Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
Tulane University
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Temple University
University of Oregon
Cranbrook Academy of Art
New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
problems preparing portfolio
First off, I know this question seems like it should be pretty straightforward (and it may be) but I have tried everything I can think of and it is not working.
I'm finalizing my portfolio for grad school apps and it was recommended that pdf line drawings should be converted to jpg or tif in order to ensure that the line-weight shows up the same no matter who/where it is viewed. The problem is: on one page of my portfolio I have vector artwork behind certain images so I need a transparent background. I tried just converting the whole page to a jpg but the lines get oddly blurry (300dpi) and when I try to erase the background in photoshop it takes some of the thinner lines with it.
I know this seems like a question I should have figured out on my own but I've been trying things all day and nothing looks as clean as the pdf file when I preview it in indesign (but then those lines get to chunky when exported). Hopefully this was a stupid question and there is an easy fix.
Happy holidays everyone! thanks for the help.
Did you try converting the pdf to png using indesign? it retains the same line qualities vs directly importing the pdf in photoshop. the quality in indesign is not the full quality even if when you're previewing it in high-quality display performance (something i noticed once the file has been exported to pdf). Hope that helps and good luck!
Thanks Hellion, That's definitely better than what I've tried so far but still seems to be a little blur and loss of super light lines. It seems to work better when I convert the entire Indesign spread to png rather than just the plans and then just place that png back into the document. I'll try thickening the lines in ai and then exporting again and hopefully that works.
Will png preserve the appearance across different viewing platforms the same way jpg and tif would? I assume it will since it is also pixel based but don't want to take any chances so figured I'd ask.
thanks again
Yes, with png from indesign the lines become lighter when you export/open it in photoshop, and you have to make multiple layers of it (or play around with brightness/contrast) to darken/thicken it. it also helps to have a white base background in the photoshop file when you edit it to see the thickness.
yes png will preserve the appearance in different platforms as jpg and tif would, but it also depends on the resolution/dpi of the image. i prefer using png more because it's cleaner and sharper especially around the edges than jpg and tif, especially when you're dealing with so many layers within the psd or even the indd
exporting the layers of the particular spread separately might work, do the line work as png/jpg or tif as advised. And then just try placing it back in indesign and rebuild the spread and keep all your text in indesign. I would t go to illustrator or photoshop, it shouldn’t be necessary.
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