Transparency problem on Xerox Phaser 6280 printer

Question

Using InDesign CS6 on Windows 7. On a page with a PNG image over a filled rectangle, the transparent part of the image is printed with a color shift. It’s slightly different from the rest of the filled rectangle. In this case the fill is light blue and the shift is a slightly darker blue.
Fixes tried:
- Color management off on printer. Same problem. I’ve left it off for all testing as recommended by ID.
- Printing via pdf instead of directly from ID. Same problem. On the monitor there’s no color shift. That occurs only on the printed sheet. Used PrimoPDF.
- Custom transparency flattener preset with no rasterization. This solves the color shift problem, but now text is slightly fuzzy, since it’s pixels instead of vectors. Very interestingly, the fill color is now all the same as the shifted color in the PNG transparency area. It appears that raster and non-raster areas sent to the printer with the same color in ID are getting printed with different colors. This could be a big clue. For all other testing, in Print, Advanced, Transparency Flattener, the Custom Medium option was used.
- Fill the PNG image background in Photoshop CS5 with the same color as the filled rectangle. Still get the color shift – even though there is no longer any transparency! This of course is not an acceptable fix since it limits design options. In Photoshop tried color modes of RGB and CMYK.
- ID and Photoshop color settings: North American General Purpose. They are synchronized.
- In the print dialog, Color Management, Printer Profile. This was first Document RGB – Adobe RGB (a998). Tried the second option of Working RGB – xRGB IEC61966-21. Same problem. Normally use the first option.
- In the print dialog, Output. Simulate Overprint was unchecked. Checked it. Same problem.
- In InDesign, Edit, Transparency Blend Space, tried both RGB and CMYK.
I haven’t tried all possible permutations of the above, since the problem could have multiple causes.
Also tried a few other things, too many to remember.
I’m stumped and would appreciate some help. Thanks!
Otherwise ID is an excellent product.

Answer 1

Jack_Harich wrote:
It's not an acceptable solution. ...
The Yucky Discolored Box article was written in 2006. By now there must be a solution out there, but I can't figure it out because I'm not an ace on the many factors involved.....
The 6280 is no spring chicken, either, and was not exactly a high-end printer when it was new. It does waht it does as far as how it processes your file, and there's nothing you can do about that other than find a printer that doesn't use a "dual-layer" processor.
You do want to be a little careful about using Mike's font outlining suggestion. Up to CS4 (if memory serves) it was a very relaible method, but it depended on a bug in ID to outline all the type. That bug has been fixed and no type is only outlined when necessary, so you can end up with uneven-looking type in your PDF. See Possible bug: oulining text w/ flattener in CS5