Yikes. Transparent gradients print as solid!!!

[Cowtoon]

I have a problem with PPT 2003.

I built a powerpoint presentation with the use of some transparency
gradients (i.e., where I use two colours and make one or both of them
transparent to some degree). When I print, those effects print as solid.
Yikes!!! How do I beat this? The presentation is being printed as handouts
for everyone, but some of the content is missing because of this transparent
effect that I have used. I've tried all kinds of drivers and can't seem to
beat it.

I've had our tech support in two different cities trying to work on this and
after a couple of weeks, there is still no solution. When I pdf the file
(Acrobat 6), the results are the same - transparent gradients show up as
solid. This is what makes me think the problem is with PPT, rather than the
printer.

I have access to a couple of very decent colour laser printers. HP (colour
laserjet) 4650 and HP (colour laserjet) 5550.

Any thoughts on how to make this work. Is the problem with the printer or
with Powerpoint? I'd sure appreciate any input on this. Thanks so much

 

[Echo S]

Try right-clicking the transparent/gradient object and choosing Save as
Picture. Save as PNG, then reinsert using Insert|Picture|From File. That
might be a viable workaround, anyway.

 

[Ute Simon]

I built a powerpoint presentation with the use of some transparency

gradients (i.e., where I use two colours and make one or both of them
transparent to some degree). When I print, those effects print as solid.

I have access to a couple of very decent colour laser printers. HP
(colour
laserjet) 4650 and HP (colour laserjet) 5550.

This problem occurs mostly with laser printers. Inkjet printers normally
print transparencies better. If you have access to one, maybe print one
copy of your presentation and copy it?

If you convert a PPT to PDF, a printer driver is used, such the same problem
occurs though you "print" to a file. This is mostly due to PostScript
(which is used by Laser Printers as well as Adobe Acrobat) not handling
transparency correctly.

Like Echo said, if possible group the transparent element with its
background and re-insert it as a graphics file instead of using transparent
AutoShapes, that should solve the problem. A lot of work, but sometimes you
need to have a screen version plus a print version of your presentation.

Best regards,
Ute

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I built a powerpoint presentation with the use of some transparency

gradients (i.e., where I use two colours and make one or both of them
transparent to some degree). When I print, those effects print as solid.
Yikes!!! How do I beat this?

As Ute mentions, the problem is in the fact that most PostScript printers can't
do transparency and that PowerPoint doesn't even attempt to fake gradient
transparency.

The most obvious workaround: If it hurts when you do that, don't do that. ;-)

If your printers have a non-PS driver, try printing to that instead. The
effect will still look pretty cheesy (dithered like mad) but at least you'll be
able to see the stuff under the transparent shape.

Another trick: select the transparent shape AND whatever's underneath it.
Choose Edit, Copy. Choose Edit, Paste Special, as PNG. Now delete the
original and move the pasted PNG back into its place.

Variant of same: it might also work to save the entire slide as a PNG (file,
save as, Files of type: PNG) then import it back into PPT and size it to fill
the slide.



The presentation is being printed as handouts

 

[Cowtoon]

Thank you all for your responses.

I would say that the latest powerpoint does produce a decent gradient
transparency - as long as you only worked with video and not print.

The file in question has 40 pages, so it would hurt to create bitmaps for
each page, but thanks for the suggestion. Having said that ... the copy and
paste special (as png) wouldn't be so bad - I didn't think of that one.
(would have to save the file as another name for future changes).

I had our system's people try a non PS driver (pcl5c and pcl6) but neither
helped, which really surprised me. We even checked with our HP rep and he
had no better suggestions. Sigh!

What I didn't know was the PS drivers couldn't handle this stuff. I'll keep
that in mind for future.

After all is said and done ... it appears the source of the problem lies
with Powerpoint (booooooooo).

Thanks for all of your tips to find a work-around. It's always appreciated.
Diana

I built a powerpoint presentation with the use of some transparency
gradients (i.e., where I use two colours and make one or both of them
transparent to some degree). When I print, those effects print as solid.
Yikes!!! How do I beat this?

As Ute mentions, the problem is in the fact that most PostScript printers
can't
do transparency and that PowerPoint doesn't even attempt to fake gradient
transparency.

The most obvious workaround: If it hurts when you do that, don't do that.
;-)

If your printers have a non-PS driver, try printing to that instead. The
effect will still look pretty cheesy (dithered like mad) but at least you'll
be
able to see the stuff under the transparent shape.

Another trick: select the transparent shape AND whatever's underneath it.
Choose Edit, Copy. Choose Edit, Paste Special, as PNG. Now delete the
original and move the pasted PNG back into its place.

Variant of same: it might also work to save the entire slide as a PNG
(file,
save as, Files of type: PNG) then import it back into PPT and size it to
fill
the slide.



The presentation is being printed as handouts

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

The file in question has 40 pages, so it would hurt to create bitmaps for

each page, but thanks for the suggestion.

You might want to try the demo of our Protect addin; essentially what it does
is batch export a bitmap of every page in the presentation then reimport the
bitmaps into a new presentation.

http://www.pptools.com

A quick run with the demo would give you a very good idea whether it'll work
with your printers or not.