Export to PDF misses raster objects

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

When exporting a mixed document to PDF, a low setting of DPI shows al content.

But when setting high DPI for raster quality the raster image object will not be shown, only the vector objects appear on the export.

I need  higher levels of DPI to keep the quality (read resolution) high as possible.

Does anyone know what could be the problem? 

I found a limit of 320000 x 320000 dots for raster object but when i make a calculation i do not exceed those limits.

The attachments show exports of different DPI's for vector and raster (see filename).

Another fact is that when i change the paper size to A3 i can double the DPI setting before things go wrong.

Could anybody be of any help?

Thank you in advance,

Jeroen

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

When exporting a mixed document to PDF, a low setting of DPI shows al content.

But when setting high DPI for raster quality the raster image object will not be shown, only the vector objects appear on the export.

I need  higher levels of DPI to keep the quality (read resolution) high as possible.

Does anyone know what could be the problem? 

I found a limit of 320000 x 320000 dots for raster object but when i make a calculation i do not exceed those limits.

The attachments show exports of different DPI's for vector and raster (see filename).

Another fact is that when i change the paper size to A3 i can double the DPI setting before things go wrong.

Could anybody be of any help?

Thank you in advance,

Jeroen

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

What version of AutoCAD are you using to create these PDFs and which driver are you using?  Can you detail how you are creating the PDF settings and the resulting output? (export, plot to pdf, etc).

Is it also possible to eTransmit a sample of this mixed drawing to a ZIP file so I can see what you are working from?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> Another fact is that when i change the paper size to A3 i can double the DPI setting

There is a limit, that depends on the driver you use and how much memory AutoCAD can use for that task (how much memory have you built in into your system and how much is free).

That A3 can have double DPI settings compared to A1 is simply because it's half of the size /(in x and y direction) compared to A1 (your PDF).

To the memory usage a little calculation, let's say 36" x 24" (which is close to A1), using 24 bit/3 byte for true color

1200dpi: 36 x 1200 x 24 x 1200 x 3 ==> 3 GB of memory

600dpi:   36 x 0600 x 24 x 0600 x 3 ==> 0.9 GB

So you see using higher resolutions needs much more memory, twice the resolution means 4 times of memory.

Especially for raster information (even worse when activating transparency for plotting) I guess it does not make sense to send the file with higher resolution than you have got your scanned file.

So check your transparency setting + don't use more resolution for plotting than your scanned input (really) has.

- alfred -

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

>>>cross posting<<<

[Anonymous]

The version of autocad is 2017 n.104.0.0 sp1



I use the EPDF command the vector resolution is set to 4800 and for raster it is 600.

I use the standard DWG to PDF driver.



See the attachment fort he mixed file.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am sorry but I don't see any attachment. Please make sure that you are attaching through a web browser and not through email.  I am awaiting this attachment so I can take a look at the issue.

Please also tell me whether plotting to PDF works differently or has different results than your export to PDF (ePDF?).

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi @john.vellek,

(First of all, I'm dutch so my english could be a bit unclear)

I hereby send you the DWG as an attachment.

plotting and exporting gives the same result.

The original file is a b&w Tiff file of 300x300DPI

Thank you in advance.

I send you an extra file (kopie via paint). I made this file on my own.

The previous file (ZLAT ......) was provided by an external contractor.

It seems impossible to export to DWG (kopie via paint)| with the raster object still visible on the output PDF with any raster DPI setting of the PDF driver.

The TIFF file is also provided (aangeleverd).

To conclude this story i would like to inform you that, on pixel level, the quality of the PDF has to be the same as the orignal TIFF.

(contractual rule of our customer)

Jeroen

[Anonymous]

Hi @Alfred.NESWADBA,

I've got 16GB's of memory installed.

Most of the time 8GB's are free to use.

I understand the story about page size and so on...

The Tiff (black and white) file copied as an OLE object has a resolution of 300x300DPI with a total of 14647x7869 pixels.

It has a bitdepth of 1 and a resolution unit of 2. Compression is CCITT T.6.

When using the same resolution on the output as on the input the result is lower quality.

It's ans contractual rule of our customer to keep quelity the same (on pixel level).

Jeroen

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> The Tiff (black and white) file copied as an OLE object has a resolution

>> of 300x300DPI with a total of 14647x7869 pixels.

Internally it's handled as true color.

And the image size is 48.9133333" x 26.23"? ==> 1242.398666 x 666.242 mm ... the OLE-object has the size 1182.3216 x 631.0058 mm ,,, that means it is scaled

>> It's ans contractual rule of our customer to keep quelity the same (on pixel level).

No way, as AutoCAD is reading the image, scaling it to the output format and so it can't be the same pixles in the output.

The second file "ZLAT-1964-00401 (kopie via paint).dwg" is an empty file, the OLE-object in the modelspace has no size/no info at all.

- alfred -

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

I have done a test to see the difference in quality with zoomed in quite close.

The letters look a bit different, but to be honest, I can't see that much difference with the lines...

- alfred -

[john.vellek]

Hi Jeroen,

When I plotted your files with the raster image (TIFF) attachment, I set the Raster resolution to 600 DPI which is higher than the dpi in the original file.

The resultant PDF shows the raster information.

Is this what you are looking for or something else?

The file you create did not contain any information so there was nothing for me to test.

I did open the TIFF in Photoshop and removed some of the noise and then created a new PDF from it. Then I attached it to the file and printed again to PDF and it looks even nicer.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post or others helped you with your problem. Please mark a post or posts as accepted solutions if they resolved the issue or give me a bit more detail on this issue so we can continue to work towards getting this solved.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi @john.vellek,

First of all thanks for all the help so far.

But unfortunately we still don't succeed.

Next I would like to tell yo step by step what I'm doing.

In the attachment a wordfile with the results (to give you more graphical results in one document).

Another collegue is also working on this case and is experiencing the same problems.

Personal and/or machine issues are hereby excluded...

In the attachments:

- test DWG file

- wordfile with some extra details and explanation

- original TIFF file

I hope to hear from  you soon.

Thank you in advance

Jeroen

[Anonymous]

Hi @john.vellek

After posting something as a reply i checked your PDF.

If I open the file a lot of quality loss is visible.

I hope that my previous reply makes things clear.

Jeroen

[john.vellek]

Hi Jeroen,

I will take a look at the information you gave me in your last post.

I feel though that the issue is not related to increasing the dpi. If the original image is poor then I would suggest handling the clean up in a photo editor application which was the intent of my example.

At any rate, let me take a look at your documentation to see what I can offer. Thanks for your patience.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

I took your TIFF file into Photoshop and did some clean up. I tried to remove most of the speckles and noise. I then also adjusted Brightness and contrast. I then saved it as a Photoshop PDF.

Then in AutoCAD, I used PDFimport to bring it into my A1 layout. Since the PDF is raster based, the image that is brought into the file becomes a PNG file. I used the AutoCAD PDF (High Quality) driver to create a new PDF from AutoCAD. The results look pretty good in my opinion. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[elshawadfy]

Hi @Anonymous!

Some notes first:

     - The Tiff file is compressed using "CCITT Group 4 Fax Encoding" with 2 colors only Black & White, which is ideal for this application.

     - The resolution of the original image is 300DPI x 300DPI, & Size in pixels: 14647 x 7869  Pixels (115.26 MPixels) 

     - That means the actual image size in cm is: 124.0 x 66.6 cm; (48.82 x 26.23 inches)

Now the ideal solution would be to preserve: The original image composition and colors / The original Resolution / The original Image Size, because changing any of these results in using mathematical algorithms that alter the original image.

       A- Preserving the original Image Size:

             - When Inserting the tiff image using "ImageAttach" command, set the insertion scale to 1:1 (*)

             - In plotting, create a new layout using a sheet size that can include the entire image 1:1,

                      (The original size is 124.0 x 66.6 cm, then you need at least 2A0 sheet) (6)

             - In the layout set the Viewport Scale to 1:1, and resize the viewport to show the entire drawing (7)

      B- Preserving image format and composition:

             - By using "ImageAttach" ( Inserting the image as XRef instead of OLE).

             - The "ViewPort" shading needs to be set to "As Displayed" (by selecting the viewport inside the layout and editing its properties)

             - Better use the "Monochrome" Plot Style here, and make sure you're plotting with plot styles (2 & 5)

       C- Preserving the original resolution:

             - We need set these settings is set correctly:

                   o "RASTERDPI" is set to at least 300 DPI

                   o insure the "ViewPort" shading is set to "As Displayed" (as mentioned before),

                   o In the plot dialog box use Printer: "AutoCAD PDF (High Quality Print) printer (1)

                   o set the "Quality" to "Custom" & "DPI" to at least "300" (3 & 4)

Some Final Notes:

     - Cons: Using ImageAttach means the image is an XRef and not actually inside the drawing file, so you need to send it with the file or use ETransmit to save the hole package (DWG & Tiff) to the client..

     - Pros: The image will maintain it's original composition including being dual color B&W, which means there will be no artifacts even when resizing (of course resizing will make the plotted image different than the original, but no artifacts though) and with no resizing you will get a final plot identical to original scan.. 

     - To improve AutoCAD chances in plotting high Res. plots, you can set the value of the system variable "RasterPercent" to more than the default 20 to allow Autocad to use more than 20% of your memory in plotting the final image..

 Regards!            

[elshawadfy]

DWG & Plotted PDF:

[Anonymous]

Hi @john.vellek

Good results indeed, no loss of quality in the PDF.

But our customer wants embedded raster objects.

Your solution isn't an option i'm sorry to say.

I also have a problem with zooming on to the raster objects.

At a certain zoom-level my raster object disappears.

I still don't have a solution for all of the troubles

Jeroen