[scribus] Huge PDF, need suggestions

[John Jason Jordan]

On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 14:11:09 -0700
John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> dijo:

> On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 20:20:00 +0200
> "a.l.e" <ale.comp_06 at xox.ch> dijo:

> > scribus can import eps as vectors since a long time...
> > 
> > what you can do starting from 1.3.5, is to put eps (and pdfs) in image frames and have them included as is.
> > indeed, going that way may be worth a try, if you want to reduce the size of your pdfs!
> > 
> > but: don't forget that 1.3.5 is not a stable version and that it may kill all your kitten!
> 
> First, when I started trying to print the document there was only one
> small EPS graphic in it. I have since imported it as a vector file and
> deleted the EPS. Extras > Manage Images is now grayed out. There are no
> images in the file at all other than the graphics that were imported as
> vectors and some native Scribus objects. Still, when I export as PDF
> the resulting file is 201 MB. 
> 
> The problem is that there are six pages containing about 20 rectangles
> created in Scribus. Each rectangle has rounded corners and a 10% gray
> fill. If I print from Scribus I get reasonable print speed, but all
> these rectangles print solid black. This is to various printers using
> their PCL and PostScript drivers. If I export to PDF the rectangles
> appear and print correctly. But then I have to put up with unbearably
> slow printing - 10 minutes per page from Okular and over 20 minutes per
> page from Adobe Reader 9.1. I tried Evince but it errored out when I
> tried to print. 
> 
> I tried printing to CUPS-PDF instead of exporting as PDF from Scribus.
> That resulted in a PDF file of only 25 MB, but the rectangles were all
> solid black. Furthermore, the page size was messed up. 
> 
> I also printed to file from Scribus and I will try sending the file
> directly to the printer with lpr.  However, I don't hold out much hope
> that it will solve the problem because it was created with Scribus'
> print engine, not its export to PDF engine. 
> 
> I think there is a bug in the way Scribus prints, but I need to poke
> around with this some more before I can be sure. In the meantime the
> printers I am printing to are older Laserjets with PostScript Level 2,
> so if someone has similar printers you can try creating a rectangle
> with a 10% fill and see what kind of results you get.

I just discovered something else. I had originally exported as PDF 1.5.
Later I exported as 1.4. Both were huge and impossible to print from.
Since then I exported as 1.3. The file size is only 69 MB compared to
200+ MB with 1.4 and 1.5. The file opened quickly in Adobe Reader and
the whole thing spooled off to the printer in less than a minute.

That's the good news. The bad news is that all my rectangles with 10%
gray fill appear on screen in Adobe Reader and Okular as solid black,
and also print as solid black. There were some other oddities as well -
lines placed in two text fames did not make it, but lines placed in
three other text frames did appear and print fine. They were the same
lines created in Scribus.