Mac OS X 10.4.11 with Canon printer issue

wondergirl · #1 August 19th, 2009, 09:11 AM

I have a weird problem. We have a new Canon IR C3480 printer and I use mostly Illustrator CS3. When I have text or an object with an outline the same colour as the fill there is a darker-coloured line between the fill and outline when printed. It is not an Illustrator issue, because a pdf printed from Acrobat Reader does the same, also Freehand. This thin line is NOT visible on screen. My Canon techs cannot solve this issue, think maybe my OS needs to be updated (of course!). Has anyone ever heard of such a thing???

ElDiabloConCaca · #2 August 19th, 2009, 09:38 AM

I think what you're experiencing is "trapping."

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/trapp...ing_basics.htm

wondergirl · #3 August 19th, 2009, 10:52 AM

I can see why you may think that. I'm investigating that now. I'm hoping I can change that on the printer somehow, because I did not set my graphics up that way. Thanks for the suggestion!!

ElDiabloConCaca · #4 August 19th, 2009, 11:11 AM

It could be in number of different places: Illustrator may be "auto-trapping," for instance, or your printer (if it's a postscript printer) may be doing it as well.

If you have some sort of RIP (raster image processor, either hardware- or software-based) in-between the printer and the computer, that may also be where the trapping is coming from.

It seems that InDesign CS3 has some level of auto-trapping:

http://www.designgeek.com/indesign-css-autotrapping

...it may also be that Illustrator is subject to the same auto-trapping, but I'm not sure.

wondergirl · #5 August 19th, 2009, 11:42 AM

I believe it is printer-based so I'm having the Canon techs investigate in that direction. You have been very helpful, thanks so much! Have a great day!!