Problem Creating Postscript File with FrameMaker 7.2

[_1adobe_user_]

My usual book easily goes more than 500 pages with lots of graphics (eps) and text. I am trying to create pdf. My problem is I am unable to print book in one shot - always received error messages. If I break the book and print selected files, I am able to create the postscript files. (I need to break into 5 to 6 postscripts files). But by doing this I lost the link to my TOC when I combine the files into 1 pdf file.

Have anyone encounter this problem before? Any suggestion? (I am using FrameMaker 7.2 and Distiller 6.0).

[_Rebecca_Officer_]

Sherman, I just did a very quick test. I have an FM document about 70 pages long, some colour graphics, nothing too fancy, in draft form so a few missing diagrams and stuffed xrefs.

I made a .ps file using Distiller and distilled it. No problems.

Then I made a .ps file using the postscript driver for our black and white printer. Postscript produced with no (obvious) errors, but it wouldn't distill (a syntax error). I'll admit I was surprised about the error - I expected to just end up with a black and white PDF.

So the PDF definitely depends on the postscript driver. Distiller isn't the only driver around that supports all the postscript features PDFs need, but seeing as it's designed for making PDFs, why not use it?

Cheers, Rebecca

[_sherman_f_watstein_]

Art- The Dov Isaacs document you referred me to was date in November 5, 2001, one would hope that things have changed with Distiller in the 5 years. Adobe has released a number of Acrobat and Distiller release since then. I read the article and I find nothing in this document that says use only "save as a book" or that there is anything wrong with setting up a Postscript printer, generating a PS file and distilling it. Do you have any other sources to support your belief that creating a PS file and distilling are wrong?

Even the second article that you referred me to says that adobe has offered an automated process has been available for some time.
A primary example of this latter issue is that of the route that users take to produce PDF from an application. Since Acrobat 3, Adobe has provided an automated method under both Windows and MacOS via the print command from every application to produce PostScript, distill that PostScript into PDF, delete the PostScript file, and open the new PDF file in Acrobat in what appears to the user to be one step. Yet, we continually hear the most basic questions from licensed Acrobat users as to how to create PostScript files and then manually 'feed them' to the Distiller as if they were using Acrobat Release 1!

As distiller has changed over the last few years, one must realize that there are setting that must be made to get usable PDF that Isaacs speaks about, in other words you dont use Distiller out of the box settings. Those that use the automated way to create a PDF should wake up and realize the distiller they have installed either with FrameMaker or Acrobat has to be configured using Distillers menu options and dialog boxes. The automated process dialog box is for distiller options is not complete.

From what I read in the second article, if the user knows what settings, options, use of Type1 fonts, and what knowledge of PS printing, the use of a PS printer will result in a PDF that is no different then the automated one. In fact if everything is done right the automated PDF and the manually one will be identical. Adobe has offered the automated system, Issacs calls it set and forget to take out the PostScript printer settings required, they have not taken out the need to configure distiller.

[Arnis Gubins]

Sherman,

>Do you have any other sources to support your belief that creating a PS file and distilling are wrong?

No one in this thread has ever said that creating a PS file and
distilling is wrong. What has been said is that using a printer
instance for a different postscript device to create the postscript
file for distilling is wrong. It's a big difference.

BTW, have you tried creating the suggested PS file using the Adobe
generic printer (the one created from the DEFPRTR2.PPD during the
AdobePS install) and then checking the resulting PDF? In case you
haven't, the answer is you can't do it. You get a B&W PDF with
clipping around the edge. So why, in your expert opinion doesn't this
PS file work?

[Art Campbell]

Sherman,

While I'd love to take credit for pointing you toward the PostScript God's powerpoint presentation, that was Arnis. Possible everything after the "Ar" is being wiped by bad PS code....

;- )

Art

[_1adobe_user_]

Helge- unless I am missing out on something, I do not see a setting for "optimize for speed" or "optimize for portability" in Adobe PDF (at least not the version I am using)

Sherman- I tried Save As pdf the same book again and this time I set PDF Conversion to Standard. Again, there is an error, but this time it is a different error and it stop at some other page

%%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: load ]%%

Stack:
/C.22.304547
/devnimg

I have no problem creating pdfs (either thru PS then Distiller or straight Save As) the page(s)/ files which were suppose to cause the Distiller to produce an error when I tried to print the whole book. In other words, I can create pdfs as long as it is not done thru Print Book. Really strange.

My colleague and I do not share folders thru internet. Each of our work is done standalone thru individual PC.

Art- don't quite get you on the possible "network timeout issues". All the FM files and graphic links are on my stanalone harddisk.

I have checked my Temp - Windows and other temp and I am surprise to find there is no trace by Distiller even if there is an error. Looks like Distiller flushes out its trace (from temp) everytime it stops processing.

One thing I am not clear is do different versions of FrameMaker creates PS files different assuming I always use the default Adobe PDF printer? Or, maybe PDF Adobe printer is dependence on the version of Distiller one uses?

[_david1]

Sherman, you really "won't be told", will you? LOL

Dov Isaacs is one of the (if not *the*) PDF technology gurus at Adobe.

Helge, I recall Dov Isaacs saying on this forum that he was not aware of any issue which could be resolved by changing "optimize for speed" to "optimize for portability". What do you think it would achieve?

[_sherman_watstein_]

Arnis- At no time have I ever suggested using any "Generis PS Printer". I have suggested adding a PS printer such as Tektronix 550 using their printer software (not installing the printer using the Windows software). And yes using the Tektronix 550 does do what you question (proper PDF). This is what I used to have color and B&W manuals commercially printed.

Rebecca- I may suggest that you find out who installed your PS printer. No you didn't create a PS file with a postscript driver, you did it with your postscript printer. Suggest you check your PS printer properties and verify that it's the latest Postscript Printer Driver. It should be 5.2 (5.2.3790.97) and make sure you are using the current PPD for that printer. Sounds like the person that installed it used Windows PS driver. If you don't know how to verify this, ask . By the way, and to clarify something both the Adobe PDF printer and the your PS printer should have the same Postscript Printer Driver. If they did, then there would have been no problem. It's the pPD that determines what features, etc., the PS printer has.

Arnis-If my Tektronx 550 and your Adobe PDF printer use the same Postscript driver, (5.2 (5.2.3790.97) then the result will not be different. The only difference what my printer does that yours does not.The Adobe PDF printer allows you to do Postscript Custom Page size (a plus)mine uses the usual Letter, envelope, etc. We both have the same Postscript options, Graphic Qualirty etc. In otherwords if I had a Tektronix printer to print my jobs, I would be able to make settings before pinting.

Yes BTW tried using a GENERIC PRINTER, bad mistake, I and no one else suggested using a GENERIC PRINTER. By the way, neither of my systems have a generic PS printer. Throw in one more PS printer in this round, if you use WebWorks their "WebWoks Rasterizer" can also be used to generate a PS file to be distilled, and it works as well as your Adobe PDF printer.

Art- Congraduations on your wiped out by PS code.

1adobe_user--If you can burn a CD, try copying the FM files and give your colleague the book to see if he has the same problems you have. If so, I still believe the problem is one of the chapters that causing the book to stop. Fix the chapter and you solved the problem. Suggest that you try creating a PDF for each chapter and see if you get a working PDF. My Other suggestion is try using the book and again do a "Print select files" and keep adding one more chapter and generate a PDF (chapter 1, OK; chapter 1 + Chapter 2, OK; Chapter 1 + Chapter 2 + Chapter 3, error) You need to find out which chapter is causing your problem.

On your question-which version of FrameMAker creates PS files, they all can if you use either the Adobe PDF printer or have installed a valid (not generic) PS printer. Even if your Adobe PDF printer was installed with Distiller 5, you should be using the latest Postsript driver that would be used with Distiller 7. This is the first thing to check Adobe support asks when PostScript questions come up.

David- The answer is NO.
The only thing that Optimize for speed and optimize for portability is how fast the PDF opens and how large the file size.

[Arnis Gubins]

Sherman,

So now you're saying that the postscript generated must use a specific
printer instance in order to be acceptable? If so, then why not simply
use the device/printer instance for the desired output product in the
first place? Why do you think that Adobe created a PPD for the
Distiller printer instance (aka "Adobe PDF) in the first place. It is
specific to creating the elements to the full capability of the PDF
specification.

The postscript generated by the Tektronix 550 Phaser printer instance
and the Adobe PDF or any other PS printer instance will *NOT*
necessarily be the same. Do a simple compare on the PPD files. If they
are the same, then the postscript will be the same. If not, then your
imageable area, paper size support, virtual memory space for the
postscript code, fonts, colour support, postscript level, etc., will
be different. Is that concept so difficult to grasp?

I give up! PEBKC!

[_Thomas_Michanek_]

I actually intended to reply to Sherman's message asking for more info
on Dov Isaacs and his expert postings. Then Arnis posted a couple of
useful links, and I read Sherman's latest posts. I conclude with Arnis
and Sean that Sherman is not willing to learn or listen to reason.

Sherman, you are fully entitled to continue sharing your personal
experiences and solutions to problems. However, claiming that people
are wrong when you don't really understand the subject matter at hand,
or dressing up your opinions or experiences as the Truth(TM), is not
the best way to gain respect in a forum like this.

I will not address your questions or rethoric in this thread, and I
will even consider using the following Newsgroup expression:

*plonk*

[_Bill_Swallow_]

My advice for fixing this PS issue is to reinstall the Acrobat 7 components that shipped with FrameMaker 7, and to use Save As PDF from FrameMaker. As for all the other debate in this thread, I'm staying out of it. ;-)

[Seanb_us]

There's a lot of junk in this thread, to be sure.

I'd try the uninstall and reinstallation at this point, too. The document described should be easy to PDF, it's not unusually large or anything.

Cheers,

Sean

[Seanb_us]

Arnis, Sherman knows it all and has nothing new to learn. I recommend ignoring the guy because doing otherwise gets in the way of helping the original poster.

Cheers,

Sean

[_sherman_watstein_]

Arnis- The question is what does a PPD. A PPD is defined as Postscript Printer Description. A PPD files are text files that provide a uniform approach to using the device features that contain PostScriptrinterpreters. Such features include different page sizes, different methods of paper handling, memory size, font availability and finishing features such as duplex printing and stapling.,. All printers to not have the same features, and even printers with the same features do not necessarily invoke those features in the same way. PPD files provide applications with the necessary information about a device's features including the features options, the default settings, how other information that might be used for scheduling jobs.
All PS printers have a PPD file associated with it. This PPD files for all printers are accessible to a guiven host computer are stored on the host computer. Applications on the host computer can parse PPD files to discover the list of available features on a printer.
The PPD fil also contains the PostScript language code to invode each feature. When you select afeature from the user inerface, such as manual feed or duplex printing, the code for each selected feature is extracted from the PPD file and included in the appropriate place in the output file before the output file is sent to the printer.
In otherwords, my Tektronis 550 has a PPD that Tektronix wrote or wrote with Adobe to allow it to use those features they offered. In some cases those features appear in when you select Print as a graphical representation of the printer and its trays, feed , etc. Local customuization to a PPD can be added at the user site to accommodate changes to the printer, such as the addition of fonts or memory, or to configure a device a certain way.

In the Adobe PDF printer, Adobe has created and maintains their PPD, but has no actural printer.

Since I'm not having a problem with my PDF or PS file(s), I see no reason to do your simple compare. Hard to grasp a concept that is working.

Your later suggestion to 1adobe to check the Links under Format>Document>Dcocuemnt>PDDF Setup...links tab is good idea, only you didn't re-read 1adobe comments. Using Save as PDF does not work. The only way around the problem has been to break up the document by creating seperate PS files and distilling then and them combinding the PDFs.
I still believe that there is one file in the book that has a problem, since 1adobe can break up the book. Once that file is fixed, then iadoe can either use the Save AS PDF option or generate a PS file and distill.

Sean- Maybe if you had something of value to add to 1adobe_user's problem and stop giving misleading information on PS printers, PPD's and Postscript drivers 1adobe_user may be able solve their problem.

I have had a simular problem with a document that iadobe has, but did not do the work around. Instead I did narrow it down to one chapter in the book, temp. removed the chapter, updated the book and generated a PDF. Since it resulted in a valid PS file and a PDF, I then knew that I had a bad Chapter, and was able to correct the formating problem(s)that was in that file

[Arnis Gubins]

Sherman,

>In the Adobe PDF printer, Adobe has created and maintains their PPD, but has no actural printer.

It's a VIRTUAL printer. It doesn't have to be a physical device!

[_sherman_watstein_]

I re-read Dov Isaacs interview dated April 28, 2003, in which at the end of the interview he says" I don't think we have any document that tells people to produce Postscript and then run distiller. but people seem to still be remembering that from Acrobat 1.0, even though we don't sell all that many packages of that version".

Let me quote the FM manual online manual for FrameMaker version 7.2

DISTILLING POSTSCRIPT FILES MANUALLY (WINDOWS, MAC OS and SUN SOlARIS)

If you have Acrobat distilleer installed, you can convert documents to PDF by creating a Postscript ile and then distilling the file yourself. By using Distiller, you can explicity set advanced settings having to do with compression, font embedding an d color conversion. However, saving as PDF is offen faster and more convenient and produces excellent results. In fact, if you can set up Distiller Job options beforehand, they become available in the Setting section of the PDF Setup dialog box in FrameMAker. Aslo, if you're woprking on a platform where Distiller is not available, you can create the PostScript file and then move it to another platform to distil it there...

ACREATING POSTSCRIPT FILES

You can create a description of a document called PostScript file ( also calleda print file). You might use a PostScript file to download the document later to a Postscript printer or send the document to a service prpvider for typesettiong....

SAVING DOCUMENTS AND BOOKS AS ADOBE PDF

You convert a FrameMAker document to Adobe PDF by setting options in the pDF Setup dialog box and then saving the document as PDF. You can also print the document to a Postscript file, and then convert it...

[Seanb_us]

Did uninstalling and reinstalling the Adobe Acrobat 7 components do the trick?

Regards,

Sean

[_sherman_watstein_]

Bill & Sean- So far 1adobe has never said they installed Distiller 7. Their currenent version was 6.0.0.5

[Seanb_us]

What happens if Distiller 6, and its printer, are removed and Distiller 7 is installed and used?

Regards,

Sean

[_1adobe_user_]

I am not able to install Distiller 7 at this time as the person-in-charged is out on a business trip for 1.5 weeks. Though I have informed him Distiller 7 comes with Frame 7.2, I am sure he will still have to check all the licensing - some co. red-tape (oops) or something like that. Looks like I will have to stick with Distiller 6 for the time being.

I have tried to troubleshoot with some of my colleagues PCs who have Distiller 7 installed. To my horrid, those using Distiller 7, is using FrameMaker 7.0 or 7.1 (I am using 7.2). Anyone knows off hand if there is any charges for upgrading from 7.0 to 7.2. Using earlier version of FrameMaker, I am sure there are other set of issues. I tried once with FrameMaker 7.0 and Distiller 7 and received a different set of errors (from Distiller). Things are getting more and more interesting.

[Arnis Gubins]

The upgrade price to FM7.2 from any earlier version (including 7.0 &
7.1) is $199.

What exact error messages did you get from the other Distiller?

[Seanb_us]

Well, I used FM 7.0 and Distiller 6 for a while on books the same size as the one you describe, but I don't have 7.2.

Did you remove FM 6, install FM 7.2, then install Distiller 6 over the top? It should not be necessary, but it could be that you need to install Distiller (and therefore the Acrobat suite) after FrameMaker. Still, that does not explain the symptoms very well, but it is something else to try: uninstall Acrobat 6 in its entirety and then reinstall it while leaving FM alone.

Also, you don't (somehow) have both Distiller 6 AND Distiller 7 installed, do you?

You only have the Adobe Distiller printer, correct, you do not (somehow) also have the Adobe PDF printer?

Are you using any FrameMaker Plug-ins, such as those that create PostScript code like Page Labeler?

Regards,

Sean

[_Rebecca_Officer_]

We're using FM 7.0 and Acrobat and Distiller 5, so I'd be surprised if that mismatch is the problem. But re-installing Distiller 6 is definitely a good idea.

Could also be worth searching your harddrive for PPD files and checking if you have multiple Distiller version PPDs in use. The correct PPD for distiller 5 is ADIST5.PPD but I don't know if later versions kept the same naming convention. If you find extras, I think you can safely delete them and their associated BPD files.

Another question that I'm not sure if you've answered because this thread has got so long I've lost track: When you try to print the book and fail, do you have all the files open before trying?

Cheers, Rebecca

[_1adobe_user_]

There is only one Distiller in my PC - Distiller 6. I installed FrameMaker 7.2 then Acrobat Professional 6. If I am not mistaken, the Distiller 6 came from Acrobat Professional 6. I however also install Acrobat Reader 7.05 but am not using it now - I now set my default to Acrobat Professional 6 as I will be able to do editing there if I need to.

A search in my PC shows a bunchs of PPDs - some with 6 and others with 7. (Example, ADPDF7.PPD, ADPDF7CS.PPD etc., ADPDF6.PPD, ADPDF6CS.PPD etc). I think 6 is for version 6 and 7 for version 7. I have no idea why 7 is in there. Maybe something to do be Acrobat Reader 7.

Thru FrameMaker, I only see Adobe PDF Printer and not Adobe Distiller Printer. Unless the postscipt plugs-in were installed automatically by Adobe during the initial setup, I am sure there are none in my PC.

So far, when I Print Book, I have not tried opening all the files. Will that make any difference? Any way, will give it a try and report back.

Depending on how I created my postscript (Print Book)/ pdf (Save As), Distiller stops at different page and give diffent errors.

[_Rebecca_Officer_]

I'm not expert at this, but it doesn't strike me as a good sign that you have both ADPDF7.PPD and ADPDF6.PPD files (I think the ones with other letters are for Asian languages, by the way). At this point I'd strongly recommend uninstalling Acrobat Pro and Reader and re-installing Pro only. And after the uninstall, I'd check that every that looks likes a ADPDF PPD has been deleted, and delete any leftovers if necessary. And reboot in between uninstalling and re-installing.

Adobe doesn't support multiple versions of Acrobat on one box, which means they don't support Pro + Reader. They warn that installing a second version can munge the installation of the first. A lot of people manage to get working systems with multiple versions, but going back to one is a good move when you strike trouble.

Cheers, Rebecca

[Seanb_us]

It sounds like your installation is munged.

Don't install different versions of the Acrobat product. Thus, if you are using Acrobat 6 Pro, do not install Acrobat/Adobe Reader 7. Use Acrobat--the full thing--as your PDF viewer.

I think (if I recall correctly) that Acrobat 6 installed a virtual printer called Distiller (not the same thing as the application of the same name), not Adobe PDF. So, it sounds like you have a merry mix of Acrobat 6 and 7 on your PC.

To troubleshoot further, I recommend uninstalling all your Acrobat products, every one, all your Adobe/Distiller printers, and making sure the uninstallation is clean, and then installing either Acrobat 6 Professional only (not Distiller 7 which is part of the FrameMaker 7.2 installation) OR, preferably, install only Acrobat 7 products and forego Acrobat 6 Pro.

You shouldn't mix versions of Acrobat products.

Cheers,

Sean