When printing as a PDF one of your layouts, containing a Plex-Earth mosaic raster image, you may notice a black line on your print, running through the mosaic. This may be even more visible if you have used a level of transparency on the respective raster image.
This issue occurs due to how PDF renders the imagery and is correlated with the size of the raster file and with its quality (measured with the dpi: dots per inch) you choose before printing. The higher the dpi and actual size of the image, the higher the possibilities for a black line to appear.
Check the following printed layouts containing a raster at 600dpi and 200dpi respectively. Notice, that the black line appears only in the 600dpi print.
However, keeping the dpi quality of our PDF print to the highest could be very important for the quality of our deliverables. That said, you can find below two simple workarounds to overcome this issue.
Workaround 1: Import a smaller mosaic
In case the layout we need to print covers a smaller area than the raster image, just import a smaller mosaic, only to cover the layout area, convert to raster, and print to PDF. This will reduce the chances for a black line to appear on your print.
Workaround 2: Split the raster image into smaller rasters
In case you do not want to reimport another mosaic, you can try to split the existing one into smaller ones, and then merge only the necessary parts to cover your area. To do so, follow these steps:
1) Use the command PXV_VAR_MAXIMGSIZE. This command rules how many are the maximum pixels a Plex-Earth raster image can have. Its default value is 10,000. Reduce the value to 1,000.
2) Now go to the Plex-Earth ribbon, and select the command Merge Images (alternatively, you can use the command PXV_RASTER_MERGE). This will split your initial raster into smaller ones of 1,000 pixels maximum each.
3) Now use again the command PXV_VAR_MAXIMGSIZE and revert to 10,000.
4) Use again the PXV_RASTER_MERGE command and select only the rasters which appear on your layout print. Then proceed to print.
Note: In case you are using the image in an external reference (XREF) drawing, do not forget to reload the Xref drawing before proceeding to print.
Click here for more tips on for more printing tips about your raster images.
If you are still experiencing problems, please contact us directly at support@plexscape.com.