Schematic text sourced from Capture is searchable. This is known to be true for at least Capture Ver 7.x thru 10.x. The text can be sustained because it is not precision artwork, like gerbers are. Again, the text search "problem" is pcb/asm docs sourced from the layout source program. It all prints to image. For pcb/asm -> pdf, you can't find where "R132" is by doing cntl-f. I found a strange workaround for asm-pdf drawings. I don't know if the solution is worth the work.
If you use Distiller, use the job options, and tweak the source file too, you can often get it to both look good and be reasonable in size.
Since I don't really understand the graphic standards, I have not figured out how to do it systematically. However, with rather blind trial and error I have often achieved the "not to big" and "reasonable quality" goal in producing pdf's. I wish I could say how to do it procedurally -- I can't. I reinvent the wheel every time since I don't do it frequently enough. I suppose I should write steps down next time.
True, I don't like Compuserve aspect either. MATLAB has never printed directly to gif, not that it isn't fairly easy to take an extra step or two to get one.
The color of png is certainly better than gif, and it is usually a bit smaller too. png really seems superior, but I don't know why.
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These PNGs are less than half the size of GIFs. I used PSP's PNG wizard and didn't change any settings:
I guess it's all relative. I use a PDF generator called PDFCreator which installs as a virtual printer - I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread.
Recently I had occasion to "clean up" a third generation photocopy of a service manual, comprising 5 A4 pages of text and one A4 schematic. The text went through OCR to Word. I scanned the schematic and the raw output (600dpi, 1bpp) was 3970kb. I trimmed the scan to the Word margins and pasted it in as page 6. The entire Word document (as a .doc file) is 4025kb. "Printed" to a .PDF file, it is 145kb. And that schematic came out *mint*, free of staircasing and all. I was VERY impressed. You're welcome to a copy ;-)
Sorry for the long post but It's the only way the numbers tell the story.
thread.
I also use PDFCreator and it is far superior to PDF995 (also free). The "auto-naming with filtering" feature makes it very painless to use. The small size of the produced PDFs is a result of the built-in compression engine.
PDFCreator is freeware available at , in case that hasn't been mentioned.
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