[closed] How to minimize render size and still ensure best quality output

robross

I am creating images hopefully for picture books. The images have to work for maximum 8x10 inch pages and have to be 300 dpi (i.e. 2400x3000). After creating my images and printing them out as PDF, 30 pages were almost 700gb. Since, the original renders were in png format, I am redoing them all as jpeg. So far, the image sizes are substantially smaller. But, I’m hoping for smaller. I was wondering if there is a point that I can safely stop the render prior to 100% to lessen the image size. Also, are there settings I can use to insure smaller but quality printable output?

Richard Haseltine

Why rerender, if that is what you are doing? Just use your image editor to batch convert them, or go through one-by-one, using whatever settings work. Stopping the render early will make it noisier, it will certainly not make lossless formats such as PNG smaller and might, by increasing the amount or randome variation, make the files larger.

For that matter, most PDF creation tools I've seen will allow you to configure image compression among other things affecting size, without needing to do anything to the images.

robross

Thanks. I assumed stopping early would make it smaller. Glad you corrected that misconception. By the way, the images from DAZ are combined with text in another application. Then it's all combined  into PDF, or whatever final format maybe required.

Richard Haseltine

Are you adding the text as part of the image? If the image is full page that is fine, but if you are having to make the image larger just to have somewhere to put the text (and are using a font rather than hand-drawing each letter) then it might be more efficient to keep the text as text and just place the images, cropped as needed, on the page. What are you usign to create the PDF?

robross

Yes and no.  I'm using QuarkXpress to create my layouts and final formated documents. So, basically, the images supplement the text and I crop them to be as small as possible, like you say. They are not made larger to hold the text. I use the QuarkXpress export option to create the PDF. I use DAZ Studio to make my graphics because I can not draw... not a even little bit.

prixat

I uses to use Indesign and that had the option to resample placed images, but most of the time I used the 'crop to frame' and 'resample' options in the PDF export settings.
One setting for low-res RGB to fit the clients e-mail limit and another setting with the printers requirements and big PDFs.

If I'm remembering correctly the PDF export also had a choice for image format/compression, no need to convert to JPG outside Indesign.