InDesign Crop marks overprinting on pdf query.

[dogbone]

I'm not sure what is going on here. I produced a sheet of business cards in Indesign with background pdf and the type put on in Indesign.

There are 20 up on a sheet of A3 which is going for laser printing. The lower layer has the double cut mark keylines and the 100% opaque background is on top of that with the final type layer on top.

As a preview in InDesign it looks as it should do with the crop marks only visible around the edges. However when I view the output pdf which I will send for printing, the double cut marks are visible all through the artwork.

Why is this happening?

 

[Blue Velvet]

Viewing a PDF on screen can be deceptive. What I would do is to troubleshoot this is in no particular order:

a) Triple-check that the pictorial element in question is not set to overprint whether in the InDesign artwork or the original PDF. Open the original PDF in Acrobat and use the separation preview to double-check this.

b) Run out separations from the InDesign artwork and check them carefully.

c) Make sure that the keylines are not in a registration 'colour' which will cause them to appear across all plates.

 

[dogbone]

Thanks, yes I think you are right it must be some preview weirdness. In Acrobat the crop marks are not always visible, and at high magnifications they suddenly decide to appear but some only go half way!!.

I checked the seps in InDesign there is no hint at all of the cut marks on any plate, (they are set at 100%K only) however they *do* show up on the Acrobat black plate, (sometimes) as you can see from the screen shots.

I tried outputting the black plate from Acrobat as you suggested, and it is clean (even though it shows on screen) so I suppose that this is just display weirdness.

What confused me is that I know fine lines do not show up at low magnifications but at high magnifications I would expect and accurate preview.

 

[Blue Velvet]

To be completely sure of no problems occurring, you could shorten the trim marks so that they only are seen from the edge of the trim or bleed outwards. That's usually how I set mine up, drawing one short 0.25 pt line and then duplicating it horizontally, and then another vertically for the sides of the page.

I know it must be annoying as hell because you feel you can't entirely trust what you're seeing but sometimes its better take the slightly longer workaround in order to be safe rather than sorry.

 

[dogbone]

Yes you are right, it is not worth the anguish. I have rebuilt the crops marks.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Possibly something to with the way layers output from InDesign and how they preview in Acrobat... never use layers myself in QuarkXpress. Happy with building stuff without them.

 

[dogbone]

What do you do when you have images and copy on a layout and you just want to view the copy?

 

[Blue Velvet]

What do you do when you have images and copy on a layout and you just want to view the copy?

Apart from screen-rendering, I have never felt the need to do this.

In our case, we're usually dealing with a surfeit of verbiage and the copy is carefully fitted so any image changes may affect how the copy flows. I've genuinely never felt the need to see the copy alone, preferring to see the whole piece all the time.

Besides, the way I understand it, by placing copy on a separate layer, you've got to pay even closer attention to how it traps and interacts with layers and elements beneath... I could be wrong about this but one thing I cannot stand is seeing 10pt type knocking out of other elements.

I'm pretty adept at my keyboard shortcuts so reaching down through and reordering stacked elements isn't usually a problem.

 

[dogbone]

I'm pretty adept at my keyboard shortcuts so reaching down through and reordering stacked elements isn't usually a problem.

Ah yes, I see. I used to have to do that in Quark 4, but it really bugged me. However I will make some inquiries about these trapping problems. What I like about layers is that I can put whole groups of objects that are overlapping or close together, on separate layer and lock them to make selecting easier.