Mac: PDFWriter issues

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DigitalMusicArt
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:39 am
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by DigitalMusicArt » Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:02 am

Mac specific convo:

I've been using the virtual PDF printer "PDFwriter" by Lisanet ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfwriterformac/ ) for some time with great results. It's been particularly useful when dropping multiple (sometimes huge amounts of) finale files directly onto the PDFwriter printer icon in the dock - it happily chugs through the queue at a great rate (much faster and more reliable that FinaleScript etc.), producing PDFs that have been through all my systems and also that of the commercial printers for hundreds of books.

I've noticed a difference however, between what is produced by Finale 2014.5 and the latest version of FInale (v25).

[1] In Finale 2014.5, the PDFs are produced correctly.
> Pages are setup in Page Layout > Page Size to A4
> System default paper size is set to A4 in system prefs (if this even matters)
Finale_2014-5_med.jpg
[2] In FInale v25 the PDFs produced by PDFwriter look like they've been printed to a longer page format. I still get a multipage PDF that looks valid, but the page layout is incorrect.
Finale-25_med.jpg
Note how the page ends midway through the bottom staff, and that the left and right margins are uneven.

I've put together some workarounds such as Graphics > Export Pages and also File > Print... using various combinations of finalescript and Quickeys, but neither are fast in comparison, and are prone to asking whether something should be replaced if it already exists, which PDFwrite gets around by adding a job number prefix (not everyone will like that, I understand).

I see that the following is present in Finale 2014.5 but not Finale v25, maybe this has something to do with it:
Finale Preferences > Save & Print > Use Finale's Page Orientation Instead Of The Printer's Page Orientation

Curiously, if I print directly from Finale using File > Print, and select the PDFwriter driver and "default settings" it works fine.

I'm somewhat out of ideas where to go from here, having explored every avenue I can think of for the moment. Does anyone have any insight into why this is the case, and perhaps how to work around it?


BuonTempi
Posts: 1297
Joined: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:59 am
Finale Version: Finale 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by BuonTempi » Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:04 pm

I've written my own similar PDF-to-file print queue, and I get a similar result. When you print a Finale file using AppleScript, or dropping a Finale file onto the print queue's window, Finale prints by default to US Letter.

You should be able to check the actual dimensions of the PDF in Preview (or Finder Get Info, etc). A4 is 595 × 842pt. US Letter is 612 x 792pt.

Printing from the print menu works, because the paper size is set there. Any other way, and Finale doesn't use the print menu, and just goes with its gut.

DigitalMusicArt
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:39 am
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by DigitalMusicArt » Sat Jun 16, 2018 4:12 pm

Thanks for your reply Buon.

I've worked around the problem now with a combination of...

[1] Using Automator to create a service that open the files or folder/multiple-folder contents in Finale.
[2] A quickeys shortcut that loops through each of the open files, printing them (including choosing the correct printer and preset each time) and closing them.

This seems to work fine for around 60 files at a time (maybe more, haven't tried, about 60 is all I need). Having the printer/preset selections included means I can easily repurpose the shortcut for other types of print quickly and easily, without slowing down the operations too much.

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MikeHalloran
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Finale Version: 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by MikeHalloran » Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:50 pm

I’m trying to figure out what PDFWriter does. I get that it’s an API for certain core functions but I don’t see why I or anyone else would use it. The user reviews don’t help.

It certainly can’t do anything that I use Acrobat Pro for.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro

DigitalMusicArt
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Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by DigitalMusicArt » Wed Jun 20, 2018 9:46 pm

It's a 'virtual printer' that doesn't print to paper, it's a software engine that 'prints' to PDF. So you go through the standard 'Print' menus, specify PDF writer as the printer, and it generates PDFs to a folder on your system instead of sending the info to a hardware printer. It's a LOT faster and more reliable than using FinaleScript to do the same thing, until the issues with producing the wrong page sizes that is. I used to be able to drop 150 files onto the icon in the dock, and it would fire through them all one after another.

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miker
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Post by miker » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:03 pm

But is the PDF creation any better than using the built-in Mac OS method? Or usng Finale’s graphic export? I understand that Adobe and other advanced programs might do more after the fact, but I haven’t needed the features.
Finale 27 | SmartScorePro 64
Mac OS 13.2.1 Ventura
Copyist for Barbershop Harmony Society

DigitalMusicArt
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:39 am
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by DigitalMusicArt » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:20 pm

"I understand that Adobe and other advanced programs might do more after the fact" - not sure what you mean, and you'd have to be specific.

It's quicker. I've never had a problem with the results and have hundreds of books published. bound, printed and distributed via this method. They're totally viable PDFs. I can't make Finale print MacOS built-in PDFs via the print function anywhere near as fast because of all the menu handling. Unless you know of another way to do this in which case I'd love to hear about it.

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MikeHalloran
Posts: 706
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Post by MikeHalloran » Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:10 am

PDFWriter uses the Mac OS to create pdf files. Of course the resulting files are compatible. I use Google Chrome to “print” web pages to pdf, sometimes hundreds a day (it’s a check box in the preferences) — again, it’s still the Mac OS that is generating the files.

Finale 25 on the Mac is doing something different. For starters, if you use the Print menu, the output is grey scale, not true black. Among other things, this increases the size of the file. It’s also incompatible with some laser monochrome printers. For true black pdf as found in 2014.5 and earlier, you must export through the Graphics menu.

Which brings me back to PDFWriter. Why are you using it and what does it do to make Finale pdf printing faster?

The additional features of Acrobat Pro are unimportant here. If you need them, you spend the money because it’s worth it—ˆ do and it is. BTW, you can print to Acrobat which does use its own pdf engine (as it should). I use the Grraphics/Export and process in Acrobat only if needed.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro

DigitalMusicArt
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:39 am
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by DigitalMusicArt » Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:50 am

Dropping a stack of finale files onto PDF writer icon on the dock prints the files faster than any other method. I'm talking about dropping 150+ files at a time. Going through the menus for this is tedious, even if macro automated, and I've always found using finalescript for this to be flakey. For one thing you either have to open them all (150 files open at once?) or specify a folder, in which case you have to copy a ton of files to a specific folder temporarily.

I can't use Finale 2014.5 for files that I've started in Finale 25 as it places some things differently.

I'll look into the "true black" and graphics export stuff you point out. Thanks for the heads up.

DigitalMusicArt
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:39 am
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Mac

Post by DigitalMusicArt » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:55 am

OK, so I've got a reasonable Finalescript working method with Export pages > PDF now.

I don't like the fact that I can't specify a static output folder (although I can override this with the "Default Folder" app) or that I have to either
[a] open all the files (for the process open files choice) or
copy all the files into a specific folder first (for the process folder option) or
[c] run the same thing over and over specifying different folders (for the process folder option, if all my source files are in different folders)

...but that's what we've got so that's what you have to do!

Speed comparison on 54 files between 1 and 6 pages of music each:

PDFWriter = 42 seconds
Finalescript > Graphics > Export Pages = 2 minutes 5 seconds

I use Adobe Acrobat a lot, but not for music PDFs. I'm far more likely to use Adobe Illustrator if I need to go beyond the capabilities of Finale (such as the score below).

I'm not sure how relevant the whole "true black" issue is to me as my files are actually smaller from PDFWriter (not by much) and by the time the PDFs are in Adobe InDesign and a book is ready to be compiled to PDF, I'm specifying an export profile there that works with the music, text and other graphics used in the books anyway.

So many of these choices revolve around our own workflows and environments. I'm not sure that anyone has the time or patience to get their head around my system in order to understand why I do things this way or that. I'm certainly not great at explaining it, and I'm not sure I've got the time, but what I can say is that I've already learned a lot just from airing these things, reading the responses and running various tests. Thanks for all the contributions so far.

Screen Shot 2018-06-21 at 04.53.01.jpg

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