Hello - (This was cross-posted two days ago in the Acrobat forum)
We're running into some unpredictable problems when converting a structured (non-XML) FrameMaker file to PDF. Our images are created in Illustrator (CC), and inserted into FrameMaker (12) as a linked file. In Frame, the illustrations look perfectly fine.
On export to PDF (Acrobat XI), whether "Save as PDF", "Print" to postscript, or "Print" directly to PDF, some illustrations show up "fuzzy" on the screen. It's not the entire graphic, but seemingly random sections of the illustrations that are pixelated. The illustrations are layered, vector, non-outlined .AI files. When printed from the PDF output, the "fuzzy" sections are clear.
Adobe PDF settings (in Distiller XI) are optimized for online viewing.
If a problematic illustration is opened in Illustrator, the section that is pixelated in the PDF don't exist as overlays or layers in the AI file. When I say 'don't exist', I mean that if you select each and every layer individually, selections are never the entire pixelated area.
I have recreated the entire file in InDesign (to see if the problem is related to the Illustrator file, or the distilling process), and when I print to a PDF using the "Smallest File Size" PDF preset, the output is clear, both on screen and printed. A colleague has opened an older version (FM 10), and distilled with Distiller XI as well as Distiller X. From the older versions of Frame, the output is less pixelated, but there is still pixelation in the exact same locations.
Windows 7
Adobe Illustrator CC
Adobe FrameMaker 12 (Structured but not XML-based)
Acrobat Distiller XI
Thank you so much in advance for your help.