Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!news.cs.indiana.edu!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!ucsfcgl!pollock.mmwb.ucsf.edu!mday From: mday@pollock.mmwb.ucsf.edu (Mark Day) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: System 7 and LARGE PostScript files Summary: System 7 can produce *very* large PostScript files Keywords: System 7, PostScript Message-ID: Date: 23 May 91 20:58:01 GMT Sender: daemon@cgl.ucsf.edu Lines: 47 Since System 7 provides such a convenient way to save to a PostScript file from the LaserWriter dialog box, I decided to perform a few simple tests. I saved the PS output from a MicroSoft Word document that contained the word "junk" in a variety of 12 pt fonts. The results: 12 point Palatino : 35K 12 point Times : 112K 12 point Chicago : 344K (Yowza!) As far as I can tell, the PS output always contains the "LaserPrep" header. There no longer seems to be a way to create the PS for the document only, as Command-E used to under previous systems. Since the header itself accounts for ~35K, this is the minimum size file you can create. The Times and Chicago versions are so bloated because they also contain font definitions for the LaserWriter. I use ATM on my system, but I don't have the Type 1 outline for Palatino so this file isn't much bigger than the LaserPrep header. I do have the Type 1 outline description for Times, and ATM includes this in the PostScript output, These extra lines in the output file begin with: %%BeginFont: Times-Roman %!PS-AdobeFont-1.0: Times-Roman 001.007 And then continues with a ton of hex codes after an eexec operator. Chicago is a TrueType font under System 7.0, and evidently the TrueType definition for a PostScript printer is over 300K! I understand that the Mac has to send this info over for a typeface that isn't resident on the printer, but what surprises me is that both ATM and TrueType send font definitions for typefaces that are in the ROM of the LaserWriter. (Before I reinstalled ATM, I tried a similar test with Times which and got a file with the 300K TT definition). We send all output to UNIX printers via a FastPath. I'm not happy with the extra traffic, but it's a situation I can live with. I do feel sorry for those poor folks who send PS output to UNIX systems via a serial line, not to mention those who send PS files to service bureaus via modem. -- Mark Day Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry mday@picasso.mmwb.ucsf.edu University of California, San Francisco ..ucbvax!ucsfcgl!mday Voice: (415) 476-5326 FAX: (415) 476-0688