ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR- PDF PRINT

[angelica_5702]

Hello, 

Newbie here- 

Does flattening the PDF ensure the colors/elements won't mix/mess up in printing? Is this enough to ensure about printing exactly what is on the screen? 

Is flattened PDF good for printing wall art designs? Is printing at 300 dpi resolution enough? I'll test the printing on my own too, just wanted to gether any thoughts and experiences too. 

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Transparency flattening is necessary for certain devices. If they can only handle that, then that's what you have to do.

If the printer has modern RIPS, then a PDF/X-4 should work.

What is necessary, is working and properly set up color management.

About the resolution: that depends on the process and what you are printing? Large format doesn't need high resolution.

Ask your printer about what to deliver. If they don't or can't tell you: look for a different print service.

[angelica_5702]

Thank you for the help! 

[Bobby Henderson · Accepted solution]

It might help to ask them what kind of printer(s) and RIP software they use. The leading ones for large format (Onyx, Caldera, RasterLink Pro, etc) have Adobe certified PDF "print engines." They can process just about any kind of the fills and effects that can be baked into Illustrator-based artwork and saved in PDF format. A print setup that cannot process PDF-based artwork natively is liable to run into trouble with transparency effects and various other things. That's where they might get into doing things like opening the PDF in Photoshop to rasterize it and then print a pixel-based image of the results in TIFF or JPEG. Then the print ends up with fuzzy text and graphics.

[angelica_5702]

Thank you.