Most issue filled application on any PC - DavidRavenMoon

Transparency is NEVER used unflattened in print production. All the so-called artist who insist on using layered native files don't have a clue what goes on after the printer gets the file.

Presses don't print transparency. They print a CMYK rendering of what the shade would be if it wasn't transparent. You have to flatten and raster process (RIP) that file to get there.

Transparency is more of a headache than anything else, especially with applications like Illustrator. If you are printing with spot colors? Forget transparency. Quark was smart to stay away from that junk. Do everyone a favor and create your transparencies in something like Illustrator and then *flatten the file* and save it as an EPS!

I've been in printing for the past 28 years, and I've seen nothing but the quality of files sent in go down the tubes. I don't know what schools are teching these days, but most designers don't understand what a spot color is and when to use one, and don't realize that most RIP's cannot use native layered files. I see stupid things everyday like white set to overprint, spot colors used on CMYK jobs, CMYK used on two color spot jobs, spot black used on CMYK jobs, and instead of doing a tint of a color, they drop a transparent white over it! Stupid. That's not the correct way to do things.

Luckily these days we RIP everything to PDF first (Printergy EVO or RAMpage), but the files do get flattened. Don't fool yourself. Even then there's more problems then there should be. All those transparent areas that weren't flattened often show up as white boxes.

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Friday, August 01 2008 @ 12:25 PM PDT