*.pngs on master pages printing almost black

Report · Feb 27, 2023

Hello All,

I am running FrameMaker version 17.0.1.305 and this morning I find that *.png graphics on the master pages now print almost black. The same graphic on a body page prints correctly. The *.pngs look as they should when the document is converted to PDF. JPEGs on master pages print correctly. Has anyone else encountered this? I have only recently upgraded from FrameMaker 12 and was wondering if I accidentally changed a setting somewhere. This just started after several weeks of using the new version of Frame with no issues.

Thanks,

Mike

Report · Feb 27, 2023

Haven't heard of that happening - are these existing png's that were present when the files were upgraded from FM12 or are they new ones added to new master pages?

Report · Feb 27, 2023

Hi Jeff,

They were/are existing files. But this just started this morning, after weeks of issue-free printing. I am wondering if it's an in-house printer driver issue.

Report · Feb 27, 2023

Yes, that sounds more likely - I never try printing directly from FM, so my default Windows Printer is always set to the Adobe PDF instance and I go through PDF to create any physical output if I need to.

Report · Feb 27, 2023

Is this all PNGs, or just some?

The last time I ran into something like this, many years ago, I could print hi res from FM, or PDF to the facility LaserJets, but the on the Xerox press engine output from some JPEG images, but just some, were 10 dpi (yep, huge blocks).

The problem turned out to be that these JPEGs were indexed color, and as I recall, coded for color, but the RGB values were all the same. Re-rendering them to gray 8-bit contone fixed it.

The various graphics file formats often have unusual corner case optional encodings, that almost no one uses, and which may not have solid driver support everywhere.

Report · Feb 28, 2023

It was all .pngs...however, it seems our work network is the culprit and not a FrameMaker. They print just fine here at home, and IT updated some drivers the day before I started having this issue.