PDF quality

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Hector Pascal
Posts: 432
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 11:43 pm
Finale Version: Finale 26
Operating System: Mac

Post by Hector Pascal » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:10 am

Greetings,

When I printed my Finale score PDF this afternoon, all the angled-line elements of my score, such as long hairpins, slurs, the accents and even the angled parts of the treble and bass clefs came out jagged, as if trying to make curves out of hyphens. Yet, when I zoom right in close on my PDF, everything looks as smooth as silk with no jaggedness on screen.

I printed it from my USB on a huge Konica Minolta machine at the local DIY print store. The machine has served me well in the past, so I doubt it's anything to do with the machine.

What's gone wrong, I wonder?

FYI,here's how I made the PDF:

1. Typeset the score. Exported from Fin26 to PDF via graphics tool.
2. Opened the PDF and used Print>MakeBooklet (Wiggies python software). The resulting booklet PDF looks fine on the screen.
3. Put on USB. Printed myself at the DIY print shop.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Hector.
(PS: Btw, thanks motet, for your help re: my margins question).


User avatar
motet
Posts: 8229
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:50 pm

If you want to make a page available here I'll see if prints OK on my printer. If you don't want to do the whole thing, perhaps a two-page booklet?

Hector Pascal
Posts: 432
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 11:43 pm
Finale Version: Finale 26
Operating System: Mac

Post by Hector Pascal » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:44 am

Thanks, motet. I have managed to print the pdf with ok results on my home monochrome laser.

Question 1: If the big machine at the store were to think my pdf was colour instead of black and white, would it cause jagged lines at printout? According to my research, I perhaps need to convert my pdfs to PDF-X to solve this...

Question 2: When I "Get Info" on a PDF, it tells me a resolution. What does this resolution mean with regard to a PDF score which I thought would be vector-based.

Cheers,
HP.

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

Post by BuonTempi » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:50 am

Is the image "dotted"? Make sure you turn off ColorSync in the print dialog options, selecting "In Printer" colour management instead. If, as you say, the PDF appears to be vector data, then the problem is likely to be a print setting somewhere.

The Resolution metadata is the notional page size, measured in points.

Hector Pascal
Posts: 432
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 11:43 pm
Finale Version: Finale 26
Operating System: Mac

Post by Hector Pascal » Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:30 am

Thanks, Buon. The image isn't dotty in the same way that it is if I use the File>Print>PDF method, because I used the graphics tool export pages method to create the PDF and then ran your booklet making service on that PDF. (Full disclosure: I did combine some Scribus-created prefatory pages such as programme note, etc. prior to running the booklet service).

The printing machine at the DIY printing store may have displayed some settings that I missed, so I will go and investigate the display screen some more. It's a $10,000 machine, according to google!

Would it be beneficial in this situation to run my finished booklet PDF through your PDF-X service as a prophylactic?

Best wishes,
Hector.

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

Post by BuonTempi » Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:56 am

I mean dotty on the printed page.

You could certainly try PDF/X.

Hector Pascal
Posts: 432
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2016 11:43 pm
Finale Version: Finale 26
Operating System: Mac

Post by Hector Pascal » Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:45 am

Hi again,

I just drove up to the Print Shop (open till midnight tonight) and once again printed my PDF, paying close attention to the black&white settings of the Konica Minolta 364e machine. Unfortunately, the printout was still completely unacceptable, very jagged in the crescendo hairpin department. So, I asked the shop assistant if it could be printed on another machine (not the DIY one) and she obliged by printing it on the machine behind her counter and produced an absolutely perfect copy on paper that is very nice to the touch, and upon seeing the hairpins and slurs so smooth I swooned and had to reach for my smelling salts.

So, I am now confident my PDF was ok all along! I will go back in a day or two to do more printing and see if i can get a further explanation of what is wrong with the 8 DIY machines, none of which seemed to do justice to my PDF.

Many thanks for all your help, everyone. I really appreciate having your advice.

Cheers,
Hector.

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