incorrect printing of transparency in embedded b+w BMP

[metaed]

I have a PDF with an embedded BMP file of type black+white. The white pixels are marked as transparent.

With Adobe, the black ink and transparent background are rendered correctly on screen and on paper.

With PDF-XChange Viewer, they are rendered correctly only on screen. On paper, the properties are reversed --- the ink is rendered transparent and the background is rendered black.

I attempted to create a file for upload which demonstrated the problem. I Printed with PDF-XChange Viewer to PDFcreator. This did produce a new PDF, but the new PDF did not reproduce the problem. When opened by either Adobe Reader or PDF-XChange Viewer, the black ink was rendered correctly as black, and the transparent background was rendered incorrectly as white. This was true both on screen and on paper.

printer: HP 8550 color PostScript
system: Windows XP SP3
driver: HP Color LaserJet 8550 PS
PDF-XChange Viewer: 2.0 (build 42.4)
PDFcreator: 0.9.5
Adobe Reader: 9.1.3

Best wishes,

Edward

encl: b-greener BR-549 1 qt.PDF (in a ZIP file)

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi metaed,

interesting - the file you sent was created using Adobe Distiller and it prints the same in both Viewers on my system. I will have the dev team take a look further to see if there is somethng that could be causing what you see.

regards

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

I see the problem, and it is Postscript specific problem (PS driver doesn't support some elementary GDI ROPs). Will try to make a workarround into the next build.

[metaed]

I can report that release 2.0.44.0 does not have a problem printing the original attached file using the PS driver. Unfortunately there is a very similar problem with a different file. I am attaching the file. Like the first file, this PDF has an embedded BMP, monochrome (1-bit), colored white background, blue foreground.

With Adobe, the image previews as white background, blue foreground, and prints that way also. This is the expected behavior.

With PDF XChange Viewer 2.0.42.4, the image previewed as expected using either a PCL driver or a PS driver, and printed as expected using a PCL driver. But the image printed with colors reversed using a PS driver---blue background, white foreground.

With PDF XChange Viewer 2.0.44.0, the image previews and prints as expected using a PCL driver. But using a PS driver, the image previews and prints as white background, black foreground. Black is substituted for blue.

The behavior of version 2.0.44.0 is better because the preview correctly reflects what will be printed and because there is no reversal of the foreground and background. The remaining problem is the color substitution.

Best wishes,

Edward

encl: Pro Chem Crescent 1 gal.PDF (in a ZIP file)

[John - Tracker Supp]

Thanks for the update - will investigate further and advise ...

Thanks for your patience.

[metaed]

FYI, I have upgraded to v 2.0 build 54.0 and still see the color change, both in the print preview pane and on the printer. It is a very nice black, but was still hoping for blue. Cheers, MetaEd

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi metaed,

we will need Ivan to respond to this and he is unavailable until Monday. Is that going to cause any serious problem?

[metaed]

Thank you for asking. I can fall back to Adobe so I do have an adequate workaround. Cheers, MetaEd

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

Also, like a workaround you can print using "Print as Image" option turned on.
I know where the problem is with PS printers, but I don't know how to solve it - PS printers don't support some required ROPs.

[metaed]

I would not have expected that PostScript drivers are deficient when it comes to printing PDFs. Adobe claims that PDF is built on PostScript, and that PostScript printers are the most reliable way to render PDF objects.

I'm curious, do you know how Adobe accomplishes correct printing on PostScript printers that do not have the driver features that you are depending on?

Cheers, MetaEd

[Ivan - Tracker Software]

PDF-XChange doesn't make differences between different kind of printers - for all printing purposes we are using GDI (as should be by Windows design principles ).

Adobe for PS printers generates Postscript and passes this to the printer. Also, similarly Adobe uses PCL for other printers.

[Arnold]

Ivan,

I downloaded the Crescent file to see how it would print over here. I don’t think the included screenshots have any bearing on color changes or anything, but I thought it might interest you just the same.

Page 1 was printed wirh PDF-Xchange Viewer and Page 2 with Acrobat 8. Page 3 was printed first with Acrobat 8 and then with PDF-Xchange Viewer. Then I told Fineprint to print “2 to a page”. All looks okay. Page 4 was printed first with PDF-XChange Viewer, and then with Acrobat 8 second. I told Fineprint to print “2 to a page” also. Looks messed up.

[cje]

Any nearby solution to this problem?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi cje,

this is planned for V3 later this year.

hth