Remove Transparency from Selection Action?

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jritchie
Newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2020 10:56 pm

Remove Transparency from Selection Action?

Post by jritchie »

Looking for some feedback/help here. Using Pitstop Pro 2019 (Version: 19 Build 1007180) with Acrobat Pro DC (Version 2019.021...)

We have some clients that like to use transparency instead of overprint on their black text/graphics which gives us some strange results. (If you hide the black channel, you don't just see the colour underneath but a darker version of it. I assume that's because it's transparent and overprinting together.) I've found if you select the black text/vectors, and use the "Remove Transparency from Selection" in the Actions fly out menu in the Enfocus Inspector - Transparency - General panel I get the exact results I expect.
Our dilemma is that I have to manually select the components that need the transparency removed. I've tried creating an action to do that, but the only "Remove Transparency" option seems to remove it from the entire document. If I set it to "Only remove transparency from objects that also have the following properties:" the action no longer works. It also doesn't allow me to only apply to selection, as I could use another action to select the black vectors. (an action that selects black vectors and removes transparency is exactly what we're looking for)

Any suggestions on what I might be missing?
abailescollins
Advanced member
Posts: 458
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:28 pm

Re: Remove Transparency from Selection Action?

Post by abailescollins »

What you are trying to do is a bit dangerous, but I understand why you want to do it.

This is a basic Action List that gives you some idea. It's based on color and finding the 'multiply' blend mode.
If you want to send some test files over, I'm happy to take a look.

Bear in mind there are 4 ways to define 'Black' in a PDF file. This one only looks for K, and only does a selection, not a fix.

Give it a try.
Transparent Black.eal.zip
(2.05 KiB) Downloaded 436 times
Head of Product Management @ Ultimate
abc@imposition.com
jritchie
Newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2020 10:56 pm

Re: Remove Transparency from Selection Action?

Post by jritchie »

Thanks abailescollins!
Talked with my team about this, and as per your comment about the dangers we decided to just proceed manually when needed. Thanks again for the action though, always fun to see how people would build their actions and never know when it might inspire future ones!
Thanks!
James.
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