Conversion Problem ... AI to PDF

I have never run into this and I can’t figure it out. When I do this client file in AI it looks fine when I save as a PDF it looks like the one attached with white and no matter what I do I can’t get rid of it.

Any ideas?

Have you tried selecting PDF/X-4:2010 from the Standard: menu in the Save As PDF dialog?

For what it’s worth, this is a perfect example of a layout that I’d never even consider composing in Illustrator. For that matter, I’d never place a raster image in Illustrator for any purpose other than tracing.

1 Like

Normally … the required work is predominately vector so when photos are involved I will import them in to AI and Ive never had a problem with final output print in 20+years … This .PNG came from another photographer and no matter what I’ve tried I’ve had this happen, I found a work around but will pull from trash to see if what you suggested would work.

Thank you!!!

Your blue band must be set to knockout. It’s clearly the shape of the body.
Share your .ai and pdf files if you can.

This very well could be your problem. Resave it as a PSD, replace the PNG with the PSD, and try saving as a PDF again.

If that doesn’t work, I suspect you have a trapping issue like @Smurf2 suggested. Look at your overprint settings.

1 Like

The color of the agent’s photo is a little off from the top image to the bottom. This is likely a profile issue and could be related to the PNG, too.

To be fair - there’s nothing wrong with this type of layout in Illustrator - at all.

Placing raster images in Illustrator is completely fine. No issue whatsoever.

1 Like

I think this is it … will attempt!

Thank you!

I think Steve may have figured it out … going to try!

For what it’s worth, PNG isn’t a format intended for print. It’s a compact RGB format that’s mostly for web and digital use.

1 Like

There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing a one page layout like this in Illustrator.
(I just happen to like InD better for output, but it really doesn’t matter.)

As for why this is happening,
Do you have spot colors in this along with transparency effects?
If so, Illy doesn’t make that easy to fix.

The other thing is if there is a conflicting clipping path in the .image file. Illustrator likes to do weird things with photoshop clipping paths, also with no way to fix them other than removing them from the photoshop file.

Where it’s originally a web file - I’ve used and will continue to use PNG files in print - there is absolutely no issue with them - that and you can even embed an ICC profile in a PNG.

There is nothing wrong with PNG for print.

What I was getting at and failed to say was - I don’t tend to change supplied images format unless there’s an issue with said image - so if they supply a PNG then I use it - if there’s an issue I’ll fix it - if not, it gets used.

Sure, Illustrator is designed to support the workflow, to an extent. I wouldn’t dispute that.

Well, there’s never an issue — until there’s an issue, and I know you know Adobe’s Illustrator forum is chock full of posts about issues with raster images into and out of Illustrator. There are pitfalls and misconceptions and workarounds, all avoidable just by dividing up one’s workflow in a way that avoids the weaknesses and leverages the strengths in the Adobe offering.

It can be put down to personal preference, of course, and I’m sure there are millions of historical cases of trouble-free page layout in Illustrator. I never assert that those folks, or the ones who encounter issues, are doing something wrong; only that the issues the encounter, when they do, could be avoided.

Nothing wrong?

PNG is an RGB format. Print work is CMYK, but you already knew that.

If someone wants to depend on an output RIP to do the conversion from RGB to CMYK, it’ll work. And for six-color digital printing, the larger gamut will better facilitate the larger gamut of that process, but saying it situational works is a far cry from saying there’s nothing wrong with it.

Personally, I regard using PNG for print as a sloppy work procedure that sets the stage for possible output problems that could easily be avoided by converting to CMYK. I like to see the results of the RGB conversion before I send things off to have them printed. Then again, I don’t do much work intended for digital printing.

Because .pngs can include transparency, which causes spot color issues in digital, I hate using them for print. As said, a lot of times it doesn’t matter. Until it does.
And not being able to turn off auto-reading of clipping paths in Illustrator is just dumb, and has been a bug for nearly a decade now, if not more

I tend to agree for many of the same sorts of reasons that I convert images to CMYK or wear a bicycle helmet or use seat belts. It has to do with adding a level of safety that comes with no particular downside.

Personally, I prefer using Illustrator for small layout jobs, like brochures. But from several less-than-satisfactory outcomes over the years that stemmed from placing photos into Illustrator, I’ve learned to avoid the issue by using InDesign — even when it involves doing the bulk of the layout in Illustrator, then placing that file into InDesign where I add the photos.

As I said the PNG can have an icc profile.
Rips often do a better conversion to cmyk. If you are making the RGB to CMYK then what colour profile? What CMYK?

Thats why its best to leave it in the format you received it. Besides the PDF conversion CAN convert all to CMYK at a particular output destination.

But typically a lot of places have switched to PDF X4 which does no colour conversion and the colour conversion is handled by RIP at output destination.

Just because PNG is RGB isnt a big deal. Convert to CMyK? No need. No advantage.

Unless your work is colour critical.

I would say you are right here @PrintDriver