Is there a way to improve PDF output?

I do more and more 2D work in Rhino but I can’t deny that my clients sometimes flinch when they see the output. Today someone said they would be happier if I reverted to AC. Is there anything that can be done about this? See attached for a comparison.It’s probably not so obvious at this scale but the AC pdf is sharper, clearer, more professional looking.

Hi arail - you’re printing these as vector from Rhino? Does the V6/WIP do any better, or different?

-Pascal

Hi
What is AC pdf ? and what is the best way to export PDF ?
I have been using PDF Creator for 5 years, and it’s doing very well.

Mkae sure to set output to vector

I believe he’s referring to AutoCad as AC.

Thanks for the replies
I get a worse result when I set output to vector.
I can’t work in V6 until the V-Ray plugin works in 6. Also, I haven’t checked in awhile but my title blocks all screwed up when I tried to open V5 projects with layouts in V6.

How so? Worse quality?

What are you using as your PDF printer? They can have various quality settings themselves. What does AutoCAD use, for that matter? The only way to get clean PDF vectors is to use Acrobat Distiller or bypass the whole Windows “printing” process and do it yourself, which is being done for V6.

I will do some tests.
In AutoCAD I use DWG to PDF.pc3
In Rhino I print to Adobe PDF set to High Quality Print - although I don’t see much difference between Standard and High Quality.
Not sure how to print to Acrobat Distiller

Hi arail,

Have you tinkered around with line weights to see what pdf’s out better? I like to use line weights of .25 or .30 when saving to pdf. Sometimes .18 also looks good. Keep the dimensions at the default weight, and increase the lineweights on the 2D representations until the pdf looks good.

Distiller shows up as a PDF printer. However, its not included with the free Acrobat Reader. You would need some version of Acrobat.

Thanks for the replies
I’ve found that selecting Microsoft Print to PDF gives me much cleaner results than Adobe.

I have gotten the best results by outputting to Adobe PDF as a vector rather than raster.

I hope this helps some.
I use the print menu…
Print/Adobe PDF/Properties(High Quality)/vector output.
The results are gorgeous.