Frustrating problem that I can't seem to solve, despite reasonable expertise in pre-press.
Whenever I drop a bitmap photo on top or nearby a vector, or type, the bounding box of the bitmap distorts the type around it when exporting to PDF for prepress (x-1 or x-3). Tried every setting, but something is doing this in the conversion. Any drop shadow does the same.
To date, I've had to close-crop the bitmap bounding box so that it is no longer square shape, but rather follows the exact outline of the bitmap...very time consuming and it means I can't use a drop shadow.
I didn't manage to reproduce that. Perhaps you could you upload an example CDR file to illustrate the problem?
If the file is under 256Kb you can do that in the options tab when you reply. If it is bigger than 256Kb you will need to save it to a public server such as dropbox and paste the URL here instead.
I've uploaded both the original Corel X6 file (latest service pack) and the PDF x-1A made from that file.
There are three bitmaps in crossword puzzle; a car, money bags and a Go Pro. These graphics also have drop shadows that have been broken apart (though I find that makes no difference). You will notice the type and crossword boxes are distorted where ever the bounding box of either the bitmap or the dropshadow (also a bitmap) touches a vector graphic or typeface.
Here's a google docs link to the two files. https://drive.google.com/?urp=https://www.google.com/&authuser=0#folders/0BxbUH1RqOA3Ud1ZCZmlqaGplNG8
Thanks, Lorne
harryLondon said:Corel is not allowed to put transparent bitmaps in PDF-X/1 or PDF-X/3 files
Also, transparent bitmaps in PDF-X/3/acrobat8 files not works fine here.
tgm said:transparent bitmaps in PDF-X/3/acrobat8 files not works fine here.
Acrobat 8 does though (from Acrobat 5 actually), and as far as I know a PDF exported from Draw with Acrobat 8 compatibility will also keep the transparency.
Ronny Axelsson said:so the workaround is to create an opaque bitmap that simulates the transparency.
Please let me know what is "opaque bitmap" and how can i create that?
Thx!
tgm said:Please let me know what is "opaque bitmap" and how can i create that?
In the crossword example, best thing is to convert everything to bitmap, except the text. The frame, the "Puzzle One" and the "sign" parts could also be left as vector objects since they are on top of everything else.
When flattening by converting to bitmap inside Draw, make sure to disable the "Transparent background" option, or you may get into trouble again.
Remember to save a copy before you start flattening, in case you need to go back and work with the vector objects later.
Here are some examples of different conversions:
Thank you Ronny for the great tutorial.
You're welcome.Glad I could help.
Ronny Axelsson said:You're welcome.Glad I could help.
The conclusion from this topic is that : pdf not works fine here .
I like your clear and sincerely answer.
Thank you again.
Corel, Corel..... God bless you.
tgm said:The conclusion from this topic is that : pdf not works fine here
That is incorrect the conclusion is that PDF works as designed and that the output industry support for live transparency is very limited.
It's not ok that all transparency objects and shadows need to be converted in one bitmap.
I agree but all graphic applications that do that effect have the same issue.