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            <p class="sharedproducts">TOPIC APPEARS IN: </p><p class="sharedproductindicators"><img src="images/illustratorSharedIndicator.png" title="Illustrator" /><img src="images/indesignSharedIndicator.png" title="InDesign" /></p>
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<ul class="navigation"><li class="prev"><a accesskey="p" class="prev" href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6ea7a.html" title="Flattening transparent artwork"><img src="images/blank.gif" alt="Previous" width="17" height="17" /></a></li><li class="next"><a accesskey="n" class="next" href="WS9327D15E-A9FF-4698-BDA5-8791A891D061.html" title="About transparency flattener presets"><img src="images/blank.gif" alt="Next" width="17" height="17" /></a></li></ul><div class="hierarchy"><a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6eb9a.html">Transparency effects</a> /
     <a href="WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6ea7a.html"><b>Flattening transparent artwork</b></a> 
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                <h1>
                    About flattening
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                <div><p>If
your document or artwork contains transparency, to be output it
usually needs to undergo a process called <dfn class="term">flattening</dfn>.
Flattening divides transparent artwork into vector-based areas and
rasterized areas. As artwork becomes more complex (mixing images,
vectors, type, spot colors, overprinting, and so on), so does the flattening
and its results.</p>
<p>Flattening may be necessary when you print or when you save or
export to other formats that don’t support transparency. To retain
transparency without flattening when you create PDF files, save
your file as Adobe PDF&#160;1.4 (Acrobat&#160;5.0) or later.</p>
<p>You can specify flattening settings and then save and apply them
as transparency flattener presets. Transparent objects are flattened
according to the settings in the selected flattener preset.</p>
<div class="note"><span class="notetitle">Note:  </span>Transparency flattening cannot be undone after
the file is saved.</div>
<div class="fignone"><img alt="" id="stf_overlapping" src="images/stf_overlapping.png" /><div class="figdesc">Overlapping art is divided when flattened.</div><br /></div><div class="tip"><img src="images/tip_help.png" />For more information on transparency output issues,
see the Print Service Provider Resources page of the Adobe Solutions
Network (ASN) (English only), available on the <a href="http://www.adobe.com/go/partner_asn_indesign" target="_blank">Adobe website</a>.</div></div>

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