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A thorough and accurate explanation of Adobe PDF and Transparenc
A thorough and accurate explanation of Adobe PDF and Transparency. A PDF Workflow with these products using transparency has become a reality.
Photshop has an easier way to work with eps and layers
Why not use Photoshop's ability to save a copy of your layered file in eps? You can do your revisions in the original file, don't flatten the layers, "save as" an eps (it adds "copy" to the file name), and you're there. Most RIPS can and do handle transparency quite well this way, and you're still able to edit your Photoshop file, in layers. This is also the best way to work with Photoshop vectors, DCS color, spot color, duotones, etc.
Sending PDFs to your printer is still very risky for most folks.
Charles Flemming
Transparancy and RIP
I agree with this article, to a point. I have to drive home the idea of flattening the artwork before sending to your service provider, though. It isn't only becuase some applications won't support transperancy, it's because no RIP that I'm aware of will. PostScript 3 doesn't (even though it supports reading PDFs), and there isn't a PostScript 4 on the horizon, yet. Even in PDF based printing workflows, you're going to run into this. Most PDF RIPs run it through their own version of distiller prior to outputing, so your lovely transparencies are going to be lost, and from what I've seen, misinterpreted. You're going to get nice white boxes where none should have been. I can't count the times my own prepress department has run into this, nor the hours spent editing and correcting supplied artwork so that files that use transperancies will work. That means a greater cost for you, or you clients. Please, flatten that artwork! Don't supply a file that uses transperancies to your service provider. It will cost them time, and you money.