Have no correct png/gif transparency in FrameMaker 2019

[hanspeterh83653685]

Hello!

I have loaded (imported) images in png or gif with an optional (transparent) background into Framemaker 2019. In FrameMaker, the images look correct, but not in the PDF or when printed on paper. See examples below. How to get correct transparency for PDF or print outputs?

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

I did this very long ago, and of course I forgot the correct process.

Did you set the background in FrameMaker to none?

Here are some discussions which should help:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2419439

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2568753

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2470633

https://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/8371-102-1-11454/FM_transparency_rev1.pdf

Best regards

Winfried

[hanspeterh83653685]

Hello Winfried,

(i'm German )

None of the topics that deal with transparency in this forum will help me. I even tried the Distiller setting for Transparency=true, but no chance. In addition, the transparency is not shown correctly in the paper printout! There must be some setting in FrameMaker 2019 that correctly omits the transparent background in PNG or GIF images.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

Hm. I did not use this feature in FM 2019 yet. Do you have the latest update (15.0.3)?

How do you create your PDF?

Is the option Use Acrobat Distiller for PDF generation in the Publish pod activated?

Did you set Adobe PDF as your printer?

Can you also convert your graphics to EPS and test, if this works?

The paper printout should always match the PDF. Or do you print directly from FrameMaker?

Best regards

Winfried

[Stefan Gentz]

Hi hanspeterh83515689​,

transparency is not supported in the old Distiller route. Support for transparent images was introduced in FrameMaker 2019 and is available in output only through the new PDF Publishing Engine available in the publishing pod or through File > Save as PDF.

Make sure, that "Use Acrobat Distiller for PDF generation" is NOT activated in the Publish Settings for PDF.

[hanspeterh83653685]

Hello Stefan,

ok, tried to make your settings on my system, but cannot edit or choose the "Preset Name" ("Vorgabenname"). Therefore i cannot save any settings there.

In my printer list, there is no "Acrobat Distiller" printer, but "Adobe PDF", see below.

If i want to publish (or "Save as PDF"), the following message appears: (FrameMaker cannot find Distiller printer....)

What to do?

[Stefan Gentz]

Looks like you are on Windows Vista or Windows 7. I remember some other user had the same problem with FrameMaker 2019 on this older version of Windows. I have sent an email to the Adobe Technical Communication Support team for FrameMaker (tcssup@adobe.com) with you on CC, so that they can reach out to you and have a look on it with you together. I guess this is nothing we can help with here in the User-to-User Community forum.

[hanspeterh83653685]

Hello Stefan,

thanks!

Yes, i have Windows 7.1.
Sorry, i didn't think that was important and i hope that a correct transparency function is not dependent on a higher version of windows ...

[Stefan Gentz]

Transparency is not dependent on the Windows version. But the problem that you cannot use the new PDF Engine due to missing joboptions might be.

[Be.eM]

PDF creation using "Save as PDF" in FM2019 works fine for me with Windows 7/64 Pro.

Bernd

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Be.eM​ - that part wasn't this issue - it's the new "publish" route of PDF-making that could be an issue with Win7 & FM2019.

[Be.eM]

Jeff_Coatsworth​ - As far as I understood the various changes of this function in FM2019, the "Save as PDF" function from the file menu uses every single setting (and the sts file) from the publish pod, except the name + target folder. Did I misunderstand this?

Anyway, creating the PDF using the publish pod works equally well here in Win7.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Sorry, I missed Stefan's response there when he suspected it's a missing joboptions file at work here.

[LinSims]

I got the impression (and I could be wrong) that Stefan was saying that there were options required by the PDF Engine that aren't available under Windows 7, not that the joboptions file itself was missing.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Lin - could be - I don't deal with images or transparency (or hardly any PDFs anymore) so I'm out....;>)

[Be.eM]

When looking at Hans-Peters' screenshots above, it looks like he's actually missing the standard joboptions, which again could mean that the installation of the Adobe PDF printer instance is somewhat corrupt on his computer. However, this is not a general problem with Windows 7, as a) it works fine here and b) I have all the usual joboptions available.

[Bob_Niland]

For artwork that doesn't need internal transparency/opacity, you can use the traditional FM technique of having a clipping path around the object outline, and setting FM pen to None. The art might have to be EPS to implement that. If HTML output is required, I have no idea how that renders.

Nowadays, I'd instead try doing that alert sym as SVG vector art, which scales elegantly, and should render similarly in all work flows.