At a minimum a set of composite lasers with the expected colours marked on them.
You can download the PDF options file for Acrobat Distiller here.
Never use any OS built-in PDF printers such as "PDF writer" or "Print to PDF". They are designed to produce low resolution RGB PDF's only which are unsuitable for high resolution CMYK/spot colour or Digital output.
Also be aware that the Export as PDF (PDF 1.4 and above) in most current Adobe applications does NOT flatten the PDF. Is is good for editing, but bad for reliable print output. If you must use this make sure the PDF version is 1.3. Be very sure of the other settings as well, in particular:
type should be in front of any raster effects
ICC colour profiles will affect solid-to-image colour matching.
Fonts:
Use PostScript® Type 1 and PostScript® Type 3 fonts only. Multiple Master and True Type fonts should not be used. Do not apply style attributes (pseudo bolding, pseudo italicising, etc.) to the basic fonts. Use the relevant font. All fonts must be embedded or supplied.
Freehand and Illustrator files:
Preferably text should be converted to curves. i.e. converted to paths for Freehand, converted to outlines for Illustrator.
Images and links:
Images should be saved as tif (macintosh) or eps (Preview macintosh, 8 bits/pixel, encoding binary).
The use of the following may cause errors or incorrect output:
• transfer functions
• compression
• halftone screens
• postscript colour management
• image interpolation
• RGB, Lab or Indexed colour images
• image pyramid
• 5 file DCS1 images
• DCS2 images
Note: For Freehand and Quark (up to v6.5 at least) DSC2 can be used but the image must be 'transformed' by us first and cannot be reopened in Photoshop or other image editing applications.
We have the ability to correct some issues but we must be made aware of them first.
Scans should be 350 dpi (or 1200 dpi for bitmap line art). Scaling should not exceed the range 70% to 130%.
Freehand has problems with spot to spot vector colour gradients. It causes unexpected (CMYK) results between spot colours so oveprinting layered blends (or gradients to tints of the same spot colour) should be used instead. The same applies to Radial fills with any spot colour.
Quark Xpress picture boxes must be filled with white or any other solid colour, except boxes with clear cut image.
Colours:
All colours in the document and links should be set to CMYK and/or the correct Pantone names only. i.e. PANTONE 151 C, not Orange or PMS 151.
Screen ruling and resolution:
Screen ruling and screen angles for all publications will be applied at the film imaging or CTP outputting stage, therefore for consistency of postscripting resolution and screen setting should be set at 2400 dpi and 175 lpi respectively. UCR settings and ICC colour profiles should not be embedded.
Size:
Files must be supplied to the exact size plus 5 mm bleed where relevant. Trim marks must be 5mm away from trim line (crop and registration mark offset). PDF page size should be trim size plus 30 mm and centred. If you include Page Information in InDesign the PDF will be off-centred.
Trapping:
Black overprint/white knockout should be determined at application stage. The file will be repurposed for relevant choke and spread by Colourcraft.
The PDF Path:
Recent releases of most DTP applications can export files to PDF but the PDF library used in these applications, in most cases, are subset of the full Acrobat Distiller Library and is therefore not recommended. Our preferred path is to save the file to postscript and ‘Distil’ the Postscript file using Acrobat Distiller.
Creating the Postscript® File:
(Adobe Indesign 5.x will be used in this example)
• From the File menu, select Print...
• Select Print Preset drop down box and select [Default]
• Select the Printer drop down box and select PostScript® File
• The PPD drop down box should automatically change to AdobePDF 8.0 if it doesn't, then select the newest AdobePDF version you have i.e. AdobePDF 8.0)
Note don't be concerned if the last two steps changed the File Preset Box to the Custom this is normal.
General
• Pages should be set to the appropriate pages that you want to output to Postscript®
• Set the sequence drop down box to All Pages
• Make sure the spreads and print master page options are unticked
• Set Print Pages drop box to Visible and Printable Layers
• Print Blank Pages should normally be ticked
• Make sure the Print Non-printing Objects is unticked
Setup
• Change the Paper Size drop down box to Custom
• Adjust the width and height settings to be 30mm more than the total size. e.g.. For a A4 document sized at 210 x 297mm the paper size should be set to 240 x 327mm. Note: If these measurements are set in inches, centimetres, picas or points you can change your preference units to mm.
• Set the orientation to portrait (the man standing up correctly). The offset and gap options need to be set to 0mm
• The transverse tick box should be unticked
• The scale setting width and height should be set to 100% with the Constrain Proportions tick box ticked
• Scale to fit should not be selected
• The Page Position drop down box should be set to Centered
• The Thumbnails and Tile tick boxes should both be unticked
Marks and Bleed
• The Crop Marks and Bleed Marks should both be ticked and all other Mark tick boxes should be unticked.
• The Type drop down box should be set to default
• The Weight drop down box should be set to 0.25pt
• The offset should be the same as your bleed setting. eg. if your bleed is 5mm then the offset should be also set to 5mm
• The use document bleed setting tick box can be ticked as long as you have set the document layout up with a bleed setting. If ticking this box turns all the bleed settings to 0mm then untick the box and set the top, left, bottom and right bleed settings to an appropriate level of bleed for your document. (Minimum of 5mm.)
• The Include Slug Area box should be unticked
Output
• The Colour drop down box should be set to Composite CMYK
• The Text as Black tick box should be grey and unchangeable
• The Trapping drop down box should be grey and unchangeable
• The Flip drop down box should be set to none
• The Negative tick box should be grey and unchangeable
• The Screening drop down box should be grey and unchangeable but set to default.
• All the inks in your document should have printer icons next to them.
Note: at this point you see spot colour inks in this box and you do not require spot colours in the final PDF it is possible to open the Ink Manager and change all spots to process.
• The Frequency and Angle options should be grey and unchangeable
• The Simulate Overprint should be unticked
Graphics
• The Send Data drop down box should be set to All
• The Download drop down box should be set to Complete
• The Download PPD Fonts tick box should be ticked
• The Postscript® drop down box should be set to Level 3
• The Data Format drop down box should be set to ASCII
Colour Management
• Document should be selected and not proof
• The Colour Handling drop down box should be set to Let Indesign Determine Colours
• The Printer Profile drop down box should be set to Document CMYK (with the documents colour profile in brackets)
• The Preserve CMYK Numbers and Simulate Paper Colours options should be grey and unchangeable
Advanced
• The Print as Bitmap option should be grey and unchangeable
• The OPI Image Replacement tick box should be unticked (unless your document uses OPI replacement images)
The Omit For OPI: EPS PDF and Bitmap tick boxes should be unticked
• The Transparency Flattener Preset should be High Resolution
• The Ignore Spread Overrides tick box should be ticked
Finally Click Save in the bottom right hand corner.
Choose where you want to save the Postscript® file and click Save.
Creating PDF File using Acrobat Distiller:
• Launch Distiller
• Under the Distiller Drop Down list select Job Options.
• Set your job options to Colourcraft CTP and distil.
At a minimum a set of composite lasers with the expected colours marked on them.