Errors while using spot colors and transparencies

[Gayle...@adobeforums.com]

I am using Illustrator 10 and Jaguar and I have been struggling to print a file which has PMS colors and transparencies. I am able to print the layers separately, but when I put them all together the printer tries to process the file but takes so long it finally just dumps it.

Also, when I convert it to a PDF to try to print it an error message comes up saying "when spot colors are used with transparency, changing them to process colors outside of Illustrator can generate unexpected results."

Finally, when I try to open that PDF (after clicking OKay to the PDF conversion), I get another error message saying "there was an error processing a page. Tyhere was an error while trying o parse an image"

Please, can someone out there help me determine the problem with this file? I don't want to loose the transparency effect.

Gayle

[John_K...@adobeforums.com]

"when spot colors are used with transparency, changing them to process
colors outside of Illustrator can generate unexpected results."

That is a warning if you change the spot outside and only outside of Illustrator to cmyk. If you have it remain spot, it does not apply.

You do not mention the printer but make sure you have the latest drivers.

Now, are you printing separations or a composite to the printer? By converting to pdf, do you mean saving to pdf?

Desciribe in detail what forms of transparency used. Some forms of transparency do work with spot color. Others do not.

Are you printing directly from Illustrator or placing into a dtp application?

If you want to resolve this quickly, you can send me the file john(at)orionprinting(dot)com and I will report back here what the issues with the file are. (make sure to compress before emailing the file)

In troubleshooting your printer, I cannot help you there. I will be able to tell you if the file is good and if it is built correctly for separations.

[Gayle...@adobeforums.com]

Dear John,

Thank you so much for the speedy response to my Illustrator problem. I will try to work with some of your solutions but I really like the idea of sending you my file and have you take a look at it. I've wasted so much time on it and there are things that I just don't understand.

I am sending you an email with this message and much, much more. ;–)

Thanks again,

Gayle

[John_K...@adobeforums.com]

In the email, you mentioned the separations tab was grayed out. This means you do not have a postscript printer selected. You can select distiller (or Acrobat PDF) and print separations since that is a postscript device. Then you will be able to view the separated pdf in Acrobat and print from there if needed.

As to your file, you have printer's swatch callouts in the artwork designating that the artwork contains pms 137, Process Black and pms 3005.

In reality, your artwork contains pms 289, 2755, 3005, 137 and 653. The only thing designated process black is the printer's intruction callout. (with the exception to what follows.)

Illustrator does not possess the ability to make a dropshadow of a spot ink. All your shadows separate to cmyk.

1) Workaround is to make the shadow out of black ink (grayscale) and separate the shadow from any other elements.

2) Create a rectangle filled with the desired spot color the same size as the shadows bounding box, placed directly in back of the shadow.

3) Select both and create a clipped, inverted opacity mask. (through transparency palette)

You now have a shadow that will preview and output correctly as a spot color.

As to why it crashes on your printer, this is not exactly a small file that will be generated to your printer. You may be running into memory issues on your printer, you could still have old drivers. Also, your fonts may be the culprit of it not printing. Try deactivating the font and printing or copy and place some text in another document and print.

I was able to spool the file without problem. It also appears your fonts are fine because they embedded in the document without incident.

So, the major thing needed to be fixed is the shadows plus designating elements to their proper desired spot swatch.

John

edit: forgot to mention, the Process Black swatch is set up as a spot swatch. The black of the shadows do not print on the same separation as it does.

[Gayle...@adobeforums.com]

Wow John, you're amazing!!! I'm going to try that little shadow trick and I'll let you know how it went. I will also try Distiller to separate the colors though I only have an older version of Distiller. My printer is a postscript printer though so perhaps I just don't have the proper driver selected.

Thank you again for such prompt, thorough assistance.

Gayle

[Gayle...@adobeforums.com]

John,

I'm heading out now until Wednesday but I just wanted to let you know that I located the proper printer driver. It was in the Printer Description Folder in the OS9 system folder. I just copied it and put it in the OS X PPD folder and then, while I was in Illustrator –> Separation Setup I was able to select it from the proper place (OSX not OS9). It is no longer greyed out and I can see all the colors that I didn't mean to use in this monster file.

I'll do more experimenting later, until then… have a great weekend!

Cheers,
Gayle