Print ready standards ?
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- maikel
Hey chaps, I am putting together guidelines of good standards for printing.
Besides the usual shit about bleeding + cropmarks, I was thinking in general recommendations to ensure when the agency kiddo exports artwork, the print ready file resulting still look like intended...
This is my list so far...
- All text must be converted to outlines/vectors
- All strokes must be converted to outlines/shapes
- Colours should have specific swatch names or CMYK compositions. RGB colours are not recommended for print.
- Transparencies and shadows should be flattened/rastered
- Images should be embedded, and have ideally 300 DPI; the resolution shoud be in no case less than 72DPI at full scale.
- Layers should be labelled appropriately, especially if cutting lines and spot colours.
Any other you can think of?
- monospaced0
Outlined type doesn't reproduce perfectly. Colors should be Pantone or CMYK (not just named). Strokes don't need to be outlined.
If you're talking about exporting PDFs for press, specify a standard. Not all presses or budgets allow for spots so colors must be CMYK. All presses are a little different and all jobs are different so specs change from place to place, job to job.
- MrT0
Just about everything goes to print as a PDF X1a for me these days.
A big plus for this (if you have Acrobat Pro) is the fact you can check colour separations and overprints etc in the artwork file.Agree with mono on type and strokes, they are fine as they are. Again, PDF method gets around these, no need to outline type or send font files.
- maikel0
Good point - I should clarify that if referenced by swatch they must be configured as spot colours.
What do you mean by outline type does not reproduce perfectly? It just transform the vector info on your font into native vectors for Illy... Although when using negative tracking I've seen quite unpredictable results...
I am trying to compile some good standards to check before hitting the export button, whether it is for a PDF or an EPS or a PS, or uncompressed tiff.
I guess each printer his own kind of file, but most people assume a press ready PDF prints ok, which is fine for simple projects... but when you throw in overprints, transparencies, files with different input profiles and a few spot colours or you print in different substrates, all go tits up.
- Don't know why, but sometimes small (<12 pt) outlined type prints badly. Just my experience.monospaced
- I actually have seen that in previous illy versions and other software packages... I guess it is to do with node optimisationmaikel
- ESKEMA0
nº1 and 2 are wrong.
Some Digital printers actually prefer RBG colours.
- vaxorcist0
ESKEMA's right, lots of this stuff is depending on the printer.... some of them have a 1 page readme.pdf that explains what they are expecting... that might be a good guide for your idea...
- maikel0
That's exactly why I want to discuss it - to find universals.
The PnP manual I will generate is for industrial/multi-substrate printing, but I am sure there are at least a few that we can all agree apply to all.
- bjladams0
what kind of printing are you doing?
i worked as a printer for a number of years, the RIPS that processed for larger format and table or bed printing would output differently than the digital presses and publication printers... and then the differences in digital and offset were huge too-i guess a bit of a rabbit trail, but we always exported print files to pdfs, but one day when one of the service techs was in updating the printer, he told me that this particular (mimaki) machine and RIP were designed to output directly from illustrator. i had the same file, once printed as a pdf, and once as an .ai - and the .ai one was definitely more crisp and vivid...
all that to say that each printer (machine) has it's own quirks - and each printer (human operator) knows them...
-this is concerning places that value print... those big online print factories that run thru paper like it was hotel laundry, well, those are something completely different too.
i'd like to see what you come up with though. post it when you're done?
- i_monk0
Outlined text looks thicker than proper text. The PDF or collected folder has the fonts, so why outline them?
Images don't need to be embedded, but they do need to be provided/included.
- mirrorball0
work in RGB with CMYK output proof activated. Programs work faster that way and you can use all of photoshops 'features'
- uh, photoshop?monospaced
- also, this is, hands down, the worst advice I've heard and I feel it should be ignored completelymonospaced
- print in cmyk, work in cmykmonospaced
- i used to work in cmyk only, if your working with the cmyk proof option turned on, it looks no different
mirrorball - but it IS different because you're not SENDING the right COLORS to PRINT in the FILEmonospaced
- screen ≠ paper
monitor ≠ printeri_monk
- d_rek0
It will print fatter if the resolution of the RIP/plates is less than 2400 ppi.
* Text will look fatter out from a DIGITAL press because these devices have a lower resolution
* Always warn your service bureau if the PDF has outlined fonts, so it increases the RIP’s resolution.
* – 500 pages document, text only document : PDF is 2.2 Mb
- 500 pages, all texts outlined : PDF is 245 Mb but went flawless through the RIP* Outline only if a font is corrupted, causes problem, or has an uncommon encoding
- vaxorcist0
you might make a bit of a decision tree flowchart (geeky I know)
Something like:
Low Volume/High Volume?
RGB or CMYK?
If you are dealing with a high-volume, low-interaction printer, send a PDF, if you want best quality and printer knows what they are doing, send an AI file with fonts.
- Surely you mean InDesign, not Illustratormonospaced
- yes.....vaxorcist
- tesmith0
As a printer I hope you get a lot of readership. Other than bleed the biggest problem I run into is transparencies over spot colours and overprinting in general.
- maikel0
Just to clarify, I have been artworking or overseeing artwork for quite a while and worked with large and small lithos, plus digital. At the moment I sub-out print or I use the in-house facilities (flatbed large format UV printers, solvent printers, thermal transfer digital, and latex printers - all through an Onix X rip.
The problems I have are best practices, as I need to co-ordinate the production of many agencies and suppliers for each project.
- Arabic/international text. Even if you have the font, if your computer hasn't the right language package the spacing will go cookoo. I learnt that the bad way.
- RGB normally prints better in some digital rips as it increase the ink load. If you do the same for a litho (RGB converted into CMYK) your images will look bloated for sure.
- embedding against supplying images: sometimes when the images come in older versions of illy or other software packages they appear misplaced.
- transparencies are bitches - full stop. all those fancy pantzy effects are rendered in RGB colourspaces, and different rips will process them differently. It is hard on rip level to compensate the colour calibration of non-standard substrates when you have two overlapping transparent objects. I know it is not that frequent, but hey, I am trying to find universals...
- maikel0
// btw
thanks to all - it's good to see that we still have a reasonable amount of design knowledge and knowledgeable chaps in the qoob!