distiller error from Quark Files

[debi sicoli]

am creating PDF files using distiller from Quark. For some reason, i cannot use the "create adobe PDF" option when choosing my printer (it simply locks up and i'm forced to quit) so i'm creating the .ps files with virtual printer. when i go to distill the file, i often get this error:

%%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: pdfmark; ErrorInfo: PUT nextImage ]%%

Stack:
[-null- -null-]
-dict-
[-null- -null-]
-mark-
-mark-
-save-
5

%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

sometimes i've waited 10 minutes for a distill, only to have it error out at the end and create nothing! any suggestions on what is causing this error? it does not happen to every quark file, only some of them...

thanks!

[Doug Round]

You aren't saying what version of Xpress or operating system for your mac.

This sounds more like a disfunction of Xpress rather that Distiller though.

Are you using the Acrobat Distiller ppd?

[Aandi Inston]

If you're using the export filter, try printing to PS and distilling
outside that.

Aandi Inston

[debi sicoli]

sorry, i forgot the important details!

Quark 4.1
Mac OS X 10.1.5
Distiller 5.0

wouldn't be surprised if it was a quark error, but defining what the error is would be helpful and then i would know what changes to make to the file. have you seen this before?

[Jacques Pilon]

I often get this type of error message. It's often caused by Acrobat tripping over a bad font or a missing font. It can also be caused by pictures either being too large (file size) or containing illegal characters in the file name like "&" or "#". Also, sometimes Quark files seem to be able to get corrupted on-the-fly when you try to print them to PDF. I've been able to print to a PDF after simply renaming the file.

[Tim Bowes]

I have also just started experiencing this problem, though I'm on a Windows® Platform : Quark 4.1, Windows XP, Distiller 5.0 . Although I was able to print to Distiller no problem up until last Wednesday from Quark, I am now finding I can't print from any Quark file to PDF. Distiller crashes. I've tried installing a PostScript printer and the Acrobat PPD, but the same problem remains. PS files converted to PDF are coming out blank (though with correct no. of pages).

Most of files include some Arabic text (no problem creating PDF before), but the one which saw this problem arising also contained Hebrew and another special font. I suspect the latter is to blame for this problem, but it doesn't explain why nothing will print any longer. I need help urgently. My client is based overseas and I need to send him files by PDF. At the moment I'm saving pages as eps files and converting then them to PDF. Very laboriours, but the only option just now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Troutmagnet]

You know, we've been troubled by a persistent problem that may have roots in this 'illegal character' problem also...

We've noticed that certain QXP EPS exported graphics will give us an:

%%[ Error: undefined; Offending Command: epR ]%%

...message until we re-create the ad's EPS from within QXP again and re-import it into the layout document. Recreating the postscript file for Distiller will then run flawlessly.

I get a report from our night-side production staff every morning explaining the ads that 'epR-ed' last night. Until now, I've been out of luck finding an effective solution, but if the naming convention of the component files is the answer that could certainly be something! I've noticed that every advertisement folder I have opened that receive the 'epR' problem has reoccurring iterations of underscores, dashes and equals signs in the naming conventions.

Can anyone else verify this? If so, does anyone have a list of certified 'offensive' characters?

[Larry G. Schneider]

Troutmagnet,

I would suspect that the equals sign may be the problem. The underscores is used by the OSX because for a long time UNIX (the base of OSX) didn't allow a space in a file name so the underscore was used in it's place. Another problem can be the use of a / in a file name. OSX wants to see the / as a change of directory so gets lost when trying to find the file.

Larry

[debi sicoli]

strangely enough, after converting my files spread layouts, they process all the way through! i had been using facing pages during the layout set-up and had some graphics that spanned both pages. after i changed to single sheets only, everything on those files seemed ok. i'm not still not happy with the enormous amount of time it takes to spool and distill even one page out of quark, but at least i'm not going insane over this issue right now. however, the offending characters (like & and %) are in some of my eps naming conventions and i'm curious to see how they will behave in the future. thanks for all of tips!