Shadows in PDF DP7

Has anything changed in the export of a document to a PDF.

I have a problem exporting a document that contains a shadow on some text. In the final PDf it shows the shadow as a block. I'm sure i used to be able to convert the text to an editable shape / ungroup them and the problem would be resolved. But it still exports the text with a block behind it.

I found that if I convert the back image under the text to a bitmap it resolves the problem only this causes a color shift in the background, no good when I'm trying to keep constant colors throughout the document.

Maybe I' getting old but I'm sure something has changed here.

Any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

Any soft shadows (Bevels, Extrusions) are rendered as a bitmap when you create a PDF. Unless it is a large shadow, you might be better off just creating a duplicate of the text with the same shadow color.

In the olden days, before the Shadow Tool, you could create a vector soft shadow using a blend. A vector shadow does not become a bitmap.

Thanks for the work around Gary. I hadn't thought of creating shadows that way.

I am not understanding why using the shadow tool, or making a copy and feathering it--which both do make bitmaps--is an issue. It is also a long time technique. It should cause no issues going to print or even for web-work.

If the PDF is going south, there is something not being done correctly. Got a sample XDP file? I cannot make the PDF output poorly as you describe.

Take care, Mike

This is very timely as I am having a similar issue. I am trying to output a document in CMYK and the drop shadow problem is even worse. It seems drop shadows are always RGB even though I apply a CMYK value to the shadow.

Is there a fix for this?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fdog

This is very timely as I am having a similar issue. I am trying to output a document in CMYK and the drop shadow problem is even worse. It seems drop shadows are always RGB even though I apply a CMYK value to the shadow.

Is there a fix for this?

---

How are you determining that the shadow (or any other part) is RGB?

I have attached two screen shots of your sample PDF. One, entitled no_rgb.png shows just that, there are no RGB values in the file. The other shows the cursor over the shadow (kind of tiny) showing the cmyk value.

take care, Mike

Fair enough. I did not test to see if it is rgb, but it looks like it is rgb since this is what an rgb transparency would look like on a cmyk object output to pdf. In any case I cannot figure out how to get past this. I have apply various values of K to the shadow and each time I output to pdf (providing I can get past the "out of memory" error) I get this result.

I am really very frustrated with using xara for any sort of cmyk publishing <--- venting

Visually--that is, on-screen--I cannot imagine seeing the difference in a shadow. Really.

Do you have a sample file to upload? Or, perhaps simply tell me what K value and tint percent you would like and I would be happy to create a simple file and check the output so we can both be on the same page.

take care, Mike

Here is the 'Sample' Xara File and the output from the PDF.

In the PDF the Top heading has a square around it. Nothing complex in this Xara document yeet the problem still plagues me.

Rather than use a Shadow for the white portion of the top heading, using a one step outer contour then Inset Path does not produce the rectangle around the heading.

fdog - You do not list any Xara products on your profile so it makes it difficult to address your issue.

This is an old Workbook article that explains how to create a true CMYK soft Drop Shadow http://www.xaraxone.com/webxealot/workbook33/page_1.htm

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JaffDave

Here is the 'Sample' Xara File and the output from the PDF.

In the PDF the Top heading has a square around it. Nothing complex in this Xara document yeet the problem still plagues me.

---

Turn off "Preserve bitmap tiling" in the PDF options.

Take care, Mike

Jeff,
your black text has overprinting selected, the cyan component you added to black text is useless and might cause loss of quality in the final printed output, I would use a 100% K only.

Another trick: the problem of the rectangle under shadows or transparencies is caused by CMYK -> RGB -> CMYK internal translations that DP7 does. If the shapes under your shadows have colours not defined in CMYK the problem does not occur.
In the attached file I redefined the three orange colours to HSV and the shadow outputs correctly.

CMYK shadows in PDF
1) Select all objects whith shadow (Page and Layer gallery).
2) Press shift+ctrl+s.
3) Select all shadow objects (Page and Layer gallery).
4) Double click on PANTONE Process Black in Colour gallery.
5) Export to PDF Acrobat Reader 8 (v.1.7), Bitmap compression - none.
See this lesson - http://xaradesigners.blogspot.com/20...-pro-tiff.html

Don't get me wrong here, I love Xara and have used it for years, I'm just not sure it's going to cut it for the type of work i'm doing for print which is fine considering the price tag and other options I have available. I t would have been nice though.

There are far more issues than just the export with shadows, some of the pantone color palette supplied are a little out of date (as mentioned by Xara in another thread) with Pantone colors not matching. I've just purchased the Adobe suite, I don't have time for all of these work arounds. The colors i see on screen now match what i export into a PDF.

Even after I calibrated my monitors the colors looked different while working with Xara compared to in the Adobe software. See my screen shots, Only when I exported the final files in PDF from Xara did they then look as intended. I'm sorry most of you probably accept this but I need to see what I'm doing on screen is as close as possible to my exported final image.

Luciano the 50% cyan I added to the black text is not useless, 100% black creates a dull lifeless black when printed, I used 50% cyan to create a rich black which is something I have done for many years.

Thank everone for your input on this subject.

Luciano

The colors you have now selected do not match the intended colors on output, The color I had on screen is the clients branded color scheme taken from their logo. I'm sorry your suggestions here are not viable with this job.

The background colour replacement I did was just a work-around, I understand it is not the best choice if you have precise color scheme.
I too add cyan to black areas, but not to text because I am afraid that alignment errors of plates might show other inks aside the black text.

I too believe that CMYK -> RGB -> CMYK internal translations problems should have been corrected some versions back. Sadly this problems cannot be seen in the CMYK preview in DP7.

Thanks for taking the time to look into this for me. Much appreciated!