Ai PDF file size and Indd eps layers

[Matt54321]

Saving Ai files into PDFs the file is much bigger then the original Ai file, I need to keep the file structure of the Ai doc in tact but need the file size of my PDF to be no more then 1mb (preferably much smaller). The original AI file is 1.5mb

If I convert the Ai into an eps, place it in an Indd doc and export to pdf I still have some illustrator capabilities when brought back into Ai and the file size is great (under a 670kb) but the file structure is lost.

Is there a way to preserve the file structure of an eps by placing it into an Indd doc and exporting it as a pdf? OR even better is there something I am overlooking setting up my PDF from illustrator to compress it better while still keeping the file structure?

[Lukas Engqvist]

You want to eat your cake and keep it.

What do you want the file to be? You can save the file as PDF with layers (you will still lose some editability in Illustrator but you can not make a file smaller at no cost) and remove application data.
(You could have placed the AI file in Indd and exported to PDF saving the step of going via EPS wich is just extra work)

[Matt54321]

Yeah I did'nt mention that I tried that, InDesign treats Ai files as virtual EPSs and flatness them as well when saved. The issue here is that the we have software that runs a script that utilizes the layers saved in the PDF. We use so many that the file size is huge and if there is anyway I can shrink these it would lessen the time it take to run the script. So yeah I want to eat my cake and keep it too.

[Stephen Marsh]

Have you tried comparing the file sizes of different PDF version levels? With Illustrator files, saving the same file in say CS3 vs say v8 compatability will often have a large difference in file size (not sure if PDF is similar in this behaviour).

Stephen Marsh

[Matt54321]

Yes I did, it seems there is no marked difference in file size with diff pdf versions. I'm running CS4 btw (I should have mentioned that)

[rich apollo]

nope.

When you save the Ai file as PDF while preserving the Illustrator editing capabilities, you're essentially saving two files into the same package.

[David Kunkel]

If the Illustrator file has no bitmap components such as drop shadows, etc. try scaling it way down and saving that as the .PDF. I've done that with large posters in .EPS format, where the preview can be a large part of the file size, and I wonder if that might also help with PDF file size.

[Matt54321]

Here's the deal, it is all vector with no gradients with a placed jpg. I knocked down a megabyte by converting the jpg to a non-compressed tiff. but it is still over 2mbs. I need the Ai capabilities in tact as well as the layer structure.

When you save a pdf out of illustrator it keeps its layer hierarchy, I wish it stayed that way when placed in indesign and saved as a pdf, I'd be stoked. Maybe in CS6 hahaha

[michaelejahn]

I am confused. You want a file that retains the layers, you want these layers to be tiny, yet you want to save as PDF and somehow that to be even smaller?

And you want the ai layers to be available in the InDesign doc (but you keep worrying about it being tiny ?)

What is the application ?

why does it need to be tiny ?

When we created a variable uImage for an XMPie variable job, the source file was over 2 gigs ...

- who cares !

Memory is cheap and so are very fast networks.

When you save an AI file as a PDF - AND you want layers AND you want edibility - you are getting the file 2 times - once as an embedded native Illustrator file, once as an Acrobat Reader compatible PDF file - this is why it is so big.

So, it is the script that it is inefficient. it may be they are copying everything to some scratch file. This is why people invest in things like InDesign Server.

what is InDesign Server | Adobe InDesign Server

[David Kunkel]

...If I convert the Ai into an eps, place it in an Indd doc and export to pdf I still have some illustrator capabilities when brought back into Ai and the file size is great (under a 670kb) but the file structure is lost....

AI can open any PDF, so having "some Illustrator capabilities" is no surprise.
Sounds to me like it's probably leaving Indd with a lot of damage done. Colors converted to sRGB, images downsampled (THERE's your filesize reduction) and layers lost.

Again, I've reduced filesize markedly when saving EPSs out of Illustrator or Photoshop by doubling or tripling the bitmap resolution and correspondingly halving or thirding(?) the overall file dimensions, which would be a wash except that the EPS preview component of the file is much smaller. It might work with a PDF, I think you should try it.