I'm working on a web mockup that I was to send as a PDF for a review. It contained some drop shadows and they are weighing the PDF down very heavily when I use Acrobat 5.0 and above the document is ten times heavier than with Acrobat 4.0. I understand that when using Acrobat 4, dropshadows are converted to bitmaps and when using Acrobat 5 and higher, dropshadows are preserved as vector with some transparency added.

So I wonder why would the version 5 and above PDF:s be heavier, and so much too, than drop shadows converted to bitmaps? Wouldn't vector stuff always be lighter?

I have imported the PDF back into Draw and I can see that the vector drop shadows have a lense added to them if I check the Property Manager, but if I check in the Lens docker, it says no lense. I suppose that is some postscript lense that the Lens docker does not recognize.

drop shadows are lens objects with transparency thus the more info larger file like you noticed. If you break the drop shadow apart from the control object then chek the lens docker it should show you the lens info there as well.

My previous experience tells me that bitmaps blow up the file size and that vectors keep it down. I think that was true for X3 that vector transparency (Acrobat 6) made smaller files than when the transparency was rendered as bitmaps (Acrobat 4). Could it be that the file originated in Draw X3 and now was opened in X4?

that is a possibility. Bitmaps do blow up the size yet you can downsample them during pdf conversion if applicable.  Try publishing the same file from X3 and X4 using same settings and compare both true vector and bitmap

FWIK there is no such thing as a live drop shadow in a PDF made with Draw, they are all rendered as bitmaps on the way out the door... :-)

Sound like acro 4 is the way to go for your needs, since the file must be reasonable to email. I have a brother that publishes a 12 page weekly newspaper using Draw, and he uses Acro 4 still. It's been about 3 years now without major problems.

Lars Forslin:

I understand that when using Acrobat 4, dropshadows are converted to bitmaps and when using Acrobat 5 and higher, dropshadows are preserved as vector with some transparency added.

Jeff Harrison:

FWIK there is no such thing as a live drop shadow in a PDF made with Draw, they are all rendered as bitmaps on the way out the door... :-)

 Well I can tell you you are wrong in a way. The drop shadows in Acrobat 5 and higher are rendered as transparent objects, not bitmaps. What's puzzling me is that they are heavier than bitmaps, but I'll make some tests between X3 and X4 comparing that respect.

Jeff Harrison:

Sound like acro 4 is the way to go for your needs, since the file must be reasonable to email.

Jeff Harrison:

I have a brother that publishes a 12 page weekly newspaper using Draw, and he uses Acro 4 still. It's been about 3 years now without major problems.

I make a quarterly 32-page magazine with draw and always use the PDF/X-3 setting, that is a variety of Acrobat 4. I think for RIP:s, that is always the safest. But maybe newer RIP:s can handle higher ones.

Hi Lars,

You might be wrong about me being wrong ..:-p

The attached was made in acro 7 then imported back into Draw, check it out.

Do you have a sample of these transparent objects you mention? Post it here.

Lars Forslin:

 Well I can tell you you are wrong in a way. The drop shadows in Acrobat 5 and higher are rendered as transparent objects, not bitmaps. What's puzzling me is that they are heavier than bitmaps, but I'll make some tests between X3 and X4 comparing that respect.

Jeff Harrison:

You might be wrong about me being wrong ..:-p

Well, you might be wrong about me being wrong about you being wrong

Check out the attached and the drop shadows in it. Remember to rename the file extension to .zip. For some stupid reason we are not allowed to post zip files here (And Corel owns Winzip...)

Lars Forslin:

Well I can tell you you are wrong in a way. The drop shadows in Acrobat 5 and higher are rendered as transparent objects, not bitmaps.

CorelDRAW Drop shadows are bitmaps. CorelDRAW re-renders (rebuilds) them each time you edit their control object.

You can change the Rendering Resolution at which Drop Shadows are rendered.

Hi Lars,

Wow, very strange.. I was wrong when I said you were wrong! :-P

Not seen a shadow appear this way ever before.

To see what lens was applied, I pressed transp. tool. By setting to none, you can see orig curve shape.

Very curious about your workflow from the original file. Did you print from Draw to Acro 6, then reimport to get this?

Lars Forslin:

Well, you might be wrong about me being wrong about you being wrong

Jeff Harrison:

Wow, very strange.. I was wrong when I said you were wrong! :-P

It's OK

Jeff Harrison:

Very curious about your workflow from the original file. Did you print from Draw to Acro 6, then reimport to get this?

 Yes. Except that I first made the file in X3 a couple of years ago then opened it and changed the shadows a bit and resaved it today before making the PDF:s. But as I see it it's as expected because transparency is said to be preserved in Acrobat 6 (5) and above and rendered as bitmaps in version 4 (which it actually does). But the file size shouldn't be bigger with vector, but with the bitmaps. Isn't that correct?

Jeff Harrison:

Wow, very strange.. I was wrong when I said you were wrong! :-P

Not seen a shadow appear this way ever before.

To see what lens was applied, I pressed transp. tool. By setting to none, you can see orig curve shape.

You were right Jeff,

Drop Shadows and the lens curve, in the image you posted, are "interactive" bitmaps.

Hi A,

no... these are wierd, in my shot I showed that transparency is applied.

Open Lars file - remove transp. You'll see it's a curve, no bitmaps for these shadows at all.

JD

Ahmad Ajlouny:

 

You were right Jeff,

Drop Shadows and the lens curve, in the image you posted, are "interactive" bitmaps.

Hi Lars,

From what I know, Corel's drop shadows are always rendered as bitmaps, esp to PDF/EPS/postscript. What you show here is very strange. Corel guys should have a look...

in acro 6+, transp. is preserved on vector shapes and bitmaps with alpha channels.

what pdf generator you use, the "real" acro 6, or something else?

Lars Forslin:

But as I see it it's as expected because transparency is said to be preserved in Acrobat 6 (5) and above and rendered as bitmaps in version 4 (which it actually does).

file size should be smaller as vector shapes...

Jeff Harrison:

Hi A,

no... these are wierd, in my shot I showed that transparency is applied.

Open Lars file - remove transp. You'll see it's a curve, no bitmaps for these shadows at all.

It's a lens object, which is bitmap inside.

1. you can see its pixels.
2. you can change its resolution when it was a Drop Shadow.
3. you can't edit it as vectors.

CorelDRAW enable you to treat any bitmaps as a "Bitmaps inside a vector container"; you can edit the container. But you can't edit the bitmap inside as vectors.