Transparency holes when exported into PDF

[Ondrej28385916vv3q]

Hey guys,
I have a strange issue with pdf transparency that I just cant wrap my head around, probably because im not really a print guy, but anyway here goes.

Im trying to print some playing cards I have put together, the way I do it is that I have each individual card as separeate indesign file and then I link all these into another indesign file to put them on a grid (SRA3 size).

Issue Im facing is with transparency - I have some layers in the cards themselves (see image no 1) that need transparency. It looks alright in the card indd. It looks alright when I export the card indd into card pdf. It looks alright when I link either the card indd or card pdf into the A3 grid indd.

But then when I export the a3 grid indd as a final print pdf everytime I have these layers with transparency in those linked cards it makes holes into uderlying graphics (image 2) - uness I use X1a-2001 preset. And if i do that, I get issues with text quality when the page gets printed (theres some small 7.5pt text that just looks awful when printed with that old standard). When I use any more recent standard the text looks good when printed but I get these holes. The only thing that doesnt make holes are vectors but I cant use them for everything obviously.

I dont understand how is this happening and before I bake everything that cant be vector into one PSD I was wonderring if theres is something else that can be done.

Thanks for any pointers.

[rob day]

But then when I export the a3 grid indd as a final print pdf everytime I have these layers with transparency in those linked cards it makes holes into uderlying graphics (image 2)

Hi @Ondrej28385916vv3q , What PDF preset are you using for the Export you are showing in the 2nd capture? Are you viewing and printing from Acrobat?

Could you share the 2 PDFs?

[Ondrej28385916vv3q]

second image is pdf exported using PDF X-4 (its a snapshot from photoshop cause viewing this in acrobat shows white box as the page bground is whaite so its harder to tell whats going on like that). Print happens from PDF.

But for unknown reason after two days of baging my head it seems the issue just went away on its own for no reason. Now when I do the same thing I get no holes what so ever. So strange.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Ondrej28385916vv3q

What kind of object is the one with transparency - INDD, PDF, PSD placed in the "sub" INDD file? 

[Ondrej28385916vv3q]

i tried psd, pdf, ai (wrapper for bitmap) and I still all got that. 

But for unknown reason after two days of baging my head it seems the issue just went away on its own for no reason. Now when I do the same thing I get no holes what so ever. So strange.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

i tried psd, pdf, ai (wrapper for bitmap) and I still all got that. 

But for unknown reason after two days of baging my head it seems the issue just went away on its own for no reason. Now when I do the same thing I get no holes what so ever. So strange.

By @Ondrej28385916vv3q

Strange indeed... 

Have you maybe exported it in a different way now? 

Or... Maybe some of the links were outdated before? 

[Ondrej28385916vv3q]

not really. Every link was up to date and I used same x-4 export settings (I have saved it as a PDF export preset).

All I did was instead of drag and dropping card files onto placeholders in the grid (I made the grid a while ago with a placeholder card and was using it as a blueprint for placing cards ready for print) I deleted everything and put the print ready cards in there again manually. And suddenly it all works as it should it seems.

Must have been some hidden bug in those placeholders / in the replacing operation. 

[BobLevine]

What if you export each card to PDF X/4? How do they look?

I've never been a fan of placing INDD files. 

[Ondrej28385916vv3q · Accepted solution]

thats the first image, but when I placed the x-4 card pdf into the grid indd and then exported i got those holes.

But for unknown reason after two days of baging my head it seems the issue just went away on its own for no reason. Now when I do the same thing I get no holes what so ever. So strange.

[Laubender]

@Ondrej28385916vv3q said: "second image is pdf exported using PDF X-4 (its a snapshot from photoshop cause viewing this in acrobat shows white box as the page bground is whaite so its harder to tell whats going on like that). Print happens from PDF."

When in Acrobat Pro you could turn on the Transparency Grid:
Acrobat Preferences > Page Display > Page Content and Information
[ x ] Show transparency grid

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )