Flatten Transparency Issue CS5

[Engstrom Graphics]

Hello - I am working on a sled wrap for my daughters snowmobile. I have the template, made the design as a swatch and have it positioned exactly where I want it. I have a second layer for the cutcontour and all is well. I go to group the first layer (template), then Flatten Transparency - but as soon as I flatten the transparency - nodes OUTSIDE of the template appear with my selection tool - thus throwing off all proportions. How do I lock the swatch artwork to only the template, and be able to flatten the transparency without all the vector nodes from the swatch appearing outside of the template and cutcontour outlines???

Any help is appreciated - this has driven my nuts for hours on end.

I took a screenshot of my workstation. The left (red) is the cutcontour clearly. However, I just performed the Flatten Transparency on the 1st layer and upon completion, now all of the vector elements show up for some reason - why is why I placed my cursor where I did. I am 100% positive I flattened the Swatch before filling the 1st layer with that swatch.

Thank you so much.

 

[Engstrom Graphics]

Instead of a swatch to fill the layer - I now tried a Clipping Mask - and STILL the vector components of the design show up OUTSIDE the template boundaries.

Going crazy.

I still put the cutcontour on top of the file and saved as an .eps and imported into Versaworks - and there are no red dancing ants to cut showing up anyways....so I am doing something wrong. Any help is appreciated!

Attached is a screen shot - where again, the template fill was created using a Clipping Mask - and yet again, still, the areas OUTSIDE of the template are being visible outside of the layered mask. I still moved the CutContour on top to align, saved as .eps and NO GO on Versaworks.

 

[phototec]

Not sure what you are doing or what you are not doing, flattening transparencies in Illustrator is a complex task with many reversible.

I would suggest you watch this series of videos by Kenneth Larkin, as he goes over all the components of flattening transparencies and the settings to achieve the best results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OHj7HHbslc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1q...LxlspT9VLMmmEcZq6PPKbZZ0M_5qrzbdtoQ_ccyFy4xOg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Aj...etGgF9BqafBWr3bdfVpjgzzcAc2vrlhQpvcaaF2ieWlRw

 

[Tizz]

The way I combat transparencies and effects in illy is that I save a master file with the contour cut and effects/transparencies. I then delete the cut contour layer and save the artwork as a hi res pdf.
Open the pdf file in photoshop (cmyk) and I flatten the entire artwork (layers). Resave the hi res pdf.
Open the pdf back in illy, copy and drop the flattened file in the master and position. Resave this as a pdf that only contains the cut contour layer and flattened art (hi res) and bring into VW.

I print with a lot of transparencies and effects in images and though this is a bit of a process it works everytime. No elements drop out.

Hope this can help you out.

 

[Bobby H]

I'll second the round-tripping approach via Photoshop. The only alternative is doing a bunch of welding and cutting work within Illustrator (and then re-doing a lot of the fill work). That's a lot of work to do just to maintain the vector artwork. It's easier to just paste the Illustrator artwork into Photoshop, save the imagery as a TIFF image and then place that in an Illustrator document with the cut contour path and save as an .EPS file. You just have to make the Photoshop image as high a resolution as you need. 72ppi is good enough for a lot of vehicle wrap work. 150ppi is good for posters or anything else that will be viewed up close.

Roland really needs to fix VersaWorks so its Cut Contour functions will work with Illustrator-based .EPS or .PDF files featuring objects with clipping masks. Right now it doesn't. If you don't need cut contour functions in a print any .EPS or .PDF artwork will work regardless of the kinds of Illustrator-specific effects that are applied.

 

[Tizz]

Just thought of another approach. Create two files one with the artwork and effects/transparencies and another just with the cutcontour. Place a box around the entire two files (same size for positioning). Ensure that your printer returns to origin after print and send through the cut file. If laminating just have the crop marks selected.
I've never tried this personally but will give it a go.
Might want to give it a dry run first, just to be sure!

 

[Morkel]

Alternatively, AFTER you've flattened your transparency, make a new clipping mask for it that is the same shape as the CutContour layer, but offset however much bleed you'd want (eg, 5mm, rounded edges). Apply that and your art layer will be an even 5mm larger than the CutContour and centred to it.