PDF Creation using Print to Adobe PDF

[jschaaf]

I would like to see the Save a Copy>PDF conversion process changed to something similar to Print to Adobe PDF.

The PDF's created using Print to Adobe PDF have consistently 3 times smaller and at time 8 times smaller file sizes.

The PDF's are create faster which helps CAD worker performance in Windchill

[TomU]

Don't forget to vote up your own idea.

Also, make 100% sure you're comparing apples to apples here.  True Type Fonts are handled differently between printing and save-as.

"Use True Type Fonts"  (much smaller file size)

• Print to PDF (maintains the "look" of the drawing)
  • Stroke all non-true type fonts
  • Export true type fonts where actually used
• Save-As PDF (changes the "look" of the drawing)
  • Convert non-true type fonts to true type font
  • Export all text as a true type font

"Stroke All Fonts"  (much larger file size)

• Print to PDF - stroke all fonts (maintains the "look" of the drawing)
• Save-As PDF - stroke all fonts (maintains the "look" of the drawing)

It would be interesting to know what your settings are for each PDF type as well as how much non-TTF text you have on the drawings.

[jschaaf]

Hi Tom,

The ideal PDF setting:

• 600 DPI

• Monochrome

• Stroke All Fonts

True Type Fonts are not used. 

We have 750 second timeouts on our CAD Workers and have found it is not enough for some very large drawings.

Windchill integrated with our corporate PDM system and 12 ½ minute timeouts are delaying other jobs from completing and the original job fails.

I have seen Save a Copy>PDF files over 23MB, the same drawing using Print to PDF is under 3MB.

Just looking for a better method of creating the PDF’s.

[TomU]

What portion of the 12 1/2 minutes is load time and what portion is save-as time?  Are these drawings heavy on text?  Do you see the same time variation if the text is deleted?  Just curious.  Thanks.

[jschaaf]

Tom,

We have added two more CAD workers and doubled the timeout to 1500 seconds which appears to have solved the issued.

We had planned to added the two CAD workers to match demand and the Windchill admin team extended the timeout.

I would still like to see the time to create and size of the PDF's addressed.

If we did not already plan to add the CAD workers it would have benn and expensve resolution.

Regards,