InDesign CS3 -> PDF = fuzzy font, and random bold

Hello Andrea,

We have the same problem on Ricoh MPC 2500.
Did you already find a solution?

If so, would you like to share it?

Thanx.

Marc Bogemans.

Alonso,

Your problem sounds like a transparency flattening problem, which could be happening at either your end, or the printer's, depending on the workflow.

Did you deliver PDF or Native files for printing? If PDF, what settings did you use?

One way to reduce the risk of this sort of thing is to properly prepare your file. Keeping text above transparency in the stacking order will help, as will eliminating the use of transparency altogether when possible. I see a lot of new users, and some experienced ones, too, using transparency when they should be using tints, and as a shortcut for things like watermark images which can be made in Photoshop.

While technically there is nothing wrong with using transparency in this way, unless you need the interaction between the colors of two objects that transparency introduces, you are adding an unnecessary risk that the printer either will not know how or have the equipment able to handle the job correctly.

I agree with Simon, though. If the job didn't match the proof they should have stopped and called you. At that point it's time to figure out what happened and find a solution.

Peter

I have a similar problem, I have just sent a document to print. It looked fine in the pdf and on the cromalin proofs, but when it went through the Rip to plate and printed 3000 copies, the text(where it was over an image) seemed to have rasterised to a low quality making it darker than the other text and have jagged edges but only where it was over a watermark image? the even stranger thing is that the text that is in colour over the image did not do this it was fine, only the black text? The printer is saying it is my fault and its a fault with indesign, and the client has rejected the job. Please can someone help and tell me wethere this is my fault or not.
Thanks
Alonso

If you are using the PCL driver, I think the device is considered to be RGB, so the appearance of black preference should be effective in telling ID whether to send true black or rich black. Have you tried setting it to output all blacks accurately?

I don't know anything more about the printer than what I read on the web yesterday, but it looked to me like there were two versions, on with, one without built-in Postscript. You say you have two drivers. Is one of them the Postscript version, or just a different PCL version?

>It looks like (a) the printer gets a CMYK ("rich") black instead of only K<br /><br />Any Idea how to set this?<br /><br />>If you have the Postscript option<br /><br />As far as I know I don't... There are two available drivers and only one works consistently: A)PCL 6 B)RPCS<buggy<br /><br />>Identical text set in Word (or Publisher, feh) was perfect. I also found that it was more likely in AI than in ID or PDF. It was always perfect onscreen<br /><br />Yep exactly! Thank you for chiming in. I at least feel better to know that I'm not alone with this strange effect...

I've seen similar issues on our Ricoh, and I was never able to resolve the issue. I just sent it out to a print shop, rather than try to fight with the Ricoh, to which I have very limited access, and no rights to install the PS drivers on the print server. My symptoms were somewhat different, but close enough to make me execute a triple-take upon reading this thread.

If I recall correctly, I was able to generate this effect both by printing directly from ID as well as from ID-generated PDFs. Black was always 100%K. The effect was only seen on text. Transparency seemed to increase the likelihood of the distortion, but I didn't have the time/toner/inclination to ascertain this for certain.

Identical text set in Word (or Publisher, feh) was perfect. I also found that it was more likely in AI than in ID or PDF. It was always perfect onscreen - I never saw a trace of distortion at 800%.

Just a hunch, but I feel like jongware might be right - I never experienced any line-art distortion, and your macro-lens work makes it look like alignment problems to my eye, which is admittedly not expert in such matters. However, the text distortion looks exactly like what I saw; I'll see if I can't dig up one of the old proofs and scan it in for comparison purposes.

I wonder if changing the appearance of black settings would help. I suspect you've got this set for output all blacks as rich black.

If you have the Postscript option, I'd also try using that driver.

Peter

I can't help noticing that the right hand image looks as if there's a slight tint of gray, instead of 100% black. Probably unrelated to your problem, though. And I can see yellow dots all over both sheets (might be my eyesight giving up).

It looks like (a) the printer gets a CMYK ("rich") black instead of only K, and (b) it needs re-alignment :-)

Does the same happens when you print
i anything
else, from another program? (But using the same printer driver.) That would rule out InDesign or Acrobat errors.

And does the colour speckling occur when you print colour as well (as opposed to just black text, rich or otherwise)?

Monitor - Perfect
B&W laserjet - Perfect
Ricoh Ricoh Aficio MP C2500 - Problems

Okay here is the fun (not) stuff! This image is a perfect example.. what your looking at here is two different pages side by side printed out of Illustrator to the MP C2500 on identical paper with identical print settings next to each other. Both text boxes have identical settings. Note the crazy cmyk dot spray 'halo'... Drives me nuts! Has anyone ever seen this??

www.lzarch.com/ricoh-problem.jpg

That's not rasterization... that's some sort of RIP error IMHO.

For your further entertainment here is a PDF:

www.lzarch.com/Interim-Second.pdf

And here is the linework printed directly off that PDF:

www.lzarch.com/ricoh-linework.jpg

> at high resolution with anti-aliasing turned on

I'm sorry for not making this clear... Converted at 600dpi anti-aliasing = OFF.

> Are you experiencing this problem printing from Indesign, or printing
from PDF?

Both, Illustrator and Photoshop as well... COMPLETELY RANDOM. - I can't stress this enough. Less with PDF and more with AI.

I know what your envisioning in terms of 'fuzzy' via rasterization but this is a whole different monster. To elaborate the text is very sharp but there are microscopic dots at various densities all around the fonts/linework giving it a sort of 'haze'. I will pull out my 105mm macro lens, take a shot of it, and provide a link here... You'll see, it's not anything like AA or low res 'fuzz' It's... wack (considering the price tag on this printer)