Oh, no worries. We'll get there
Well, I hope.... I've written and re-written a reply 3 times now, and I still haven't figured out what is causing this problem.
I do see an odd transparency issue, that might really be a non-issue, since fixing it does not fix the problem. But here it is, for what it's worth. For most if not all objects in the file, the Fill and Stroke dialog indicates that there is no transparency. However, on the left side of the status bar (along the bottom of the window) (which is known as the style indicator) the O: value is zero, which means fully transparent. I don't understand how all the other indications of transparency show fully opaque, so I don't know what the source of that zero is.
However, fixing that, does not fix the problem.
The problem, as I'm seeing it now, is that there seems to be a darker outline on the lace image, in the PDF version. But the original image does not show any outline like that. Maybe it's something about the lace image after all, that's only showing up after converting to PDF?
Ah-HA! If I convert the SVG file you gave us, containing the original PNG, to PDF, it shows this problem. And that's before you ever touched it, right? So it's something about that PNG, which I'm at a loss to explain. Maybe some of our other members will know why that's happening? (It seems to be quite a bit smaller than the original, which Inkscape reports as 3600 pixels square. It looks closer to 500 or 600 pixels square. But I still wouldn't expect this kind of result.)
But I can at least tell you about a couple of other issues that I see. There seems to be 2 whole invitations in the file. I'm not sure why?
I noticed that you have that image imported many times, and clipped many times. And then there seems to be some nested clipping, which can become problematic. But you could cut those imports in half by only having 1 invitation in the file. And there seems to be a lot of nested groups too. They don't cause any kind of problems that I know of, just makes it hard to handle and manipulate objects in the file.
You might try cropping the lace image in gimp first, and then import that. It that might help to avoid the nested clipping (which is clipping something that's already clipped).
Also I noticed that you've used Flowed Text. Flowed text has a few problems, but the feature is retained in Inkscape, because it can be so helpful. One of the problems is that it won't show up on the internet. So if this will be an online invitation (which I've heard of these days), you'll probably want to convert the text to paths (Path menu > Object to Path). But even if you're sending the PDF to the printers, converting the text to path is still a good idea. Just be sure to save the text "as text" somewhere in the file, like outside the page border, or on a hidden layer -- just in case, some day, you might want to edit.
Flowed text is created by dragging out a text box, with the Text tool, before you start typing. To type regular text, just click once on the canvas, and start typing. Or you can convert existing flowed text back to regular text, by Text menu > Convert to Text. However, you might have to reformat the text. Whenever I've used that, it gives me one long line of text, no matter how many lines it started out.
Well, maybe someone will know what's causing that result, that can help you decide what to do.
Edit by Lazur
Sorry to post it here but couldn't do otherwise -there seems to be a problem with the forum at the moment.
Here is my two cents:
Just posted and it got lost somewhere in between...
Maybe attachments were to big?
Anyway, the problem is related to
alpha compositing.
In your original raster image the colours faded from spot to white, while in the pdf they fade from spot to black, and both having the same alpha values, making the grayish colours appear where there is a fade in the alpha channel.
It is caused by the new cairo package inkscape is compiled with, 0.48 didn't have this issue as far as I know.
You could consult with the developers at the live chat board (@freenode, #inkscape-devel) -there may be a bug report of it already at the bug tracker but doubt there would be a quick solution.
Different package could be used of cairo for the compilation that could produce different problems and in general cairo is not developed by inkscape.
I'd say its easier to go for a brute-force solution (if you don't want to regress to using 0.48) to use a raster image with no fading in the alpha channel.
Either having it as a strict opaque-transparent with no fades or not having alpha cannel at all.
Since you want to have it on a white background, that wouldn't make a difference.
Or use trace bitmap and have it as all vectors instead.
Edit by brynn
I am also unable to post a reply here. So something has broken for this topic. mlangheim, would you please start a new topic, to post your next reply.
For Lazur's comments about your problem -- yes, that seems like a reasonable explanation. I just never came across this problem before.
To me, the easiest fix would be to download the SVG version, and just have it all SVG. If the lace image has some kind of filter applied (to create the alpha compositing thing that Lazur described) it could be easily removed.
Sorry for the inconvenience with the forum behavior. Just start a new topic, and I think we'll be able to continue. Actually, I'll start it for you
Here is it:
http://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?topic=399.0
