Markzware‘s FlightCheck, the patented preflight solution to check prepress files for print quality control,
has Non-PDF Ground Controls. These include a Type section under Images. This Images Type section
offers the following Ground Controls:
- EPS
- EPSF
- JPEG
- CT
- DCS
- DCS2
- PSB
- PSD
- GIF
- PC
- Other (PNG, PDF)
- OPI
Read on to learn how these preflight features can help you.
Markzware FlightCheck 7.5 Mac Ground Controls:
Images Type
The Ground Controls listed below all flag for different types of images. When the Ground Control for an image type is set to Error or Warning, FlightCheck can flag any images of that type detected in the preflighted document. Below is some additional information about each image type, including some typical image resolution.
Pict – Pict files were the standard for Mac computers up through OS9. Pict files are RGB and do not work in CMYK workflows.
TIFF – TIFF or Tagged Image File Format images can come in many flavors. TIFF is one of the more common high resolution image formats in wide use in the print industry. Typically you leave this Ground Control set to Off.
EPS – Encapsulated Postscript that is pixel based. These are files usually created in Photoshop. This Ground Control is Off by default as EPS files are commonly accepted in the print industry.
EPSF – Encapsulated Postscript that contains vector data. These are files usually created in Illustrator. This Ground Control is Off by default as EPSF files are commonly accepted in the print industry.
JPEG – Joint Photographic Experts Group. JPEG files typically come from the internet or digital cameras and are usually low resolution. JPEG files use a lossy compression scheme, so they tend to have artifacts in the images that may not be suitable for high quality print work.
CT – Scitex Continuous Tone format. Was common in the 1990’s.
DCS – Desktop Color Separation files. This is also referred to as DCS1. In this version of DCS, there are typically five files, a preview file and separate grayscale files for CMYK. This is a pre-separated file.
DCS2 – DCS2 is an enhancement of DCS1 and allows for all separated pieces to be contained within a single file.
PSB – This is a large format Photoshop file.
PSD – This is the standard native file format for Photoshop files.
GIF – Graphic Interchange Format that was designed for use on screen and not print. GIF files are limited to a maximum of 256 colors and are typically low resolution, so most people want to be warned if GIF files are present in a print job. GIF files use the Indexed Color Mode.
PC – This detects whether an image was created on a Windows computer.
Other – The most common Other Image types are PNG (Portable Network Graphics) and PDF. Many applications today let you place PDF files as an image and currently doing this will trigger this Ground Control. This is a catch-all for images that do not have specific Ground Controls to detect their type.
OPI – This Ground Control can detect an image created by using an OPI sampling program. Color Central is the only OPI image type detected by FlightCheck.
Here is a video that shows how FlightCheck can check image types and more:
FlightCheck flags image types in the preflighted document, including Pict, TIFF,
EPS, EPSF, JPEG, CT, DCS, DCS2, PSB, PSD, GIF, PC, PNG, PDF, OPI, etc.
For more information on Markzware‘s pre press software to check digital files for print quality, see the FlightCheck page.
For more desktop publishing (DTP) and printing solutions, see the Markzware Products page.
Markzware FlightCheck 7.5 Mac Ground Controls: Non-PDF Images Type
