Thank you for your further comments, Mathew :
[email protected] wrote:
The default driver for XeTeX is xdvipdfmx; you're probably already using
it, so that's most likely not your problem.
Yes, this is a XeTeX-specific question (I need non-TeX fonts), so I am using
the XeTeX default driver.
My next guess would be that there may be an issue with whatever you're
using to view the resulting .pdf file.
Same results in the TeXworks previewer, Adobe Reader 10.x and Adobe
Acrobat 7.x
You may be able to check the version of your PDF files with the "file" or
"pdfinfo" commands. My transparency-containing PDFs are reported
as version 1.5.
V1.5 (see below)
E:\TeX\Projects\Tests\TAR>pdfinfo TAR-1.pdf
Creator: XeTeX output 2011.06.05:1514
Producer: xdvipdfmx (0.7.8)
CreationDate: 06/05/11 15:14:36
Tagged: no
Pages: 1
Encrypted: no
Page size: 841.89 x 595.28 pts (A4)
File size: 25465 bytes
Optimized: no
PDF version: 1.5
Another thing to try: it's possible that using a transparent colour for
your text with the "color=" feature doesn't work even if using some other
route to transparency would work. I tried to reproduce your problem and
realized that the feature whose documentation you quoted from is a Plain
XeTeX feature associated with the "\font" command. I'm not familiar
enough with that low-level command to test it reliably; the approach I've
used, which has worked for me, is to use transparency at the level of TikZ
(they call it "opacity", which is just the inverse) in LaTeX, something
like this:
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[color=blue,opacity=0.2] at (0,0) {Blah blah};
\end{tikzpicture}
I think it'd be worth trying to set the colour and opacity in that way
rather than through the low-level \font command.
YES :-))) Finally it works. As I am already using TikZ because I also need
text-along-a-path, this solution is perfect. Thank you very much indeed
(but of course I would dearly love to know why the documented RGBA
specifier for the font colour does not work !).
Make sure your print shop can handle transparency. If they can't, you'll
be wasting your time trying to resolve the software issues on your own
end. I've heard professional designers claim snarkily that any shop that
can't handle (the very latest bleeding-edge optional features of...)
standard formats shouldn't be in the business, but it's a fact that many
shops who deal with the general public (e.g. Lulu, and Amazon CreateSpace)
insist resolving transparency should be the customer's problem, not theirs.
Unfortunately I am separated from the print shop by an intermediary
(the son of the shop owner), and I haven't even heard back from him
whether my first attempts (using Paintshop Pro X) will be suitable or
whether I need to pursue this XeTeX/TikZ route at all ...
Is it *really* prohibitive to rasterize? The resulting file sizes
shouldn't be all that bad, because of compression, and anyone with a
printer that handles huge media ought to be able to deal with files of the
size doing so requires. They have to print photos on their printer once
in a while, and as soon as they do, they'll be handling files larger
than yours.
I have no idea how the print shop will produce a 7m-long sign; for now,
I leave that up to them ! But at least I can now produce both
text-on-a-path
and transparency, so I feel that there is at last light at the end of
the tunnel.
Once again, many many thanks.
Philip Taylor
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