Printing a Drop Shadow

[K***@adobeforums.com]

I placed a picture and created a drop shadow behind it. I had checked the "Create Separate Shadows" option just in case that information is useful. When I print the file from Acrobat (as an Illustrator PDF) to a PS Color Printer the drop shadow prints as a white box around the picture. I printed to a non-PS printer and it prints without the white box. Any ideas on what is happening or what I'm doing wrong. Your help is appreciated.

[J***@adobeforums.com]

This happens sometimes when there is a colored background. You need to set the transparency slider to rasterize to get effective drop shadows when this occurs. This is found in the preferences menu for version 10 and earlier, or under the edit-> transparency set up menu in CS (although not sure, havent used it in CS yet). The default is for vector based, but when the slider is slid over it will rasterize effects and allow them to be printed. You can also set the resolution of the outputed raster effects under the Effects -> Document raster effects settings.

Jon

[S***@adobeforums.com]

I am having the same problem with printing a drop shadow on a colored background. I am using Illustrator CS. I tried the suggestions of changing my slider to rasterize however I am still getting a box behind my text and photos. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong or give me some suggestions? Your help is much appreciated!

[K***@adobeforums.com]

I'm still having the problem too. I tried to follow the information from Jonathan which was very good but once I got into it I wasn't sure where to go from there (which choice to pick - high, medium or low resolution - or why I am doing it. Your help is appreciated.

[T***@adobeforums.com]

I am having the same problem, and have set the transparency flattener to high. this is extrememly frustrating, and just started happening after I installed InD CS2. (The problem occurs in both versions now!)

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Ah Ha! found the solution...after HOURS on the phone with Adobe & Birmy PowerRip, and experimenting on my own...
It seems that if you are printing to a Psotscript driver, such as Birmy PowerRip, you MUSt turn off any kind of color correction or management that the rip provides. (I found this under Print>Printer>Printer Features>Set 2>CMYK source & appearance set to Generic CMYK Profile and Not Color Managed)
This solved it for me. Also, you may want to refer to this tech document:http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/327446.html

Good luck!

[K***@adobeforums.com]

Theresa:
I went back into my document (it's a PDF created from Illustrator CS) and when I went to print I choose "Print as Image" and it worked great. I also read the support document that you included and that was very helpful too. Thanks so much for the help.

[K***@adobeforums.com]

I have had this problem countless times in CS. I create report covers for a company. They're the same, just different titles and photos. I always just do a place/replace and change the text. Yet 50% of the time when I save as a pdf, I get the infamous white box where the drop shadow should be. The only solution I've found, well more of a work around, it to print to Acrobat Distiller.

If anyone knows why this is really happening, pass it along. I just upgraded to CS2, so we'll see if the problem persists.