Mysterious Box is printing behind shadows - from Illustrator

[signtist2004]

I HAVE a file that contains shadows created in illustrator, it doesnt show on screen, but when i print the image, a box behind the graphic shows as if its a bounding box where the shadow extends. Is there a preference in IllustraTor or in my Versaworks that i need to check? THansk in advance

 

[J Hill Designs]

my rip has this option, and fixes that -- set rendering intents the same for both raster and vector

 

[signtist2004]

"option'?

my rip has this option, and fixes that -- set rendering intents the same for both raster and vector

not understanding you. What RIP are you using?

 

[J Hill Designs]

flexi prod. mgr.

but I assume versa lets you mess with rendering intents?

 

[jfiscus]

It sounds like the standard "transparencies with spot colors" issue in the RIP. Illustrator even warns you about it when you save the document.

Remove your transparencies or remove your spot colors. If you're going to be doing a print-cut with this piece, then you'll have to remove transparencies. You "can" flatten transparencies in Illustrator, but it doesn't look that great and makes the artwork a larger, more complex file.

My personal preference is to open the Illustrator doc with Photoshop and save a JPEG/TIFF out of PS and drop it into Illustrator where the original vectors were and print from this 2nd rasterized doc.

ALSO: a photo of the printed problem helps a TON in diagnosis of your problem.

 

[idsignsil]

Versaworks does not like shadows or transparencies created in AI. Your best bet is to Flatten Transparencies in AI and print straight to Versaworks. It is under the Object menu. Just for future reference, if you ad a cut line in AI and it does not show up in Versaworks, usually it is because of a shadow or transparency. Flatten Transparencies and the cut line should show up.

 

[GoodPeopleFlags]

I'll set up the file in Illustrator then open it in Photoshop, flatten it and save it as a tif. That does the trick.

 

[MikeD]

Try converting your spot to CMYK or RGB (whatever you're working in) and flatten trans

 

[5Star]

This also happens to InDesign files as well. Even if exported as a Press Ready pdf.
It's not really a properly flattened file (if you can open the file in Illustrator and edit it, it's not really flattened).

Best thing to do with your Illustrator file is to save it as an eps and run it through Distiller to make a proper Press Ready pdf. If you open this pdf in Illustrator, you'll notice the page looks like it's all sliced up into rectangles. This is a good indicator of a flattened PR pdf.

As others have said, rasterizing it in Photoshop is another option along these lines.

 

[Markus59]

The file needs to be flattened. I usually bring the pdf into Photoshop, go to Layer tab then down to flatten, then resave the pdf.