Converted PDF is distorted

Hi there,

I converted a word doc to PDF using the 'high quality' setting and the resolution was fantastic:

Then I added another image on top in Word (the red, orange, yellow etc bar) and the converted PDF became distorted (using the same 'high quality' setting). It seems that the image was converted with high resolution portions and low resolution portions as you track downwards. You can see this distortion specifically in how the coloured bar alternates between low and high resolution as you track it downwards:

Here is another example...

The 'high quality' setting is the only setting that gives me the resolution I need.

How would I fix this?

Kind regards,
Marco

Hi Marco,

the high quality profile uses lossless zip compression to compress the images, which means they are visually 100% identical to the uncompressed image. Perhaps there is something inside the actual Word/Writer printing settings compressing the image somehow, but PDFCreator doesn't alter the image when using the high quality profile. Only if the original image has more than 600 DPI, this will get reduced to 600 DPI due to the settings of the virtual PDFCreator printer.
You can increase the max. DPI for the PDFCreator printer in the printers section of the Windows control panel:
image

Best regards

Robin

Hi Robin,

Thank you for your reply. I think the problem is occurring because I overlayed another image (the colour bar) onto the original image, as well as overlaying transparent textboxes with number for the scale of the bar. Because the image now has 'patches' of distortion around the colour bar and other overlays. I'm wondering why overlaying is causing this effect, as everything looks very clear in the Word document...

I have the print settings on the highest dpi.

Kind regards,
Marco

Hi,

now that you mention it, transparency isn't supported by PDFCreator, do you still get the same issue if all transparent images are removed or rendered into solid colors beforehand?

Best regads

Robin

Yes it works now that I remove the transparency, thank you. Although I do need those transparent textboxes. Do you know of anyway around this or any products that support transparency?

Hi,

the direct export from Word might not have any issues with the transparency.
In PDFCreator the limitation comes from the Postscript (printing) format, which doesn't support real transparency, so anything not using the Postscript printing system for conversion has a chance of handling the transparency properly.

Best regards

Robin