Native transparency

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Native transparency is a term used in prepress technology . It describes graphic files (especially PDF files) in which transparent picture or text elements are arranged in several layers on top of each other.

In the traditional PostScript workflow, it is not possible to include transparent objects. If transparencies were created in a graphics or DTP program , they had to be "flattened" when they were output, that is, the transparent objects lying on top of one another had to be merged into an image file. Subsequent changes to texts or the settings for overprinting are then no longer possible and the resolution is limited to the selected raster image resolution .

To distinguish it from such flattened transparencies, the files (theoretically indistinguishable from the print result) with still existing transparencies are referred to as "native". The transparency reduction required for output only takes place in the output device ( raster image processor or printer).

The portable document format supports native transparencies from version 1.4. In the PDF / X specifications, transparencies in the PDF 1.3 version and the PDF / X-1a: 2001/2003 or PDF / X-3 : 2002/2003 standard, which have been widely used up to now (2018) , are not permitted, but they will be used from PDF / X-4: 2010 supported. They are also supported by the Adobe PDF Print Engine .