PDF display issue

[Danger_Mouse]

We send PDF's of proofs (from Illy) to our clients to approve (duh, like who doesn't).

Lately it seems alot of the proofs sent are getting little Sqaure nicks when it
comes to text. All text is has been converted to outlines so not a font thing.

Here's how we create outlined text here....

say we have TEXT with a black fill.
Copy paste to back, increase stroke weight change color (lets say red).
Copy paste to back again, increase stroke more, change color (lets say yellow).
Then we outline and save as PDF for sending out.

Whats strange is that it doesn't happen to all files. And its not to any particular corner, curve or anything. I checked my PDF settings and can't really think of what would affect this. The Illy files are fine, just the PDF's for proofing. Getting weary of explaining and reassuring customers.

anyone help me? Bueller?.........Bueller?

[Danger_Mouse]

nevermind I figured it out. Someone made a PDF on my comp and changed the settings to customize. I reset to screen optimized and seemed to fix it.

Still would like to know the cause if anyone has it.

[Danger_Mouse]

Arggggh!!! I was wrong....its still happening. Can anyone help me?

I don't get this, pefect PDF's for 3 years and now this week it goes all wonky.

Ok if I expand the stroke and fill and merge it, it eliminates the problem.
But I can't be doing this for everything I will triple my time creating.

This hasn't happened before until this week. I'm losing my mind.

[Broacher]

Does it print like this, or just view?

[resdog]

say we have TEXT with a black fill.
Copy paste to back, increase stroke weight change color (lets say red).
Copy paste to back again, increase stroke more, change color (lets say yellow).
Then we outline and save as PDF for sending out.

Are you working in CS or a legacy version? In CS, instead of copying the same text and moving to back, just add two more strokes to the original art in the Appearance palette. Then move these behind the artwork. Your issue could be a processing issue. with basically text on top of text on top of text, maybe Illy is getting confused and cutting that off. If you are using a legacy version, I have no idea.

[Danger_Mouse]

Im using Illy 10, we have CS but are not using it due to other issues with our production thats unrelated.

It shouldn't get confused because of 3 simple layers. As I said this is something that just came up recently and worked great up till then (3 years running).
The appearance option is a slow me down, especially when editing.
Adding a stroke in the appearance, the lines thicken equally on the baseline eliminating fill color space. Moving to the back in the appearance is just too many steps for something that has worked perfect up till now.
We produce artwork in high volume and this is not an option.

I thought it may have been the Miter in the stroke pallete in illy. No such luck.
It prints fine (ps files), its just our PDF's for proofing.

[Danger_Mouse]

I have the whole art dept. on it now.

I think its gotta be a stroke or font issue, saving as a jpeg creates the same result. Even though we are outlining the font, alot of fonts are not contructed perfect....some even have unclosed paths. However this is happening to a font we have used consistantly (athletic) with no issues.

(bangs head repeatedly on keyboard)

[Danger_Mouse]

Does it print like this, or just view?

If I print the PDF its faulty, if I print from Illy no probs.

We of course save our files as ps for our sublimation printers and these print perfect.


Help me Wizard Broacher, I know you can do it!!!!

[Broacher]

Bring me the PDF of the Wicked Witch of the West, then we'll talk.

Seriously, can you send me just a small 'copy/pasted' AI file where this is happening? I think it would work a lot faster.

Here's a quick diagnostic: when you save the AI file to a PDF, make one that has 'Preserve AI Editing' (or whatever it's called) OFF. See if that makes a difference. If it does, it's a sign that it's coming from somewhere within the AI PDF creation module, which is NOT the same as Distiller, as you probably already know.

[Ned]

It looks like your strokes have the wrong type of joints or too low of a miter limit.

Zoom into your text on the artboard, then in your strokes palette raise the miter limit, or else change to a different type of joint (rounded or bevel should work).

After you've gotten a nice smooth stroke, outline it along with your text. Use Object => Path => Outline Stroke.

[Danger_Mouse]

ere's a quick diagnostic: when you save the AI file to a PDF, make one that has 'Preserve AI Editing' (or whatever it's called) OFF.
Tried that. I'll post sample soon.

It looks like your strokes have the wrong type of joints or too low of a miter limit.
Looks that way, but I tried that already. Made no difference.
If you read above I do know how to fix (expand and merge outlines), but its a route which slows production down. I want to continue doing it the way we always have. I checked the points on the font and outlines and strokes. There is nothing "extra' that would cause this (although with some fonts this could be the issue). This is happening to my Arial and Athletic. I'll send that PDF Broacher, I just gotta hit some lunch after a busy morning.

[Danger_Mouse]

Seriously, can you send me just a small 'copy/pasted' AI file where this is happening?
how or where can I send. I want to send you a sample AI file, and the PDF. Too large to post.

[Danger_Mouse]

One thing thats odd. Notice when you Expand text with outlines as shown below. ALL the segments and nodes go all over the place. Anyone know why it expands like this? Now I wonder if this has something to do with it.
I don't want to expand it and haven't to achieve success in the past...., but why does its expand the way it does and I wonder if somehow related.


Man this has me stumped.