AI CS PDF Broken: Fix Pleaz %D

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

Great.
And will this PDF now RIP?

[Lydia_Varmazis@adobeforums.com]

Hi Jason,

I am sorry to hear that you are having so much trouble with gradients in Adobe Illustrator CS. I would like to clarify a few things that may be leading to some confusion. I am not entirely confident that the RIPs noted at the top of this thread are indeed Adobe PostScript 3 Interpreters. I have never heard of them and their web sites make no mentioned of Adobe. (Usually certified partners mention Adobe.) If I am mistaken certainly clarify this.

Perhaps I missed it in this lengthy thread, when saving to PDF out of AICS, you did not mention which preset you used—Print, Illustrator, Acrobat 6 layers or which compatibility setting—PDF 1.3, PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5. We've made a lot of changes in the PDF functionality in AICS.

Could you provide us this information?

Thanks,

Lydia

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

Hi Lydia, thanks for responding.

Here are the settings that I am saving as:

Under General:

Preset is custom.

Compatibility is set to PDF 1.4. (I've tried 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5 with no difference)

Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities is turned ON.

Embed Page Thumbnails is turned ON.

Optimize for fast view is turned OFF.

View PDF after saving is turned OFF.

Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers is turned OFF. (it's greyed out with PDF 1.3 and 1.4)

Under Compression:

Color Bitmap Images is set to Bicubic Downsampling to 300ppi for images above 450 ppi. Compression set to JPEG, maximum quality.

Greyscale Bitmap Images have the same settings as Color Bitmap Images.

Monochrome Bitmap Images is set to "Do not Downsample".

Marks & Bleeds:

All marks are turned OFF, and no bleed set.

Advanced:

Embed ICC profiles is OFF.

Subset fonts when percent of characters used is less than 100%

Overprint and Transparency Flattener Options(which is greyed out when not using PDF 1.3)

Overprint is set to 'Preserve".

Preset: Medium Resolution.

All security options are OFF.

I can send you a summary if you like.

Here are links to the RIP manufactures' site detailing its 'compatiblity' (or lack of?) with PS 3.

PhotoPrint Server Pro <http://www1.scanvecamiable.com/products/printing.htm> They havent completely updated their site yet - this one still has the older version up.

Wasatch/Roland ColorRIP <http://www.rolanddga.com/products/software/colorip/>

ColorBurst Pro <http://www.colorburstrip.com/cbpro.html> This one worries me, at the very bottom they explain their PS interpreter. This is also the one driving our heavy machinery.

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

<< Color Bitmap Images is set to Bicubic Downsampling to 300ppi for images above 450 ppi. Compression set to JPEG, maximum quality.

Greyscale Bitmap Images have the same settings as Color Bitmap Images. >>

There lies the problem. (I am almost sure of it.)

Ann Shelbourne "Anyone seeing display problems with link-placed grayscale images?" 2/5/04 1:33pm </cgi-bin/webx?14@@.2ccfa7db/107>

I reckon that your RIP is picking up RGB info. from those accursed JPEG compressions!

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

Ann I was watching that thread like a hawk - no the compression settings dont change the output here.

I tried 'Default', 'Press', ect. All same results.

Those settings should only affect placed raster images, so I dont really see how it could affect native gradients but then again I'm not a programmer.

Thanks for trying though, my hopes were up for about 5 minutes.

[Ann_Shelbourne@adobeforums.com]

Oh well……

But aren't Illustrator's gradients rasterized on output anyway?
And "output" here is at the time that you make that PDF?
It has to be something that the is caused by the actual creation of PDFs by Exporting or Saving As.

But at least you now know that your RIP will accept your PDFs if you Print to PDF -- rather than Exporting or Saving As.

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

"But aren't Illustrator's gradients rasterized on output anyway?"

Not that I'm aware of - if that's the case then I'm surprised. They're not rasterized when re-opened by Illustrator anyways.

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

Gradient MESH object are rasterized when sent to a PS2 device. They
remain vector when sent to a PS3 device. "Regular" gradients remain
vector.

Of course if you mean LITERALLY "on output," then the answer's "yes."
But then again, everything's rasterized on output, isn't it?

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

"everything's rasterized on output, isn't it"

Not if you're outputting on a Durst - but yes, in our shop everything eventually gets rasterized.

[Lydia_Varmazis@adobeforums.com]

Gradient Mesh uses Adobe smooth shades. These are PostScript LanguageLevel 3 operators. <http://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/overview.html>

Therefore, when they are printed to a PostScript LanguageLevel 2 device (Adobe or non-Adobe) they are converted to JPEG prior to rasterization.

If they are printed to an Adobe PostScript 3 device, they are interpreted as vector (device resolution) and then rasterized. If they are printed to a non-Adobe or LanguageLevel 3 compatible device, it depends.

For a complete list of certified Adobe partners go to
<http://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/partners/main.html>

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

All three of my RIP's claim to be Postscript 3 compatible, in some way or another.

One claims to be a "PostScript Level 3 interpreter", another claims to have "Full Adobe® Postscript® 3™ compatibility", and the third one claims to be "certified Adobe® PostScript® 3".

A rep for the last one, BTW claims that they pay Adobe $1mil a year to be "certified Adobe® PostScript® 3".

What's the proper terminology to determine whether they are true PS level 3 RIPs or just some sales pitch?

If I'm going to go back to my RIP companies to complain, I need to have my terminology down so that I can properly state my case.

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

I no so feel good right now.

please?