Illustrator vector images imported into Indesign look bad in PDF

[vsibyl]

I'm using Indesign with intent to print, and I placed some of my Illustrator image-traced pictures onto the pages, and they all look fine in the Indesign workspace. Once exported to PDF/X-1a:2001 in acrobat 4 I see a ton of white lines showing up randomly in my images. Some I can tell are remnants from where I used the pen tool and made a shape in Illustrator, and some are just random white lines that appear for seemingly no reason. Is there any setting/quick way to fix this in Indesign without having to go back into Illustrator and re-editing all my images? I added an image to show what it looks like. 

[Willi Adelberger]

When you import/place PDFs into InDesign, they should be PDF/X-4, avoid X-1aor X-3. 

[vsibyl]

My professor told me to use the X-1 2001 PDF setting. It's also not an at home printing, its going to be printed at a printing store, so I'm not sure if there would be compatibility issues if I changed it. I'll certainly ask though, but I'm also hesitant as that setting changes a lot of my images with effects' colors. 

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Hi @vsibyl , Try unchecking Smooth line art in Acrobat's Display preferences. More here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/how-do-i-get-rid-of-what-looks-like-frame-lines-...

[vsibyl]

Thanks rob. This looks good in Acrobat, but once I save the file to my computer and reopen it in Microsoft Edge (the default is Microsoft Edge for me) the white lines are still there. I wonder if the Acrobat setting changed only the preview, or the real image? If it changed the image, maybe I can just add a note to the printing store to open my file and print using Acrobat. 

[Willi Adelberger]

Only Acrobat is a reliable PDF viewer. All others are crap and not reliable. 

[rob day]

Also, when the transparency effects are flattened for printing (Acrobat 4 Compatability) the page is divided into sections. For relatively low res display the edges of the sections might get anti-aliased--depends on how the page is displayed by the reader application. There's never a reason for a print RIP to anti-alias high resolution output so you would not see the edges in print, assuming high resolution and no missing links.

[Willi Adelberger]

The PDF/X-1a is ok if you output for the printer. But you must not use it when you import a file into InDesign as stitching lines become visible with any output. 

when you import/place PDF/X-4 you are able to export to PDF/ -4 PDF/X-3, /X-1a, EPS ans EPUB. But this is not possible with X-1a or X-3. Don't confuse the import with the final export for the printer. 

[rob day]

It's also not an at home printing, its going to be printed at a printing store,

it doesn't sound like the printing process is going to be separated offset printing, which is what all of the PDF/X presets are designed for. It might be worth getting a proof of a few pages from the print shop. I'm guessing the show through you are worried about in your other thread doesn't print on a composite printer, but would on an offset press.