Adding Outline to Text Causes Artifact in PDF

[Eidolon]

Greetings.

I’m using PL 21.50 on OS X 10.14.6.

I’m creating a layout with text and vector art. To some of the text, I applied an outside outline through the Layer Style dialog. When I output the layout to PDF, text with an outside outline is surrounded by a tinted box. (See the attached example, which is a scan of a printout from a color laser printer.) The tinted box is more apparent in a printout than on screen.

This tinted-box artifact is not the same size as the text box in the PLD layout. The dimensions of the tinted box are determined by the length of the text itself, not by the size of the text box. Also, the tinted box is always horizontal, not rotated like most of the text boxes.

Text with no outline is displayed correctly, without any artifact, in the PDF.

Apparently, adding an outside outline to text creates some underlying structure that is misinterpreted during PDF generation.

Does anyone know how to eliminate this problem?

[Herbert123]

The Outline layer effect is a bitmap effect, and renders as a rectangular bitmap area, which also causes the change in colour.

If the PDF is saved without Continuous Transparency (PDF 1.4 and higher) the background behind the outline will have to be rasterized. This may cause a colour difference due to colour space conversions in the PDF viewer and your colour management setup if you saved a PDF X/3 file, since this PDF version allows for RGB objects to be maintained for colour management/conversion control later at the printer.

To fix this:

Save the PDF as Original with Continous Transparency. This will bypass the issue: the outline background remains transparent.

Or save as a PDFX/1a (which converts all RGB objects to CMYK).

Or avoid using the Outline layer effect, and instead keep the outlines vector:
1) copy the text object, and paste it.
2) select the bottom text layer.
3) assign a text outline (white), and increase the outline stroke width.

This last method will output pure vector outlines, which print the best. I prefer this method myself.

[Herbert123]

For reference (I wonder: does PhotoLine support PDF/X-4:2008?)

PDF/X-1a Both PDF/X-1a:2001 and PDF/X-3:2002 presets set Acrobat 4 compatibility which flattens a file’s transparency.PDF/X-1a supports CMYK and spot colors but doesn’t allow color management. RGB images are converted to CMYK; CMYK values are preserved. Image resolution settings are the same as the Press Quality preset.

PDF/X-3 This PDF/X preset is similar to PDF/X-1a except that it also supports embedded RGB profiles and color management. This standard is more widely used in Europe than in North America. Choose this option for color-managed environments where you expect the printer to optimize color reproduction for the specific printing environment.

PDF/X-4 Use this PDF/X preset when you want to maintain transparency. It sets the compatibility to Acrobat 7 (PDF 1.6), employs high image resolutions, can handle non-CMYK color-managed workflows, and allows color data to be grayscale, RGB, CMYK, Lab, spot, and ICC-profile based. The main advantage to the PDF/x-4 preset is that—in an Adobe PDF Print Engine workflow—it can harness the ability to manage color and transparency at the latest stages in the RIP stream. (Notice that the actual PDF Standard is PDF/X-4:2010. For reasons unexplained, the naming convention didn’t keep up.)

[Eidolon]

Thank you for these thorough responses.

[maxwell]

It would be great if Photoline could support pdf /x-4 and pdf 2.0 in future. Actually some files cannot not be read by Photoline.

[Martin Huber]

It would be great if Photoline could support pdf /x-4 and pdf 2.0 in future. Actually some files cannot not be read by Photoline.

Aside from encrypted PDFs, there shouldn't be a problem with importing. Can you send us a sample PDF?

Martin