Onyx 7.2 and PDF's not ripping correctly -help!

[Leport]

I've been searching and experimenting for the past two days and have read all the threads about ripping to an Onyx Rip on this and other forum sites as well. Hopefully one of you guys can help me out!
I have Onyx 7.2.059 Printhouse Rip/HPZ6100 printer

Please follow me... My client sends us very simple InDesign documents that we have to output signage/backlits from. Basically each sign is set up the same, purple background in InDesign with a "placed" psd image. There are NO effects added to the placed image. When I make the PDFX1a it looks great on my screen, then I rip it to our Onyx. When I view/preflight the file I can see very faintly the "placed" image box, it's a bit lighter than the rest of the background and when it prints the box is a shade or two lighter than the background. It's like the transparent "placed" image is really not transparent.

I have tried creating different types of PDFs, I've tried all the transparency suggestions I have read about but with no luck... the only thing that does work is recreating in Photoshop or pulling the PDF into Photoshop. I get tons of this work each day and to do this adds twice the time to each job.

Any ideas anyone?
Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!

 

[PrePress Guru]

Hi,

I have never had your particular problem but 2 things come to mind.
1. Does the file actually print with the border around the picture box?
If it does print, please let me know. I can try to replicate it here. Im running the current productionhouse and a hp 5500 and an epson 9880.

2. Call Onyx. This may be a bug in the rip. Since they released version 7, they have has hundreds if bugs. Many of them are rip, pdf and stability related.
I have a few bug reports in with trouble tickets.

-ian

 

[Leport]

Hi Prepress Guru,
1. A border does not print, its the actual overall size/shape of the place image box that entirely prints a shade lighter than the background, as if I had a white 5% transparency. So its not just the edge/border, its the whole box. If you want to replicate this make a solid color purple background, now "place" a .psd file on top of that, mine are typically logos crteated in Photoshop. Then make a PDFX, by either using the PRINT dialog or the EXPORT options. The PDF looks great on screen but after I rip to the Onyx and Preflight it you can see a very faint problem, after its printed you can really notice the color difference and its especially noticeable on backlit materials.

2. We have tried to call Onyx, they told us the 7.2 upgrade should take care of this problem, though it has not.

It just seems like there should be a way to override this problem, and I have tried making various PDF's with various options with no luck. Though I'm not as proficinet in troubleshooting as most of the people that respond to these sites. I'm a graphic designer not an IT person.
Thanks for your help!

 

[jonkovach]

I run Onyx with 5500's and Z6100's, so I am very familiar with your workflow.

My first bet, and I'd put money on this, is that the purple color in InDesign is a Pantone color, or some other spot color. You can check the file for this. Also, if you open the file in Preflight, hit <alt>+Enter to go into the job properties, you can turn the color matching table off, in the Postscript tab (I believe). Then hit apply to reprocess the preview, and see if the box goes away. If it does, more than likely, it is the transparency of the Photoshop image interacting with the Pantone color.

Solution - change the spot color to process in InDesign, and rematch. If you're anything like us, you promise to match to specified Pantone colors.... that means that you'll have to output a variety of purple CMYK values, to see what comes closest to the Pantone spec'd.

Hope that helps.
Jon

 

[Leport]

Thanks Jon, I wish I would have taken the bet. The color is CMYK not Pantone. I did try you other suggestions with no luck either. This same thing happens when making a PDF in Qua_k too. Maybe this is a Acrobat issue???
Leport

 

[jonkovach]

Leport,
Well, crap.
Try to print to .ps and then distill the .ps file in Acrobat 1.3 format (no transparency support).
Do you still have the same issue?
If you can send me the file, I can see if I can troubleshoot it on my end. Won't be until tomorrow, though....
Jon

 

[silversurfer]

In your colour management settings, try changing both your vector and image rendering intents to the same one (Perceptual, for instance).

 

[lfelton]

Not this old chestnut! We've seen transparency rip errors with onyx rips over multiple versions for years. Heaven knows what the root cause is, we never got a proper answer. The solution is simply to never open pdfs directly from the rip. Place them into indesign and print them to the print queue instead. Works fine every time. Don't know why!!

 

[jonkovach]

Onyx v7.2 handles transparencies natively, now. It never used to.