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The export transparent background function makes a clipping path with a flatness of 2. This, in itself, should not be problematic. Because the EPS file includes a mask, you don't need to use any masking in Quark. Just place the image in a picture container. Send me privately -- a sample eps -- 3-4 MB, along with a Quark doc with only the one image, prepared the way you're used to doing it, and let me take a look. Rich P.S. Make a PDF, too, just with the one image, and zip or stuff the files. -----Original Message----- From: On Behalf Of Catherine Osborn Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 10:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [PDF-Basics] press optimised PDFs fail at imagesetter PDF-Basics is a service provided by PDFzone.com | http://www.pdfzone.com/ __________________________________________________________________ Hello Rich, It really sounds as if you could be right. The problem may originate in the way I make the clipping paths in Photoshop. I often choose an image with a high contrast background, select all and then deselect the areas I want to discard with the magic wand tool. Once I'm satisfied with my selection, I invert it and then choose Export transparent image from the Help Menu to produce a Photoshop EPS with transparent background. I gather that the magic wand can create a lot of points on the resulting clipping path. I guess what I need to do is greatly simplify the clipping path if I want to use cutouts with transparent background in EPS format. So, after selecting the area a want, if I choose Select > Smooth and then enter a value of 8 before I invert to export a transparent EPS, will that achieve the effect you're suggesting I need? Or perhaps I should make my selections and masks by beginning with the magnetic selection tool in conjunction with Quick Mask mode to tidy up selection. My printer actually deals in PDF all the time and insists that mine are the only PDFs that won't print. If I hadn't been using the same process of making cutouts for several years in the newspaper where I worked until recently, I would have immediately suspected the problem was mine, not the printers. But my paper converted all our pages -- monochrome and four colour --- to PDF before sending them to our printers, and I used EPS cutouts --- sometimes with drops shadows --- nearly every day. Before now, I never had a problem. However, I do think that simplifying those EPSes must be the key. If I can't do that, I'm going to have to send the whole Quark file. Thanks for the tip. I'll certainly try it. Catherine Osborn On Saturday, Apr 3, 2004, at 14:57 Europe/Dublin, Rich Sprague wrote: > > PDF-Basics is a service provided by PDFzone.com | > http://www.pdfzone.com/ > __________________________________________________________________ > > I've followed this thread, and have been concerned that your problem > is not directly PDF-related at all, rather it may be issues with your > file/s creation workflow. > > If it were me, and this is the way I do what you are trying to do: > > 1. Mask your image with Photoshop (there are many ways to do this). > Convert > your selection to a path. Make your path a clipping path with a > flatness of > 8 (this has always worked for me, although some people choose 4 or 2). > Save > the image as an EPS file. > > 2. Import your EPS into a Quark container. You already have masked the > image, so have nothing further to do here. Save your file. > > 3. Either print a PostScript file and distill, or export your PDF from > Quark. Do not make a Quark EPS file. > > There are many ways of successfully achieving a PDF which will > properly separate, but there are also a snakepit full (of snakes) of > ways in which to create files which will barf during the RIP. > > I've used this workflow for 15 years, and it always has been > bulletproof for me. > > Rich > > -----Original Message----- > From: On Behalf Of Catherine Osborn > Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 4:52 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PDF-Basics] press optimised PDFs fail at imagesetter > > > Hello all, > I was having trouble actually making PDFs with EPSes containing > transparent backgrounds. I discovered that if I set the tolerance and > noise in the Quark runaround box to 5, I could produce "press ready" > PDFs with no PS errors. They displayed fine on screen and were easy to > send to the printers on the broadband line. However, my printers were > unable to make film for the imagesetter. The kept getting blanks. Has > anyone else had this problem? > My graphics files were all TIFFs and EPSes in CMYK at 300dpi with a > screen frequency of 175. > Although I could send the entire original Quark file on the broadband, > it saves the printers work if I can send PDFs. So far, however, this > has proved imposible, but oddly only with one of the printers with > whom I do business. > Any suggestions? > Catherine Osborn > > > To change your subscription: > http://www.pdfzone.com/discussions/lists-pdfbasics.html > > > To change your subscription: > http://www.pdfzone.com/discussions/lists-pdfbasics.html > > To change your subscription: http://www.pdfzone.com/discussions/lists-pdfbasics.html To change your subscription: http://www.pdfzone.com/discussions/lists-pdfbasics.html
