we are having a problem getting drop shadows created in Photoshop or Photopaint to print with out a "hard edge." These problems apper in tif files. We are doing PS4.5, and using 2 Pro600e printers. When the drop shadow is created in Draw or Illustrator, no problem, as an eps file. Some our customers are telling us it is the rip, but I do not believe that answer. Any body got an idea? We are open to try most anything. Thanks Phil

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2000

Answers

If the tif file is RGB, it might be that the media profiles are not optimum for the meda you are using. The files out of Illustrator or Draw are problably sent as CMYK files so the profiles can be handling the files differently. We see this sometimes with provided profiles media profiles(icc profiles). Try changing to a different media that you have a profile for and see if you still see the problem, or convert the tif to cmyk and see if the problem still exists. The other thing you could try is changing profile for that particular file, (ie Big CMYK, or BigRGB). At least you can eliminate some reasons.

We see this mainly with the Ilford Semi-matt paper that we have to use the provided meida profiles because our DTP41 will not let us read and correctly build and ICC profile of the media because of the extra UV whiteners in the paper.

Other medias we profile from scratch always have a smooth appearance.

I don't know what your level of knowledge is, or what you have tried, so I hope this is useful.

-- Anonymous, February 18, 2000