Hello,
is there a specification to the .pdf file that Dorico creates via its file export?
Background: My publisher is asking about this. In his PDF-Viewer (Foxit Reader) he noticed some “double lines” in the page numbers which would disappear when zooming in. He asked wether it would be possible to get the .pdf files as PDF/X or PDF/X-1a (of which I have no idea what that would mean). My guess is that it might be a display issue on his side.
If the lines only appear at low zoom %, (and do not show up when printed), then it’s likely just a display artifact in Foxit’s rendering engine.
PDF/X (in various forms) sets out the attributes of a PDF file, to ensure that it’s optimized for printing: fonts embedded, colour handled in certain ways, no transparent objects, etc. It basically reduced the risk of problems when going to press.
You’ll need either Acrobat or GhostScript (free, but command line) to create PDF/X standard PDFs.
MacOS can do it built-in, but it’s a very slack interpretation of the standard. If you’re on Mac, I’ve created a better PDF/X creating feature, which I can talk you through installing.
Thank you Ben,
I thought somewhere in this forum I had read, that the pdf export by Dorico is anyway some sort of standard .pdf format, I just don’t know which it was. As the music fonts are saved into the pdf file it might be PDF/X anyway, I don’t know.
Dorico doesn’t export PDF/X format. It exports PDF 1.4 format. But it does so in a very good and compliant manner. There is a lot of variation in the quality of PDF rendering software (just as there is variability in the quality of encoding software), so perhaps your publisher might want to consider trying a different reader.
Thanks Daniel, I suspected the same thing. Surely it will appear right on the printouts - otherwise his printing company would complain.