Indesign CC export fake boundary and borders, lines in pdf

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
August 30, 2021
4 replies
1375 views

Hi there, I have pretty big problem when I try to export a book cover for print. I can see random blocks or columns, fake lines everywhere. It is very frequent when I put over images and I use drop shadow also. The used pics are exported PNG from psd file. I have never met this issue before... Thank you very much if someone can help me.

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Correct answer Willi Adelberger

Use PSD in your document, not PNG. But this is not the issue here.

The lines are propably stitching lines which appear with PDF/X-1a and X-3, not with X-4. It should print well.

rob day

Community Expert

It doesn’t seem like stitching—stitching would only show at low resolutions (like screens) where the PDF has been rendered with anti-aliasing. If it is stitching try viewing in Acrobat Reader or Pro and uncheck Prefs>Page Display>Rendering>Smooth Line Art.

Can you share the PDF?

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I agree with Rob, this does not look like stitching. I don't think looking at the PDF is going to tell us as much as looking at the .indd, either. My suspicion is those lines actually are someplace in the .indd file.

Willi Adelberger

Correct answer

Community Expert

Use PSD in your document, not PNG. But this is not the issue here.

The lines are propably stitching lines which appear with PDF/X-1a and X-3, not with X-4. It should print well.

C

CsandreaAuthor

Participating Frequently

I changed the settings and it is fine! Thank you! I will change the PNG to PSD, you're right.

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

This is know as stitching - when PDF file with transparency is flattened.

Transparency effects like drop shadows when Flattened to the PDF 1.4 preset will break up the image into smaller parts. This is an onscreen artefact and doesn't (shouldn't) produce in print.

To get around it - keep your transparency live by exporting to PDF 1.5 or higher.

There are other settings to fix this for you locally - but other people with different PDF readers/settings will have the same issue as you.

https://creativepro.com/when-you-see-thin-white-lines-in-your-pdf-files/