Printing long, complex paths – Adobe Illustrator CS3 User Manual
Page 417
ILLUSTRATOR CS3
User Guide
411
2
Follow the instructions to add a printer and specify a PPD file.
Select a PPD file in Mac
OS
1
Open the area where you add printers.
2
Click Add in the Printer List window.
3
From the top menu, choose a connection method.
4
Select a printer, or enter the printer’s IP address.
5
From the bottom menu, select a printer model.
6
In the list that appears, select a PPD file, and then click Add.
Printing long, complex paths
If you are printing Adobe Illustrator files containing overly long or complicated paths, the file may not print and you
may receive limit-check error messages from your printer. To simplify long, complex paths, you can split them into
two or more separate paths. You can also change the number of line segments used to approximate curves and adjust
the printer resolution.
See also
Change the number of line segments used to print vector objects
Curves in artwork are defined by the PostScript interpreter as small straight line segments; the smaller the line
segments, the more accurate the curve. As the number of line segments increases, so does the complexity of the
curve. Depending on your printer and the amount of memory it has, a curve may be too complex for a PostScript
interpreter to rasterize. In this case, a PostScript limit-check error can result, and the curve won’t print.
1
Choose File > Print.
2
For Printer, select a PostScript printer, Adobe PostScript® File, or Adobe PDF.
3
Select Graphics on the left side of the Print dialog box.
4
Deselect Automatic, and use the Flatness slider to set the accuracy of curves.
A lower setting (toward Quality) creates more, smaller straight line segments, more closely approximating the curve.
A higher setting (toward Speed) results in longer and fewer line segments, creating a less accurate curve, but
improving performance.
Split paths for printing
Illustrator treats split paths in the artwork as separate objects. To change your artwork once paths are split, you must
either work with the separate shapes or rejoin the paths to work with the image as a single shape.
It’s a good idea to save a copy of your original artwork before splitting paths. That way, you
still have the original,
unsplit file to work with if needed.
❖
Do any of the following:
•
To split a stroked path, use the Scissors tool .
•
To split a compound path, choose Object > Compound Paths > Release to remove the compound path. Then
break the path into pieces using the Scissors tool, and redefine the pieces as compound paths.