Flattening multiply

I am using particular and to make it look convincing I need multiply layer modes and add layer mode. I have to export to frames transparent PNG, which means I cannot use my black background. Any ideas on flattening multiply effects so the black still shows through for the layer modes, but still has transparency? Illustrator has something similar where it "flattens the look" looking for something along these lines that bakes the effect in.

I work in video games, so I need this to be a flipbook which is essentially is a higher res gif image. I need all the frames as pngs. Opacity looks really muddy and doesn't work correct, why would they have blend modes if you could do it with opacity?

Similar Messages

Illustrator CS5-Multiply used on tiffs are now hazy-gray in CMYK?

I have created AI documents in both RGB and CMYK document color modes. In both modes, I have a colored background or a photo. A TIFF file is Placed in the AI document on top of the background. It contains black line art on a white background (flattened in Photoshop, grayscale, Tiff). I use the Transparency>Multiply feature to drop out the white background, and leave the black portion of the artwork. I have other CMYK AI files with perfectly transparent artwork created yesterday. Everything is fine in RGB, all transparent...but the printer will need it in CMYK.
Today, I was working unbeknownst, in an RGB document, and in the middle of this project, changed the AI Color Mode to CMYK. Now 7 of the 10 Placed, Multiplied files have a gray "haze" over them that exists whereever the white is on the original file. Although I see these haze-gray boxes in the AI document, they come out transparent in a PDF file.
After doing that, I cannot create a new, fresh AI document and recreate the transparent backgrounds on the same Photoshop files in a brand new CMYK document using the identical placed tiffs.
In addition, the same files I used in the original document, are placed in the brand new document (For example, a dragonfly ink drawing.) The SAME tiff file now placed without any background AROUND the dragonfly but white windows in the wings where there aren't any black lines.When I Multiply, the area around the dragonfly is clear, but where the white was in the wings is now hazy-gray.
When I SAVE AS a PDF file, NONE of the placed tiffs are visible.
What have I done to change the way CMYK files are handled??? I was also working with drop shadows, and color swatch changes, on text, at the same time I decided to change the Document Color Mode.
Is there a better way to drop out the white background?
I use a iMac, OS 10.6.4, and Creative Suite 5.
Thank you in advance.

Thank you. I'm not sure I'm responding to the forum correctly. I can
only respond through the email, can't find the Forum instructions on
line, and can't upload an image.
I checked the image modes in Photoshop. The PS files are not bitmap,
they are all grayscale. I use grayscale because I sometimes have to
colorize the black and white line drawing to a color, that can't happen
with RGB or CMYK.
The printing method is a large inkjet-type print (not offset), a single
print, then high-pressure laminated to a product similar to Formica. The
printers have not had a problem with this method I've used before.
(there are no color separations).
These files are huge because of the line art. A file that is 24"x36"
and 150 dpi preferred by the printer, makes the files very large. As I
understand it, a bitmap of ink line art needs to be 1200dpi, and at that
size it would be just huge.
In response to Doug's comment about how about combining all the "bitmap
work in PS and place the composite in AI as a single linked image".
Right now, with the client shifting the images around so, it's easier to
build the AI document with all the smaller vignettes as tiffs (which was
working up until this afternoon!). But I could consider combining it all
in PS, unless there was some layering issues. Like a giant puzzle piece.
I still don't understand why this is now happening to a new document.
And will it now mess up all my other projects that are half completed
and not corrupted. This has thrown me, entirely. I know just enough
about Illustrator to get me into a lot of trouble.
Many thanks!

PDF shows multiply-transparent jpgs, but does not print them

Hi all, i have to print some store vouchers with different logos, but too bad some of them are jpgs. I've set them to "multiply" with 60% opacity, and when I export to PDF, it actually shows pages as it should, but when I print them, these logos magically don't appear. What the heck am I failing? Attached screens of my working profile. Thanks!

While I think your boss is making a big mistake and sacrificing quality in the output, he is the boss. Make a new PDF preset -- start with X-1a, then change the standard to None and check the box to simulate overprint. Does that work? Do you see thin white lines (stitching) around transparent areas? That's a major problem on screen and with digital printing from flattened PDFs.

AICS2 flattening causes massive color shifts in nontransparent objects

Seems like I should find this here, but searching for "flatten" didn't do the trick. And I apologize for not knowing the answer to such a simple question. It's just never come up for me before!
I have several files all created the same way that and PDFs from them will not print properly on the color inkjet system my local Staples is using. They're asking me to flatten the files before creating a PDF. (Perhaps another vendor might work, but I think I should know how to properly flatten my files in Illustrator.) Here's the setup...
A bottom layer contains a bunch of embedded PNGs to create a map. Over that, different layers have text and stroked paths. Some of the layers are made transparent (in different percentages). Some are not transparent. My Document Color Mode is RGB, all my colors are RGB and my PNGs are RGB. Seems relatively simple. Now here's my problem...
Even though my first test PDF looks right on screen, it printed improperly: all transparent objects were more or less ignored by the color printer. (All opaque text knocked out very well.) So they suggested I flatten my file in Illustrator, then export a PDF. I've been trying to do the flattening and can't get it to work. No matter what settings I apply the bottom layer of PNGs gets "ghosted:" it shows up looking like it's been reduced to about 30% "transparency" or tint.
As a test, I made a new layer and put a simple color rectangle on it. I turned off the PNGs layer, and tried to flatten. The color rectangle was also ghosted. In one case (can't remember exactly what setting were being applied), PARTS of the rectangle were ghosted, and other parts remained the solid color. (I've also seen the same effect applied to the PNGs: parts of them are ghosted, parts not.)
I have tried pretty much every combination of options I can think of in the Object > Flatten Transparency dialog box. I have tried setting the transparency Appearance of the layers to Multiply instead of normal. I have tried applying transparency to the objects themselves, instead of to their layers. Nothing will prevent AICS2 from ghosting (tinting, call it what you will) the color rectangle or the PNGs, even though they have no transparency applied to them.
Obviously I have no idea how to proceed. I've used transparency effects in Illustrator (love'em) before, and have had no problems with printing from InDesign. But Staples needs a PDF.
And oddly, if I export a JPEG, all the transparency effects have been applied perfectly correctly. Perhaps that will be my final workaround, but for learning purposes I'd like to get this "flattening in Illustrator" business at least somewhat working. Any advice will be appreciated. I'm going crazy!

Thanks for lending a hand. Mordy's article seems to me to deal mostly with recovering transparency after making an EPS. So I'm not sure what it has to do with flattening within a supposedly original AICS2 document. The article and its comments do mention flattening when printing, as does your post #4, Wade.
Are you telling me I can't successfully flatten the relevant layers within my document, and have them stay that way? I'm not printing these files. I might be able to ask Staples (or any other print shop) to print them in a special way, but that really seems kind of clumsy.
I tried a test. Following what I think Wade meant for me to do, I used the AICS2 print dialog, with the settings as in post 4, and saved as a PDF instead of actually printing. I then printed that PDF and the problem PDF on my Brother laser printer, and noticed several differences. The old PDF didn't have some of the transparent elements on it. The new one did have them. So I'm hoping that "Printing to PDF" may have solved the immediate problems.
If the only way I can successfully flatten these files is when "Printing to PDF," what's the use of having a Flatten command in the Object menu? Am I still missing something? It would be very helpful to be able to flatten the layers that need flattening, and leave them that way. (They are static. I'm finished those layers. They aren't going to change any more.) Then I could work on other layers in the meantime and just do a regular old "Save as PDF" when needed.
Anyhow, it's great to know I might be able, with your kind help, to have these files print correctly!

Drop Shadow Turns Bluey/Grey When Flatten Transparency is Applied

Hello,
I'm a bit new to Illustrator (using CS2) and using it to create a CD artwork layout. I understand that i need to flatten the transparency and the artwork before generating a PDF to send to the printer.
When I choose "Flatten transparency" to flatten an a TIF image w/ a drop shadow (DS applied in Illustrator using Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow)... the shadow turns a bluey grey and looks awful. How can I make it stay black like I want it?
The settings for the drop shadow are:
Mode: Multiply
Opacity: 55%
X Offset: 0.03
Y Offset: 0.03
Blur: 0.05
Color: 60/40/40/100 (rich black for the printing co I am using)
If anyone can clue me in as to why the color is going mushy, I'd sure apprecaite it.
Thanks!

Well, this is preliminary, but here goes.
First, the bad news: What you're observing is real and repeatable. Transparency is a voodoo area, and it will take a real expert to explain the whys of what's happening. But it
is happening.
Take an egdemost polaroid and, via the appearance palette, change the drop shadow so that it has a huge offset, giving you a shadow block distinct from the main image. Pull the object sufficiently off the background so that half of the shadow is in the clear. Now, dial up the flatten transparency dialog and toggle the preview. You'll see that while the portion of the shadow in the no-background area remains unchanged, the portion within your background goes light and bluish. The flattening is clearly "reacting" to your background.
I thought the same thing as jcates and tried a black-plate-only (0/0/0/100) drop shadow. While the result is a tad different, we still have the basic problem.
Ugh.
Next, a question: Who told you transparent objects needed to be flattened before generating a press output PDF?
One of the advantages of saving out a PDF (rather than
printing to PDF via Acrobat's Distiller engine) is to preserve transparency, which is supported in the newest PDF versions. I don't want to suggest your printing company might be a tad behind the times, but one option you might consider is leaving the drop shadows as they are. Let the printer deal with transparency issues... which should not be an issue at all if they are up to handling the latest PDF spec. Of course, you will insist on a contract proof before going to press.
Next thought: For the small amount of shadow showing, there isn't really that much advantage to using a rich black. You might consider going black-plate-only to avoid tinting issues. Again, the contract proof is your friend.
Final (for now) thought: Do the drop shadows in Photoshop. Make sure there is no background and save as PSD. Place the PSD in Illustrator -- AI will respect the transparency in the PSD image. Yes, this is a PITA when it comes time to adjust the drop shadow. Being an old-timer with this stuff, that is how
I would execute this design. (We geezers don't trust Illustrator with raster effects.)
I have to go dinner shopping now to avoid getting into trouble with my wife, but I will look at this some more when I get the chance. In the meantime, let's hope someone else looking at this comes up with an "Aha!" solution.
{Bumped in the meantime.}

Floating point precision of "Flatten to XML"

It appears that the "Flatten to XML" function (LV 7.1.1) truncates floating point numbers to 5 decimal places. This is a rather annoying limitation, since I'm trying to store a relative time in hours, accurate to the second (chosen by a previous coder that I have to be compatible with - otherwise I'd just use seconds). Is there a workaround to this? (other than multiplying by some power of 10 before flattening, and dividing after unflattening)
Jaegen

Hi Paul and Jaegen,
I checked our databases and found entries of product suggestions and
corrective action requests for the behavior of the limited precision
when flattening to XML. I found an interesting reply from a LabVIEW
developer on the request for further precision:
The Flatten To XML primitive puposefully cuts off all numbers at 5
digits after the decimal. There are 3 main reasons for this:
Information regarding precision is not propagated on the wire.
Therefore, there is no real way to know how many significant digits or
even places past the decimal point is appropriate when data is
flattened to XML.
Bloat. If all floating point values printed all of the possible
decimal digits all of the time, this would provide for some very large
blocks of XML code.
Given the arbitrarily complex nature of LabVIEW data, it is
difficult to provide a method for specifying precision. For example, if
a user has a cluster of clusters, each of which contain a single,
double and extended representing various measurements of differing
accuracy, how can one precision setting be applied to each of these
values? The user would have to unbundle (and index if an array was
involved), flatten, concatenate, and then the reverse on the unflatten
side.
I suggest that you go ahead and file a new product suggestion by using the "feedback" link on www.ni.com/contact.
It would be best if you could give some detailed information on how you
would like LabVIEW to handle different scenarios while getting around
the above issues.
Thanks for the feedback!
- Philip Courtois, Thinkbot Solutions

Any new ideas or suggestions for flattening layer effects without changing appearance

Hello all,
I've been doing a lot of looking around for ideas on how to make my work flow more simple. I regularly run into an issue with layer effects when they are flattened and have been unable to find any good solutions but was wondering if any new developments have come up with the newer versions of Photoshop that I am somehow overlooking?
My main issue is that when I flatten layers in sections or groups (i.e. flatten only 2 or more layers together in a larger composition but not the entire compostion), layer effects with blending modes often flatten strangely. I particularly notice this with drop shadows as I often use a color other than black, usually a very dark shade of the color that is applied to the element the shadow is overlapping. To me it gives it a much more realistic and natural look. When I flatten a layer I notice that it appears the multiply mode is stripped from drop shadow FX unless they are flattened with the nackground element, so if I used a dark blue for example, once flattened the shadow is now a distinct blue shade that appears to be in normal blending mode. I can set that drop shadow layer to multiply to restore it but then I have to keep the drop shadow element on it's own layer seperate from the body of the other flattened content otherwise it inherits the multipoy mode as well of course, which still leaves me with an unwanted layer to deal with.
My curreny solutions range from hiding all other layers and merging visible, which works from some things but not the aforementioned drop shadow issue, I will also keep things that just don't co-operate on their own seperate layer, like the drop shadow and just leave them be if I can. In cases where that isn't an option I will even hide all other layers and comp the portion of the PSD that needs flattened to a seperate TIFF or PNG and import back into the PSD. Sometimes this will work around the issue and make everything interact as desired. It's a lenghty affair though that involves mental acrobatics every time to devise a suitable workaround that I can use for my purposes.
The reason I need to do this often is because I work for a web development company as the designer. Once the design is done sometimes I will do the slicing and prepping for web (not an issue when I do this because I can leave everything as a PSD). When other team members like the web developer need access to the graphics files though, they use Fireworks which means I need a layered PNG so they can slice as needed with the software they are familiar with while maintining transparency where needed.
I know some will say just to use Fireworks then but that isn't a desireable solution to me because I find Fireworks very limiting on the advanced Fx and graphic manipulation. I agree that Fireworks can be very capable and can do very nice things when you're thinking of the design of the entire site in general, but it usually can't do the advanced fx and manipulation I like to use for the "eye candy" portions of the site, especially when you are using mutiple Fx on a layer with their own blending modes. I find it more of a hassle to build a general site in Fireworks and import elements from Phoroshop. Keeping track of proper sizing and constantly loading placeholder background images to photoshop for reference isn't for me!
I have a pretty decent understanding of how the layer flattening works and how the blending modes function (like the fact you can't have mutiple blending modes on a single layer, thus many of the issues with layer Fx blending modes). I am using CS5.5 Design premium and am hoping there have been some advances in working with this type of thing. I know that if I could flatten the drop shadow layer with the layer it overlaps that would solve the issue nicely but this is seldom possible on websites where you have fluid areas that need to change size and the image element with the drop shadow may not always be in the same place on the site background.
It would be awesome if, since you have the ability to apply blending modes to individual layer effects, if Photoshop could have a setting to somehow flatten the layer effects and layer in it's own self containted process and then place the flattened layer within the the PSD as if you imported a transparent image like a TIFF or PNG. This is basically what I do on the extreme side of tihngs manually when needed. It would be great if there was a way to automate that type of functionality.
Does anyone know of any new or good method to deal with this type of thing? Sorry about the long post, I was trying to be as detailed as possible as I know it's sometimes easy to misunderstand what someone is asking with this type of question. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read/respond!

Hi Noel,
Thanks for the reply. The reason I need to do things this way is because of the workflow at my company. I need to be able to convert my photoshop PSD files in Fireworks and have the layers behave predictably. Trying to open a PSD file as is in Fireworks, while keeping the layer flexibility intact usually creates all kinds of chaos, ranging from Fireworks flat out ignoring some layer effects to drastically changing them. I assume because Fireworks way of intrepreting some setting numerically is different than Photoshop and because Fireworks doesn't even have some of the effect properties at all.
The web developers need to have layered PNG files so they can slice re-slice and move elements around as needed white they develop a website. They need to maintain transparency on the seperate elements of the website mockup so that they can reuse and move elements around as needed. At times I end up doing the CSS layout on a site and in those cases it doesn't matter becuase I can work straight from the PSD and export elements straight to PNG files etc as needed. It's when I need to provide the development team with a Fireworks PNG version of the website mockup that I have these issues.
For example and to clarify, I may have a website interface designed that has several fancy buttons or a header element with drop shadows on them or that overlap a background element in some way. If I am doing the coding on the site I can simply hide all other layers than the releveant ones, flatten visible to maintain transparency, save for web etc and I have the element complete with a nice drop shadow ready to drop into the code. If the developers are doing the slicing and layout though, they don't know how to use Photoshop (and aren't going to be learning anytime soon) but they do use Fireworks... so they want the site in fireworks, complete with the ability to hide background elements or other parts of the site that may be in the way of making the proper PNG for that button or other element that maintains transparency AND keeps the drop shadow, the proper color and transparency as well.
What typically happens if I don't flatten each element of the site design before importing into Fireworks is that it will look very different in Fireworks, but being web developers (lol!) they don't notice or maybe even care that something looks weird or appears to be missing a shadow or other effect. Then once the site goes live, the client DOES notice it and I end up scrambling to fix the issue. That usually means going back to the PSD in a rush and trying to flatten all the elements anyway to convert to a nice Fireworks PNG so they can recapture their slices, or taking the slice they used on the website and pasting it into the PSD original so I can make a direct match and converting the element myself after the fact.
In order to avoid these work flow issues and embarrassments I have taken to flattening each individual element (i.e. a button and all of it's effects) of website GUI to ensure Fireworks can't fiddle with it on import. I can then give the web developers a PNG they can slice easily but with all the important elements still completely seperate from one another. If they hide the layer that is the shopping cart button for example, they are going to be hiding the button and it's drop shadow or glow or any other effects. That way it can't be messed up by Fireworks or a developer. With buttons in particular I can't just include a portion of the background where the drop shadow would be becuase that button could end up anywhere on the site in the end. One of the features our business offers clients is a fair amount of flexibility on the CMS side of things to move elements around and create new sections of the site so I need to keep most elements as felxible as possible, preferrably without giving up quality of the artwork.
I feel like I have a fairly solid understanding of why the layer effects act the way they do and how they interact, even if I don't understand fully the math that makes them do what they do. I guess I was hoping that the increasing power in the CS suites, especially in 5 and 5.5 might have made some new work around possible, or that they might have added some feature buried in the menus somewhere because it's not that practicle for many users. I have several ways to work around these issues now, but they are manual and cumbersome, I was hoping there might have been an action script or feature to automate some of this.
I think a really cool thing to be able to do would be to be able to select some layers and have Photoshop copy them and paste them into a new document with their layer styles and all intact, flatten that document with transparency intact and then put the new flattened file back into the original document in the same location on the artboard as a new layer. This is essentially what I do when I hide all the other layers, merge visible and save as a TIFF or PNG and then copy that new file back into my full PSD document. I still experience some color shifting this way but usually not as drastic as when I try to merge directly in the full PSD. OR if that can't work, even better would be to somehow have the effects be able to "float" with the actual photoshop layer, almost like sub layers of that layer, so that each one could have it's own blending mode (and individual masks for each... that would be awesome!) and you could flatten them together somehow when needed and maintain color tones etc. Don't know if this could work though since I don't know what the limitations of the math process that combines the layers are. I would imagine some of it it would be possible, if not worth their time, since smart objects open in their own document window when you edit. I would imagine that some code work on the back end might be able to be applied using a similar method to give extra flexbility of some layer effects in Photoshop. I would love it, I know that!
Hopefully there is at least as faster way if not an ideal work around. It defintely adds to the development cycle of a website to have to go through this step. It's also at a point in the development cycle where the site has been approved and there can be added pressure about why they development team still has to wait on a design that has already been OK'd and should be ready to slice. I have gained understanding with my boss about this and it's worked out OK for the most part, but it would certainly make him happier if I could eliminate that extra step, or reduce the time needed. On a complicated website I might lose half a day of work or more sorting out the various site elements and figuring out how much I can flatten and how and what order to break effects off their layers to maintain appearance. I have tried Fireworks several times as a native solution, but ultimately I feel very restricted by Fireworks and often can't do what I had in mind, although it has gotten better. Also on a psychological level, Fireworks "working with basic shapes" method of desigining a website tends to steer me down that mental path for some reason and I always end up with sites that look much less fluid and organi, much more boxy than when I design in Photoshop. One of our companies selling points is that we design sites that break away from the boxy and simpler web 2.0 look so Fireworks is not really a consideration for me at this point. Thanks again for the help and any respones!

Image changing after merge or flattening. How can I troubleshoot?

It happened on rare occasions before but recently I had the need to reset PS to it's default settings and it's happening with greater frequency. I'll make adjustments and when I try to shrink the file by merging or flattening the color profile or luminance will change. Often not a lot, but enough to notice.
My work around was to make a stamp copy and save that, but it sometimes doesn't work.
Can anyone suggest the settings I need to check to make everything seamless? Are there any color profiles that might change in the conversion I can check? I'm most often working in RGB in 16 or 8 bit mode. It's most often adjustments to levels or curves that don't take, but sometimes filters, too.
Here's an example of my workflow with two pics. The difference is subtle but it's annoying.
Filter sky out of photo, create mask to turn sky uniform white.
Command E to merge the mask with the photo.
Create Smart Object (from photo)
Apply cutout filter. Apply notebook.
Duplicate the SO with adjustments three times.
Use Lasso to select a piece (flag) and copy to its own layer.
Set that layer on top of the stack.
Set the filter for all three layers to multiply.
The texture from the filter Notebook fails every time I merge, flatten, or send back to LR and the color comes out lighter. Here's an example from this piece.https://flic.kr/p/r6A1Zd (what I want) https://flic.kr/p/qc5QTD (not what I want).

Thank you for the response. I did read it right after you posted it but waited until I had yet another chance to try it out. Both times, neither solution worked.
For whatever reason PS is showing me different images when I have my layers open from when I consolidate them -- no matter how I consolidate them. It doesn't happen every time and I can't identify a pattern except that it most frequently happens if I use the filters in the gallery. Also, it seems to not be applying color adjustments.
If I zoom the image to 100% the before and after is always different. If I save it to disk in .psd or .tiff I still get a different image. When I send it to LR I have a different image from what I've been working on. It's frustrating. It can happen in RGB, LAB, or CMYK. I'm going to try reinstalling PS to see if that makes a difference, but assuming it doesn't I somehow need to make PS show me what I'm working on. Do you know what settings affect the image preview, the version I see while I'm working on screen?
FYI, I'm using a 2013 iMac, 36GB RAM allocating PS with 90% of the memory.

Expand Appearance of Multiply

Hello,
I have a question about expanding appearance and multiply. I work in print-on-demand, and one of the limitations is that we can not use multiply on artwork. In order to achieve a similar appearance, when I receive these kinds of files, I flatten transparency, and that will sear in the way the multiply effect is interacting with the other elements of the same art file. (in the example below there are no interacting elements) However, if it is intended to interact with the background, I have to fiddle with the cmyk values (adding k) and opacity level until it is as close as possible. It is time-consuming.
Someone suggested we use 'expand appearnce' instead, and I tried it once and it worked! It did all the legwork for me; it spit out a different cmyk value and opacity level that mimics the effect of multiply, so I don't have to calculate it manually. However, I can't get it to work again. Illustrator thinks it is already its simplest form of appearance and will not expand it further. I've tried adding another effect and expanding but it will only expand the effect and keep the multiply.
Maybe she and I were both tripping when we thought it worked once? Does anyone know how to expand the appearance of multiply? Here's a picture of the 3 methods I'm speaking to: on the left is multiply, the center is flattened transparency, and the right is achieving a similar effect of multiply with opacity & color build.

I can send you examples of an original, unexpanded and an expanded, and also one that I dialed in by hand. How do I send it over?
We can't use any overprint fill attributes, because this is for print-on-demand, and aside from the possible complications with the InDesign Processor, things can disappear on darker backgrounds, and we have no control over what the customer does. They could put it on a black background and then wonder where it went!
Flatten transparency is great for when the elements are only meant to interact with each other within one file, but what is hard is when it's supposed to interact with other elements, such as a background or another asset. Since this is print-on-demand, we can't place it in the file and set it to multiply, it has to have it built in with opacity and a tweak of the cmyk values. Here's an example of one where flatten transparency works fine:

Bug with Base LVOOP object variants and flatten string.

I found a bug when if the base LabVIEW Object is wrapped in a variant (even indirectly), it cannot sucessfully be flattened to and from a string.
Neither of these should produce an error.
And if you try to work around it with XML, it can lockup or crash.

The first is the simplest demonstration of the problem.
The second is to show that problem is indirect (through multiply layers of different structures).
As for the purpose I was writing a SQLite interface that could write any form of LabVIEW data while maintaining variant attributes. I have to serialize the data somehow so the first attempt I just packed it into a variant then turned that into a string with flatten to string (since the variant contains the type info for what it holds I just need to use the type info for a variant to unserialize it). That failed with the first bug if I tried to store a variant with a attribute holding something down classed to the LabVIEW base object.
So instead of wrapping it in a variant I tried directly flattening it to a string and storing the type info from variant to flatten as a pascal string at the front of serialized data (of course this breaks if a LabVIEW object two variant levels deep is passed in). But that destroys variant attributes. So I tried wrapping that in a cluster then flattening the cluster (hence error two, and since it's indirect I can't wrap it in anything to avoid the problem).
So the current work around is to never store anything in the LabVIEW base object. So If I wanted a generic LVOOP container I would have to make a class for storable items then everything that can be stored would have to inherit from that.
I'm mainly posting since unknown bugs are rarely fixed, and this one is a bit obscure.

What does Flatten Artwork do for an image?

Hello:
If I flatten an image in Photoshop it removes all transparency. But what does Flatten Artwork do in Illustrator?
When I go to Save for Web the Background is transparent. So, I am quite curious what the point is / use of it is in Ai
Thanx in advance for your time.
kara

Kara,
I wondered whether it had escaped your notice.
You may start with some artwork (vector, an image, whatever), then create a path to become a Clipping Path on top of it, and Object Clipping Mask>Make.
Now you have something that looks nice with invisible outlying parts. But in some cases some people find the unavoidable selection of the invisibible parts bothering and wish to get rid of them.
Then there is the the dirty destructive deed, with the Clipping Mask selected:
1) In the Transparency palette/panel dropdown list select anything but Normal (Multiply is fine; this step may be unneeded in your version, you may try);
2) Object>Flatten Transparency, just keep the defaults including 100% Vector;
3) Shudder.

Nike+ website "flattens" my runs

I am so glad to have found this forum, as the lack of any clear way to find help for problems on the Nike+ site was starting to get me down.
The first few times I uploaded workout data, the charts showing my runs (really walks) were great--full of bends and curves to track my changing pace.
Since then, many of my old workouts have been "flattened" by the site--transformed into flat lines, with the same pace reported for each part of the workout (very often, for some reason, 16'40"--or 16.6666 minutes--per mile), even when that pace has no connection any pace I actually went at.
For instance, for one workout of 1 mile, which I completed in around 18 minutes, the chart with the little running man shows me having gone at an unvarying pace of 16'40" per mile, which is very Alice-in-Wonderland if you think about it for a moment.
The cumulative data--how far I went, how long it took--is still intact, but all the details of what I did while getting there seem to have been thrown out.
Anyway, I don't like losing data, and the website is less fun when all my pace information is corrupted or ignored. It's still happening much (but not all) of the time, so it's not some transient problem with Nike's servers.
(How I wish Apple had an option to simply report your data to your .Mac account, incidentally! All the time-consuming bells and whistles on the Nike site--and the absence of more flexible ways of viewing and presenting your data--get to be a drag after a while.)
So, does anyone have any insights into what might be happening, or how to fix it?

I have noticed the same thing too. My earlier runs used to show my change in pace, but lately they all have been very flat. Since there are several hills in my run route I know my pace definitely changes. I actually see this in the xml data so I am sure apple or nike is using some sort of algorithim to limit the change in pace. This is prabobly a result of the spike at the end of the run issue.
About the xml, it quite easy to read if you organize it into a more reader friendly way. The part that give all the most information is between the "snapShotList" node. The kit only collects the data in kilometers and then it converts kilometers to miles. If you pick any of the 3k, 5k, or 10k workouts, the kit capures the duration (elaps time) for each kilometer. Below is part of the xml data from my 10k run this morning. As you can see by simply rearranging the carriage return, the data is easier to read.
<snapShotList snapShotType="kmSplit">
<snapShot><duration>315633</duration><distance>1.0</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>630158</duration><distance>2.002</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>940306</duration><distance>3.0</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>1256162</duration><distance>4.003</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>1573275</duration><distance>5.002</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>1892976</duration><distance>6.001</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>2222562</duration><distance>7.002</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>2551231</duration><distance>8.002</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>2881140</duration><distance>9.001</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>3211630</duration><distance>10.002</distance></snapShot>
</snapShotList>
It simply shows the duration in millisecs and the distance in kilometers. To convert the duration into min and sec, take the duration number and use this equation.
3211630(1/60)(1/1000)=53.5272
Take the decimal part and multiply by 60 to get the seconds in 1/60th and not 1/100th.
0.5272*60=31.60
So my total run of 10k was 53 min and 31 seconds.Which is confirmed by the lines from the top of the same xml file. Which shows it took me less than a 10th of a second to end the workout.
<time>2006-09-02T07:48:50-04:00</time>
<duration>3219946</duration>
<durationString>53:39</durationString>
To capure the data for each mile, it captures the duration at every 1.61km which is equal to 1 mile.
<snapShotList snapShotType="mileSplit">
<snapShot><duration>506538</duration><distance>1.61</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>1010884</duration><distance>3.224</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>1518186</duration><distance>4.829</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>2035667</duration><distance>6.437</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>2566503</duration><distance>8.048</distance></snapShot>
<snapShot><duration>3097300</duration><distance>9.657</distance></snapShot>
</snapShotList>
If you compare the 2 section 9.657km = 6 mile, so the kit capured all 6 miles of my 10km run. Now each time you push the center button, it capures the same information.
<snapShotList snapShotType="userClick">
<snapShot event="onDemandVP"><duration>792182</duration><distance>2.521</distance></snapS hot>
<snapShot event="onDemandVP"><duration>924998</duration><distance>2.948</distance></snapS hot>
<snapShot event="onDemandVP"><duration>2281055</duration><distance>7.179</distance></snap Shot>
<snapShot event="pause"><duration>3219946</duration><distance>10.027</distance></snapShot >
<snapShot event="stop"><duration>3219946</duration><distance>10.027</distance></snapShot>
</snapShotList>
As you can see from this, it capured the 3 times push the button to get my status info and the time I pushed the pause button, and the menu button to end my workout.
<extendedDataList>
<extendedData dataType="distance" intervalType="time" intervalUnit="s" intervalValue="10">
0.0, 0.0127, 0.0425, 0.075, 0.1092, 0.1423, 0.1749, 0.2053, 0.2374, 0.2694, 0.2985, 0.3307, 0.3662,
0.3991, 0.4287, 0.4627, 0.4966, 0.5267, 0.5608, 0.5939, 0.628, 0.6579, 0.6919, 0.7253, 0.7588,
0.7924, 0.8216, 0.8571, 0.8865, 0.9165, 0.9487, 0.9815, 1.013, 1.0447, 1.0764, 1.1098, 1.1397,
1.1711, 1.203, 1.2226, 1.2685, 1.2986, 1.3344, 1.3646, 1.3976, 1.4307, 1.4616, 1.4938, 1.5266,
1.558, 1.5908, 1.6231, 1.652, 1.6848, 1.7161, 1.746, 1.7826, 1.8121, 1.8444, 1.8745, 1.9064,
1.9417, 1.9731, 2.0025, 2.0353, 2.068, 2.0975, 2.1305, 2.1631, 2.1935, 2.2302, 2.2602, 2.2931,
2.3282, 2.3575, 2.3903, 2.4196, 2.456, 2.4848, 2.5178, 2.5508, 2.5841, 2.6142, 2.6472, 2.6802,
2.7098, 2.746, 2.7765, 2.8087, 2.8408, 2.8736, 2.9024, 2.9356, 2.9684, 3.0004, 3.0299, 3.0625,
3.0948, 3.1273, 3.1561, 3.1919, 3.2147, 3.2544, 3.2834, 3.3183, 3.3477, 3.3793, 3.411, 3.4435,
3.473, 3.5058, 3.5383, 3.5703, 3.6003, 3.6326, 3.6684, 3.6977, 3.73, 3.7623, 3.792, 3.8241,
3.8573, 3.8887, 3.921, 3.9504, 3.9828, 4.0149, 4.044, 4.0763, 4.1083, 4.1452, 4.174, 4.2055,
4.2375, 4.2667, 4.2992, 4.3362, 4.3611, 4.3954, 4.4277, 4.4572, 4.4892, 4.5212, 4.5531, 4.583,
4.6149, 4.6473, 4.6793, 4.7081, 4.7428, 4.7718, 4.8036, 4.8358, 4.8675, 4.8998, 4.9289, 4.9604,
4.9896, 5.0244, 5.0567, 5.089, 5.1174, 5.1473, 5.1799, 5.2165, 5.2474, 5.2769, 5.3084, 5.3376,
5.3698, 5.4014, 5.4198, 5.4647, 5.4932, 5.5251, 5.5564, 5.5886, 5.6215, 5.6525, 5.6817, 5.7137,
5.7445, 5.7764, 5.8046, 5.8397, 5.872, 5.9005, 5.9317, 5.9601, 5.9945, 6.0229, 6.051, 6.0824,
6.1171, 6.1454, 6.176, 6.2072, 6.2382, 6.2657, 6.2965, 6.3281, 6.3565, 6.3873, 6.4226, 6.4535,
6.4815, 6.5125, 6.5405, 6.5711, 6.6059, 6.6332, 6.6645, 6.6922, 6.7274, 6.7547, 6.7845, 6.815,
6.8428, 6.8736, 6.9042, 6.9348, 6.9663, 6.9963, 7.0262, 7.0577, 7.0854, 7.117, 7.1483, 7.1799,
7.2105, 7.2385, 7.269, 7.2969, 7.3277, 7.3594, 7.3901, 7.4214, 7.4524, 7.4776, 7.5124, 7.5433,
7.5718, 7.6022, 7.636, 7.6675, 7.6954, 7.7258, 7.7543, 7.7848, 7.8158, 7.8474, 7.8784, 7.907,
7.9404, 7.9685, 7.9994, 8.0269, 8.0576, 8.0883, 8.1198, 8.151, 8.1793, 8.2131, 8.2404, 8.2714,
8.3, 8.3326, 8.3634, 8.3941, 8.4252, 8.4533, 8.4814, 8.5123, 8.5476, 8.5747, 8.6035, 8.6337,
8.6647, 8.6956, 8.7269, 8.7566, 8.7846, 8.8155, 8.8461, 8.8741, 8.9075, 8.9351, 8.9693, 8.9977,
9.0284, 9.0593, 9.0909, 9.123, 9.1545, 9.1802, 9.2109, 9.2424, 9.2732, 9.3036, 9.3345, 9.3612,
9.3952, 9.4261, 9.4541, 9.485, 9.5159, 9.5466, 9.5775, 9.6049, 9.636, 9.6635, 9.6942, 9.7251,
9.756, 9.7867,9.8138, 9.8443, 9.8752, 9.9059, 9.9368, 9.9681,9.9989
</extendedData>
The extended data is my distance every 10 seconds. As you can see it starts a 0km and ends at about 10km, which is how far I ran. If you subtract the first number from the second number, you get the change in my pace between the start of my workout and 10sec later. When you subtract the second number from the third number you see the change in pace between the 10sec into my workout and 20 seconds into my workout. If my pace were steady, than the subtraction of each 10sec interval would be a constant number. The larger the number the more your pace varies.
Since I have some time this weekend, I will try to write an application that will import the xml data automatically and display useful information on in MS excel. I posted the 2 vb scripts that actually plot and calculate your elaps time on another post, so if you are familiar with excel macros, just do a search for them, and it will plot your actual run for you without any modification.
Hope this helps.
Fred
SonyVaio Windows XP Pro
SonyVaio Windows XP Pro
SonyVaio Windows XP Pro

Kt3 ultra-aru multiplier prob

I just bought a new MSI kt3 ultra-aru from newegg and a new athlon xp 1900+(1.6ghz) and i unlocked it but the board wont boot with the new multiplier, so i thought the proc was not unlock so i try my old tbird which has already been unlocked and it does not work either, help Plz

Quote
Originally posted by WaltC
Quote
Originally posted by Shamael
Hello
I've got the same kind of problem with my MSI KT3 Ultra (no RAID).
Setting any multiplier below 9 would make the system unable to boot. I need to clear CMOS to be able reboot.
Setting the multiplier to 9 or above: no problem.
My CPU is an Athlon 1400 and its L1 bridges are "factory unlocked".
How could I fix this issue?
Many thanks.
Not that this may help, but years ago I had an old Pentium 2 that had its multiplier locked when going above its default, but unlocked when going below its default multiplier. It came this way from the factory. Pretty good FSB overclocker, btw.... :] Later I found that Intel had changed this and subsequent P2's came from the factory locked in both directions.
Might it be that the cpu is not as "unlocked" as you've been led to believe? Just a thought. A way to prove this one way or the other I think would be to try it in another motherboard.
Well, I don't think this is the same kind of issue because I used this Athlon 1400 with any multiplier on an ABIT KT7A before buying this MSI KT3.

Multiplying 2 values based on an If statement in SSRS reports

I am working on a pretty complicated report, and I am unable to get the values to multiply correctly on one line. The expression is simple, if the value in textbox293 is greater then the value in textbox294 then multiply textbox293 by textbox289 else
multiply textbox294 by textbox289.
In SSRS terms IIF(textbox293.value > textbox294.value, textbox293.value * textbox289.value, textbox294.value * textbox289.value)
I am using the actual formulas that I used to get the values, they have a nested IIF statement to return 0.00 if the value is less < 0. I am also rounding to 6 decimal places on 1 value to ensure I get the correct value out to 4 decimal places.
I have checked all of the value on the report up to this point are correct, and are displaying correctly. I have broken apart my IIF statement to make it easier to read:
=IIF(IIF((Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance"))
* (Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"))< 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value,
"End_Fund_Balance")) * (round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"),6))))/(First(Fields!WADA2011_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")) < 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value,
"Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance")) * (Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue")
/ First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"))< 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance"))
* (round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"),6))))/(First(Fields!WADA2011_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")))
>
=IIF((Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value, "Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value,
"Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"))< 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value, "Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value,
"Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"),6)))) / (First(Fields!WADA2012_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")) < 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value,
"Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"))<
0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value, "Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"),6))))
/ (First(Fields!WADA2012_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")))
IIF((Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance")) * (Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value,
"Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"))< 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance"))
* (round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"),6))))/(First(Fields!WADA2011_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")) < 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue")
+ IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance")) * (Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value,
"Rev_Code5899"))< 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_Minus_2.Value, "Certificated_Exp") - First(Fields!RSR_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899") - First(Fields!End_Fund_min2.Value, "End_Fund_Balance")) * (round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value,
"Revenue") / First(Fields!RGF_MIN_2.Value, "Rev_Code5899"),6))))/(First(Fields!WADA2011_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA"))) * (first(Fields!WADA2013_1.Value,"Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA"))
IIF((Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value, "Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value,
"Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"))< 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value, "Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value,
"Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"),6)))) / (First(Fields!WADA2012_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")) < 0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue") + IIF((Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value,
"Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"))<
0, 0.00, (Sum(Fields!SR_MINUS_1.Value, "Certificated_Exp")-first(Fields!RSR_MIN_1.Value,"Rev_Code5899")-first(Fields!End_FundMinus1.Value,"End_Fund_Balance"))*(round(Sum(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.Value, "Revenue")/first(Fields!RGF_MIN_1.value,"Rev_Code5899"),6))))
/ (First(Fields!WADA2012_1.Value, "Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA"))) * (first(Fields!WADA2013_1.Value,"Second_Year_Preceeding_WADA")))
A screen shot of the report:
The value in the bottom box should be: 37,080,118.75
I have tried:
=IIF(ReportItems!Textbox293.Value > ReportItems!Textbox294.Value, ReportItems!Textbox293.Value * ReportItems!Textbox289.Value, ReportItems!Textbox294.Value * ReportItems!Textbox289.Value) and I get a scope error.
I have also tried
=IIF(CDbl(Fields!Textbox293.Value) > CDbl(Fields!Textbox294.Value), CDbl(FieldsTextbox293.Value) * CDbl(Fields!Textbox289.Value), CDbl(Fields!Textbox294.Value) * CDbl(Fields!Textbox289.Value))
I get the same scope error, part of the problem here is that in order to get things to display correctly each row in this section of the report is a different table
Row1 = tablix19
Row2 = tablix20
Row3 = tablix21
Any help here would be great

Hello,
In your case, we can try to use Report Variables to resolve the issue. In SSRS, when we have a complex calculation we can create a variable in the report. Variable can be used more than once in a report. Please refer to the following steps:
Open Report Properties dialog box.
Click Variables in the left pane. Then, add specific variable.
(Note: Suppose we have create two variables: textbox293, textbox294)
After that, we can use following expression to calculate the effect:
=IIF(Variables! textbox293.Value > Variables! textbox294.Value,
Variables! textbox293.Value * ReportItems!Textbox289.Value,
Variables! textbox294.Value * ReportItems!Textbox289.Value)
Reference:
Report and Group Variables Collections References
If the issue is persist, please feel free to let me know.
Regards,
Alisa Tang
If you have any feedback on our support, please click
here.
Alisa Tang
TechNet Community Support

Multiply 2 variables in RTF templates

Hi,
I am trying to multiply a variable with a calculated field-->
<?xdoxslt:get_variable($_XDOCTX,'baseline')*(xdoxslt:maximum(current-group/TRGT_RATIO))?>
where "Baseline"=xdoxslt:div(sum(current-group()/NMRTR),sum(currnet-group()/DNMTR))
But this gives me an error.
Please let me know what is wrong in here............................
Thanks
Edited by: 883026 on Nov 23, 2011 7:10 AM

I am trying to subtract dates in an RTF template
<?xdofx:if substr(EXP1_3,1,10) - substr(INVOICE_DT,1,10) >= 91 then (PYMNT_GROSS_AMT) end if?>
I don't get any error messages or anything, but it is inconsistent at best,
My EXP1_3 value is 05/31/2012 and one of my INVOICE_DT values is 04/12/2012,, in which case this statement should NOT be true and it should not return the value of PYMNT_GROSS_AMT,,but it does ?

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