Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 9/18/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi Kevin,
First let me say that I am so happy to find this site to know, as an amateur, that I can access help...thank you!

I followed your instructions found on the Photoshop help site to transfer a photoshop file to illustrator deleting the white background. It worked beautifully. But when I tried to view my file in a pdf format in acrobat reader and acrobat 5.0 the object did not appear. The error message that I received is "There was an error trying to parse the image & could not find xobject named 'Im8'." The other logo's with the white background appear without a problem.
I sent an e-mail 3 days ago to this site and have yet to receive an answer. I have a deadline to produce this piece so any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Thank you , Nancy Gazzara

ANSWER: Hi Nancy,

You have to make sure you embed the PS image into your Illustrator document (after you file>place, click the embed button at the top of the window). This sounds like a missing image when you transferred the PDF.


Thanks

Kevin


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kevin,

Thanks for responding to me so quickly. Fortunately this project was put on hold for a few day so that I can try to accomplish this task.

I believe that this issue involves a missing image. I tried what you suggested but without success.

I opened the PSD file in Illustrator,
chose - convert Photoshop layers to objects
chose - assign current working space - sRGBIEC61966-2.1
Then I saved the file as an eps Version 9.0, TIFF (8bit) color transparent
Include document thumbnails, fonts and checked CMYK Postscript - Level 2

When I saved the file from an eps to a pdf, the options chosen in the window that pops up is:

Options Set: Custom
File Compatibility = Acrobat 5.0
I checked - Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities
Options:
I checked - Embed All fonts
         Subset fonts when less than 100% of the characters are used
         Embed ICC Profile: U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2
         Generate Thumbnails
The image still doesn't appear in the pdf format.
Whether I place the image into my document as a jpg or psd or eps, it still does not appear in acrobat reader.

Maybe you know of some other way.

Thanks again for your help.

Nancy

Answer
Hi Nancy,

Actually your whole process is setting you up to fail.

Here's how you should do this:

First, do not Open the PSD file in Illustrator, use File>Place. Make sure you do not have the "Link file" checked in the Place dialog box. Next, do not convert the PS Layers to Objects unless you are trying to edit text in IL created in PS. If you have placed it with link turned on, you can still embed this using the button in the top options bar.

Next, save this as an Illustrator (.ai) document.

Then when you save as a PDF, be sure to use a preset, not a custom setting.

If this is going to print professionally, choose (at least) PRESS QUALITY, or PDF-X1. The only thing I ever customize on this is adding trim marks. Do not change anything else.