Viewing Black Overprinting via Print/PDF

[EicherDesignDotCom]

First, I am sorry for the double-post. I posted this in Apple/Mac OS forum before I knew this one existed...

Hi all,

This is really bugging me. It seems like there is a simple solution that I am missing due to overthinking/overcomplicating this issue, so hopefully your fresh sets of eyeballs on my problem will speed things up...

I have a grayscale tiff file. It is basically a gray blob (drop shadow) for a product. This file is overlaying a spot color gradient in quark. So, I have one picture box with the spot gradient (created in Photoshop) and then another picture on top with the grayscale tiff. I want the black blob to overprint on top of the spot color. Since it is a gradient I can't just make the box background the spot color, so I get a white field around the black blobs.

Now, when I go to print/PDF the document, I choose OVERPRINT BLACK and yet the resulting print/PDF still shows the white background field.

SO then, my question is, how do I get rid of the white field so it is actually overprinting?
Any help would be SO appreciated.
THANKS!

 

[bigfeet1980]

I'm not 100% sure I'm following this correctly, but for the image you want on top (the top layer) did you in QXP go up to Item and Modify and choose the tab Box and choose None (which currently may be "white")? Any way, play around with the settings in under each of those tabs like Run Around which may need to be none.

Others here may also know exactly what to do. I'm not at a computer with QXP so I'm going from memory. If I were, I'd set up a layout with the two items you are describing and play with it.

 

[signal49]

I have a feeling the problem lies with the gradient created in Photoshop. I tend to think it's automatically going to knockout...

Something to try is to select the box you want to set for Overprint. Go to Window > Show Trap Information then choose Overprint. If it's greyed out, then I think you're out of luck and my guess goes back to the Photoshop gradient.

If the gradient does seem to be the issue, I'd first try recreating the gradient in Quark. If it's too much for Quark, I'd make it into 2 tif files (copy/paste the channels into new files) then layer/position and colorize them in Quark. Then you can definitely control the trapping options.

Also, the "Overprint EPS Black" option in the print dialog box forces any black that's used in an imported eps file to overprint instead of knocking out, like it does by default. So I don't think that's the option you want anyway.

Please let us know if you find out what works (or doesn't)!

 

[EicherDesignDotCom]

bigfeet:
Yes, runaround is off. It's the white of the image background, not the picture box background.

Signal49:
Good feedback, thanks. I'll play around more with how the gradient is made.