Drop Shadow issues

[TXLilly]

Hello, I have the attached graphic that I created. It looks great in illustrator, but poses screen-viewing issues when exported to a PDF - even when I first save the graphic as a PNG and use that instead of the vector.  I've tried it a number of ways and I always end-up with this phantom outline around the bottom of my artwork (it is where a path is).

First, I created a drop shadow on the vector path using the stylize menu and then used a clipping mask to cover the parts of the drop shadow that weren't desireable. Then, instead of a drop shadow I created a blurred line segment under the path with no clipping mask. Then I tried both of the above techniques and expanded the appearance. I know I must be missing some small piece of knowledge or technique to make it happen properly - it can't just be, "don't use drop shadows." 😉   My image is a little low-res, sorry about that. 

  Any insight would be greatly appreciated! 

[Bill Silbert · Accepted solution]

When you save the pdf out of Illustrator are you using the High Quality preset? If not, see if that makes a difference.

[marliton · Accepted solution]

Hi. Try setting the Document Effect Raster Settings resolution (below Effect menu) at least to Medium and export the PDF using High Quality preset (as @Bill Silbert said).