~~~ File Preparation Guidelines ~~~
File Preparation Guidelines

We have prepared these guidelines for a trouble free submission of your project’s digital files.
If you have experience with desktop publishing and wish to create your own documents, we welcome the
opportunity to work with you and help to translate your efforts into high-quality printed materials.

We have prepared a File Submission Checklist, which you want to use to assure your files are correctly formatted for
printing. If you may have any questions or concerns please contact your Account Manager for more information.

The most important thing you can do to ensure success is to communicate. Let us know what you intend to do
before you do it, especially if it involves changing procedure, software, fonts, computers, or anything else that could
impact the nature of your work. Remember, we see many files in different formats on a regular basis. We are aware
of potential problems and can help you avoid them. Ask questions. Ask to speak with the people who will handle the
work whenever you have a technical question. By staying in close communication with us and proceeding carefully,
your work will go more smoothly, with fewer delays and problems.
   
   PDF Files for Output
Our preferred format for file submission is PDF. We will be glad to work with you or your suppliers to test and correctly configure your PDF files for proper print production. Contact us with as much lead time as possible, to allow for testing before you submit your job for production.
 
   Application Versus PostScript™
Printup will accept native application files (e.g., InDesign), but we are encouraging PDF submissions made from these native application files. Should you choose to submit native files, please remember to package all image files and printer fonts that support your layout file. Failure to include these files will delay the processing of your job until the files are received. We prefer for you to submit PDF or PostScript files. You may find information within this document that will help you in the creation of press-ready files, or you may contact your Account Manager with questions.
 
   Page Layout Applications
Our preferred page layout applications are Adobe InDesign®, QuarkXPress®, and Adobe® Illustrator®. We are capable of working both with Mac and PC versions of each application. Whatever you use, your digital files should be accompanied by a final hard copy output at 100%.This may seem redundant, but it assures us that your files are printable. If your laser printer will not print them,ours probably will not either.Your proofs will also show us what your files are supposed to look like.It is also a good idea to send us a preliminary test file for a sample output sothat we can evaluate it for potential prob-lems in advance of sending the entire job.
 
   Page Setup
Set your page or document size to the trim size (the final size) of your publication. This is important: If you set up your pages as “facing pages,” put even-numbered pages on the left, and odd-numbered pages on the right. Make sure that your margins are consistent from file to file. Use master pages for positioning of running header / footer so they are always in the same place.
 
   Bleeds
If you wish to print an object that extends to the edge of a page, a “bleed” is necessary. Extend the edge of the element 9 points or 1/8" past the edge of the page.
 
   Fonts
Printup Graphics must have the identical fonts you have used to construct your page files. We ask that you send copies of those fonts along with your job. You should create a folder called “job fonts.” Place copies of your fonts in that folder and send it along with your page files. Please send both printer and screen fonts for Adobe Type 1 fonts.
We recommend using Adobe Type 1 fonts or Open Type fonts. Adobe no longer supports Multiple Master technologies, and neither does Printup Graphics. TrueType fonts are single files; the screen and printer information is contained in a single scalable font file. Other versions of fonts can be identified by the different icons that will appear in the printer font file. Selecting “Get Info” on a chosen printer font file will usually identify the manufacturer.
Macintosh screen fonts are either loose or in a suitcase; if they are loose, the Finder calls them “font” in the window under “kind”; if they are in a suitcase, they are called “font suitcase.” Printer fonts are never in suitcases; they are always individual files and are called “PostScript font” in the Finder window.
Avoid system bitmap fonts. These are fonts designed strictly for your computer screen or dot-matrix printer and do not yield good results on an imagesetter. Macintosh Bitmap fonts are normally named after cities (e.g., Geneva, Monaco, New York, Chicago), which makes them easy to identify. Windows fonts can be examined in the Control Panel under “Fonts.” The font listing will describe the font in brackets at the end of the name / size description. Fonts described as a monitor standard (EGA, VGA, 8514) or a non-PostScript printer standard (Plotter) are bitmap fonts.
   
Do NOT use style menu for styling!
When formatting your text for italic or bold typefaces, select the bold or italic typeface in the font family, such as Times Bold or Times Italic, rather than selecting Times and then assigning it a bold or italic style from the style menu.
 
Avoid placing type in a graphic that is then placed inside another graphic that in turn is imported into your page applica-tion file. The imagesetter will have a difficult time locating this font.
 
Finally, if you have included text in an EPS graphic file, we must have the screen and printer fonts for that text before we can correctly produce your graphic. If possible, convert the text in EPS graphics to outlines, or make sure to embed all fonts when saving as an EPS. This will eliminate the need for the fonts.
 
   Rules and Lines
Our presses can print a rule as thin as 0.3 points; do not use rules any thinner than 0.3 points. “Hairline” setting (0.004) is thinner than 0.3 points and will print inconsistently, or not at all.
When working with graphics that have rules or keylines applied to them in the page layout application, be sure to view them at a high enough magnification to ensure that the graphic and the rule are touching each other. A gap between these elements will not always be visible when printed to a 300 or 600 dpi laser printer, but it will show when printed in high resolution. This also applies to rules coming together at corners and any rules that are meant to be touching a graphic.
 
   Trapping
Trapping and RIPing are completed by our Prinergy prepress system. Prinergy examines the content and decides the best way to handle the trapping. If special needs are required, we will make the necessary modifications to the post-RIPed file and not to the native application or PDF file.
 
   Images and Graphics
Creating high-quality, printable graphics and placing them correctly in your page files can be complicated and a diffcult part of desktop publishing, especially when it comes to halftones and color. Unless you understand the issues of tonal range, dot gain, and the relationship between line screen value, dpi, and shooting percentage, we suggest that you let us scan, digitize, and send you your images to be placed within your final files.
You may, of course, do your own scanning and assume responsibility for the quality of the output. If you are scanning and/or placing artwork in your layout files, call us in advance and allow enough time for testing one of your files. Also, refer to the Adobe Photoshop notes below.
Text in an EPS graphics file requires that we have the font file for that text to print properly. Better yet, convert the text to outlines first or embed the fonts to avoid problems later. See “Fonts.”
There are many graphics formats, but only a few tend to be reliable. Stay with EPS, TIFF, and JPEG on Mac and PC. Using other file formats can be unpredictable. Test your files to make sure they print properly before committing to them, and call us if you have any questions.
   
  Digital Photography
If you will be using a digital camera to capture images for print production, you must use the highest resolution setting option with the least amount of compression. Digital camera manufacturers use many different terms and file formats when capturing high-resolution images, so please refer to your camera’s manual for more information.
   
A Few Tips About Graphics
• PICT and PAINT files are low-resolution bitmap files and will not improve in appearance even if imaged at high resolution. If they look jagged on your 300 dpi laser printer, they will also look jagged at 2400 dpi.
• JPEG is a lossy compression that removes pixels from an image, reducing the image quality.
 
   Adobe Photoshop
• RGB and Indexed Color images need to be converted to CMYK so that we can separate them properly. (Photoshop- Image-Mode-CMYK.) Color shift will occur when they are converted to CMYK.
   
• Color (CMYK) images should have a resolution of 300 to 350 ppi. Anything less than 300 ppi starts to degrade, and more than 350 ppi is overkill (the extra resolution no longer improves the image quality and it unnecessarily uses up disk space). Grayscale images should have a minimum of 200 ppi for proper reproduction. To fix an image that has too much resolution, go to “Image—Image Size”—be sure “Resample Image” is checked—and in “Print Size” change the ppi to 350. Unfortunately, this does not work the other way;you can’t give it more resolution and hope to have a better image.It must be scanned with enough resolution to begin with.
   
• A scanned image should be placed in a document at 100%. It can be enlarged up to 110% without noticeable loss of image quality. The image will degrade if enlarged greater than this. If you want to reduce the image to 80% or less in your document, open it in Photoshop and reduce it there instead, then place it into the page layout program at 100%. (Photoshop—Image—Image Size—be sure “Resample Image” is checked—and in “Print Size” change the units to percent and enter the desired percentage.) Unfortunately, you can’t enlarge an image above 100% in Photoshop and have it retain resolution. It must be scanned at the correct larger size from the beginning. (This does not apply to Illustrator EPS files that DO NOT have an image embedded within the graphic. They can be enlarged or reduced as much as you want, because they are rendered from mathematical formulas and not pixels, as Photoshop files are.) If your EPS file has an image included within the graphic, the same steps apply that apply to a Photoshop EPS file.
   
• Line art images (black and white images lacking screens or halftones) should be sized as close to 100% as possible, and they should be bitmap images (Photoshop—Image—Mode—Bitmap).
   
• If Bitmap is not a choice, choose Grayscale first, then Bitmap will be available. The best resolution for line art is 1200 ppi.
 
• Duotones should be created in Photoshop. With any specific colors, they should be named in Photoshop exactly as they are named in the page layout program, including Pantone and process colors.
 
• Clipping path flatness within Photoshop and Illustrator should be set to a flatness of no greater than 3.
 
   Nested Graphics
If you place a graphic within a graphic that is then placed in your page layout program (e.g., you place a Photoshop TIFF file into Illustrator, then place the Illustrator file into QuarkXPress), the graphic may not print correctly. If you do nest graphics, be sure to send us the nested graphics also (i.e., in our example above, send us the Photoshop file as well as the Illustrator file), and embed the graphic in the EPS file.
 
   Adobe Illustrator
• Fonts—It’s best to convert the text in your files to outlines before sending them in order to avoid font problems. If you choose not to convert them, we will need fonts used in your graphic.
 
   Data Transfer
Files may be sent to Printup Graphics electronically. Large files or complete projects can be uploaded to the Printup Graphics FTP site or Mass Transit. Small files can be sent as email attachments. We will also accept files on CD or DVD. For further information on using FTP and Mass Transit, please see the Guide to File Transfer. For assistance with setup or uploading, please contact your Account Manager.
 
   Blueline Corrections
Pages that require a correction are called “Blueline Correction.” Make corrections and send in ONLY those pages that must be replaced.
 
   Archiving
We assume that you maintain copies of the files that you send to us. If you have sent us files on disk, we will return them to you just as we received them. We will not save or store these files at Printup Graphics after printing.
If, however, you have asked us or we have found it necessary to create or enhance artwork, place scans, or in any way modify or add to your files, we will copy these files to the media of your choice and return them to you for a fee that covers labor and materials. Call us for a quote.
 
 

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printup press & graphics

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