a designer's guide to transparency for print output, adobe

8/6/2019 A Designer's Guide to Transparency for Print Output, Adobe

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-designers-guide-to-transparency-for-print-output-adobe 1/34

whitepaper

ransparency eatures in Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 let designers and publishers

easily create, display, import, export, and print transparency eects—drop shadows,

eathering, blends, and layered see-through artwork. It’s easy to design transparenteects in Adobe Creative Suite 3 that print as intended—accurately, with minimal

processing and press time.

Te transparency eatures built into Adobe Creative Suite oer these benets to

designers and publishers:

• Freedom to easily create transparency eects in Adobe® Illustrator® CS3 and Adobe®

InDesign® CS3, including eects that blend multiple images or text with images.

• Ease o using transparency eects created in Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 with Illustrator CS3

and InDesign CS3—all o which share similar transparency capabilities.

• A exible workow that allows working across CS3 components to create the desired

eect: Use Photoshop CS3 or Illustrator CS3 to create press-ready graphics with

transparency eects; import graphics generated by Photoshop CS3 or Illustrator CS3

that include live transparency into InDesign CS3 layouts; or use the transparency

eatures in InDesign CS3 to apply transparency eects to placed graphics or to native

InDesign objects and control the output o graphics, type, and transparency eects.

opics covered here include best practices or creating transparency eects in

Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Adobe® Acrobat® 8.0 Proessional.

Also included are suitable le ormats or saving, exporting, and printing transparency;

relevant transparency issues and solutions; and how to prepare les or low-resolution

proong and high-resolution output, and or hando to a print service provider.

New transparency eatures in CS3New in Illustrator CS3, creating a new print document automatically assigns to the

document a high raster resolution o 300 ppi and the CMYK color mode, suitable or viewing and printing transparency eects, such as eathers and gradients.

New in InDesign CS3, you can create eects that generate transparency—such as

directional and gradient eathers—and set their blending modes and opacity. o create

eects, use either the Object > Eects menu or the Eects panel (Window > Eects to

display the panel, previously called the ransparency panel).

Note: Customers o Creative Suite 3 and Adobe Acrobat 8 Proessional will soon be able to

take advantage o print workow systems and RIPs powered by the Adobe Print Engine.

Tis technology allows PDF documents and jobs to remain unconverted and independent

o printing devices throughout a print workow. Te technology, or example, eliminates

the need to atten transparent artwork and eects to ensure accurate and consistent

reproduction o complex artwork, in all s tages o the production process—print preview,

proo, and print. For the rst time, prepress and print production tasks now can be done

using the same technology in Adobe applications—such as PDF rendering libraries and

color management systems. Licensed to Adobe pr int OEM partners and not available

o-the-shel, products based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine will be available beginning

mid-2007. For more inormation on the Adobe PDF Print Engine, visit www.adobe.com/

products/pdprintengine/ .

A Designer’s Guide toTransparency or Print Output

Who should read this

dgn n pb w wn mxmz

c npncy y c n ab

Cv s 3 n v p nn

w mnm cng g.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 Cng n vwng npncy c

12 impng n pcng f w npncy

15 Bng pg w npncy

19 B pcc wkng w npncy

23 svng n xpng f w npncy

27 Pnng f w npncy

33 dvng f w npncy y

pn vc pv

34 tnpncy- c

http://www.adobe.com/products/pdfprintengine/






a dgn’ G tnpncy Pn op

Introduction to transparencyransparency is the simulation o show-through when objects in artwork overlap. Photoshop CS3,

Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Acrobat 8 Proessional oer built-in transparency eatures

and controls or print and web publishing—a ar cry rom the early days o desktop publishing

when only opaque objects could be created, or the early days o transparency-creation that

required “attening” Photoshop layers and transparency, exporting les to non-native ormats

(EPS and IFF) that PostScript® printers could output, or costly manual prepress work.

Adobe recommends keeping transparency live as long as possible. Flattening should be done

by your print service provider. o design with transparency most eectively, however, it helps

to understand how transparency will be handled at print time and how attening aects

transparency. For more inormation, see the ransparency in Adobe® Applications: A Print

Production Guide, available at www.adobe.com/designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/ .

As a designer, your goal is to maximize t he value o transparency and minimize any changes to a

attened le, or the best quality print or web output. o help you achieve your goals, this guide

includes recommendations or printing to PostScript Level 2 and older RIPs and printing tech-

nology, which require adjusting transparent objects to be able to print them. We recommend that

you check with your print service provider about the technology used to image your les.

Technology advances in transparency supportIt’s important to use the latest versions and updates o Adobe technology, as well as the most

current version o PDF that allows or live (unattened) transparency, such as PDF 1.4 and later,

PDF/X-4 or both. Newer technology has minimized handling o transparency at print time andprint issues—such as undesired color conversions o color and type, rasterization o elements,

artiacts, slow print and processing time—not to mention time and materials wasted in trouble-

shooting, proong, and reprinting in the production process.

Other advances in technology that support transparency include:

• Support or transparent artwork and eects, as well as layers, is built into the PDF/X-4 standard,

incorporated into the Adobe Print Engine—enabling technology available rom third-party

vendors. Print workow systems based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine will be able to process

PDF/X-4 jobs natively, without attening artwork and converting the le to PostScript.

• Te CS3 product amily eatures improvements in the core technology that handles transparency

across the CS3 components.

• PostScript Level 3 raster image processors (RIPs), with built in support or the PDF 1.4 speci-

cation, can print transparency without requiring additional changes. Many newer desktop

laser printers are equipped with PostScript Level 3 RIPs, and many print shops are upgrading

their RIPs used with imagesetters and platesetters as well—precluding the need or designers

to adjust transparency in their artwork.

But the issue o handling transparency at print time remains or PostScript Level 2 and older

RIPs. Because PostScript Level 2 and older RIPs don’t support transparency and require convert-

ing vector art to rasters, Adobe applications include ways to “atten” or transorm transparent

objects into a orm suitable or these older RIPs. For these devices, it helps to understand how

best to create transparent artwork that will print as desired, and what happens when transparency

is attened.

Note: Photoshop has always been capable o pr inting artwork with transparency. A raster-based application, Photoshop’s eects are already in pixel orm that are easily digested by printer raster

image processors (RIPs). Tese same pixel eects could be applied as transparency to vector art in

Illustrator and InDesign, but printing them required converting vector art to rasters.

Create transparent overlays. A blend-

ing mode is applied to the top object

and an opacity value o 30% is applied

to the bottom object.

Add sof drop shadows.

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/

http://www.adobe.com/studio/print/






Creating transparencyAdobe publishing soware applies transparency in a number o dierent ways:

• In Illustrator or InDesign, lowering a selection’s opacity to less than 100% using the

ransparency panel.

• Using blending modes other than Normal on one or more overlapping objects (such as or

drop shadows) to vary how the colors o objects blend with the colors o underlying objects.

• With eathering that soens the edges o an object by smoothly ading the object rom opaque

to transparent over a specied distance, into the page background or any objects behind it.

Feathering can also be used to create halo and backl ighting eects.

• As a side eect o using live eects or styles and brushes that contain live transparency; or by

incorporating previously created content that contains live transparency, either by directly

importing it or via the Clipboard.

Transparency: live or attenedransparent content in les can be either live (editable and interactive with underlying objects)

or attened. Live transparency can be edited and can interact with underlying objects; attened

transparency cannot be modied using the source application nor any application into which

the le is imported. Flattening transparency accurately reproduces—by using opaque objects—

the visual eect o transparency on printed output or in exported le ormats that don’t support

live transparency.

You can open les that contain live transparency, such as native Photoshop, native Illustrator,

Illustrator EPS, native InDesign, and Adobe PDF 1.4 or later les, and edit the transparent

objects in the source application.

ransparency is attened on exporting to a ormat that doesn’t support live transparency (such

as PDF 1.3, PostScript, and EPS) and on printing les. Formats that don’t support live transpar-

ency include PostScript, EPS, Adobe PDF 1.3, DCS, GIF, JPEG, BMP, and IFF images created

prior to Photoshop 6.0. Because Acrobat Distiller consumes PostScript les as it creates a PDF

les, PDF created by Acrobat Distiller® also don’t support live transparency. For best results

when designing with transparency, let your print service provider atten live transparency when

needed. I your service provider is using the latest technologies that support PDF 1.4 and higher,

or one that is based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine, attening may be unnecessary.

At its simplest, attening converts all overlapping areas in a stack o transparent objects, plus alltext and graphics that interact with transparency, into opaque objects that retain the appearance

o the original t ransparent objects. Flattening cuts apart transparent art to represent overlapping

areas as discrete pieces that are either vector objects or rasterized areas. As artwork becomes

more complex (mixing images, vectors, type, spot colors, overprinting, and so on), so does the

attening and its results.

Note: Te Illustrator EPS ormat is actually two concatenated les: a native Illustrator ormat that

only Illustrator can open, and an EPS ormat that other applications can import or place. I you

open an Illustrator EPS le in Illustrator, all transparency remains live and editable. However, all

other applications use the attened artwork in a placed Illustrator EPS le.

Feathering, 12 point sharp

Blending mode (Screen)

50% opacity

Drop shadow




Creating and viewingtransparency eectsransparency eatures in Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Acrobat 8 Proessional

let you create and modiy various transparency eects, and control how these eects look on-screen.

Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 let you set transparency display deaults, and InDesign CS3

lets you override these global display settings or individual objects and spreads.

In Illustrator and InDesign, transparency is essentially an object attribute, like a stroke or a ll.You can apply one or more transparency eects to native objects (text and graphic) created within

Illustrator and InDesign or to imported graphics. For example, you can add a drop shadow to text

you’ve created in Illustrator or InDesign, and you can add a eathered edge to an imported graphic.

You can apply transparency eects to individual objects, multiple objects, and groups.

For best results when creating transparent eects, keep the ollowing in mind:

• Whenever possible, apply any Illustrator transparency eects as eects (using Eects commands

and options), not as lters. Filters alter an object, while eects are nondestructive: you can edit or

remove them rom an object at any time.

• Keep designs simple: don’t make them more complex than necessary. Te more complex the

design, the more complex the output.

• Don’t add a eather eect to small type or onts with a ne seri or script onts—unless you are

designing an eect that doesn’t need to be readable.

• Use the same output space and transparency blend space. Using a dierent output space (or

print or PDF export) and transparency blend space can shi color. For best results, use the

Document CMYK transparency blend space or printed documents.

For more inormation, see “Best practices or working with transparency” on page 19.

Setting up an Illustrator CS3 document or transparencyNew in Illustrator CS3, creating a new print document automatically sets up the document to

create artwork with transparency eects or print, with a high raster resolution o 300 ppi and

the CMYK color mode.

(o create a new print document, choose Help > Welcome Screen, and choose Create New PrintDocument; or choose File > New, choose Print or the New Document Prole, to set CMYK as the

color mode and 300 ppi or raster eects; view or change these options by clicking the triangle to

display the Advanced options. o create a layout or graphics or the web, choose Help > Welcome

Screen, and choose Create New Web document, to set the document’s color mode to RGB; or

choose File > New and choose Web or the New Document Prole.)

When you apply transparency eects in Illustrator CS3, colors are converted to the selected color

space when attening occurs. I possible, use the same CMYK color space or placed graphics as or

the document.

Transparency creation eatures in Illustrator Cs3Te ransparency panel (Window > ransparency) contains several controls or creating trans-

parency eects. Te Eect > Stylize menu contains additional transparency-creation eatures.

Te ollowing chart describes all o t he transparency-creation eatures in Illustrator CS3.

Blending Mode menu Opacity eld/slider

Transparency panel menu

Illustrator CS3 ransparency panel

Artwork thumbnail

Link button

Mask thumbnail




Illustrator CS3 Feature Description

Transparency panel Contains the ollowing controls or applying transparency eects to selected objects and groups:

Blending Mode menu Lets you vary the way the colors o objects blend with the colors o underlying

objects. (For inormation about using blending modes with spot colors, see

“Spot colors and transparency” on page 17.)

No blending Multiply blending mode

Q Opacity eld/slider Controls the amount o opacity or transparency applied to the selection. An

opacity o 0% makes selec ted objects completely transparent (that is, invisible);

an opacity o 100% makes selected objects opaque.

100% opacity 50% opacity

Thumbnails area Displays controls or working with opacity masks. (An opacity mask lets you

partially hide artwork using the mask ’s shape and luminosity. )

No opacity mask Opacity mask

Artwork thumbnail Displays a thumbnail view o the currently selected objects or groups. I the selection has an opacity mask, the objects are displayed unmasked.

Link button Lets you unlink and relink opacity masks.

Mask thumbnail Displays a black-and-white thumbnail view o an opacity mask.

Clip option Makes an opacity mask double as a clipping mask, which causes the masked

objects to be invisible outside the boundaries o the masking artwork.

Normal mask Clipping mask

Invert Mask option Reverses the luminosity values o the masking art work, which reverses the

opacity o the masked ar twork. For example, areas that are 10% transparent

become 90% transparent ater inversion.

Normal mask Inverted mask

Isolate Blending option Prevents blending modes applied to objects within a group rom being applied

to objects beneath the group. In this example, the ower shapes are grouped.

Isol ate Blending of Isol ate Bl ending on




Illustrator CS3 Feature Description

Knockout Group option Makes every object o a group visually block out underlying objects that are

part o the group. The Knockout Group option knocks out only objects within

the selected group. Objects beneath the selected group are still visible and

aected by the blending modes, and opacity values are applied to objects

within the group. In this example, the ower shapes are grouped.

K nockout group of K nockout group on

Opacity and Mask Dene Knockout

Shape option

Keeps a knockout eect proportional to the masking object’s opacity. The result

is that the knockout eect is strongest in areas o the mask that are close to

100% opacity. The knockout eect is weakest in areas with lower opacity values.

Unshaped knockout Shaped knockout

Transparency panel menu The Show/Hide Thumbnails command in the Transparency panel menu lets you show and hide the artwork and mask thumbnails; the Show/Hide

options command controls the display o the Isolate Blending, Knockout Group, and Opacity & Mask Defne Knockout Shape options at the

bottom o the panel. The panel menu also includes commands or working with opacity masks.

Efect menu stylize commands

(Efect > Stylize)

Displays the ollowing commands or applying transparency eects to selected objects and groups. The Blur eects (Eect > Blur > Gaussian

Blur/Radial Blur) also introduce transparency into a document, as does Rasterize eect (Eect > Rasterize), when used with the Transparent

Background option. The ollowing commands appear in the Eect > Stylize menu.

Note: The Eect menu applies the resolution o all eects in a document; to defne the resolution, use the Document Raster Eects Resolution

dialog box (Eect > Document Raster Eects Settings).

Drop shadow Adds a sot-edged shadow behind any object. You can place a drop shadow any

distance rom the original object along the x or y axis. You can apply a blending

mode and speciy the opacity, blur, and color o a drop shadow. I a drop

shadow’s blur value is set close to 0, the result can be a bitmapped raster eect

rather than a sot edge.

Shadowed text Shadowed graphic

Q Feather Sotens the edges o an object by ading them rom opaque to transparent over

the distance you speciy. By eathering the edge o an object, you can make the

object appear to ade smoothly into the page background or into any objects

behind it.

Feathered text Feathered graphic

Inner glow and Outer glow Adds glows that spread inside or outside the edges o the selection.

An inner glow creates a colored and eathered version o the original object

(which introduces a raster opacity mask) on top o the selection. An outer glow

creates a transparent raster object behind the selection.

Inner glow Outer glow




Tips or creating transparency eects in Illustrator CS3Te ollowing topics will help you create transparency eects easily and that reproduce as desired.

Setting a raster eects resolution

As you create them, raster eects are assigned a resolution setting. (Te selected attener preset

and its rasterization settings apply only during attening.) Because these settings greatly impact

the resulting artwork, it’s important to check the document raster eects settings beore you start

working with lters and eects.

Raster eects are eects that generate pixels, rather than vector data. Raster eects include SVG

lters, all eects in the bottom section o the Eect menu, and the Drop Shadow, Inner Glow,Outer Glow, and Feather commands in the Eect > Stylize submenu. Whenever you apply a raster

eect, Illustrator uses the document’s raster eects settings (Eect > Document Raster Eects

Settings) to determine the resolution o the resulting eect.)

Te Raster Eects Resolution setting is global and applies to all eects in a document; the deault

is 72 points per inch (ppi). You cannot apply dierent resolution settings to dierent objects.

Changing the Raster Eects Resolution value updates all eects that have al ready been applied

in the document.

I you have a complex illustration with many transparency eects, you may nd it aster to

work on the illustration at a lower resolution o 72 ppi, by selecting a Raster Eects Setting o Screen (72 ppi) resolution. Be sure to switch to a 300 ppi Raster Eects setting to nalize your

artwork, and tweak it at the nal resolution, because some eects may look dierent at the

higher resolution.

I you are printing to a high-resolution output device or exporting a le or eventual high-

resolution output, be sure to set a resolution value appropriate or the printer. Raster-based live

eects are no longer live once they are converted rom their native application.




Applying transparency eects to a group

ransparency eects applied to a group treats the group like a single object relative to underlying

objects. However, individual objects retain their applied transparency eects relative to other

objects in the group. Tis lets you create nested transparency eects that would be difcult or

impossible to create otherwise.

Speciying deault settings or transparency eatures

Change transparency settings when no objects are selected to apply the new settings only to

newly created objects. However, i New Art Has Basic Appearance is selected in the Appearance

panel (the deault), only a single ll and stroke is applied to new objects.

Identiying transparency eects

Use the Layers panel to keep track o how transparency is applied to objects and groups. A shaded

circle to the right o an object name indicates that transparency is applied to the object.

You can also use the Attributes panel (Window > Attributes) to see whether a selection has a ll

or stroke set to overprint or has a transparency eect applied, and to adjust those settings.

Displaying transparency in Illustrator CS3It’s important to be aware o when you’re using transparency. You can display a checkered back-

ground grid to identiy transparent areas o your artwork by selecting View > Show ransparency

Grid. (Choose View > Hide ransparency Grid to hide the transparency grid.) o set options or

the transparency grid, choose File > Document Setup, and select ransparency rom the menu at

the top o the Document Setup dia log box. You can change the appearance o the transparency

grid with the Grid Size and Grid Colors settings. You can also change the artboard color to simu-

late what your artwork will look like i printed on colored paper.

Document Setup dialog in Illustrator CS3

Setting up an InDesign CS3 document or transparencyo create artwork with transparency eects or print in InDesign CS3, create your document

and then choose Edit > ransparency Blend Space > Document CMYK (the deault). You should

also use the same CMYK color space or placed graphics, i possible. Flattening o transparency

eects in InDesign converts colors to the selected color space.

(I you’re creating a layout or graphics or print and have enabled color management, choose

Edit > Convert to Prole to convert the colors in the placed art to the nal CMYK output space.)




Transparency creation eatures in InDesign CS3Many o the transparency controls in InDesign CS3 are located in the Eects panel (Window >

Eects; called the ransparency panel in CS2). Te Eects panel has several controls or creating

transparency eects. In addition, Drop Shadow and Feather eects are in the Object menu. Te

ollowing chart describes all o the transparency-creation eatures in InDesign CS3.

Blending Mode menu Opacity eld/slider

Efects panel menu

InDesign CS3 Eects panel

Isolate Blending option Knockout Group option

InDesign CS3 Feature Description

Efects panel Contains the ollowing controls or applying transparency eects to selected objects and groups. The Eects panel menu has a Show/Hide

Options command or displaying and hiding the Isolate Blending and Knockout Group options at the bottom o the panel.

Blending Mode menu Lets you vary the way the colors o objects blend with the colors o underlying

objects. (For inormation about using blending modes with spot colors, see

“Spot colors and transparency” on page 17 .)

No blending Blending applied (Multiply)

Q Opacity eld/slider Controls the amount o transparency applied to the selection. An opacity o

0% makes the selected objects completely transparent (that is, invisible); an

opacity o 100% makes the selected objects opaque.

100% opacity 50% opacity

Isolate Blending option Prevents blending modes applied to objects within a group rom being applied

to objects beneath the group.

Isolate blending of Isolate blending on

Magenta group in ront o yellow shape

Knockout Group option Makes every object o a group visually block out underlying objects that are

part o the group. When you select Knockout Group, only objects within theselected group knock out. Objects beneath the selected group are still visible

and are aected by the blending modes and opacity values applied to objects

within the group.

Knockout group of K nockout group on

Efects panel menu The Show/Hide Options command in the Eects panel menu controls the display o the Isolate Blending and Knockout Group options at the

bottom o the panel.



a dgn’ G tnpncy 10 Pn op

InDesign CS3 Feature Description

Object menu Efects commands

(Object > Efects)

The commands below let you apply transparency eects to selected objects and groups.

Drop Shadow Adds a sot-edged shadow behind any object. You can place a drop shadow any

distance rom the original object along the x or y axis, and you have the option

to apply a blending mode and speciy the opacity, blur, noise, spread, and color

o a drop shadow.

Shadowed text Shadowed graphic

Q Basic Feather

Directional Feather

Gradient Feather

These Feather commands soten the edges o an object by ading them rom

opaque to transparent over the distance you speciy. Feathering the edge o

an object makes the object appear to ade smoothly into the page background

or into any objects behind it. Feathering creates a raster image and applies

it as an opacity mask to the original object. When you eather an InDesign

object, you can also choose to diuse, round, or sharpen the edges and add

noise. Directional Feather applies eathering in any direction or along a

specifed angle or edge. Gradient Feather applies eathering along a specifed

transparency gradient, in linear or radial ashion.

Note:The resolution o drop shadows and eathered objects is controlled by the

Gradient Resolution setting in the Transparency Flattener Presets dialog box.

(Edit >Transparency Flattener Presets).

Feathered text Feathered graphic




Displaying transparency in InDesign CS3You can choose several dierent ways to display transparency in InDesign CS3:

• Globally, using Preerences > Display Perormance.

• By individual documents (View > Display Perormance); these settings override global settings.

• By individual objects (Object > Display Perormance); these settings also override global settings.

None o these options aects transparency when it is printed.

Setting display preerences in InDesign CS3Te Preerences > Display Perormance panel lets you control how graphics and transparency

eects appear on-screen, the overall display speed and quality, and the deault proxies used to

display raster and vector images and transparency.

Choose rom these Deault Views:

• Fast draws a raster image or vector graphic as a gray box (the deault). Use this option to

quickly page through spreads that have lots o images or transparency eects.

• Typical draws a low-resolution proxy image (the deault) appropriate or identiying and posi-

tioning an image or vector graphic. ypical is the astest way to display an identiable image.

• High Quality draws a raster image or vector graphic at high resolution (the deault), or the

highest quality display but slowest perormance. Use this option to ne-tune an image.

InDesign CS3 Preerences

o change the deault views or the appearance o transparency use the controls in the Adjust

View Settings area. Consider the ollowing using the ransparency slider:

• Moving the slider all the way to the right selects the High Quality setting, which allows

accurately positioning objects with drop shadows.

• Moving the slider all the way to the le turns o the transparency display, which lets you

quickly move objects and navigate spreads in a very large document. urn o the transparency

display only i you have good reason: when it is o, you cannot see whether objects on a page orspread have transparency or transparency-based eects applied to them.

Determining whether transparency eects are presentTe Pages panel displays a checkerboard pattern on pages that contain objects with transparency.

I you cannot tell which objects use transparency, use the Flattener Preview panel (Window >

Output Preview > Flattener) to determine which objects have transparency eects, as well as

which objects aected by transparency. (For more inormation on the Flattener Preview panel,

see “Printing Files with ransparency” on page 27.)




Importing and placing fles withtransparencyransparency can be added to a layout by importing graphics that contain live (unattened)

transparency, including native Photoshop, native Illustrator les, and PDF 1.4 and later les.

Native Photoshop les with transparency don’t have to be attened. Simply place the native

Photoshop le into Illustrator CS3 or InDesign CS3, both o which can recognize transparency

inormation in placed graphic les. However, i you need to change the original graphic, it mustbe done in the originating application.

Working with transparency in placed graphicsYou can work with transparency in placed graphics in these ways:

• Aer placing a transparent graphic into a layout, use Illustrator CS3 or InDesign CS3 eatures

to manipulate and properly place the graphic. For example, crop, scale, rotate, shear, or ip the

imported graphic.

• A graphic with live transparency placed into Illustrator CS3 or InDesign CS3 will interact

with other objects on the page. For example, an object with the Multiply blending mode will

interact with native InDesign objects or other placed images that are underneath the placed

object on an InDesign page.

• You can apply transparency to placed graphics (whether they contain transparency or not).

• You can combine imported graphics with native objects to create new transparency eects.

For example, you can import a native Illustrator CS3 graphic le (an AI le) that contains

transparency into InDesign CS3.

• You can apply additional transparency eects—perhaps a drop shadow or a eathered edge—to

the imported graphic and place it above or below other imported graphics and InDesign CS3-

native objects to which transparency eects are applied.

3

Quality 1

2

4

Interacting transparency eects on InDesign CS3 page: (1) “Quality” text rame with a drop shadow, created in

InDesign CS3, is rontmost. (2) Placed Illustrator CS3 graphic (two ower shapes and rounded square shape), with

blending mode applied, is middle in stacking order; (3) Blue rectangle, created in InDesign CS3 , is next down in

stacking order. (4) Yellow rectangle is at bottom o stacking order.




Placing graphics with transparency into Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 can import graphics with live transparency in various le

ormats (File > Place), listed in the ollowing chart. Save les in one o these ormats i you’re

creating transparent graphics or use in Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 layouts. (For inorma-

tion on exporting Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 les, see “Saving and Exporting Files with

ransparency” on page 23.)

Using le ormats that preserve live transparency lets you control attener and resolution settings

right up until you print or save the job in a non-native le ormat (such as PostScript), with one

exception: Raster-based live eects, such as drop shadows and eathered edges, are no longer live

once they are converted rom their native application.

(However, i you save the raster eects rom Illustrator as a PDF le with the Preserve Illustrator

Editing Capabilities option selected, you can still change the resolution raster eects setting

by reopening the le in Illustrator. See “Setting a raster eects resolution” on page 7 or more

inormation. It’s recommended that beore you atten or convert Illustrator artwork, set a raster

eects resolution or the artwork that’s appropriate or the printer’s resolution—typically 300 ppi.)

ransparency attributes remain live in Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les, but not or raster elements,

including vector objects to which raster-based live eects have been applied. InDesign CS3

allows linking directly to native Illustrator CS3 and Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les, enabling you

to preserve live transparency throughout the page layout workow. Your print provider can then

atten all transparency in a job at once, directly rom InDesign CS3.

Note: ypically, attening or high-resolution output is done by the pr int service provider rather than the designer. I you need to atten artwork, consult with your print provider to determine the

best attener settings.

Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 Import ormats How transparency is embedded

Illustrator Native (AI)

(Illustrator 9, 10, CS, CS2, and CS3)

Live or attened within Illustrator

Photoshop Native (PSD) Live and, optionally, layered

Adobe PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4), including PDF/X -1a

and X-3 standards

Flattened

Adobe PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5), PDF 1.5 (Acrobat

6), and PDF 1.6 (Acrobat 7) , including PDF/X-4

standard

Live i saved rom Illustrator or Photoshop or exported

rom InDesign; attened i created using Distiller

EPS (rom Illustrator and Photoshop) Flattened*

Other ormats (EPS not rom Illustrator

and TIFF)

Flattened**

* Illustrator CS3 can open EPS fles created with

Illustrator, and you can edit the transparency.

Illustrator 9 and later fles contain a native, non-

attened Illustrator part that can be read only

by Illustrator, and a attened EPS part that canbe placed into all EPS- compatible applications.

Transparency in an Illustrator EPS fle is considered

attened i the fle is placed into InDesign CS3 and

other programs.

** Some graphic le ormats cannot h andle live

transparency. Artwork must be attened beore

converting to these ormats.




Whenever possible, use le ormats that preserve live transparency as hand-o les or source les

or placement in layouts or other documents and or delivery to your print service provider. Some

applications, such as Microso® Word and QuarkXPress® 6.x and earlier, cannot understand live

transparency and cannot atten properly. In applications that do not support live transparency,

use attened artwork when placing les. o place transparent content, use Adobe soware. For

the best possible output, use the latest versions o Adobe soware and output ormats.

Placing EPS graphics into Illustrator CS3Unlike previous versions, Illustrator CS2 and CS3 let you place-link (rather than embed) and

correctly print EPS les (including duotones), even i they interact with transparency. When you

place EPS les that are duotones, do not embed them. Embedding an EPS le converts it to the

document color space (CMYK or RGB).

Placing Illustrator-generated transparent graphics into InDesign CS3InDesign CS3 maintains a graphic’s live transparency and its eects relative to native InDesign

objects (that is, drop shadows, blending modes, overprinting, and so on, are maintained) when

the eect created in Illustrator CS3 is saved as AI or Adobe PDF 1.4 and later le, and placed

in InDesign.

InDesign CS3 treats transparency in EPS les as attened, and the graphic attened relative

to InDesign CS3 objects, when it places an EPS le created with Illustrator CS3. (However, the

transparency eects remain live i the le is reopened in Il lustrator CS3.) Likewise, transparency

is attened i an Illustrator EPS le is opened in Photoshop CS3 or distilled with Distiller.

Illustrator EPS les are useul or placement into page layout programs that do not support

native transparency. You can always edit the original Illustrator le and change the raster eects

resolution, either by opening the le within Illustrator or by selecting the graphic in InDesign

and choosing Edit Original rom the Links panel menu.

Dragging and dropping or copying and pasting Illustrator CS3 transparentgraphics into InDesign CS3Dragging and dropping or copying and pasting objects rom an Illustrator CS3 document to

InDesign CS3 does not create a link between the InDesign document and the Illustrator le;

subsequent changes to the original object in Illustrator won’t update the object in InDesign.

Dragging and dropping or copying and pasting a PDF graphic into InDesign CS3, adds the

graphic as a single noneditable object without a link reerence in the Links panel—essentially

converting it rom an Illustrator object to an InDesign native object when possible. I InDesign

can’t convert the object (or example, because it is a gradient mesh), it embeds the graphic.

Set preerences beore dragging and dropping or copying and pasting Illustrator objects that

contain gradients, patterns, blends, or transparency into InDesign layouts.

• In Illustrator CS3 on Mac OS, choose Preerences > File Handling & Clipboard and set Copy

as PDF (to Clipboard) and deselect AICB (Adobe Illustrator Clipboard ormat). By deault,

InDesign CS3 does not accept PDF data rom a copied and pasted Illustrator graphic i AICB

inormation is also on the clipboard.

• In InDesign CS3, to be able to paste copied PDF data, choose InDesign > Preerences >

Clipboard Handling, and choose Preer PDF When Pasting.

Note: In general, InDesign CS3 can edit AICB, but not all native Illustrator objects, such as gradient

meshes. Te latter objects become embedded graphics and are listed in the Links panel.




Building pages with transparencyAs the number o overlapping transparent objects increases, so does the complexity o the trans-

parency inormation. For example, placing shadowed text in ront o only the page background

is simpler than placing shadowed text in ront o an imported graphic. In the latter case, the drop

shadow must be combined with the underlying graphic or display and printing.

ry to build your transparency eects as efciently as possible to minimize display and print-

ing problems. Use good judgment when designing with transparency. For example, it may be

possible to eather the edge o small type with ne seris, but the resulting text may be difcult orimpossible to read.

Object stacking order and transparencyEach new object you create is placed on top o all existing objects, cal led the stacking order.

(For layouts with multiple layers, new objects are placed at the top o the selected layer.)

Te stacking order becomes more complicated when you’re working with a group or a layer, each

o which has its own stacking order and can have transparency applied dierently to an object,

a group o objects, or a layer o objects. You can adjust the stacking order o an object by moving

it orward or backward relative to other objects on the layer or page. Layers (and the objects in

layers) are also organized in a stacking order—the layers at the top o the list in the Layers panel

(Window > Layers) are in ront o the layers at the bottom o the list.

ransparency eects don’t have to involve overlapping objects, but they oen do. For example,you can apply an opacity o less than 100% to lighten any object, whether it’s in ront o other

objects. But by lowering the opacity, not only is the object lighter, it’s also semi-opaque, which

causes it to blend with any underlying objects it overlaps.

When you’re working with transparent objects that overlap, remember that changing the stacking

order can change the appearance o overlapping areas. When you create transparency eects that

involve overlapping objects, make sure that the stacking order produces the intended results.

Generally, type should be on top o all other objects unless it needs to interact with transparency.

Placing text rames and spot colors on the top o the stacking order will help keep them rom

being involved in transparency attening.

In general, apply transparency to objects that are in ront o other objects so that ront objects blend

with those behind.

How complexity grows when combining

transparency eects and overlapping objects

(native InDesign text rame and placed graphic).

No transparency eects applied to either object.

Drop shadows applied to both objects

Multiply blending mode applied to text rame




Blending modes and transparencyInDesign CS3 properly handles spot color and transparency in most situations. However, i

your artwork uses more complex blending modes—such as Dierence, Exclusion, Hue, Color,

Saturation, or Luminosity—with transparent objects that interact with spot colors, either use

the Separations Preview panel to monitor the results, or achieve the eect using other blending

modes or techniques. Using complex blending modes with spot colors won’t convert them to

process colors, but may produce unexpected results when the modes interact with transparency

and spot colors.

In Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Acrobat 8 Proessional, use Overprint Preview or the most

accurate representation o what the nal output will look like. Use the Separations Preview panel

in InDesign CS3 and the Output Preview dialog box in Acrobat 8 to determine what color plates

result rom combining blending modes with spot colors.

No transparency

100% cyan

(process)

100% Pantone 530

(spot)

Dierence blending mode applied to Pantone 530

object creates a dark region where it overlaps

the underlying cyan object, on attening and

printing the object.

No transparency eects produces

two separation plates: or cyan and

Pantone 530 object.

Dierence blending

mode produces ve color

plates: attening requiresconversion o spot into

process colors to properly

blend the colors.

!




Spot colors and transparencySpot colors that interact with transparency are preserved in native Illustrator les, EPS les, and

PDF les. Spot colors are not preserved in le ormats, such as SVG, that do not support spot colors.

InDesign CS3 preserves spot colors and duotones—including spot colors that interact with

transparency and that are set to overprint.

Spot colors are preserved when they interact with transparency because the Flattener adds over-

print instructions to appropriate spot-colored atomic regions; thus, the designer does not need

to assign an overprint to objects with spot colors. For example, the Flattener automatically adds

overprint instructions in the atomic regions where a spot-colored object with the Multiply blendmode is placed on top o another spot- or process-colored object.

As a designer, it’s important to incorporate spot colors into your artwork only when you know

how they will be used on press.

o display overprinted colors, select Overprint Preview.

o simulate overprinted colors on your desktop prooer, select Simulate Overprint in the Print or

Export dialog boxes. (Te output approximates what you see on screen with Overprint Preview

turned on.) Te overprinting color inormation is simulated by your composite printer and

matches the appearance o overprints in press output.

Select Simulate Overprint only or composite output (desktop proong); this option simulates

overprint appearance at the expense o preserving spot colors; always turn o Simulate Overprint

or nal output. InDesign CS3 correctly separates spot colors and overprinting when yououtput separations.

ransparent artwork must be processed by an application that can handle attening, such as

Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Acrobat 8 Proessional. Illustrator CS3 has all the controls or

printing Illustrator graphics created with transparency.

I you need to place Illustrator artwork into a page layout program, it’s recommended that you

use InDesign CS3, especially i the artwork includes transparency, because InDesign supports

transparency. I you must save an Illustrator CS3 le as EPS and place it into a layout application,

it’s recommended that your service provider convert spot colors to process using the provider’s

preerred conversion values rather than by using the layout application’s ink management controls.

Exporting an Il lustrator le to EPS and placing it into QuarkXPress 6.5 or earlier is not a good

option when the illustration contains transparency, because QuarkXPress only sees the attenedpart o the Illustrator EPS le.




Overprinting and transparencyransparency can aect overprinting. Illustrator CS3 lets you preserve, discard, or simulate

overprints (in the Advanced pane o the Print dialog box). InDesign CS3 preserves overprint-

ing in documents that don’t contain transparency (including non-normal blending modes).

However, i overprinting is mixed with transparency, attening can preprocess overprinting

where both overprinting and transparency are applied.

I an overprinted object is involved in transparency, the overprinted object is divided into atomic

regions and their color is attened. Flattening o overprinting maintains the v isual appearance

o the objects involved, and it separates correctly. Flattening an overprint does not necessarily

remove it. In the case o two objects to which process colors are applied, the intersection o

divided atomic regions is a single process object. I spot colors are involved, overprint is required

to separate the colors correctly.

In other scenarios—such as when spot colors involved in transparency are attened—atten-

ing can generate overprint instructions, even i no overprint is set manually. Illustrator CS3 and

InDesign CS3 handle the attening and correctly manage the spot colors. When opening or

placing attened Adobe PDF 1.3 les, you may need to turn on Overprint Preview to accurately

preview the le.

Overprinting instructions are preprocessed by the attener (that is, attened and no longer live)

under the ollowing conditions:

• Overprint ing objects have transparency applied directly to them (or example, objects that are

less than 100% opaque).

• Overprinting objects are part o a group to which transparency is applied.

• Overprint ing objects are overlapped by or are within approximately 1/72" o transparent

objects or groups.

• A placed graphic, containing overprinted objects, has transparency applied to it.

• Overprinting objects are part o a complex region o transparency that must be rasterized

during attening.

• Simulate Overprinting is selected in the Output pane o the Export Adobe PDF dialog box

(InDesign CS3 only).

• I you choose to simulate overprints in the Illustrator CS3 Print dialog box (File > Print >

Advanced > Overprints > Simulate).

In many cases, the results o attening overprinting instructions are identical to what happens

when a PostScript RIP interprets the same overprinting instructions, and it should not cause a

problem in your workow.

Note: In Illustrator CS3, you can preserve overprinting instructions by selecting Overprints >

Preserve in the Advanced panel o the Print dialog box.




Best practices or working withtransparencyo minimize the possibility o transparency-related problems, you should:

• Install and use the latest Adobe soware updates.

• Move all text objects that don’t interact with transparency to the top layer o the document.

• Proo documents on-screen by enabling Overprint Preview or by displaying the SeparationsPreview panel to ensure the output appears as intended. Also use the Flattener Preview panel

to display which transparent objects are aected by attening.

• Install and use the latest PostScript Printer Denitions (PPDs)/printer drivers.

• Inorm your print provider whether and how you have used transparency.

• Set your printer to disable any preprocessing o images in the print driver, such as vivid

color or intelligent color. Many print drivers have soware that enhances the appearance o

photographs; however, such soware cannot distinguish between photographs and rasterized

atomic regions, and changes the color o all rasters and causes stitching problems.

• Make sure that your service provider has the latest RIP soware updates and uses them.

• Read the ReadMe.PDF les that accompany the product insta llers or additional known issues,resolved issues, and production and troubleshooting tips.

• Be careul when you mix overprinting and spot colors with transparency. o view the printed

results o overprinting on-screen, enable Overprint Preview.

• I possible, save native copies o your Illustrator CS3 les.

How transparency is attenedechnology built into Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat attens transparent objects by breaking

them up into smaller nontransparent objects. Te technology (called the ransparency Flattener

or Flattener) uses various methods to atten transparency:

• It rasterizes artwork into a bitmapped picture.

• It retains vector artwork where possible and breaks up parts o the artwork that overlaptransparent areas, into smaller opaque regions (called atomic regions and complexity regions)

to simulated the transparent eects.

• It clips overlapping regions o transparency into smaller groups.

You can automate the attening process when exporting or printing Illustrator, InDesign, or

Acrobat 8 Proessional (that is, PDF) documents that contain transparency by using transparency

attener presets. Use a predened attener preset, or customize a preset with settings appropriate

or your nal output (Edit > ransparency Flattener Presets). Ten apply these settings when you

print or export to PostScript, PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4.0), SVG, or EPS ormats.




Rasterizing

Rasterizing converts vector graphics, onts, gradients, and gradient meshes into bitmap images

or display and printing. During attening, Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 look or areas

where transparent objects overlap other objects and then divide the artwork into a collection

o regions reerred to as atomic regions. Each region is analyzed to determine whether it can

be represented as vectors or must be rasterized (converted to bitmaps) to achieve the expected

transparency eect.

At the time o attening, you can set a Raster/Vector Balance value to determine how hard the

Flattener works to keep objects in their vector orm in the attened output. Tis setting can also

aect attening perormance. For complex documents, attening in vector orm requires moretime and memory than rasterization.

3D representation o attening. op layer is resulting vector shapes—“S” and

three pieces o purple background object. Middle layer is rasterized areas:

jellysh, starsh, and par t o purple background object. Bottom layer shows

how vector and raster areas combine to produce nal art work.

Highlight: All Aected Objects displays

areas aected by attening in pink;

areas not aected by attening are g ray.

Flattener Preview panel (InDesign,

Illustrator, and Acrobat) highlights

transparent objects and images, and

areas aected by transparency.

How attening is perormed on an InDesign page (the same as on an Illustrator page):

1) Jellysh vector graphic created in Illustrator; 5-point eathered edge added in InDesign.

2) S text character created in InDesign with 70% black drop shadow and Multiply blending

mode applied to shadow.

3) Starsh as placed IFF image; Multiply blending mode applied in InDesign.

4) Purple background shape is InDesign object.

S




Atomic regions

An atomic region is a discrete shape produced by attening overlapping transparent objects.

Te shape o an atomic region typically ollows the natural lines, curves, and shapes o the

objects involved.

Complexity regions

A complexity region is an area where many transparent objects with multiple transparency

eects overlap. Instead o being represented as many small atomic regions, the objects within a

complexity region are “baked into” a single rasterized shape during attening. Te highest del-

ity setting produces no complexity regions, or the best output but possibly slow perormance.

Minimizing artiacts

ransparency attening art iacts can include thin white or black lines (called seam stitching)

along adjoining atomic regions, or visible color transitions between atomic regions with similar

or identical coloring. Tese artiacts occur more oen on-screen or on low-resolution devices

such as a desktop color laser printers, than in nal printed output (300 dpi or higher).

Tese artiacts—or deects—can show up on-screen or in print or various reasons: Limitations

in the RIP, or how well a printer can process atomic regions generated through attening; an

application’s attempt to antialias the edges o atomic regions on-screen; or dierent smoothing

(antialiasing) settings in a monitor or low-resolution device applied to adjacent atomic regions.

Te noticeable white gap between two parts o the background appears only when viewing a at-

tened PDF in a viewer that does anti-aliasing or smoothing, typically not in print. o reduce the

possibility o artiacts when viewing PDF documents in Acrobat 8 Proessional, choose Acrobat >Preerences and in the Page Display panel, and turn o smoothing or line art and images.

o reduce the possibility o artiacts when printing, do the ollowing:

• In Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 documents, choose Edit > ransparency Flattener Presets

and select Clip Complex Regions, and click OK.

• In Acrobat 8 Proessional, choose Advanced > Print Production> Flattener Preview, and select

Clip Complex Regions. Editing the attener preset displays the Save button. Click Save to name

and save the custom preset. Ten select the preset when you print (Print > Advanced > Output).

I you or your print service provider experience artiact-related problems when printing les

with transparency, see ransparency in Adobe Applications: A Print Production Guide at

www.adobe.com/designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/ or more on preparing les

with transparency or print output.

Q








A fnal word o caution Despite your best eorts to avoid transparency problems, some may still arise. Following is a

list o problems that can occur in order o likelihood. Generally, problems are the result o how

a le was created or the attener settings were used, as well as the methods and equipment your

printer uses to process your les.

• Spot colors may display colors on process plates or convert to process. Some prepress soware

may inadvertently misinterpret attened EPS les, which results in converting spot colors to

process. In this case, do not use EPS; use native InDesign CS3, native Illustrator CS3, or Adobe

PDF les that include live transparency.

• ransparency attening can include the process o executing the overprint attribute manually

assigned to spot objects. When this occurs, overprinting instructions are not preserved aer

attening; however, the objects look correct when printed because the overprint is taken into

consideration when transparency is attened. Te person responsible or printing needs to

be aware that changing overprinting instructions at the RIP can aect not only objects set to

overprint, but attened transparency as well. Never use a RIP’s “discard overprint” option

when dealing with transparency.

• Vector objects may get rasterized at a resolution that’s too low or the output device. It’s best

or the person responsible or printing to handle attening. Your print provider will use at-

tener and resolution settings that are appropriate or the output device.

• Artiacts may appear along the edges o atomic regions. I possible, let your service provider

do the attening to avoid these problems.

• Hairlines and strokes may atten. Generally, this problem only occurs on low-resolution

output devices.

• ype may be converted to lled strokes, thickening characters. Tis problem can occur on

low-resolution devices. It is less o a problem on high-resolution devices.

Transparency and OPIOpen Prepress Interace (OPI) is not compatible with transparency. Low-resolution images

must be replaced with high-resolution images beore attening. I they aren’t replaced and low-

resolution images are attened, the results will be low resolution.




Saving and exporting fles withtransparency I you’re creating a standalone Illustrator CS3 or InDesign CS3 layout with transparent objects

that won’t be used in other layouts or applications, save the document in its native ormat using

the Save command. I you plan to use an Illustrator CS3 or InDesign CS3 layout in another layout

or application, you must decide whether to save it in a dierent le ormat.

I you plan to place graphic les in documents created with other CS3 soware, wheneverpossible, save in le ormats that preserve live transparency—including native ormats or

Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 documents, or Adobe PDF 1.4 and especially the new

PDF/X-4 standard.

Adobe recommends that you use InDesign CS3 to create page layouts when placing transparency

artwork created in Illustrator CS3 or Photoshop CS3. Using InDesign or placing transparent

artwork is convenient—because you don’t have to save artwork in multiple le ormats—and

eective—because InDesign CS3 can handle les that contain live transparency.

File ormats containing live transparency that you can place into InDesign CS3 layouts include

native Il lustrator (AI), nat ive Photoshop (PSD), Adobe PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5, PDF 1.6, and PDF

1.7 les. InDesign CS3 supports transparency—importing, displaying, and printing—in these

native and PDF les, and has built-in transparency eatures or use in laying out pages and

building documents.

Exporting a document (including Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, and InDesign CS3 documents)

in any le ormat that attens transparency, will atten the document and take away your ability

to edit the original objects (except or Illustrator CS3 EPS les, which can be edited only i the

le is reopened in Illustrator CS3.)

Choosing a fle ormat when saving or exportingSaving les in native Illustrator CS3 and Photoshop CS3 ormats has several advantages over

using other le ormat options:

• Greater control at print time Native le ormats let you control the attener and resolution

settings up to the time you print, save, or export a job in a non-native le ormat (such as

PostScript).

• Reduced fle overhead Saving a single, native version o a graphic instead o multiple, exported

IFF or EPS les, reduce the number o les to track, and the disk space required to store

your graphics.

• Easy editability InDesign CS3 allows direct linking to native Photoshop and Illustrator

les, and Adobe PDF les, which lets you preserve live transparency throughout the page

layout workow.

o change a native Illustrator graphic that’s been placed into an InDesign CS3 layout, simply

open the le in Illustrator CS3 and make the changes. (Open the original Illustrator le in

Illustrator rom within InDesign CS3 by selecting it in the Links panel and choosing Edit

Original rom the panel menu, or by holding down Alt/Option and double-clicking the

graphic.) Modiying a placed native Illustrator graphic updates all instances o the graphic in

InDesign CS3 documents. When it’s time to print the nished InDesign CS3 document, the

printer can atten all transparency at once directly rom within InDesign using the attener

controls in InDesign CS3.

Saving Illustrator graphics in non-native ormats attens Il lustrator objects, making them

uneditable. Flattened les orce you to open the le in Il lustrator CS3, make the changes, export

and atten the le again, and then relink the placed graphic in InDesign CS3.




Exporting EPS flesSaving or exporting a le as EPS always attens transparency.

Illustrator CS3 can save les in its own EPS ormat and export les in EPS ormats compatible with

earlier versions o Illustrator. Illustrator CS3 EPS les are well suited or a high-end print workow

because o the management o spot colors and transparency.

An Illustrator CS3 EPS le retains transparency inormation (unless resaved in another

application), so live transparency is restored i the le is reopened in Illustrator CS3. Only

Illustrator CS3 can read the transparent part o an Illustrator EPS le; Photoshop CS3,

InDesign CS3, Distiller, and non-Adobe soware use only the attened part o the le.

You can export two kinds o EPS les using InDesign CS3:

• By deault, InDesign CS3 exports EPS les in which overprinting instructions are preserved

wherever possible; these les are suitable or output on printing presses. In some limited cases,

the attening process preprocesses instructions or overprinting, and incorporates them with

the transparency inormation.

• InDesign CS3 can optionally export EPS les in which all overprinting instructions are prepro-

cessed and the appearance o overprint is simulated or output on composite devices, suitable

or desktop printing and proong. Tis option is available when you select Simulate Overprint

in the Export dialog box. As a rule, don’t use the Simulate Overprint option or high-end print-

ing workows.

Exporting Adobe PDF fles Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les can accurately display live transparency created by any Adobe

transparency-savvy authoring and layout application.

Creating PDF documents using any CS3 component (except Acrobat Distiller) produces a PDF

le with live transparency by deault. Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Photoshop CS3 can

import and export live transparency as Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les. Among other benets,

this ormat preserves spot colors and overprinting without attening. Te deault Compatibility

setting or exported PDF documents is Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4).

(Adobe PDF 1.4 is also known as Acrobat 5 PDF; PDF 1.5 is Acrobat 6 PDF; PDF 1.6 is Acrobat 7

PDF; and PDF 1.7 is Acrobat 8 Proessional.)

Te Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) and later versions setting produces PDF les with live transparency.

Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) and PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 options produce PDF les with attened

transparency. PDF/X-4 les are based on PDF 1.4 or alter and allow live transparency

It is oen best to let your printer/prepress provider atten transparency because nal output is

based on the provider’s settings. I you need to perorm attening, consider using PDF/X-1a.

(For more inormation, see Adobe PDF in a Print Production Workow at www.adobe.com/

designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/ .)

Note: Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les created using Distiller do not contain live transparency because

Distiller generates PostScript, which can only contain attened transparency.

Exporting Illustrator CS3 fles with transparency I you intend to use an Illustrator CS3 graphic in another Illustrator CS3 document or Adobe

graphics application, such as InDesign CS3 or Photoshop CS3, you have the option to save theIllustrator CS3 graphic as a native Illustrator (.AI), EPS, or Adobe PDF le, or you can export a

native Photoshop (PSD) or IFF le. Exporting Illustrator graphics in PSD ormat preserves live

text, layers, masks, compound vector shapes, and more when you export Illustrator graphics in

PSD ormat. For more inormation, see online Illustrator CS3 Help.

Te ollowing chart shows Illustrator CS3 save/export le ormat options and how each ormat

saves transparency. Choose File > Save or File > Save As to save an Illustrator CS3 document in a

native Illustrator ormat or as a PDF or EPS le. Choose File > Export to save a native Photoshop

(PSD) or IFF le.










I you use QuarkXPress or page layout, you must save Illustrator graphics as EPS or Adobe

PDF 1.3 les. Native Illustrator les or graphics with live transparency cannot be placed into

QuarkXPress 6.5 or earlier layouts. I you have been placing EPS les created with previous

Illustrator versions into QuarkXPress documents solely to print the artwork, you should either

directly print rom Illustrator CS3 or place EPS les into InDesign CS3 or the most compatible

printing experience.

Illustrator CS3 export ile ormats Transparency embedded as

Native Illustrator CS3 (.AI) Live or attened

PostScript (or RIP or Distiller)

Flattened

Adobe PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4), including PDF/X -1a and

X-3 standards

Flattened

Adobe PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5), PDF 1.5 (Acrobat 6), PDF1.6 (Acrobat 7), PDF 1.7 (Acrobat 8) , and PDF/X-4

Live; attened i created using Distiller

EPS Flattened*

Other ormats (non-Illustrator EPS and TIFF) Flattened**

Exporting Illustrator CS3 graphics to programs that can’t handletransparencyo use Illustrator CS3 transparent graphics in page layout programs that can’t handle transpar-

ency—especially i spot colors are involved and you intend to print separations— on exporting

the Illustrator artwork, speciy attening sett ings and save in the Illustrator CS3 EPS ormat.

Currently, InDesign CS3 is t he only page layout program that can interpret unattened, live

transparency in native Illustrator les and Adobe PDF 1.4 or later les. Illustrator EPS and

Adobe PDF (1.3 and later) preserve spot colors.

* Illustrator CS3 can open EPS fles created with

Illustrator, and you can edit the transparency.

Illustrator 9 and later fles contain a native, non-

attened Illustrator part that can be read only

by Illustrator, and a attened EPS part that can

be placed into all EPS- compatible applications.

Transparency in an Illustrator EPS fle is considered

attened i the fle is placed into InDesign CS3 and

other programs.

** Some graphic le ormats cannot h andle live

transparency. Artwork must be attened beore

converting to these ormats.




Exporting InDesign CS3 fles with transparencyo use an InDesign CS3 page containing transparency in another InDesign CS3 layout or

another program, such as Illustrator CS3 or Photoshop CS3, export Adobe PDF or EPS les

(choose File > Print). You can also use the Print dialog box to create PostScript les that can be

converted to Adobe PDF with Acrobat (choose File > Print); because PostScript doesn’t support

live transparency, transparency in these les will be attened.

Te ollowing chart shows InDesign CS3 save/export le ormat options how each ormat saves

transparency.

Note: Choose File > Export to save Adobe PDF or EPS les. Choose File > Print to create aPostScript le.

InDesign CS3 export ile ormats Transparency embedded as

InDesign CS3 Native (INDD) Live

PostScript (or RIP or Distiller)

Flattened

Adobe PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4), including PDF/X -1a and

X-3 standards

Flattened

Adobe PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5), PDF 1.5 (Acrobat 6), PDF

1.6 (Acrobat 7), PDF 1.7 (Acrobat 8) , and PDF/X-4

Live; attened i created using Distiller

EPS Flattened

Delivering Adobe PDF fles or printTe people responsible or printing documents oen preer to receive les in certain ormats. Ask

your print service provider or the recommended PDF ormat, PDF settings, and attener set tings.

Let them know i transparency is involved.

I your service provider uses prepress tools that can’t interpret Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les with

transparency, deliver native InDesign CS3 les; or save InDesign CS3 documents as PostScript

les, Adobe PDF 1.3, or PDF/X les using the High Resolution attener preset.

PostScript and Adobe PDF 1.3 les provide high-quality results, preserve overprinting and spot

colors where possible, and separate correct ly. (For more inormation, see “Delivering Files with

ransparency to Your Print Service Provider” on page 33.)

I your print service provider is not amiliar with processing les with transparency, have

the provider contact Adobe technical support or the ASN Print Service Provider Program

(partners.adobe.com/public/asn/psp/detail.html) to receive ree training materials and other

useul resources.

http://partners.adobe.com/public/asn/psp/detail.html

http://partners.adobe.com/public/asn/psp/detail.html




Printing fles with transparencyPrinting an Illustrator CS3 or InDesign CS3 layout—whether the output device is a relatively

low-resolution proo printer or a high-resolution image setter—attens all transparent objects in

the le, as well as in any linked les that contain live transparency.

In most cases, attening produces excellent results when you use an appropriate predened

attener preset in InDesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, and Acrobat 8 Proessional. I your document

contains complex, overlapping areas and you require high-resolution output, you can achieve

more reliable print output by ollowing a ew basic guidelines covered in this topic.

For a complete inormation on how transparency aects output, see ransparency in Adobe

Applications: A Print Production Guide at www.adobe.com/designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/

studio/print/

Previewing transparency with Flattener PreviewIllustrator CS3, InDesign CS3, and Acrobat 8 Proessional soware have a Flattener Preview

panel that lets you quickly see where transparency occurs on a page and a lert service providers

to areas that contain transparency.

Illustrator CS3 Flattener Preview panel

Use the preview options in the Flattener Preview panel to highlight the areas aected by

attening, adjust the attening sett ings as needed, and save (and customize) attener presets.

Te Highlight menu determines what’s displayed in the preview area. o display all o the

commands in the Highlight menu, choose Detailed Preview rom the panel menu.

• None (Color Preview) shows a color preview o the artwork with nothing highlighted.

• Rasterized Complex Regions highlights the areas that are rasterized or perormance reasons

(as determined by the Rasters/Vectors slider).

• ransparent Objects highlights objects that are sources o transparency, such as objects with

partial opacity (including images with alpha channels), blending modes, and opacity masks.

In addition, graphic styles and eects may contain transparency, and overprinted objects may

be treated as sources o transparency i the overprint needs to be attened.

• All Aected Objects highlights all objects involved in transparency, including transparent

objects and objects overlapped by transparent objects.

• Aected Linked EPS Files highlights all linked EPS les that are aected by transparency.

• Expanded Patterns highlights all patterns that are expanded because they are involved in

transparency.

• Outlined Strokes highlights all strokes that are converted to outlines because they are involved

in transparency or because the Convert All Strokes to Outlines option is selected.

• Outlined ext highlights all text that is converted to outlines because it is involved in trans-

parency or because the Convert All ext to Outlines option is selected.

• All Rasterized Regions highlights objects and intersections o objects that are rasterized either

because PostScript cannot represent them any other way or because they are more complex

than the Rasters/Vectors threshold.

Te Flattener Preview panel in Illustrator CS3










InDesign CS3 Flattener Preview panel

Te preview options in the Flattener Preview panel highlight the areas o a page aected by at-

tening. Areas aected by transparency are highlighted in color in t he document window, while

the rest o the artwork appears in grayscale. You can adjust the attening options and see which

objects are aected. Te Flattener Preview panel also includes controls or applying attener

presets to spreads and to ignore spread overrides. For complete inormation on these options,

see InDesign CS3 online Help.

Te Flattener Preview panel provides se veral options or displaying attened objects.

Note: Te Flattener Preview panel is not intended or precise previewing o spot colors, overprints,

and blending modes. Use Overprint Preview mode to preview how spot colors, overprints, and

blending modes will appear when output.

Acrobat 8 Proessional Flattener Preview

o display the Flattener Preview dialog box in Acrobat 8 Proessional, choose Advanced > Print

Production > Flattener Preview; or click the ransparency Flattening icon in the Print Production

toolbar. For more inormation on attening options, see Acrobat 8 online Help.

Te Flattener Preview in Acrobat 8 Proessional.




Printing proos rom the desktopPrinting a document that contains transparency is similar to printing any other document, with

one important dierence: You should choose a attener preset in Illustrator CS3, InDesign CS3,

or Acrobat 8 Proessional that are appropriate or the printer.

Printing proos with Illustrator CS3

Use the ollowing checklist to help ensure reliable printing with Illustrator CS3 when printing

proos:

• Speciy the CMYK color mode (File > Document Color Mode > CMYK Color) or les printed

on a desktop proo printer.

• Speciy the proper ppi or your document in the Document Raster Eects Settings dialog box.

Medium (150 ppi) is the typical setting or proo printing.

Document Raster Eects Set tings in Illustrator CS3

• Ensure that your resolution-dependent live eects (such as Gaussian blur and mezzotint) still

look the way you want them to aer changing the ppi value in the Document Raster Eects

Settings dialog box.

• Use the Overprint Preview display mode (View > Overprint Preview) to approximate how the

objects you’ve specied or overprinting appear.




• Preview your artwork in the Flattener Preview panel to determine which areas are aected by

transparency attening. Or, preview the areas o your artwork that are rasterized to ensure

that text won’t be rasterized. Check with your service provider to ensure you have selected the

proper settings.

Te Flattener Preview panel in Illustrator CS3

• Choose the appropriate attener preset when you print a document: choose File > Print, select

Advanced, and choose a attener preset rom the (ransparency Flattener) Preset menu.

Choose rom three deault presets in the (ransparency Flattener) Preset menu, plus any cus-

tom attener presets. From the deaults, choose Low Resolution or Medium i you’re printing

a proo to a printer that is not a PostScript printer. Choose Medium Resolution or desktop

proos printed on black-and-white desktop printers and print-on-demand printed on Post-

Script color printers. Choose High Resolution or press output.




o create custom attener presets, choose Edit > ransparency Flattener Presets. For more

inormation, see online Illustrator CS3 Help or ransparency in Adobe Applications: A Print

Production Guide at www.adobe.com/designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/ .

Te selected ransparency Flattener preset determines how transparency eec ts are attened when the le i s printed

or exported in a le ormat that doesn’t preserve live transparency.

Printing proos with InDesign CS3

In InDesign CS3, you can choose a attener preset when you print a document. o do so, choose

File > Print and click Advanced in the list o print options on the le side o the Print dialog

box. In the ransparency Flattener area o the Advanced pane o t he Print dialog box, choose an

appropriate attener preset rom the (ransparency Flattener) Preset menu.

Te (ransparency Flattener) Preset menu includes three deault presets—Low Resolution,

Medium Resolution, and High Resolution—as well as any custom attener presets you’ve created.

o create custom attener presets, choose Edit > ransparency Flattener Presets. For inormation,

see online InDesign CS3 Help.

I you’re printing a proo to a printer that is not a PostScript printer, choose Low Resolution or

Medium Resolution. Choose Medium Resolution or desktop proos printed on black-and-white

desktop printers and print-on-demand documents printed on PostScript color printers.








In Mac OS, i you are printing to a printer that is not a PostScript printer, the (ransparency

Flattener) Preset is not available. In this case, select the Simulate Overprint in the Output pane

o the Print dialog box to produce a proo print that looks the same as on-screen with Overprint

Preview (View menu) enabled.

Te ransparency Flattener preset you choose determines how transparency eec ts are attened when the le i s

printed or exported in a le ormat that doesn’t preserve live transparency.

Printing proos with Acrobat 8 Proessional

o choose a attener preset when printing PDF les that contain live transparency, use the

ransparency Flattener settings in the Print dialog box: Choose File > Print, click the Advanced

button, and select Output in the le pane o the dialog box; on the right side o the menu, choose

a preset rom the ransparency Flattener Preset pop-up menu.

Acrobat 8 Proessional Advanced Print Setup dialog box.

For more inormation on print options, see online Acrobat 8 Proessional Help.




Delivering fles with transparencyto your print service providerCurrently, transparency must be attened or PostScript print output. In most cases, attening

produces excellent results when you use an appropriate predened attener preset or a custom

attening preset with settings appropriate or your nal output. However, attening can alter

colors and transparent objects in ways that can aect output quality.

I your Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 documents contain complex, overlapping areas andyou require high-resolution output, work closely with your print service provider. Your print

provider can speciy optimal attener settings based on the le ormats used, the resolution o

the nal output device, and print workow. Good communication between you and your service

provider will help you achieve the results you expect.

(In the uture, CS3 and Acrobat 8 Proessional users will be able to print using native PDF with

no conversion to PostScript and thus no attening o transparency, thanks to the Adobe PDF

Print Engine—enabling technology available rom third-party vendors. Tis technology uses

native Adobe PDF and Job Denition Format (JDF), and incorporates the PDF/X-4 standard,

which supports transparent artwork and eects, as well as layers.)

What kind o fle should you provide?

Ask your print service provider which le type they accept, as well as recommended attener andresolutions settings. Most oen, your print service provider handles attening, so provide native

Illustrator or InDesign les, or an Adobe PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5, PDF 1.6, or PDF 1.7 le. I your

service provider requests Adobe PDF 1.3 or PDF/X les, ask the provider or the recommended

attener and resolution settings. InDesign CS3 and Acrobat 8 Proessional have several PDF/X

creation and validation eatures.

Soon to be available, the up-and-coming PDF/X-4 standard supports transparent artwork and

eects, as well as layers.

Weighing fle ormat capabilities and limitationsI you plan to provide your service provider with Illustrator CS3 les, InDesign CS3 les, or

Adobe PDF les that include live transparency, you have several options. Beore you decide on

the le ormat to use, consider the capabilities and limitations o the various ormats.

One o the main benets o delivering Adobe PDF les to your print service provider is that

everything required to print—including onts and graphics—is contained in a single le. On the

other hand, transparency in native Illustrator CS3 and InDesign CS3 les can be edited late in

the production workow.

Adobe PDF 1.3 and PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 fles atten all transparency. Te resolution o

transparency eects is determined by the applied attener preset and cannot be changed aer

the PDF le is saved, nor can transparency eects in attened PDF les be modied. Adobe PDF

1.3 les can be output by PostScript Level 2 and 3 RIPs.

Adobe PDF 1.4, PDF 1.5, PDF 1.6, and PDF 1.7 fles, as well as PDF/X-4 Tese les can include

live transparency when saved in Illustrator CS3 or exported rom InDesign CS3. ransparency is

attened i printed to PostScript and distilled to Adobe PDF 1.4 and later les.

Native Illustrator CS3 (AI) and native InDesign CS3 (INDD) fles Tese les have several benets:

• You or your print service provider can easily make changes to native les up to the last minute.

• Flattening at the latest possible stage produces the best results.

• Your print service provider can change the output resolution and other print-related settings.

• Preighting can be done more eectively on live transparency than on attened transparency.

• Spot colors can be xed—or example, i a document contains too many spot colors—i the

transparency is live. Once attened, spot colors involved in transparency cannot be a ltered.



Transparency-related resourcesFor additional inormation about working with transparency and printing documentsthat contain transparency, reer to:

• “Te Creative Suite 3 Printing Guide.” Tis paper discusses how to print using any o

the CS3 soware. (www.adobe.com/designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/)

• “ransparency in Adobe Applications: A Print Production Guide.” Tis reerence

and troubleshooting guide or prepress providers contains detailed inormation

about printing les with transparency. (www.adobe.com/designcenter/ andwww.adobe.com/studio/print/)

• “Adobe PDF in a Print Production Workow.” Tis document contains inormation

about the PDF/X ormat and the support o PDF/X in Adobe applications.

(www.adobe.com/designcenter/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/)

• Te Adobe Solutions Network Partner Find An ASN Print Service Provider Web

page. You can use this web page to search or an Adobe Solutions Network print

service provider. (partners.adobe.com/public/partnernder/psp/show_nd.do )

• Te Adobe Support Knowledgebase. Start here i you’re looking or inormation

about any Adobe product. Te searchable database is helpul i you need inormation

about known problems and solutions relating to Adobe products. (www.adobe.com/

support/main.html)

• Adobe InDesign Support. Tis page includes links to several helpul InDesign

resources, as well as several top InDesign issues. (www.adobe.com/support/products/

indesign.html)

• Adobe Illustrator Support. Tis page includes links to several helpul Illustrator

resources, as well as several top Illustrator issues. (www.adobe.com/support/products/

illustrator.html)

• Adobe Acrobat Support. Tis page includes links to several helpul Acrobat resources,

as well as several top Acrobat issues. (www.adobe.com/support/products/acrobat.html)

• Also visit the Adobe website to search or print topics o interest at www.adobe.com/

print/ and www.adobe.com/studio/print/

Adobe Systems Incorporated • Park Avenue,San Jose, CA 110-0 USA • www.adobe.com

ab, ab g, i, Pp,indgn, acb, d, n Pscp g mk mk ab sym incp n un sn/ cn. Mc mk app Cmp, inc., g n uns n cn. PaNtoNe® mk Pnn inc sVG mk







http://partners.adobe.com/public/partnerfinder/psp/show_find.do

http://www.adobe.com/support/main.html


http://www.adobe.com/support/products/indesign.html


http://www.adobe.com/support/products/illustrator.html


http://www.adobe.com/support/products/acrobat.html

http://www.adobe.com/print/






http://www.adobe.com/support/products/acrobat.html







http://partners.adobe.com/public/partnerfinder/psp/show_find.do







a designer's guide to transparency for print output, adobe

Documents