I realize many have asked before countless times "How do I reduce file size?" I have tried many of the tips and tricks I've read here and elsewhere on the Internet and continue to have problems. I'm hoping someone can help.
Here are a few details: I'm using CS6. My OS is 10.8. This is a MacBook Pro with 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 8BG 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM. I'm working on large format packaging so we're talking about artwork that is at times 48" x 24" or more. There are raster images on the files, typically more than one instance of the same image (for different sides of the box).
I'm not saving PDFs, I'm saving AI files. When I save, I uncheck the Preserve Editing Capabilities and check Include Linked Images and Use Compression. I've preserved my spot colors but I have deleted all of my unused swatches, brushes and symbols.
Even when I do all of this, my file size balloons up to 300MB! What in the world??? All I can think of is it has something to do with the raster images. They ARE large (about 30MB a piece) but at this size format, I can't really reduce THEIR file size much without compromising the quality. These are TIFF files, though. Should I convert them to some other format before placing? I've had this issue with EPS files, too, however. It's just incredibly frustrating and creates issues for my printer as well.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can clue me in to something I haven't thought of yet. Most of my background is in InDesign and I've never had this problem in that program!
