Printing Issues - Radiant Effect Printing as Solid Obect

[Guest]

Hi All,

I have a printing issue which I can’t seem to rectify. I had sent a file (PDF format) to our digital printers, the printout they have produced doesn’t seem to print out a ‘fade’ effect, instead their seems to be a slight solid colour on the print and it doesn’t seem to fade out like it should. It is a gradient effect that fades outwards.

The printing company that we’ve used haven’t responded back to us.

I was wondering whether anyone here can identify why this is occurring. Was it because we saved it in a particular PDF format and therefore faded elements were not printed as expected?

I have attached a picture of how the image should have looked and an image of how it printed (it may be difficult to view in the photo, though the issue is a lot noticeable when viewing it in person). The PDF was saved as a PDF/X-4 format.

Can anyone here shed some light on why this issue seems to exist.

The original artwork was created using Illustrator. Some of the options I am considering is perhaps, saving it as a JPEG and then importing this to illustrator, though I would be grateful for any suggestions.

Thank you in advance.

Original Image:

Printed Image:

[Monika Gause]

This is a very subtle effect you've produced there.

Which document color mode is this?

Which document color mode did you send to print?

Did you check the colors in Acrobat? How much difference is there between the lines and the background?

Have you ever had this kind of thing printed successfully?

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

- The document color mode was CMYK.

- Can't say for certain the color mode that was sent to print, the instructions from the printing company was to use the format 'PDF/X4'.

- The acrobat file seems fine and it appears to be exactly as the illustrator file.

- We haven't had this type of image reprinted, though I suppose my biggest concern is whether or not future image files that contain a 'transparent' effect will be printed properly.

I was thinking that it may be to do with the way transparency is handled, if I were to flatten all objects would this rectify the problem?

[Monika Gause]

ray1990s  schrieb

I was thinking that it may be to do with the way transparency is handled, if I were to flatten all objects would this rectify the problem?

If you send PDF/X-4 then the printer takes care of transparency (usually in a way that is best suited for the machine they use).

As jdanek already wrote: a proof (not just a printout on your office printer) should clarify if this can be produced as desired at all.

My thoughts are rather that there is just a few percent difference between the linework and the background color. This difference might just be too low for production.

[jdanek]

Did you print a proof before sending it to the printer?  I cannot make a determination based on your pictures, but if the gradient turns solid, it could be the conversion to PDF or the printer's RIP.  Definitely speak with them.