Problems with PDFs

[sdemory]

Hey, all,
    Having recently put my game out for public purchase (www.memento-mori.com/lmm ), I'm having some difficulties with PDF delivery.  
    My PDF's about 3.4 megs, which is too large for mailing services like Yahoo and the like. Compressing it doesn't help much... I expect that 3.2 and 3.5 are close enough as to not be worth noting difference.
    Any thoughts?

Sean Demory

[Ferry Bazelmans]

I've always understood that I can vary a lot depending on what software you use to produce the PDF. I use FreePDF which is great, but produces "bloated" PDFs.

I've heard it said that Adobe Acrobat Distiller works best for keeping the filesize down.

An alternative is of course to get another mail provider that doesn't cap your filesize.

Ferry

[Chris Passeno]

Here's a couple of things that could bloat your pdf.

-B&W images that are saved as RGB, not grayscale.
-Text that is RGB, not black.
-Fonts included in pdf. (only whacky ones need to be included, fonts like arial and times most everyone has.)
-Compression ratios for images when pdf'd (Screen, Print, Press)

If you are using Acrobat 4, open up the file and do a "save as" to re-optimize the pdf.

Ferry is right, Distiller rocks on toast.

Hope this helps,
Chris

[Matt Gwinn]

One option you have is to break up your 3mb file into three 1mb files and email them separately. I think that's what a few people have done in the past successfully.

,Matt G.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Another solution is to nix the art for the actual PDF and just have them available as separate PDF pages on a website (or offered as a separate download).

That way, people who want them have access to them. Those who don't want to deal with their size and printing them out don't have to.

[J B Bell]

Another way to do it is not to send huge $#@%$in' files over email (something that gripes the heart of curmudgeonly ex-sysadmins like me).  It's not horribly difficult to generate a random, single-use key for downloading a file; I wager there are public-domain programs to do just that.

--JB, who will go looking now to put his money where his mouth is

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Check out http://www.anvilwerks.com/bookshelf/">the Anvilwerks Bookshelf for my solution. I've only got some old stuff up, and use it to distribute Urge, but will be using it for Donjon and Panels.

[Clay]

A variation on Clinton's suggestion is a password protected area on your web site.  Most providers allow them, and they're easy to set up.  When somebody buys, they get their user id and password e-mailed to them.  Then they can come back and download it as often as they need to (good for failed downloads, lost disks, etc.)  

You'll need the permission of the site own for this to work, but provided that is given, setup is easy.

[Tim Gray]

I think you can set a password in the Acrobat file itself, though I seem to remember hearing that it's fairly easy to get round if you're determined. Given the nature of the product, a few "thefts" probably isn't a big deal. You could probably have a workable system of putting the file on a website, emailing the password to unlock it, and changing that each month.