[URGENT] Press Quality from InDesign outputs highly bitmapped photos

[CuriousEm]

Yesterday Acrobat completely disappeared from my Mac, so I did a re-install. Now that I'm on the updated version, I'm creating a press-ready file for a client — all the photos are severely bitmapped in the PDF as if they are 72dpi. I've double-checked the images in Photoshop, all's good, 300dpi and CMYK and reduce to 21% in IDD.

What happened to my trusty software that I've had no problems with for years? Can support help with this please? I'm in a holding pattern, I cannot handoff files with bad-quality photos.

Thank you. The partial image below shows the issue.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

...300dpi and CMYK and reduce to 21% in IDD.

By @CuriousEm

Moved this to the InDesign forum, based on the last stage of the poster's workflow is InDesign, which would control the quality and settings of the exported PDF.

[rob day]

Hi @CuriousEm , Can you share the exported PDF page? What’s the magnification setting in your linked screen capture? What you are describing sounds similar to this:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/exports-pdf-as-low-res-images/td-p/13895997

[Joel Cherney]

Well, we're not "support" but I'm pretty sure we can help. Are you exporting PDFs from InDesign, or are you printing to PDF, or printing Postscript and distilling? I would typically assume that you're not using the 20th century workflow of printing PS and distilling, but your mention of Acrobat makes me wonder.

Assuming that you're using File -> Export -> PDF (Print) from InDesign, you should check your export settings, which I suppose may have been changed or deleted when you reinstalled Acrobat. You're going to check your Adobe PDF Preset in the Export dialog, as well as the Compression section, where image downsampling can be adjusted:

If you're not exporting PDFs straight from InDesign, can you tell us how you have produced PDFs in the past?

[Jumpenjax]

21% reduction is a lot. Try to reduce the original graphics or photos in photoshop, so you do not have to reduce any smaller then 35%.

[BobLevine]

First off, if Acrobat disappeared, you have a very serious system issue that needs to be explored.

That out of the way you've given us nothing to go on. What version of InDesign? What were your export settings? What is the actual and effective PPI of these images?

Edit: one more thing...have you checked that the links were up to date?

Your screenshot tells us nothing without the above information.

[CuriousEm]

Thank you all for your input. Answers to all questions below, with a portion of the PDF

• Have always exported via InDesign for many years (ah I remember the Distiller days!)
• Links: all good
• ID 2023 v18.3 >>> Acrobat Pro v23.0
• PDF Export settings: Press Quality (no modified settings)
• Main image: 300dpi / CMYK
• Main image box dimensions: 1.75" square at 43% reduction (I resized in PS per advice)

If you enlarge you'll see the quality of the photo. Troubleshooted with PDF/X-4 per @rob day  settings above. Same issue very bit-mappy / pixelated. Have never had this occur as an ID creator, so perplexed. 

(Have also restarted - MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2021 fwiw.)

Thanks again,

Lisa

[Scott Falkner]

Both images are saved at 300 pixels per inch. The size of the PDF is small, which means despite the high resolution of the images there aren’t a lot of pixels there. If you view the image full screen on a large monitor it will appear low resolution, but the resolution is acceptable for print at this size.

[Test Screen Name]

 I too am thinking that Acrobat doesn't just disappear, so this shows a serious issue, which could be causing all sorts of other issues. This machine probably needs to be checked over.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Hi @CuriousEm, can you check one more item for us?

In InDesign, select each photo and review it in the Links panel. The lower portion of the Links panel expands to show details about the graphic itself, such as resolution, color space, file location, name, etc.

There are 2 key details in that panel:

• Original Resolution (that's the original dpi/ppi you created in Photoshop)
• Effective Resoltution (the final resolution after the graphic is scaled up/down in InDesign)

The effective resoslution is what is built into the PDF, so in this case, it should be high enough for your type of printing, 300 dpi/ppi or greater.

Can you select some graphics and check their effective resolution?

[BobLevine]

You didn't give us the effective resolution but like Scott I can't help but think you're just zooming in on it which will of course result in a pixelated appearance on screen.

[CuriousEm]

You're right @BobLevine -- the dimensions of the photo are quite small, and when Acrobat opens automatically from ID it presents it full size on my cinema display which probably is the culprit of making me jump out of my seat.

I've been testing this am with various photos, at larger photo box dimensions and it appears ok. But like others have said, disappearance of the app is a concern. Off to genius bar (aka, buy more devices I don't need while I wait)

This is my first time here in my years as a user of any CC app, you all are so quick to respond and help out. I super appreciate it. Thank you.

Lisa.

[rob day]

Hi Lisa, If I inspect the images in your PDF using Acrobat’s Object Inspector, the images are listed as 300ppi:

Placed images can have Actual and Effective Resolutions that are greater than 300ppi, but that doesn’t guarantee the image quality is any good—it looks like the images were upsampled in Photoshop before they were placed in InDesign.

Can you share the placed Photoshop images?