Prepress Technician Video
(FlightCheck report sighting!)

Prepress operators prepare items for print, such as posters, pamphlets, magazines, newspapers or books. They lay out the text and artwork, correct any formatting errors and ensure that the publication looks as the graphic designer intended. They may also prepare metal plates that are used by traditional printing presses to transfer words and images to paper.

Prepress operators usually need some post-secondary education, and there are many two- and four-year programs that students may choose. Those with related degrees, such as graphic design, may also be able to secure jobs as prepress operators.

Experience is highly valued, however, so some prepress operators may get jobs with only shorter, vocational-style courses. The business is increasingly computer-oriented, so familiarity with design programs and some basic formatting knowledge is often necessary.

Prepress Solution to Catch Print Document Mistakes

Preflight solution, FlightCheck plays an important role with the prepress technician by catching mistakes before it becomes too late. Markzware FlightCheck will preflight digital files thoroughly, perform a detailed scan, and warn you about digital printing problems, while directing you to them for repair. FlightCheck guides you through the preflight workflow process with a preflight checklist and issues a preflight report with complete print job analysis. This preflight report highlights digital print errors, item by item, including:

• wrong document size
• missing fonts
• incorrect colors
• spot color transparency
• incorrect image resolution
• and much more

Prepress Software to Collect Print Job Files

FlightCheck  pre press software will then package and collect files. It will package fonts, images, and all required print job elements, to ensure that jobs print as expected.

FlightCheck is one of Markzware’s quality prepress products. One of the key capabilities of Markzware FlightCheck is its power to preflight multiple file formats and image types of a wide variety. A partial list includes:

• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Acrobat PDF
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe PageMaker
• Adobe FreeHand
• QuarkXPress
• Microsoft Office
• CorelDRAW
• EPS
• TIFF
• and many more file types

This is one of those serendipitous moments: I was watching this neat little video that explains the value and job duties of a prepress operator. I was glad to hear them mention preflight as one of their tasks. I was even happier, when, at 6:01 seconds, we spotted FlightCheck features! Check out the video:

(Click on the above image, to watch the video.)

Preflight (video with FlightCheck features sighting!)