PDF in AI - size issues

[Jay Jhabrix]

Hi...

A designer sent me a print-ready A4 pdf with crop marks, bleed, etc. Opening in AI CS3 and measuring the distance between the crop marks by:

1/ Using the measure tool
2/ Creating a rectangle of 297 x 210mm and aligning to the artboard, showed the crop marks (inner ends) outside the rectangle.
3/ Creating a new A4 file, repeating step 2/ above and then placing the pdf gave the same result.

In short i was getting a cropped area for the pdf of 301mm x 214mm instead of the expected 297 x 210.

The designer insisted it was a perfect A4. So, as a last effort, opened it in Acrobat Professional (used rulers and guides) and sure enough, the crop marks were perfect.

So, why the difference? Anyone have an idea?

Had to eat 'humble pie'! :-)

Cheers,

JJ

[SDA]

Would the difference in screen resolution be the cause ? I think Acrobat Pro defaults to 96dpi while Illustrator being pretty much an application for print design uses 72dpi.

[J***@adobeforums.com]

Jay,

What if the bleed is 2 mm?

[Jay Jhabrix]

SDA:

Maybe... but the size is in mm so it'a not making sense...

Jacob: The bleed extends outside the crop marks...

I can even understand an issue with 'Placing' the file. But opening the PDF – without any modification – and then just drawing an A4 rectangle still results in a size mismatch.... SDA, that's why i feel it may not be an 96 vs 72 problem...

OK... Guys... all my fault... i was measuring from the end of the crop line... meaning where it ends in the artwork... not the extension of the lines themselves...

Meaning...
horizontal crop line... 1cm from top/bottom - 1cm long
Vertical crop line... 1 cm from sides - 1cm long

Will give the same dimensions as crop lines .5cm long 0r 20 cms long.

I wasn't thinking straight and was measuring from where they ended and not where they were located... making sense? So, Jacob, i think that's the bleed, though it extends further than that in the artwork.

Cheers and thanks...

Glad we got it sorted out...

JJ

[Jay Jhabrix]

SDA, Jacob....

IOW forgot about the intersection point!

Cheers...

JJ