Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

[amanda]

Every month we print a 12 page A5 booklet for one of our clients.
The artwork is supplied as a PDF file which has been designed by the client in InDesign and exported as PDF file for us to print.

We do not have preps and to impose the booklet we place the pdf file pages directly into illustrator and move/rotate the pages into position. We then print the illustrator file to a postscript file, using PrinergyRefiner.ppd. The postscript file is then run through Prinergy 4 to create the PDF file to make plates from.

The problem is - When I view the PDF file Prinergy creates, on pages which have been rotated, and in some of the text areas, punctuation and lower-case L's dissapear.

I receive no font warnings and everything views correctly in illustrator.
If I print using a different ppd, I do not get this problem. This happens with a variety of fonts (Gill Sans, Arial) and only seems to occur with pdf files out of illustrator.

For a quick fix, I have been converting all text to outlines in illustrator before using PrinergyRefiner... which is fine, But what is actually going on here??
Why is this happening??

Any help or thoughts are appreciated.

Amanda.

 

[margadri]

Re: Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

Are the fonts you are using postscript or OTF/TTF?
If not postscript it may be the problem

 

[Vee]

Re: Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

Have you tried placing the PDFs in InDesign? Do you get the same results?
Also, what if you use the AdobePDF PPD?

Just some options to think about..

 

[amanda]

Re: Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

Thank you both for your comments.

Adriano -
Yes, the problem occurs when using OpenType fonts.
However, if using OpenType fonts is the problem... How come the characters only dissapear on rotated pages?

Vee -
If I impose the document in InDesign - there is no problem.
If I use AdobePDF PPD from Illustrator, I still have the same problem.
So I guess it's not a "PrinergyRefiner.ppd" problem and is perhaps more to do with Illustrator.

I seem to believe though, that it is just something that the client is doing wrong in creating/exporting the pdf file from InDesign.
(I can't even get them to correctly add bleed, so chances are the problem stems back to the source of the file. Not sure how I can check this though?)

- Amanda.

 

[tcollins]

Re: Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

Hi Amanda
To Check to see if there is a problem with the Clients PDF try Refining the PDF in Prinergy First to see if you get the same problem with fonts. Then save the refined pages from prinergy and put those into illustrator and imposed the file and see if you get the same font issue as before when you rerefine the imposed file, in doing this you might find that it is illustrator having issues rotating the page and not converting the fonts properly. Alternatively instead of printing the file from illustrator you can save it as an EPS and refine the EPS in prinergy which might stop the font issue.

Regards
Tony

 

[amanda]

Re: Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

Thanks Tony,

I have tried your suggestion of refining the clients pdf, then placing these refined pages into Illustrator. I rotated the refined pages in Illustrator and did not get the problem! That is great, thank you!!

However, I also performed another test...
I rotated the clients pdf in acrobat. +(Document > Rotate Pages > 180 degrees > Save)+. Then refined the rotated page. I placed this pre-rotated and refined page into illustrator. And the problem returns...

Refine > Place > Rotate > Refine -- Works no problem..
Rotate > Refine > Place > Refine -- Has problems...
Place > Rotate > Refine -- Has problems...

I am glad I know how to avoid the problem...
But I Wonder that the problem is... What is causing my rotated "L's" to dissapear.

Is it the rotation?
Is it the pdf file?
Is it the way I am using the software?
Is it my procedure?
Or does it come back to my original question - is there just a problem with refining in prinergy?

 

[JULIAN C]

Re: Is there a problem with 'PrinergyRefiner.ppd'?

Hi Amanda
You will find that the problem is with illustrator, we do a some packaging work and have come across this before. OTF and TTF fonts cause the problem when used in the document. If pasting Pdfs into illustrator problems occur. Refine all your pdfs first or better still impose in Quark, its a lot safer.