[Scribus] Serious problems with digital printer

[PLinnell]

Hi,

On Thursday 30 June 2005 19:17, Christoph Sch?fer wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have tried to get a huge scribus PDF file printed at a print shop
> with a digital printer. The file conatains a plate (965 x 965 mm)
> with two layers, some tiff files, and all text is converted to
> outline. The problem is that Acrobat's preflight check for offset
> printing runs fine but warns when checked for digital printing. The
> warning is about transparent pictures (although they are all
> tiffs).
>
> The RIP (Production Manager 6.6. SP 1) for the printing machine
> (CAMMJET CJ-500) exits with a CPSI error if scribus files (PDF and
> EPS) are opened.
>

The is very helpful info for us to help diagnose issues.

I had a look at the specs of the printer and the RIP software:

The RIP software is an older version of Production Manager. Produced, 
I am guessing around 2001. The most current version of this RIP is 
7.6v1 released, released in  March 2005. 

The change log of the software, which is admirably detailed for a 
proprietary app, lists CSPI errors which are fixed in later versions, 
along with notes that Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4 which supports transparency)  
support was added in a later version. One other line from the change 
log:

*TIFF files with an alpha channel can now import. V 7.5v3

Ref: 
http://www.scanvecamiable.com/resources/pdf/support/Welcome%20to%20FlexiSIGN%207.pdf

> At the shop we were able to convert the scribus PDF to EPS. This
> EPS caused no problems with the RIP, but the print went wrong: Some
> of the frames I had drawn around the images were printed in grey
> instead of transparent (frame settings: colour: none, and opacity
> set to 0). This behaviour seems very strange, since all frames have
> exactly the same properties and most of them do not appear in the
> print, but few of the still show the grey background.
>

EPS will likely not support transparency directly, but via clipping 
paths will, depending on the contents and how you are displaying 
transparency.

> We have run five prints with different options and the problem is
> still there.
>
> Has someone on this list already had similar problems?

Based on what I can see it is not anything Scribus is doing wrong, 
simply that the older RIP cannot support PDF 1.4 properly. 

You might try using the flattener in Acro 6 or newer, but this still 
might not fix the issue.

Unfortunately, for printers, upgrading RIPs is an expensive and can be 
time consuming job. However, in my opinion, it is well past due.

You welcome to contact me off list to inspect the file too.

Hope that helps,

Peter