Illustrator Help

[KGraphics]

I have a sign that was not designed by me, but the guy that was working for us for a while. It was saved as a print file in the system, but when I print it, a portion of the image is missing. It was made in AI, and when pulled up it shows all elements, but when sent to the printer, a large black circle that is in the background does not follow. I went through the layers panel and all items are attached to the file, so what am I missing here?

 

[Dan360]

Might be set to overprint or non-printing, go to window>attributes and make sure it isn't turned on.

 

[Jay Grooms]

I've had that happen with transparencies.
See if you can flatten the file.

 

[KGraphics]

Might be set to overprint, go to window>attributes and make sure overprint isn't turned on.

It is not. I snipped a few clips to show the missing piece so it would be a little easier to understand what I'm missing. Please note that 2nd image is the print image from versaworks so quality is really terrible, but the circle is completely white rather than the black shadowing.

 

[Jay Grooms]

if you're using VersaWorks, transparencies were always a constant struggle for me.

 

[KGraphics]

if you're using VersaWorks, transparencies were always a constant struggle for me.

I'm just so confused about why the image would have printed/worked for him, but not for me? Most any other "print file" he saved hasn't give an issue.

 

[ewded]

What does it mean "saved as a print file", if that's a RIP archive then this is not an "Illustrator Question" and this should be an inexpensive lesson to always save the original file in editable format.
Check proof sent to the client, if the designer was bad enough that'll contain the original vector artwork, if it's a raster file you should have kept him

 

[KGraphics]

What does it mean "saved as a print file", if that's a RIP archive then this is not an "Illustrator Question" and this should be an inexpensive lesson to always save the original file in editable format.
Check proof sent to the client, if the designer was bad enough that'll contain the original vector artwork, if it's a raster file you should have kept him

So he saved it as a PDF named "print file", so we could pull the file from saved docs from the folder; we tried to save and transfer all RIPs to me and my computer but they didn't transfer over properly, so unfortunately all of his RIPs were lost. I've been saving all of the new RIPs for future use, but that doesn't help now. File formats he saved it as are an AI and a PDF, I have tried to download as an EPS and pull it into Flexi to see if that can pull the image as a whole but it won't.

 

[Bobby H]

EPS doesn't support true transparency, among some other commonly used features in Illustrator. Gotta use PDF to keep those effects intact. The best thing is having the original Illustrator AI files. The next best thing is PDF files saved with Illustrator editing capability left intact.

 

[ikarasu]

If you're using illustrator just export it as a PNG and print the PNG. Some rips don't like transparencies / shadows - some pdfs are saved in an older format that also does not like transparencies or shadows. You can try to diagnose the file for hours and figure it out... But the best bet is to export it as PNG and move on!

 

[KGraphics]

EPS doesn't support true transparency, among some other commonly used features in Illustrator. Gotta use PDF to keep those effects intact. The best thing is having the original Illustrator AI files. The next best thing is PDF files saved with Illustrator editing capability left intact.

Yeah, I kept trying the saved PDF but the transparencies didn't cross over for some reason. I tried saving as a new PDF from the original AI, but it still wouldn't stick for some reason

 

[KGraphics]

If you're using illustrator just export it as a PNG and print the PNG. Some rips don't like transparencies / shadows - some pdfs are saved in an older format that also does not like transparencies or shadows. You can try to diagnose the file for hours and figure it out... But the best bet is to export it as PNG and move on!

This did it! Thank you!

 

[Bobby H]

Something is definitely out of whack in that client-provided artwork. Probably some object with multiple instances of an odd effect or blending mode applied. Another thing I often see with PDF-based art files from clients is lots of duplicate objects stacked on top of each other. Astute Graphics' suite of plug-ins isn't cheap, but that Vector First Aid plug-in can sure save a lot of time and take care of various headaches. It doesn't solve every problem, but it takes care of a bunch.

But the best bet is to export it as PNG and move on!

I would only export and print vector artwork as a PNG or TIFF as a last resort. A good quality RIP, one that includes an Adobe certified PDF engine, should be able to handle any properly prepared Illustrator-based artwork loaded into it.

The aggravating thing is so many self-taught clients preparing their own DIY artwork manage to come up with new ways how to do graphics work wrong. It can be baffling to dive into a layer's object tree to see the nonsensical ways some users will build up a piece of artwork. Adobe Illustrator is very prone to user mis-use. The same old usual motivations drive that madness, chiefly laziness. The amateur artist doesn't actually want to learn how to use an application properly, and he doesn't want to learn how he should prepare his art files properly for output. It's just easier to wing it. They're not worried about how the people who work in actual graphics production environments have to work with the garbage art files.

So, yeah, in the end rasterizing the artwork as a PNG or TIFF and printing that is about all you can do sometimes.

 

[Jay Grooms]

I'm just so confused about why the image would have printed/worked for him, but not for me? Most any other "print file" he saved hasn't give an issue.

Guessing he flattened the Illustrator file, exported and didn't save over the old Illustrator file.