Question What causes this? I think I know the answer but....

[myront]

We've been given a pdf as a "print ready" file. We don't send the file straight to print without checking it for proper size and such. The 1st method we try is importing to corelDRAW that way any vectors are retained. If that looks a little squirrely we'll try and open in illustrator. If things still look a little off as a worst case scenario we'll open it in photoshop flatten it and save as a tif. Downfall is vectors are rasterized too.
Anywho, oftentimes these pdf's are broken into "chunks" and people on this forum will say "just print it, their won't be any lines". Uhhh wrong
My theory is that the parameters weren't set properly when the pdf was created.

 

[eahicks]

95% of PDFs we get do this. It's annoying. I just save as .TIF or .JPG depending on the final output and never have lines show up.

 

[myront]

95% of PDFs we get do this. It's annoying. I just save as .TIF or .JPG depending on the final output and never have lines show up.

Yep, that's what we did and got a black line through it. I did notice that the line will appear only at a certain zoom level. I think I'm gonna try and nudge that one piece about .01 inch then rasterize it all.

 

[Bigdawg]

I see this on most of the pdfs with placed art that I print. You may want to consider not moving things and printing a test (crop down to one of the areas you expect to see lines). I see the white lines in Illy when I look at it on screen, but I have never had the lines show up in the print.

 

[Superior_Adam]

A lot of times the lines will not show in print, we typically flatten the files. I believe when the files come in that way they are designed using InDesign or similar programs and not Illustrator/CorelDraw. I am dealing with one now that is saying when they convert the fonts to curves/outlines it is making their text look fuzzy and they are using InDesign to set artwork.

 

[mbasch]

The PDF process breaks it into chuncks so that it can open faster. The best way is to rip it in photoshop. Don't export from illustrator as a rastor. Just open the supplied PDF in PS.

 

[signman315]

You could also ask the customer to supply the tif/jpg already flattened...or like mbasch said open the PDF directly in photoshop, which occasionally will still show the lines in which case you could clone stamp the line out VERY quickly, not ideal but solves the problem without troubling your client. And as Superior_Adam mentioned most of the time the lines don't show in the print, but on rare occasion they do. So it's always worth a quick print test before trying to edit the flaws out. I've never liked PDFs for this reason as well as how they can mishandle transparencies and clipping masks sometimes too. AI, PSD, TIFF, and EPS are my go to formats. Best of luck

 

[myront]

Thanks all for the inputs.
Didn't want to go there but I believe it's all in the pdf settings on output. You can design in whatever program you want but you better know the "correct" way to produce a print ready pdf. The only thing that bothers me about using photoshop is that it rasterizes all the elements. I like to retain the vectors as much as possible. 9 time out of 10 something needs altered/fixed anyway. But in this case we ended up going the ps route and all is good.

 

[Solventinkjet]

Why don't you just open it in the RIP? It should interpret the file exactly how it's supposed to be and you can resize it there if you need to. I always open files in the RIP if I can. It cuts down on weird file conversions from different software, it can read fonts that you don't have, and it saves time.

 

[myront]

Why don't you just open it in the RIP?....

Never really considered that. But here's why.

I'm the designer/file prep person. Somebody else does the printing/runs the RIP. That person doesn't have the same "design knowledge" and limited to just cropping and or resizing. And like I said 9 times out of 10 something needs fixed/rearranged etc. Sometimes we get pdf's with the "it's sized already" line. A pdf with crop marks WILL NOT come into the RIP at the size requested. AND if by chance they follow my instructions to NOT use the crop marks they don't realize that you have to include a "sign blank" of some sort. If you just grab the elements the size won't be right either. We have to check EVERYTHING before going to print.

Back to the crop marks. I've cropped several pdf's to exactly those crop marks and they still don't match up with the requested size. Sometimes off by several inches! Takes to long to go back and forth for them to get it right. Quicker for me the arrange it/crop it properly and get the product out and all is happy.

For those of you out there who've only been on the design end please get some hands on training in the print world.

Guess I need a snickers bar

 

[WildWestDesigns]

For those of you out there who've only been on the design end please get some hands on training in the print world.

This is good advice no matter what the physical production method is being used.

 

[ColorCrest]

We've been given a pdf as a "print ready" file. We don't send the file straight to print without checking it for proper size and such. The 1st method we try is importing to corelDRAW that way any vectors are retained. If that looks a little squirrely we'll try and open in illustrator. If things still look a little off as a worst case scenario we'll open it in photoshop flatten it and save as a tif. Downfall is vectors are rasterized too.
Anywho, oftentimes these pdf's are broken into "chunks" and people on this forum will say "just print it, their won't be any lines". Uhhh wrong
My theory is that the parameters weren't set properly when the pdf was created.

You might re-think your workflow or invest in PitStop Pro by Enfocus because they way you're working now is wasting a lot of time and causing you more problems than you deserve.

 

[burgmurk]

Never really considered that. But here's why.

Back to the crop marks. I've cropped several pdf's to exactly those crop marks and they still don't match up with the requested size. Sometimes off by several inches! Takes to long to go back and forth for them to get it right. Quicker for me the arrange it/crop it properly and get the product out and all is happy.

I'll always go back to the client in those cases. Just in case the file is sized right but the "requested size" was a typo. If the file is wrong, i'll ask for a new one, or charge for adjustments.

 

[CanuckSigns]

That seems like a strange workflow. You should be able to open the file in acrobat to view it and to take any measurements you might need. From there you would drop it in the rip and do any scaling, cropping, colour adjustment or add any bleed you might need.

If clients are supplying you files for print there should be no need to rearrange anything, you can create a low res proof file in acrobat that you can email them to sign off on if you want. Anything beyond that needs to be kicked back to the client to fix.

I understand the mentality of "It's easier and faster for me to just fix it then to wait for the client to do it" but that is a slippery slope, if you do this for them once, they will expect it every time and will keep sending poorly set up files.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I understand the mentality of "It's easier and faster for me to just fix it then to wait for the client to do it" but that is a slippery slope, if you do this for them once, they will expect it every time and will keep sending poorly set up files.

That's if it's communicated to them in the first place. They may not know about. If they do know about it, I could just as easily see them trying to use that and say that it looks like crap and they aren't going to pay for it considering that things were changed without their approval.

 

[ADuke]

I've had this happen before as well. Sometimes if you select one of the .pdf chunks and unmask it (alt+ctrl+7), the complete image will appear or unmask all the chunks to layer and make the lines disappear.

Also, when I open a .pdf in illustrator, the image is fine but the text isn't. Here is a "trick" I have found for turning text to outlines in acrobat. It takes a little bit of extra time (maybe 5 minutes) but it avoids going back to the customer and asking for outlined text that sometimes takes days and delays the printing further.

Outlining Text in Adobe Acrobat X

1. Open the PDF in Acrobat.
   (You want to open the file in Acrobat, because Acrobat will display the type correctly, using fonts embedded in the file, even if the fonts are not installed on your computer.)
2. Click Tools and click Pages.
3. Click Watermark and select Add Watermark.
   
4. Type a period (or any other character) in the Text text box.
5. Drag the Opacity slider to 0%.
   
   
   
   You’ll need to add a textual watermark before outlining the text. Kick the font size down and set the opacity to zero so the watermark doesn’t interfere with the appearance of your document.
   
   
6. Click OK.
7. Click Tools and click Print Production.
   If you don’t see the Print Production panel under Tools, do this:
   a. Click the View menu.
   b. Select Tools.
   c. Select Print Production.
   The Print Production panel opens under Tools.
8. Click Flattener Preview.
   The Flattener Preview window opens.
   
   
9. Select the Convert All Text to Outlines check box.
10. Select the pages you need to convert to text from the Apply to PDF group.
11. Click Apply.
    
    Simply select the Convert All text to Outlines check box.
    
    If Acrobat warns you that the operation cannot be undone, click Yes to proceed.
    
    
12. Click OK to close the Flattener Preview window.
13. Click File and select Save As to save your outlined text PDF as a different file from your original.
14. Close the file in Acrobat and open it in Illustrator.
    You’ll notice that the text displays as it should, because it’s outlined. You can’t edit the text, but at least you can change the graphics to your heart’s content.
    
    
    
    

 

[Mosh]

I just RIP and print. If it sucks too bad, unless it is a good customer. I used to care, but now EVERYONE in a graphic designer, I love when they fail knocks them back to reality.

 

[AGCharlotte]

weird... the lines showing up in Acrobat are normally a display "error" at the particular zoom level. It's been a known issue with Acrobat for years and years. It also should not affect the printing as it's just how it's drawn on screen for viewing but apparently you're having an issue there too. In my opinion, there's something else with the file that has nothing to do with Acrobat (except for possibly the creation of the file, seems like I've seen something like this when generating PDFs from Office products), ie: the photo/graphics are being sliced/spliced causing the lines.