Rasterize effect in Illustrator

[Killah-Design]

I find when I use the Rasterize effect in Illustrator, it no longer reduces the ppi of the photo.

I often have to use large photos, and before sending the file to print I used to reduce the pi of the image by using the "rasterize" effect to reduce the image to the size needed (generally down to 300 ppi) but this no longer happens when I use the effect. When I check the document info, It only seems to have reduced the size by 50-55 ppi and I have to apply the same effect several times to slowly reduce the size of the photo.

Is there an easier way to reduce the ppi of a photo in Illustrator without having to open it in Photoshop and saving several different sizes of the same photo for different uses?

Thanks in advance.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

The Rasterize Effect is an effect and does nothing permanent.

It changes the preview of the image,

Only when you export the file or when you choose Expand Appearance, it will apply the rasterize effect settings.

[Killah-Design]

Thank you! Used the Expand Appearance and it brought the ppi down. This was a great help.

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear you've got it solved.

[Ray Yorkshire]

Maybe just use Object > Rasterise etc instead

[Killah-Design]

I feel very foolish that I didn't realize they were two different tools. Thank you as well.

[Monika Gause]

I don't understand this workflow at all.

When you do Object > Rasterize this basically has the same effect as using Photoshop to generate several sizes of the photo. When you need to generate the AI file for a different output size you will have to place the photo again and rasterize differently.

When you output to PDF you can resample the photo. This will then only be in the PDF and the photo in the AI file stays untouched.

[Killah-Design]

I often have to send the AI file to others in the company to work on with the images embedded, not linked. If I can rasterized the image at the correct dimensions at 300 ppi, it reduces the size of the file enormously.
I find outputting the files as PDFs with Illustrator capabilities on also makes the file too large. Perhaps I am not using the correct settings. Any suggestions on how to output to PDF with Illustrator capabilities on, and produce a smaller file?