creating new source-books, rule-supplements etc as pdf-files?

[Lincoln_LM]

hi,

i have no idea if this is the right category to post my question in, so if it´s not... sorry, but i didn´t know where else to put it

now my question:
I know that here are a lot of people around who have been creating new source books, rule supplements and all kinds of other material for the various ST rpgs.
How do you do that?
Most of this stuff comes in the form of ".pdf"s, and all those "books" look awesome.
So what kind of programme do you use to create the .pdfs ?
Of course you need some programme to work on pictures and to write the texts etc, but how do you put all the stuff together in one .pdf-file, and how do you do the layout?
Is there a special software which I haven´t come across yet, or do you use any microsoft office programmes and convert the finished document into a pdf ???

I have no idea on how to do this kind of thing, so if this is a stupid question, just tell me.
Anyhow, it would be really nice if somebody gave some examples of programmes which one can use to do this kind of stuff or a short explanation on how to do that using the usual microsoft-office software.

greetz
lincoln

[Tomcat]

Howdy Lincoln -

As they say, there is no stupid question...

I spent the last few years laying out the Hall of Fire webzine for Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG and I primarily used Microsoft Word to setup my document and then printed it to Adobe Acrobat which creates the PDF.

You can use other software packages to do your layout (i.e. PageMaker) and there are some freeware PDF print drivers that you can download from the internet (i.e. Cute PDF-writer).

Tomcat

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I use InDesign.

[Sho-sa Kurita]

What Tomcat said (Word/Acrobat). I'm about to acquire InDesign though, since I'm starting some projects that Word isn't quite right for.

[Evan van Eyk]

I am using only basic stuff, like Open Office for the general layout and the pdf-conversion. I use some simple graphic tools ( among them MS Paint ) to create layout elements like bars to put under headlines.
Covers are done using "Gimp" as well as the modification of pictures and creating of new ones. All of this software is free to be found on the net ( legally! ).

[Scarecrow]

I've not done any Trek supplements but when I make PDFs, I use Open Office to lay it out and CutePDF to print it to a PDF file.

Open Office stands toe to toe with Microsoft Office and it's completely free.
You can't set up chapters and funky stuff with CutePDF - it works exactly like a printer - but hey, it's also free!

Crow

[Tobian]

I can also add to the list http://www.inkscape.org/ which is also freeware, and while not AS fully featured as Illustrator it's not bad for free

Personally I use In Design too, as I find Word horrible to lay pages out in, it is simply NOT a page layout programme! I also find Office outputs terrible PDF's (it often rasterises fonts into low res line work, what' up with that!) Open office does a better job, and it does now do PDF's nativelly!

[KillerWhale]

I've been using InDesign as well for the layout of Expanded Spacecraft Operations. Paint Shop Pro for image editing, and some DVD player (don't remember which one I was using at the time) + the Internet for the screen caps.

I'd say layouting a book without professional layout software is a major pain in the a** if you want pictures in the book... Unfortunately, they are very expensive and I know of no open-source / free alternatives (I heard about Scribus but I don't know what it's worth).

InDesign converts the file in a PDF but there are free drivers out there if you use another solution, such as CutePDF writer (the PDF driver is stand alone and is free).

[Cut]

It's so nice to see KW posting here again

[KillerWhale]

Thanks Cut I keep lurking, I just do not have a lot to contribute these days

[Tobian]

It's always nice to see you and we don't talk that much about Startrek hehe

Yeah having done a bit of high end work before, for actual print there's very little else to use but Photoshop, I am not even aware if you can save CMYK images out of anything else? For home users, you don't need to worry so much about CMYK colour space, and modern domestic colour printers can handle just about anything through PDF's etc, but in the print world they won't look kindly on you if you have a document with a few thousand RGB images !

[The Tatterdemalion King]

You can rasterize out of Distiller, I think.

[Sho-sa Kurita]

I also find Office outputs terrible PDF's (it often rasterises fonts into low res line work, what' up with that!)

Huh. I've never had it do that, and I've done a lot of PDFing. Hmmmm. OTOH, I've found what it does to various graphics elements (like fades and transparency) interesting.

[KillerWhale]

Many printers - the one I approached anyway, for other ventures - are OK with PDF files. Thank you digital age

[Tobian]

Word is just horrible with PDF's and I have acrobat distiller. Could use getting the newer version but since I have banished office from my PC's now I will never know if they fixed this now haha, I just use Open Office now - Free is a more reasonable price hehe

Oh Printers have no problem with PDF's - PDF is a wonderful standard! It's just if you don't put the right type of images in them they can balk! CMYK images embed nicely in PDF's too