Desktop Publishing Tutorial
Desktop publishing has forever changed the way the world designs and generates artwork in graphic design and printing. However, many of our clients are new to desktop publishing, and in particular new to the requirements of preparing a piece for printing.

This web page provides guidelines for preparing and submitting your Macintosh and Windows based disks for offset printing. We can accept digital files from most popular Macintosh and Windows based desktop publishing packages. If you have questions regarding the preparation and submission of your computer generated job, please e-mail us your question. We will gladly help you prepare your disk and ensure your job is not delayed or assessed additional charges caused by incorrectly prepared files.

This tutorial is divided into a variety of sections. These are:




The Application Packages We Support
There are literally several hundred software applications that are in one way or another sold as desktop publishing. Fortunately there are only about a half dozen or so that are commonly used for the design of high end pieces. The following lists show the applications packages that we support on the Macintosh and Windows platforms. We maintain both Macintosh and Windows machines and will work on your file on the original platform.

Macintosh

Windows/PC Disks

 

If your application software is not on these lists, please or e-mail us for other possibilities. If you have the capability, you may wish to import your artwork into one of these packages as an .EPS file (Make sure to include all associated graphics and printer and screen fonts when sending the file).

PIP Printing supports the following programs for single color output only. Though these programs allow you to generate colors on the computer screen and from your desktop color printer, these programs (as well as most other graphics packages) do not support postscript color separations, and are difficult if not impossible to use in printing color separated camera ready artwork/negatives. Multiple outputs and masking will be required to perform traditional non tight registration color separations. We will have to review the file to submit an accurate price quote.

The following applications may be submitted for Black & White or Single color output only. File must be reveiwed to provide basic multi output traditional masking separations charges:

From here you may continue reading our Computer prepress
tutorial or link to any of the locations shown below:

PIP Printing's Home Page || Scanning and color correction || General tips
Application specific tips || Common errors || Price Quote || Send us e-mail




General Tips for Creating Your Desktop Files
Fonts

PIP Printing maintains a large library of fonts. However, to be certain that we match the font you desire exactly, please include both screen and printer fonts of each font used in your document. These should be placed in a separate folder/sub-directory named "Fonts.

Process & Spot Colors in Process Printing

Please be sure to define all colors as process colors, not spot colors in a 4 color piece. In some programs, when you create a new color, it is defined as a spot color by default. Printing the file as separations is a good way of checking that all the colors have been defined correctly. On the other hand if you are working on a 2 color piece using black and PMS 185 you will get two outputs when printing seperations.

Specifying & Selecting Color

When specifying color , use either Pantone's or TrueMatch's swatch books. These will provide accurate representations of how your color will print. Your monitor will not display the correct colors and should not be relied on for precise color control. Be sure to use the correct books for coated or uncoated paper. Use the correct Pantone module in a program for printing simulations of Pantone colors. The Pantone Process Color Imaging Guide 1000 displays the process simulation of solid Pantone spot colors.

Provide B&W Proofs

Always provide a composite and separated proof with your file. Printing separations ensures that elements are separating on the correct plate. Your separated proof should provide a page for each of the CMYK unless of course it is a spot color seperated piece. If more than four pages are generated while printing process separated proofs, you have probably included one or more spot colors in your file. Please go back and assure that all colors are built as process/CMYK. The proofs should always be from the most current version of the file.

Printing Color Proofs

Yes many of today's color printers and digital color proofing systems generate excellent detail and bright colors, in our opinion none of these systems generates consistently accurate colors when compared to spot or process color printing. We recommend using the Pantone or TrueMatch swatch books to see how the colors you have selected will actually be reproduced on the printing press

Trapping

Trap your files. PIP Printing can take care of the trapping for you if you do not understand trapping. It is important that all files used to create the document are enclosed and in a format that can be trapped. If the document contains Freehand EPS files, the original Freehand files must be included not just the file exported as an EPS file to permit us to edit/trap the file.

Halftoning Information

Some programs allow you to specify the line screen (lpi), angle, and dot shape and save this information in the file. Do not use any of these options. Specifying the incorrect options may lead to moiré patterns, muddy halftones, etc. in your printed piece. We'll set the correct options when outputting your file. Always keep in mind the stock the piece will be printed on, a high screen lpi will create a muddy effect on non-coated stocks.

Transfer Function

Do not use this function if your program provides it. Our imagesetters are calibrated daily with the transfer function optimized. Any transfer function embedded in a file will override this calibration and will not produce optimum results.

Clipping Paths

Beware of clipping paths. Clipping paths are very memory intensive. Images clipped with complex clipping may not print or lead to postscript errors on the imagesetter even if they print on your laser printer. Fewer calculations are required to print a clipping path on a lower resolution 300 dpi printer than on a high end 2540 dpi imagesetter. A few ways to avoid complex paths:

Nesting Files

EPS files nested too deeply may not get the required fonts downloaded when printed. We don't recomend going more than two deep

Watch Those Line Weights

Define line weights at .25 pt or larger. Lines smaller than .25 pt may become invisible and/or inconsistent. Never select hairline as the line weight because it will be very small at 2540 dpi. Keep in mind toner used to print you 600 dpi laser proof will not be as fine as the final result of 2540 dpi or higher output.

Dot Gain

Dot Gain is when halftone dots get bigger due to expansion caused by the press blankets and the ink absorption and spreading on various paper stock. We recommend a 20% dot gain for gloss paper, 22% for matte and a slightly higher setting for uncoated stocks. It's always a good idea to check with your printer to factor in the press that will be used to print the job

Bleeds

Most desktop programs allow you to create bleeds by setting the page up for a bleed and running your graphics image beyond the edges of the page. We suggest you set your images to print 1/8 inch beyond the edge of your final printed pieces.

From here you may continue reading our Computer prepress
tutorial or link to any of the locations shown below:

PIP Printings Home Page || Scanning and color correction || General tips
Application specific tips || Common errors || Price Quote || Send us e-mail




Scanning and Color Correcting Tips

Scan Resolution

Continuous-tone (grayscale or color) images should be scanned to provide a final printed output between 250 and 300 dpi.

Scan Formats

Either TIF or EPS formats are the norm.

Rotating Scans

You should rotate Scans (bitmaps) in Photoshop and not in your page layout program. Rotating your scans in a page layout program will cause the program to calculate the rotation every time the file is printed. This is very memory-intensive.

Resizing Scans

Pre-size Scans (bitmaps) before placing them in your page layout program. Resizing scans in the page layout program forces the program to calculate the resize every time the file is printed.

Cropping Images

Always crop scanned images as closely as possible prior to placing them in your page layout program. First or all cropping reduces the file size and second of all speeds manipulation and printing of the image.

Line Art Scan Resolutions

Line art (b&w) images should be scanned between 600 and 1000 dpi. Images with a resolution lower than 600 dpi may look jagged when printed.

Color Correction

The only safe way to check the colors in your scan is to sample various parts of the scan with your program's eyedropper tool and compare the CMYK values returned with a color matching book such as Pantone's.

From here you may continue reading our Computer prepress
tutorial or link to any of the locations shown below:

PIP Printings Home Page || Scanning and color correction || General tips
Application specific tips || Common errors || Price Quote || Send us e-mail




Application Specific Notes:

Quark Xpress:

Colors: Each color used in your document should be defined as CMYK for process printing, spot colors for spot color printing.

In general, we recommend that you import EPSF files into Quark Xpress. Only EPS files should be used for bitmaps placed into Quark Xpress transparent picture blocks. The edges of TIFF images tend to print with irregular edges when placed in a transparent picture box.

Quark doesn't include graphic images within the document file itself so it is crucial to include any associated graphics files used within the document as well. Look into the collect for output function, note it will not collect your fonts.

Please remember to include all printer and screen fonts used. Also remember to output proofs of your file, both as a composite and as separations. These proofs help assure that your printed piece is as you desire.

We recomend you do not change the default settings in the trap window unless you are very familiar with Quark Xpress and Trapping,

Adobe Photoshop:

Black and white halftones should be saved as grayscale, line art should be saved in bitmap mode, and color files in Photoshop should be saved in CMYK format.

Binary EPS files are the preferred format and are about half the size of ASCII EPSF.

When making a clipping path, use a flatness setting of 2 or greater.

Adobe Illustrator:

If possible, please do not embed TIFF or EPS files in your Illustrator files. We recommend you place graphic files together in your page layout program. If you do place graphic files within your illustrator file, please be sure to include them with your file

Adobe PageMaker:

When specifying colors in Pagemaker, please be sure to use only process, CMYK colors in process printing jobs, spot colors in spot printing jobs. Colors in PageMaker are defined in the Elements menu.

We recommend that you keep your graphics files linked to, and not part of, your file. When you place a large graphic in Pagemaker, you will receive a message similar to:

Warning: The graphic in the document would occupy XXXX KBytes in the publication. Include a complete copy in the publication anyway?

Clicking on NO keeps the graphic linked to your Pagemaker file, without including the entire file in your Pagemaker document. Remember to send us the linked graphics files along with your PageMaker file.

Macromedia Freehand:

Unlike Illustrator, Freehand generated EPS files are not editable and cannot be trapped or corrected if a problem arises during output. Be sure to supply a Freehand application file along with any EPS file generated in Freehand. Note that Pantone colors default to spot colors in Freehand which is fine for spot color printing. Colors in Freehand should be defined as CMYK for process printing. Please don't forget to include a printout of the latest revision and please make sure you include all fonts used.

From here you may continue reading our Computer prepress
tutorial or link to any of the locations shown below:

PIP Printing's Home Page || Scanning and color correction || General tips
Application specific tips || Common errors || Price Quote || Send us e-mail




The 10 Most Common Problems
(which lead to delays and/or additional charges)

1. Failure to submit a CURRENT (B&W or color) proof.

Your proof provides information crucial to the correct production of your job. Without a proof we have no way to determine if what we are about to print is correct or not. We can't stress enough that proofs should be generated from the exact same file that you are sending us. Please mark the proof "Proof is Current" to let us know that any discrepancy between our output and your proof is in fact, an error. Also, if your proof is not printed at 100%, please mark the proof "Not at 100%". A common problem with remote printing of desktop files is differences in "default" settings. These differences can cause type to reflow

When no proof is provided, we have no guide as to how you want your lines to break. Without a current proof, we don't know if a type reflow is the result of a last minute edit, or a difference between our default settings and yours. We will try to contact you for final clarification of any discrepancy. However, if we cannot reach you, we may have no choice but to delay printing your job. We operate two shifts, and may be working on your job while you are unavailable.

The second most frequent problem caused by not receiving proper proofs is related to color output. To assure your job is output correctly, please submit both composite and separated proofs. Color composites are even better.

2. Failure to include all Fonts with your disk.

Though we maintain a huge library of fonts, there are over 25,000 different fonts out there and we can't possibly have them all. Even if we happen to have a font with the same name as the ones you use, its possible that they were designed by different companies, and are not identical. Any differences can cause type to reflow, lines to get cut off, etc.

If you supply files using fonts which we do not have, your job will not work with your file which will cause delays until you can supply us a copy of the font(s), unless you authorize us to substitute a similar font that we have.

3. Failure to submit a mock-up

Most of the times it is obvious how a piece should be folded and/or backed up. However, many times it is not. We need a good folding/backing mock-up to set up your piece properly.

4. Missing Scans or Image Files.

Many applications only store a preview image in the files they create, and must retrieve the original graphic files prior to printing. Frequently receive Quark files, etc. without the linked graphic files, and must delay the job while we wait to receive these graphic files.

5. Unusable Scans.

Most of the problematic scans we receive have been scanned at too low or high of a resolution. This in turn leads to poor output quality.

6. Failure to make your files bleed when required.

In most desk top publishing programs, making an image bleed is as easy as placing all images such that they extend 1/8 inch beyond the border of the page. Though it is easy to set your files to bleed while you are creating your piece, it is time consuming to alter your design once it gets to us.

7. Failure to use the CMYK color system in Process Printing.

Some spot/PMS colors are not accurately represented in CMYK. For instance metallic colors are not well represented by CMYK. We recommend using the Pantone Process color systems for color selection.

8. Using applications packages that do not support postscript CMYK separations.

Most desktop publishing packages and world processors do not provide postscript separations. We are usually unable to work from these programs for black and white and single color printing only. Unless there is no tight registration and then we may be able to do a multi-output traditional seperation.

9. Use of RGB rather CMYK scans.

We receive a large number of RGB scans. All scans should be converted to CMYK to be used in 4 color process color printing.

10. Failure to provide complete crop and final size information for required scans.

When we provide scanning services, indicate what you would like cropped, and how large you would like that portion to print. If you do not let us know we have no idea how to crop your photo's

From here you may continue reading our Computer prepress
tutorial or link to any of the locations shown below:

PIP Printing's Home Page || Scanning and color correction || General tips
Application specific tips || Common errors || Price Quote || Send us e-mail




Copying and sending your files
You may send your file using any of the following disk types or methods. If you would prefer to send us your file in a form not mentioned below, please e-mail us.


Zip Drives:

You can supply your files on Iomega 100 MB Zip disks. All disks will be returned.

CD-Rom:

You can supply your files on CD-Rom if you have the capabilities to burn one. Please refer to your CD burner manual for proper settings. All disks will be returned.

Floppy Disks:

Though Zip disks are preferred (due to their higher data densities and greater reliability), files may also be sent on 3 1/2 inch floppy disks. If you choose to send files via floppies:

Internet:

Due to the large size of most color files, sending the files via the internet is not recommended. However, you may e-mail smaller files as well as other information to PIP Printing at the following address:

pipparamus@earthlink.net

Questions regarding our digital services and capabilities may also be sent via e-mail.

Return to PIP Printings Home Page or link to any of the pages shown below:

Brochures || Business Forms || Color Copying || Color Printing || Electronic Prepress
Graphic Design || High-Volume Copying || Newsletters || PIPMail || Stationery
Price Quote || Contact Us || E-Mail