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Yellow Christian

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Differences between PDF folios and PNG/JPG ones?

Mar 20, 2012 2:54 PM

Would anyone be able to quickly summarise the subtle differences (apart from having the option to enable pinch/zoom) between these folio types. I have a multi-folio app on Newsstand which uses JPG folios but am keen to switch to PDF for the next issue. We use all overlay types and want to target problems early! Thanks

1384 Views 20 Replies Latest reply: Axel | Comfi, Apr 30, 2012 12:17 AM

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1. Bob Levine,

Mar 20, 2012 3:04 PM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Text is way sharper but pages may take a second or so to pop into focus.

Oh, and files are smaller.

Bob

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2. Yellow Christian,

Mar 20, 2012 3:16 PM in reply to Bob Levine

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Thanks Bob. There was something in one of Johannes threads that prompted me to post. File size is always of huge importance so looking forward to shedding a couple of pounds from my app. So all overlays function correctly etc?

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3. Bob Levine,

Mar 20, 2012 3:40 PM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Yes, but note that if you use pinch and zoom the text will stay razor sharp on the static elements but be rasterized on the overlay portions.

Bob

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4. fredericbotton,

Mar 21, 2012 1:42 AM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Jpg/png folios work on Android devices, PDF folios do not!

(PDF ok on iOS and not ok on Android? Somebody please call Fringe Division, we must have crossed to that alternate world)

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5. Bob Bringhurst,

Mar 21, 2012 10:57 AM in reply to fredericbotton

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Here are the differences between PDF and JPG/PNG articles that I'm aware of:

* PDF is not supported for Smooth Scrolling articles, even if you specify the PDF image format. For memory reasons, JPG or PNG is used instead. Enabling PDF for Smooth Scrolling articles is on the roadmap.

* It sometimes takes a moment for a PDF article to come into focus, especially on the iPad 1. With iOS 5.1, this load delay is rare, at least in my experience.

* PDF articles are not supported on Android devices. If a folio includes a single PDF article, it won't load in the viewer on a mobile device.

* Pages in PDF articles can pinch & zoom if enabled in Viewer Builder.

* The thumbnail previews of PDF articles do not appear in the Folio Producer Editor.

* Overlays should look and function the same whether PDF, JPG, or PNG. When you zoom in on an overlay in a PDF article, pixelation might be noticeable, but that's expected.

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6. Yellow Christian,

Mar 24, 2012 4:18 PM in reply to Bob Bringhurst

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Unfortunatley I'm not seeing any benefit when creating PDF folios. Infact they appear to weigh more that my JPG/high folios.
Here's a grab from Acrobat.com of duplicate, single article folios (minimal interactivity with severl MSO's performing show/hide functions and a few hyperlinks to the HTMLResources which don't work!?).
The JPG one is smaller in size…

I haven't published with PDF folios yet, I was testing a HD rendition on a 2048 folio set to PDF (same single article as you see here) and it showed a download weight of 21mb.

I can only assume I'm doing something very wrong or I have troubled system.

DPS tool versions are all up to date.
InDesgin version - CS5.5 (7.5.1.304)

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7. Yellow Christian,

Mar 26, 2012 6:58 AM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Is anybody else having PDF folios behaving this way?

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8. Bob Bringhurst,

Mar 26, 2012 10:32 AM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Single-page PDF articles are sometimes larger than JPG/PNG articles, but longer articles are always much smaller in my testing.

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9. Yellow Christian,

Mar 26, 2012 10:50 AM in reply to Bob Bringhurst

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Thanks Bob, I can see the logic in that. Anything on the road map to customise the PDF options?

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10. Bob Bringhurst,

Mar 26, 2012 10:57 AM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Not that I'm aware of. You can submit a feature request: www.adobe.com/go/wish

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11. Philip BNYC12,

Mar 28, 2012 8:16 PM in reply to Bob Bringhurst

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Bob, the folio panel will not allow me to upload PDF articles that are any longer than 2048 px. Any advice?

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12. Bob Bringhurst,

Mar 28, 2012 9:14 PM in reply to Philip BNYC12

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PDF doesn't work with Smooth Scrolling articles. Here's a link that explains all the differences I'm aware of:

http://blogs.adobe.com/indesigndocs/2012/03/differences-between-pdf-an d-jpgpng-image-format-for-dps.html

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13. Martin Lér,

Mar 29, 2012 5:41 AM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Christian,

where you are getting this info about sizes of each folio?

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14. Yellow Christian,

Mar 29, 2012 5:57 AM in reply to Martin Lér

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Hi Martin, I'm getting it from Acrobat.com. Access it from the DPS dashboard. Should be top right, icon that looks like four little squares. One of the drop downs will be Acrobat. If you've published our are holding any folios you can find them there, just right click and turn on file into.

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15. keithGSR,

Apr 25, 2012 8:04 PM in reply to Yellow Christian

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Is there an easy way to convert an article that has been previously uploaded as PDF, to PNG/JPG? It seems like I have to delete and upload again fresh.

I have uploaded many articles and think I should have selected PNG/Automatic - but all the properties have been carefully entered.

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16. Axel | Comfi,

Apr 26, 2012 5:00 AM in reply to Bob Levine

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Is it on Adobe's roadmap to enable pdf rendering within overlays?

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17. SergeWerge,

Apr 26, 2012 12:46 PM in reply to Axel | Comfi

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Axel,
If I understand your question correctly - PDF's with overlays are supported starting from v.18, see here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/indesigndocs/2012/03/differences-between-pdf-an d-jpgpng-image-format-for-dps.html

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18. SergeWerge,

Apr 26, 2012 1:12 PM in reply to Yellow Christian

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This is a question to everyone, now more tricky one:

In case of PDF folios, can there be a better way to create internal cross-links (navto), other than making them manually?
I mean, if these links (such as footnotes, indexes, etc) were already created in InDesign, and will remain if document is exported as regular PDF, maybe they can be somehow inherited by PDF folio articles?

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19. Casey Jensen,

Apr 27, 2012 5:01 AM in reply to SergeWerge

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Serge, there really isn't special PDF abilities. PDF is really just an image format in this scenario. It adds pinch to zoom over the other formats, and that's it. Not to say that'll always be the case, but that's the current case.

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20. Axel | Comfi,

Apr 30, 2012 12:17 AM in reply to SergeWerge

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Serge,

No, that is not my question. I'll elaborate: the pdf format render beautiful text and vector imagery - but only if this text/illustrations aren't in an overlay. If you put text within a scrollable frame, it is turned into an image (png or jpeg, don't know, but guess png). If you do a slideshow of a bunch of vector logos, they are all turned into pixel images. If you turn a graphic containing text into a button, the text is also pixelised. So ... when zooming in, 'static' text is beautiful pdf, overlay text is pixels. So, will Adobe change this, and render overlay content as pdf?

Kind regards,
Axel

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