Text zone background won't print on Distiller

[Raphael Goubet]

Hi,

Whenever I print a slideshow on either Distiller or PDFWriter, the
background color (with 80% transparency) of text boxes won't print.

If I push the resolution high enough on Distiller, with Print
conversion settings, I'll get a heavily pixelized background.

What's the problem?

Thanks in advance.

Raphael

 

[Ute Simon]

Whenever I print a slideshow on either Distiller or PDFWriter, the

background color (with 80% transparency) of text boxes won't print.

If I push the resolution high enough on Distiller, with Print
conversion settings, I'll get a heavily pixelized background.

Hi Raphael,

many printers, and Distiller IS a printer with which you print to a file,
have problems with transparency. Can you use a solid color of the same
shade?

Kind regards,
Ute

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Whenever I print a slideshow on either Distiller or PDFWriter, the

background color (with 80% transparency) of text boxes won't print.

PowerPoint doesn't do transparency, not really. Instead, it creates a grid of
lines that you can "see through" to the shape behind. "Transparent" only in
the sense that venetian blinds are transparent.

It doesn't adjust the spacing of the lines to accommodate different display or
printer resolutions, though, so sometimes its lines set up a harmonic "beat"
pattern against the underlying printer or display resolution, or the lines are
so close together that you get a "closed venetian blinds" sort of transparency
... ie, none at all.

The problem gets worse in Acrobat because there are several resolutions
involved along the way: Distiller's, the printer that you ultimately print the
PDF to and the display resolution, which effectively changes every time you
change the zoom level in Acrobat/Reader.

Best bet is not to use transparency. Or if possible, select the transparent
shape and anything underneath it, copy it, then use Paste Special, as PNG to
paste in a bitmap version of the shapes. Delete the original shapes and use
the bitmap instead.

 

[Raphael Goubet]

Hi

Thank you and Ute for these explanations. I hoped transparency was
managed like tints in desktop publishing software (i.e., same color
with more white pigments).

I tried to find the color that best matches the "tint" I wanted, and
now it prints fine indeed. Hopefully, Microsoft will come up with a
better handling of transparency in the future. They *must* do it
correctly in Publisher, though I never tried there.

Thanks again.

Raphael

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Hi

Thank you and Ute for these explanations. I hoped transparency was
managed like tints in desktop publishing software (i.e., same color
with more white pigments).

Tints would be opaque, though; you couldn't see through the shape to
whatever's behind.

To get a color match quickly, you could try this:

Draw a shape, adjust the transparency so it looks good to you.
Make a screenshot of the entire screen and paste that into any image editing
program.
Use the image editing program's eyedropper tool or equivalent to sample the
color and give you the RGB values you need to plug into PPT for your
pseudo-tint.

A lot of footsteps to take such a short walk. ;-)

Ah, or there are several little eyedropper utilities that'd let you sample the
color from within PowerPoint. Naturally, I can't remember the names. Sonia,
Echo, Help?

 

[Raphael Goubet]

Ah, or there are several little eyedropper utilities that'd let you sample the
color from within PowerPoint. Naturally, I can't remember the names. Sonia,
Echo, Help?

That would be Color Cop, for instance.

Thanks for the tip.

Raphael

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

That would be Color Cop, for instance.

Thanks for the tip.

Or the others mentioned here ...

Find the color of a pixel in an image
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00619.htm

I totally forgot I had added these.

 

[Sonia]

And my favorite, just because I've used it forever, is Eyedropper.
http://eyedropper.inetia.com/ Click on "English version" at right if you don't
speak Slovenian.
--

Sonia Coleman
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Team
Autorun Software, Templates and Tutorials
http://www.soniacoleman.com

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

And my favorite, just because I've used it forever, is Eyedropper.
http://eyedropper.inetia.com/ Click on "English version" at right if you don't
speak Slovenian.

Thanks ... I've added that and also DigitalColor Meter, which comes with Mac OSX.