PPT98: Background Shading Prints Banded on LaserWriter (188744)

SYMPTOMS

When you print slides from PowerPoint for the Macintosh using the Apple LaserWriter printer driver, background shading may print as bands of solid color.

CAUSE

This banding effect results under either of the following conditions:

The output device (for example, the printer or film recorder) does not support enough colors to produce smooth shading. For example, the Apple LaserWriter printer supports only 32 shades of gray. Check with the manufacturer of the output device to determine how many colors it supports.

-or-
The background color being used is gray. Gray background shading always prints banded when using the LaserWriter driver. This behavior is by design, based on the assumption that if gray is being used, the 32 shades of gray provided by the LaserWriter are sufficient.

WORKAROUND

If you must use a gray background, you can workaround this condition by altering the color slightly. To do this, follow these steps:

Change the background colors. On the Format menu, click Slide Color Scheme.
In the Color Scheme dialog box, click the Background color and click Change Color.
In the resulting dialog box, click More Colors. This brings up the Macintosh system color picker dialog box.
In the Macintosh color picker, increase the Blue value by 2000. This will not significantly alter the appearance of the gray but will significantly decrease the banding effect.