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[Illustrator] - NEED HELP CREATING SCREEN READY PDFs
Hi All,
I am looking for someone who is working on a Mac in Illustrator CS3 and has successfully created screen ready PDF's for import into Corel X3 and AI. I recently sent designs and labels into a print shop here in Canada to have plastisol transfers made. I was told by the art dept. to send them as PDF's, convert text to outlines and make whites 50% gray. That was all, I was not told to separate colors into layers or flatten image or anything else. So I saved my EPS files as PDFs in Illustrator CS3 and sent them in. The plain text labels transferred ok but the pdfs containing layers could not be ungrouped and/or Corel X3 could not read the file. So I redid the designs from scratch making sure nothing was grouped and saved as pdfs and re-sent them. Still problems with negative space text missing on labels, layers missing as well as weird ink lines coming from the font outlines. So I was asked to send in the EPS files. I was told they arrived ok but for each file I sent they received 4 files (an Apple Application file and others). Also they were not properly sized and we had to redo specs over the phone. They used the EPS files to set up the transfers but of course charged an art fee. They also want PDF's in the future which is going to be difficult cause I can't send them in for them to test them so I have to find someone who has done this and knows how to prep these files. The print shop says it can't help me but I did read on the Forum that Illy CS3 may not be compatible with Corel X3. I am getting frustrated with this and would love to know if someone could give me step by step instructions for saving the PDFs or how to solve this problem.
Thanks for any help,
Carol
Consolidate all the layers in one, expand all special effects like artistic brush strokes, and transparencies and save as PDF compatible with Acrobat 4. A simple and fast way to make your PDF's more compatible with Draw is to save to a legacy version like 7, 8 or 9, open it again in Illustrator and save as PDF. You may also suggest to your printers to try importing the PDF's using the AI filter.
I strongly suggest that you take some time and take a design that failed to translate properly in Draw and save as PDF using every possible setting (Press Quality, Document distribution, Web, etc), label them accordingly or number them and send to them and see if one works better than the other. Then stick to that setting. But consolidating layers and getting rid of special effects is a must.
Every once in a while I'll do a design in Xara (another graphics program) that has PDF capability. Most things translate well when I open the file in Illustrator CS2, but usually the special effects (shading, transparencies, 3D effects, etc.) don't. What I think is happening, and don't take my word on this (I'm no expert), is that Illustrator is rasterizing the special effects because it doesn't know how to handle them. The same could be happening to you.
It's difficult to tell what's going on without seeing your art, or screenshots of your PDF settings. That would help. Are you working with vector images? How many colors is your design? It it process or spot? Do you have any sort of transparencies or other special effects?
I've learned over the years that very few programs play nice with each other. They all say that you can import an .xx file, but that's usually not the case. PDF's have helped a bit, but they're not perfect. Good luck.
Hi Manuel
Thanks for the info it is very helpful. I will definitely consolidate the layers next time, that should help. As well I will try saving in a legacy version of Illustrator although there are warnings fonts, etc not transferring properly but it is worth a try. I will mention the AI filter to the printers as well. Unfortunately I can't run test with them because they want the screen ready PDFs but if there are problems I guess they will have to work with me. Thanks again for your help ^&^
Carol
Hi Louie,
Thanks for your post as well. To answer your questions, I am working in Illustrator CS3, EPS vector files, spot colors (only black and white), the design has one transparent circle but the rest of the image is not transparent. The labels have negative space text, black and white layers. I have hear from a few people now that Illustrator CS3 is not compatible with Corel Draw, however I am going to try Manuel's suggestions and see if anything works. If you can think of anything else please let me know.
NEED HELP CREATING SCREEN READY PDFs 
