Let me clarify. Can I set the opacity of an object to 0% and its drop shadow to 100%, so that the object would be invisible but its drop shadow would remain? ... View more

Hi Kurt. Any luck on your end? Thanks. ... View more

Any insight? Anyone managed to reproduce the problem? Thanks. ... View more

Hi Kurt. I tried with a png version and I get the same result. The jaggedness is more apparent when rotated in AI. This is an image comparing the two: 1- Top part is embedded png with drop shadow and rotation (rotation is in a layer above drop shadow in AI). 2- Bottom part is placed png with same drop shadow and rotation. The second image is the bare png file (no rotation and no drop shadow applied). ... View more

Hi Kurt. Sorry, I haven't been able to make a version I can upload. I guess you might be able to reproduce the problem by making an image with transparency. I should add that the jagged lines become worse when rotating the image! There is another thread here which points to "anti-alias" in Raster Effects Settings. It didn't work for me, unfortunately. Drop shadows and blur is pixelated on Illustrator CC ... View more

Hi Ray. It's not related to Raster Effects Settings. The two images in my previous post have the same setting. Still, I tried your suggestion anyway with a higher resolution: the problem remains. ... View more

Hi Kurt. The orange bit is not a (vector) rectangle. It's a picture that I cropped. That's why I can't just draw the lines in Illustrator. The two ripples, as pronounced as they are in the placed TIF, are not "normal". If I use the TIF file in Photoshop and create shadows in Photoshop, I don't see the ripples. The embedded TIF in Illustrator looks much more "normal" to me. ... View more

Hello Monika, I have attached a screenshot. Let me explain. The orange bit is the image. The black portion is the shadow of the image. The green background is colour behind the image (the image has transparency). 1- The top image is embedded TIF in AI and shows fairly straight shadow. This is what I expect. 2- The bottom image is the placed TIF in AI and shows jagged shadow. I see two ripples in the shadow (they are also visible in the embedded image but are much less pronounced). The system in Windows Vista. ... View more

Or perhaps it serves the purpose of trapping, but I would expect settings for trapping to be defined separately. ... View more

Hi Monika, Great tip. Works as expected. Given your response and SJRiegel's, am I to say that what I observed in my original post is not how it "should" behave and that the correct behaviour should be what I expected to happen? SJRiegel. Thanks. I didn't try what you suggested but it might work too, though I think Monika's workaround is more to the point as it keeps the overprint restricted to the stroke without any additional elements. ... View more

Thanks Dov for the explanations, it's much appreciated. If Adobe has any documentation or application notes on the use/best practices and pitfalls of PDF in a printshop, please point me to them. ... View more

Hi Dov, Thank you very much for this comprehensive response. 1- I couldn't edit my own post so this sentence should have read: "Of course, that doesn't mean that the TrueType font will encounter problems but that a Type 1 font is less likely to encounter a printing problem." 2.1- In case there is a problem with a TrueType font during print, would the printer (the printing machine/system) or RIP notify the operator that there is a problem with the font or can such issue only be picked up during visual inspection of the printout? 2.2- I didn't understand what you meant by "Conversion of TrueType to Type 1 (or if one was to do the opposite conversion) is in fact a “lossy” conversion in which “hinting” for rendering at lower magnifications (combination of resolution and point size) is lost and rendering degrades accordingly." Does lower magnification mean to print the PDF to a smaller page size (and scaling accordingly) than the page size of the PDF? 3- Under what circumstances would "refrying a PDF" be useful? I am often told this is not recommended; I wonder why. ... View more

Thanks Bernd and Dov for your replies. Interestingly, I read another thread and Dov's response in that thread in particular regarding fonts. TrueType font in printing Part of my question may be due to some lack of understanding on my part on this topic. I have come to believe that Type 1 font is more "printer-friendly" or more robust at a printer, generally, than a TrueType font. Of course, that doesn't mean that the Type 1 font will encounter problems but that a Type 1 font is less likely to encounter a printing problem. The thread I mentioned debunks this idea. That being said, I have noticed that printing a PDF file containing a TrueType font into another PDF file transforms that TrueType font into Type 1. I thought Acrobat can therefore convert a TrueType font into a Type 1 font and wanted to know if such operation can be performed on the initial PDF file without printing it to PDF again. Perhaps that question is still valid. Any explanation and clarification will help. Thanks. ... View more

Thanks for the replies. Monika: 1- I know that but based on your answer, there is no other way than having the text brackets elsewhere than at the ends of the area. That's a limitation. 2- OK. 3- Say you have a straight line of width 1 in. You type text on the line (on the path) such as "hello" in Times New Roman 12pt which would be about 0.33 in wide. What I asked was if it is possible for the area type brackes to be flush with the typed text, sticking to the h of hello on one end and the o of hello on the other end. So the text brackets would span about 0.33in wide. 4- I guess the answer would be no. Taking the example in 3. Even if the text brackets are moved inwards towards the text, when I select the object, it is the entire 1 in line that is selected, not just the text. So any effect I apply would apply to the 1 in object , not the text only. I can' apply any effect to the text on the path only. Larry: What you show is what I described originally in #4, at least for the part of placing a box (convert to shape) behind the text on the path. But I want to achieve thise in the context of "type on a path", not just any type. ... View more

Hi Vinny38, Thanks for your reply. 1- I'm surprised that you say the single master page, which ID shows as right-hand page, would be based off the left-hand page of the master spread it is derived from! I would expect it to be based off the right-hand page of the master spread. What I am trying to achieve is #2, and the single master page is a "so far non-working workaround"! 2- I was asking for suggestions as to how to insert a space between the two pages of a spread. I read after posting that the Page Tool might allow this sort of thing, but it was introduced in CS5 and I am using CS4. http://indesignsecrets.com/breaking-up-pages-with-the-page-tool.php Re: Gap between pages ... View more

Mike, that's a good workaround. Though it doesn't explain if the AI's behaviour in my example, with "space before paragraph", is incorrect and why. Monika, it so happens that in my "bad type" example, I need area type text because I have to be able to set the width of all lines to a certain value, which I can nicely do with the text box. ... View more

Thanks everyone. Monika, what you suggest is almost what I want, except that instead of the first line dropping down, I need the second line to move up. As to why, it is very simple and bad type indeed but it's the visual I'm after here (of course, there are plenty ways to work around this but I am bothered I don't understand what is happening). I simply have two lines where the first line has a small point size and the second line has a larger point size. I am trying to adjust the spacing between the two lines, as visually, the default leading of the second line is not appropriate (one workaround would be to adjust the value of that leading, instead of the "space before paragraph"). The reason I added a third and fourth line in the example is to show that "space before paragraph" works for lines 3 and 4 as expected. So the leading issue doesn't appear to be the cause, otherwise, the same problem would exist for lines 3 and 4, wouldn't it? ... View more

Actually, I must rephrase the original post (I couldn't edit it). SJRiegel, please try again the following, if you don't mind: Hello, There is a behaviour I don't understand in "Space before paragraph". Perhaps someone can explain to me what is going on. 1- Create a text box. On the first line, type a word in font size 12pt, Times New Roman. Press enter (carriage return). Go to the Paragraph menu and make sure "Space before paragraph" and "Space after paragraph" are set to 0. 2- On the second line, type a word in font size 50pt, Times New Roman. Go to the Paragraph menu and in "Space before paragraph", type -40pt. The line moves up some but not by all 40pt. Press enter. 3- On the third line, type a word in font size 12pt, Times New Roman. Make sure "Space before paragraph" is set to 0 for this line. Press enter. 4- On the fourth line, type a word in font size 50pt, Times New Roman. Go to the Paragraph menu and in "Space before paragraph", type -40pt. The line moves up 40 pt. Why does the line in #2 not move up as much as the line in #4? I expect the second line to move up by 40pt too. Thanks. This is for CS4. ... View more

Thanks SJRiegel. Good to know I'm expecting the right thing. I hope someone can check/reproduce the problem in CS4 or other. ... View more

Hi Dov and Test Screen Name, I thought the flattening was handled by the printer (Acrobat), not Illustrator or any other application that may be used before printing. But you know the software better than I do. I'm glad I learnt something as I always thought this was done by Acrobat 4.0 precisely because it doesn't handle transparency. The fact that the document is flattened does not bother me. That being said, I still can't make sense of the fact that for the same background (picture), the same font atop and the same level of transparency, some font sizes are embedded (not rasterised or vectorised), and other font sizes are vectorised (I don't think I have come across a scenario where it's rasterised yet in the context of my current issue). I would expect the same treatment to apply to ALL font sizes: the font is either embedded or vectorised, regardless of its size. This is exactly what occurs when the background is not a picture, but a plain solid colour background: the font is always embedded. Perhaps one of you can explain what might be happening here. Thanks. ... View more

Actually, it's Acrobat that flattens the document, not Illustrator. That being said, you expect this process to apply to some font sizes and not to others? As I mentioned, the font is embedded in the PDF for some font sizes and not for other font sizes, all that for the same font! That doesn't make any sense. ... View more

Hello Test Screen Name, Thanks for your response. I am aware of the limitations of Acrobat 4.0, including the fact that it doesn't support transparency. I am printing to PDF here from Illustrator CS4 (yes, it's also old) on Windows. Upon further testing, the Acrobat does embed the font for some sizes (smaller font sizes) but not all sizes. That really puzzles me. If I remove the transparency in the font, then all font sizes are embedded properly. Whether the font is embedded or not also depends on the background. With a plain colour background, embedding of the font is fine but if the background is an image, that's where I run into the aforementioned problems. ... View more