[cairo] PDF backend generates images that gs can't display etc

[Chris Murphy]

On Feb 26, 2010, at 9:26 AM, Jon Cruz wrote:

> 
> On Feb 25, 2010, at 11:10 AM, Chris Murphy wrote:
> 
>> 
>> PDF 1.3 is legacy and should be dismissed for enabling modern workflows. PDF 1.2 shouldn't be considered.
>> 
> 
> Scribus guys have mentioned that although PDF 1.4 is the basis for "modern RIP"s, there are huge areas in the industry that are still on PDF 1.3 based solutions.
> 
> I guess one could say things like "print shops in North America have not switch to modern RIPs yet", etc.
> 
> But 1.2 is definitely right out.

Yes, there's always going to be a percentage of weird, ancient, junk out there that won't support modern formats. I don't know that this is your target market anyway. If they aren't updating their RIP, are they going to use your app? I seriously doubt it. There are lots of problems with getting PDF 1.3 flattened correctly, the files are large and take longer to process, across the board there's every reason for them to upgrade to support PDF 1.4. And they could even do this with an inexpensive front end that accepts PDF 1.4 (or 1.5, 1.6) and flattens it to PDF 1.3 with the very specific parameters needed for that printer's equipment. That's a better way than forcing users to produce PDF 1.3.

A printing press is not a cheap piece of equipment. For them to be whining about a paltry RIP update makes zero sense to me, even though it happens all the time.


Chris Murphy
Color Remedies (TM)
New York, NY
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Co-author "Real World Color Management, 2nd Ed"