Re: [artworks] problem with printing and transparency
- From: Gavin Crawford <gav@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: artworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:20:35 GMT
In message <0b15cf6a52.iyojohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
John Rickman Iyonix <rickman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This morning I needed to print an ArtWorks drawing in a hurry.
> After 10 minutes waiting for the print to complete I gave up and went
> to my meeting without the hard copy.
> The drawing I was trying to print consisted of a few shapes and some
> text boxes. The file size was small and there were no bit maps in the
> document. However, it produced a PS3 file of more than 10 megabytes.
> Whenever a document contains a transparent object, every object in the
> drawing is affected even if the transparent object does not overlay
> any other object.
> The following data shows the effect of introducing a transparent
> object into an ArtWorks document. The shapes below were rectangles
> 90dpi square. The fill was black. The transparent objects had 50% mix
> and did not overlay any other object.
> AW file containing: PS3file size:
> (empty file) 108 k
> 1 shape 109 k
> 1 shape filled 109 k
> 2 shapes 109 k
> 2 shapes filled 109 k
> 6 shapes 110 k
> 6 shapes filled 110 k
> 1 shape transparent 444 k
> 1 shape transparent, 1 filled 635 k
> 1 shape transparent, 5 filled 1152 k
> 1 shape transparent, 5 empty 2457 k
> ArtWorks 2.XI.01 PostScript 3 printer driver 1.19
> This may not be a bug as such, but it is surely not ideal.
No it's not a bug, it's just the associated problem of PostScript not
supporting transparency, and is fully explained within the Crystal
Transparency help file. Click the 'i' icon in the transparency info
window when the tool is selected.
As you say, every object in the document is affected and is converted
to a bitmap image when it is sent to the PostScript output stream. The
resolution of these bitmaps can be set in the Crystal choices. The
default is 300dpi which can be lead to some very large PostScript file
sizes - try lowering it to say 150 or 200 and see if your final
document still looks as you require it. Or better still, don't use any
transparency.
One work around is export the objects with transparency as a JPEG and
drop that back into the document[1] and turn off the Crystal display
setting - that way, every vector or text object is sent to the
PostScript stream as it should and the objects that were transparent
are sent as JPEGs which will probably lead to smaller PostScript file
sizes (depending upon what's in the document).
[1] a tip is to move the original transparent objects either off to
the side of the document, or onto another non-visible layer, so you
can still make changes or edit to them.
Gav.
------------------------------------------------------------
To change, suspend or cancel your subscription go to
//www.freelists.org/list/artworks
------------------------------------------------------------
Other related posts:
