Illustrator effects

[lynnic]

Hi There,
Wondering if anyone has ever come across a similar problem I've just had with Illustrator files. A designer sent me a file and what I see on my screen is different than what he sees and even my proof printed the way I see it and not how it's supposed to be. We are both mac based and using Photoshop & Illustrator CS5.
(see attached) The pict on the left is my results and the one on the right is from the designer - the glow is larger around mine.
What would cause such a difference and what would be the work around?
Thanks so much!!
Lynn

 

[WI-Flexo]

Check "document raster effect settings" under the "effect" menu. Looks like yours is set to 72dpi and his is at 300dpi. Otherwise it was maybe scaled without scaling strokes and effects?Hope that helps.

 

[lynnic]

We checked the Raster effects setting in illustrator and both were the same. Also there was no scaling involved. I simply get a different effect on my end than he does which makes no sense.
Thanks for the reply.
Lynn

 

[WI-Flexo]

Well it was a start....
I am pretty confident I can figure this out for you but will probably need some more details without having the file in front of me. How is the effect applied? Linked image, feather, glow, blur etc. Also does the vector shape have a stroke? (for example a feather applied to a stroke and then stroke expanded will sometimes change view slightly)

 

[lynnic]

The designer started out using effects in illustrator and then created CTs out of photoshop hoping that would solve the problem but did not. Here is one of the effects.
If you can figure this out we would be ever so grateful to you!!
I will be leaving for the day shortly but would be happy to send you more info or the entire work folder via ftp tomorrow if that would help.
Thanks so much!
Lynn

 

[WI-Flexo]

Lynn,
Sent you a PM.

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Do both have overprint preview and proof colours enabled?
Is it a CMYK, RGB or spot colours? (Shall we take the PSD to mean Pantone?)

Also wondering if you have your illustrator files with the same csf files… could be that you have different dotgain settings on your monitors. (Oh and Welcome to Astute Graphics - publishers of the VectorScribe and Phantasm CS Adobe Illustrator plug-ins plug-in,phantasm publisher, is soooo nice where you can do curves channelmapping and stuff)

 

[lynnic]

WI-Flexo,
I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with PM?
Lukas,
I do use overprint preview but where do I find proof colours? It wouldn't matter so much that what I see on my screen doesn't match his, but the output proof needs to match. I am also not familiar with those plug ins but will check them out. I use esko artwork plugins for trapping and color mapping.
Thanks to you both, if you have other suggestions please keep them coming
Lynn

 

[Al Ferrari]

PM means Private Message. WI-Flexo sent you a Private Message. You can access that by going to User CP at the top menu bar when you first arrive at PrintPlanet. Then on the left is a column of categories where you will find Private Messages.

Al

 

[lynnic]

Thanks Al I appreciate your help

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

Proofing is under overprint preview in the view menu. One more thing comes to mind, the imgaes you post they are screen shots from different monitors? I assume they have different characteristics, are the images colour profiles similar gamma? Are the images colour managed?
One thing to test is to have a colour reference strip included in your screen dump so that you can confirm that colours are rendered in the same way. (I'm particularly interested in a 0,20,40,60,80,100 stepwedge of the Pantone, zero being white).

 

[lynnic]

I can see where these things would affect how we see things differently but shouldn't the output be the same? I'm going to forward these responses to my designer and get his input.
Thanks again!
Lynn

 

[WI-Flexo]

Lynn,
I took a good look at your files. I really dont see any "issues" with the files and when I open the AI, if I had to choose I would say my view is closer to what you are trying to match than what your screen looked like so I still cannot say why you are seeing the issue. But what I did was put a new layer in the AI and built a version that you can control the amount of glow. I was thinking that was part of the problem you guys where having was being unable to adjust the the glow on the DCS files. Hopefully the file I put in there will get you going down the right path to at least match the customer file. File is back on the FTP for you to grab.

Lucas bring up some great points as far as really correcting the issue, definitely something to look at.

 

[lynnic]

Thanks WI
You are wonderful!! I cannot see the PM anymore so could you please send me your ftp info again so I can pull the file? Sorry to be so much trouble
Lynn

 

[WI-Flexo]

Lynn,
PM sent

 

[rich apollo]

After much playing around with settings, it looks like the Overprint Preview can have a pronounced effect on the appearance of effects. If you build the effect as an Outer Glow using a black and the Screen mode the Overprint Preview has an especially dramatic impact on the look on-screen.

Oddly, having the Proof Colors setting on does not automatically engage the Overprint Preview. That seems like an error in the interface to me.

 

[CathieH]

Lynn, be sure to take a look at where it says "STYLE" below Buffalo Chicken - there's a line there and it looks like the words are squished vertically. Although I can't offer any help, just wanted to point that out so you can make sure it also matches what the client sent.

Cathie