Image Transparency & Pagemaker

[Carl B. Johnson]

> I tried using EPS in Pagemaker. The results were horrible. The photo looked like a stipple drawing. This was in Pagemaker 6.0

>
> What am I missing?

You are missing a couple things. First, the image you see in Pagemaker
is either a 1-bit or an 8-bit TIF preview. Print the page out (to a PS
printer only) and you will likely see that the image is better than
displayed on your monitor.

> What I’m trying to do is, export an image from PS 6.0 with a drop shadow and a transparent background into a document with a gray background in ID 1.0.2/PM 6.0 (either or).

Ed, AFAIK, Photoshop EPS will not retain transparency in Pagemaker.
Only Illy EPS, which is different han PS will do the transparency. Your
best bet is to create a TIF with the transparency and drop shadow and
matching background color of your document. Also PM6.0 was a kludge, if
you can afford, you should upgrade to 7.0 ($79 in the states) for best
results in PM.

[Cheesefood]

Viol, You're partially right.

AFAIK, Photoshop EPS will not retain transparency in Pagemaker




PM will retain transparency, but it's hard-edged.

What I’m trying to do is, export an image from PS 6.0 with a drop shadow
and a transparent background into a document with a gray background in
ID 1.0.2/PM 6.0 (either or).




Which is exactly why this won't work. The only way around it is to copy the area on which you'd like the dropshadow to fall, and use that as a background in an AI EPS.

Or, make your transparency no more than .02 x .02 x .02.

A drop shadow is nothing more than a feather and blur, which creates soft-edged transparency.

[Ed A. Ortiz]

viol8ion,

> Your best bet is to create a TIF with the transparency and drop shadow

and matching background color of your document.<<





I figured that's the only way I could do it. I just worry about the matching part of it all. I’m almost sure that my color profile is accurate; I just don’t have full confidence. My colors do match on screen across all apps; it’s just final output I’m worried about.

Imagine having a gray background in your PageMaker doc, and a darker gray box around your image…Yuk!

Cheesefood,

Not exactly sure what you mean, but I think I’m going to stick with matching the background anyways. I forgot EPS was for PS printers.

Outta curiosity, what would happen if I were to make a PDF containing EPS images? The print shop wants PDF files. Would this cause any conflicts?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

[Cheesefood]

Not exactly sure what you mean




What don't you understand? I can clarify.

Outta curiosity, what would happen if I were to make a PDF containing
EPS images? The print shop wants PDF files. Would this cause any conflicts?




If you use PM to make the PDF, only your hard-edged objects will export correctly when transparent. And you have to set it for Acrobat 5.0 compatibility, since 4.0 does a horrible job with transparent objects.

I forgot EPS was for PS printers




It's not.

[Ed A. Ortiz]

>The only way around it is to copy the area on which you'd like the dropshadow

to fall, and use that as a background in an AI EPS.<<




???

>If you use PM to make the PDF, only your hard-edged objects will export

correctly when transparent.<<




I was actually talking in general, not necessarily transparencies. But I understand what you mean.

[Ed A. Ortiz]

Len,

What a difference that made.

Thanks!