Embed TIFFs in Illustrator?

October 11, 2007 8:41 AM

When saving an Illustrator file as a PDF, do raster images need to be embedded for the PDF to print properly?

I'm using Illustrator CS2 to create a poster. The poster is mostly text and vector art, but it does include a high res TIFF, too. Do I need to embed that TIFF before I save the PDF for the image to print correctly? Or does the PDF-saving process magically include the image data in the PDF?

posted by MegoSteve to computers & internet (6 comments total)

PDF should work without having to embed the image. But I have had problems with certain printing companies. They would call and say that the image was not printing right. So, just to be safe, now I always embed the image.
posted by Futurehouse at 8:50 AM on October 11, 2007

I agree with Futurehouse. Embed to be on the safe side.
posted by desjardins at 9:27 AM on October 11, 2007

No need to embed when outputting as PDF. Never had any issues.
The one possibility for trouble might be where you are placing eps images. I believe the default action is to display a low-rez display image when placing an eps. That might affect the PDF output. Go into your Illustrator preferences and go to File Handling and Clipboard. Make sure "Use Low Resolution Proxy" is unchecked.

Of course, if you aren't placing EPS files, then I have no idea. As I said, I've never had an issue with images in PDFs. You are placing high-rez images, right? Not low-rez web images? And you're using the high-rez images at actual size, right? Hopefully, you aren't scaling them up in Illustrator. That'll fuck-up the look of the pics at the printer, guaranteed.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:31 AM on October 11, 2007

Duh..of course you aren't placing EPSs. You said TIFF. Must learn to read the WHOLE post first....

What I said about scaling and resolution, though, still stands.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:40 AM on October 11, 2007

Thank you for your replies. I have been embedding the images because I wasn't sure, but the size of these files is so cumbersome that I wondered if I could get away with not embedding. Just as an example, the press quality PDF of this poster I'm working on with the image embedded is ~50MB, and the one without is ~6MB, which is a lot easier to email. It seems odd that they'd print the same with such a discrepancy in file size, but PDF is supposed to be portable document format (suggesting that everything's included when you save the PDF and the font is converted to outlines), so I thought I'd ask.
posted by MegoSteve at 11:48 AM on October 11, 2007

This might help: Optimizing file sizes

Also, consider FTP instead of e-mail. Probably your printer has an FTP site.
posted by desjardins at 1:18 PM on October 11, 2007