Adobe 65023809 Printing Guide - Page 123

As artwork becomes more complex (for example, mixing images, vectors, type, spot colors, and overprinting), so does the flattening process and its results. Because transparency flattening may create overprinting, it is important to ensure that the RIP is set up to handle overprinting properly. Adobe recommends flattening transparency only when you are ready to print a PDF file, unless you need to flatten the PDF file earlier because of the requirements of your RIP or other aspects of your workflow. Flattening transparency makes permanent changes that cannot be undone. So defer flattening until after you perform any necessary color conversions or other edits. Acrobat 9 Pro can save files in different PDF format versions, some of which retain live transparency. The PDF/X-1a format is best for placement into non-Adobe applications that require flattened transparent objects. PDF/X-4 is recommended for workflows, such as those using the Adobe PDF Print Engine, which support live transparency. Refer to the individual product user guides for more information on transparency and printing. For detailed information on transparency flattening, see "Transparency in Adobe Applications: A Print Production Guide" http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_transparency_print_en and "A Designer's Guide to Transparency for Print Output" http://www.adobe.com/go/ learn_transparency_designer_en. Previewing flattening The Transparency Flattener Preview feature lets you see the effects of flattening settings on a PDF page. You can inspect the objects that have transparency applied, view which objects transparency flattening will affect, and flatten transparency before printing final output. Keep in mind that, once you have flattened the content of a PDF, that change is permanent: saving as an Acrobat 5.0 (or above) format won't restore live transparency. To see which objects will be affected by flattening: 1. Select the page that you want to examine, and choose Advanced > Print Production > Flattener Preview, or click the Flattener Preview button in the Print Production toolbar ( ). 2. Choose an option from the Highlight menu (options are dimmed if there is no live transparency on the selected page). Affected content appears in red, while the rest of the artwork appears gray. You can choose which objects to preview before flattening: • Rasterized Complex Regions: Shows the areas that will be rasterized, based on the Raster/Vector balance control. Select Clip Complex Regions in the Flattener Settings area to minimize stitching problems. For information on stitching and flattener artifacts, see the printing guides on the Adobe website (www.adobe.com/go/ print_resource). • Transparent Objects: Shows objects that are sources of transparency, such as those with opacity values less than 100%, or objects with blending modes, opacity masks, feathering, embossing, or drop shadows. • All Affected Objects: Shows all objects that are impacted by transparency, including transparent objects and objects that are overlapped by, underneath, or adjacent to transparent objects. • Expanded Patterns: Shows all patterns involved with transparency that will be expanded during the flattening process. • Outlined Strokes: Previews all strokes outlined as a result of transparency. If you select Convert All Strokes To Outlines in Flattener Transparency Preset Options, all strokes will have outlines applied. 3. Move the Raster/Vector slider or enter a value to specify the degree of rasterization applied to complex areas of artwork. For high-end print output, typically the best setting is 100 (the slider is moved to the Vectors end). Depending on the complexity of the file, this setting maintains all objects as vector information whenever possible when Acrobat saves to PostScript or to other formats that require flattening. This setting may create smaller files and retain useful information for post-processing; however, files with numerous small vector-based objects (referred to as "atomic regions") may take longer to process. Adobe Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide 121