Product

Platform

All

Operating system

All

Error

Symptoms

PDF 1.4 transparent objects become opaque when viewed in Adobe Acrobat 4, or when using Prinergy to create output.

Cause

Adobe released Illustrator 9 (with PDF 1.4 support) and Acrobat 5 (with PDF 1.4 support) before they created a PDF 1.4 RIP for their OEMs.

Illustrator 9 allows you to create files with transparency. Saving this file as PDF 1.4 saves the transparency in native (unflattened) format. Sending this PDF to Prinergy can cause incorrect output, as the transparent objects will be rendered as opaque.

Solution

Prinergy 2.0.7 will warn the user when it encounters transparency in PDF 1.4 input.

Use Acrobat 5 or Illustrator 9 to flatten the transparency (save as PDF 1.3 or PS 3). Note that this will reduce the ability to make changes to the PDF later on, because the transparent overlaps have been rendered. Be sure to select a high enough rasterization resolution for your final output.

In Prinergy 2.1, Prinergy will flatten the transparent objects in PDF.

Permanent fix:

See also

Keywords

acrobat, Illustrator, PDF

Technical contact(s)

James Bredenhof

Submitted by

Date submitted

01 Nov 2001