transparent image background - printing issues

[Anonymous]

howdy

having some issues with a transparent background on an imported image

the original file comes from illustrator and is a simple graphic with a white background

i have tried each of the following:
- copying from illustrator and pasting in archiCAD as a "single image"
- opening the illustrator file in photoshop and saving as png, tiff, jpg and tga
- creating an alpha channel and saving as tga etc

i then import each of the file types into archiCAD and ensure that the "transparent background" is enabled

usually the images appears OK (although there is usually some sort of ghosting/pixelation around the edges of the graphic)

however... when printing i get either one of the following:
- image prints but the background is solid white
- a white square prints where the image is but no graphic
- the image prints with a transparent-ish background (the area underneath the background looks as if it is being printed thru a translucent screen rather than transparent)

we are using archiCAD v11

any help/insight/tips/tricks greatly appreciated

thanks in advance

yukioMishima

[Thomas Holm]

Do you really need the transparency? Otherwise, turning it off will probably ease your pain.

The pain comes from Archicad outputting the transparent image along with all other graphics to the printer, laying the compositing load on the printer. This means the printer has to have a lot of memory and a lot of intelligence. Many times, this procedure digs up the inherent problems of "emulated" Postscript.

You might try the following:

- turn off transparency in images (perhaps it's possible to overlay the vector graphics of Archicad on top of the image instead?)

- if you have several pixel images overlaid, try to combine them in a photo editor (such as Photoshop) before importing into Archicad,so you can turn off transparency

- try Publishing to a PDF and then print that using Adobe Reader's Print as Image command (Reader will do the compositing, relieving the printer)

- increase the memory of the printer

- upgrade the printer to a model with built-in true PostScript

- upgrade the O/S to 10.5.x (which has better printer drivers and PDF handling than previously)

- upgrade Archicad (some issues are better handled in AC12)

Edited: What's &ö in your location? (just curious)

[Anonymous]

thomas

thanks for the reply

we definately need to image to have transparency... we are using a complex logo on a stone wall... the logo has alot of intricate detail/cut-out that need to show the brick behind... so compositing in a graphics program is not really an option

i will look at/test some of your suggestions and see if i can get it to work

thanks again

anyone else?

yukioMishima