how to get rid of fake PNG transparency

[David.P]

Hi forum & tracker team,

when printing with PDF-XChange V5, I can't seem to get true transparency like this:


Instead, PDF-XChange gives me fake transparency like this:

(printed from Word, with floating unrotated image having PNG transparency)

However, the previously installed PDF-XChange Lite DID yield proper transparency (only with too much image compression):

(Printed with PDF-XChange Lite, the image including true transparency can even be moved around on the PDF page in one piece)

Thus, is there a setting in PDF-XChange that retains PNG transparency?

Regards
David.P

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hi David,

May we have the original word document and the two versions of the PDF for testing at our end please?

Regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Thanks Stefan, will do that asap.
Regards
David.P

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Looking forward to the samples David!

Cheers,
Stefan

[David.P]

Here we are, gentlemen (see attachment).

Regards David.P

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Thanks David,

Passing it to the experts for further investigation.
(I have created a ticket in our internal system for this #2041)

Regards,
Stefan

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

It is not PDF-XChange driver limitation, but how Word prints on GDI printers. GDI (or Word) does not support transparency on GDI-printers and simulates it using different kind of patterns.
The Lite driver is based on XPS, and Word detects that, and uses XPS path on printing where transparency is supported.

[David.P]

Thank you Ivan,

Thus, for printing transparency from Word, I shall stick with the Lite driver.

What is your opinion regarding the very bold appearance of the fonts with the standard driver -- probably also a limitation of the GDI printing that Word employs?

Regards David.P

[Paul - Tracker Supp]

Hi David,

can you supply screen shots of the difference in font rendering? The file we have looks the same in both for us. Perhaps a different file? Screen shots illustrating the difference here would definitly help.

regards

[David.P]

Hello Paul,

here is a screenshot animation showing the used font (Calibri) becoming very heavy when printed with the PDF Exchange Standard print driver, as compared to the other two PDF drivers tested. Viewer is Adobe Reader 11.0.0.

Best regards
David.P

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi David.P,

Thanks for that - could you send the Word document itself? I suspect that the issue is indeed the same, but I can't be sure without seeing the document.

Cheers, let me know!

[David.P]

Hi Will,

the Word doc is embedded in the PDF as attachment.

Regards
David.P

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi David,

I've just taken a look and I have to say, I'm not seeing this at all. The two look identical to me - please see the attached screen-shot of a side-by-side comparison:

Comparison.zip

(194 KiB) Downloaded 188 times

Am I missing any steps to reproduce this? Even just opening the same PDF file that you have issues with, I was unable to reproduce the font bolding issue on my machine.

Cheers,

[David.P]

Yes Will, I only see this font bolding if the file is opened in Ad*be Reader 11 -- in PDFXchange Editor, it doesn't happen.

Regards

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi David,

I also opened the file and did the side-by-side comaprison in Adobe Reader 11 and am not seeing the issue, so it may be that this is something specific to your system.

Is there any other file that demonstrates this issue, for us to look at?

Cheers,

[David.P]

Sorry Will that for some reason I did not come back to you on this.

Anyway, I guess that the font problem has resolved somehow (honestly I don't exactly remember anymore).

On the other hand, coming back once more to the "print transparency" issue -- it seems that "true" transparency from Word still only can be printed with PDF Exchange Printer Lite, but not with the Pro version.

That's ok for me at the moment, however it seems that PDF Exchange Printer Lite prints watermarks on all pages for some reason. Also, I can't seem to use my PDF-XChange Editor Pro licence to unlock PDF Exchange Printer Lite in order for it to not print watermarks.

So is there any way in your view how I can print a) "true" transparency from Word and b) not get watermarks on the PDF pages?

Thank you
David.P

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hi David,

I suspect you have e.g. a Pro license - so it works for the Editor, but will not work for Lite. That's why you get the "DEMO" stamps in Lite.
The solutions is being worked on and will be in the form of a "hybrid" printing driver. The new Standard drivers will unclude two quite different ways to handle information - one will be what is currently used in the Standard drivers, and the other one will be what Lite uses. So the new Standard driver will detect which of the two is better to use (or supported) by the application that sends the print job to it, and create the best possible file using the better underlying technology for that particular print job. We expect this in one of the next few builds if all goes smoothly.

Regards,
Stefan

[David.P]

Perfect and great to hear that Stefan. Thank you.

Seems as if PDF transparency is Rocket Science:

Transparency is a very complex technology.
The Adobe technical documentation on it is over 100 pages long

...so it is understandable that it takes a while to get the "perfect" PDF printer driver.

Looking forward to the changes,

Cheers
David

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hi David,

Yes it is indeed complex, so thanks for the patience and understanding while we work on this!

Regards,
Stefan