Images being cropped during creation of ps file from InDesign

[Redhead]

Hi there,

I am working in InDesign CS and am using InBooklet to impose a 56 page book. From InBooklet, I am then creating a postscript file which is then distilled. The high res pdf is then printed digitally. For some reason, somewhere in this workflow, images on the inside spreads (8 page signatures - therefore pages 4&5 would be the inside spread) that cross the gutter are being cropped when a transparency used on the same page.

What I end up with is half of the original image on one side of the gutter, while on the other side of the gutter, the rest of the image is missing. I have created several test files with different scenarios and it seems to happen consistently. If there is no transparency on that page, then it works fine.

I am now at a loss what to do. I can forward a sample pdf if anyone wants to take a crack at this.

Frustrated in bookmakingland,
erinhttp://www.graphicdesignforum.com/posticons/icon7.gif

[Keyare]

Is the error occuring in the creation of the postscript file, or in the conversion from postscript to PDF?

[Redhead]

Hi Keyare,
Thanks for responding. My guess is that it is happening during the creation of the postscript file. But, this is just a guess. When I export directly from Indd however, it works. This is not an option though as the book must imposed prior to printing. The file also looks fine in the InBooklet preview window. The transparency controls are adjusted prior to printing to ps from InBooklet and I have tried all three levels of the transparency flattener. What's frustrating is that I finally got the transparencies to work, but a few of the images are still being cropped. I tried another book that recently went to print (without any transparencies) and it worked perfectly. That is the only reason why I have a feeling this problem has something to do with transparencies. Any thoughts?

[Keyare]

I have very similar problems - not just with transparencies, but with cropped or resized images - they always blow up.. and it's in the PDF process. To fix it I resample the images so that they are 300 dpi - uncropped - no transparencies - no resising. Then theimposition occurs AFTER creating the pdfs.

Is it possible to do something like that? (flatttening or resampling the images being the key)

[Redhead]

Hmmm...all my images are resized (we actually print at 240dpi), there may be some minor cropping in Indd, but not much. I could manually impose the books, but our books are 64 pages minimum, some as long as 240 pages! Not something I really want to do manually. I've even attempted to flatten the spreads in Indd, but it didn't help. This has never happened before (this is, however) the first book that we have done (with transparencies) since we loaded Panther and Creative Suite.

What do you mean your images blow up? That's something I don't think I have encountered. Maybe I can help?