Ive placed a file created in Illustrator CS3 into Indesign CS3. Part of the design is a seamless pattern. Using Step & Repeat i place it 6up on an SRA3 size document. At this stage all looks good the pattern in each occurence of the image is consistent/identical. Its not until i export it to PDF that the resulting PDF file shows that the pattern in each image has shifted.
Its hard to explain exactly but what i mean is, each individual piece still looks fine, but compared to each other they reference different areas of the pattern rather than being identical. Ive redone this a few times thinking it was actually the step and repeat command that had messed it up without me noticing before exporting, but its actually all fine in InDesign and only the exported PDF which reflects this problem. Does anyone know of this problem and is there a known work around or what am i doing wrong? Help appreciated!
Why not use illustrator to make the pattern? It sounds from your description as a rounding off (decimal precision) problem, how to tackle it is hard, especially since you are not showing any screen dumps. Is there transparency involved or just a "plain" vector pattern?
Hi Lukas thanks for the reply.
I did use illustrator to create the pattern. Im just using Indesign to impose it 6up (using step and repeat) on an sra3 size sheet, which works fine, and then export to pdf. But the export process creates a pdf where each pattern is slightly different to other, where as in Indesign they show as all identical. Ive attached a sample replicating the problem, ie, the InDesign file where there pattern is identical in each, and the PDF file where the pattern shifts. In this case it shifted only in the bottom left.
oh just realised without the singular file that was placed into InDesign originally you wont see anything. Ive attached it. Its a PDF. What i do is create in Illustrator with bleed. Place AI file in Indesign and export to PDF with crop marks for the print shop or for myself if i am going to impose it myself. In this case i am. So i then place the singular PDF with crop marks into InDesign, step & repeat to 6up, and export to PDF again.
Oki–*that is freaky… not supposed to be like that, must be that somehow the file looses the reference point for the pattern. The object is still intact with the same pattern fill, if opening the PDF in illustrator, just the patterns refference point, the y value of the lower right object to be precise that is somehow lost :S
From illustrator, what have you saved? Are you using any PDFx standard? Does it make any difference if you export to a PDFx1a from indesign? Have you tried/compared with printing to PS and distilling?
It is very alarming, but since it is 2 versions old i doubt if we will see much effort invested in trouble seeking, what we can do at best is:
a) make sure it is solved in later versions
b) find a workaround recepie that is fool proof (i would suggest trying a PDFx1a and see if that works)
One more question, is illy version newer than indy version?
Illustrator also from CS3. File is saved as AI. Im not PDF-ing from Illustrator, only placing in InDesign and all PDF exporting is done from there.
Im not too familiar with ps and distilling. Im not sure what PDF setting im using at the moment. I did the research on what setting to use a while ago and now have it saved as a preset. Not at that PC at the moment but will check and also try PDFx1a and see if anything changes. Thanks!
ok so tried pdf/x1a and no luck. My setting was actually on none.
Its happening intermittently though. On 'none' ive had luck on 1 document where it came out fine. Have tried 3 times since and pattern has moved reference point randomly again. Its usually on only 1 or 2 of the items.
I cant try any of those other imposing softwares, this is all i have!
I exported the file with no problems. (I used the one up .pdf from your post as the single page pdf for imposition). Attached are the imposed pdf and the InDesign presets I used to export.
By the time I walk out of here, I'm going to be a lean, mean, prepress machine...
ok so i half i sussed out printing postscript file and distilling it. Its definatley done the trick.
I just need to make sure ive got all the settings right as half my sheet is being chopped off. Odd about Indesign though. Thanks for all the ideas!
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InDesign help! step & repeat export problem
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