How do I output a large Ai file as multiple PDFs (via views, pages, whatever)

Question

I am working in FreeHand 10 and Illustrator CS3 on a large street map. The client wants to do his own edits to the map in Illustrator (version unknown) then output it so he can show a section per page, in an atlas he plans to publish. And maintain the map himself in the future. The base map is 30 inches square, and the section excerpted on each page of his atlas will be 7 x 9 inches.
The client currently outputs (text-only) directories in MS Word, and I'm wondering if I need to tell him "Hey, you need to buy and learn InDesign (as well as Illustrator) to output your atlas" or whether there's an easy way to output a large map in multiple PDFs, a page at a time that he could use as images in Word. I am trying to keep it sensible for everyone plus affordable.
What I know about Word is you can make a picture box, and crop images placed in the picture box, but I could only get it to crop an inch or two at most. Not the comparative "limitless" picture box found in Quark (and I assume InDesign).
(In FreeHand I had a similar atlas project where I created the master map on page 1, then made a couple dozen small pages, each with a rectangle (a frame) on a top layer. I gave each frame a "lens fill" set to a magnification of 1X, and put the centerpoint over the desired part of the master map. The section of the map appeared in the frame. This worked great for the first five or ten pages -- I could make multi-page PDFs -- a sort of PDF atlas. Eventually all the processing of lines, type, and fills bogged down my Mac's (or FreeHand's) memory so the PDF export would abort mid-stream -- I ended up outputting only individual map pages or 10-12 pages per PDF).
IS THERE A WAY to do a similar, multi-page output, or a series of little PDFs, in CS3? (Or in CS4, which is in the mail)? I know the "professional" way is to place the full EPS or PDF of the map in a page layout program and crop the picture box to the desired area. That's making more and more sense.
I get the sense from what I don't find in the CS3 User Manual that the only way to output a drawing is a page at a time (and naturally only one page per file). I would feel a little nervous in CS4 making an array of multiple pages butted against each other and laying the map on top of them all (but maybe that would work). CS4 has "views" but I don't know if they correspond to output files.
There are enough pages in the finished atlas that it's not economical to make the master map into a big PDF, save multiple copies, then crop each PDF on a different section of the map (such as using Apple Preview). Enough hand-work that labor would equal the cost of the software we're tentatively too frugal to buy. (A clue as to how to proceed).
The client is on a PC (not necessarily a powerful one); has a friend with Illustrator. Is open to upgrading his equipment. I'm on a Mac G4, running Illustrator CS3 and soon CS4.
At a certain point it may be the least troublesome approach is to lay the learning curve and burden of [computer and] software acquisiiton on the client and let each piece of software do what it does best. Or say, "sorry, editable files aren't practical, but here's a good set of prints for you to mark up, and I'll do the edits and make you a set of PDFs" which is more how I usually work.
I acknowledge this was a rather long, multi-stranded question; thanks to anyone who waded through it, and I apprciate any wisdom anyone can offer. Thanks!

Answer 1

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If this is a valued and expectedly ongoing relationship, regardless of whether the files working files are going to be in FH or AI, I would make sure that both your and his working files are both on the same application (and I would say even the same platform).
> The client currently outputs (text-only) directories in MS Word, and I'm wondering if I need to tell him "Hey, you need to buy and learn InDesign (as well as Illustrator) to output your atlas".
I would politely and briefly commend the client for considering doing his own routine edit maintenance, but caution him that such edits need to be done in the native map files, not in the "container" file of whatever program he imports the artwork into. Doing so will likely involve a not-impractical, but still-significant learning curve for him or his staff--editing the maps requires at least working familiarity with a vector drawing program--and offer your services to help him along the way as he learns. If the client is going to commit to doing his own edits, he needs to commit up-front to doing them
correctly in the native illustration files' format. Otherwise, he will be asking for trouble down the road that will eventually cost him more than the benefits of bringing the edits in-house.
>...or whether there's an easy way to output a large map in multiple PDFs, a page at a time that he could use as images in Word.
PDF exported from FH will not provide the client the editability you have suggested he needs. PDF exported from Illustrator (with AI editability included) will have the same file-size problem you've already encountered: Content of the map beyond the page is merely masked, not actually removed.
> I am trying to keep it sensible for everyone plus affordable.
I commend
you for that stance. Freelance illustrators often shoot themselves in the foot by being overly protective of
practial illustration / design work that a client rightly
needs to be able to edit. Helping the client achieve self-sufficency can be just as profitable (or more so) than requiring the client to come back to you for every little edit.
> What I know about Word...
Include in your explanation with your client: Common office- or personal-productivity software, by their nature, lack technical capability necessary and proper for commercial reproduction. It's not that they are "bad" or "amateurish" programs; they're just not designed for the purpose.
Leave open the option of re-importing the map illustrations into Word, if the client still wants to. But re-emphasize that any routine
editing of the working map files needs to be done in their native illustration program.
> (In FreeHand I had a similar atlas project where I [used Lens objects]. This worked great for the first five or ten pages...[but eventually]...bogged down....
Illustrator provides nothing like FreeHand's excellent Lens Fill feature. You can use Clipping Masks and Symobls as a cumbersome workaround, but you'll have the same file-size issues, because you are merely masking artwork, not actually removing it.
I must admit I can't remember if FH's Lens objects actually trim to their content after being Ungrouped, (and don't presently have FH on this laptop to check), but I don't think so. If they did, then Lens objects would be an alternative to the other cutting method described below.
> IS THERE A WAY to do a similar, multi-page output, or a series of little PDFs, in CS3? (Or in CS4, which is in the mail)?
I strongly suspect that artwork that
spans adjacent pages in AI CS4 will be treated the same as artworking which
extends beyond the artboard in current AI: it will be merely masked with a clipping path when exported to PDF, not trimmed. The same sloppy and data-heavy content problems will persist.
> I get the sense from what I don't find in the CS3 User Manual that the only way to output a drawing is a page at a time (and naturally only one page per file).
No. In CS3 you could:
1. Open the 30 x 30 map in AI on a 30 x 30 Artboard.
2. In the Print dialog, set up 7 x 9 page tiling, and in the Output pane, select Tile Full Pages.
3. Export a multi-page PDF.
But again, the content of the PDF pages would merely mask the artwork that extends beyond each page tile. Your PDF file(s) will still likely be much larger than necessary.
Understand, that may still be a workable option if the client places in his page layouts some
other format that actually crops the artwork. In other words, you could:
1. Get the FH native artwork into AI and perform all the cleanup necessary for the AI file to become from now on your permanent working file.
2. Use a single Artboard, and use PageTiling as described above to export the multi-page PDF.
3. Use Acrobat Professional to export the PDF pages to raster images.
4. Place the raster images in whatever program is to be used for the whole document page layouts.
> The client is on a PC (not necessarily a powerful one); has a friend with Illustrator. Is open to upgrading his equipment. I'm on a Mac G4, running Illustrator CS3 and soon CS4.
The above workflow should work fine. To be self-sufficient, it would require as a minimum:
* The client contracting with you to build a proper and clean AI version of the FH map. Depending on the actual content, that may be a straightforward file translation, or it may require alot of tedious and time-consuming cleanup after importing the FH artwork.
* The client (and/or friend) would need Illustrator and Acrobat Pro, plus whatever program he choses for the page assembly work. If he/they use AI CS4, that
may suffice for the page-assembly portion of the work, too. That's yet to be seen. One limitation that comes immediately to mind is that AICS4's long overdue multiple page capability is (unlike FH's) limited to 100 pages.
> Or say, "sorry, editable files aren't practical, but here's a good set of prints for you to mark up, and I'll do the edits and make you a set of PDFs" which is more how I usually work.
That is, of course, for you to work out with the client. It sounds like your head is screwed on straight. You are looking for the most practical and expedient solution to server your customer, not being denfensive and desirous of requiring the client to come to you for every little edit.
The decisions is going to boil down to how much actual illustration editing know-how he wants to take on. It can be a great hands-on training opportunity for you as his "on call" trainer. That arrangement would provide your client the practical autonomy he wants, with the comfort and confidence that things won't get out of whack with you as his outsource guru.
Or, the client may find that the editing tasks require more hands-on skill than he wants to take on. Consider doing a walk-through exercise to show him (and/or his staff) the skills involved in the kinds of edits they will need to make routinely.
Regardless, though, I would firmly insist that the editing needs to be always done "according to Hoyle" in the native illustration program--and
never (stress this) by means of cheezy workaounds in the page-layout program, or some intermediate program. That is
not in your client's best interest, even if it seems initially the "easy way out." It will quickly lead to the map artwork becomming an unmanageable mess.
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JET