Corrupt PDF export from drawing environment - transparent background prints blac

[blukaniec]

Hello,

When I export a drawing to PDF all seems well until I physically print the PDF where the transparent backgrounds of my part and my logo print black. The PDF views correctly on screen in Preview (macOS Mojave) but when I print to my Epson ET-2720 any transparent backgrounds print black (see attached image). When I print the drawing from Fusion 360 it prints correctly, I am only having this issue once the drawing has been exported as PDF.

Some background - I am not having this issue with any other files except for ones exported as PDF by Fusion in the drawing environment. I can correctly print images with transparent backgrounds that I grabbed online or created with Affinity Designer (both PNG and PDF). I contacted the manufacturer of my printer and they said the problem lies within the program creating the PDF (Fusion). I can print the exact same drawing from within the drawing environment with no issues but once I export to PDF the document is somehow corrupt.

• The corrupt PDF displays on screen properly in Preview and Affinity
• The corrupt PDF will not print properly from Preview
• The corrupt PDF will not print properly from Affinity
• Printing the corrupt PDF as a new PDF from Preview still yields a corrupt PDF
• Exporting the corrupt PDF as a new PDF from Affinity still yields a corrupt PDF
• Exporting the corrupt PDF as a PNG from Affinity corrects the issue (but now it is PNG not PDF)
• I can create an Affinity file with a transparent background and export to PDF and properly print it from Preview
• I have had this issue with every drawing that I have exported as PDF, not just one drawing

Any help fixing this is appreciated!

Brendan

Attached files:

Corrupt PDF

Printed corrupt PDF

Computer:

iMac macOS Mojave 10.14.6

4.2 Ghz Intel Core i7

16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

Radeon Pro 575 4 GB

Printer:

Printer - Epson ET-2720

[baribak]

Hi,

Sorry to hear of the trouble.

A few questions:

1. Is it always the same printer? Can you print to another and it still blacks out the areas?
2. Are there any settings changes you've made e.g. Print in grayscale, Color Management, etc.?
3. Can you print any other PDFs and there's no problem?

Additionally, is there any chance you can share your drawing (or another that exhibits the same behavior) and printer settings? I've tried converting/printing a PDF with several files here and can't reproduce the issue. Not to say there isn't one, just not with the files I have.

Thanks for your patience as we sort this out!

Regards,

[blukaniec]

Hey Kevin,

1) The trouble I am having is on the only printer I have so I cannot test this out elsewhere at the moment

2) I originally started with all default print settings and changed some of them but nothing worked. At this point, I assumed it was the printer so I contacted Epson technical support to see what settings could cause this to which they replied "Based on the details you have given, it's an issue with the application. You may try to remove the background in Photoshop. For further assistance, please contact application provider." They didn't even mention settings

3) I have tried numerous PDF's with no issues. On the document I supplied in my original post, the logo in the title block printed with a black background. I use this same exact transparent background logo file for all of my word documents and they print fine on the same printer, both from word and as PDF's. I can create a PDF in Affinity Designer with the same transparent background logo and it prints fine. The only time I have come across this issue is when printing a drawing that was exported from Fusion. And so we don't forget, I can print the drawing perfectly fine from the drawing environment, this only happens once the PDF is created.

The PDF I supplied in my original post will not print correctly here. Is this the document you tried printing? I originally thought this was a printer issue and I still want to lean that way but so far I have only seen the issue with PDF's exported from Fusion so it is suspect.

I have attached a few PDF's that I exported from Fusion drawing environment. It seems the black background only appears when my drawing views are shaded and do not happen when they are visible edges (see attached pictures)  At this time, I do not know how to get a drawing file out of Fusion to attach to this post, can you please provide instructions on how to do so?

Thanks

Brendan

[baribak · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I was able to print your PDF without the black background.

Can you check your printer properties and see if there's an option to support gray scale? If so, try turning it off if it's on and reprint.

On getting a drawing out of Fusion there's 2 primary ways:

1. Sharing the file and sending the link.
2. Exporting the file to your local drive, then attaching.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

[blukaniec]

Hi,

I do have gray scale turned off. Since you were able to print it properly the issue must be within my printer settings or the printer itself. I will contact Epson again with this new information.

Thank you for looking into this, I appreciate the help!

Brendan

[gvbeek]

Hi Brendan and Kevin,

I was reading this thread, because I experience similar problems.

I do happen to have an Epson 7550 printer.

Drawings print fine directly out of Fusion360, but every pdf output I make with a shaded view prints with a black square around it. I tested it through various programs, only printing it via 'Adobe Illustrator' and 'Adobe Acrobat' and 'Adobe Acrobat Reader DC', gave me a perfect result.

Also I tried 'print to file' and then try to print the new created pdf file, gave a lot of black squares as well. But when I did this with Inkscape it produced a similar black rectangle however this time with a gradient.. I will attach the file.

Therefore I think there is some data in the file causing this problem, because 'printing to file' will not use the epson's driver. Besides I tried printing with a Canon printer from a friend, same black squares.

-When I print on Greyscale it does not print the black rectangles.

My computer runs on Macosx Catalina, (but it happend before on prior OS versions.)

So one solution is, printing al pdf-drawings via Acrobat Reader, but I would really love to also be able to print through 'Preview' because this is my default way of printing.

Anyone experiencing this in Windows?

Best Regards, 

 Goof

[patrick.c.obrien]

Hi,

I have the same problem, is this a MAC OS issue with the drawing output from Fusion 360.

Has anyone managed to solve this problem?

I have changed the various printer setting as suggested but still have the problem.

Thanks in advance for your help

Pat

[gvbeek]

Only printing the pdf with Acrobat Reader works for me, don't use the standard Macosx Preview application.

Good luck!

[EDukeCNC]

This isn't a solution. How did you do it. Sending a link doesn't work and is clunky. There is something wrong with fusions output that allows this to happen and it is infuriating. 

[blukaniec]

I just printed some brand new drawings yesterday and still had the transparent backgrounds print in black, although they were not as bad as they used to be - the full black backgrounds are now small squares and my logo now prints fine.  As @gvbeek  posted above, I am only having an issue with shaded views, I haven't had the issue with visible edges or visible and hidden edges and it is only with orthogonal views not isometric views.

I don't use Adobe products so I can't test those. I use Preview for all my pdf's and I am also having the issue when printing the pdf from Affinity Designer (similar to Adobe Illustrator). Fusion is the only program I use that exports these corrupt pdf's, I have literally never had this issue with any other program ever.

@baribakdid you print this from Acrobat? That might be why you didn't have the issue. Based on the shaded/visible and the orthogonal/isometric view info from above I would say this could be tracked down and corrected.

Brendan