Onyx v10 Illustrator drop shadow issue.

[Bly]

Does Onyx 10 handle files with drop shadows created in Illustrator any better than v7.x?
I spent hours last week on a job. Text with drop shadow on top of a spot colour background. If I flattened it in Photoshop the spot colour was too light. If I opened the PDF in the RIP there were nasty boxes around each letter.
At the moment there is no real reason for me to upgrade from 7 to 10, but if they've fixed this problem it could be worth the money and aggravation.

 

[Rooster]

Open the PDF in photoshop as LAB color. It will grab the actual LAB color specs for the spot(s) and you can then convert the file to your output profile.

It's not the most elegant solution, but it works.

 

[Rydaddy]

Had this problem on Friday. We are running X10. With that said I have been happy with the upgrade from 7. Just wanted to let you know that X10 will not fix that specific issue. Very frustrating problem...

 

[Bly]

Open the PDF in photoshop as LAB color. It will grab the actual LAB color specs for the spot(s) and you can then convert the file to your output profile.

It's not the most elegant solution, but it works.

Thanks Rooster I'll try this Monday.
Sounds like just the answer.

 

[Bly]

Had this problem on Friday. We are running X10. With that said I have been happy with the upgrade from 7. Just wanted to let you know that X10 will not fix that specific issue. Very frustrating problem...

I see no other reason to upgrade.
Apart from this issue 7 ain't really broke.

 

[Typestries]

And I see no reason why the top two industry programs can't get it together on this one. This is so frustrating and a huge disruption to workflow to a high volume shop, contributes to wasted material and wasted employee and machine time, which simply does not need to happen in a modern world.

onyx's answer-don't use illy or indesign drop shadows. Yeah, try telling that to customers.

Adobe's answer-it's not our problem, it's theirs.

Well, obviously small format rips can handle it. Onyx no. Thanks so much.

 

[richsweeney]

What is the best rip for indesign files

What is the best rip for indesign files or pdf work flow?

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Morning Bly,

Here are 27 pages explaining why that happens. I am yet to finish it all...

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/creativesuite/articles/cs3ip_transp.html#Introduction

I have had the same problem in Versaworks. Even my Xerox does it at times.

I have successfully used a preflight conversion setting in acrobat pro to convert such a file to a digital friendly version. I think the conversion of spot to process is handled within acrobat and you should be able to set it somewhere.

In Acrobat, check out;

menubar: advanced >> print production >> preflight (option "digital printing and online publication" --> Digital Printing Color).

When you click analyze, it will show the problems all listed... such as transparency. Fix, will fix it all up. Again, not too sure about where you can control the spot to process conversion, but am sure it is available somewhere around there.

Output preview is another good way to see what inks are being used, where, and how. You can also preview the image with different simulation profiles and the such.

menubar: advanced >> print production >> output preview

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Another "theoretical fix" might be to select all in Ai, and go to flatten transparency, and check the "preserve alpha transparency" box. In theory, this should fix the problem... I think.

 

[Bly]

Yeah I tried all that John.

Sometimes one of those fixes kinda works on some files..

Not a real efficient workflow though is it?

I'm ok with opening the file in Photoshop so long as it gives predictable output.
In fact I've gone to opening pretty much any PDF anyone gives me that way.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Yeah I tried all that John.

Sometimes one of those fixes kinda works on some files..

Not a real efficient workflow though is it?

I'm ok with opening the file in Photoshop so long as it gives predictable output.
In fact I've gone to opening pretty much any PDF anyone gives me that way.

Yeah it's a bit of a pain - Funny how it all stems from Adobe's original products not having transparency support, then having to build around that problem with things like "flattening" and the such.

Maybe eventually they will make 2 products, one for offset, one for digital. Why not? Double income for them.

 

[Custom_Grafx]

ALERT ON THIS METHOD BLY!

I almost got screwed big time on a 3metre job...

Had a pdf come in that opens correctly in acrobat...

I opened/rasterised with PS - and the colour overlay went missing (luckily I noticed - I almost went ahead and printed).

Looks like PS's rasterising doesn't respect overprints.

These graphic artists always find a way to screw up workflow I tell ya...

They had a coloured background on the bottom layer... then put a photo on top... and set the photo to "overprint".

 

[scott pagan]

x10 has the same issues with illustrator special effects as it has since illy added the raster special effects (v10). it is due to the fact the effects are rasterized images on top of the vector elements. when the vector elements are spot colors (CMYK colors are not as affected) Onyx Spot Color Replacement can not recognize the raster color as a spot color. therefore, the edges of the effects will display a color mis-match. using same color rendering in your prefilght icc profile for raster elements and vector elements will assist in removing the effects "box" from your image.

so to review: uncheck spot color replacement in onyx preflight; match rendering intents in your icc profile setup, apply and notice the box go away.

you may need to test proof the image due to spot colors colorshifting when the replacement is turned off. i keep a printout of a PMS chart with SCR on and off to compare how much color shift i may encounter.