[scribus] Huge PDF, need suggestions

[Craig]

John Jason Jordan wrote:
> 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.

Well, of course,... PDF 1.3 does not support transparencies...

Craig