reveal the
entire image in one version, and left the other version cropped. When I make
a pdf, the uncropped pictures look fine, but the cropped ones look like a
very low res version of the uncropped pictured. If I then uncrop one of the
cropped pictures and make a new pdf, the resolution improves. I then tried
doing the same thing with 2 jpegs and 2 tiffs and got the same result, but if
I make an RGB pdf, the resloution is fine in the cropped and uncropped
pictures. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks - Prynterman

 

[Mike Koewler]

I've done some testing and the problems seems to be with the picture crop
tool in Publisher 2003 when printing CMYK. All of the affected graphics are
larger pictures that have been cropped to show only a portion of the image. I
inserted several of the graphics into a new document and copied each one so I
would have 2 of each picture on the page. I used the crop tool to reveal the
entire image in one version, and left the other version cropped. When I make
a pdf, the uncropped pictures look fine, but the cropped ones look like a
very low res version of the uncropped pictured. If I then uncrop one of the
cropped pictures and make a new pdf, the resolution improves. I then tried
doing the same thing with 2 jpegs and 2 tiffs and got the same result, but if
I make an RGB pdf, the resloution is fine in the cropped and uncropped
pictures. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks - Prynterman

Crop your pictures in an image manipulation program and import those
into your Pub file?

Mike

 

[prynterman]

Crop your pictures in an image manipulation program and import those
into your Pub file?

Mike

I could do that, of course, but as I said in my original post, there are
nearly 400 of these graphics in each of the 2 files that my customer took the
time to set up in Publisher, trusting that some printer (such as us) could
print his files without having to charge him for re-doing the scores of hours
of work he has already done. What I am trying to determine, is why is this
happening and is ther a fix for it from Microsoft.

Thanks, Prynterman

 

[Mike Koewler]

We don't have Pitstop or QBT, but thanks for the suggestion.
:

Jeff,

I think Pitstop has a 30 day trial version you could use.

Mike

 

[Jeff Daghir]

It sounds to me like a call to Microsoft Tech Support might be in order. Are
you a member of the Publisher Service Provider Program? I believe there is
still a special tech support line set up for PSPP members.

--

Jeff Daghir
MPS Printing, Inc.
The Ink & Paper People!
Madison, IN
www.mpsprinting.com
(e-mail address removed)