Transparent items disappearing when exporting to PDF

[denise_ryan]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could help with this problem in InDesign CS5.

Basically, transparent objects are disappearing when exporting to PDF. These are not 'non printing' objects. They are shapes drawn in InDesign.

It happens to some people in the office when creating shapes but not all. I wonder what differences there are in their settings to make this happen.

Can anyone suggest anything?

Many thanks!

Denise

[Jacky Huang]

Hi there, i have the same problem with this opacity problem~

it's like sometimes when u set some colour shape not in 100% opacity

and when u export to PDF, IT DISAPPEAR!!!

I don't acutlly have the problem fixed~

but i have solution~

1 Step: set your tartget to 100% opacity first  (it's best u have more than 2 targets)

2 Step: Group the target with something (best to group the targets together)

3 Step: change the opacity of the group

4 Setp: export it see how it works~

hope this can fix your problem

[Peter Spier]

Do you have simulate overprint enabled when you export, and Overprint Preview turned on in Acrobat?

[LucienSchilling]

Pretty nasty in CS5 are spot colours underneath a transparent (cut out) PhotoShop file. On screen the file is OK, but you cannot print the PDF files correctly. The resulting PDF files are X3, so basically I didn't expect problems...

The workaround for this was to modify the colours from spot to process in InDesign, which caused other troubles, but did work!

Transparency since ever was a trouble maker and I don't like those troubles, so I avoid transparencies where I have the possibility.

[BobLevine]

I disagree completely. There is nothing about transparency that being properly educated (especially with spot color useage) and using a modern print shop that should cause any trouble.

Bob

[LucienSchilling]

Well Bob, when you have PDF files that don't print correctly, you may agree or not, you are in trouble! The trouble is the PDF file not the print shop.

[BobLevine]

Like I said, you need a full understanding of transparency and how it works, especially when spot colors are involved. While I admit that I do very little print work these days, even when I did, I didn’t have trouble with transparency.

Bob

[Peter Spier]

I've never had a file with transparency fail to print, either, but I use only printers who have equipment (RIPs) capable of handling it. If your printer, who may do a very fine job of getting ink on the paper, doesn't have up to date technology then you might well have problems using transparency in your files.

[LucienSchilling]

PDF X/3 is the standard required by my printers. X/3 does not handle transparency in-RIP as opposed to X/4. I suspect a PDF error, as the file displays correctly but does not print correctly. We have found that one systematic transparency fail with CS5 was using spot colours the way we use them. The transparency is created by a Photoshop image, not a pure InDesign transparency.

Images: Snapshot from the PDF screen view and the print result of the PDF.

Using my Fiery or our built-in printer RIPs produces the same artefact as my professional external print service providers. Even the tinny print preview  in Acrobat shows the error.

(Message was edited by: Lucien Schilling)

[BobLevine]

IIRC, the original X/3:2002 specification was based on PDF 1.3 and therefore has no transparency support.

Bob

[LucienSchilling]

Yes, and PDF X/3 is a standard widely adopted by the RIP manufacturer/print service providers. The transparency effect is flattened before or during the PDF build.

[BobLevine]

Widely adopted? Where and when?

Ten years ago, maybe, but not today.

Bob

[LucienSchilling]

I use PDF X/3 because my printers tell me to use that format... but I have to admit that we are working with them since a long time, and I didn't checked recently with them the requirements.

[Peter Spier]

I would definitely see if they have upgraded and can use X-4, or have another suggestion for transparency handling. This is just going to get worse as time goes on and you want to keep the catalog looking fresh.

While you can only alias a spot color, you can alias to another spot that has been set to convert to process in the ink manager. If you aren't actually printing the spots, maybe that's a better solution, or simply set all spots to output as process. I'm not sure why you want to preserve the spot on other pages, but don't need to here.

[Peter Spier]

But PDF/X-3 doesn't seem to allow for the simulation of overprint during flattening, and I expect that may be part of the problem.

[LucienSchilling]

And the second image (...you are not allowed to edit this message... )

[Peter Spier]

The smaller image is too small to really see anything, and I'm not sure what problem I'm supposed to be seeing in the larger image. Are we talking about a shaded aree in the spot color behind the raster in the print? That's known as YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome, and is a dual-layer RIP problem. It happens because during processing rasters are treated differently from vectors. There's a good article about it at InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Eliminating YDB (Yucky Discolored Box) Syndrome

[LucienSchilling]

I posted a new one!

[LucienSchilling]

The Dreaded White Box (DWB) comes pretty close to the problem. We solved this turning the spot colour into process colour... for this page... But that's a work around that creates more complexity into the workflow.

We colour-code things: The mauve colour means Non-Ferrous Metals Application. When we need to recolour because the same technology is used somewhere else, or because we use the corporate colour for some reason, we only need to adapt the colour called "CI colour" in all our documents, and we are done...

On our address and boiler plate sheet, where we use the colour of the technology presented in the folder, we use Colour replacement (Ink Alias). Colour replacement  works ONLY with spot colours. Therefore we use spot colours. The print service provider flatens that to CMYK.

The boiler and address plates are the same for all our brochures and linked as an external file. Each time we change, it changes for all documents at the next edit for that document.

[EarlyShirley]

Having the same problem - Indesign CS5 on mac OS 10.7.2. Have tried exporting as idml and re-opening, have tried with overprint preview turned on in Acrobat. Have tried cutting and pasting box with text into a new document and it still happens with the new document?! And yet when I draw a new box and apply same opacity settings it is fine?! Unfortunately I have hundreds of these boxes throughout my document.

But I think exporting as IDML file might have something to do with it as I can retrace my steps: Did the original file on CS5; opened it on my home mac in CS5.5 and did some changes, exported as IDML to re-open on my work computer with CS5; did some more changes at work and this is when the problem happened. It's something about exporting as IDML and re-opening in CS5 as I can go back to my files on my home computer (with CS5.5), export as pdf and all the boxes are there in both the indesign AND the IDML file.

[EarlyShirley]

Ok, I've just opened up the CS5 document on my home computer ( I have my home macbook sitting next to my work mac desktop) and exported it again and problem solved - looks like an update to CS5.5 is due.

[BobLevine]

With CS6 out, I wouldn’t count on that.

Bob