This is a solved problem. I post here because your forum has helped me so many times, and googling did not find the answer.
It seems simple now, but two customer designers and a sister print shop couldn't figure it out.
Quick Facts:
An Indesign file (and PDF) had multiple .ai elements that were north of 100 inches big (probably for a billboard) and reduced as links to fit on a 3-panel brochure. ACTUALLY reducing the 100″ elements stopped the error and allowed the job to process.
My (long) Theory:
The unreduced elements would have stuck almost 100″ outside of the document on both sides. Since reduction of a link is just for rendering and gets passed along, the elements probably did stick out 200″ total as far as the raw postscript data was concerned.
This was probably close to the size limit, but still allowed production at 1up format (initial PDFs). When us printers took these files and tried to step them multiple up on a sheet, the resulting file must have had elements totaling many hundreds of inches big. This caused all processes past initial 1up PDF generation to crash.
It was also very tricky to find if you didn't catch the subtlity of how far this element was reduced. Even when I noticed the ruler on the raw .ai file, at first I thought the designer must be working in a measurement other then inches.
Renderbands was probably a generic error for data that was getting truncated, but I include it here in case it helps someone else.
Love your books and your forum. Keep up the good work.
-Sam
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