PDF Workflow Woes

[DesignerScott]

At my work we just switched from an .eps exclusive workflow to a partial .pdf workflow, and are having many issues.
Here's our setup:
individual files are saved as .eps from illustrator CS1, and then ganged in InDesign. Now we are exporting the gang from inDesign CS1 as a .pdf. The only setting that we haven't had issues with is the default [Print] setting.
The issue is:
If we set up a [custom] setting that is EXACTLY like the [Print] setting, we have the standard spot color/transparency issues. But we recently have also had issues with color shift when compared to the .eps as well as some minor "graininess."

Has anybody got a clue about the inDesign PDF export settings being so bizarre for us?

[rickself]

I would, for safety sake, save the file as a postscript file with all of your settings within the Indy print dialog box. Then pdf the file thru Distiller. You'll have much more control over what you're doing.

[SharkFinStudios]

Why not just save each Illy file as a PDF and then combine the PDFs in Acrobat?

[DesignerScott]

I don't Know (spoken with a longing sadness).
Honestly though, having no experience with acrobat, is it really something that can easily be done with different size jobs, and such... I'll look into that tomorrwo I guess.

[urstwile]

If you have Acrobat 6 or 7, you can use Acrobat to create a PDF from multiple files. It's a sweet feature. The docs can be all different sizes within the same file.

[DesignerScott]

Alright, so I've got acrobat open and all it seems to be letting me do is combine files into one multi-page pdf. Unless I'm missing something.

What I'm doing is creating one page with several different projects together to minimize blank space on a single sheet.

[rickself]

I would go ahead and place all your files onto a ganged Indy page, export the whole ganged page as a ps file and then distill the entire file. You will still doing everything the same up to the point of creating the pdf from within Indy. PM me in the am and I'd be happy to talk you thru it.

But you DO need Acrobat Distiller or Professional, not just Reader, to do this.

[urstwile]

Alright, so I've got acrobat open and all it seems to be letting me do is combine files into one multi-page pdf. Unless I'm missing something.

What I'm doing is creating one page with several different projects together to minimize blank space on a single sheet.
Sorry I misunderstood what you were trying to do.

I'd go with Rickself's suggestion.

[DesignerScott]

So i've officially narrowed down the problem... I need to have color options as "Leave Unchanged", and still have simulate overprinting on.
Simulate overprint is what allows us to have transparency effects work,
but we need to still pull out spot colors for five and six color jobs.
If color is set to CMYK, the Ink manager, these spot colors show up as spot, but I guess back at the press they don't show up, but if it is "leave unchanged" then there is no problem.
Or now that I am rethinking this on a keyboard, it might just be that CMYK is converting everything to process, (even though it says it isn't in Ink Manager) which is eliminating my transparency issues.
Ahhhhh!

[PersonasBinar]

If you export to a PDF x-1a for print colours are converted to process.
I imagine you are getting shifts from colours setting in indd.

Flatten all your files first before making the .eps files....simplify them as much as possible before importing. If Indd is going to be the final PS maker, I recommend ugrading to CS2 big postscript improvement over CS1. These .eps files are you guys making them or are they client supplied? Are you running the same colour profile over your apps....using Bridge?

[DesignerScott]

I agree that we need CS2, but our basic workflow is to lay out art in Illustrator. (and right now save as .eps, even though I would prefer .pdf or just leave as .ai) and Combine in inDesign.
From here we export a file (in the past .eps but I would prefer .pdf) for our HP Indigos. I'm just an artist so I don't know much about the latter though.
So for now I think our solution is to convert everything to process in our Illustrator files, except for our occasional 5th and 6th spot colors. Then we can export .pdfs in InDesign with the Leave Unchanged Color Options.
(The problems we had been having were color shifts and transparency issues).
(I don't think anyone has touched colour profiles at all though.)

[PersonasBinar]

You should be using one colour settings file across all your adobe apps.
If you flatten you're transparencies at source you should eliminate those issues.

Why not just print to the Indigo from Indd? Spots as in Violet and light mag or cyan .... this the six colour Indigo that Indigo licenced to HP ? Digital variable press? If so I used to run the Indigo TurboStream ... fun machine

[DesignerScott]

Yup same Indigo, and the 5th color we run is usually white, and we are considering also using orange as another spot. (Or at least I am). I'll look into the color settings, but right now we have people who just gang jobs together, and nothing else, and people who just run the presses and nothing else. But I wonder what would happen if I suggested that. (Like I said I'm just an artist though).

[PersonasBinar]

As you are in Adobe's realm with CS , colour profiles can make a world of difference.
Time to get an artist hip to prepress, can just know how to make it pretty if you can't print it. Until then it's just a waste of money. Art is light, pre-press is ink and in-between the two shall meet..