Flatten a file in Illustrator
laure
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contrariness Posted messages 338 Registration date Status Membre Last intervention -
contrariness Posted messages 338 Registration date Status Membre Last intervention -
Hello,
I am working in Illustrator CS5, creating a poster with a number of layers, many of which have different degrees of transparency. I need to send it to a printer who has previously advised me to flatten my layers to avoid certain printing issues (which occurred last time).
I’ve searched quite a bit online and found information, but apparently something isn’t working as it should.
Basically, I have selected all my layers in the layers window, opened the menu of that window, and clicked on "flatten artwork." It doesn’t seem to do anything.
Do you have any other solutions for flattening? Or any idea what might be causing it not to work?
Thank you so much for your responses; I’m tearing my hair out a bit here!!
Have a great day,
Laure
I am working in Illustrator CS5, creating a poster with a number of layers, many of which have different degrees of transparency. I need to send it to a printer who has previously advised me to flatten my layers to avoid certain printing issues (which occurred last time).
I’ve searched quite a bit online and found information, but apparently something isn’t working as it should.
Basically, I have selected all my layers in the layers window, opened the menu of that window, and clicked on "flatten artwork." It doesn’t seem to do anything.
Do you have any other solutions for flattening? Or any idea what might be causing it not to work?
Thank you so much for your responses; I’m tearing my hair out a bit here!!
Have a great day,
Laure
3 réponses
It can be assumed that you will not provide your contractor with a native Illustrator file... so if you provide a PDF, transparency flattening will only occur for PDFs in version 1.3.
Another solution is to avoid using transparencies but rather shades of color... (which is much more complex and not possible in all cases).
Don't forget that the flattening of transparencies causes text pixelation depending on their placement relative to the transparencies. It can happen that part of the text is pixelated while another part remains vectorized within the same block... the resolution of the flattening is set in Illustrator (300 dpi is a minimum and on the condition of not enlarging)
Change contractors to one who knows how to use recent version PDFs...
Another solution is to avoid using transparencies but rather shades of color... (which is much more complex and not possible in all cases).
Don't forget that the flattening of transparencies causes text pixelation depending on their placement relative to the transparencies. It can happen that part of the text is pixelated while another part remains vectorized within the same block... the resolution of the flattening is set in Illustrator (300 dpi is a minimum and on the condition of not enlarging)
Change contractors to one who knows how to use recent version PDFs...