Why Flatten? 1

[Hyperlord]

Why do you have to flatten an image? Does anyone here know why exactly it is necessary? I know it makes a smaller file size - but I think images look much better printed w/o flattening - so I usually ignore the flatten warning.

Anyone know what this flatteing thing is really all about and why "this image includes art which requires flattening"?

Just curious,
nate Knowledge enormous makes a God of me.

 

[askIllustrator]

A file will print the same way flattened or not. Eventually all files will need to be flattened for output. There's no need to let go of your layered .psd though, just save a copy as a .tif if your printing or a .jpg if its for the web (actually use save for web for web stuff) The reason is most publications are prepared in page layout apps like Quark and ragema-er-pagemaker hehe. These apps allow you to arrange thumbnails of your graphics inside 'picture frames'. This is the perfered meathod since you can collect alot of high res files on one page and not tax your comp til its time to print. The downside is, these apps dont always recognize some the effects you may have used in photoshop or illustrator. BEHOLD! As Steve Jobs introduces us the latest in desk-lamp technology!

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