From XPS (or WPF Apps) converting to PDF files when using Adobe PDF virtual printer

[Guest]

From XPS (or WPF Apps) converting to PDF files when using Adobe PDF virtual printer.

All circles have unintended lines.

Some lines are changed into dotted line.

After changing the Adobe PDF settings all the downscalings off, some lines are a bit better. But the differences still remain.

Do you have some ways to improve these issues?

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

The trouble with creating PDF via the Adobe PDF PostScript printer instance from WPF applications is that the process is akin to washing dishes with three or more sets of gloves on.

The Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance is based on the GDI-based V3 Windows Driver Architecture in which GDI commands from applications are passed directly to the PSCRIPT5.DLL driver for conversion to PostScript and the Distiller is subsequently called into the background to convert the PostScript (which contains a subset of the overall PFD imaging model) into PDF.

However, for WPF applications, there is an extra driver component that converts XPS to GDI. Regrettably, this is known to be a fairly lossy operation and that is likely where the visual anomalies you are encountering occur.

Assuming that the WPF application you have does not have a means of directly creating PDF, I would recommend the following workaround. Print directly to the Windows XPS printer driver. Then, in Acrobat, use the command File=>Create=>PDF from file and point to the XPS file you just created. This will create PDF directly from the XPS and will likely avoid the visual anomalies you encountered.

Please let us know if this resolves your problem.

          - Dov

[Guest]

Thanks for your detailed info, Dov. I could grasp the situation. WPF and Adobe PDF virtual printer are very popular and common nowadays. So I hope the situation would be improved in near future.