FrameMaker-specific preflight problem

[Steve Rickaby]

At 11:22 -0700 12/3/13, Matt Sullivan wrote:

>I used to have 4/c issues with PS-generated drop shadows, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to think that was the problem. Is the d/s an effect, or a filter? Filters will likely give you more control and less problems.

In Illustrator it can be applied as either. To be honest, I don't remember which I used. I will experiment more tomorrow (7 pm here now).

>You should be able to set the color of the d/s in the filter dialog box. I would expect that to create a black-only d/s that causes you less grief.

The drop-shadow dialog box does indeed have a color field, which I had never paid much attention to. Now that I look, I see it's set to true black (K 100%). In fact, this dialog is identical for drop shadows both as filters and as effects, which misled me into thinking that they were the same thing, which I now see they are not.

>Regardless of what you're trying to create, is your Illustrator file set up for the Print intent or the other choice (maybe Video, or similar label). If set to Print, your colors will be represented in CMYK, but in the other, you'll get converted RGB values.

Default: never messed with intents. It looks like the default in CS2 is 'relative colorimetric', whatever that means. I'm on Mac, which always seems to handle CMYK better, generally.

>I know that probably sounds ominous and cryptic, but it should give you some clues as to what you are seeing.

Not really - the trouble is that I only tangle with these sorts of issues when preparing a book for press, i.e. by definition at the last minute. Last time I had color data I could not remove, I had to get a pal to shove the prepress file through the touch-ups in Acrobat 9, which are more advanced that the ones in Acrobat 6.

[Why have I not got Acrobat 9? Because I don't have an Intel-based Mac that will run it. Why have I not got an Intel-based Mac? Because Apple haven't updated them for ages. Are you listening, Apple?]

>For more detail see Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 11 (<http://amazon.com>amazon.com) on page 457, Controlling Colors for Output
>

I have the book: I will take a look - thanks. But I'm still baffled as to what's happening. With bad color/output choices, I'd expect to see either all CMYK or none, not this odd window thing that is clearly caused by the drop shadow.

Will try other options tomorrow and report back if I find a fix. Also .eps as Mike suggested. Thanks to both of you.

-- 
Steve