Illustrator transparency/blending mode troubles...

[eyeon]

I am relatively new to Illustrator, and have a question that seems pretty basic, but I seem to be having trouble figuring it out...

Basically, I designed a fairly complex brochure, and sent it to Kinkos to have printed. Some of the objects in this brochure had a blending mode applied to them, and some I had made semi-transparent. When I got my proof back from Kinkos, all of the objects with transparency were completely opaque, and the objects with blending modes applied to them were reset as well. I figured that I had forgotten to flatten the transparencies before saving the file as a PDF, but when I try that, it sets the opacity back to 100% -- Same with the blending modes -- those are reset as well. I can't really figure out what I'm doing wrong here. It seems that there should be a simple solution to this, but I can't seem to find it.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Blue Velvet]

It appears that Kinko's haven't updated their RIPs or whatever they're running their work out on which is inexcusable for 2006. If you gave them a hard copy to go from then they should get it right... mind you, it also depends on how you produced your PDF. Not all PDFs are created equal.

Try exporting (not saving) your files as Illustrator 8 EPSs before PDFing them. This will automatically flatten the artwork... watch your transparency flattener presets and use PDF v1.3 (Acrobat 4) for best press compatibility.

 

[eyeon]

I went over to Kinkos this morning to physically show them the error, and of course, they had no idea why it would do that... so, they are leaving it up to me to correct the error. I will certainly try your suggestions and see if that fares any better for me.

Thanks a lot for the prompt and thorough response. That is good information to know for future projects as well.