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      CHAPTER 7                                                               Transparency



7.6.5 PostScript Compatibility

      Because the PostScript language does not support the transparent imaging
      model, PDF 1.4 consumer applications must have some means for converting the
      appearance of a document that uses transparency to a purely opaque description
      for printing on PostScript output devices. Similar techniques can also be used to
      convert such documents to a form that can be correctly viewed by PDF 1.3 and
      earlier consumers.

      Converting the contents of a page from transparent to opaque form entails some
      combination of shape decomposition and prerendering to flatten the stack of
      transparent objects on the page, perform all the needed transparency computa-
      tions, and describe the final appearance using opaque objects only. Whether the
      page contains transparent content needing to be flattened can be determined by
      straightforward analysis of the page’s resources; it is not necessary to analyze the
      content stream itself. The conversion to opaque form is irreversible, since all in-
      formation about how the transparency effects were produced is lost.

      To perform the transparency computations properly, the application needs to
      know the native color space of the output device. This is no problem when the ap-
      plication controls the output device directly. However, when generating Post-
      Script output, the application has no way of knowing the native color space of the
      PostScript output device. An incorrect assumption will ruin the calibration of any
      CIE-based colors appearing on the page. This problem can be addressed in either
      of two ways:

      • If the entire page consists of CIE-based colors, flatten the colors to a single CIE-
        based color space rather than to a device color space. The preferred color space
        for this purpose can easily be determined if the page has a group attributes dic-
        tionary (Group entry in the page object) specifying a CIE-based color space
        (see Section 7.5.5, “Transparency Group XObjects”).
      • Otherwise, flatten the colors to some assumed device color space with pre-
        determined calibration. In the generated PostScript output, paint the flattened
        colors in a CIE-based color space having that calibration.

      Because the choice between using spot colorants and converting them to an alter-
      nate color space affects the flattened results of process colors, a decision must also
      be made during PostScript conversion about the set of available spot colorants to
      assume. (This differs from strictly opaque painting, where the decision can be
      deferred until the generated PostScript code is executed.)

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