Special notes on how to work with blending modes within CampaignDrive.
Introduction
Note: This document assumes the user has familiarity with how blending modes work in design programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. If you are unfamiliar with these types of effects, here is a link to an article that explains how these effects work.
Typically, image layers in templates within CampaignDrive do not interact with each other. An image layer with “regular” transparency effects such as reduced opacity or drop shadows can affect the layers beneath it but does not interact with them. Blending modes require the interaction between 2 (or more) layers in order to work correctly and so these types of transparency effects require special treatment in order to create the correct behavior upon output.
Currently, the ability for the system to create the correct output requires a special configuration of CampaignDrive. If you have (or expect to have) templates that use blending modes, reach out to your Customer Success Manager to ensure that your instance has been properly configured to process blended image layers.
We also recommend that you are familiar with the “regular” methods of graphics preparation for CampaignDrive to ensure that you understand the differences presented within this document, as the steps outlined below refer to this process. Click here to access the IDML Import preparation document and review “Appendix A - Preparing Graphic Objects.”
Preparing the Graphic
Normally, when preparing a graphic that has transparency effects for CampaignDrive, Photoshop is the program that we use to ensure that the effects appear properly. However, for blended layers, Illustrator should be used to ensure that the blending data is passed properly into the graphic PDF. Photoshop does not pass the data in a way that CampaignDrive can read, so blended graphics should either be built in Illustrator or built in InDesign and then copied and pasted into Illustrator for final preparation. If you already have a graphic prepared in Photoshop, save it as an .eps file and then open it in Illustrator for final preparation.
Below is a screenshot of the Transparency settings in Illustrator. You can set both opacity and blending mode on your layer within Illustrator. If your object is taken from InDesign, select the object and set the blending mode and opacity to match the settings used in the original InDesign file.
Saving the Graphic
Once your graphic has been prepared, save it out of Illustrator as a PDF file with the following settings:
Screen 1: General
Compatibility - Acrobat 7 (PDF 1.6), no boxes checked on the page.
Screen 2: Compression
Do not downsample images.
Screen 3: Output
No color conversion or profiles should be included.
We recommend creating a preset for these settings so that you only have to set it up one time. Our preset is labeled “Blending Mode.”
Viewing Blended Graphics in Compose
The UI Compose environment within CampaignDrive renders a low resolution output on-screen to ensure responsiveness when creating documents. Please note the following when blended layers are used in templates:
- If the blended object is 100% opaque, it will appear opaque in the UI, since the UI doesn't have interactivity between layers and blending relies on interactivity.
- If the blended object also has reduced opacity (is partly transparent), the transparency will show in the UI, but not the blend.
- In order to see an accurate representation of how the blended layer will look in the final export, the “Preview” function should be used, as “Preview” generates an actual output.