Flattening Transparency in Book Cover Design

[Wood N Treasures]

Hello, I recently created several book covers and a couple of them, turned out poorly when submitted to the print company in pdf format. Each had white lines running through them which didn't appear in the ai file or the pdf file prior to submission. However, when I used the online digital proofer, the lines appeared. I was told there were images that needed to be flattened prior to creating the pdf. Every method I try (using youtube tutorials, etc) leaves lines all over the cover. How do I handle this issue?  I appreciate the assistance.

Chris

[Monika Gause]

Please show.

Also: please tell us some details about the printing process.

[Wood N Treasures]

Well, the print process is Amazon's CreateSpace. I don't know the details. They require a pdf doc for print covers. I designed the cover in Illustrator and created a pdf with "High Quality Print" setting (which I've done many times before without a problem). I get a pdf that looks great to me, and even uploads to CreateSpace cleanly. The only place the lines show up is in CreateSpace's Digital Proofing tool. I called and spoke to one of their technicians, who told me about flattening the transparency. I've tried tutorials, but I get even worse results (lines all throughout the cover).

As near as I can tell, these lines are the edges of the placed images. They are either vertical or horizontal. I get these lines to show up all over the image whenever I try to flatten the entire cover. My biggest problem is I don't really understand what flattening actually is. I'm trying to read up on the subject, but I'm not getting it.

Since my files look good, I can't show you, unless a screenshot of the digital proofer is good enough.

Chris

[jdanek]

Sounds like "stitching" artifacts.  Make sure your Raster Resolution matches your image resolution in the file.  You shouldn't need to be concerned with "flattening" the file, but there are ways of doing it before you create the PDF.  One way ( sorry Monika ) is to create a ( copy ) of your native files as EPS, then save the EPS as PDF. When the EPS is Saved, it gets flattened.  I did a book cover where I had a drop shadow overprinting a photograph; kept the native .ai file live up until it was approved.  Then, I Saved As EPS and actually used Distiller to create the PDF.  No problems.  The key is to use high res ( 300 ppi ) images, raster effects, and Raster Resolution in the document.  In rare cases, I have run into White lines, but they generally appear on-screen and don't print.  What are you seeing in your printed proofs?

[Monika Gause]

jdanek  schrieb

One way ( sorry Monika ) is to create a ( copy ) of your native files as EPS, then save the EPS as PDF. When the EPS is Saved, it gets flattened.

Why use EPS in this at all? There are settings to flatten transparency to rasters altogether.

Or you can rasterize the images in the Illustrator document (which is what I would probably do).

But this all depends on the details. Is there text in it?

I would try to only flatten placed images, drop shadows and effects and then just have the text on top of it.

[Wood N Treasures]

I apologize for taking so long to respond, but I got busy at work. Here are screenshots of the digital proofer of two book covers. All of the images are PS files, even the text. You can see the three little dashes on the first one and much more pronounced lines on the second (A large right angle, a line under the couple on the front cover, and two little dashes on either side of "Cobras." None of these lines show up in ai or in my pdf files. In fact, they don't even show up on the CreateSpace site, other than the digital proofer.

[Monika Gause]

So the only native Illustrator content is the fine print on the back of the book? Everything else has been done in Photoshop and then just assembled in Illustrator?

I would instead assemble it in Photoshop and then use Illustrator just for setting type on top of it.

[Wood N Treasures]

Assembling in Photoshop would solve my flattening problem?

[Monika Gause]

You said that those are Photoshop images anyway. So assemble them in Photoshop. Then you can import it into Illustrator without transparency.

The only part that should actually be made in Illustrator is the fine print on the back. But then don't apply any raster effects to it. No drop shadow, glow or whatnot.

And then please learn about transparency.

https://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/pdfs/TransHowToGuide1.pdf

http://67.227.198.33/~ghp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Transparency_DesignGuide.pdf

Please read both.

[Eternal Warrior]

As Monika Gause​ already stated. We need images and details to give any help! Even a cross section if there is any conflict of interest.

Best,

EW