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1. Size matters. Determine the finished size of your piece and create your document to the exact same size you need. If you need a 9'x12' book, design your piece on a 9'x 12' page in a page layout program. If it prints two sided, design it on two separate pages. If you need blank pages, be sure to add them as well. Our Rampage will generate precise trim and registration marks. 2. Printer's Spreads vs. Reader's Spreads. Be aware of the difference between printer's spreads, where pages face each other as they would come off the press imposed in a flat signature, and reader's spreads, which have facing pages in numerical order as they would appear in the final bound piece. Always design your spreads (whether you're designing in printer's spreads or reader's spreads) on single facing pages. Your documents should always be designed at "finished" or "trim" size, using one digital page per printed page. 3. Don't break the Link. When you place a graphic in a page layout program, a link is created. If at any time after placement you happen to change the name of that graphic, that link is permanently destroyed. Please ensure that all links that you have created in your document are included when you submit your final for printing. Never cut and paste graphics into your layout program; this will almost always guarantee problems for our high resolution imagesetter. 4. Include all fonts. A Postscript Type 1 font is the preferred font of high resolution imagesetters; they allow accurate printing at any size and style. Avoid the use of TrueType fonts, as they are known to be unreliable and incompatible with Postscript Level 2 Rips. Provide both printer and display fonts for the Mac, and both .PFM and .PFB fonts for the PC. These are the two components of a Type 1 Postscript font, and they are used by both the output device and the monitor display. Without both parts, the font cannot be used. 5. Remove Unwanted Colors. Ensure that all unnecessary colors in your document have been removed. These extra colors may cause confusion and extra plates to be generated. PageMaker has a command "remove unused colors" to make this a quick task. QuarkXpress colors can be deleted from the menu palette. Be certain that extra colors from graphics are removed as well. Color separated lasers provide you with a quick way to double check your printing colors. Check to see that desired process colors are indeed 4/c and Pantone colors are printing as a spot color. If there are any special instructions, be sure to label them on the lasers. 6. Pull Bleeds. Image area that should extend beyond the page after final trims should extend at least 1/8" over the page in your document. Changing the page size to indicate bleeds is unnecessary, and could result in possible errors. 7. White in picture boxes or not? It is widely known that Quark will generate a low-res clipping path of pictures that have been placed with a fill of none, but our Rampage is set to remove Quark clipping paths to eliminate any pixelization resulting from a fill of none. However, a fill of none is required for any trapping to occur; the contone must be allowed to choke. By adding a fill of white or 0% black, the image is forced to knockout the area defined by the fill. So please, just leave the picture boxes with a fill of none ensuring accurate contone trapping. 8. Fancy Quark frames. Avoid the use of fancy picture box frames in Quark, as these frames will be RIPped at a high resolution and each object traps independently. That means a single frame could have as many as 100,000 objects, which is as much as a 100 times the amount of a normal RIPped page, resulting in longer RIP times. If you decide to use these frames, let us know so special trapping can be enabled. 9. Super Black vs. Registration. Don't use the color "Registration" for your graphic elements. This will result in an element colored 100% of each color in your document. This is probably too much coverage for a sheet of paper and could end up offsetting and spoiling the entire job. If your design piece will benefit from a Super Black (100% black and any other color overprinting), we will determine the correct combination of ink percentages to provide maximum quality and minimal waste. 10. Varnishes. Indicate the areas needed for spot varnish on your lasers for output. We will create the necessary plates which will include alignment and trapping. 11. EPS for Illustrations. EPS files should always be supplied for vector graphics such as those created by illustration programs, ie. Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw. EPS means encapsulated Postscript. The EPS file allows for Postscript data to be stored and edited, and it is easily transported between Mac and PC systems. 12. High Resolution Graphics. For high resolution output, an acceptable resolution is generally considered to be in the range of 266 to 400 pixels per inch, or 1.5 to 2 times the desired line screen ruling. We are currently using a 200 line screen for all process work, as we have determined this provides the highest quality possible with minimal dot gain. Black and white line art images, such as a person's signature, ideally should be scanned at a resolution equal to the final output (for Printing Images, this would be 2400 dpi); however, the file size for this resolution is often too large to be practical. We have found a resolution of 1200 dpi to provide excellent quality and it does not require as much storage space. When scanning a graphic for placement and final printing, a resolution of approximately 300 dpi will provide a high resolution scan from a flatbed scanner, but the finest quality in color and detail is always achieved by a professional trained in the art of color reproduction. If you have the resources and prefer to scan your own image files, there are several formats we accept. The TIF (Tagged Image File Format) is generally the preferred file format for images for being more flexible, as well as being smaller and much easier to RIP than EPS files. Some images, however, require you to use the EPS format, such as duotones, quadtones and images with a silhouette with a clipping path. When saving, use the single file EPS option. On the PC, prepare EPS files saved in ASCII rather than binary format. Also if you are using Photoshop 5 you may want to use the multichannel mode option and add spot colors to your images, this will create a DCS file. Save as a single DCS file with no composite, using binary format for Mac, ASCII for PC. Never include halftone screen or transfer function by checking those boxes. Tech Information What's New Contact Us |