Flatten logo?

Hey Guys,
I've designed a logo that has several paths or outlines. I sent it to the printers as an ai. file as they you a plotter and need to select a path to cut. How do i flatten the logo and just have the outline path or keyline? The printer says the machine just tries to cut each path and that I should have a flattened image with an outline path?
I've tried clipping masks and the same thing happens, and i've tried raterizing the logo and making a outline keyline cut on a seperate layer?
If someone could help it would be greatly appreciated! Because I send artwork that is sent to me to print aswell. I need to know how to sort this for my job.
Thanks Paul Mc Donald.

Hello Pauly.
Not sure if the example below will be of use to you, this is how I would do it.
You will need to alter the dimensions i.e. stroke to your requirements
Depending how complex your logo is, this may or may not be of use?
TREX

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My logo has some transparency which I'd like to keep.
How do you send a scalable vector logo that has transparency in a way that a client can easily open and view the file?
Thanks in advance!
C

To elaborate on what Laary wrote which is the correct answer.
AI format is not readable by any other application except Illustrator at least as a graphic.
What makes Illustrator usable in other applications is its pdf compatibilty, which is an option when saving the file.
It essentially saves two versions of the file one in the ai format and the other in the pdf format it is the pdf portion of the file that you see when placing the file.
If you wish to have the file flat as you refer to it then when saving as a pdf uncheck the option in the pdf dialog Create Acrobat Layers from Top Level Layers.
Also when you flatten a file in Illustrator it is not the same thing as flattening a file in Photoshop

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The business card is standard size with the the original imported logo image being 6000x4200 png file. I tried making the size smaller by dragging the corner point to a smaller dimension but the result is flattened image that loses crispness.
Should I be using the png file or would it be best to work with the original .ai vectored file?
Thank you

It's hard to understand what you mean by "flat" seeing as logos are, in essence, actually flat. Do you mean that you are working on a logo that should have a 3d effect or a hint of depth and resizing messes it up? Good logos should be scalable and would not get distorted no matter what size you make them.

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File > save for web (& devices). That will give you the best and smallest web-ready graphics. With save as you're embedding all kinds of info that doesn't need to be in the image. File size can bloat ten-fold quickly. Use save for web.

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I'm running ID CS6 and Acrobat Pro X.
When I export a document as a PRINT or INTERACTIVE pdf, part of my logo goes missing. The funny thing is that our design team are all running the same programs and 3 of our members can view the logo completely, the other 4 see half of the logo missing, I can see the logo just fine.
• The logo mark is visible, but the typography that is part of the logo is missing?! And it's a single grouped object in Illustrator.
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• Finder on Mac shows mixed visibility in file preview on different computers. Some show, some don't.
• In the past, I've been able to place vector objects from Illustrator into Indesign completely fine. I prefer vector over image because it allows me scaling flexibility.
• I have not changed any settings on my program between the time I was able and not able to do this. I don't understand why different people are getting different results on their screens. And in a couple of occasions, it has happened to one of our team members and it fixed itself mysteriously.
I would like to provide screen shots, but it is a private design.
One key note to realize is that the logo is completely outlined and grouped as a single object. I then save the logo into the same folder as the ID file (tried both, .EPS and .AI) and placed it (CMD+D) into InDesign. Both files are CMYK files.
I then make my PDF by hitting (CMD+E) to export, choose PDF Print. On the PDF settings, I choose [High Quality Print], compatible with Acrobat 5 and beyond, uncheck optimize for web, include bleeds, no color conversion.
I've had issues in the past where hidden layers in an .AI are still visible in the PDF. The .AI is imported into InDesign then exported as PDF... The hidden layers from the .AI preview in Finder, but then vanish when opening the PDF...so buggy.
Make any sense?!...

Similar to Mikey's response… If the logo has a spot color in it and it overlaps any raster image (or vice versa), then the overlapping part will appear white if "Overprint Preview" is turned off in Acrobat. This is really a bug. One possible fix is to export the PDF as an PDF/X-4:2010 in the "Standard" drop down—this preserves all transparency layering without flattening.
This issue causes frequent headaches and confusion in my workplace, especially since a lot of people want/need to hold on to the PDF/X-1a standard, which flattens the artwork.

PDF not fully flattened when exporting - Printing problems

I recently ran across a problem I haven't experienced before. I had designed a postcard in InDesign CS6, The client wanted the text from their old logo with a new graphic in place of part of the old logo (sorry if that sounds very confusing they replaced old logo graphic with one that is celebrating 40 years). I used the clipping boxes and imported both the new graphic and the old logo (cutting off the graphic of the old logo that they didn't want). Looked great on screen, my printed proof on my printer looked great as well. Exported using press quality, with trim marks to PDF and sent it to the print house.
The print house opened it in a program to mail merge and it still looked great on screen, but when it printed the graphic from the old logo showed through and I ended up with the new logo printed on top of the old logo (which my client obviously was furious about).
I've been doing this for 12 years with no previous problems, so this baffled me. The printing house told me that they occasionally have this happen because their hi-tech printer is able to read hidden layers and just is too smart and that it is probably that the pdf isn't flattened enough.
First off, I need to know what I need to do to my PDF setting to make sure this doesn't happen again as I want what I see on screen to be all that prints.
Second, if the hi-tech printer didn't pay attention to that clipping path (and showed all the logo), but didn't mess up the grid of pictures on the card (all of which were in the same type of clipping mask), what caused it to do this?
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Thank you!

Post Author: fyz
CA Forum: Exporting
Hi,
I think your pdf file is probably damaged. There is a tool called Advanced PDF Repair. I have used it to repair many corrupt PDF files successfully. Its homepage is http://www.datanumen.com/apdfr/ Maybe you can have a try.
Alan

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If you rasterize or open a PDF in Photoshop you will see not only a small amount of loss of quality, it will be huge:
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A PDF can contain a lot of different color spaces in RGB and CMYK. Photoshop will open a PDF and convert it to a single color space.
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PDF/X-4 (which will include all used fonts embedded, not allow interactive objects, etc.)
Bleed
Output intent
Minimum resolution of images
Minimum width of lines and small letters
Minimum width of lines and small letters, when printed on black and also when printed on 4c.
If you need registration marks.
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Sending the Add as EPS is neither a solution.
Sending a rasterized anything is also not a good idea.

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I have a 3 color logo: black, PMS 200U, and PMS 1955U. The logo was built in Illustrator and I have placed grayscale tiff ontop of it. The grayscale tiff is a stipple (dots) effect that I colorized to PMS 1955U in Illustrator, masked it out on top of the logo, and set it to multiply. Within Illustrator, the separations look good and it prints fine when printing directly out of illustrator.
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Press quality uses PDF version 1.4 which supports transparency while PDF/X-1a uses PDF version 1.3 which requires transparency to be flattened.
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What are some methods to obscure something in a .jpg? For instance a logo on a shirt, or similar.. Would like it to be obvious the item is blurred, doen't need to be removed entirely..
Maybe PS is better? Trying to minimize moving the file back and forth between programs so if it can be accomplished in ILL. then all the better.
Thx

Actually this is one of those times when doing this in Photoshop does not make all that much sense since you have to go back and forth from Illustrator and risk having placement problems in Illustrator.
here is what you do
1 place the image file does not matter what format the original is
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3 then draw a shape over the area that you want to obscure
4 then select the shape and the copied instance of the image and make a clipping mask, ( command 7 (Mac) control 7 (PC))
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You can now easily turn the visibility of this area on or off.
You can also flatten the transparency making it a smaller object, it will have a small white area around the which you can recreate a clipping mask for to keep the fie size down.
You can also use different effects like Crystallization, etc. same as you can in Photoshop.
Here are screenshots
You can also give the clipped area a feather effect

Creating a hi-res vsn of a logo

Hi,
I am trying to create a hi res version
of a logo for someone.
If I copy and place the logo as a
smart object into a photoshop file
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dpi resolution and CMYK should
that make it a hi res version?
Thanks.

If it is originally vector anyway there would seem to be little need for creating a high resolution pixel version at all as the vector data will not deteriorate in upscaling.
An image of 300ppi resolution is only hi res as longa as it is not blown up in a layout application for example – the important thing is the effective resolution in a given layout.
So placing it as a smart object in a photoshop file, flattening it, making it 300 dpi and saving it does not make it hi res?
Why flatten it before resampling? That pretty much thwarts the benefit of placing a Vector Smart Object in the first place (at least for upsampling).
And the Color Mode CMYK is not in itself the same as the proper Color Space for various possible printing processes – those may vary widely with regard to Total Area Coverage and GCR/UCR.

How to create in InDesign with "Helios Server" a flattened pdf file?

Hi,
anybody know about how to use Helios server to create flattened pdf file?
some details:
software: InDesign CS4
Operating System: Macintosh

I hope you meant it when you said any and all suggestions would be appreciated. This is kind of for listed bullets, but you seemm well versed that you could play with this to make it work.
First, you want to set your text and apply some general bullets. You can make a new paragraph style if you’d like to set your indents for personal preference. Off to the side, place your graphic you want to use for the bullet.
Next, select your bullet text and convert the bullets to text. Now it gets bouncy, but follow slowly and it may work for you.
Copy one of the general Bullets to the pasteboard. Then, Find/Change, pasting the bullet text character in the Find what. Go back to your document and copy the logo or graphic to your clipboard. Make sure it is formatted to your bullet size and colors, etc...
Go back to your open Find/Change dialog and select the Change to (special characters for replace) to clipboard contents, formatted. From there, you can select and tweak things such as text wrap.
Just one FYI - When you try to select all in your text box, the graphics used for the bullets will NOT be selected in the links pallette.

What to do with flaten text in logo

I had had a company design me a logo which included an EPS file but they flatted the text, I'm a total noob, but I think there maybe a way to convert it to vector text

"Flattening" is generally used to describe combining overlapping transparent objects while removing the transparency effect. If a yellow square overlaps a blue square creating green in the overlap, flattening will produce three shapes, A blue polygon (square minus the overlap), a yellow polygon (square minus the overlap) and a green rectangle (the overlap). Flattening usually leaves vectors as vectors.
It sounds like you have a rasterized logo, or at least rasterized text in the logo. Is that what you meant by "Flatted"?
If that's the case you have four options:
Ask the logo creator to sent you a vector version, perhaps with the text as editable text, not converted to paths.
Figure out the typeface used in the logo and reset the text.
Trace over the text using the pen tool.
Use Live Trace (see help files).

Flattening a vector in CS2

I have a vector logo of a star, with designs and colors inside it. Is there a way to flatten everything inside the image so it's not editable anymore, but still maintain the vector star shape??

I just want the star shape to be editable, but maintain the graphics inside as more like a patter fill almost, I did manage to select all graphics and rasterize it, there is a check mark under options to create clipping mask. Seems to work out, I can still edit the star shape only, the graphics inside are rastered.

Combining logo elements in Illustrator

Hello,
Is there some way to combine different logo elements so it becomes one element and you can't ungroup it anymore? I mean other way than Pathfinder - Unite (this means flattening color).
Thanks for your help and suggestions!

...the reason is completely different...
What is the reason? What are you trying to accomplish?
As you've stated it so far, your question is ambiguous and without a better description doesn't really make sense in the context of Illustrator. Describe the actual workflow (chain of events) you are trying to accomplish.
So when someone opens the file there is just one element not many elements grouped all together.
Your terminology is ambiguous. "Element" is not a term of the program. What do you mean by "one element"? A term like "Group" has specific meaning in Illustrator.
What kind of file do you want to deliver? What software do you assume the recipient will be using to "open" it? If you deliver an Illustrator file to someone using the same version of Illustrator, they can do anything to it that you can do when you open it with Illustrator.
A motorcycle is one object. It's an object made up of many individual objects. If I deliver my motorcycle to you, you can manipulate it as a single object. If you have the tools and know-how, you can disassemble it into its constituent objects.
A Group in an object-based drawing program is one object. It's an object made up of individual objects (raster, vector, and/or text). If I deliver to you an Illustrator Group, which I'm calling "a logo," you can manipulate it as a single object. If you have the tools (Illustrator), you can disassemble it into its constituent objects.
Do you think there is such a way to combine all these elements into one element logo?
Again: If you are talking about combining paths into one object which cannot be "disassembled" in Illustrator, then you can rasterize it (replace it with a raster image, thereby removing the paths). A raster image is one object. It's an object which Illustrator cannot "disassemble" because a raster image is not a collection of individual objects which Illustrator can individually "understand"; it's just a list of color values (pixels) which Illustrator cannot edit. But that obviates the advantages and purposes of the original artwork having been created as vector-based artwork in the first place. And even Illustrator can still wreck it (re-rasterize it; disproportionally scale it, etc.) if the recipient doesn't know what he's doing.
If you're talking about delivering it to someone to use in some other program, there may be other delivery options which allow it to be used as a whole, but not disassembled by that program.
See how much guessing you are requiring from anyone interested in helping you? Stop being secretive. Explain exactly and in detail what you've got and what you intend to do with it.
JET

Applying Flatten Transparency for proper scaling

Below is an example of a logo I recently completed. I designed it at a large size and want to ensure that for future use it scales down properly. The 2nd image below shows how some of the paths break. At this point, is it standard practice to apply Flatten Transparency? Thx in advance.

Michelle and Mike wrote:
sorry I'm just now getting back to you guys. I don't know if this will be of any help or not, but I kept searching based on responses and I then launched my version 4 which is still on my computer until I make sure I have all my settings where they need be in 5.5 so I can compare. I went to *edit* and dropped down to *color settings*. In 5.5, it was set to "Emulate Adobe® Illustrator 6.0" at the top where it says settings. I changed it to read the same thing as my CS4 program had which was "North America General Purpose 2". All the other settings were the same across the board and I would have to guess are default settings for the working spaces and color management policies. This fixed the issue with the items darkening on my screen. I work completely in CMYK for printing purposes so I'm very careful to make sure all imported photos to Illustrator are CMYK. I also am now leaving off the color profile in Photoshop. If you need to know exact settings I was using on that Photoshop color profile on photos being imported, let me know and I will list them or screen shot them. But leaving off the Photoshop color profile and changing the color settings in Illustrator to what I mentioned above got rid of the issue I was having. Hopefully this helps and makes sense what I did.
Michelle, do you think you can reproduce consistently the problem and describe step by step how others can reproduce it? If yes, this will help to understand the problem.

Flatten logo?

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