Expert: Ken Black - 8/13/2010

Question

I am exporting a new IND CS5 document to an Interactive PDF - on some pages, the blue text or lines change to a brown color. Not on every page, even though line is on the master, and when I zoom in, the color will change back to the blue it is supposed to be. This does not happen when I make a print pdf.

This is not only on my screen, but to others I send to as well. As this is a proposal going to clients, I need the color to be consistent upon viewing.

What could be causing this, and how would I fix it?

Answer
Hi Karen,

This is something that has been an issue with the way pdf files are displayed for some time, probably since the beginning. When a pdf is opened for viewing, it is typically zoomed fairly far out, often so the entire page is available for viewing. Objects that don't fill an entire pixel, or what seems to be an even amount of a pixel, will often not be represented properly until zoomed into causing the screen pixels to be refreshed and filled with the intended information.

As for fixing this, there are a couple of things to try and none are a guarantee for working.

1a - Try changing the output settings for your pdf. If the compression settings are set to jpeg, change them to zip. This will prevent help prevent artifacts that can cause the rendering to change at lower viewing percentages.

1b - Also in the output settings, check the color conversion in the advanced tab, if this is an interactive pdf for screen viewing only, set the color conversion space to sRGB. This is not necessarily a fix for any and all, but a fair amount of viewing set ups are defaulted to sRGB and this can offer the application better information to use when deciding the intent when rendering.

2 - This problem occurs mainly when objects are too small to take up an entire screen pixel. Try making the objects in question slightly larger. Sometimes even half a point can make all the difference.

These are only suggestions and may or may not work depending on your situation.

Good luck,

Regards,

Ken Black

www.bestprintingonline.com