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Saving print-ready artwork with transparency

New Here ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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Hello, I am wondering what the proper way is to succesfully save print-ready artwork that contains transparency?  I have a document that I've layered a vector with both a gradient and transparency over my artwork.  I've been saving it as an EPS and using distiller to create a PDF.  The vector with the transparency is not displaying properly on the final PDF. 

 

I'm a mostly self-taught seasoned graphic artist but I know I'm missing a key piece of information in this particular process. I typically find a work around, but want to get to the bottom if it once and for all. 🙂 Can someone please point me in the right direction? 

 

Many thanks in advance for your valuable insights. 🙂 

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Draw and design , Import and export , Print and publish

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correct answers 2 Correct answers

Community Expert , Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

Unfortunately one of the things saving to EPS/distilling does to achieve that filesize is the removal of transparency.

 

If you turn off 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' in the PDF options, does that have an effect on filesize?

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New Here , Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

For me, the best results when printing happened when I created and EPS version and opened, flattened in Photoshop. Printers do not handle Transparency and Effects in Vector artwork. Flattened images print the best! Good luck!

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Community Expert ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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Hi Lilly,

Do you need the EPS step here? Why not save a PDF directly from Illustrator?

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New Here ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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Well, not exactly, except that when I save the PDF directly in illustrator its a much larger file size.  

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Community Expert ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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Unfortunately one of the things saving to EPS/distilling does to achieve that filesize is the removal of transparency.

 

If you turn off 'Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities' in the PDF options, does that have an effect on filesize?

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New Here ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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Ok, interesting. I just tried that and the oringinal EPS file is 164MB, the PDF saved in illustrator with the setting you mentioned above removed is 60MB, and the EPS>distilled>PDF is 4MB.  

Maybe I'll just need to save the transperancy/gradient/image overlay in Photosop to achieve the look I'm going for but still have the option to have the smaller file size?  Do you think that's my only or best option? 

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New Here ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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For me, the best results when printing happened when I created and EPS version and opened, flattened in Photoshop. Printers do not handle Transparency and Effects in Vector artwork. Flattened images print the best! Good luck!

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Community Expert ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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> "Printers do not handle Transparency and Effects in Vector artwork"

 

Well, maurizv, to claim that may be an oversimplification. The majority of printers that I know can handle them very well for about two decades.

 

Admittedly, it may depend on what region of the earth you are living and what kind of equipment actually is available.

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New Here ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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I really appreciate everyone's feedback! I have had printers successfully print my artwork with transperancy before, but this particular case is print-ready artwork being sent to the client to use as needed. It needs to present well both digitally (on screen) and when printed, and also be a relatively reasonable file size.  

 

I guess I was hoping for an easy fix, or something I was missing in my knowledge in terms of settings, but I perhaps I just need to take the time to manually flatten/combine the transparency and image prior to placing it in the artwork. 🙂 

 

Thanks so much! 🙂 

 

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