Assumed, the thickness of the line varies continuously from large to small (opposed to a stepwise variation), I would use a Postscript programm, like this: Save as textfile *.eps and load by Photoshop in mode RGB, e.g. with 144ppi, with anti aliasing. Note: the original text is not garbled. Download the file here: http://docs-hoffmann.de/dottrapezoid.eps Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann %!PS-Adobe-3.0  EPSF-3.0 %%BoundingBox:  0 0 500 85 %%Creator:      Gernot Hoffmann %%Title:        dotted trapezoid %%CreationDate: August 18 / 2019 /mm  {2.834646 mul} def % trapezoid          /xa  10 mm def      % left /ya  15 mm def /xe 170 mm def      % right /ye  15 mm def /ha  10 mm def      % half height left    /he   3 mm def      % half height right % dots and gaps /N   10 def         % number of dots /g    6 mm def      % gap width /h   ha 2 mul def   % gap height %d=((xe-xa)-(N-1)g)/N % dot width /d xe xa sub N 1 sub g mul sub N div def /e   d g add def    % distance of dots /trapezoid {newpath             xa ya ha sub moveto xe ye he sub lineto xe ye he add lineto xa ya ha add lineto closepath fill } def 0.9 0.9 0.9 setrgbcolor % trapezoid          % can be enabled for test newpath                 % outer clipping path, b-box       0   0 moveto 500 0 rlineto 0  85 rlineto 500 neg 0 rlineto 0  85 neg rlineto /x xa d add def /y ya ha sub def 1 1 N                % inner clipping path, gaps {pop x y moveto g 0 rlineto 0 h rlineto g neg 0 rlineto 0 h neg rlineto /x x e add def } for eoclip 0.0 0.6 0.4 setrgbcolor  % 1.0<-->255 trapezoid showpage ... View more

My suggestion (by Photoshop, personally I would use PostScript): For the right line: 1. draw trapezoid with line color, left height a, right height b, a>b 2. draw one rectangle with background color, width for the gap, height >a 3. copy and paste multiple, as often as necessary Scale width and height as required, mirror or rotate for the left line. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Hardly an obsession! More about the minus sign: Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

https://www.printingforless.com/blog/graphic-design/tips-and-tricks/choosing-a-transparency-blend-space Quote: "So, What Does the Transparency Blend Space Do? You’re aware that you can combine RGB and CMYK images and artwork in the same document in InDesign. Great. But as soon as you introduce ANY transparency into the document (for example, using an effect like a drop shadow, or placing an image with a transparent background), InDesign needs to convert everything in the document to EITHER RGB or CMYK. (This is why you may often see a number of colors or grayscale images suddenly change their appearance on the page when you switch the transparency blend space setting)." Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

To #20: Interpolation and anti-aliasing of edges is entirely based on pixels, nowhere based on resolution – correctly applied. If this 72-ppi-issue should here be important, then it's a bug (and you're right). Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Truly nonsense – see #11: "The output (JPEG) is in both cases 854x494 pixels,  file size almost the same: 248.28 kB and 250.40 kB." Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Thanks for the explanation. A collage of photos, drawings, paintings, scans of other artwork and prints can be made by hand (paper and glue) or by Photoshop. If the collage is made by hand, then it should be scanned. If it is too large, then photos can be taken, but this requires some familiarity with lighting, in order to avoid reflexes. Text in speech balloons should be handdrawn (handwritten), based on exposees by typo- graphical text. Typographical text means: computer text, using a font with a certain size and style. For the speech balloons it's more or less my opinion, that the text should be handwritten. But a Graphic Novel can contain general text in addition to images, which is designed and written as in any book – typographically.   All text has to be provided in separated layers,  in order to enable translations into different languages. Result: Images with empty speech balloons by Photoshop. Assembly by InDesign, including the layers for typographical text. These text layers are probably in pure black (K-only). The images can contain RGB-black, which is later converted into printable CMYK-black. So far, Illustrator is not required. I've tested my advice viewing Introducing Nietzsche, A Graphic Guide by Laurence Gane & Piero. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Can you please show us an example of your artwork? For further advice one needs to know the typical ingredients: photo painting drawing vector graphic (computer generated) print handdrawn text typographical text color black/white Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Both cases seem to start with image size = canvas size = 854x494 pixels, scale 50%, bicubic smoother, compression best quality. The output (JPEG) is in both cases 854x494 pixels,  file size almost the same: 248.28 kB and 250.40 kB. The output pixel dimensions are the same as the input pixel dimensions, despite scale 50%. How can this be explained? Does 50% refer to an unknown original, which we don't see here? For me it looks as if the fuzzy version (Export As) is based on a different original, with bad downsampling in advance to the JPEG conversion. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

In Post #0 you said "16 bits per pixel RGB565. The source is probably 24 bits per pixel (not 48 bits per pixel). Any RGB 24 bits per pixel image can be saved immediately as RGB 16 bits per pixel BMP file (Advanced mode): Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

For steep color corrections 16 bpc would indeed be better than 8bpc, but this concerns the working space. The data acquisition would not benefit from a higher color resolution, because the colors are anyway very wrong – like measuring the length of an old brick by a micrometer gauge (Mikrometerschraube, Bügelmeßschraube) instead of a folding rule (Zollstock). Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

The inversion of the RGB image in #5 delivers garbage. The information is almost completely in the red channel, which can be converted to grayscale and inverted. This results in a somewhat reasonable  B/W image. Or one can try the channel mixer. Professionally, the film has to be scanned by a filmscanner, which takes automatically the orange "carrier layer" (in the film) into account, delivering a positive RGB image. Considering the very bad quality, scanning by 16 Bits per channel would be absolutely useless, in my humble opinion. More about: FAQ Questions and answers help: Scanning negatives and slides with film scanners, comparison film scanner digital camera Best regards  -- Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

As long as the number of prints isn't very large, it's probably cheaper to print the mentioned document as a supplement of the daily CMYK stuff instead of a special K+Spot installation.  No problem to reproduce 7734C by CMYK. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

My image shows the downloaded first image plus a slanted single pixel line in red, all by view 200%, screenshot saved as PNG. The circles are blurred, the center squares are not blurred, and my test line isn't blurred either, though viewed by 200%. It's now the question, whether the underlying PSD of the first image is blurred We would need a PNG screenshot of the PSD. JPEGs of single pixel lines shouldn't be used anywhere in this discussion. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Probably a good idea. It works as well without Convert Text to Path: 1. Make text in red 2. Make text in white 3. Make triangle as path and fill red 4. Place red text 5. Copy white text 6. Select path 7. Paste Into (path works as clipping path) 8. Arrange > Bring to Front (the white text has to be on top) Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

1. Can you show us screenshots 100% and 200% of such a layer with single pixel lines? 2. The image is flattened. What's the content of the other layers? A true single pixel line image (not generated by Photoshop) can be shown by Photoshop with view 100%, 200%, 300% ... without any blur. The sharpness is independent of the global interpolation (e.g. bicubic instead of nearest neighbour): My guess: your "single pixel lines" are anti-aliased or feathered or interpolated because of non-integer start and endpoints. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

T1-fonts, TT-fonts and EPS are working very well in CS6, as shown below (PDF, converted to PNG by Photoshop). If later versions should cause trouble, then I would do the necessary conversions in CS6. Of course it cannot be expected that older font systems like T1 or TT will be generally supported by newer software. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Please, can somebody explain the question? Both images in #0 are not in CMYK but in two somewhat different RGB spaces. A dull CMYK version of an RGB image, if backwards converted to RGB, won't become as brilliant as the original RGB source. Without editing it would look like this, here for ISOCoated-v2-eci, then backwards converted to sRGB: Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

The left briefcase is most likely a clone of the right one, mirrored and rotated. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

But PostScript?  I can honestly say that I never used that,  so its horribly archaic This probably applies also to the Theory of Relativity. But joking apart: PostScript is a programming language, developed since 1982 in the newly founded company Adobe, then commercially distributed for printing by toner printers. (Photoshop came later, developed basically in the years 1987 – 1990.) PostScript applications belong to two different classes. 1) Graphic programs convert text, general vector graphics and raster graphics automatically into PostScript (PageMaker era). 2) Graphics with all these types of objects are directly programmed "manually". This is of very high value, because it can be done in RGB, Grayscale, Lab or CMYK, and because mathematical functions are allowed as required (opposed to Adobe Illustrator). PostScript is therefore ideal for printable text books or tutorials (my stuff) with vector graphics illustrations. By the way: procedural smooth shading is possible, but objects with variable transparency cannot be used. The application 1) had been replaced later by PDF. In the beginning  by "distilling" the PostScript file, later by generating PDF directly. The basis of PDF is PostScript. PDF cannot be programmed "manually". One great invention, already in PostScript, is the rendering of text and general vector graphics with device resolution, maybe for display, customer printer  or image/platesetter.   The history of all this is very well described by John Warnock, who had founded Adobe together with Charles Geschke: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/adobe-co-founder-john-warnock-on-the-competitive-advantages-of-aesthetics-and-the-right-technology/ PostScript is an archaic concept, language and file format, and much more than a data container,  therefore some reverence would be appropriate. Best regards  --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Specify printer’s marks, bleeds, or slug areas in Adobe InDesign Yes, slug area. This has to be defined already in the InDesign document, and there one can add any arbitrary information.  Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

I'm now going to explain the Hue-rotation as used in #17 by me and in #19 by Rob Day: The graphic shows the plane L*=50 in Lab (CIELab). The black contour, not the colored area, is the gamut boundary for sRGB. The round dots, filled and stroked  are printable colors in the range of L*=49 to L*=51 for the CMYK profile ISOCoated-v2-eci, because so far I didn't prepare this diagram for an Uncoated Profile. The example is nevertheless sufficient for the explanation. Typical magentas in the RGB image are at about 50L 60a -50b, the starting point of the yellow arrow which is in sRGB but out of gamut for CMYK (obviously no need to use a wider gamut!). Mapping this point by rendering intent Relative Colorimetric to the CMYK gamut boundary is not a unique procedure. Most likely the path as indicated by the yellow arrow is applied: in a plane of constant Lab-Hue (b:a) towards somewhere near to 50L 0a 0b. That is to say: not to the nearest printable Lab color! The first printable colors are in the yellow "ellipse", rather dull colors, as we can see immediately. Then comes the Hue-rotation. New starting point is the green arrow, again directed towards 50L 0a 0b. The first printable colors appear in the green "ellipse", obviously resulting in much more vibrant colors (the Lab-Saturation, lenght of the radius, is greater). It's rather impressive to demonstrate this by soft proofing (same profiles, out of CMYK gamut indicated by alarm color cyan): This may explain the strange phenomenon, that an RGB magenta cannot be easily reproduced by CMYK magenta. Finally some information about the question, whether  a Total ink limit of 220% could be prohibitive. No, it isn't – for my example #17 we need typically 18C 85M 0Y 0K (info bottom right). So far for ISOCoated-v2-eci. For an Uncoated profile the effects would be similar but more drastic. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann P.S.: The same situation, a couple of planes L*=const on one page: Page 17 here: http://docs-hoffmann.de/gamshow15052009.pdf ... View more

This is the image in #5, after the application of softproofing for CMYK UnCoated-FOGRA29: Then a modification, still softproofing – essentially a hue rotation by 30° from 290° to 320°, as indicated by a sample in the magenta area: For my taste the result is not bad. Of course it's not possible to reproduce such a brilliant magenta as in #0 or #5 by uncoated CMYK. Best regards  --Gernot Hoffmann P.S.: the modification is applied to the selected area, which excludes the interior, the next room, and in mode "Master", which means "for all hues". It's as well possible to choose "Magenta" instead of "Master" with practically the same result. ... View more

The color wheels in post #0 are wrong The color wheels in the link in #1 are wrong: https://www.diyphotography.net/work-color-harmonies-improve-photos/ Even Johannes Itten, the inventor of color harmony, had used wrong color wheels: http://www.farbtabelle.at/farbkreis/ And Adobe offers as well a wrong color wheel: https://color.adobe.com/de/create Why are they all wrong? A complementary color in the wheel is 180° opposed, and mixed 1:1 with the original color or eventually with a slightly varied mixture proportion, it delivers a neutral gray, that is a gray in the respective RGB colorspace. Opposed to Red is Cyan, oppposed to Yellow is Blue, opposed to Green  is Magenta, opposed to Cyan is Red ... In all the mentioned examples this doesn't hold true. Where are correct color wheels? Color wheel - Wikipedia this one: File:Hsv color circle.svg - Wikipedia Nevertheless, based on correct color wheels, the idea of "harmony" might have some importance. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Please try: Start as explained with two layers, one with objects "Non printing" by Attributes. Export with checked option "Non printing objects". In Acrobat choose the non printing layer. Choose Options (Layer Properties) and change: Print: Never Prints. Save by old name. Here it works ... tested by stone age equipment CS2 and Acrobat 8 Pro. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

Rachel, let me explain my suggestion better: I would  draw in Excel the graphic entirely new or start with an empty diagram without curves. Then save this AS by filename and place the saved file in InDesign, instead of using copy and paste. The basic idea is, that patching an existing diagram might confuse the sequence of clipping path application and drawing. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

The blue (0C), orange (10C) and the blue (60C) curves are drawn with clipping rectangle. For the other curves the clipping path is not active (the curves themselves are not distorted). This says, that the sequence of drawing had been not as usual (clipping path for the curves, no clipping path for the diagram axes and numbers). It might help to draw all curves one after the other newly as a set instead of patching an existing diagram. Live transparency is not involved, it's just PostScript on/off transparency, which is handled perfectly by any PDF mode. Best regards  --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

I had tried to create a hairline, based on all suggestions, that is a compressed or an uncompressed source image, different export modi for the PDFs and furtheron little or strongly  contrasting colors. No hairline, but a very weak remnant of anti-aliasing at the boundary between the source image clippíng path and the background, here the upper edge. Attention! the clipping path is the outer contour of the ellipse and the stroke was applied INSIDE: The PDF was opened in Illustrator, the image above shows a screenshot after an important test. I have removed one quarter of the stroke. We can see, that the INSIDE stroke is actually produced by a offset path with CENTERED stroke. The anti-aliasing between image and background happens at the outer ellipse as clipping path, with or without stroke. The offset path for the centered stroke is only an approximation* , therefore the clipping path and the outer stroke contour are not exactly identical – thus we have weak rests of anti-aliasing. * Offset paths for Bézier curves cannot be constructed accurately as Bézier curves. In PostScript thinking the gray stroke isn't overprinting – it is overpainting in the virtual drawing, removing parts of the image.. If this occasionally visible fringe should be the mentioned hairline, then the explanation may be correct. If there are really hairlines, then it would be helpful to show an example. All Tests by CS6. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more

The problem is caused by /BBox. It works after replacement by rectclip: ...   << /ShadingType 2 /ColorSpace /DeviceCMYK /Coords [x0 y0 x0 y1] %/BBox   [x0 y0 x1 y1] /Function   <<   /FunctionType 2   /Domain [0 1] % for t   /C0 [0 0 0 1] % t=0 black   /C1 [0 0 0 0] % t=1 white   /N  tt2 cvr   % C=C0+(C1-C0)t^N   >> >> gsave x0 y0 bx by rectclip shfill grestore ... G.Hoffmann ... View more

IF NOT interested in history THEN GOTO M1 Okay, the handling of Black or Gray or Grayscale in Adobe programs has been always a great mess: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1564258 In fact, it's correct in Photoshop, but not in InDesign (there is no Grayscale), and therefore Export as PDF is for Grays widely uncertain. M1: About the actual problem: The background of the images and the large background rectangle are using different blacks.  Black can be Grayscale with any Tone Reproduction Curve: Gamma or Dot Gain, or Photoshop's Black Ink (ISOCoated v2 eci, for example), or Gray converted from AnyRGB to AnyCMYK, a huge number of possibilities, and going from RGB to CMYK it can be Rich Black (CMYK) or K-only Black. Hopefully we don't have to discuss, how JPEG compression modifies the file content further. What's to do? One possibility: Choose your CMYK space, for instance ISOCoated v2 eci, as recommended by the service provider. Convert the images to CMYK, extract the background (Magic Wand) and fill it with a well specified CMYK black (it's not even clear whether  the image backgrounds had been identical before). Use in InDesign exactly the same CMYK black for the background rectangle. Then export without image compression as PDF/X-1a. No, PDF/X-4 doesn't contribute any magic problem solution concerning the Grays. The only reason for using PDF/X-4 could be the visible gradients in the page, if these were produced by Illustrator by procedural shading* (PostScript origin). PDF/X-1a would replace this procedural shading by immediate rasterization, in this case agreeable. * The rasterization depends on the final output device. Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann ... View more