Customizing Transparency Flattener Styles
When you print transparent artwork from Adobe InDesign 2.0 -- or export it to a format other than Adobe PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5.0) -- the artwork is "flattened." That is, InDesign cuts transparent artwork into multiple pieces, some that remain vector objects and some that become rasterized areas. Using transparency flattener styles, you can optimize the way InDesign prints transparent artwork to get the best results (see figure 1).

Figure 8

1. Open a document with transparent artwork. Create or open an InDesign document that contains transparent artwork.

2. Apply a pre-set style. Choose File > Print or File > Export. In the Advanced panel of the Print or Export dialog box, choose a default transparency flattener style from the Style pop-up menu. If you're printing to a high-resolution device such as an imagesetter, choose High Resolution; if you're printing to a desktop printer, choose Medium Resolution; and if you're exporting a file for on-screen viewing (such as an SVG file), choose Low Resolution (see figure 2). The High Resolution style retains more of the transparent artwork as vector objects, requiring greater memory and longer print times. The Medium and Low Resolution styles rasterize more of the transparent artwork, potentially reducing print quality.
   

   Figure 9

3. Print or export the file. Print or export the file after you've applied the default transparency flattener style.

4. Adjust the flattener settings. Evaluate the output. If it's acceptable, note which default style you used for the device. If the output is not acceptable, choose Edit > Transparency Flattener Styles, select the style you used, and click New (see figure 3). In the Transparency Flattener Style dialog box, name the style for the device you are printing to, and then adjust the settings for the style. Print with the new style. Continue making adjustments until the transparent artwork outputs successfully. (For more information about the flattener settings, see the InDesign user guide.)
   

   Figure 10

5. Share the flattener style. Choose Edit > Transparency Flattener Styles again. Click Save to save the styles to a file you can share with colleagues. Copy the saved file to other computers that use the same workflow; on those computers, choose Edit > Transparency Flattener Styles and click Load to load the styles you saved (see figure 4) -- in Windows, the file extension is *.flst.
   

   Figure 11

6. Troubleshoot specific documents. Use the transparency flattener style you saved when you print to the device you adjusted it for. If transparent artwork doesn't print as expected, override the style on individual spreads to troubleshoot. To override a style, select the spread in the Pages palette and then choose Spread Flattening > Custom from the palette menu (see figure 5). When you print or export the document, ensure Ignore Spread Overrides is deselected in the Advanced panel of the dialog box.
   

   Figure 12

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