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Size of PDF - Unprintable

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TORCHMAN

TORCHMAN

Structural
Sep 8, 2023
70
I am representing the developer in this case, not the engineer. The architect is sharing a PDF file that is so large. Each page is between 1.5MB to 3MB. It is so large that my printer/plotter has a hard time printing more than 4 pages at a time. I tried sending it to local printing houses and they also have a hard time printing - takes them a long time. When I bring this up to the architect, they tell me it is just a large project so they drawings will be heavy and when they use a large printing house from the big city, they don't have an issue.

I have tried using the Bluebeam "reduce file size" function but it just freezes even with smaller sets of drawings.I am not an expert in REVIT or CAD so I am not sure how to advise them on how to make PDFs smaller.

Seems like we are at an impasse. What is your recommendation?
 
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"representing"...as in a court case? have your client's lawyer request a hard copy shipped from the architect. or have the printing house in "the big city" ship it to you. Or buy a larger monitor so you don't need to print it.
 
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It's usually the setting on the pdf function of the native program set at too high a dpi.

What paper size is the original versus what you want to print at?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
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phamENG said:
"representing"...as in a court case?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion. No, I am working for the developer to develop the land in a construction management role.

LittleInch said:
It's usually the setting on the pdf function of the native program set at too high a dpi.

What paper size is the original versus what you want to print at?
Click to expand...

Excuse my ignorance. For the dpi setting, is this something I can change on my side on Bluebeam or something that has to get changed when printing from CAD to pdf?

The original is in 36x48 I am trying to print in 36x24
 
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No its a setting in the CAD to PDF "printing", but if those are inches that's a pretty big drawing so a bit of experimentation might be required to get an acceptable print quality at your paper size.

Just ask them to print a sample drawing at different dpi and see what it looks like.

and if they chose the smaller paper size when printing it could also help.

So On my ACAD viewer DWGTrue view, when I ask it to print to pdf and then hit custom properties this menu appears and in resolution there are options.

Anything less than 200 or 150 will probably look terrible, but the file size will be much smaller.

Screenshot_2024-05-08_170903_gywguo.png


Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
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Much appreciated LittleInch. I the CAD files so I played around myself.

Reducing the size of the page to 24x36 reduced the file size 8%.

When adjusting my printer settings, I had 2 options to change dpi for: Vector Quality and Raster Image Quality. I was able to change both all the way down to 150dpi without changing the quality of the pdf and got the file size down a further 31%!

No luck in faster printing on a single sheet though lol Maybe it would help my local printing house though
 
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So many use 1200 dpi as their default these days. It is very easy to reduce the file size in Bluebeam. Far easier than talking back and forth to people that are clueless about settings like this. Nevermind, should have read the last post.
 
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Are there any photos in the pages?

They can eat a lot of data and cause the printing to slow down due to the density of data. Either remove them or insert a low resolution photo.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
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No photos, a lot of hatching though. The elevations are quite heavy as well and also has lots of hatching.

Tried deleting all the hatching - got another 8% off. But we need some of the hatching in there so not a great solution.
 
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My version of AutoCAD has a "DWG to PDF" printer. It typically produces smaller pdf sizes than other pdf printers available. Not sure if its an autocad printer or something I installed ages ago. Actually, I just tried a small file using "Adobe Smallest Size" and got a significantly smaller pdf size than the dwg to pdf. We don't use batch plot or anything like that, so might be more complicated in that case.
 
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3Mb doesn't seem very large. I often print 100Mb size PDF files (created in MSWord). Perhaps it is really a computer or printer issue - how old is your computer and printer?
 
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If vector images are very dense with a lot of hatching, they can runner slower than raster images even with smaller file sizes. You may be able to take the vector PDF and print it to an raster PDF before sending it to the printer. In Bluebeam, hit print and select Bluebeam PDF as your printer. Then hit the advanced button on the bottom left and change the printing engine to image. The file size may become larger, but it may be easier for your computer/printer to process.
 
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Jrit said:
Actually, I just tried a small file using "Adobe Smallest Size" and got a significantly smaller pdf size than the dwg to pdf. We don't use batch plot or anything like that, so might be more complicated in that case.
Click to expand...

Thanks I was able to automatically reduce file size by 30% then if I decrease the dpis to 150 each then I am at 48% of the original size. So far the best results! I am home by now and will have to try to print it tomorrow!

SWComposites said:
3Mb doesn't seem very large. I often print 100Mb size PDF files (created in MSWord). Perhaps it is really a computer or printer issue - how old is your computer and printer?
Click to expand...

It is a Lenovo i7. The plotter is not the newest but we print all types of drawings at the office with no issues. I mean 3Mb per page. My drawing set is hundreds of pages long. I don't mind splitting the print job into 20 or 30 at a time if I have to but currently it is plotting at a page per 5 minutes...

chris3eb said:
If vector images are very dense with a lot of hatching, they can runner slower than raster images even with smaller file sizes. You may be able to take the vector PDF and print it to an raster PDF before sending it to the printer. In Bluebeam, hit print and select Bluebeam PDF as your printer. Then hit the advanced button on the bottom left and change the printing engine to image. The file size may become larger, but it may be easier for your computer/printer to process.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I remember toggling with this feature in the past with no luck. But I will try it again now that I have been able to reduce the file size by playing around with the CAD to pdf conversion. I'll try it tomorrow when I am at the office.

Thanks!
 
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Man, 100's of pages? I def. would not be doing that on an ink plotter. I would try to figure out how to get it to work at a printing house.
I honestly did not know anyone used plotters anymore. Have not seen one in an office in years.
 
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My local printing house is charging $0.50/sq ft. The site super always wants extra copies or multiple sets and so adds up quick compared to the price we pay for paper and toner.
 
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TORCHMAN said:
But I will try it again now that I have been able to reduce the file size by playing around with the CAD to pdf conversion.
Click to expand...

I'm not suggesting that you change the properties from CAD to PDF. I'm suggesting you take the vector PDF that you already have and "print" it to PDF as an image. Doing this won't decrease the file size, it will probably increase it. But it will make it a lot simpler for your computer/printer to process (big dumb file vs small complicated file)
 
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TORCHMAN said:
adds up quick compared to the price we pay for paper and toner.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's a lot easier to expense a receipt to a client than track the number of sheets you plotted. Printing isn't free - if somebody wants a copy and isn't willing to pay to have it printed themselves, I charge them for the printing AND the time I spent getting it printed.
 
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chris3eb said:
I'm not suggesting that you change the properties from CAD to PDF. I'm suggesting you take the vector PDF that you already have and "print" it to PDF as an image. Doing this won't decrease the file size, it will probably increase it. But it will make it a lot simpler for your computer/printer to process (big dumb file vs small complicated file)
Click to expand...

I was able to do it with 1 page and worked like magic. The issue now is when doing to multiple pages - I tried a set of 27 - it takes forever to print as an image.

phamENG said:
Yeah, but it's a lot easier to expense a receipt to a client than track the number of sheets you plotted. Printing isn't free - if somebody wants a copy and isn't willing to pay to have it printed themselves, I charge them for the printing AND the time I spent getting it printed.
Click to expand...

I am trying to help the developer save money printing internally since I work for them. There is no one to bill these printing costs since we are the developer.
 
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