For Graphics Layouts – First check the native file then Print 2 PDF
Here was a very interesting piece of advice on preflighting (as can be performed by Markzware’s FlightCheck) on www.PubCom.com from Bevi Chagnon, within a chapter in their book on preflighting, in this case on the ground rules for DTP or Desktop Publishing. They recommend that graphic layout designers or graphics layouts creators, as many printers will admit is true, send both press-quality Adobe PDFs as well as the collected native or original DTP layout:
Today, the majority of print shops accept press-quality PDFs, and for many types of jobs, printers prefer PDFs rather than native files.
But I still recommend you provide both types of files:
—> A package of the native files that includes the desktop publishing files from InDesign, Quark, Pagemaker, or other professional graphic layouts program; the fonts used in the files; and the EPS, AI, PDF, TIF, and PSD graphic files used in the package layout.
—> A press-quality PDF with all these items embeded into it.
Why send both?
Because it gives the printer the best of both worlds…and covers emergencies. When a press-quality PDF is made correctly, and when I don’t request any last-minute changes to text or graphics in the job, the PDF can then sail through the prepress process without a hitch and get my job on press a bit quicker and, maybe, with fewer costs.
But, what if I have substantial editorial changes once my job has entered prepress? Or what if my printer thinks that a photo in my layout needs some technical adjustments for color or something else? Or what if I didn’t create my files correctly and my printer needs to fix them? In any of these situations, most printers would prefer to use the
native desktop publishing and graphic files to make these changes and
adjustments because it can be nearly impossible—or difficult and time
consuming—to make changes to the PDF.
So send both: if you are able to print 2 PDF, that’s great! And if it doesn’t, your natives
have you — and your printer — covered
© 2003-2007, Bevi Chagnon, www.PubCom.com. Republished on www.CommunityMX.com, Acrobat 102: PDF Ground Rules
SOURCE: http://pubcom.com/tools/5-groundrules_dtp-guidelines_chagnon.pdf
Seems sort of odd that one should have to send both a press-PDF as well as the open or source file with all job elements- after all, was not PDF supposed to do away with all of that? Yet, as many of our FlightCheck users will attest, the print world (especially digital print) has not stopped accepting native files and only taking PDF’s. On the contrary, many printers are seeing a decline in the number of PDF’s coming in and more collected native files, FlightCheck Approved. In any event, be rest assured that with FlightCheck Professional you can check both the native files (QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, etc) as well as the resulting PDF! Watch a video demonstration of FlightCheck here.
What is also interesting from the above download (see “SOURCE” above) is the fact that some of these digital presses today are asking for much higher resolution images at 400 DPI (Dots Per Inch).
No Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks