Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Adobe Acrobat 7.0.5
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
October 2, 2005
Adobe Solutions Network — http://partners.adobe.com
Copyright 2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.
NOTICE: All information contained herein is the property of Adobe Systems Incorporated. No part of this publication (whether in hardcopy or
electronic form) may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written consent of the Adobe Systems Incorporated.
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. All instances of the name PostScript in the text are references to the
PostScript language as defined by Adobe Systems Incorporated unless otherwise stated. The name PostScript also is used as a product
trademark for Adobe Systems’ implementation of the PostScript language interpreter.
Except as otherwise stated, any reference to a “PostScript printing device,” “PostScript display device,” or similar item refers to a printing device,
display device or item (respectively) that contains PostScript technology created or licensed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and not to devices
or items that purport to be merely compatible with the PostScript language.
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, Acrobat Capture, Distiller, PostScript, the PostScript logo and Reader are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
Apple, Macintosh, and Power Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. PowerPC
is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the United States. ActiveX, Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open
Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This publication and the information herein is furnished AS IS, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a
commitment by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies,
makes no warranty of any kind (express, implied, or statutory) with respect to this publication, and expressly disclaims any and all warranties
of merchantability, fitness for particular purposes, and noninfringement of third party rights.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Other Useful Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 1
How to Set Distiller Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Choosing an Adobe PDF Settings File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Inserting PostScript Code Into the Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Caveats for Setting Distiller Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Distiller Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Distiller Processing Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Using Distiller to Combine PostScript Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
How Distiller Handles Incorrect .joboptions Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 2
Using Distiller Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Using the General Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Using the Image Compression Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
JPEG Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Flate Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
JPEG2000 Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Automatic Compression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Setting Compression of Color and Grayscale Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Setting Compression of Monochrome (Black and White) Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
For Details on Encoding Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Downsampling and Subsampling Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Controlling Downsampling and Encoding for Each Sampled Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Controlling Bit Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Caveats For Processing Grayscale and Monochrome Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Overview of Distiller’s Filter Selection Strategy for Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Decision Flow for Color and Grayscale Image Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
3
Contents
Use of Image Dictionaries for Color and Grayscale Image Compression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Compression Parameters Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Setting Compression of Text, Line Art, and Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Passing Through JPEG Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Summary of Distiller Image Compression Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Disabling of Image Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Using the Font Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Font Embedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Font Embedding Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Using the Color Conversion Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
ColorConversionStrategy Parameter Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Converting Gradients to Smooth Shades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo Parameter Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
PreserveEPSInfo Parameter Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
CreateJobTicket Parameter Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
CreateJDFFile Parameter Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using the Standards Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Using the CheckCompliance, PDFX1aCheck, and PDFX3Check Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using the PDFXOutputIntentProfile Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 3
Parameter Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
General Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Image Compression Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Color Image Compression Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Grayscale Image Compression Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Monochrome Images Compression Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Page Compression Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Font Parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Color Conversion Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Advanced Adobe PDF Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Chapter 4
Changes Since Last Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Changes Made for Acrobat 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Changes Made for Acrobat 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Changes Made for Acrobat 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
4
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Contents
Appendix A
Conversions Related to JDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Basic JDF File Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Representing Certain PostScript Keys as JDF Elements and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Converting Between the Linear Representation of setpagedevice Keys and Their Hierarchical JDF
Counterparts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Mapping of Certain DSC Comments into JDF Elements and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Composite Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Pre-Separated Jobs with Interleaved Separations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Pre-separated Single-colorant Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Image Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Page Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Color Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
PDF/X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Conversion of Parameters Not Available Through UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
5
Contents
6
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Pre
Preface
Adobe® Acrobat® Distiller® converts PostScript® language page descriptions into Portable
Document Format (PDF) files, which are the native format of the Acrobat family of products.
This technical note describes the parameters you can set to control the PDF file output.
Purpose
This technical note serves as a reference to the Distiller parameters.
Audience
The audience of this technical note includes developers who are developing products that
work with Acrobat Distiller and end users who are using the Distiller user interface (UI).
Readers should be familiar with Portable Document Format (PDF).
Use this technical note if you are a developer writing applications that programmatically
control Distiller. By placing Distiller-specific operators in the PostScript language input file,
your application can control a number of parameters Distiller uses during PostScript-to-
PDF conversion. For example, to change downsampling behavior, your application would
insert PostScript code to change the values of downsampling parameters.
If you are an end user with special requirements for PDF file output, you can use this
technical note as a guide to customizing the Distiller parameters contained in an Adobe
PDF settings file.
Contents
This technical note is organized as follows:
●
Chapter 1, “How to Set Distiller Parameters,” provides a brief summary of how to set
Distiller parameters through the Adobe PDF settings file and programmatically in the
PostScript input file. The chapter also lists caveats you should observe when setting
parameters.
●
Chapter 2, “Using Distiller Parameters,” provides information on how to use the Distiller
parameters. It points out caveats you should be aware of and illustrates concepts you
should understand about the various parameter groups. Major sections are:
– Using the General Parameters describes the controls provided by these parameters.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
7
Preface
Other Useful Documentation
– Using the Image Compression Parameters describes JPEG, JPEG2000, Flate, and
automatic compression of images and page compression.
– Using the Font Parameters defines Distiller’s control over font embedding and
subsetting.
– Using the Color Conversion Parameters generally describes the functions of these
parameters and provides details on the ColorConversionStrategy parameter.
– Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters introduces Distiller controls when
creating embedded job tickets, and other advanced topics. The section places special
emphasis on six parameters: DetectBlends, ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo,
PreserveEPSInfo, CreateJobTicket, AllowTransparency, and CreateJDFFile.
– Using the Standards Parameters provides details on producing PDF/A- and PDF/X-
compliant files.
●
Chapter 3, “Parameter Reference,” lists and describes each Distiller parameter available
through the UI (and a few not available through the UI) along with the corresponding UI
name. Each top-level section in this chapter corresponds to the controls in an Adobe
PDF settings panel of the Distiller UI. These sections are:
– General Parameters lists the general parameters.
– Image Compression Parameters lists the parameters that control compression of
color, grayscale, and monochrome images as well as pages (line art and text). This
section is organized into four subsections.
– Font Parameters lists the font parameters for embedding and subsetting fonts.
– Color Conversion Parameters lists the color conversion parameters including: the
profiles controlling color conversions; selecting a color conversion strategy; and
preserving halftone, transfer function, and UCR and BG information in the PDF file.
– Advanced Adobe PDF Settings lists the advanced Adobe PDF settings, including:
encoding binary streams; creating job tickets; overriding parameters; controlling
overprint mode; and preserving DSC, EPS, and OPI information in the PDF file.
– Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only) lists the parameters that are used to
produce PDF/X-compliant PDF files.
●
Chapter 4, “Changes Since Last Revision,” lists the changes to this document since
previous revisions.
●
Appendix A describes how the Adobe Normalizer product interprets and converts
Distiller parameters. It supplements information provided in Using the Advanced Adobe
PDF Parameters at the end of Chapter 2, “Using Distiller Parameters.”
Other Useful Documentation
The documents listed in this section are referenced in this technical note.
The following documents are available with the Acrobat SDK. If you did not install the SDK
but would like to, please visit the Adobe Solutions Network Web site.
●
PDF Reference, fifth edition, version 1.6 provides a description of the PDF file format, as
well as suggestions for producing efficient PDF files. It is intended for application
8
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Preface
Other Useful Documentation
developers who plan to produce PDF files directly. This document is also available from
http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat.
●
Acrobat Distiller API Reference describes the API that you can use to automate the
generation of PDF documents on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
●
pdfmark Reference Manual describes how you can use the pdfmark operator to
represent PDF features in PostScript language files in order to cause these features to
appear when the corresponding PDF is generated. This document is also available from
http://partners.adobe.com/links/acrobat.
●
Acrobat and PDF Library API Overview provides a comprehensive overview of the public
API to the Adobe Reader, Acrobat Professional and Acrobat Standard products, as well as
all of the PDF Library APIs.
●
Acrobat and PDF Library API Reference provides a comprehensive reference describing
the public API to the Adobe Reader, Acrobat Professional and Acrobat Standard
products, as well as the PDF Library APIs.
The documents below are also available on the Adobe Solutions Network Web site, but
they are not part of the Acrobat SDK.
●
PostScript Language Reference, third edition is the definitive programmer’s reference for the
syntax and semantics of the PostScript language, the imaging model, and the effects of
the graphics operators.
●
Portable Job Ticket Format, Version 1.1 (Technical Note #5620) describes the structure and
contents of job tickets. Distiller can produce job tickets that are embedded in PDF files.
●
Color Separation Conventions for PostScript Language Programs (Technical Note #5044) provides
information on overprint mode strategy. (See the description of the OPM parameter.)
●
Open Prepress Interface (OPI) 1.3 Specification provides details on OPI version 1.3. (See the
description of the PreserveOPIComments parameter.)
●
Open Prepress Interface (OPI) Specification - Version 2.0 (Technical Note #5660) provides details
on OPI version 2.0. (See the description of the PreserveOPIComments parameter.)
●
The Compact Font Format Specification (Technical Note #5176) provides details of a font
format that is suitable for compactly representing one or more Type 1 or CID-keyed
fonts.
The following document is available by special arrangement.
●
Using Adobe Normalizer Server, Version 6.0.4, details the workings of the Adobe
Normalizer Server. It is intended for OEMs developing software that incorporates
Normalizer.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
9
Preface
Conventions Used in This Document
Conventions Used in This Document
Font
Used for
Examples
monospaced
Paths and filenames
C:\templates\mytmpl.fm
Code examples set off
These are variable declarations:
from plain text
AVMenu commandMenu,helpMenu;
monospaced bold
Code items within plain
The GetExtensionID method ...
text
Literal values in
The enumeration terminates if proc
reference documents
returns false.
monospaced italic
Pseudocode
ACCB1 void ACCB2 ExeProc(void)
{ do something }
Placeholders in code
AFSimple_Calculate(cFunction,
examples
cFields)
blue
Live links to Web pages
The Adobe Solutions Network URL is:
http://partners.adobe.com/asn/
Live links to sections
See Using the SDK.
within this document
Live links to Distiller
Test whether an ASAtom exists.
parameters and keys
within this document
bold
PostScript language and The setpagedevice operator
PDF operators, Distiller
parameters, keywords,
dictionary key names
italic
Document titles that are Acrobat and PDF Library API Overview
not live links
New terms
User space specifies coordinates for...
PostScript variables
filename deletefile
10
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
1
How to Set Distiller Parameters
This chapter describes how you can set Distiller parameters and provides some specific
user information for Distiller.
In general, Distiller parameters can be set by choosing an Adobe PDF settings file at the
time the Distiller job (PostScript input file) is submitted to Distiller, or by inserting PostScript
code into the job itself.
Choosing an Adobe PDF Settings File
You can control the Adobe PDF settings file through the Distiller user interface (UI), or you
can control Distiller programmatically through the various Distiller automation methods.
This section provides a brief overview of Adobe PDF settings control through the UI. For
details on automation methods, see the Acrobat Distiller API Reference, available from
Adobe Solutions Network Web site.
At the user interface level, you can set Distiller parameters by selecting a file of predefined
Adobe PDF settings, or by creating your own set of Adobe PDF settings. Each Distiller
settings file defines compression, font embedding, color management, PDF/X-compliance,
and many other properties for all PDF files that Distiller creates. Distiller comes with several
predefined Adobe PDF settings files, with settings defined for common scenarios. These are
shown in Table 1.1, “Predefined Adobe PDF settings files.”
N O T E : For historical reasons, the compatibility level in these files is set to PDF 1.4 rather
than PDF 1.5. New versions of Distiller are historically set by default to generate PDF
files that are backward compatible with an earlier version of the product.
TABLE 1.1
Predefined Adobe PDF settings files
Standard
These settings are the default. Use these settings to create PDF
documents suitable for reliable viewing and printing of business
documents. The PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and
Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.
High Quality
Use these settings to create PDF documents for quality printing on
Printing
desktop printers and proofers. The PDF documents can be opened
with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.
Press Quality
Use these settings to create PDF documents with improved image
resolution for high quality pre-press printing. The PDF documents can
be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later. These
settings require font embedding.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
11
How to Set Distiller Parameters
1
Choosing an Adobe PDF Settings File
TABLE 1.1
Predefined Adobe PDF settings files
Smallest File Size
Use these settings to create PDF documents with minimum image
resolution and no font embedding. The PDF documents can be
opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.
PDFA Draft
Use these settings to create PDF documents that are to be checked or
must conform to PDF/A, a proposed ISO standard for the long-term
preservation (archival) of electronic documents. For more information
on creating PDF/A compliant PDF documents, please refer to the
Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help. Created PDF documents can be
opened with Acrobat or Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.
PDFX1a 2001
(In Acrobat 6, this was the PDFX1a PDF settings file) Use these settings
to create PDF documents that are to be checked or must conform to
PDF/X-1a:2001, an ISO standard for graphic content exchange. For
more information on creating PDF/X-1a compliant PDF documents,
please refer to the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help. Created PDF
documents can be opened with Acrobat or Adobe Reader 4.0 and
later.
PDFX1a 2003
Use these settings to create PDF documents that are to be checked or
must conform to PDF/X-1a:2003, an ISO standard for graphic content
exchange. For more information on creating PDF/X-1a compliant PDF
documents, please refer to the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help.
Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat or Adobe
Reader 5.0 and later.
PDFX3 2002
(In Acrobat 6, this was the PDFX3 PDF settings file) Use these settings to
create PDF documents that are to be checked or must conform to
PDF/X-3:2002, an ISO standard for graphic content exchange. For
more information on creating PDF/X- 3 compliant PDF documents,
please refer to the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help. Created PDF
documents can be opened with Acrobat or Adobe Reader 4.0 and
later.
PDFX3 2003
Use these settings to create PDF documents that are to be checked or
must conform to PDF/X-3:2003, an ISO standard for graphic content
exchange. For more information on creating PDF/X- 3 compliant PDF
documents, please refer to the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help.
Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat or Adobe
Reader 5.0 and later.
N O T E : Before creating an Adobe PDF file to send to a commercial printer or a service
bureau, check with the provider to find out what the output resolution and other
settings should be, or ask him to provide a .joboptions file containing his
recommended settings. You may need to customize the settings for a particular
provider and then provide him with a .joboptions file of your own.
12
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
How to Set Distiller Parameters
1
Inserting PostScript Code Into the Job
You should not modify any of the predefined Adobe PDF settings files. But you can start
with these and create new ones based on them, or define and save your own sets of
options and use them at any time. You can build your own Adobe PDF settings files using a
standard text editor and save them in a folder of your choice, or you can open an existing
settings file from the UI and modify it using the UI. However, if you choose to modify a
settings file from the UI itself (as opposed to editing the file with a text editor), you will not
be able to set every Distiller parameter to every possible value—the UI is designed to allow
you to set parameters within a settings file to most possible values, but not all. In addition,
some parameters cannot be set from the UI itself but require use of a standard text editor.
N O T E : In this document, when a “default” parameter value is provided, the value generally
refers to what the value is “hard-coded” to within Distiller if the Adobe PDF settings
file is empty or if that parameter or key is missing from the settings file. In general,
the default, “hard-coded” settings are the same as those in the
Standard.joboptions file, with a few exceptions (see “Parameter Reference”
on page 55” for a complete listing of default values, and the exceptions).
Refer to the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help for additional information on controlling
Adobe PDF settings through the UI.
Inserting PostScript Code Into the Job
Distiller contains a PostScript 3 interpreter with two Distiller-specific operators,
setdistillerparams and currentdistillerparams. An Adobe PDF settings file can be thought of
as a Postscript file that contains setdistillerparams key-value pairs followed by the PostScript
setpagedevice operator with two key-value pairs. The Adobe PDF settings file is the first file
processed by Distiller, but parameters can subsequently be set or changed within the
PostScript job itself (see “Distiller Processing Sequence” on page 16).
N O T E : This document uses the term parameter to refer to an individual entry (key-value
pair) in a PostScript dictionary that is passed to setdistillerparams or returned by
currentdistillerparams.
The currentdistillerparams operator returns a dictionary containing key-value pairs for all
Distiller parameters. Each execution of this operator allocates and returns a new dictionary.
N O T E : Where the value of a key is another dictionary, currentdistillerparams returns the key-
value pairs set in that dictionary.
The setdistillerparams operator attempts to set one or more Distiller parameters. To set a
parameter, you assign a value to a dictionary key and pass the dictionary as an operand to
setdistillerparams, for example:
<</CompressPages true>> setdistillerparams
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How to Set Distiller Parameters
1
Inserting PostScript Code Into the Job
Where the value of a key is another dictionary, provide the keys you want to set in that
dictionary. For example:
<</AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayACSImageDict <<
/QFactor 0.25 /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]>>
>> setdistillerparams
If a key does not exist in the implementation of the Distiller application, Distiller ignores the
key. However, if Distiller writes out a new Adobe PDF settings file, it will still “pass through”
the unknown key and value from the original Adobe PDF settings file to the new Adobe
PDF settings file. If the value is of the correct type and is supported by the Distiller
implementation, Distiller replaces the current value with the one specified. For values of the
correct type that are not supported by the Distiller implementation, Distiller either
generates an error or substitutes the nearest achievable value. A value of the wrong type
results in a typecheck error, and all parameter values are left unchanged.
N O T E : Where appropriate, this document identifies the cases when Distiller emits a specific
error message or when it handles range errors in a certain way.
Parameter values you set in a PostScript input file using the setdistillerparams operator
override those set through the user interface when the job began. The parameters remain
in effect for the duration of the current save level. (See Section 3.7.3 in the PostScript Language
Reference, third edition for a discussion of the save and restore operators.)
(Note, however, that this behavior depends on the value of the LockDistillerParams
parameter at the time setdistillerparams is called. If true, Distiller ignores any parameters
defined in the incoming PostScript file. Otherwise the Distiller parameters, if any, defined in
the PostScript file override those defined by the Adobe PDF settings file.)
At the end of the current job, Distiller restores the values to those present before the job
began.
To enable PostScript files containing the currentdistillerparams or setdistillerparams Distiller
operators to be used on PostScript devices such as printers that do not implement these
operators, you must add the following definitions to the beginning of the file:
/currentdistillerparams where {pop}
{userdict /currentdistillerparams {1 dict} put} ifelse
/setdistillerparams where {pop}
{userdict /setdistillerparams {pop} put} ifelse
This PostScript code sequence uses the existing currentdistillerparams and
setdistillerparams, if present. If not, it defines currentdistillerparams to return an empty one-
element dictionary, and setdistillerparams to be a NULL operation.
PostScript language programs that use these operators must not assume that any
particular key is present in the dictionary returned by currentdistillerparams, or that
setdistillerparams has any particular side effects.
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Caveats for Setting Distiller Parameters
Caveats for Setting Distiller Parameters
You should observe the following caveats when setting Distiller parameters:
●
Distiller examines the parameters shown in Table 1.2, “Parameters that should be
included in an Adobe PDF settings file,” at the start of a job. The correct way to ensure
that these parameters are defined properly is to include settings for them in the Adobe
PDF settings file. Distiller checks the remaining parameters throughout the job as
needed.
TABLE 1.2
Parameters that should be included in an Adobe PDF settings file
AlwaysEmbed
CompatibilityLevel
NeverEmbed
Binding
EmbedAllFonts
ParseDSCComments
MaxSubsetPct
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo
SubsetFonts
CreateJobTicket
AutoRotatePages
ColorConversionStrategy
LockDistillerParams
Description
PDFX1aCheck
PDFX3Check
PDFXCompliantPDFOnly
PDFXNoTrimBoxError
PDFXTrimBoxtoMediaBoxOffset
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox
PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset
PDFXOutputIntentProfile
PDFXTrapped
CheckCompliance
PreserveFlatness (see note below)
—
●
PreserveFlatness cannot be changed in the middle of a page using setdistillerparams.
This parameter must be set before any marks are created on the page. For example,
when the following PostScript command sequence:
1 1 moveto 1 2 lineto
<< /PreserveFlatness false>> setdistillerparams
20 setflat
is distilled, the value in the.joboptions file will be honored and the changes
indicated by setdistillerparams will not be used. Any attempt to change PreserveFlatness
after any marks are drawn on a page is ignored.
●
If you specify values for the parameters DoThumbnails , Optimize, and/or
CompressObjects, you must include the parameter settings in the Adobe PDF settings
file and not in the PostScript input file itself. The parameters are not used until the post-
processing step of distillation.
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How to Set Distiller Parameters
1
Distiller Initialization
●
Regardless of the value of the DetectBlends parameter, Distiller disables idiom
conversion of gradients to smooth shading when CompatibilityLevel is less than 1.3.
Distiller Initialization
Distiller initialization is controlled by the file distinit.ps, which is executed once at
Distiller startup. As part of the initialization process, all of the files in the Distiller Startup
folder are executed. Example.ps is one such file.
You can add as many other startup files as you want inside the Startup folder. Those files
are executed by distinit.ps during initialization.
N O T E : The files in the Startup folder are not executed in any specific order—not
alphabetically, nor in any other predictable order. For that reason, it is best to add all
extra initialization code to the Example.ps file to ensure that it all runs in order.
Distiller Processing Sequence
The Adobe PDF settings file is the first file that Distiller processes in the Distiller processing
sequence. The Distiller processing sequence is as follows:
1. Adobe PDF settings file
2. Prologue file (if the UsePrologue parameter is true)
3. PostScript file
4. Epilogue file (if the UsePrologue parameter is true)
If the LockDistillerParams parameter is set to false, then the setdistillerparams operator
can be used within the Prologue, PostScript, and/or Epilogue files to assign Distiller
parameters new values (but be sure to observe the caveats listed in “Caveats for Setting
Distiller Parameters” on page 15”).
Using Distiller to Combine PostScript Files
N O T E : Adobe recommends that the Acrobat 7.0 feature Create PDF from Multiple Files be
used to combine PostScript and/or PDF files together into one PDF.
Distiller can combine two or more PostScript files to produce a single Adobe PDF
document. If the PostScript files have embedded font subsets, Distiller gives the resulting
PDF file only one subset for each font. This is much more efficient than creating a set of
several PDF documents with duplicate font subsets.
To use files provided as part of the Acrobat installation to combine two or more PostScript
files to create a single PDF, follow these steps:
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How Distiller Handles Incorrect .joboptions Files
1. Start a text editor or a word processor.
2. Choose File > Open.
3. Use your operating system’s search tool to locate and open one of the following files in a
text editor. For Acrobat 7 on Windows, these files should be located in \Documents
and Settings\All Users\Documents\Adobe PDF 7.0\Example Files
(Windows 2000) or \Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared
Documents\Adobe PDF 7.0\Example Files (Windows XP); on Mac, they
should be at /Library/Application Support/Adobe PDF/Example
Files.
●
Runfilex.ps combines a set of PostScript files from one or more locations into one
PDF file.
●
Rundirex.txt combines a set of PostScript files from a specific folder or directory
into one PDF file.
4. Follow the instructions in the sample files. The PostScript files are combined in the order
in which they are listed.
5. Choose File > Save As, and save the modified files under a new name. Use the name you
want Distiller to give the PDF file. For example, if you name the file Handbook.ps,
Distiller creates a PDF file called Handbook.pdf. If you're using a word processor, save
the file as a text file.
6. Quit the text editor or word processor.
7. Open the file in Distiller.
8. Convert the combined file to PDF. You can also place the file in an In folder to be
converted later.
9. When the PDF file is ready, open the file in Acrobat and make sure that all of the
document elements are present and in the correct order.
N O T E : The conversion settings used are those listed in the Default Settings
pop-up menu in the Acrobat Distiller dialog box.
How Distiller Handles Incorrect .joboptions Files
Distiller uses several criteria when determining whether a .joboptions file is “correct.”
Distiller recognizes two cases of incorrectness:
1. The file is syntactically invalid (i.e., invalid PostScript).
2. The file is semantically invalid (i.e., invalid type or value).
Based on which case of incorrectness Distiller determines the .joboptions file to be, it
takes ones of several actions. In the first case, Distiller does not allow PDF creation. This
applies to both the GUI application and the Watched Folder implementation. (For more
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How Distiller Handles Incorrect .joboptions Files
information on Watched Folders, please refer to the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online Help.)
In the second case, Distiller takes one of three parameter-specific actions:
1. Distiller does not allow PDF creation.
2. Distiller uses a default value and ignores the semantic error.
3. Distiller resets all values to defaults and ignores the semantic error.
The first action is intended for problems for which a workaround is not reasonable, given
that the resulting PDF file would contain unexpected content.
The second action is intended for parameter values whose type is correct but whose
incorrect value can be reasonably or predictably converted to another value that does not
affect the intent. For example: /GrayImageFilter /LZWEncode is taken to be
/GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode.
The third action is intended for more seriously incorrect parameters, but not so severe as
require that the PDF file not be created. Many incorrect parameters cause Distiller to take
this course of action.
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Using Distiller Parameters
This chapter provides information on how to use the Distiller parameters. It points out
caveats you should be aware of and illustrates concepts you should understand about the
various parameter groups displayed in the Distiller UI.
Using the General Parameters
The general parameters allow you a number of general controls when creating a PDF file,
including:
●
Specifying the version of Acrobat for file compatibility. You can create PDF files that are
compatible with Acrobat 3.0 (PDF 1.2), 4.0 (PDF 1.3), 5.0 (PDF 1.4), 6.0 (PDF 1.5), or 7.0
(PDF 1.6).
●
Specifying other file and device settings such as resolution and optimization.
N O T E : If you create files with Acrobat 7.0 compatibility, the resulting PDF files may not be
compatible with earlier Acrobat versions.
●
Manipulating pages: rotating, binding, and selecting page ranges to be distilled.
See “General Parameters” on page 56 for a description of each general parameter and the
corresponding name in the UI.
Using the Image Compression Parameters
You can have Distiller compress (encode) text and line art in your PDF files, as well as
compress and resample color, grayscale, and monochrome bitmap images. This section
describes Distiller’s parameters for compressing and resampling images. Depending on the
settings you choose, compression and resampling can significantly reduce the size of a PDF
file with little or no loss of detail and precision. Through Distiller parameters, you can
choose JPEG, JPEG2000, CCITTFax, RunLength, Flate, or automatic compression.
Distiller also checks to determine whether the existing clip path causes more than 10
percent of the image samples to fall outside the clip path. If this is the case, Distiller
discards (crops) the image samples that fall outside the clip area, resulting in smaller
images and PDF files. However, in some workflows, the full-size (non-cropped) images are
extracted for special-purpose image manipulation, so Distiller provides parameters that
can be used to disable cropping. See “Disabling of Image Cropping” on page 41 for more
information.
N O T E : The terms encode and compress are synonymous. Either may appear in a parameter
or dictionary name.
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
See the following tables for descriptions of each of the compression parameters:
●
Table 3.2, “Color image compression parameters”
●
Table 3.3, “Grayscale image compression parameters”
●
Table 3.4, “Monochrome image compression parameters”
●
Table 3.5, “Page compression parameter”
JPEG Compression
The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) compression method is suitable for grayscale
or color images, such as continuous-tone photographs that contain more detail than can
be reproduced onscreen or in print. JPEG is lossy, which means that it removes image data
and may reduce image quality, but it attempts to reduce file size with the minimum loss of
information. Because JPEG eliminates data, it can achieve much smaller file sizes than Flate
compression, which is a lossless compression method. See “Flate Compression” on
page 20,” for details.
Table 2.1, “Distiller settings for JPEG compression,” shows an example of how Distiller sets
the JPEG values through Distiller parameters.
TABLE 2.1
Distiller settings for JPEG compression
Distiller Parameter
Value Set
AutoFilterColorImages
false
AutoFilterGrayImages
false
EncodeColorImages
true
EncodeGrayImages
true
ColorImageFilter
DCTEncode
GrayImageFilter
DCTEncode
ColorImageDict
Medium (See Table 2.6, “Image
compression quality.”)
GrayImageDict
Medium (See Table 2.6, “Image
compression quality.”)
For automatic compression, ColorACSImageDict and GrayACSImageDict also need to be set.
See “Automatic Compression” on page 24 for more information.
Flate Compression
Flate (also called ZIP) is a compression method that works well on images with large areas
of single colors or repeating patterns, such as screen shots and simple images created with
20
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
paint programs, and for black-and-white images that contain repeating patterns. The Flate
method is lossless, which means it does not remove data to reduce file size and so does not
affect an image’s quality.
Table 2.2, “Distiller settings for Flate compression,” shows an example of how Distiller sets
the Flate values through Distiller parameters.
TABLE 2.2
Distiller settings for Flate compression
Distiller Parameter
Value Set
AutoFilterColorImages
false
AutoFilterGrayImages
false
EncodeColorImages
true
EncodeGrayImages
true
EncodeMonoImages
true
ColorImageFilter
FlateEncode
GrayImageFilter
FlateEncode
MonoImageFilter
FlateEncode
N O T E : Adobe’s implementation of the Flate filter is derived from the zlib package of Jean-
Loup Gailly and Mark Adler, whose generous assistance we gratefully acknowledge.
JPEG2000 Compression
JPEG2000 is a new international standard for the compression and packaging of image
data. The JPEG2000 standard has features that make it attractive for general image
compression in support of viewing. The JPEG2000 standard defines a wavelet-based
method for image compression that gives somewhat better size reduction than other
methods such as regular JPEG or CCITT. It is suitable both for images that have a single
color component and for those with multiple color components.
The JPEG2000 compression algorithms are especially well suited for color images with
smooth variation in color values. The JPEG2000 compression filter provides the ability to
encode different versions of an image. These different versions form a progression of
images with varying resolution. For example, a thumbnail version of the image may be
encoded in the data followed by a sequence of other versions of the image, each with
approximately 2x2 as many samples as the previous one. The last version is the highest
resolution image corresponding to the value of the Quality key. This allows a PDF viewer to
expend only the effort needed to decode the resolution that best matches the current
viewing or printing needs. For example, if the full resolution version is highly sampled (e.g.,
1200 pixels-per-inch), when displaying at actual size the PDF viewer can select and decode
something less. Less time is spent decoding and fewer bytes have to be pushed through
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
the image pipeline. In addition, if one is viewing the file over the Web, not all of the image
data need be downloaded. JPEG2000 data also has a built-in tiling structure which the PDF
viewer can exploit. This means that if the viewer is zoomed in on a particular part of an
image, only those tiles being displayed need to be decoded (to an appropriate resolution).
Once again this is a performance win. Over the Web, this is particularly attractive when
viewing and zooming in on high resolution images.
N O T E : The JPEG2000 compression filter is not available at the PostScript language level.
There is no way in PostScript to invoke a JPEG2000Encode or JPEG2000Decode filter
directly (there is no filter name defined for JPEG2000 compression in the PostScript
language definition). For more information on PostScript language filters, see the
PostScript Language Reference, third edition, section 3.13, Filtered Files Details.
Distiller provides four new image dictionaries for supporting JPEG2000 image
compression. The new dictionaries are:
●
JPEG2000ColorImageDict,
●
JPEG2000GrayImageDict,
●
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict, and
●
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict.
These dictionaries are included in the default Adobe PDF settings files. They can only be
used in Distiller’s settings files in the dictionary associated with the setdistillerparams
operator. They cannot be used at the PostScript language level in a PostScript file that is
being processed by Distiller.
N O T E : Distiller silently accepts parameter values outside of the defined ranges in these
dictionaries. Use caution when setting these values in custom Adobe PDF settings
files.
Table 2.3, “Distiller settings for JPEG2000 compression,” shows an example of how Distiller
sets the JPEG2000 values through Distiller parameters.
TABLE 2.3
Distiller settings for JPEG2000 compression
Distiller Parameter
Value Set
AutoFilterColorImages
false
AutoFilterGrayImages
false
EncodeColorImages
true
EncodeGrayImages
true
ColorImageFilter
JPXEncode
GrayImageFilter
JPXEncode
JPEG2000ColorImageDict
See Table 2.4, “Distiller parameters for
JPEG2000 image dictionaries.”
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TABLE 2.3
Distiller settings for JPEG2000 compression
Distiller Parameter
Value Set
JPEG2000GrayImageDict
See Table 2.4, “Distiller parameters for
JPEG2000 image dictionaries.”
For automatic compression, JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict and JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
also need to be set. See “Automatic Compression” on page 24 for more information.
The JPEG2000 dictionary parameters are shown in Table 2.4, “Distiller parameters for
JPEG2000 image dictionaries.” Since all parameters are optional, an empty dictionary is
acceptable.
N O T E : Distiller accepts invalid numeric values outside of the defined ranges for the values
of the JPEG2000 image dictionaries. However, Distiller does generate an error if the
values are of the wrong type.
TABLE 2.4
Distiller parameters for JPEG2000 image dictionaries
Key
Type
Value
TileWidth
integer
(Optional) The width of JPEG2000 image tiles in
samples. Valid values are 128 - 2048. If this key is
absent, the default value is 256. Values less than
128 or greater than 2048 will generate a range
error.
TileHeight
integer
(Optional) The height of JPEG2000 image tiles in
samples. Valid values are 128 - 2048. If this key is
absent, the default value is 256. Values less than
128 or greater than 2048 will generate a range
error.
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 2.4
Distiller parameters for JPEG2000 image dictionaries
Key
Type
Value
Quality
integer
(Optional) The required image quality for the
highest resolution image in the image
progression. Valid values are 1,2,3,...100. 1
means lowest quality (highest compression), 99
means visually lossless compression, and 100
means numerically lossless compression. If this
key is absent, the default value is 15 (Medium).
In the Compression panel of the Distiller UI, the
mapping that occurs for the predefined options
is as follows:
Minimum = 5
Low = 10
Medium = 15
High = 20
Maximum = 30
Lossless = 100
Automatic Compression
Automatic compression is an option for color or grayscale bitmap images. Distiller
determines the proper handling of documents containing photographic and screen shot
images. If Distiller finds sharp color changes in 8-bits-per-component images, it uses Flate
compression; if the image has smooth color changes, Distiller uses JPEG if producing PDF
1.4 or lower, and JPEG2000 if 1.5 or higher. When Distiller selects JPEG compression, it uses
the parameters specified in either the ColorACSImageDict or GrayACSImageDict dictionary.
For JPEG2000 images (only supported in PDF 1.5 and above), Distiller uses lossy JPEG2000
compression for low-frequency images, and lossless JPEG2000 compression for high-
frequency images. When Distiller selects JPEG2000 compression, it uses the parameters
specified in either the JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict or JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
dictionary.
Table 2.5, “Automatic Distiller parameters,” shows an example of how Distiller sets the
automatic values through Distiller parameters. “Decision Flow for Color and Grayscale
Image Compression” on page 37 describes how Distiller selects filters during automatic
compression. “Use of Image Dictionaries for Color and Grayscale Image Compression” on
page 38 describes how Distiller selects dictionaries during automatic compression.
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 2.5
Automatic Distiller parameters
Distiller Parameter
Value Set
AutoFilterColorImages
true
AutoFilterGrayImages
true
EncodeColorImages
true
EncodeGrayImages
true
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy
JPEG or JPEG2000
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy
JPEG or JPEG2000
ColorACSImageDict
Medium (See Table 2.6.)
GrayACSImageDict
Medium (See Table 2.6.)
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict
See Table 2.4.
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
See Table 2.4.
Setting Compression of Color and Grayscale Images
The DCTEncode filter compresses color or grayscale images using JPEG compression. The
filter bases compression on settings contained in the DCTEncode parameter dictionary. For
a description of the DCTEncode parameter dictionary, see “DCTEncode Filter” in Section
3.13.3 of the PostScript Language Reference, third edition.
The JPEG2000 filter compresses color or grayscale images using JPEG2000 compression.
The JPEG2000 filter bases compression on settings contained in the dictionaries
JPEG2000ColorImageDict and JPEG2000GrayImageDict, as described in “JPEG2000
Compression” on page 21.
Distiller Settings and Resulting Image Quality for the DCTEncode Filter
You can use the Quality field in the Distiller UI to set three parameters in the DCTEncode
parameter dictionary to achieve five levels of image quality. Specifically, you can set the
keys listed below. (For a description of all keys in the DCTEncode parameter dictionary, see
Section 3.13.3 in the PostScript Language Reference, third edition.)
●
HSamples — Note that you can set this parameter individually in the Adobe PDF
settings file, but the new value will be ignored.
●
VSamples — Note that you can set this parameter individually in the Adobe PDF settings
file, but the new value will be ignored.
●
QFactor
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
For the DCTEncode filter, the only parameter that can be modified by the user, either via
the UI or by editing the Adobe PDF settings file, is QFactor. From the QFactor value, Distiller
sets the HSamples and VSamples arrays to hardcoded values as follows:
If QFactor >= 0.5, then both the HSamples and VSamples arrays are hardcoded t
o
[2 1 1 2].
If QFactor < 0.5, then both the HSamples and VSamples arrays are hardcoded t
o
[1 1 1 1].
The original values of the HSamples and VSamples arrays in the Adobe PDF settings file are
completely ignored by Distiller. If you choose to save the settings to a file, Distiller saves the
computed values for HSamples and VSamples in the file, regardless of the original values
that were present in the file.
Table 2.6, “Image compression quality,” summarizes the values Distiller sets to achieve
Minimum, Low, Medium, High, and Maximum image quality.
TABLE 2.6
Image compression quality
Quality
HSamples
VSamples
QFactor
Minimum
[2 1 1 2]
[2 1 1 2]
2.40
Low
[2 1 1 2]
[2 1 1 2]
1.30
Medium
[2 1 1 2]
[2 1 1 2]
0.76
High
[1 1 1 1]
[1 1 1 1]
0.40
Maximum
[1 1 1 1]
[1 1 1 1]
0.15
The PostScript DCTEncode dictionary includes several parameters that cannot be set
through the Distiller DCTEncode dictionary. These unsettable parameters include Columns,
Rows, Colors, QuantTables, HuffTables, ColorTransform, and CloseTarget. These parameters
are set internally in Distiller depending on the properties of each image.
The ColorTransform parameter is set by Distiller to the “best” value for each image. (See the
description of the DCTEncode parameter dictionary in Section 3.13.3 in the PostScript
Language Reference, third edition.) Internally the algorithm is:
ColorTransform is set to 0 if the colorspace is Lab or Gray or (cmyk AND QFactor >= 0.5).
Otherwise, ColorTransform is set to 1.
The internal Blend parameter is always set to 1.
Customizing Color and Grayscale Image Compression for the DCTEncode
Filter
Distiller provides “Distiller-specific” parameters for customizing compression values for the
DCTEncode filter for color and grayscale images. Each of the Distiller parameters below is of
type dictionary and contains the same set of keys as in the DCTEncode dictionary:
●
ColorACSImageDict
●
ColorImageDict
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Using the Image Compression Parameters
●
GrayACSImageDict
●
GrayImageDict
You can customize color or grayscale image compression for the DCTEncode filter by
setting values for the QFactor dictionary key, as described above. Distiller applies the
compression you choose to all colors or grayscale bitmap images in a PDF file. See
“Controlling Downsampling and Encoding for Each Sampled Image” on page 32 for details
on controlling compression of individual images in a file.
N O T E : When either AutoFilterColorImages or AutoFilterGrayImages is
true, Distiller looks at the image data to determine whether to use JPEG or Flate
compression. If Distiller decides to use JPEG compression, it uses the JPEG
parameters in the ColorACSImageDict and GrayACSImageDict. If, on the
other hand, AutoFilterImages is false, and either ColorImageFilter or
GrayImageFilter is set to JPEG (DCTEncode), Distiller uses the JPEG
parameters in ColorImageDict and GrayImageDict. This explains the
difference between ColorACSImageDict and ColorImageDict, and
GrayACSImageDict and GrayImageDict.
Customizing Color and Grayscale Image Compression for the JPEG2000 Filter
Distiller provides “Distiller-specific” parameters for customizing compression values for the
JPEG2000 filter for color and grayscale images. Each of the Distiller parameters below is of
type dictionary and contains keys for customizing the JPEG2000 filter:
●
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict
●
JPEG2000ColorImageDict
●
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
●
JPEG2000GrayImageDict
You can customize color or grayscale image compression for the JPEG2000 filter by setting
your own values for any of the JPEG2000 dictionary keys in the dictionaries listed above.
For a list of the available keys, see Table 2.4, “Distiller parameters for JPEG2000 image
dictionaries.” Distiller applies the compression you choose to all colors or grayscale bitmap
images in a PDF file. See “Controlling Downsampling and Encoding for Each Sampled
Image” on page 32 for details on controlling compression of individual images in a file.
Setting Compression of Monochrome (Black and White) Images
Distiller uses a different selection of compression filters for monochrome image
compression. The available filters are: CCITTFaxEncode, RunLengthEncode, and
FlateEncode.
N O T E : With the exceptions of the AntiAliasMonoImages and MonoImageDepth parameters,
the monochrome image compression parameters also can be applied to stencil
masks created by the imagemask operator. Parameter behavior is the same in both
cases. For details on imagemask, see the PostScript Language Reference, third edition.
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Customizing Monochrome Image Compression for the CCITTFax Filter
CCITTFaxEncode (CCITT Group 4) compression typically yields the best compression of
monochrome images. Distiller sets one key (K key) in the CCITTFaxEncode parameter
dictionary to -1 for two-dimensional compression. See “CCITTFaxEncode Filter” in Section
3.13.3 in the PostScript Language Reference, third edition, for details on all of the keys in the
CCITTFaxEncode parameter dictionary.
The Distiller-specific parameter MonoImageDict is of type dictionary and is based on the
CCITTFaxEncode parameter dictionary (that is, it contains the same keys).You can choose to
set any of the keys in the CCITTFaxEncode parameter dictionary for the value of the
MonoImageDict parameter to customize monochrome image compression.
For Details on Encoding Filters
Encoding provides a way to compress images using any one of several compression filters.
This document does not present the details of the filters; however, you can find that
information in Section 3.13 of the PostScript Language Reference, third edition.
N O T E : The JPEG2000 compression filter is not available at the PostScript language level.
There is not a way in PostScript of invoking a JPXEncode or JPXDecode filter directly
(there is no filter name defined for JPEG2000 compression in the PostScript
language definition). For more information on PostScript language filters, see the
PostScript Language Reference, third edition, Section 3.13, Filtered Files Details. There is
no information about the JPEG2000 filter in the PostScript Language Reference, third
edition. All the information about the JPEG2000 filter is in this document. For
information about JPEG2000 encoding, see http://www.jpeg.org/JPEG2000.htm.
Downsampling and Subsampling Images
Distiller can reduce the number of pixels-per-inch in an image by downsampling or
subsampling. When Distiller downsamples or subsamples an image, it combines pixels in a
sample area to make one larger pixel. Given the resolution setting of the output device in
pixels-per-inch, Distiller combines pixels as needed to reduce the image resolution to the
specified setting. In general, monochrome images do not need to be downsampled.
Methods Distiller Uses To Reduce Image Resolution
Distiller uses the following subsampling and downsampling methods:
●
Subsampling. Distiller chooses a pixel in the center of the sample area and replaces the
entire area with that pixel at the specified resolution. Subsampling significantly reduces
the distilling time compared with downsampling but results in images that are less
smooth and continuous.
●
Average downsampling. Distiller averages the pixels in a sample area and replaces the
entire area with the average pixel color at the specified resolution.
●
Bicubic downsampling. Distiller uses a weighted average to determine pixel color and
usually yields better results than the simple averaging method of downsampling.
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Bicubic is the slowest but most precise method, resulting in the smoothest tonal
gradations.
These techniques can be very useful in reducing the size and drawing time for images that
are primarily viewed on a screen instead of printed. For example, by downsampling or
subsampling an image from a typical printer resolution of 300 pixels-per-inch to a typical
monitor resolution of 72 pixels-per-inch, the amount of data needed to represent an image
is decreased by a factor of 16, and the image can be drawn on the screen much more
quickly.
Setting The Threshold Resolution For Downsampling Images
Distiller provides the following parameters for setting the threshold resolution for
downsampling color, grayscale, and monochrome images, respectively:
●
ColorImageDownsampleThreshold
●
GrayImageDownsampleThreshold
●
MonoImageDownsampleThreshold
The downsampling threshold is the ratio of the input image resolution (specified by the
value of the respective ColorImageResolution, GrayImageResolution, or
MonoImageResolution Distiller parameter) to the output resolution. Downsampling may be
performed on images whose resolutions are higher than the threshold value.
Say, for example, ColorImageResolution is 72 and ColorImageDownsampleThreshold is set to
1.5 for a color input image. The input image would not be downsampled unless it has an
output resolution greater than 108 pixels-per-inch:
trunc((72 * 1.5) + .5) = 108 pixels-per-inch
In PostScript, you would set the downsample threshold as shown here:
<</ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.5 >> setdistillerparams
Threshold values must be between 1.0 through 10.0, inclusive, with a default value of
1.5. If you set the threshold out of range, it reverts to a default of 1.5.
When To Downsample or Subsample Images
You should downsample or subsample bitmap images when they contain more data than
the output device supports. If your images are sampled at a higher resolution than the
device supports, the resulting excess data increases the time it takes the device to process
the image. Image quality is not improved.
Controlling the Range of Bit Depths For Which Downsampling Occurs
Distiller allows you to control the range of bit depths for which downsampling occurs. For
example, in a workflow where there is a mixture of 1-bit and 8-bit data, you can
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downsample the 8-bit data while not touching the 1-bit data. This is done with the Distiller
parameters shown in the following table:
TABLE 2.7
Image compression quality
Parameter
Type
Valid Values
ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth
integer
1, 2, 4 or 8
GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth
integer
2, 4 or 8
For example, /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 4 means that if
/DownsampleColorImages is true, then Distiller only downsamples color images for
which the bit depth is at least 4 bits-per-sample (i.e., only 4 and 8 bits-per-sample images).
N O T E : 12 bits-per-sample images (valid in PostScript) are treated exactly as 8 bits-per-
sample images because they are converted to 8 bits-per-sample before
downsampling takes place.
Similarly, /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 8 means that if
/DownsampleGrayImages is true, then Distiller only downsamples gray images for
which the bit depth is 8 bits-per-sample.
As a final example, /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 means that if
/DownsampleColorImages is true, then Distiller only downsamples color images for
which the bit depth is at least 2 bits-per-sample.
Specifying a Lower Limit for the Resolution of Sampled Images
During normal operation, Distiller provides a mechanism for limiting the resolution of
sampled images placed in the PDF files. This mechanism is controlled by the
downsampling parameters:
●
DownsampleColorImages
●
ColorImageResolution
●
ColorImageDownsampleThreshold
●
DownsampleGrayImages
●
GrayImageResolution
●
GrayImageDownsampleThreshold
●
DownsampleMonoImages
●
MonoImageResolution
●
MonoImageDownsampleThreshold
The settings of these parameters guarantee that all images placed in the PDF file have a
resolution that is equal to or smaller than [Color|Gray|Mono]ImageResolution multiplied by
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[Color|Gray|Mono]DownsampleThreshold, as described in , “Setting The Threshold
Resolution For Downsampling Images” on page 29.
In addition, starting with version 7, Distiller is able to flag PDF files that contain images
whose resolution don't meet a minimum requirement. An example is a sampled image in
an advertisement where the image must be of a certain quality (i.e., must have a resolution
higher than a minimum value). To provide this mechanism, the following six parameters are
used:
TABLE 2.8
MinResolution Parameters
Parameter
Type
Valid Values
ColorImageMinResolution
integer
9 to 64000
ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy
name
OK, Warning,
Error
GrayImageMinResolution
integer
9 to 64000
GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy
name
OK, Warning,
Error
MonoImageMinResolution
integer
9 to 64000
MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy
name
OK, Warning,
Error
The default values for these parameters in the predefined Adobe PDF settings files are
chosen to be the same as the values for the default downsampling resolution. With these
default values, Distiller’s default behavior does not change (i.e., Distiller does not enforce
any lower limit on image resolution).
Whereas the downsampling parameters ensure that the user can limit the resolution (and
the size of the resulting file) for images that go into the PDF, the MinResolution parameters
ensure that a PDF file will not have any images with lower resolution than the defined limit.
This feature is thus primarily for prepress people who want to detect that no low resolution
images make it into into a PDF file.
The two sets of parameters guard each end of the spectrum of image resolution. At the
high end, Distiller actively ensures that images don't have too high a resolution by
downsampling them. At the low end, Distiller has a passive check (the
[Color|Gray|Mono]MinResolutionPolicy) which can ignore, warn, or provide an error
message if a low resolution image is about to be placed into the PDF. Distiller cannot
actively alter these images because it doesn’t support up-sampling.
If you get a warning/error about a low resolution image and you have set the
MinResolution parameters correctly according to your requirements, there is really nothing
you can do in Distiller to get a higher resolution image. You need to go to the source of the
image and regenerate it with a higher resolution.
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How to Limit Image Resolution
The following is an example of how to use the new parameters to limit image resolution:
If you want Distiller to issue a warning every time a sampled gray image with resolution
smaller than 100 ppi is placed in the PDF file, then set these two parameters:
/GrayImageMinResolution 100
/GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /Warning
The warning messages will look like this:
%%[ Warning: Gray image resolution (92 ppi) is
lower than /GrayImageMinResolution (100 ppi) ]%%
If GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy is set to /Error, then an error message is emitted and
the job fails with a limitcheck error. If GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy is set to /OK, then
Distillation continues normally.
There are no dependencies or interaction between the new “MinResolution” parameters
and the downsampling parameters.
Normally you would not set the resolution policy to /Warning or /Error and at the
same time set the minimum resolution to a value that is higher than the downsampling
threshold. If you do this, the result is that all images are flagged as having too low a
resolution. This setting could be used to produce PDF files that have no sampled images in
them whatsoever.
Controlling Downsampling and Encoding for Each Sampled Image
If you want, you can separately control the downsampling and encoding of each sampled
image in a PostScript file. To do this, you must make adjustments to the Distiller parameters
in the file just before, and appropriate to, each image.
N O T E : Distiller never samples images to a higher resolution, only to a lower one.
Controlling Bit Depth
Distiller can also change the bit depth of an image, whether in conjunction with
downsampling or not. Bit depth is the number of bits used to represent each color
component of each sample of an image. (Red, for example, is a color component in an RGB
image.) Image sampling can either decrease the bit depth (for example, from 8 bits-per-
sample to 4 bits-per-sample) to save space, or increase the depth to provide anti-aliasing.
Anti-aliasing increases the number of bits-per-sample in downsampled images to preserve
some of the information that is otherwise lost by downsampling. As an example of anti-
aliasing, consider a 300 pixels-per-inch monochrome image that is downsampled to 150
pixels-per-inch. Such an image ends up as a 4-bit grayscale image, because each of the
samples in the downsampled image is produced from four samples in the input image.
Because each of the input samples can be either on or off, there are 16 possible values for
each sample in the downsampled image. Although only three bits are needed to encode
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five values, the PDF file format only supports bit depths of 1, 2, 4, and 8 and hence the data
are encoded using 4 bits-per-sample.
Caveats For Processing Grayscale and Monochrome Images
To correctly use the parameters for grayscale and monochrome sampled images, it is
extremely important that you understand how Distiller processes these image types. It is
easy to be confused because an input grayscale image specified to have a GrayImageDepth
of 1 becomes a monochrome image, and a monochrome image that is downsampled and
has a MonoImageDepth of 2, 4, or 8 becomes a grayscale image. In both cases, Distiller uses
some parameters for monochrome images and some for grayscale images.
Distiller’s image processing procedure is illustrated in Figure 2.1, “Processing grayscale and
monochrome images.”
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FIGURE 2.1
Processing grayscale and monochrome images
Start
mono or
no
image is color; no
gray image?
further consideration
yes
no
downsampling
produce gray or
enabled?
mono output image
yes
get downsampling
value and bit depth of
input image
downsample and con-
vert to bit depth
input
no
bit depth
no
image
of downsampled
produce mono
gray?
mono image
output image
2, 4, or 8?
yes
yes
no
encoding
no
GrayImageDepth
enabled for this
produce gray
= = 1?
gray image?
output image
yes
yes
compress gray
output image
encoding
no
produce mono
enabled for this
mono image?
output image
yes
compress mono
output image
End
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The process shown in Figure 2.1 is described below:
1. Distiller determines whether the input image is monochrome, grayscale, or color. Unlike
monochrome and grayscale images, a color image always remains a color image.
Because the treatment of color images is unambiguous, Distiller does not consider them
further.
2. Distiller checks the parameters to determine whether downsampling is enabled for the
input image type and, if so, the value for the image downsampling resolution.
3. Distiller gets the image depth for the input image type by reading the Distiller
parameter specifying it.
4. Distiller downsamples the image and converts it to the bit depth specified by the
Distiller parameters, producing an output image. It is at this point in image processing
that conversion between monochrome and grayscale images may occur, as described
above.
5. Distiller checks the parameter specifying whether encoding is enabled for the output
image type (not necessarily the same as the input image type).
6. If encoding is enabled, Distiller encodes the output image using the filter type and filter
parameter dictionary specified by the Distiller parameters for the output image type.
Overview of Distiller’s Filter Selection Strategy for Images
Distiller uses the following criteria for selecting a filter for compressing images.
When AutoFilterColorImages (or AutoFilterGrayImages) is set to true, Distiller selects
lossless FlateEncode (for gray and color images) if:
1. The image is DeviceN, or
2. The image is small ( < 1024 bytes ), or
3. The image is ChromaKeyed, or
4. The samples are not smooth.
Otherwise, Distiller selects the DCTEncode filter.
When AutoFilterColorImages (or AutoFilterGrayImages) is set to false:
●
For Monochrome images (1 color, 1 bpc) Distiller allows these filters:
– CCITTFaxEncode, CCITT Group 3 (/K=0)
– CCITTFaxEncode, CCITT Group 4 (/K=-1)
– RunLengthEncode
– FlateEncode
●
For Grayscale images (1 color, 2, 4 bpc) Distiller allows this filter:
– FlateEncode
●
For Grayscale images (1 color, 8 bpc) Distiller allows these filters:
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– JPXEncode
– DCTEncode
– FlateEncode
●
For Grayscale images (1 color, 12 bpc) Distiller removes the least significant four bits of
each image sample, yielding 8 bits-per-sample. Distiller then allows these filters:
– JPXEncode
– DCTEncode
– FlateEncode
●
For Color images (3, 4 colors, 1, 2, 4 bpc) Distiller allows this filter:
– FlateEncode
●
For Color images (3, 4 colors, 8 bpc) Distiller allows these filters:
– JPXEncode
– DCTEncode
– FlateEncode
●
For Color images (3, 4 colors, 12 bpc) Distiller removes the least significant four bits of
each image sample, yielding 8 bits-per-color. Distiller then allows these filters:
– JPXEncode
– DCTEncode
– FlateEncode
When image compression is selected (with EncodeColorImages, EncodeGrayImages, or
EncodeMonoImages), but no filter name is specified (ColorImageFilter, GrayImageFilter, or
MonoImageFilter is absent), then Distiller selects lossless FlateEncode in all cases. The
following filters are never selected, even if they are specified in the Adobe PDF settings file:
– LZWEncode
– ASCII85Encode
– ASCIIHexEncode
If an invalid filtername is specified, (for example, /ColorImageFilter
/DCTEncode27), then Distiller emits the error message:
/ColorImageFilter out of range
Finally, Distiller also performs a filter “fallback.” For the following conditions, Distiller “falls
back” to FlateEncode:
1. The selected filter is CCITTFaxEncode and the image is wide (more than 40,000
columns).
2. The selected filter is JPXEncode and the image is indexed or ChromaKeyed or the
compatibilityLevel is less than 1.5.
3. The selected filter is DCTEncode and the image is wide (more than 40,000 columns),
indexed, deviceN or ChromaKeyed.
4. If the selected filter is not supported for the number of colors or sample depth of the
particular image being compressed.
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Decision Flow for Color and Grayscale Image Compression
Distiller’s decision flow for color and grayscale image compression is expressed in the
following pseudo-code:
if (/Encode[Color|Gray]Images == true)
{
if (/AutoFilter[Color|Gray]Images == true)
{
if (CompatibilityLevel >= 1.5) and
(/[Color|Gray]ImageAutoFilterStrategy == /JPEG2000)
{
If (low freq)
Use lossy JPEG2000
else
Use lossless JPEG2000
}
else
{
if (low freq)
Use lossy JPEG
else
Use lossless Flate
}
}
else
{
Use the compression filter specified
in /[Color|Gray]ImageFilter
}
}
else
{
Don't compress images
}
N O T E : When Distiller uses lossy JPEG2000 compression for low-frequency images, the
compression parameters in JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict or
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict are used. When Distiller uses lossless JPEG2000
compression for high-frequency images, the compression parameters in
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict or JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict are used with the
modification that the Quality parameter is forced to 100 (to achieve lossless
compression). See “Use of Image Dictionaries for Color and Grayscale Image
Compression” on page 38.
N O T E : When Distiller uses lossy JPEG compression for low-frequency images, the
compression parameters in ColorACSImageDict or GrayACSImageDict are used.
When Distiller uses lossless Flate compression for high-frequency images, no
dictionary parameters are used (because Flate does not require any parameters).
See Use of Image Dictionaries for Color and Grayscale Image Compression, below.
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Use of Image Dictionaries for Color and Grayscale Image Compression
Distiller’s use of image dictionaries for color and grayscale compression is expressed in the
following pseudo-code:
if (/AutoFilter[Color|Gray]Images == true)
{
Use these dictionaries:
/ColorACSImageDict
/GrayACSImageDict
/JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict
/JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
}
else
{
Use these dictionaries:
/ColorImageDict
/GrayImageDict
/JPEG2000ColorImageDict
/JPEG2000GrayImageDict
}
Compression Parameters Example
The PostScript example below shows a code fragment specifying that monochrome
images be downsampled to 72 pixels-per-inch, converted to 2 bits-per-sample, and
encoded using Flate compression. Because the downsampled images are grayscale, the
filter is specified using the grayscale rather than the monochrome image parameters. Also,
assuming that the input image is a 300-pixels-per-inch image, it is downsampled to 75
pixels-per-inch, the closest possible value to the 72 pixels-per-inch requested.
<<
/DownsampleMonoImages true
/MonoImageResolution 72
/MonoImageDepth 2
/EncodeGrayImages true
/AntiAliasMonoImages true
/GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode
>> setdistillerparams
Setting Compression of Text, Line Art, and Objects
You can use the CompressPages parameter to set the compression of text and line art. For
PDF 1.5 and above, you can use the CompressObjects parameter to control object-level
compression, which is the consolidation of small objects (each of which isn’t compressible
itself ) into streams which can then be efficiently compressed.
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Passing Through JPEG Images
The PassThroughJPEGImages parameter is used to pass JPEG images (images that are
already compressed with the DCTEncode filter) through Distiller without recompressing
them. If this parameter is set to true, Distiller will decompress JPEG images to ensure that
they are not corrupt, but it will not recompress valid images, passing the original image
through untouched.
The advantages to this are the following:
●
Performance — Only decompression and not recompression occurs.
●
No loss of image data — DCT encoding inherently causes some loss of data; thus, with
this option, since no recompression occurs, no data is lost.
●
No loss of metadata — When Distiller decompresses an image, all metadata is
discarded; thus, with this option, no metadata is lost since no recompression on the
decompressed image occurs.
The default value for this parameter is true. Normally there is no reason to disable the
passthrough feature. The following describes exactly how the parameter is interpreted.
If true:
Attempt to pass through all compressed JPEG images. Compress images that are not
compressed according to the filter selected by these Adobe PDF parameters:
●
EncodeColorImages
●
ColorImageFilter
●
AutoFilterColorImages
●
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy
●
ColorACSImageDict
●
ColorImageDict
●
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict
●
JPEG2000ColorImageDict
●
EncodeGrayImages
●
GrayImageFilter
●
AutoFilterGrayImages
●
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy
●
GrayACSImageDict
●
GrayImageDict
●
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
●
JPEG2000GrayImageDict
●
EncodeMonoImages
●
MonoImageFilter
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●
MonoImageDict
If false:
Decompress all images and recompress them according to the values of the above list of
Adobe PDF parameters.
It should also be noted that Distiller allows JPEG passthrough only in the following
circumstances:
●
The image passes the “downsampling” test—i.e., it will not be downsampled. JPEG
passthrough is automatically turned off when an image is a candidate for
downsampling.
●
ColorConversionStrategy is not sRGB.
●
ColorConversionStrategy is sRGB and current PostScript color space (for the image) is
DeviceRGB or DeviceGray.
●
The image will not be cropped—i.e., the clippath is such that less than 10% (or none) of
the image pixels will be removed.
N O T E : The Smallest File Size predefined Adobe PDF settings file sets
PassThroughJPEGImages to false. This generally results in smaller file sizes, though
there are cases where this setting could actually increase file size. This would
happen, for example, if the original JPEG in the PostScript file was compressed with
a very low Quality setting—lower that the Quality setting in the Smallest File Size
file.
Summary of Distiller Image Compression Controls
The following table summarizes Distiller’s image compression controls and how they are
used.
TABLE 2.9
Image Compression Controls Summary
Control
Description
ColorImageFilter
Specify which compression filter to use in non-
automatic compression mode.
GrayImageFilter
AutoFilterColorImages
Hold boolean values that enable automatic
compression.
AutoFilterGrayImages
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy
Determine whether to use JPEG + FLATE or JPEG2000.
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy
ColorACSImageDict
Dictionaries used for JPEG compression in automatic
compression mode.
GrayACSImageDict
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TABLE 2.9
Image Compression Controls Summary
Control
Description
ColorImageDict
Dictionaries used for JPEG compression in regular
(non-automatic) compression mode.
GrayImageDict
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict
Dictionaries used for JPEG2000 compression in
automatic compression mode.
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
JPEG2000ColorImageDict
Dictionaries used for JPEG2000 compression in regular
(non-automatic) compression mode.
JPEG2000GrayImageDict
Disabling of Image Cropping
Distiller checks to determine whether the existing clip path causes more than 10 percent of
the image sample to fall outside the clip path. If this is the case, Distiller discards (crops) the
image sample, resulting in smaller images and PDF files.
However, in some workflows, the full-size (non-cropped) images are extracted for special-
purpose image manipulation. To disable cropping, the parameters listed and described in
Table 2.10, “Parameters Used to Disable Cropping,” are used. false indicates that Distiller
should not clip image samples regardless of the current clip area. true indicates that
Distiller should crop only if the 10 percent criteria is met.
TABLE 2.10
Parameters Used to Disable Cropping
Parameter
Type
Default
CropColorImages
boolean
true
CropGrayImages
boolean
true
CropMonoImages
boolean
true
The default for all three is true, which is the normal behavior for Distiller.
Using the Font Parameters
Through Distiller parameters you can include fonts in PDF files (provided license
restrictions are satisfied) to ensure that the Acrobat viewer can use the exact font for
rendering the PDF file, regardless of whether the font is installed on the machine used to
view the PDF file. You may, for example, need the exact font to achieve certain effects such
as high-end printing or to ensure portability in situations where the viewer is unable to
create a substitute font. Including a font in the PDF file is referred to as embedding the font
in the file.
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N O T E : You must check the license(s) for any font(s) you want to embed, to verify that
embedding is allowed.
Embedded fonts make the PDF file larger. To produce files as small as possible, Distiller also
has parameters enabling you to subset fonts. When you subset a font, Distiller includes only
the information required to draw glyphs (or specific renderings) for the characters used in
the document. Subsetting is expressed as a percentage of the font glyphs for a font format.
The SubsetFonts and MaxSubsetPct parameters are used to control partial embedding of
fonts.
Table 2.11, “Distiller control over embedding and subsetting fonts,” identifies the fonts that
you can (or cannot) embed or subset through Distiller parameters.
TABLE 2.11
Distiller control over embedding and subsetting fonts
Font
NeverEmbed?
AlwaysEmbed?
Subset?
Type 1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Type 3
No - Always embedded
No - Always subsetted
True Type
Yes
Yes
No - Always subsetted
(Type 42)
CIDFontType0
Yes
Yes
No - Always subsetted
CIDFontType1
No - Always embedded
No - Always subsetted
CIDFontType2
Yes
Yes
No - Always subsetted
OpenType
Yes
Yes
Yes
See Table 3.6, “Font embedding and subsetting parameters,” for a description of each of the
font parameters. For additional information on Type 1, Type 3, Type 42, and CID-keyed
fonts, see Chapter 5, “Fonts,” in the PostScript Language Reference, third edition. You also can find
additional documentation on fonts on the Adobe Solutions Network Web site.
N O T E : Distiller 5 and above also support OpenType fonts; Distiller 4 does not. OpenType
fonts are based on the compact font format (CFF). For more information, see the
Compact Font Format Specification on the Adobe Solutions Network Web site.
Font Embedding
Three parameters govern embedding entire fonts. Because these parameters can be
confusing, they are discussed in this section.
●
AlwaysEmbed
●
EmbedAllFonts
●
NeverEmbed
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AlwaysEmbed and NeverEmbed
AlwaysEmbed and NeverEmbed are arrays of font names, the first array element of which
may or may not be a boolean value. If a boolean value exists in the first array element and it
is true, Distiller adds the fonts whose names are in the remaining array elements to its
internal list of fonts to always embed (if this is the AlwaysEmbed array) or to its internal list
of fonts to never embed (if this is the NeverEmbed array). The boolean value false causes
Distiller to remove the fonts whose names are in the remaining array elements from its
internal “always embed” or “never embed” font list, depending on whether this is the
AlwaysEmbed or NeverEmbed array.
The absence of a boolean in the first array element (the array elements contain names only)
sets the internal “always embed” or “never embed” font list to be exactly those fonts whose
names are contained in the array elements.
EmbedAllFonts
EmbedAllFonts is a boolean that, when true, specifies that all fonts be embedded except
those in the NeverEmbed array.
Parameter Priority
Given the discussion of the parameters above, you still might wonder what their priorities
are when used. Distiller resolves ambiguity by giving the NeverEmbed list priority over the
EmbedAllFonts flag and the AlwaysEmbed list. If, for example, a font is in the NeverEmbed
list, it will not be embedded—even if the EmbedAllFonts flag is true or the font is in the
AlwaysEmbed list.
N O T E : A font may not be embedded if its license doesn’t permit embedding, even though
its name is in the AlwaysEmbed list or EmbedAllFonts is true. Furthermore, a
symbolic font is always embedded (if license permits) even if its name is in the
NeverEmbed list.
Font Embedding Example
The PostScript example below specifies that Minion Regular always be embedded, and that
ITC Stone Serif Italic and ITC Stone Sans never be embedded.
<< /AlwaysEmbed [ /Minion-Regular
]
/NeverEmbed [ /StoneSans /StoneSerif-Italic
]
>> setdistillerparams
N O T E : The font name given to definefont does not have to match the name in the FontInfo
dictionary. For instance, in this example the full name of the font defined as
‘StoneSans’ is ‘ITC Stone Sans.’
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
43
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Color Conversion Parameters
Using the Color Conversion Parameters
During color conversion, Distiller parameters allow you to control whether Distiller
preserves (that is, passes into the PDF file) halftoning, overprinting, and transfer function
information. Other color conversion parameters allow you to specify which ICC profile to
use for the conversion. See “ICCBased Color Spaces” in Section 4.5.4 of the PDF Reference for
details on profiles.
ColorConversionStrategy Parameter Details
You set the ColorConversionStrategy parameter to select the ICC profile to use during the
conversion process. This parameter requires a detailed explanation and is described here.
The ColorConversionStrategy parameter has four possible values:
●
LeaveColorUnchanged. This is equivalent to selecting “Leave Color Unchanged” in
the Distiller UI.
●
UseDeviceIndependentColor. This is equivalent to “Tag Everything for Color
Management” in the Distiller UI.
●
UseDeviceIndependentColorForImages. This is equivalent to “Tag Only Images
for Color Management” in the Distiller UI.
●
sRGB. This is equivalent to “Convert All Colors to sRGB” in the Distiller UI.
●
CMYK. This is equivalent to “Convert All Colors to CMYK” in the Distiller UI.
N O T E : Separation and DeviceN color spaces in the input file are left unchanged in the PDF
output.
Table 2.12, “PS color space (in) vs. PDF color space (out),” shows how Distiller converts the
PostScript input to the equivalent color space for each of the ColorConversionStrategy
parameter values.
In Table 2.12, X/Y entries mean “X in PDF 1.2 and Y in PDF 1.3 or higher.”
TABLE 2.12
PS color space (in) vs. PDF color space (out)
UseDeviceIndepen
LeaveColorUn-
UseDeviceIndepen-
dentColorFor-
PS Input
changed
dentColor
Images
sRGB
CMYK
Gray text
Gray
CalGray/ICCBased
Gray
Gray
Gray
and
graphics
Gray image
Gray
CalGray/ICCBased
CalGray/ICCBased
Gray
Gray
RGB text
RGB
ICCBased
RGB
CalRGB/
CMYK
and
sRGB
graphics
44
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2
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters
TABLE 2.12
PS color space (in) vs. PDF color space (out)
UseDeviceIndepen
LeaveColorUn-
UseDeviceIndepen-
dentColorFor-
PS Input
changed
dentColor
Images
sRGB
CMYK
RGB image
RGB
ICCBased
CalRGB/ICCBased
CalRGB/
CMYK
sRGB
CMYK text
CMYK
LAB/ICCBased
CMYK
CalRGB/
CMYK
and
sRGB
graphics
CMYK
CMYK
LAB/ICCBased
LAB/ICCBased
CalRGB/
CMYK
image
sRGB
CIE text
Cal/ICC
Cal/ICC
Cal/ICC
CalRGB/
Gray or
and
sRGB
CMYK (a)
graphics
CIE image
Cal/ICC
Cal/ICC
Cal/ICC
CalRGB/
Gray or
sRGB
CMYK (a)
(a) CIEBasedA becomes Gray, others become CMYK.
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters
Advanced Adobe PDF settings that you can customize include:
●
Converting gradients to smooth shades
●
Controlling whether Distiller creates an embedded job ticket (in the PDF file) that
contains specific information such as trapping requirements to be passed to another
application or to a printing device
●
Controlling EPS, OPI, and DSC information
●
Allowing transparency
●
Creating Job Definition Format (JDF) files
●
Embedding of Adobe PDF settings
See Table 3.8, “Advanced parameters,” for a description of each of the advanced Distiller
parameters. Six of the advanced Adobe PDF settings discussed in this section are:
●
DetectBlends
●
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo
●
PreserveEPSInfo
●
CreateJobTicket.
●
AllowTransparency
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
45
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters
●
CreateJDFFile
Converting Gradients to Smooth Shades
DetectBlends deserves special mention. DetectBlends controls (enables or disables) the
conversion of PostScript gradients to smooth shades.
Distiller uses two methods to perform the conversion of gradients to smooth shades:
●
One method employs the PostScript LanguageLevel 3 feature called idiom recognition.
Briefly, idiom recognition replaces certain procedures (or idioms) with others having
equivalent behavior but producing better quality results. (See “Idiom Recognition” on
page 119 of the PostScript Language Reference, third edition, for details.) The Distiller
parameter DetectBlends enables the subset of idioms that detect gradients (or blends)
for the following applications: Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, Corel Draw, and
Quark XPress.
●
Distiller also converts gradients to smooth shades independently of idiom recognition.
This method is application-independent, but it is less reliable than the first.
In Distiller 4.0, the blend detecting idioms (first method) was controlled by the
IdiomRecognition PostScript feature, while the second method was controlled by
DetectBlends. You had to turn off IdiomRecognition to use DetectBlends.
In Distiller 5.0 and above, DetectBlends controls the blend detecting idioms. By default
IdiomRecognition is turned on in Distiller 5.0 and above, and the blend detecting idioms are
controlled using the DetectBlends parameter. You can still use the PostScript feature
IdiomRecognition with the setuserparams operator, if needed.
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo Parameter Details
If ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo is true, Distiller parses the Document Structuring
Convention (DSC) comments in the PostScript file and attempts to preserve (extract) the
Document Information as properties of the PDF document. Table 2.13, “Document
information,” lists this information.
TABLE 2.13
Document information
Document Information
Source
Author
from DSC keyword: %%For:
Creator
from DSC keyword: %%Creator:
Title
from DSC keyword: %%Title:
Producer
from Distiller product name
("Acrobat Distiller 7.0")
CreationDate
from Distiller time stamp
(creation time of PDF file)
46
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Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters
TABLE 2.13
Document information
Document Information
Source
ModDate
from Distiller time stamp
(creation time of PDF file)
Starting with version 5, Distiller also embeds the Document Information as XML in the PDF
file. To embed the information, Distiller adds a Metadata key in the Catalog dictionary
whose value is an indirect reference to a metadata stream object. The metadata object
contains the metadata (the Document Information) for the PDF document. The metadata is
represented as RDF, in conformance with Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP).
PreserveEPSInfo Parameter Details
If PreserveEPSInfo is true, Distiller attempts to preserve the encapsulated PostScript (EPS)
information as properties of the PDF document. Table 2.14, “EPS information,” lists this
information.
TABLE 2.14
EPS information
Document Information
Source
Author
from DSC keyword: %%For:
Creator
from DSC keyword: %%Creator:
Title
from DSC keyword: %%Title:
Starting with version 5, Distiller also embeds the information for embedded EPS files as
XML in the PDF file. To do this, Distiller:
●
Adds a Metadata key in the property list of the marked content container for the EPS.
●
Stores the property list as an indirect reference in the page resources object.
The value of the Metadata key is an indirect reference to the metadata stream object, which
contains the metadata (the EPS information). The metadata is represented as RDF, in
conformance with Adobe’s XMP.
CreateJobTicket Parameter Details
When the Distiller parameter CreateJobTicket is true, Distiller produces internal job tickets
(that is, job tickets within the PDF file). Job ticket keys are created in response to
setpagedevice keys and DSC comments.
The relationship between setpagedevice keys and job ticket keys, and the relationship
between DSC comments and job ticket keys is described in the following sections. For
details on the format and contents of job tickets, see Portable Job Ticket Format, Version 1.1.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
47
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters
Relationship Between setpagedevice Keys and Job Ticket Keys
Table 2.15, “Relationship between setpagedevice keys and job ticket keys,” lists the
setpagedevice keys that Distiller supports and describes where in an internal job ticket
Distiller stores the corresponding key values.
N O T E : setpagedevice keys that are distilled into the JobTicketContents dictionary rather
than into the PageRange dictionary must appear in the first page of the PostScript
job; otherwise, they are ignored. In the PS page column of Table 2.15, “Relationship
between setpagedevice keys and job ticket keys,” “First” identifies setpagedevice
keys that must appear on the first page.
TABLE 2.15
Relationship between setpagedevice keys and job ticket keys
PS
setpagedevice key
page
job ticket key
Bind
First
JobTicketContents::Finishing
N O T E : Bind is unrelated to the
Distiller parameter
Binding.
CutMedia
First
If the value of the CutMedia setpagedevice key is less
than 4, Distiller represents the setpagedevice value in
JobTicketContents::MediaUsage::CutMedia.
Otherwise, it represents the value in
JobTicketContents::PrintLayout::Signatur
e::
Sheets::MediaUsage::CutMedia.
DeviceRenderingInf
o/
Any
PageRange::Rendering::ValuesPerC olor
ValuesPerColorComponent
Component
Duplex
First
JobTicketContents::PrintLayout
See Appendix B.4 in the Portable Job Ticket Format, Version
1.1, for a description of the general appearance of a job
ticket that can produce duplex printing.
Fold
First
JobTicketContents::Finishing
HWResolution
Any
PageRange::Rendering::Resolution
Jog
First
JobTicketContents::Finishing
Laminate
First
JobTicketContents::Finishing
ManualFeed
First
JobTicketContents::MediaSource::ManualFeed
MediaClass
First
JobTicketContents::MediaSource::MediaClass
MediaColor
First
JobTicketContents::MediaSource::MediaColor
MediaPosition
First
JobTicketContents::MediaSource::Position
48
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Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Advanced Adobe PDF Parameters
TABLE 2.15
Relationship between setpagedevice keys and job ticket keys
PS
setpagedevice key
page
job ticket key
MediaType
First
JobTicketContents::Media::Category
MediaWeight
First
JobTicketContents::Media::Weight
MirrorPrint
First
JobTicketContents::MediaUsage::MirrorPrint
NegativePrint
First
JobTicketContents::MediaUsage::NegativePrint
PageSize
Any
PageRange::MediaBox
PostRenderingEnhance
Any
PageRange::Rendering::PostRenderingEnhance
PreRenderingEnhance
Any
PageRange::Rendering::PreRenderingEnhance
ProcessColorModel
Any
PageRange::ColorModel::ProcessColorModel
SeparationColorNames
Any
PageRange::ColorModel::ColorantParams
SeparationOrder
Any
PageRange::ColorModel::ColorantOrder
Separations
Any
PageRange::ColorModel::Separations
Staple
First
JobTicketContents::Finishing
Trapping
Any
PageRange::Trapping::Trapping
TrappingDetails
Any
PageRange::Trapping::TrappingDetails
Trim
First
JobTicketContents::Finishing
Tumble
First
JobTicketContents::PrintLayout
Such a job ticket is identical to that described for the
Duplex setpagedevice key, except the CTM for the Back
surface is rotated 180 degrees.
Relationship Between PostScript Comments and Job Ticket Keys
When the Distiller parameter ParseDSCComments is true, Distiller interprets certain
PostScript comments to produce true job ticket PlaneOrder objects. Such PostScript
comments include %%Page: (which is more specifically a DSC comment),
%%QRKPageBegin:, and %%PlateColor:. Distiller also supports the %%PlateColor: PostScript
comment; however, use of that comment is discouraged.
CreateJDFFile Parameter Details
The Job Definition Format (JDF) Specification is owned and maintained by the
International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and PostPress
(CIP4) (www.cip4.org). Distiller 7 complies with JDF Specification Version 1.1 Revision A,
published on September 5, 2002. It is available on the web at:
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
49
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Standards Parameters
http://www.cip4.org/documents/jdf_specifications/index.html
N O T E : The Acrobat 7 Professional product now supports creation of both JDF 1.1- and JDF
1.2-compliant JDF files. For more information, see the Acrobat Guide in Distiller
online Help.
If the CreateJDFFile parameter, is set to true, Distiller produces a Job Definition Format
(JDF) file that reflects the parameters used for distillation. The Adobe Normalizer product
(see Using Adobe Normalizer Server, Version 6.0.4) is also capable of producing JDF files, but
it can consume them as well. Appendix A describes how Normalizer interprets and
converts Distiller parameters; use this information to understand the JDF file created by
Distiller.
The JDF file is output to the current directory with the .jdf extension. The filename is the
same as the .log file and the file that is being distilled. (The “current directory” is the
directory where the new PDF file is output.)
pdfmark for JDF
The JDF pdfmark allows the PostScript file/stream being distilled to specify certain
elements and attributes to be added to a JDF file. For details, see Using Adobe Normalizer
Server, Version 6.0.4 and pdfmark Reference Manual.
Using the Standards Parameters
The Standards parameters provide control over PDF/A- and PDF/X-compliant output.
PDF/A is a proposed ISO standard for the long-term preservation (archival) of electronic
documents. PDF/X is a focused subset of PDF designed specifically for reliable prepress
data interchange and it is an International Standards Organization (ISO) standard
(www.iso.org). The PDF/X parameters are supported only in the Adobe Acrobat 6.0 (and
above) Professional version of the product. Jobs distilled using these settings will fail if the
data submitted to Distiller doesn’t comply with the requirements for the specific version of
the ISO specification. For additional information, see the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online
Help.
Distiller checks for compliance with PDF/A and PDF/X standards using the
CheckCompliance, PDFX1aCheck, and PDFX3Check parameters. There are also several
parameters used to control the TrimBox, BleedBox, ArtBox, and MediaBox entries
for page objects. These and other PDF/X parameters are used in providing content when
creating an output intent dictionary if a PostScript document does not provide the
required information (see Section 10.10 of the PDF Reference for details). A summary of the
Standards parameters is found in “Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)” on
page 100.
50
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Standards Parameters
Using the CheckCompliance, PDFX1aCheck, and PDFX3Check Parameters
To enable Distiller 7 settings files to be used with Distiller 6, the parameters:
/PDFX1aCheck true
and
/PDFX3Check true
are preserved and have the same meaning as:
/CheckCompliance [ /PDFX1a:2001 ]
and
/CheckCompliance [ /PDFX3:2002 ]
respectively. The CheckCompliance parameter, if present, overrides the PDFX1aCheck and
PDFX3Check parameters.
If Neither PDFX1aCheck Nor PDFX3Check Is Present
If a settings file with only a CheckCompliance parameter (i.e., no PDFX1aCheck or
PDFX3Check) is encountered and written out, the PDFX1aCheck and PDFX3Check
parameters are written out with appropriate boolean values. Doing this enables backward
compatibility with Distiller 6 for testing of PDF/X-1a:2001 and PDF/X-3:2002 standards
compliance. That is,
/CheckCompliance [ /PDFX1a:2001 ]
without PDFX1aCheck and PDFX3Check is written out and also generates:
/PDFX1aCheck true
/PDFX3Check false
Similarly:
/CheckCompliance [ /PDFX3:2002 ]
without PDFX1aCheck and PDFX3Check is written out and also generates:
/PDFX1aCheck false
/PDFX3Check true
Any other values for CheckCompliance also generates:
/PDFX1aCheck false
/PDFX3Check false
If PDFX1aCheck and/or PDFX3Check Are Present
If either of these parameters is present, or both, then the rewriting of the file will not cause
them to be changed. This, again, is to enable the Adobe settings file with the ability to be
used both by Distiller 6 and Distiller 7.
If CheckCompliance is Missing
If the CheckCompliance parameter is missing, then it takes its value from the PDFX1aCheck
parameter, if present and true (in which case the value for CheckCompliance is
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
51
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Standards Parameters
[/PDFX1a:2001]). If the PDFX1aCheck parameter is missing or false, then the
PDFX3Check parameter is inspected.
If the PDFX3Check parameter is true, the the value for CheckCompliance is set as
[/PDFX3:2002]. If none of these conditions apply, then the value for CheckCompliance is
taken to be [/None].
To summarize, the CheckCompliance parameter takes precedence over the PDFX1aCheck
and PDFX3Check parameters by Distiller 7. For backward compatibility, the PDFX1aCheck
and PDFX3Check parameters are either preserved or set to values consistent with that of
the CheckCompliance parameter.
Using the PDFXOutputIntentProfile Parameter
On successful PDF/X validation, and when the PostScript document does not specify the
output intent destination profile, the values defined by PDFXOutputIntentProfile and
PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier are used.
The PDFXOutputIntentProfile parameter is used to identify a profile name. If the value of
PDFXOutputIntentProfile is set to (None) or the empty string (), then the PostScript
document must specify the output intent destination profile for PDF/X validation to
succeed. If the value of PDFXOutputIntentProfile is set to (Use Output Condition
Identifier), then the value defined by the PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier is taken to
satisfy the PDF/X requirement that an output intent destination profile be specified.
Otherwise, the value of PDFXOutputIntentProfile is taken to be the output intent
destination profile name. In the latter case, if the profile is present on the computer
performing distillation, then that profile is embedded on successful distillation.
Examples
Example 1: The PDFXOutputIntentProfile is set to (Euroscale Uncoated v2) and
Distiller knows the corresponding Output Condition Identifier:
12 0 obj
<<
/Type /OutputIntent
/S /GTS_PDFX
/OutputConditionIdentifier (FOGRA4)
/RegistryName (http://www.color.org)
/Info (Euroscale Uncoated v2)
/DestOutputProfile 11 0 R
>>
endobj
11 0 obj
<<
/N 4
/Length 388226
/Filter /FlateDecode
52
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Standards Parameters
>>
stream
... ICCProfile data ...
endstream
endobj
Example 2: The PDFXOutputIntentProfile is set to (U.S. Web Uncoated v2) and
Distiller does not know the corresponding Output Condition Identifier:
12 0 obj
<<
/Type /OutputIntent
/S /GTS_PDFX
/OutputConditionIdentifier (U.S. Web Uncoated v2)
/Info (U.S. Web Uncoated v2)
/DestOutputProfile 11 0 R
>>
endobj
11 0 obj
<<
/N 4
/Length 386435
/Filter /FlateDecode
>>
stream
... ICCProfile data ...
endstream
endobj
Example 3: The PDFXOutputIntentProfile is set to (Use Output Condition
Identifier) and PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier is set to
(myOutputConditionIdentifier):
11 0 obj
<<
/Type /OutputIntent
/S /GTS_PDFX
/OutputConditionIdentifier (myOutputConditionIdentifier)
>>
endobj
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
53
Using Distiller Parameters
2
Using the Standards Parameters
54
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
3
Parameter Reference
This chapter describes each of the Distiller parameters. Parameters are grouped into the
same categories you would find in the Distiller UI.
The “Default Value” column contains the default Adobe PDF settings that are “hard-coded”
into Distiller. These are the options that are used if an option is not specified in the
.joboptions file, or the .joboptions file is empty. These are the same as those in the
Standard.joboptions file, with the following exceptions:
●
NeverEmbed defaults to [true] (no list of fonts)
●
Description is not provided
●
TransferFunctionInfo defaults to Preserve
●
CompressObjects defaults to Off
●
CalGrayProfile defaults to ()
●
PassThroughJPEGImages defaults to false
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
55
Parameter Reference
3
General Parameters
General Parameters
Table 3.1, “General parameters,” lists the Acrobat Distiller general parameters. The
corresponding name, if any, in the General panel of the Distiller UI is shown just below the
parameter name.
TABLE 3.1
General parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
AutoRotatePages
name
All
Allows Distiller to automatically orient
Auto-Rotate Pages: Off,
(rotate) pages based on the predominant
Individually, Collectively by
text orientation. Auto-rotation is not done if
File
the file contains the %%ViewingOrientation
DSC comment and ParseDSCComments is
true. If AutoRotatePages is set to None,
pages are not automatically oriented and
the %%ViewingOrientation DSC comment is
ignored (even if AutoRotatePages is true).
The value of AutoRotatePages must be one
of the following:
None
Distiller turns off AutoRotatePages.
All
Distiller takes the predominant text
orientation across all pages and rotates
all pages the same way.
PageByPage
Distiller rotates pages on a page-by-
page basis. This value is useful for mixed
portrait and landscape documents.
Binding
name
Left
Controls the value of the PageDirection key
Binding
in the ViewerPreferences dictionary of the
PDF file. PageDirection determines how the
printed pages would be bound. Values are:
Left
For Left Binding.
Right
For Right Binding.
CompatibilityLevel
real
1.4
The PDF version number: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, or
Compatibility
1.6.
56
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Parameter Reference
3
General Parameters
TABLE 3.1
General parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
CompressObjects
name
Off
N O T E : This parameter must be present in
Object-Level Compression:
the Adobe PDF settings file to take
Off, Tags Only, Maximum
effect.
N O T E : In the UI, the
Introduced with PDF 1.5. Controls object-
Maximum selection
level compression, which is the
will appear only if
consolidation of small objects (each of
CompatibilityLevel is
which isn’t compressible itself ) into streams
set to 1.5 or above.
which can then be efficiently compressed. A
new method of referencing these objects
had to be invented, causing a backward
compatibility issue.
Off
PDF 1.5 object streams and cross
reference streams will not be used.
Tags
PDF 1.5 object streams feature may be
used to compress tags. The compressed
tag information will no longer be usable
in Acrobat 5 or earlier Adobe Readers.
The PDF files created using this setting
will be openable and usable in Acrobat 5
and earlier Adobe Readers even though
the tag information is not usable by
Acrobat 5 and earlier Adobe Readers.
Acrobat 6 (and above) Adobe Readers
will, however, have full access to the tag
information.
All
Maximum compression. Objects streams
and cross reference streams may be used
to reduce PDF file size. The compressed
file will only be readable by Acrobat 6
(and above).
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
57
Parameter Reference
3
General Parameters
TABLE 3.1
General parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
CoreDistVersion
integer
7000
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
(Read only) Version number of the Distiller
implementation. This is neither the version
number of the PostScript interpreter used in
Distiller nor the version number displayed
in the UI.
Description
dictionary
Absent
Allows you to set language-dependent
Description
strings that are displayed when the
containing Adobe PDF settings file is
selected as active. The dictionary contains
keys whose values are the standard Acrobat
3-letter codes (see the Acrobat Core API
Reference for a listing of these codes). The
value associated with each language key is
a string that is intended to contain the
description of the Adobe PDF settings file. It
is assumed that the string will be reflowed
to fit the width of the display field.
N O T E : Ensure that the string displays
properly in the UI—especially that
the string does not have too many
lines for the allocated display area.
DoThumbnails
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter must be present in
Generate Thumbnails
the Adobe PDF settings file to take
effect.
If true, Distiller creates thumbnails for the
pages of the resulting PDF file.
58
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Parameter Reference
3
General Parameters
TABLE 3.1
General parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
EndPage
integer
-1
StartPage and EndPage together determine
Page Ranges (All, From:, To:)
the range of pages that are distilled. The
default value for StartPage is 1, and the
default value for EndPage is -1. If StartPage
is greater than 1, no PDF output is produced
for the first (StartPage -1) pages of
PostScript. StartPage becomes page 1 of the
PDF file. If EndPage is greater than -1,
distilling stops after the EndPage of
PostScript. Distiller checks these two
parameters at the time that the first
PostScript marking operator is executed in a
job.
N O T E : StartPage and EndPage are useful
when debugging PostScript. They are
not recommended for general
purpose use, as Distiller does not
retain page number references in
document links.
HWResolution
array
[600
Provides the resolution for the PDF file if this
Resolution
600]
value has not already been supplied by the
PostScript file itself. Strictly speaking, this is
not a Distiller parameter. See PostScript
Language Reference, third edition for more
information.
ImageMemory
integer
1048576
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
Number of bytes in the buffer used in the
sample processing of color, grayscale, and
monochrome images. When the buffer is
full, Distiller writes its contents to disk.
N O T E : If this parameter is set to a negative
integer, Distiller defaults it to 0.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
59
Parameter Reference
3
Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.1
General parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
Optimize
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter must be present in
Optimize for fast web view
the Adobe PDF settings file to take
effect.
If true, Distiller optimizes the PDF file. See
the PDF Reference for more information on
optimization (called linearization in that
document).
PageSize
array
[612.000 Provides the page size for the PDF file if this
Default Page Size
792.000] value has not already been supplied by the
PostScript file itself. Strictly speaking, this is
not a Distiller parameter. See PostScript
Language Reference, third edition for more
information.
StartPage
integer
1
See the description of the EndPage
Page Ranges (All, From:, To:)
parameter.
Image Compression Parameters
Table 3.2, Table 3.3, Table 3.4, and Table 3.5 list the Acrobat Distiller image compression
parameters for the respective compression types:
●
Color image
●
Grayscale image
●
Monochrome image
●
Page (text and line art)
The corresponding name, if any, of each parameter in the Images panel of the Distiller UI is
shown just below the parameter name.
60
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Parameter Reference
3
Image Compression Parameters
Color Image Compression Parameters
Table 3.2, “Color image compression parameters,” lists the color image compression
parameters. These parameters control the type of compression used and color conversion
strategy as well as determine whether and how the image is downsampled.
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
AntiAliasColorImages
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If true, Distiller permits anti-aliasing
on color images. If false, Distiller
does not permit anti-aliasing. Anti-
aliasing increases the number of bits-
per-component in downsampled
images to preserve some of the
information that is otherwise lost by
downsampling. Anti-aliasing is only
performed if the image is actually
downsampled and ColorImageDepth
has a value greater than the number
of bits-per-color component in the
input image. For more information on
anti-aliasing see “Controlling Bit
Depth” on page 32.
AutoFilterColorImages
boolean
true
Distiller uses only if
Compression
EncodeColorImages is true. If
AutoFilterColorImages is true,
Distiller inspects incoming images
and selects JPEG compression for
low-frequency images (images with
smooth color changes) and lossless
Flate compression for high-frequency
images (images with sharp color
changes). If false, Distiller
compresses all color sampled images
using the filter specified by
ColorImageFilter. For a summary of
Distiller’s use of image dictionaries
based on how this parameter is set,
see “Use of Image Dictionaries for
Color and Grayscale Image
Compression” on page 38.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorACSImageDict
dictionary
/QFactor
Dictionary of parameters for JPEG
Compression
0.76
compression when JPEG is chosen
Image Quality
/HSamples
from the Automatic filter selection
[2 1 1 2]
(see AutoFilterColorImages).
ColorACSImageDict is based on the
/VSamples
DCTEncode parameter dictionary
[2 1 1 2]
described in Section 3.13.3 in the
PostScript Language Reference, third edition.
See “Setting Compression of Color
and Grayscale Images” on page 25 for
details on the keys Distiller sets in this
dictionary and how to change
settings to customize compression.
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy
name
JPEG
Must be one of the following values:
Compression
JPEG
If AutoFilterColorImages is set to
true, Distiller uses lossy JPEG
compression for low-frequency
images and lossless Flate
compression for high-frequency
images.
JPEG2000
If AutoFilterColorImages is set to
true and if CompatibilityLevel is
set to 1.5 or higher, then Distiller
uses lossy JPEG2000 compression
for low-frequency images (images
with smooth color changes) and
lossless JPEG2000 compression for
high-frequency images.
For a summary of Distiller’s decision
flow for color and grayscale image
compression, see “Decision Flow for
Color and Grayscale Image
Compression” on page 37.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorImageDepth
integer
-1
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
Specifies the number of bits-per-color
component in the downsampled
image when
DownsampleColorImages is true.
Allowed bit values are 1, 2, 4, and 8
(for 1, 2, 4, and 8 bits-per-color
component) and -1 (which forces the
downsampled image to have the
same number of bits-per-color
component as the original image).
ColorImageDict
dictionary
/QFactor
Dictionary of parameters for JPEG
Compression
0.76
compression. ColorImageDict is based
Image Quality
/HSamples
on the DCTEncode parameter
[2 1 1 2]
dictionary described in Section 3.13.3
in the PostScript Language Reference, third
/VSamples
edition.
[2 1 1 2]
See “Setting Compression of Color
and Grayscale Images” on page 25 for
details on the keys Distiller sets in this
dictionary and how to change
settings to customize compression.
ColorImageDownsampleThreshold
number
1.50000
Sets the downsample threshold for
pixels-per-inch
color images. This is the ratio of image
for images above: value pixels-per-
resolution to output resolution above
inch
which downsampling may be
performed. Must be between 1.0
through 10.0, inclusive. If you set the
threshold out of range, it reverts to a
default of 1.5.
See “Setting The Threshold
Resolution For Downsampling
Images” on page 29 for details on
using this parameter.
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Parameter Reference
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorImageDownsampleType
name
Bicubic
Must be one of the following values:
Downsample:
Average
Average Downsampling to
Distiller averages groups of
Subsampling to
samples to get the new
Bicubic Downsampling to
downsampled value.
Bicubic
Off
Distiller uses bicubic interpolation
on a group of samples to get a
new downsampled value.
Subsample
Distiller picks the center sample
from a group of samples to get the
new downsampled value.
None
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorImageFilter
name
DCTEncode
Specifies the compression filter to be
Compression:
used for color images. Ignored if
Off
AutoFilterColorImages is true or
EncodeColorImages is false. Valid
ZIP
names are:
JPEG
DCTEncode
JPEG2000
Selects JPEG compression.
Automatic(JPEG)
FlateEncode
Automatic(JPEG2000)
Selects Flate (ZIP) compression.
N O T E : JPEG2000 options only
JPXEncode
appear in UI if
Selects JPEG2000 compression.
CompatibilityLevel is set to
If DCTEncode is specified, it is only
1.5 or higher.
used if the output image has 8 bits-
per-color component, that is,
● if ColorImageDepth is 8
● if ColorImageDepth is -1 and the
original image has 8 bits-per-color
component
Otherwise FlateEncode is used.
For compatibility with Distiller 3.0
Adobe PDF settings files, Distiller 6.0
and later silently reverts to Flate
compression if this parameter is set to
LZWEncode. Distiller stops with a
range error if this parameter is set to
one of these:
● CCITTFaxEncode
● RunLengthEncode
● ASCIIHEXEncode
● ASCII85Encode
● InvalidEncodeXYZ
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Parameter Reference
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth integer
1
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If DownsampleColorImages is true,
controls the range of bit depths for
which color image downsampling
occurs. Valid values are 1, 2, 4 or 8.
For more information, see
“Controlling the Range of Bit Depths
For Which Downsampling Occurs” on
page 29.
ColorImageMinResolution
integer
150
Imposes a lower limit to the
Policy
resolution of sampled images. The
legal values are from 9 to 64000,
inclusive. How this value is used by
Distiller is determined by
ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy. For
more information, see “Specifying a
Lower Limit for the Resolution of
Sampled Images” on page 30.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy
name
OK
Sets the policy for imposition of a
Policy
lower limit to the resolution of
sampled color images as specified by
the ColorImageMinResolution
parameter. Valid names are:
OK
Distiller's default behavior does
not change—i.e., Distiller does not
enforce any lower limit on image
resolution, ignoring any value
specified by
ColorImageMinResolution.
Warning
A warning is issued every time a
sampled color image with
resolution smaller than the value
specified by
ColorImageMinResolution is placed
in the PDF file. The job continues
after issuing the warning.
Error
An error occurs when a sampled
color image with resolution
smaller than the value specified by
ColorImageMinResolution is placed
in the PDF file. The job fails with a
limit check error.
For more information, see “Specifying
a Lower Limit for the Resolution of
Sampled Images” on page 30.
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Parameter Reference
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
ColorImageResolution
integer
150
Specifies the resolution to which
pixels-per-inch
downsampled color images are
reduced. A color image is
downsampled if
DownsampleColorImages is true,
and the resolution of the input image
meets the criteria described in
“Setting The Threshold Resolution For
Downsampling Images” on page 29.
Distiller downsamples to this
minimum resolution. The legal values
are from 9 to 2400, inclusive.
ConvertImagesToIndexed
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If true, Distiller converts images that
use fewer than 257 colors to an
indexed colorspace for compactness.
This conversion, when enabled,
produces smaller PDF files but may
make distillation slower.
CropColorImages
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If CropColorImages is false, then
color images will never be cropped,
whether or not the current clip would
remove any image samples. Color
images are images with more than
one color component. For more
information, see “Disabling of Image
Cropping” on page 41.
DownsampleColorImages
boolean
true
If true, Distiller downsamples color
Downsample
sampled images using the resolution
specified by ColorImageResolution. If
false, Distiller does not carry out
downsampling, and the image
resolution in the PDF file is the same
as that in the source PostScript file.
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TABLE 3.2
Color image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
EncodeColorImages
boolean
true
If true, Distiller encodes color
Compression
images using the compression filter
specified by the value of the
ColorImageFilter key. If false,
Distiller does not apply any
compression filters to color sampled
images.
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict
dictionary
/TileWidth Dictionary of parameters for
Compression
256
automatic JPEG2000 compression.
Image Quality
/TileHeight This dictionary cannot be used at the
PostScript language level in a
Tile Size
256
PostScript file that is being processed
N
/Quality 15
O T E : Tile size can only be set
by Distiller.
from the UI if
See “JPEG2000 Compression” on
CompatibilityLevel is set to
page 21 for details.
1.5 or higher, and the
Compression setting is
Automatic (JPEG2000).
JPEG2000ColorImageDict
dictionary
/TileWidth Dictionary of parameters for
Compression
256
JPEG2000 compression. This
Image Quality
/TileHeight dictionary cannot be used at the
PostScript language level in a
Tile Size
256
PostScript file that is being processed
N
/Quality 15
O T E : Tile size can only be set
by Distiller.
from the UI if
See “JPEG2000 Compression” on
CompatibilityLevel is set to
page 21 for details.
1.5 or higher, and the
Compression setting is
Automatic (JPEG2000).
Grayscale Image Compression Parameters
Table 3.3, “Grayscale image compression parameters,” lists the grayscale image
compression parameters. These parameters control the compression and downsampling of
grayscale sampled images. The available parameters and their functions are identical to
those for color sampled images.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
AntiAliasGrayImages
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If true, Distiller permits anti-
aliasing on grayscale images. If
false, Distiller does not permit
anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing increases
the number of bits-per-sample in
downsampled images to preserve
some of the information that is
otherwise lost by downsampling.
Anti-aliasing is only performed if
the image is actually downsampled
and GrayImageDepth has a value
greater than the number of bits-
per-sample in the input image. For
more information on anti-aliasing
see “Controlling Bit Depth” on
page 32.
AutoFilterGrayImages
boolean
true
Distiller uses only if
Compression
EncodeGrayImages is true. If
AutoFilterGrayImages is true,
Distiller determines the
compression algorithm for sampled
grayscale images automatically, on
an image-by-image basis; scanned
photographs, for example, are
compressed using JPEG, and screen
shots are compressed using Flate. If
false, Distiller compresses all
grayscale sampled images using the
filter specified by GrayImageFilter.
For a summary of Distiller’s use of
image dictionaries based on how
this parameter is set, see “Use of
Image Dictionaries for Color and
Grayscale Image Compression” on
page 38.
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TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
CropGrayImages
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If CropGrayImages is false, then
gray images will never be cropped,
whether or not the current clip
would remove any image samples.
Gray images are images with only
one color component, and more
than one bit per sample. For more
information, see “Disabling of
Image Cropping” on page 41.
DownsampleGrayImages
boolean
true
If true, Distiller downsamples
Downsample
grayscale images using the
resolution specified by
GrayImageResolution. If false,
Distiller does not carry out
downsampling, and the image
resolution in the PDF file is the same
as that in the source PostScript file.
EncodeGrayImages
boolean
true
If true, Distiller encodes grayscale
Compression
images using the compression filter
specified by the value of the
GrayImageFilter key. If false,
Distiller does not apply any
compression filters to grayscale
sampled images.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayACSImageDict
dictionary
/QFactor
Dictionary of parameters for JPEG
Compression
0.76
compression when JPEG is chosen
Image Quality
/HSamples
from the Automatic filter selection
[2 1 1 2]
(see AutoFilterGrayImages).
GrayACSImageDict is based on the
/VSamples
DCTEncode parameter dictionary
[2 1 1 2]
described in Section 3.13.3 in the
PostScript Language Reference, third
edition.
See “Setting Compression of Color
and Grayscale Images” on page 25
for details on the keys Distiller sets
in this dictionary and how to
change settings to customize
compression.
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy
name
JPEG
Must be one of the following values:
Compression
JPEG
If AutoFilterColorImages is set to
true, Distiller uses lossy JPEG
compression for low-frequency
images and lossless Flate
compression for high-frequency
images.
JPEG2000
If AutoFilterColorImages is set to
true and if CompatibilityLevel is
set to 1.5 or higher, then
Distiller uses lossy JPEG2000
compression for low-frequency
images (images with smooth
color changes) and lossless
JPEG2000 compression for high-
frequency images.
For a summary of Distiller’s decision
flow for color and grayscale image
compression, see “Decision Flow for
Color and Grayscale Image
Compression” on page 37.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayImageDepth
integer
-1
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
Specifies the number of bits-per-
sample in the downsampled image
when DownsampleGrayImages is
true.
Allowed values are 1, 2, 4, and 8
(for 1, 2, 4, and 8 bits-per-sample)
and -1 (which forces the
downsampled image to have the
same number of bits-per-sample as
the original image).
GrayImageDict
dictionary
/QFactor
Dictionary of parameters for JPEG
Compression
0.76
compression. GrayImageDict is
Image Quality
/HSamples
based on the DCTEncode
[2 1 1 2]
parameter dictionary described in
Section 3.13.3 in the PostScript
/VSamples
Language Reference, third edition.
[2 1 1 2]
See “Setting Compression of Color
and Grayscale Images” on page 25
for details on the keys Distiller sets
in this dictionary and how to
change settings to customize
compression.
GrayImageDownsampleThreshold
number
1.50000
Sets the image downsample
pixels-per-inch
threshold for gray scale images. This
for images above: value pixels-
is the ratio of image resolution to
per-inch
output resolution above which
downsampling may be performed.
See “Setting The Threshold
Resolution For Downsampling
Images” on page 29 for details on
using this parameter.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayImageDownsampleType
name
Bicubic
Must be one of the following values:
Downsample:
Average
Average Downsampling to
Distiller averages groups of
Subsampling to
samples to get the new
Bicubic Downsampling to
downsampled value.
Bicubic
Off
Distiller uses bicubic
interpolation on a group of
samples to get a new
downsampled value.
Subsample
Distiller picks the middle sample
from a group of samples to get
the new downsampled value.
None
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayImageFilter
name
DCTEncode
Specifies the compression filter to
Compression:
be used for grayscale images.
Off
Distiller ignores if
AutoFilterGrayImages is true or
ZIP
EncodeGrayImages is false. Valid
JPEG
names are:
JPEG2000
DCTEncode
Automatic(JPEG)
Selects JPEG compression.
Automatic(JPEG2000)
FlateEncode
N O T E : JPEG2000 options only
Selects Flate compression.
appear in UI if
JPXEncode
CompatibilityLevel is set to
Selects JPEG2000 compression.
1.5 or higher.
If DCTEncode is specified, it is only
used if the output image has 8 bits-
per-sample, that is,
● if the original image is a
grayscale image and
GrayImageDepth is 8
● if the original image is a
grayscale image with 8 bits-per-
sample and GrayImageDepth is -
1
● if the original image is a
monochrome image that is
downsampled and
MonoImageDepth is 8
Otherwise Distiller uses
FlateEncode.
For compatibility with Distiller 3.0
Adobe PDF settings files, Distiller
6.0 and later silently reverts to Flate
compression if this parameter is set
to LZWEncode. Distiller stops with
a range error if this parameter is set
to one of these:
● CCITTFaxEncode
● RunLengthEncode
● ASCIIHEXEncode
● ASCII85Encode
● InvalidEncodeXYZ
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Parameter Reference
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth integer
2
N O T E : This parameter does not
appear in the UI.
If DownsampleGrayImages is true,
controls the range of bit depths for
which gray image downsampling
occurs. Valid values are 2, 4 or 8. For
more information, see “Controlling
the Range of Bit Depths For Which
Downsampling Occurs” on page 29.
GrayImageMinResolution
integer
150
Imposes a lower limit to the
Policy
resolution of sampled grayscale
images. The legal values are from 9
to 64000, inclusive. How this value
is used by Distiller is determined by
GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy. For
more information, see “Specifying a
Lower Limit for the Resolution of
Sampled Images” on page 30.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy
name
OK
Sets the policy for imposition of a
Policy
lower limit to the resolution of
sampled images as specified by the
GrayImageMinResolution
parameter. Valid names are:
OK
Distiller's default behavior does
not change—i.e., Distiller does
not enforce any lower limit on
image resolution, ignoring any
value specified by
GrayImageMinResolution.
Warning
A warning is issued every time a
sampled grayscale image with
resolution smaller than the value
specified by
GrayImageMinResolution is
placed in the PDF file. The job
continues after issuing the
warning.
Error
An error occurs when a sampled
grayscale image with resolution
smaller than the value specified
by GrayImageMinResolution is
placed in the PDF file. The job
fails with a limit check error.
For more information, see
“Specifying a Lower Limit for the
Resolution of Sampled Images” on
page 30.
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Parameter Reference
3
Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.3
Grayscale image compression parameters
Parameter/
“Factory”
UI Name
Type
Default Value
Semantics
GrayImageResolution
integer
150
Specifies the resolution to which
pixels-per-inch
downsampled gray images are
reduced. A gray image is
downsampled if
DownsampleGrayImages is true, and
the resolution of the input image
meets the criteria described in
“Setting The Threshold Resolution
For Downsampling Images” on
page 29. Distiller downsamples to
this minimum resolution. The legal
values are from 9 to 2400,
inclusive.
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict
dictionary
/TileWidth Dictionary of parameters for
Compression
256
automatic JPEG2000 compression.
Image Quality
/TileHeight This dictionary cannot be used at
the PostScript language level in a
Tile Size
256
PostScript file that is being
N
/Quality 15
O T E : Tile size can only be set
processed by Distiller.
from the UI if
See “JPEG2000 Compression” on
CompatibilityLevel is set to
page 21 for details.
1.5 or higher, and the
Compression setting is
Automatic (JPEG2000).
JPEG2000GrayImageDict
dictionary
/TileWidth Dictionary of parameters for
Compression
256
JPEG2000 compression. This
Image Quality
/TileHeight dictionary cannot be used at the
PostScript language level in a
Tile Size
256
PostScript file that is being
N
/Quality 15
O T E : Tile size can only be set
processed by Distiller.
from the UI if
See “JPEG2000 Compression” on
CompatibilityLevel is set to
page 21 for details.
1.5 or higher, and the
Compression setting is
Automatic (JPEG2000).
Monochrome Images Compression Parameters
Table 3.4, “Monochrome image compression parameters,” lists the monochrome image
compression parameters. These parameters control the compression and downsampling of
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Image Compression Parameters
monochrome images. See “Setting Compression of Monochrome (Black and White)
Images” on page 27 for details on using these parameters.
N O T E : With the exception of the AntiAliasMonoImages and MonoImageDepth parameters,
the compression parameters also can be applied to stencil masks created by the
imagemask operator. Parameter behavior is the same in both cases. For details on
imagemask, see the PostScript Language Reference, third edition.
TABLE 3.4
Monochrome image compression parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
AntiAliasMonoImages
boolean
false
If true, Distiller permits anti-aliasing on
Anti-alias to gray
monochrome images. If false, Distiller
does not permit anti-aliasing. The default
value is false.
Anti-aliasing increases the number of bits-
per-sample in downsampled images to
preserve some of the information that is
otherwise lost by downsampling. Anti-
aliasing is only performed if the image is
actually downsampled and
MonoImageDepth has a value greater than
1. For more information on anti-aliasing
see “Controlling Bit Depth” on page 32.
N O T E : Distiller does not do anti-aliasing for
image masks, regardless of the value
of AntiAliasMonoImages.
CropMonoImages
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
If CropMonoImages is false, then
monochrome images will never be
cropped, whether or not the current clip
would remove any image samples.
Monochrome images are images with only
one color component, and only one bit per
sample. For more information, see
“Disabling of Image Cropping” on page 41.
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Parameter Reference
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.4
Monochrome image compression parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
DownsampleMonoImages
boolean
true
If true, Distiller downsamples
Downsample
monochrome images using the resolution
specified by MonoImageResolution. If
false, Distiller does not carry out
downsampling, and the image resolution
in the PDF file is the same as that in the
source PostScript file.
EncodeMonoImages
boolean
true
If true, Distiller encodes monochrome
Compression
images using the compression filter
specified by the value of the
MonoImageFilter key. If false, Distiller
does not apply any compression filters to
monochrome images.
MonoImageDepth
integer
-1
Specifies the number of bits-per-sample in
Anti-alias to gray
the downsampled image when
DownsampleMonoImages is true.
Allowed values are 1, 2, 4, and 8 (for 1, 2, 4,
and 8 bits-per-sample) and -1 (which
forces the downsampled image to have
the same number of bits-per-sample as the
original image). When MonoImageDepth is
2, 4, or 8, monochrome images are
converted to grayscale images. Distiller
does not use MonoImageDepth unless
AntiAliasMonoImages is true.
N O T E : Distiller ignores MonoImageDepth
for image masks.
MonoImageDict
dictionary
/K -1
Dictionary of parameters for
Compression
CCITTFaxEncode compression.
Quality
MonoImageDict is based on the
CCITTFaxEncode parameter dictionary.
See “Setting Compression of Monochrome
(Black and White) Images” on page 27 for
details on Distiller’s settings and
customizing CCITTFaxEncode
compression.
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TABLE 3.4
Monochrome image compression parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
MonoImageDownsampleThreshold number
1.50000 Sets the image downsample threshold for
pixels-per-inch
monochrome images. This is the ratio of
for images above: value pixels-per-
image resolution to output resolution
inch
above which downsampling may be
performed.
See “Setting The Threshold Resolution For
Downsampling Images” on page 29 for
details on using this parameter.
MonoImageDownsampleType
name
Bicubic Must be one of the following values:
Downsample:
Average
Average Downsampling to
Distiller averages groups of samples to
Subsampling to
get the new downsampled value.
Bicubic Downsampling to
Bicubic
Off
Distiller uses bicubic interpolation on a
group of samples to get a new
downsampled value.
Subsample
Distiller picks the middle sample from a
group of samples to get the new
downsampled value.
None
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Parameter Reference
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.4
Monochrome image compression parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
MonoImageFilter
name
CCITTFa Specifies the compression filter Distiller
Compression:
xEncode will use for monochrome images. Valid
CCITT Group 3
names are:
CCITT Group 4
CCITTFaxEncode
Run Length
Selects CCITT Group 3 or 4 facsimile
encoding.
ZIP
FlateEncode
Off
Selects Flate compression.
RunLengthEncode
Selects run length encoding.
For compatibility with Distiller 3.0 Adobe
PDF settings files, Distiller 6.0 and later
silently reverts to Flate compression if this
parameter is set to LZWEncode. Distiller
stops with a range error if this parameter is
set to one of these:
● DCTEncode
● ASCIIHEXEncode
● ASCII85Encode
● JPXEncode
● InvalidEncodeXYZ
MonoImageMinResolution
integer
300
Imposes a lower limit to the resolution of
Policy
sampled monochrome images. The legal
values are from 9 to 64000, inclusive. How
this value is used by Distiller is determined
by MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy. For
more information, see “Specifying a Lower
Limit for the Resolution of Sampled
Images” on page 30.
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Image Compression Parameters
TABLE 3.4
Monochrome image compression parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy
name
OK
Sets the policy for imposition of a lower
Policy
limit to the resolution of sampled images
as specified by the
MonoImageMinResolution parameter. Valid
names are:
OK
Distiller's default behavior does not
change—i.e., Distiller does not enforce
any lower limit on image resolution,
ignoring any value specified by
MonoImageMinResolution.
Warning
A warning is issued every time a
sampled monochrome image with
resolution smaller than the value
specified by MonoImageMinResolution
is placed in the PDF file. The job
continues after issuing the warning.
Error
An error occurs when a sampled
monochrome image with resolution
smaller than the value specified by
MonoImageMinResolution is placed in
the PDF file. The job fails with a limit
check error.
For more information, see “Specifying a
Lower Limit for the Resolution of Sampled
Images” on page 30.
MonoImageResolution
integer
300
Specifies the minimum resolution for
pixels-per-inch
downsampled monochrome images. This
value is used only when
DownsampleMonoImages is true and the
resolution of the input image meets the
criteria described in “Setting The Threshold
Resolution For Downsampling Images” on
page 29. Distiller downsamples to this
minimum resolution. The legal values are
from 9 to 2400, inclusive.
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Parameter Reference
3
Font Parameters
Page Compression Parameter
Table 3.5, “Page compression parameter,” describes the page compression parameter.
TABLE 3.5
Page compression parameter
“Factory”
Default
Parameters
Type
Value
Semantics
CompressPages
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
If true, Distiller uses Flate compression to
compress page content streams as well as
form, pattern, and Type 3 font content
streams.
Font Parameters
N O T E : You must check the license(s) for any font(s) you want to embed, to verify that
embedding is allowed.
Table 3.6, “Font embedding and subsetting parameters,” lists the parameters available for
controlling font embedding and subsetting. The corresponding name of each parameter in
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Font Parameters
the Fonts panel of the Distiller UI is shown just below the parameter name. For more
information on font embedding, see “Using the Font Parameters” on page 41.
TABLE 3.6
Font embedding and subsetting parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
AlwaysEmbed
array
[true]
An array consisting either entirely of font
Always Embed
names, or of a boolean followed by font names.
Each font name must be the PostScript
language name of the font (that is, the name
given to definefont). Distiller treats the
contents of AlwaysEmbed as follows:
If the array consists entirely of names:
● Distiller sets its internal list of fonts that
must be embedded to be exactly the list of
names in the array.
If the first array value is a boolean:
● If the value is true, Distiller adds the font
names in the rest of the AlwaysEmbed array
to its internal list of fonts that must be
embedded.
● If false, Distiller removes the font names
in the rest of the AlwaysEmbed array from its
internal list of fonts to be embedded.
See EmbedAllFonts for an explanation of how
the Distiller resolves ambiguity in the use of
this parameter, EmbedAllFonts, and
NeverEmbed.
CannotEmbedFontPolicy
name
Warning
The policy Distiller uses if it cannot find, or
When embedding fails
cannot embed, the font. The possible name
values are:
OK
Distiller ignores and continues.
Warning
Distiller displays a warning and continues.
Error
Distiller quits distilling the current job.
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Parameter Reference
3
Font Parameters
TABLE 3.6
Font embedding and subsetting parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
EmbedAllFonts
boolean
true
If true, Distiller specifies that all fonts, except
Embed all fonts
those in the NeverEmbed list, are to be
embedded in the PDF file.
N O T E : Distiller resolves ambiguity in the
parameters that specify font embedding
by giving the NeverEmbed list priority
over the EmbedAllFonts flag and the
AlwaysEmbed list.
EmbedOpen Type
boolean
false
If true, OpenType fonts are embedded if:
Embed OpenType fonts
● The OpenType font is to be embedded
within a Type 1 font descriptor,
N O T E : Embed OpenType
● EmbedOpenType is true,
fonts can only be
● CompatibilityLevel is 1.6 (or higher), and
set from the UI if
● SubsetFonts is false, or SubsetFonts is
CompatibilityLevel
true and MaxSubsetPct n and “percent of
is set to 1.6 or
characters used” is greater than or equal to
higher.
n.
MaxSubsetPct
integer
100
The maximum percentage of glyphs in a font
Subset embedded fonts
that can be used before the entire font is
when percent of
embedded instead of a subset. The allowable
characters used is less
range is 1 through 100. Distiller only uses this
than: value %
value if SubsetFonts is true. For example, a
value of 30 means that a font will be
embedded in full (not subset) if more than 30%
of glyphs are used; a value of 100 means all
fonts will be subset no matter how many
glyphs are used (because you cannot use more
than 100% of glyphs).
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Font Parameters
TABLE 3.6
Font embedding and subsetting parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
NeverEmbed
array
[true]
An array consisting either entirely of font
Never Embed
names, or of a boolean followed by font names.
Each font name must be the PostScript
language name of the font (that is, the name
given to definefont). Distiller treats the
contents of NeverEmbed as follows:
If the array consists entirely of names:
● Distiller sets its internal list of fonts that
must never be embedded to be exactly the
list of names in the array.
If the first array value is a boolean:
● If the value is true, Distiller adds the font
names in the rest of the NeverEmbed array
to its internal list of fonts that must never be
embedded.
● If false, Distiller removes the font names
in the rest of the NeverEmbed array from its
internal list of fonts to never be embedded.
See EmbedAllFonts in this section for an
explanation of how the Distiller resolves
ambiguity in the use of this parameter,
EmbedAllFonts, and NeverEmbed.
When creating the array of font names, you
cannot add the font names to both the
AlwaysEmbed and NeverEmbed lists.
See EmbedAllFonts for an explanation of how
the Distiller resolves ambiguity in the use of
this parameter, EmbedAllFonts, and
NeverEmbed.
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Parameter Reference
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Color Conversion Parameters
TABLE 3.6
Font embedding and subsetting parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
SubsetFonts
boolean
true
If true, Distiller enables font subsetting. If
Subset embedded fonts
false, subsetting is not enabled. Font
when percent of
subsetting embeds only those glyphs that are
characters used is less
used in a document, instead of the entire font.
than:
This reduces the size of a PDF file that contains
embedded fonts. If font subsetting is enabled,
Distiller determines whether to embed the
entire font or a subset by the number of glyphs
in the font that are used (including component
glyphs referenced by ‘seac’ [Type 1] glyphs),
and the value of MaxSubsetPct.
Subsetted fonts in the PDF file appear with a
6-letter prefix and a plus (+) sign. For example,
Palatino subsetted may appear as:
NPBOME+Palatino-Roman
N O T E : Embedded instances of multiple master
fonts and of Type 3, TrueType, and CID
fonts are always subsetted, regardless of
the value of SubsetFonts.
Color Conversion Parameters
Table 3.7, “Color conversion parameters,” lists the parameters color conversion parameters.
The corresponding name, if any, of each parameter in the Color panel of the Distiller UI is
shown just below the parameter name. See “ICCBased Color Spaces” in Section 4.5.4 of the
PDF Reference, for details on profiles.
TABLE 3.7
Color conversion parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
CalRGBProfile
string
(sRGB
The name of the ICC profile that is used
Working Spaces:
IEC61966
for tagging or converting RGB images,
RGB
-2.1)
text, and/or graphics.
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Color Conversion Parameters
TABLE 3.7
Color conversion parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
CalCMYKProfile
string
(U.S.
The name of the ICC profile that is used
Working Spaces:
Web
for tagging or converting CMYK images,
CMYK
Coated
text, and/or graphics.
SWOP v2)
CalGrayProfile
string
()
The name of the ICC profile that is used
Working Spaces:
for tagging or converting Gray images,
Gray
text, and/or graphics.
ColorConversionStrategy
name
sRGB
Sets the ICC profile used for color conver-
Color Management Policies
sion strategy. See “ColorConversionStrat-
egy Parameter Details” on page 44 for
details on how to use this parameter.
Legal values of this parameter are:
LeaveColorUnchanged
UseDeviceIndependentColor
UseDeviceIndependendColor-
ForImages
sRGB
CMYK
More information on this parameter can
also be found in the Acrobat Guide in
Distiller online Help.
ColorSettingsFile
string
()
See the Acrobat Guide in Distiller online
Settings File
Help for information on color
management policies and how to use this
parameter.
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Parameter Reference
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Color Conversion Parameters
TABLE 3.7
Color conversion parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
DefaultRenderingIntent
name
Default
PostScript jobs may specify the rendering
Intent
intent for objects by using the
findcolorrendering and setcolorrendering
operators, as described
in Section 7.1.3 in the PostScript Language
Reference, second edition. When the
PostScript job does not specify rendering
intent in this manner, Distiller determines
the rendering intent written to the PDF
by the value of DefaultRenderingIntent. If
the value of this parameter is Default,
no rendering intent is written to the PDF.
Legal values of this parameter are:
Default
Perceptual
Saturation
RelativeColorimetric
AbsoluteColorimetric
ParseICCProfilesInComments
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
If true, Distiller honors EPS embedded
ICC profiles when distilling. ICC profiles
are honored only if they are enclosed in
two DSC pairs: ICCProfile and SetColor-
Space. See the ICC specification (available
at http://www.color.org), section B.2, for
details on the syntax of these comment
pairs.
N O T E : This parameter is ignored if
CompatibilityLevel is set to 1.2.
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Color Conversion Parameters
TABLE 3.7
Color conversion parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
PreserveDICMYKValues
boolean
true
Describes what to do with color values for
Preserve CMYK values for
Device Independent CMYK color spaces.
calibrated CMYK color spaces
This parameter is used only if
ColorConversionStrategy is CMYK.
If true, CIEBasedDEFG CMYK color
values are treated as DeviceCMYK values;
CIEBasedDEFG color spaces will be
ignored and discarded. If false, a
conversion from CIEBasedDEFG color
space to CMYK working space is
performed.
PreserveHalftoneInfo
boolean
false
If true, Distiller passes halftone screen
Preserve Halftone Information
information (frequency, angle, and spot
function) into the PDF file. If false,
halftone information is not passed in.
sRGBProfile
string
(sRGB
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
IEC61966
the UI.
-2.1)
(Read Only) The name of the ICC profile
that is used for converting device-
dependent or device-independent color
spaces to CalRGB (PDF 1.2) or sRGB (PDF
1.3 and above).
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Parameter Reference
3
Color Conversion Parameters
TABLE 3.7
Color conversion parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
TransferFunctionInfo
name
Preserve
Determines how Distiller handles transfer
When transfer functions are
functions, which are traditionally used to
found
compensate for dot gain or dot loss that
may occur when an image is transferred
to film. For example, a file that is intended
for output on a particular imagesetter
may contain transfer functions that
compensate for the dot gain inherent
with that printer. Valid values are:
Preserve
Distiller preserves (passes into the PDF
file) transfer functions.
Remove
Distiller ignores transfer functions.
They are neither applied to the color
values by Distiller nor passed into the
PDF file.
Apply
Distiller uses the transfer function to
modify the data it writes to the PDF
file, instead of writing the transfer
function itself to the file. This value is
ignored by Distiller 4.0 but supported
by Distiller 5.0 and later. It is
sometimes used to achieve artistic
effects (although the PostScript
Language Reference discourages such
usage).
N O T E : If you are generating PDF/X-
compliant files, do not set this to
Preserve.
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Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.7
Color conversion parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
UCRandBGInfo
name
Remove
Tells Distiller whether to pass the
Preserve under color removal
arguments to setundercolorremoval
and black generation
and setblackgeneration into the PDF file.
Must be one of the following values:
Preserve
Distiller preserves (passes into the PDF
file) the arguments.
Remove
Distiller ignores the arguments.
See Section 7.2.3 in the PostScript Language
Reference, third edition, for details on the
setundercolorremoval and
setblackgeneration operators and
descriptions undercolor removal (UCR)
and black generation (BG).
Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
Table 3.8, “Advanced parameters,” list the advanced Distiller parameters that you can
customize. The corresponding name, if any, of each parameter in the Advanced panel of the
Distiller UI is shown just below the parameter name.
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
AllowPSXObjects
boolean
true
Allow PostScript XObjects. For a description
Allow PostScript XObjects
of PostScript XObjects, see Section 4.9 of the
PDF Reference.
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Parameter Reference
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Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
AllowTransparency
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in the
UI.
Used to control whether the
/SetTransparency pdfmark is honored
or rejected. When set to true, then [...
/SetTransparency pdfmark is
allowed in PS jobs if CompatibilityLevel is 1.4
or higher. If AllowTransparency is false,
then /SetTransparency pdfmark is
treated as error.
/SetTransparency pdfmark is a new
pdfmark extension used to produce
transparency in PDF. For more details, see
the pdfmark Reference Manual.
N O T E : This parameter is used when
generating PDF 1.4 or later.
ASCII85EncodePages
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in the
UI.
If true, Distiller ASCII85 encodes binary
streams such as page contents streams,
sampled images, and embedded fonts,
resulting in a PDF file that is pure ASCII. If
false, Distiller does not encode the binary
streams, resulting in a PDF file that may
contain substantial amounts of binary data.
Distiller checks the value of this parameter
only once per document. Any change to it
must be made before any marks are placed
on the first page of the document.
AutoPositionEPSFiles
boolean
true
If true, Distiller resizes the created page to
Resize page and center
the size of the EPS file using the
artwork for EPS files
%%BoundingBox comment in the header of
the file, and centers the EPS file on the page
when the EPS file is distilled. Distiller ignores
this parameter if ParseDSCComments is
false.
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Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
CreateJDFFile
boolean
false
If true, a JDF file is created. If false, a JDF
Create Job Definition Format
file is not created. See “CreateJDFFile
(JDF) File
Parameter Details” on page 49 for more
information.
N O T E : This parameter appears
in the Acrobat
Professional UI for
versions 6.0 and above,
though the parameter
appears in all settings
files regardless of
model.
CreateJobTicket
boolean
false
If true, Distiller creates a Job Ticket object
Save Portable Job Ticket inside
in the PDF file that contains specific
PDF file
information about this file—such as
trapping information—that can be passed
along to another application or print device.
This parameter pertains to Portable Job
Ticket Format 1.1, as described in Portable Job
Ticket Format, version 1.1 (Technical Note
#5620). See “CreateJobTicket Parameter
Details” on page 47 for details on this
parameter.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
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Parameter Reference
3
Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
DetectCurves
number
0.1
If 0.0000, then this feature is disabled (Off ).
Convert smooth lines to curves
If 0.1000, then this feature is enabled (On).
Value must be in the range from 0.0000 to
10.0000. Positive values cause Distiller to
investigate graphics for curves that are not
described efficiently and that thus result in
unacceptably large file sizes. For these
curves, Distiller provides a conversion into
correct Bezier curves that look the same but
take up much less file space. Visual
inspection of the results suggests that the
0.1000 value yields the closest
approximation to the original curve. The
value is used in user space (72 dpi) to control
the accuracy of Distiller’s curve-fitting
algorithm. The curve-fitting results should
not part from the original line segments
more than this number. Distiller generates a
range error if the value is less than 0.0 or
greater than 10.0.
DSCReportingLevel
integer
0
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in the
UI.
Level can be either 0, 1, or 2. 0 means no
additional reporting. Level 1 shows all input
as it is parsed and shows a tree crawl when
getting into bad states. Level 2 shows
transitions in addition to the information in
Level 1.
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Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
DetectBlends
boolean
true
Converts gradients to smooth shades. If
Convert gradients to smooth
DetectBlends is true and CompatibilityLevel
shades
is 1.3 or higher, Distiller enables the
conversion of gradients to smooth shades. If
DetectBlends is false, Distiller disables
conversion.
Regardless of the DetectBlends value, if
CompatibilityLevel is less than 1.3, Distiller
disables conversion. Regardless of the
DetectBlends and CompatibilityLevel values,
Distiller disables gradient conversion to
smooth shades if idiom recognition is
turned off in the prologue file or in the
PostScript file itself.
See “Converting Gradients to Smooth
Shades” on page 46 for a discussion of
DetectBlends and idiom recognition.
EmbedJobOptions
boolean
false
If true, the Adobe PDF settings file used to
Save Adobe PDF settings
create the PDF is embedded in the PDF and
inside PDF file
is accessible through Document > File
Attachments from the Acrobat UI.
N O T E : Inside the PDF file, the Adobe PDF
settings file becomes an item in the
Names->EmbeddedFiles tree (see PDF
Reference, Section 3.6.3).
EmitDSCWarnings
boolean
false
If true, Distiller displays warning messages
Log DSC warnings
about questionable or incorrect DSC
comments during the distillation of the
PostScript file. Distiller ignores this
parameter if ParseDSCComments is false.
LockDistillerParams
boolean
false
If true, Distiller ignores any parameters
Allow PostScript file to
defined in the incoming PostScript file (in
override Adobe PDF settings
this case, the Distiller parameters are
defined by the Adobe PDF settings as set in
the UI). If false, the Distiller parameters, if
any, defined in the PostScript file override
those defined by the Adobe PDF settings set
in the UI.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
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Parameter Reference
3
Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
OPM
integer
1
Controls the overprint mode strategy in the
Overprinting default is
job. Set to 0 for full overprint or 1 for non-
nonzero overprinting
zero overprint. For more information, refer
to Technical Note #5044, Color Separation
Conventions for PostScript Language Programs,
and Section 4.5.6 of the PDF Reference.
N O T E : Distiller ignores this parameter if
PreserveOverprintSettings is false.
ParseDSCComments
boolean
true
If true, Distiller parses the DSC comments
Process DSC Comments
for any information that might be helpful for
distilling the file or for information that is
passed into the PDF file. If false, Distiller
treats the DSC comments as pure PostScript
comments and ignores them.
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo
boolean
true
If true, Distiller parses the DSC comments
Preserve document
in the PostScript file and attempts to
information from DSC
preserve the Document Information as
properties of the PDF document. In Distiller
4.0 and higher, Distiller places the
Document Information in the Info dictionary
of the PDF file; you can view the information
in the File > Document Properties windows
of the UI. Distiller 5.0 also embeds the
Document Information as XML in the PDF
file. See “ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo
Parameter Details” on page 46 for details on
this parameter.
N O T E : If true, document properties of
Microsoft Office files are carried into
the PDF. Setting this parameter to
false prevents this transfer of
information.
Distiller ignores this parameter if
ParseDSCComments is false.
PassThroughJPEGImages
boolean
false
If true, Distiller passes JPEG images
Save original JPEG images in
through without re-compressing them. The
PDF if possible
advantages and disadvantages to doing this
are described in “Passing Through JPEG
Images” on page 39.
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Advanced Adobe PDF Settings
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
PreserveCopyPage
boolean
true
If true, Distiller maintains PostScript
Preserve Level 2 copypage
LanguageLevel 2 compatibility for the
semantics
copypage operator. If false, Distiller uses
the PostScript LanguageLevel 3 definition of
the copypage operator. See the PostScript
Language Reference, third edition, for more
information.
PreserveEPSInfo
boolean
false
If true, Distiller attempts to preserve the
Preserve EPS information from
EPS information in the PostScript file as
DSC
properties of the resulting PDF file. The
distilled EPS content is identified as Marked
Content using the EmbeddedDocument key.
Distiller 5.0 (and above) also embeds the EPS
information as XML in a Metadata dictionary
attached to the Marked Content.
See “PreserveEPSInfo Parameter Details” on
page 47 for details on this parameter.
Distiller ignores this parameter if
ParseDSCComments is false.
PreserveFlatness
boolean
true
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in the
UI.
If true, the PostScript flatness set by the
setflat operator will be preserved. If false,
flatness will be discarded. Preserving flat-
ness can increase rendering and printing
speeds, since less time is spent determining
how to precisely render curves and circles.
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
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Parameter Reference
3
Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)
TABLE 3.8
Advanced parameters
“Factory”
Parameter/
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
PreserveOPIComments
boolean
false
If true, Distiller places the page contents
Preserve OPI comments
within a set of Open Prepress Interface (OPI)
comments in a Form XObject dictionary and
preserves the OPI comment information in
an OPI dictionary attached to the Form. Page
contents data within a set of OPI comments
may include proxy images, high-resolution
images, or nothing.
If PreserveOPIComments is false, Distiller
ignores OPI comments and their page
contents. Setting PreserveOPIComments to
false results in slightly simpler and smaller
PDF files. Doing so is acceptable when use of
an OPI server is not anticipated.
Distiller ignores PreserveOPIComments if
ParseDSCComments is false.
Distiller recognizes both OPI 1.3 and OPI 2.0.
See the specifications for OPI 1.3 and 2.0
(TN #5660) on the Adobe Solutions Network
Web site
PreserveOverprintSettings
boolean
true
If true, Distiller passes the value of the
Preserve overprint settings
setoverprint operator through to the PDF
file. Otherwise, overprint is ignored (Distiller
does not pass the information into the PDF
file).
UsePrologue
boolean
false
If true, Distiller uses the prologue.ps
Use Prologue.ps and
file in the Data subdirectory and distills it
Epilogue.ps
prior to any PostScript job that is sent
through. Distiller also distills the
epilogue.ps file in the same directory
after the same PostScript job is run. You can
add any legal PostScript code and
comments to these two files.
Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)
Table 3.9, “Standards parameters,” lists the PDF/X Compliance Check and PDF/X
Enhancement parameters. The corresponding name of each parameter in the PDF/X panel
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Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)
of the Distiller UI is shown just below the parameter name. See “Using the Standards
Parameters” on page 50 for more information.
TABLE 3.9
Standards parameters
“Factory”
Parameters
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
CheckCompliance
array
[/None]
Determines the standard whose
Compliance Standard
compliance will be checked for the current
job, if any. Valid values of this parameter
are:
None
PDFA:DRAFT
PDFX1a:2001
PDFX1a:2003
PDFX3:2002
PDFX3:2003
N O T E : In Distiller 7, this parameter takes
precedence over the PDFX1aCheck
and PDFX3Check parameters. If
CheckCompliance is used, the values
of PDFX1aCheck and/or PDFX3Check
are ignored.
For more information on how this
parameter works, see “Using the Standards
Parameters” on page 50.
PDFX1aCheck
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
If true, checks compliance with the
PDF/X-1a standard (ISO 15930-1:2001) and
a PDF/X compliance report is written to the
message log. A value of /PDFX1aCheck
true is equivalent in Distiller 7 to a value
of /CheckCompliance
[ /PDFX1a:2001 ].
N O T E : This parameter is retained for
compatibility with Distiller 6. For
more information on how this
parameter works, see “Using the
Standards Parameters” on page 50.
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101
Parameter Reference
3
Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)
TABLE 3.9
Standards parameters
“Factory”
Parameters
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
PDFX3Check
boolean
false
N O T E : This parameter does not appear in
the UI.
If true, checks compliance with the
PDF/X-3 standard (ISO 15930-3:2002) and a
PDF/X compliance report is written to the
message log. A value of /PDFX3Check
true is equivalent in Distiller 7 to a value
of /CheckCompliance
[ /PDFX3:2002 ].
N O T E : This parameter is retained for
compatibility with Distiller 6. For
more information on how this
parameter works, see “Using the
Standards Parameters” on page 50.
PDFXCompliantPDFOnly
boolean
false
If true, Distiller produces a PDF document
When not compliant:
only if PDF/X compliance tests are passed.
Continue
If false, Distiller performs validation
Cancel job
checks, but does not insert PDF/X
additional key/value pairs into the created
PDF file, nor does Distiller fail if validation
errors are revealed.
PDFXNoTrimBoxError
boolean
true
If true and both the TrimBox and ArtBox
Report as error
entries are not specified in the page object,
the condition is reported as an error.
PDFXTrimBoxtoMediaBoxOffset
array
[0.00000 If both the TrimBox and ArtBox entries are
Set TrimBox to MediaBox with
0.00000
not specified in the page object, TrimBox is
offsets (units)
0.00000
set to MediaBox with offsets. Offsets are
0.00000]
specified as [left right top
This parameter is ignored if
bottom]. All numbers must be greater
PDFXNoTrimBoxError is true.
than or equal to 0.0. TrimBox offsets place
the TrimBox entirely inside the MediaBox.
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox
boolean
true
If true and the BleedBox entry is not
Set BleedBox to MediaBox
specified in the page object, BleedBox is
set to MediaBox.
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3
Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)
TABLE 3.9
Standards parameters
“Factory”
Parameters
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset
array
[0.00000 If the BleedBox entry is not specified in the
Set BleedBox to TrimBox with
0.00000
page object, BleedBox is set to TrimBox
offsets (units)
0.00000
with offsets. Offsets are specified as [left
right top bottom]. All numbers must
N
0.00000]
O T E : This parameter is ignored if
be greater than or equal to 0.0. BleedBox
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMedia
offsets place the BleedBox entirely outside
Box is true.
the TrimBox.
PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier
string
()
The PDF/X Output Condition Identifier is a
Output Condition Identifier
Reference Name that is specified by the
Output Intent Profile Name’s registry. The
entry is automatically entered for known
Output Intent Profile Names. If Use
Output Condition Identifier is
specified for PDFXOutputIntentProfile, then
this parameter must be provided for PDF/X
validation to succeed.
PDFXOutputIntentProfile
string
()
The Output Intent Profile Name indicates
Output Intent Profile Name
the characterized printing condition for
which the document has been prepared
and is required for PDF/X compliance. One
of the provided names may be used, or a
different name may be provided by
specifying Use Output Condition
Identifier (see
PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier). (None)
should be used for workflows that require
that the document specify an output
intent and for which compliance checking
should fail if it is not present in the
document. (None) displays as the
localized menu string No Default Profile.
N O T E : Values are string literals, so
parentheses are required around
them.
For a description of how values are used to
fill out entries in the PDF/X output intent
dictionary, see “Using the Standards
Parameters” on page 50.
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Parameter Reference
3
Standards Parameters (Acrobat Professional Only)
TABLE 3.9
Standards parameters
“Factory”
Parameters
Default
UI Name
Type
Value
Semantics
PDFXOutputCondition
string
()
The PDF/X OutputCondition is an
Output Condition
optional comment which, if present, is
added to the PDF file and describes the
intended printing condition in a form that
should be meaningful to a human operator
at the site receiving the PDF document.
PDFXRegistryName
string
(http://www.color.org)
Registry Name (URL)
The PDF/X RegistryName is an optional
string which, if present, preferably has a
value that provides a URL at which more
information regarding the registry may be
obtained. This entry is automatically
populated for recognized ICC profile
names.
PDFXTrapped
name
False
Indicates the state of trapping within the
Trapped:
file. A value of True or False (as a name
Leave undefined
object, not the similarly-sounding boolean
Insert F alse
values true and false) is required for
Insert True
PDF/X compliance. If a document does not
specify a Trapped state, then the value
provided here is used. Unknown should be
used for workflows that require that the
document specify a Trapped state and for
which compliance checking should fail if it
is not present in the document. Can be one
of the following values:
Unknown
False
True
104
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
4
Changes Since Last Revision
This chapter describes the changes made to this document for the last three major releases
of Acrobat.
Changes Made for Acrobat 5
●
Updated the description of DetectBlends parameter for Distiller Version 5.
●
Reorganized the document contents. Created Chapter 2, “Using Distiller Parameters,” to
separate the conceptual information from the Distiller parameter descriptions in
Chapter 3, “Parameter Reference.”
●
Added Figure 2.1, which illustrates in a flowchart the processing of grayscale and
monochrome images.
●
Expanded on image compression in “Setting Compression of Color and Grayscale
Images” on page 25 and in “Setting Compression of Monochrome (Black and White)
Images” on page 27.
●
Updated the image compression settings in Table 2.6.
●
Added the Acrobat 5.0 UI names associated with the Distiller parameter names in
Chapter 3, “Parameter Reference.”
●
Updated the document for consistency and for technical accuracy.
Changes Made for Acrobat 6
●
Added more detail to the description of how Distiller selects image compression filters.
●
Added information relating to the new image compression filter for JPEG2000 encoding.
●
Added summary of Distiller image compression controls.
●
Added pseudocode showing how automatic compression works; added pseudocode
showing how Distiller uses image dictionaries.
●
Removed the UseFlateCompression parameter, which was deprecated in Distiller 4.0.
●
Added “Factory Default Values” column to parameter description tables.
●
Swapped out non-Adobe fonts from document.
●
Added descriptions for six new predefined Adobe PDF settings files:
– Standard
– High Quality
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105
Changes Since Last Revision
4
Changes Made for Acrobat 7
– PDFX1a
– PDFX3
– Smallest File Size
– Press Quality
●
Added new parameters information:
– JPEG2000 value for the ColorImageFilter parameter
– JPEG2000ColorImageDict parameter
– JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict parameter
– JPEG2000 value for the GrayImageFilter
– JPEG2000GrayImageDict parameter
– JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict parameter
– ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy parameter
– GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy parameter
– PassThroughJPEGImages parameter
– AllowPSXObjects parameter
– DSCReportingLevel parameter
– PDFX1aCheck parameter
– PDFX3Check parameter
– PDFXCompliantPDFOnly parameter
– PDFXNoTrimBoxError parameter
– PDFXTrimBoxtoMediaBoxOffset parameter
– PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox parameter
– PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset parameter
– PDFXOutputIntentProfile parameter
– PDFXTrapped parameter
– PDFXOutputCondition parameter
– PDFXRegistryName parameter
– AllowTransparency parameter
– CreateJDFFile parameter
– EmbedJobOptions parameter
– Description parameter
– CompressObjects parameter
Changes Made for Acrobat 7
●
Added descriptions for three new predefined Adobe PDF settings files and noted the
renaming of three others:
– High Quality Print (was High Quality)
– PDFX1a 2001 (was PDFX1a)
– PDFX1a 2003
106
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Changes Since Last Revision
4
Changes Made for Acrobat 7
– PDFX3 2002 (was PDFX3)
– PDFX3 2003
– PDFA DRAFT
●
Removed descriptions of legacy Adobe PDF Settings files: eBook, Press, Print, Screen,
and CJKScreen.
●
Moved information about using Distiller to combine PostScript files from Acrobat Guide
online Help to this document.
●
Added new parameters information:
– CropColorImages parameter
– CropGrayImages parameter
– CropMonoImages parameter
– ColorImageMinResolution parameter
– ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy parameter
– GrayImageMinResolution parameter
– GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy parameter
– MonoImageMinResolution parameter
– MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy parameter
– ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth parameter
– GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth parameter
– EmbedOpenType parameter
– DetectCurves parameter
– PreserveDICMYKValues parameter
– CMYK value for ColorConversionStrategy parameter
– 1.6 value for CompatibilityLevel parameter
– PreserveFlatness parameter
– CheckCompliance parameter
– Use Output Condition Identifier value for PDFXOutputIntentProfile
parameter
– PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier parameter
– ParseICCProfilesInComments parameter
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Changes Since Last Revision
4
Changes Made for Acrobat 7
108
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
A Conversions Related to JDF
This appendix describes how Distiller converts setpagedevice-type PostScript key-word
pairs and parameters into a JDF file. Distiller creates a JDF file if the CreateJDFFile parameter
is set to true. The version of JDF created is 1.1 (the specification is available from
http://www.cip4.org/documents/jdf_specifications.
This appendix uses XPath expressions to identify specific attributes. XPath is a language for
addressing parts of an XML document, as defined in XML Path Language (XPath) Version
1.0, which is available fromhttp://www.w3.org/TR/xpath. The conventions that appear in
the following tables are shown below:
Expression ::= JDFRoot’/’Attribute | JDFRoot’/’Children’/’Attribute
JDFRoot ::= ‘/JDF’
Children ::= Element | Element’/’Children
Element ::= element
Attribute ::= ‘@’attribute
A.1 Basic JDF File Created
Distiller creates a basic JDF document whose root node is a JDF element with
Type=”Product”. Under that root node, Distiller creates three sub-elements:
●
A JDF element with Type = "Combined";
●
A ResourcePool element that describes the document produced;
●
and an AuditPool element that describes the results of distillation.
The resulting root node is populated with elements that describe the incoming PostScript
stream, Combined process node, and the following items:
●
setpagedevice-type operators. Whenever Distiller encounters a supported setpagedevice-
type operator, it represents the key value as an entry in one of the parameter resources
associated with the ResourceDedfinition process. (Section A.2, “Representing Certain
PostScript Keys as JDF Elements and Attributes)
●
DSC comments. Whenever Distiller encounters certain DSC comments, it represents
those comments in the RunList for the PDF file. (Section A.3, “Mapping of Certain DSC
Comments into JDF Elements and Attributes)
●
Parameters. Distiller creates a PSToPDFConversionParams resource which it populates
with attributes that correspond to the settings of the parameters as of the end of the
first page of the job. If the parameter ColorConversionStrategy is NOT
LeaveColorUnchanged, Distiller also creates a ColorSpaceConversionParams resource,
which it populates as it does for PSToPDFConversionParams. (Section A.4, “Mapping of
Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes)
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Representing Certain PostScript Keys as JDF Elements and Attributes
A.2 Representing Certain PostScript Keys as JDF Elements
and Attributes
Distiller represents selected setpagedevice, settrapparams, or settrapzone PostScript key-
word pairs as JDF entries. It does so by creating and populating corresponding JDF
resource elements in a ResourceDefinition resource pool, as described in Table A.1.
On occasion, a PostScript key contradicts a Distiller parameter. For information on how this
conflict is resolved, see Using Adobe Normalizer Server, Version 6.0.4, section 7.2.
TABLE A.1 PostScript keys converted into JDF ResourceDefinition resources
PostScript key
Representation in JDF ResourceDefinition resources
setpagedevice
Distiller converts the setpagedevice key-word pairs into the
ResourceDefinition attributes described in Table A.2. Some keys
are omitted from the table because they do not have logical
equivalents in the JDF Specification.
settrapparms
Distiller converts the settrapparam key-word pairs into the
ResourceDefinition attributes described in Table A.3.
settrapzone
Distiller converts the settrapzone key-word pairs into the
ResourceDefinition attributes described in Table A.4.
TABLE A.2 Mapping from setpagedevice keys to JDF entries
Key Name
Entry in /JDF / ResourcePool
Collate
DigitalPrintingParams /@ Collate
DeviceRenderingInf
o
RenderingParams /@ ColorantDepth
<<ValuesPerColorComponent>>
Duplex
LayoutPreparationParams /@ Sides
HWResolution
RenderingParams / ObjectResolution /@ Resolution
Jog
Component / Disjointing /@ OffsetAmount
ManualFeed
DigitalPrintingParams /@ ManualFeed
MediaColor
DigitalPrintingParams / Media /@ MediaColorName
MediaPosition
DigitalPrintingParams / Media / Location
/@ LocationName
MediaType
DigitalPrintingParams / Media /@ UserMediaType
MediaWeight
DigitalPrintingParams / Media /@ Weight
110
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Representing Certain PostScript Keys as JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.2 Mapping from setpagedevice keys to JDF entries (Continued)
Key Name
Entry in /JDF / ResourcePool
MirrorPrint
ImageSetterParams /@ MirrorAround
NegativePrint
ImageSetterParams /@ Polarity
NumCopies
If Collate is TRUE, RunList /@ PageCopies.
Otherwise, RunList /@ DocCopies
PageSize
DigitalPrintingParams / Media /@ Dimension
ProcessColorModel
ColorantControl /@ ProcessColorModel
SeparationColorNames
ColorantControl /@ ColorantParams
SeparationOrder
ColorantControl /@ ColorantOrder
Separations
ColorantControl /@ ForceSeparations
Trapping
TrappingDetails /@ Trapping
TrappingDetails <<Type>>
TrappingDetails /@ TrappingType
TrappingDetails
ColorantControl / ColorPool /@ ColorName
<<ColorantDetails
<<ColorantName>>
>>
TrappingDetails
ColorantControl / ColorPool / Color /@ ColorType
<<ColorantDetails
<<ColorantType>>
>>
TrappingDetails
ColorantControl / ColorPool / Color /@ NeutralDensity
<<ColorantDetails
<<NeutralDensity>>
>>
TrappingDetails
TrappingDetails /@ TrappingOrder
<<TrappingOrder>>
Tumble
LayoutPreparation /@ Sides
TABLE A.3 Mapping from settrapparms keys to JDF TrappingDetails entries
Entry in /JDF / ResourcePool / TrappingDetails /
Key Name
TrapRegion / TrappingParams
BlackColorLimit
@ BlackColorLimit
BlackDensityLimit
@ BlackDensityLimit
BlackWidth
@ BlackWidth
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Representing Certain PostScript Keys as JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.3 Mapping from settrapparms keys to JDF TrappingDetails entries (Continued)
Entry in /JDF / ResourcePool / TrappingDetails /
Key Name
TrapRegion / TrappingParams
ColorantZoneDetails
@ ColorantZoneDetails /@ StepLimit
<<StepLimit>>
ColorantZoneDetails
@ ColorantZoneDetails /@ TrapColorScaling
<<TrapColorScaling>>
ColorantZoneDetails
@ ColorantZoneDetails /@ ADBE
a:TrapPlacement
<<TrapPlacement>>
Enabled
@ Enabled
ImageInternalTrapping
@ ImageInternalTrapping
ImageMaskTrapping
@ ImageMaskTrapping
ImageResolution
@ ImageResolution
ImageToImageTrapping
@ ImageToImageTrapping
ImageToObjectTrapping
@ ImageToObjectTrapping
ImageTrapPlacement
@ ImageTrapPlacement
ImageTrapWidth
@ ADBE:ImageTrapWidth
MinimumBlackWidth
@ MinimumBlackWidth
SlidingTrapLimit
@ SlidingTrapLimit
StepLimit
@ StepLimit
TrapColorScaling
@ TrapColorScaling
TrapEndStyle
@ TrapEndStyle
TrapJoinStyle
@ TrapJoinStyle
TrapWidth
@ TrapWidth
a. In the JDF document, Distiller defines ADBE as the namespace http://ns.adobe.com/JDF.
TABLE A.4 Mapping from settrapzone keys to JDF TrappingDetails entries
Key Name
Entry in /JDF / ResourcePool / TrappingDetails
settrapzone
TrapRegion /@ TrappingZone
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Certain DSC Comments into JDF Elements and Attributes
A.2.1 Converting Between the Linear Representation of setpagedevice
Keys and Their Hierarchical JDF Counterparts
The setpagedevice keys that appear in PostScript streams/files are presented in a linear
fashion. That is, hierarchical relationships are represented by repeating higher level
information. In contrast, the JDF format represents a hierarchy.
This section describes how Distiller converts between that linear representation and the
JDF hierarchy.
For example, the JDF Specification allows the TrapParams resource element to appear as a
child of the TrappingDetails resource element and the TrapZones resource element. For
example:
FIGURE 1.1
Relationship between JDF TrapParams and other JDF resources
<TrappingDetails>
Distiller always subordinates TrapParams
<TrapRegion>
resources to TrapRegion resources. That is,
<TrapParams …/>
Distiller never produces entries, such as the first
TrapParams resource at left.
</TrapRegion.>
</TrappingDetails>
Instead, if Distiller has set a default trapping zone
then it is set for all the pages (using the second
TrapParam). Subsequently any
settrapzone/settrapparam settings cause a new
TrapZone with associated TrapParams. There
can be many of these per page.
TrapRegions elements (with associated TrapParams elements) are created from each
settrapzone PostScript call using the trapparams set at the time (by settrapparams) and the
Page key is set. Default trapzones (set as part of an unencapsulated PostScript job as per the
PostScript Language Reference, third edition) are turned in to a trapregion that applies to all
pages.
More specifically, the trapping settings may be different for two separate regions of a
particular page. For example, the title text and logo of a page might have different settings
compared to those used for the body text. A particular image could then also have different
settings. As a result, a TrapZone is drawn around each object (a normal PostScript path) and
different trapparams set for each object.
A.3 Mapping of Certain DSC Comments into JDF Elements
and Attributes
The presence of the %%Page DSC comment in a PostScript stream indicates the beginning
of a page in the stream. The presence of the %%PlateColor DSC comment in conjunction
with %%Page indicates the beginning of a pre-separated page for a particular colorant.
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113
Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
Distiller may use the %%Page and %%PlateColor comments to create a partitioned RunList
that represents the structure of the full-document PDF file it produces for a PostScript
stream, depending on the document structure implied by those comments, as described in
the following subsections. The RunList is in the ResourcePool, which is at the same level as
the Combined process node.
A.3.1 Composite Jobs
Composite jobs are idicated by the absence of any %%PlateColor comments in the
PostScript stream.
Normalizer produces un-partitioned RunLists for composite jobs. Changes in page device
key values are not considered.
A.3.2 Pre-Separated Jobs with Interleaved Separations
Pre-separated jobs with interleaved separations are indicated by the appearance of
%%PlateColor comments soon after each %%Page comment, with each %%PlateColor
specifying the next colorant in the sequence. That is, the separations that compose a single
page appear sequentially, (i.e. cyan separation, magenta separation, yellow separation, and
black separation).
When processing pre-separated jobs with interleaved separations, Distiller uses the
%%Page and %%PlateColor DSC comments to create a RunList element partitioned on the
keys Run and Separation and to create a RunIndex that references the pages in that RunList.
Distiller creates an additional RunIndex range for the pages that apply to each set of page
device key values.
A.3.3 Pre-separated Single-colorant Jobs
Pre-separated single-colorant jobs are the same as Pre-Separated Jobs with Interleaved
Separations, except all %%PlateColor comments describe a single colorant.
When processing pre-separated single-colorant jobs, Distiller uses the %%Page and
%%PlateColor DSC comments as described for pre-separated jobs with interleaved
separations, except the RunList contains a single partition with Run=1 and Separation set to
the colorant name provided in %%PlateColor.
A.4 Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
This section describes how Distiller converts parameter settings into JDF element and
attribute settings. It presents one section for each category of parameter, as follows:
●
“General” on page 115
●
“Image Compression” on page 116
114
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
●
“Fonts” on page 119
●
“Color Conversion” on page 119
●
“Advanced” on page 121
Distiller produces only those JDF attributes described in this section. Some parameters
(such as CreateJobTicket) do NOT have JDF attribute counterparts. In contrast, some JDF
attributes in applicable elements do not correlate with parameters, such as the
RenderingIntent attribute in the ColorSpaceConversionParams element.
Distiller represents parameters as values for the attributes in the following resource
elements:
●
PSToPDFConversionParams
●
FontParams
●
ImageCompressionParams
●
ColorSpaceConversionParams
Distiller does not create the optional1 ColorantControl element.
A.4.1 General
Table A.5 specifies the conversion from Distiller general parameters into JDF elements.
TABLE A.5 Conversion from Distiller general parameters into JDF attributes
Attribute name in the PSToPDFConversionParams
Parameter
resource
AutoRotatePages
@ AutoRotatePages
Binding
@ Binding
CompatibilityLevel
@ PDFVersion and
ColorSpaceConversionParams /@ Operation
Table A.9 describes the role of CompatibilityLevel in
deriving the Operation value
CompressObjects
@ADBE:CompressObjects
CoreDistVersion
Not represented in JDF. CoreDistVersion is a read-
only parameter that is meaningless in JDF.
DoThumbnails
@ DoThumbnails
EndPage
@ EndPage
ImageMemory
@ ImageMemory
1. Version 1.1a of the JDF Specification changed the ColorantControl element in a PSToPDFConversion process node from
required to optional.
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.5 Conversion from Distiller general parameters into JDF attributes (Continued)
Attribute name in the PSToPDFConversionParams
Parameter
resource
Optimize
@ Optimize
StartPage
@ StartPage
A.4.2 Image Compression
The Distiller image compression parameters map into the JDF ImageCompressionParams
element, which may have up to three ImageCompression subelements, one for each of the
following image types:
●
Color
●
Grayscale
●
Monochrome
Each ImageCompression subelement contains an ImageType attribute that identifies the
type of image it represents.
TABLE A.6 Conversion from Distiller Image Compression parameters into JDF
ImageCompression subelement
Attribute name in the color, grayscale
or monochrome ImageCompression
Parameter
subelement
AntiAliasColorImages,
@ AntiAliasImages
AntiAliasGrayImages, or
AntiAliasMonoImages,
AutoFilterColorImages or
@ AutoFilterImages
AutoFilterGrayImages
(Not relevant to monochrome images.)
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.6 Conversion from Distiller Image Compression parameters into JDF
ImageCompression subelement (Continued)
Attribute name in the color, grayscale
or monochrome ImageCompression
Parameter
subelement
AutoFilterColorImages
@ DCTQuality
AutoFilterGrayImages
Distiller calculates DCTQuality by
/ColorACSImageDict <</QFactor>>
dividing the selected QFactor by 100.
/GrayACSImageDict <</QFactor>>
For example:
/ColorImageDict <</QFactor>>
/GrayImageDict <</QFactor>>
QFactor
DCTQuality
/MonoImageDict <</QFactor>>
Table A.7 describes how the auto filter
2.40
0.0240
parameter influences selection of a
1.30
0.0130
/QFactor value.
The compression quality dictionaries
0.15
0.0015
described above may contain other
factors that influence compression;
however, they are not represented in JDF
attributes.
ColorImageDepth, GrayImageDepth, or
@ ImageDepth
/MonoImageDepth
ColorImageDownsampleThreshold,
@ ImageDownsampleThreshold
GrayImageDownsampleThreshold, or
MonoImageDownsampleThreshold
ColorImageDownsampleType,
@ ImageDownsampleType
GrayImageDownsampleType, or
MonoImageDownsampleType
ColorImageFilter, GrayImageFilter, or
ImageFilter or ADBE:ImageFilter
MonoImageFilter
The latter being used to represent the
value JPXEncode, LZWEncode, or
RunLengthEncode.
ColorImageResolution,
@ ImageResolution
GrayImageResolution, or
MonoImageResolution
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <</Quality>>
@ADBEa
:JPXQuality
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <</Quality>>
JPEG2000ColorImageDict <</Quality>>
JPEG2000GrayImageDict <</Quality>>
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.6 Conversion from Distiller Image Compression parameters into JDF
ImageCompression subelement (Continued)
Attribute name in the color, grayscale
or monochrome ImageCompression
Parameter
subelement
ConvertImagesToIndexed
@ ConvertImagesToIndexed
(Represented only in an
ImageCompressionParams element
with ImageType = “Color”.)
DownsampleColorImages,
@ DownsampleImages
DownsampleGrayImages, or
DownsampleMonoImages
EncodeColorImages, EncodeGrayImages, @ EncodeImages
or EncodeMonoImages
a. ADBE must be defined as the namespace http://ns.adobe.com/JDF . That is, JDF files that
contain elements or attributes that use the ADBE prefix must also contain the definition
xmlns:ADBE="http://ns.adobe.com/JDF".
TABLE A.7 Conversion from Parameters into the JDF DCTQuality attribute
Distiller compression dictionary key-word
pair used to derive the value of
Condition
ImageCompression /@ DCTQuality
If AutoFilterColorImages is true
/ColorACSImageDict <</QFactor>>
If AutoFilterColorImages is false
/ColorImageDict <</QFactor>>
If AutoFilterGrayImages is true
/GrayACSImageDict <</QFactor>>
If AutoFilterGrayImages is false
/GrayImageDict <</QFactor>>
If AutoFilterGrayImages value is /MonoImageDict <</QFactor>>
irrelevant
A.4.3 Page Compression
CompressPages is the sole Distiller page compression parameter. Distiller converts it into
the PSToPDFConversionParams CompressPages attribute.
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Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
A.4.4 Fonts
Distiller converts each Distiller font parameter into the attribute in the JDF FontParams
resource element with the same name. In other words, for each Distiller font parameter,
there is an identically-named attribute in the FontParams element.
A.4.5 Color Conversion
If ColorConversionStrategy is LeaveColorUnchanged, ColorSpaceConversionParams
element is omitted from the JDF. Otherwise, conversion is as described in Table A.8.
TABLE A.8 Conversion from Distiller color conversion parameters to JDF
ColorSpaceConversionParams attributes
Attribute name in
Parameter
ColorSpaceConversionParams
CalCMYKProfile
FileSpec and @ Type
Used as the ICC profile FileSpec in the
ColorSpaceConversionOp resource
that contains Type = “CMYK”.
CalGrayProfile
ColorSpaceConversionOp / FileSpec
Used as the ICC profile FileSpec in the and
ColorSpaceConversionOp resource
ColorSpaceConversionOp /@ Type
that contains Type = “Gray”.
CalRGBProfile
ColorSpaceConversionOp / FileSpec
Used as the ICC profile FileSpec in the and
ColorSpaceConversionOp resource
ColorSpaceConversionOp /@ Type
that contains Type = “RGB”.
ColorConversionStrategy
ColorSpaceConversionOp /@
Operation and
ColorSpaceConversionOp /@
SourceObjects, as described in
Table A.9 and Table A.10.
DefaultRenderingIntent
PSToPDFConversionParams /@
DefaultRenderingIntent
PreserveHalftoneInfo
@ PreserveHalftoneInfo
PreserveOverprintSettings
@ PreserveOverprintSetting
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
119
Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.8 Conversion from Distiller color conversion parameters to JDF
ColorSpaceConversionParams attributes (Continued)
Attribute name in
Parameter
ColorSpaceConversionParams
sRGBProfile
FileSpec
If ColorConversionStrategy is sRGB,
Distiller creates a FileSpec element with
Usage=”FinalTargetDevice” and a UID
value that reflects the ICC profile used
for converting color spaces to CalRGB
(PDF 1.2) or sRGB (PDF 1.3 and above).
TransferFunctionInfo
@ TransferFunctionInfo
UCRandBGInfo
@ UCRandBG
None; however, Distiller specifies the
@ ColorManagementSystem
built-in color management system.
TABLE A.9 Conversion from ColorConversionStrategy into Operation
ColorConversionStrategy value
Operation attribute value
Device independent color (a) and
Convert
CompatibilityLevel
<= 1.2
Device independent color and
Tag
CompatibilityLevel > 1.2
sRGB
Convert
(a) ColorConversionStrategy
== UseDeviceIndependentColor ||
ColorConversionStrategy
== UseDeviceIndependentColorForImages.
TABLE A.10 Conversion from /ColorConversionStrategy into SourceObjects
ColorConversionStrategy value
SourceObjects attribute value
UseDeviceIndependentColor
All
sRGB
All and FinalTargetDevice set to sRGB.
NO T E: if the conversion is sRGB, then we
do NOT create a
ColorSpaceConversionOp of
SourceCS = Gray because the Gray
colors are not changed.
120
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
TABLE A.10 Conversion from /ColorConversionStrategy into SourceObjects
ColorConversionStrategy value
SourceObjects attribute value
UseDeviceIndependentColorForImages
ImagePhotographic
ImageScreenShot
A.4.6 Advanced
Table A.11 specifies the conversion from Distiller advanced parameters into JDF elements.
TABLE A.11 Conversion from Distiller advanced parameters into JDF elements
Attribute name in the PSToPDFConversion
Parameter
resource
AllowPSXObjects
@ADBEa:AllowPSXObjects
AllowTransparency
@ADBE:AllowTransparency
ASCII85EncodePages
@ ASCII85EncodePages
AutoPositionEPSFiles
AdvancedParams /@ AutoPostitionEPSInfo
CreateJobTicket
Not represented in JDF.
DetectBlends
@ DetectBlend
(not a typo)
EmbedJobOptions
@ADBE:EmbedJobOptions
EmitDSCWarnings
AdvancedParams /@ EmitDSCWarnings
LockDistillerParams
AdvancedParams /@ LockDistillerParams
OPM
@ OverPrintMode
ParseDSCComments
AdvancedParams /@ ParseDSCComments
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo
AdvancedParams /@
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo
PassThroughJPEGImages
@ADBE:PassThroughJPEGImages
PreserveCopyPage
AdvancedParams /@ PreserveCopyPage
PreserveEPSInfo
AdvancedParams /@ PreserveEPSInfo
PreserveOPIComments
AdvancedParams /@ PreserveOPIComments
UsePrologue
AdvancedParams /@ UsePrologue
a. In the JDF document, Distiller defines ADBE as the namespace http://ns.adobe.com/JDF .
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
121
Conversions Related to JDF
A
Mapping of Parameters into JDF Elements and Attributes
A.4.7 PDF/X
Table A.12 specifies the conversion from Distiller PDF/X parameters into JDF elements.
TABLE A.12 Conversion from Distiller PDF/X parameters into JDF elements
Parameter
ADBE:PDFXParams attribute name
PDFX1aCheck
@ADBE : PDFX1aCheck
PDFX3Check
@ADBE : PDFX3Check
PDFXCompliantPDFOnly
@ADBE : PDFXCompliantPDFOnly
PDFXNoTrimBoxError
@ADBE : PDFXNoTrimBoxError
PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset
PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox
PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset
PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset
PDFXOutputIntentProfile
PDFXOutputIntentProfile
PDFXOutputCondition
PDFXOutputCondition
PDFXRegistryName
PDFXRegistryName
PDFXTrapped
PDFXTrapped
A.4.8 Conversion of Parameters Not Available Through UI
All parameters that cannot be set through the UI are converted into attributes in the
ADBE:ThinPDFParams element, as specified in Table A.13.
TABLE A.13 Conversion from parameters that cannot be set through the Distiller UI
Parameter set using the
setdistillerparam key
ADBE:ThinPDFParams attribute name
sidelineEPS
@ ADBE
a:SidelineEPS
filePerPage
@ FilePerPage
sidelineFonts
@ SidelineFonts
sidelineImages
@ SidelineImages
a. In the JDF document, Distiller defines ADBE as the namespace http://ns.adobe.com/JDF.
122
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Index
A
AutoFilterColorImages 61
AutoFilterGrayImages 70
Adobe PDF settings
automatic Distiller parameters 25
automatic 25
AutoFilterColorImages 25
description of each 55
AutoFilterGrayImages 25
Adobe PDF settings file
ColorASCImageDict 25
choosing 11
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy 25
advanced parameters 93
EncodeColorImages 25
AllowPSXObjects 93
EncodeGrayImages 25
AllowTransparency 94
GrayACSImageDict 25
ASCII85EncodePages 94
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy 25
AutoPositionEPSFiles 94
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict 25
CreateJDFFile 95
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict 25
CreateJobTicket 95
AutoPositionEPSFiles 94
DetectBlends 97
AutoRotatePages 15, 56
DetectCurves 96
Average 81
DSCReportingLevel 96
EmbedJobOptions 97
EmitDSCWarnings 97
B
LockDistillerParams 97
Bind 48
OPM 98
Binding 15, 56
ParseDSCComments 98
bit depth, controlling 32
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo 98
black generation 93
PassThroughJPEGImages 98
PreserveCopyPage 99
PreserveEPSInfo 99
C
PreserveFlatness 99
CalCMYKProfile 89
PreserveOPIComments 100
CalGrayProfile 55, 89
PreserveOverprintSettings 100
CalRGBProfile 88
UsePrologue 100
CannotEmbedFontPolicy 85
AllowPSXObjects 93
caveats for setting Distiller parameters 15
AllowTransparency 94
CCITTFaxEncode 80
AlwaysEmbed 15, 85
CCITTFaxEncode compression 28, 82
AntiAliasColorImages 61
CFF 42
AntiAliasGrayImages 70
CheckCompliance 15, 101
anti-aliasing 32
choosing an Adobe PDF settings file 11
gray scale images 70
CIDFontType0 fonts 42
monochrome images 79
CIDFontType1 fonts 42
AntiAliasMonoImages 79
CIDFontType2 fonts 42
ASCII85EncodePages 94
color component 32
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
123
Index
color conversion parameters 88
ColorImageDownsampleType 64
CalCMYKProfile 89
ColorImageFilter 65
CalGrayProfile 89
ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 66
CalRGBProfile 88
ColorImageMinResolution 66
ColorConversionStrategy 89
ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy 67
ColorSettingsFile 89
ColorImageResolution 68
DefaultRenderingIntent 90
ColorSettingsFile 89
ParseICCProfilesInComments 90
compact font format 42
PreserveDICMYKValues 91
CompatibilityLevel 15, 16, 56
PreserveHalftoneInfo 91
compression
sRGBProfile 91
CCITTFaxEncode 28, 80, 82
TransferFunctionInfo 92
customizing for color and grayscale images 26
color image compression parameters 61
customizing for monochrome images 28
AntiAliasColorImages 61
Flate 20
AutoFilterColorImages 61
image quality 26
ColorACSImageDict 62
JPEG 20
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy 62
lossless 21
ColorImageDepth 63
lossy 20
ColorImageDict 63
compression parameters 19
ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 63
automatic Distiller parameters 25
ColorImageDownsampleType 64
color image 61
ColorImageFilter 65
distiller parameters for Flate compression 21
ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 66
grayscale image 69
ColorImageMinResolution 66
monochrome images 78, 84
ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy 67
settings for JPEG compression 20
ColorImageResolution 68
CompressObjects 15, 55, 57
ConvertImagesToIndexed 68
CompressPages 84
CropColorImages 68
controlling bit depth 32
DownsampleColorImages 68
ConvertImagesToIndexed 68
EncodeColorImages 69
copypage 99
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict 69
CoreDistVersion 58
JPEG2000ColorImageDict 69
CreateJDFFile 95
color images
CreateJobTicket 15, 47, 95
setting downsampling threshold for 63
CropColorImages 68
setting minimum resolution for downsampling 68
CropGrayImages 71
setting the downsampling resolution for 29
CropMonoImages 79
color parameters 44
currentdistillerparams 13, 14
UCRandBGInfo 93
customizing color and grayscale image
ColorACSImageDict 62
compression 26
ColorConversionStrategy 15, 44, 89
customizing monochrome image compression 28
ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy 62
CutMedia 48
ColorImageDepth 63
ColorImageDict 63
ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 63
124
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Index
D
Duplex 48
DCTEncode 25, 63, 65, 72, 75
DefaultRenderingIntent 90
E
definefont 85
EmbedAllFonts 15, 86
Description 15, 55, 58
EmbeddedDocument 99
DetectBlends 16, 97
EmbedJobOptions 97
DetectBlends, use of with idiom recognition 46
EmbedOpenType 86
DetectCurves 96
EmitDSCWarnings 97
DeviceRenderingInfo/ ValuesPerColorComponent 48
EncodeColorImages 69
Distiller initialization 16
EncodeGrayImages 71
Distiller parameter, defined 13
EncodeMonoImages 80
Distiller parameters for Flate compression 21
encoding images 28
AutoFilterColorImages 21
EndPage 59
AutoFilterGrayImages 21
EPS files 47
ColorImageFilters 21
Example.ps 16
EncodeColorImages 21
EncodeGrayImages 21
EncodeMonoImages 21
F
GrayImageFilter 21
filters
MonoImageFilter 21
DCTEncode 65, 75
Distiller parameters for JPEG compression
Flate 65
AutoFilterColorImages 20
FlateEncode 75
AutoFilterGrayImages 20
JPXEncode 65, 75
ColorImageDict 20
LZWEncode 65, 75, 82
ColorImageFilters 20
RunLengthEncode 82
Encode ColorImages 20
findcolorrendering 90
EncodeGrayImages 20
Flate compression 20
GrayImageDict 20
Flate compression parameters 21
GrayImageFilter 20
FlateEncode 65, 75, 82
Distiller settings for JPEG compression 20
Fold 48
Distiller-specific operators 13
font parameters 41, 84
distinit.ps 16
AlwaysEmbed 85
DoThumbnails 15, 58
CannotEmbedFontPolicy 85
DownsampleColorImages 68
EmbedAllFonts 86
DownsampleGrayImages 71
EmbedOpenType 86
DownsampleMonoImages 80
MaxSubsetPct 86
downsampling and encoding individual images 32
NeverEmbed 87
downsampling and subsampling images
SubsetFonts 88
methods 28
fonts
reasons for 29
CIDFontType0 42
downsampling images
CIDFontType1 42
setting the threshold resolution for 29
CIDFontType2 42
DSCReportingLevel 96
embedded by Distiller 42
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
125
Index
OpenType 42
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy 72
subsetted by Distiller 42
GrayImageDepth 73
True Type 42
GrayImageDict 73
Type 1 42
GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 73
Type 3 42
GrayImageDownsampleType 74
GrayImageFilter 75
GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 76
G
GrayImageMinResolution 76
general parameters 56
GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy 77
AutoRotatePages 56
GrayImageResolution 78
Binding 56
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict 78
CompressObjects 57
JPEG2000GrayImageDict 78
CoreDistVersion 58
grayscale images
Description 58
setting downsampling threshold 73
DoThumbnails 58
EndPage 59
H
HWResolution 59
ImageMemory 59
halftone 91
Optimize 60
HWResolution 48, 59
PageSize 60
StartPage 60
I
gray scale images
anti-aliasing 70
IdiomRecognition 46
setting minimum resolution for downsampling 78
image compression parameters 60
setting the downsampling resolution for 29
image compression quality 26
GrayACSImageDict 72
imagemask 27
GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy 72
ImageMemory 59
GrayImageDepth 73
images, encoding 28
GrayImageDownsampleType 74
implementing Distiller operators on unsupported
GrayImageFilter 75
PostScript devices 14
GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 76
GrayImageMinResolution 76
J
GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy 77
GrayImageResolution 78
job ticket keys 47
grayscale and monochrome images, caveats for
Jog 48
processing 33
JPEG compression 20
Grayscale image compression parameters 70
JPEG compression settings 20
grayscale image compression parameters 69
JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict 69
AntiAliasGrayImages 70
JPEG2000ColorImageDict 69
AutoFilterGrayImages 70
JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict 78
CropGrayImages 71
JPEG2000GrayImageDict 78
DownsampleGrayImages 71
JPXEncode 65, 75
EncodeGrayImages 71
GrayACSImageDict 72
126
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Index
K
MonoImageDepth 80
MonoImageDict 80
keys
MonoImageDownsampleType 81
job ticket 47
MonoImageFilter 82
key-value pair 13
MonoImageResolution 83
MonoImageDepth 80
L
MonoImageDict 80
MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 81
Laminate 48
MonoImageDownsampleType 81
LockDistillerParams 15, 16, 97
MonoImageFilter 82
lossless compression 21
MonoImageMinResolution 82
lossy compression 20
MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy 83
LZWEncode 65, 75, 82
MonoImageResolution 83
M
N
ManualFeed 48
NegativePrint 49
MaxSubsetPct 15, 86
NeverEmbed 15, 55, 87
MediaClass 48
MediaColor 48
MediaPosition 48
O
MediaType 49
OpenType fonts 42
MediaWeight 49
OPM 98
Metadata 47
Optimize 15, 60
Microsoft Office files 98
MirrorPrint 49
mono image compression parameters
P
MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 81
page compression parameter 84
monochrome and grayscale images, caveats for
CompressPages 84
processing 33
PageDirection 56
monochrome image compression parameters
PageSize 49, 60
MonoImageMinResolution 82
ParseDSCComments 15, 49, 98
MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy 83
ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo 15, 46, 98
monochrome images
ParseICCProfilesInComments 90
anti-aliasing 79
PassThroughJPEGImages 55, 98
customizing compression of 28
PDF color space (Out) 44
setting downsampling threshold for 81
PDFX1aCheck 15, 101
setting minimum resolution for downsampling 83
PDFX3Check 15, 102
setting the downsampling resolution for 29
PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset 15, 103
monochrome images compression parameters 78, 84
PDFXCompliantPDFOnly 15, 102
AntiAliasMonoImages 79
PDFXNoTrimBoxError 15, 102
CropMonoImages 79
PDFXOutputCondition 104
DownsampleMonoImages 80
PDFXOutputIntentProfile 15, 103
EncodeMonoImages 80
PDFXRegistryName 104
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
127
Index
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox 15, 102
SeparationOrder 49
PDFXTrapped 15, 104
Separations 49
PDFXTrimBoxtoMediaBoxOffset 15, 102
setblackgeneration 93
PostRenderingEnhance 49
setcolorrendering 90
PostScript comments and job ticket keys
setdistillerparams 13, 14, 15
relationship 49
setoverprint 100
PostScript dictionary entry 13
setpagedevice 13
predefined Adobe PDF settings files
setpagedevice keys
High Quality Printing 11
Bind 48
PDFA Draft 12
CutMedia 48
PDFX1a 2001 12
DeviceRenderingInfo/ValuesPerColorComponent
PDFX1a 2003 12
48
PDFX3 2002 12
Duplex 48
PDFX3 2003 12
Fold 48
Press Quality 11
HWResolution 48, 59
Smallest File Size 12
Jog 48
Standard 11
Laminate 48
PreRenderingEnhance 49
ManualFeed 48
PreserveCopyPage 99
MediaClass 48
PreserveDICMYKValues 91
MediaColor 48
PreserveEPSInfo 47, 99
MediaPosition 48
PreserveFlatness 15, 99
MediaType 49
PreserveHalftoneInfo 91
MediaWeight 49
PreserveOPIComments 100
MirrorPrint 49
PreserveOverprintSettings 100
NegativePrint 49
ProcessColorModel 49
PageSize 49, 60
profiles 88
PostRenderingEnhance 49
PS color space (In) 44
PreRenderingEnhance 49
ProcessColorModel 49
SeparationColorNames 49
Q
SeparationOrder 49
quality, image compression 26
Separations 49
Staple 49
Trapping 49
R
TrappingDetails 49
relationship between PostScript comments and job
Trim 49
ticket keys 49
Tumble 49
restore 14
setting Distiller parameters in PostScript 13
RunLengthEncode 82
setting Distiller parameters, caveats to observe 15
setting downsampling threshold for color images 63
setting downsampling threshold for gray scale
S
images 73
save 14
setting downsampling threshold for monochrome
images 81
SeparationColorNames 49
128
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Index
setting minimum resolution for downsampling color
X
images 68
setting minimum resolution for downsampling gray
XMP Adobe Standard Metadata schema 47
scale images 78
setting minimum resolution for downsampling
monochrome images 83
Z
setundercolorremoval 93
ZIP. See Flate. 20
sRGBProfile 91
standards parameters 101
CheckCompliance 101
PDFX1aCheck 101
PDFX3Check 102
PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset 103
PDFXCompliantPDFOnly 102
PDFXNoTrimBoxError 102
PDFXOutputCondition 104
PDFXOutputIntentProfile 103
PDFXRegistryName 104
PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox 102
PDFXTrapped 104
PDFXTrimBoxtoMediaBoxOffset 102
Staple 49
StartPage 60
stencil masks 27
SubsetFonts 15, 88
T
TransferFunctionInfo 55, 92
Trapping 49
TrappingDetails 49
Trim 49
True Type fonts 42
Tumble 49
Type 1 fonts 42
Type 3 fonts 42
typecheck 14
U
UCRandBGInfo 93
under color removal 93
UseFlateCompression 105
UsePrologue 16, 100
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
129
Index
130
Acrobat Distiller Parameters
Document Outline
