Exporting vector graphics for large-format PDF printing

June 6, 2008 3:07 PM

I have a vector-based image I have created in Inkscape. I will be printing it in a very large format - 3" x 4", - and my printer wants the image to be supplied as PDF. What do I need to do to export a PDF that will be of sufficient quality for printing?

I have a very simple b&w vector image in Inkscape - just a line of text and two clip-art ornaments. (It saves by default as a .svg)

I need to bring a PDF to the printers but as it will be printed very very big, I'm nervous about quality. If I do a vanilla "Save as... PDF via Cairo" in Inkscape, will the resulting PDF be okay for printing at very large scale? Do I need to do anything else to prepare the image for biggification? Since it's a vector graphic I hoped that it would scale without problems.

(When I save as PDF as above, the resulting file is just 28 kb, which is what's spooked me. I also have to check the "Convert text to paths" box for the font to look right.)

I am computer-savvy but know zilch about graphics (CMYK, what?), so please dumb down yr answers if possible. Oh, and I'm on a iBook/OS 10.4.

posted by Marquis to computers & internet (15 comments total)

Do you have Acrobat (not just the Acrobat Reader) and Acrobat Distiller?
posted by optovox at 3:13 PM on June 6, 2008

Actually, tell you what. Can you save the file as an EPS and send it to me? I'll convert it for you and send it back.
posted by optovox at 3:14 PM on June 6, 2008

I will be printing it in a very large format - 3" x 4"

Wow, that's practically Stonehenge-sized.

In all seriousness: I wouldn't get spooked by the resulting file being small. The way vector graphics work is to specify a list of instructions; for example, "draw a circle of radius 100 points centered about the point (420, 189)." It doesn't take much significantly more (if any more) file space for the computer to say "draw a circle of radius 1000 points centered about the point (4200, 1890)" instead.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:15 PM on June 6, 2008

Johnny Assay - that's what I'm hoping, but since I'm so ignorant of the inner workings I thought I'd seek some confirmation here.

optovox, that's so kind. But Inkscape can't save to EPS without linux-y plugins that are over my head to figure out. The other trouble is that I actually need to make 10 or 15 of these files, each one just a little different, so sending them all to you might not be very practical... I still really appreciate that offer!

If it's useful, I've put online my SVG file, and the default PDF that it exported to (whose usefulness I'm trying to ascertain).

Argument with a Dolphin is the name of an improv show appearing at the Montreal Fringe Festival.
posted by Marquis at 3:19 PM on June 6, 2008

Oh, and I don't have Adobe Acrobat Distiller - just the suite that comes by default with OS X. (This lets a lot of programs export as PDFs natively, but I don't know how that capacity compares to the fullblown Distiller capabilities.)
posted by Marquis at 3:22 PM on June 6, 2008

That PDF is a vector image. I don't see why you'd have any trouble outputting it at poster size.
posted by adamrice at 3:27 PM on June 6, 2008

Convert to SVG > svg2pdf
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 3:27 PM on June 6, 2008

You might want to tweak your kerning though.
posted by adamrice at 3:28 PM on June 6, 2008

Okay, got it, I just did the first one. No problem. If you send me the rest of those files with the fonts converted to outlines, I'll resize and set them up them for you.
posted by optovox at 3:30 PM on June 6, 2008

Um, okay but what are you doing exactly, optovox? IE, what's not okay with what I have now?
posted by Marquis at 3:37 PM on June 6, 2008

It's fine, mostly.

1. Both the ornaments and the text are RGB, not CMYK. Change them to CMYK or you're going to be unhappy with the results unless your printer is smart enough to preflight your document first. A lot of large-format printers (sign folks, mainly) are dumb as rocks and have horrible workflows and just throw customer files at their grand-format digital inkjet printers without even checking to see if there's going to be a problem. Judging by eye I'd say you want your text to be 0/0/0/100 (or if your printer actually specifies a rich black, then those values) and your ornaments to be 0/0/0/40.

2. Adamrice is right, your kerning is not very good. For instance, look at the space between the m and the e in "Argument" versus the u and m. You shouldn't have wide tracking on u/lc text unless you are very very good at getting it perfect.

All that said, if your printer isn't a total buffoon, he can fix problem 1 in about three seconds. It should be fine.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 3:46 PM on June 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Well, it's a bit technical, but here goes:

I'm assuming you want these to print at 3 feet by 4 feet, rather than 3 inches by 4 inches. Right? If that's the case, your vector art needs to be resized so the art is 100% i.e. the document size should be 36" x 48". Also, your blacks are set up as the CMYK values for RGB black, which means, well, it'll look crappy if you take this to have it printed.

CMYK is an acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black--but "K" is used for black. CMYK is also referred to as "4-color process", and it's used for printing, which is also called "offset lithography." RGB is Red-Green-Blue, and it's used for all on-screen applications. RGB colors look funky when they're printed, and CMYK colors look funky on-screen.

So what you'll want to do first is set up your documents to be CMYK, then size them to be 36" x 48". Then switch your black to 0%C, 0%M, 0%Y, 100%K, and set your gray to 0%C, 0%M, 0%Y, 60%K. From there you can save your SVG files as PDFs and you should be fine.
posted by optovox at 3:55 PM on June 6, 2008

If Inksape doesn't support CMYK, you could try importing the SVG into Scribus.
posted by PueExMachina at 4:18 PM on June 6, 2008

I'm guessing that what Marquis really wants is grayscale, not CMYK necessarily (but setting C/M/Y to 0/0/0 is one way to specify grayscale). Marquis, could you just ask the printer to print using only black ink? I imagine this is a pretty common situation (e.g., when printing text), and the printer's control panel should have a checkbox for it, esp. since printing with only black ink is cheaper than making black out of colored inks (and looks better to boot). If there's more than one print shop in your area just call around until you find one that isn't staffed by buffoons.
posted by hattifattener at 6:15 PM on June 6, 2008

You really don't need to worry about the colorbreak. Just let your printer know in advance and tell them you want to make the RGB blacks solid black (or black + cyan or black + magenta if they use an intensifier and if you want it to look "cold" or "warm" respectively) and the greys at 40% black. If you want to pay for two colors, the grays could be easily tint matched to a spot.

And yeah, clean up your typesetting a bit. Loosey goosey tracking on mixed case serifs bugs the heck out of me.

How many of these do you need? You might be better off just getting plotter proofs on thick stock then mounting them on foam core.
posted by nathan_teske at 6:22 PM on June 6, 2008