Chromolin proof & Freehand
- Started
- Last post
- 6 Responses
- Beeswax
I usually design websites so I need some help about this. I promised a client to help with their magazine ad.
Magazine staff now asks for a chromolin proof and the Freehand file of the work.I just learned that "Chromolin: A fast proofing system which uses powder as opposed to ink."
Is this really necessary or can I send a color laser proof instead of this?I don't know why they use a software that's not even in the market anymore but I'm going to work on illustrator or indesign. Can freehand open any of these formats?
- kona0
freehand?!? holy crap run dude
- vaxorcist0
....not too many print people use freehand these days, maybe you want to talk to somebody else on the client end.... it could be there's a higher-up who uses that word to describe any non-raster file....
- prophetone0
i loved freehand. but yes, run.
- Horp0
In my experience magazines still ask for Chromalins® because its the terminology they inherited. Nobody on the staff will actually have any idea what a chromalin is though. They just want a composite 'proof' to refer to.
Most people don't know what a Chromalin is these days. The closest some people get to a Chromalin is a 'digital chromalin' which is a rainbow print. A true chromalin is a stack of ultra thin layers of translucent acetate onto which coloured toner has been glued in a format that matches a printer's screen. Each screen gets a layer of acetate, and then they are carefully assembled together so the registration marks line up, and pressed to create the impression of a piece of finished print.
Purely analogue process. A Chromalin used to take skilled reprographers more than a day to create.
Digital Chromalins were just rainbow prints on photographic paper with "Chromalin® by Dupont" on the back in a repeat pattern.
A bubblejet will be acceptable.
- Gnash0
props to Horp. Chromalin, rainbow proofs... takes me back.
- monoboy0
Most printers can run a full colour proof faster than a chromalin these days. It's proper old school. As is freehand. So I think somebody is pulling your chain. Either that, or the magazine is Werther's Originals weekly.
They used to cover your hands in this horrible dust, made your eye's water and nose sneeze. Pretty sure they were toxic. Carcinogenic probably.