Ripping Problem with Acrobat 9

[Activeman]

I have installed a new mac with Acrobat Pro 9 and Pitstop 9. When sending to our rip to produce printing plates if there is a spot colour it converts it to 4 colour process. All works fine if we send an eps file or postscript file it is just pdf's. I have looked at all the prefrences but cannot see what I need to change, help!

 

[Bo3b]

Are you downloading the pdfs or printing the pdfs from acrobat - if printing you want to look at the advanced settings in the print settings dialog - colour management. I generally set this to none or PostScript printer determines colour - any other setting and acrobat will perform some kind of colour management depending on what settings are set.

 

[Activeman]

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the info though I feel I haven't explained the issue correctly. The pdf's are what we have been supplied by our clients and look fine on screen and correctly split into the desired spot colours. We then drop them into 'Hot Folders' to the CTP rip which then converts the spots to process. So we do not use the print dialog box. Our other macs running Acrobat 7/8 are still working correctly
Any further insights greatly appreciated.

Are you downloading the pdfs or printing the pdfs from acrobat - if printing you want to look at the advanced settings in the print settings dialog - colour management. I generally set this to none or PostScript printer determines colour - any other setting and acrobat will perform some kind of colour management depending on what settings are set.

 

[Sev]

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the info though I feel I haven't explained the issue correctly. The pdf's are what we have been supplied by our clients and look fine on screen and correctly split into the desired spot colours. We then drop them into 'Hot Folders' to the CTP rip which then converts the spots to process. So we do not use the print dialog box. Our other macs running Acrobat 7/8 are still working correctly
Any further insights greatly appreciated.

What is your workflow/RIP? We have a Nexus workflow with 2 hot folders. One is a raster based hot folder, with no color conversion, the other is a vector to raster hot folder, and converts all colors to process. Perhaps there is something in your RIP/hot folder setup that is converting the colors to process.

-Sev

 

[Activeman]

The rip we are using is 'OpenRip Symphony 2 with APPE' We only have the one hot folder which then contains settings for the different size envelope presses. As I said up post the older macs with the earlier versions are working fine and if I transfer a pdf to one of those machines and re save the pdf again all works fine.

Could it be that our Rip program is not compatible with Acrobat 9 and need to upgrade it?

 

[leonardr]

The rip we are using is 'OpenRip Symphony 2 with APPE' We only have the one hot folder which then contains settings for the different size envelope presses.

So what does Acrobat have to do with this? The RIP isn't using Acrobat at all...

 

[Activeman]

It is interpreting the Acrobat 9 pdf isn't it? Then converting the spot to process when we do not want it too. Acrobat 7 & 8 PDF's work fine. Is it the Acrobat program or the Rip that cannot deal with the new Acrobat 9 files?

So what does Acrobat have to do with this? The RIP isn't using Acrobat at all...

 

[rich apollo]

hmm. Are you resaving the PDFs? If you drag the same PDF, without alteration, from a different mac - you get a different result? Is it possible that you have two hot-folders? It really sounds like different settings on the RIP.

 

[Activeman]

Yes I need to re save any pdf that comes in as need to flip any reverse print in able to perfect on the presses. As far as we are aware we are all connected to the same hotfolder. If I drag a pdf I have done to another mac the problem remains until I re save it using that macs acrobat program

hmm. Are you resaving the PDFs? If you drag the same PDF, without alteration, from a different mac - you get a different result? Is it possible that you have two hot-folders? It really sounds like different settings on the RIP.

 

[swcook6]

As a test export as PS and redistill back to PDF v1.3.

 

[Activeman]

Thanks for the suggestion but alas still not working. Also tried a few other setting in the distiller area to no avail......

As a test export as PS and redistill back to PDF v1.3.

 

[rich apollo]

Yes I need to re save any pdf that comes in as need to flip any reverse print in able to perfect on the presses. As far as we are aware we are all connected to the same hotfolder. If I drag a pdf I have done to another mac the problem remains until I re save it using that macs acrobat program

Okay. I think I understand now. Try this: instead of just hitting Save, or Cmd+s, hit Save As. Under Format go to 'Adobe PDF Files, Optimized'. That will allow you to use the PDF Optimizer in your save procedure and the PDF Optimizer allows you to specify the PDF version, among other things.

See the screen grab.

 

[Activeman]

Thanks Rich Apollo, however hating to sound like a broken record but I tried that and again doesn't make a difference. There are 3 of us in this department and we are now all pulling out hair out!!!!!

Okay. I think I understand now. Try this: instead of just hitting Save, or Cmd+s, hit Save As. Under Format go to 'Adobe PDF Files, Optimized'. That will allow you to use the PDF Optimizer in your save procedure and the PDF Optimizer allows you to specify the PDF version, among other things.

See the screen grab.

 

[prepressing]

It seems like an incompatibility between the RIP and the version of the PDF being sent. Best to have someone test your PDF through a newer version of the Open RIP software to see if that resolves the issue. It may be that an upgrade is needed in order to gain support for the latest version of Acrobat.

We sell the RTI Harlequin RIP which can be used to output TIFF files to an existing workflow. You can download a demo from Harlequin RIP Demo, RTI Harlequin Demo TIFF, Epson, HP, CTP Platesetter RIP Software

I would recommend having Open RIP test your Acrobat 9 file through the latest version of their software to see if that resolves the issue. Then you can either decide to upgrade the software (if their latest version fixes it) or shoot 1-bit TIFF files from a new RIP to your existing software. Do you have any options or plugins within the Open RIP software? Also, I know someone else mentioned saving back to PDF v.1.3. Have you tried saving to PDF v.1.4 (not the best solution but it may work).

 

[rich apollo]

Thanks Rich Apollo, however hating to sound like a broken record but I tried that and again doesn't make a difference. There are 3 of us in this department and we are now all pulling out hair out!!!!!

Even changing the PDF version to 1.4? That should resolve any issues with unsupported versions.

Okay, another thought, in your PitStop preferences there's a switch to "Prevent the automatic increase of the PDF version when saving".

See the screen grab.

Take a PDF that separates correctly and one that does not, open them in Acrobat, go to Files>Properties (Cmd + d), go to the Description tab. Are they the same PDF version?

 

[leonardr]

It is interpreting the Acrobat 9 pdf isn't it? Then converting the spot to process when we do not want it too. Acrobat 7 & 8 PDF's work fine. Is it the Acrobat program or the Rip that cannot deal with the new Acrobat 9 files?

Assuming that you are not adding any new PDF features to the document (such as RichMedia), then Acrobat 9 will create a PDF 1.6 document, same as with Acrobat 7 and 8. The only difference is that Acrobat 9 enables a feature of PDF 1.5 called "full compression" to ensure that documents are as small as possible.

If your RIP is unable to process PDF 1.5 with full compression - then you need to get your RIP updated, since that's been part of the PDF standard for almost a decade now.

 

[leonardr]

the other alternative, which would be a good thing for you to do anyway, is to use industry standards such as PDF/X (either X-1a or X-3).

 

[Activeman]

This seems to be working, thanks

...and thanks to everyone with there suggestions!!!

the other alternative, which would be a good thing for you to do anyway, is to use industry standards such as PDF/X (either X-1a or X-3).