'Flatten Transparency' creating blocked out areas in illustrator.

[Splattgraphics]

I have to flatten the transparency and save my file as an .eps, in order for Roland Versaworks to recognize the cutline. When I do, some of the design becomes blocked off by solid white boxes that were not there when that part of the image was imported... arrrgh..... I've seen it called the white box effect, but not seen it resolved, --as yet.

 

[bannertime]

Have you tried other flatten settings?

 

[Gino]

Send it twice.

 

[JulieS]

I always open the file in Photoshop and save as a .tif or whatever. Re-open in Illustrator. Cutlines work then, and no weird boxes.

 

[shoresigns]

I always open the file in Photoshop and save as a .tif or whatever. Re-open in Illustrator. Cutlines work then, and no weird boxes.

A faster way would be to just rasterize everything but your cut lines in Illustrator (Object > Rasterize) and then save to PDF. No need to go to Photoshop and then back to Illustrator.

 

[Ultimate13]

With transparencies in a file saved as an EPS, we were told about an odd fix that works most of the time. In the EPS options when saving, choose High Resolution and Language Level 3. This may be well known to people but it was a shock to us that it works. Like I said most of the time.

 

[Splattgraphics]

Have you tried other flatten settings?

I tried a couple random settings that didn't work, but what settings would you do different than mine, which normally are: 75 raster/25 vector, uncheck the strokes to outlines option, and check the preserve overprints option. That's all I usually do with the flatten function.

 

[Splattgraphics]

A faster way would be to just rasterize everything but your cut lines in Illustrator (Object > Rasterize) and then save to PDF. No need to go to Photoshop and then back to Illustrator.

That worked. Now If I can remember it for more than 3 days....

 

[Splattgraphics]

With transparencies in a file saved as an EPS, we were told about an odd fix that works most of the time. In the EPS options when saving, choose High Resolution and Language Level 3. This may be well known to people but it was a shock to us that it works. Like I said most of the time.

I'm gonna try that, thanks!

 

[SignsBES]

Save your working file as AI. Then flatten layers in the layers pallet. Save again as pdf (and I usually add PRINTCUT to the file name too.) In PDF dialog box choose Adobe preset as [Press Quality]. Choose Compatability as Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3). Under the ADVANCED tab, (you might have to try a couple of different settings for overprints) open the Custom dialog box for Preset and make sure "Convert all strokes to outlines" is NOT checked. If there are still overprint "lines" shown you might need to go back and rasterize before making the PDF. But do this on your production file, so you can save the integrity of your working AI file. When you open the file as a PDF to check it, be sure to zoom in to look for overprint artifacts (overprint lines) which will determine if you need to rasterize prior to making the PDF. This has been a challenge for me over the years, but way less problems once I switched to PDF format instead of EPS.

 

[Graphic Extremes]

I have not had the white box problem since I started saving as pdf.