How to Prepare Your Cards for Press Using Scribus

How to Prepare Your Cards for Press Using Scribus This Tutorial is Divided into Sections: 1. What is Scribus? 2. What Do I Need to Get Started? 3. Setting Up Your Scribus Document 4. Creating Master Pages with Scribus 5. Adding Additional Pages with Scribus 6. Adding Text with Scribus 7. Formatting Text with Scribus 8. Adding Art with Scribus 9. Color Management 10. Preflight Verification in Scribus What is Scribus? This tutorial will offer you some advice on how to use Scribus to create your content and prepare print-ready PDF files for DriveThruCards. It will address how to set up one digital file so that both sides of the card are printed in full color. The screenshots shown in the tutorial use Scribus 1.4.1 and 1.4.4 for Mac and Adobe Acrobat Professional X. If you are using a different version of the software some of the instructions and screenshots may be slightly different, but hopefully you can find the right feature in your software version. Scribus is an Open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops. Scribus is available for free at www.scribus.net/downloads. 11. Exporting Your Scribus File as a Print-ready PDF 12. PDF/X-1a Compliance with Adobe Acrobat Pro 13. What Do I Do Next? 14. Tips and Things to Remember 15. I Need More Help! 1 revised 11.20.18

What Do I Need to Get Started? Although you have now downloaded and installed Scribus, there are a few more steps you will want to take before you begin working. If you will be exporting a postscript file to produce your PDF, using the Print Preview function, or using any EPS files in your document, then you will need to download and install GhostScript, which Scribus needs in order to do these tasks. Current GhostScript releases of execution files and zipped tar balls can be downloaded for free from Ghostscript.com. Otherwise, you can ignore the warning message that will pop up when you open Scribus. Although Scribus does come with some basic color profiles that are useful for producing PDFs, you may need to download and install professional printing color profiles, or ICC profiles, which are available for free from Adobe. These profiles are common standards in the graphics industry and will ensure that the color information in your press-ready PDF is consistent with standards the printer uses. This is an important step to check before proceeding. If you create or work in a Scribus document without the correct profiles, you cannot change the document later to correct it. The direct URL to download these ICC profiles is: www.adobe.com/downloads/other-downloads.html Under ICC profiles, choose <Windows> or <Macintosh>. You will have to click through and accept a EULA before you reach the download page. Once there, Adobe supplies you with a list of included profiles in the ZIP package and detailed instructions about where to put these files after you ve received them. This is the list of profiles you will receive from Adobe. Note that US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 will be the color profile you will use to export your final press-ready PDF. For more information about Scribus and ICC profiles, visit: https://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/ Getting_and_installing_ICC_ profiles 2

Setting Up Your Scribus Document This is the beginning of the step-by-step process for creating a new document for your cards Please note: For your convenience, we have created templates of our available card sizes to make your work easier. You can find these downloadable templates on the Preparing Your Cards page of the Publisher Knowledge Base, under Book Printing & Card Printing. Starting your new file from a template Now you are ready to begin! First, open Scribus. Then, in the File pull-down menu, navigate to where you have saved your downloaded template file. Open it. Click the Windows pull-down and open the Properties window. Let s take a look at this template. What are all these lines? The pink area is the safe area for your text, logos and any important images. If any of these elements run outside of this area, it risks being trimmed off when the cards are cut after printing. The dotted edge of the white area is the trim line. This is approximately where the paper will be cut or trimmed off after the cards are printed. The blue space is the bleed area. Background images or color must extend to this line in the file, which you can see is outside of the paper trim line. This ensures that there is no unprinted white margin around the edges of your finished cards. This is required. The bleed must measure ⅛ (0.125 ) past the trim line on all four sides. The safe area should measure ⅛ (0.125 ) inside the trim line on all four sides. bleed area If your art does not bleed, include a white or black area that will extend to this edge. Do not set a die-cut for round corners in the layout. The final PDF file must not have crop marks. trim line Everything outside this line will be cut off. safe area All text, important images, and logos should be inside this pink area. 3

Setting Up Your Scribus Document (continued) More about the recommended specifications The order of your document pages for correct front-to-back printing Please create one file for your entire deck of cards. The order of the cards in the final PDF will be the order of the finished cards in their packages. To set up your file, you must order the pages with one card back and then one card front for each card in the deck. See the screenshot to the right for a sample view of what your multi-page document should begin to look like. In this screenshot, the document layout has been set to double-sided in Scribus. This will make it very easy to design and apply master pages for the correct card front and back pages, which we will cover next in this tutorial. Cards do not need to have a common border color between their fronts and backs. Your image files need to be high resolution The images you will be using for your cards, regardless of front or back placement, need to be high resolution, which is at least 300 dpi. The physical size of the image at 300 dpi needs to be at least the same size as the printed card or larger. page 1 page 2 page 3 For example, if your background image is 300 dpi with a physical size of 3 by 4, you are good to go since that is larger than the card. If your background image is 300 dpi but measures 1½ (1.5 ) by 2, then you have a problem. To scale up this image to meet the size of the actual printed card, your image will be degraded because the physical size of the image is not large enough. page 4 page 5 72 dpi 150 dpi 300 dpi 4 page 6 page 7

Creating Master Pages with Scribus Master Pages allow you to place borders, text and other information just once in the file. Then those elements will appear on all of the pages you select, in the exact same spot. It s very useful for recurring items, like repeating card backs. First, go to the Insert menu and select Insert Image Frame. Click and drag to place a frame for your master page image. You can set the frame size in the Properties window using the X,Y, Z tool, or you can manually resize it by clicking and dragging the blocks or handles on the image frame box. The Properties window will be used often, so you may want to leave it open while you work in your file. handles Here s a tip! If you select Snap to Guides from the Page menu before you resize your image frame, the box should automatically align (or snap) to the guides already set up in the template for the safe area, trim, or bleed. 5

Creating Master Pages (continued) Double-click on the box and select the graphic to import. Use the Image tool in the Properties window to size the image to the box simply by clicking the Scale to Fit Frame Size button. Make sure to tick the check box for Proportional to ensure the graphic is not stretched. Once you have the page set the way you would like, go to the Page pull-down menu and select Convert to Master. Name the master page, then save it. You can save as either a left- or right-hand page: right could be the back of the card, left could be the front. If you can t select items on the page with your cursor, check to make sure that your document layers are not locked. To do this, pull down the Windows menu and select Layers. The Layers palette will open. If the box under the lock icon is checked, uncheck it. The items you are trying to select should be available to you now. 6

Creating Master Pages (continued) To apply the new master page to the document, go to the Page pull-down menu, then select Apply Master Page. Select the master you just made and the correct pages to apply it to. You can select all pages, only odd or only even pages, or just a specific page range in the document. You can also click on the page(s) you wish to convert while holding down the Shift key, pulling down the Page menu, and selecting Apply Master Page. All the pages you chose should autoformat. If you zoom out to view multiple pages of the document, it would look something like this: Here s a tip! You may want to turn on the Rulers Relative to Page option in the View pull-down menu. It automatically sets the ruler s zero point to the upper left-hand corner of each page as you work. 7

Adding Additional Pages with Scribus To add additional pages to your document, pull down the Page menu and select Insert. You will be able to dictate the number of pages to add, where in the document to add them, and even which Master Pages to apply. Do not change the Page Size information in the next dialog box. The Move Objects with their Page option ensures that objects stay on their assigned pages when those pages change position in the document. Although turned on here, it may not be desirable at all times. When active, if you add an odd number of pages in the middle of the document, your left-hand card back pages will become righthand pages but will retain the card back master images. 8

Adding Text with Scribus First, add your text frame to the page. Pull down the Insert menu and select Insert Text Frame. Your cursor will change from an arrow to crosshairs with a text icon. Click and hold down your mouse, then drag the crosshairs across the page to draw your text frame. To place text, open the file with your text content, select the text you want to place, and copy it. Go back to your Scribus file and click on the first page inside the text area, right-click on it and then choose Paste to import and place all the text you selected. It will not be formatted but it will all be there. Here s a tip! If the same text appears throughout the entire document in the same place, you can also make that as part of a Master Page. What does that mean? If you paste more text than the text frame can hold, a little crossed red box will appear in the lower right corner to alert you. 9

Formatting Text with Scribus Expand the Text menu in the Properties window. Right-click to select all of the text on your page, then set the basic font and size for the body text. Justify text by selecting it all and clicking the Left Justify Text box in the menu. Explore the Text menu. It has many options for formatting text: color, effects, tracking, kerning, and line spacing. Once you have the body text adjusted, you can go through and set the headers by selecting them and setting their attributes, just as you did with the body text. If you have a lot of text to format you may want to set global body and header styles. To do this, click the Edit pull-down menu and select Styles. 10

Formatting Text (continued) In the windows that open you can set the headers (Character Styles) and the body text (Paragraph Styles). Once you have set your styles, select the text to convert, then choose the new style. It will now appear under the Style Settings in the Text tool. Formatting text Paragraph and Character styles can save you a lot of time in the long run. Things to avoid as you style text in your document: Widows: One single word or line at the bottom of a column of text Orphans: One single word or line at the top of a column of text Hyphens between columns of text Remember! The body text will be small, so use a font that is easy to read and without many flourishes. Industry standard size is 10 to 12 points for type size, and 12 to 14 points for leading (or line spacing). Leading is usually 2 points more than the type size. 11

Adding Art with Scribus To add art or graphics, first add an image frame by clicking the Insert menu and choosing Insert Image Frame. A tab will attach to the cursor. Click and drag it across the page to make a box to place the art in. You can also size the box in the Properties window using the X, Y, Z tool. Before you begin to move the text out of the way, next make sure the text frame is not locked. You can simply double-click the text and make sure the Is Locked option is not checked. You can also find it under the Item drop-down menu. Don t forget to resize the text frame out of the way, using the arrow or Select Item tool from the horizontal toolbar above your document window. 8-bit color? Yes, please! Scribus currently only supports color images of the 8-bit variety (not 16- or 32-bit color). Importing 16- or 32-bit color images will result in some strange behavior, like color shifting or disproportionate images. If you re having mysterious image issues, check your bit depth! toolbar 12

Adding Art (continued) Double-click on the image frame and then find the image to place. Your selected graphic will be placed in the image frame box at its full size, which is 100%. It may need to be resized or scaled using the Image tab in the Properties window. With the image selected, you can look at the Image tab and see all of the size and scale information for that picture. By simply clicking the Scale to Frame Size button, the graphic will fill the frame. If the Proportional option is selected, the graphic will scale in proportion and not stretch. If the graphic is larger in width or height than can proportionally fit in the frame, it will fit to the smaller measure. The Scale command can also be found under the Item drop-down menu; it s called Adjust Image to Frame. A note about image transparency The final PDF profiles that you will use to export, either PDF/X-1a: 2001 or 2003, do not support transparencies. While Adobe InDesign has built-in transparency flattening abilities, Scribus currently does not. Be cautious when using image transparency, with the knowledge that it may not export or print as intended. 13

Preflight Verification in Scribus Open your Scribus application preferences. Scroll down to and select Preflight Verifier options. Make sure to check all of the top boxes above the image resolution settings. For the lowest and highest allowed image resolutions, set the lowest at 220 dpi and the highest at 2400 dpi. 220 dpi is the lowest possible number for color images. 2400 dpi is the highest image resolution for black and white bitmapped images. (Continuous grayscale images fall into the 220 dpi preference for color images.) If you plan to insert PDF images into your document, uncheck and deactivate the Check for placed PDF files option. Do check and activate Check for GIF images. (For print, the preferred linked or embedded image file formats you should be using are TIF and EPS file formats.) Verify! Now you can open the Preflight Verifier pane from the Windows menu and run a preflight report. In this pane, you can check your entire document for potential errors based on your previously set preferences, like checks for overflowing page text, missing pages, or placed GIF files. It will give you a list of all pages and all images, and if they pass or fail the preflight verification. This gives you a chance to fix a lot of mistakes before the file is sent to the printer. 14

Exporting Your Scribus File as a Print-ready PDF The preferred PDF profile is currently PDF/X-1a:2003, but the older PDF/X-1a:2001 standard is also acceptable. When your card deck is complete and set up as you would like it, you are now ready to export your file as a print-ready PDF. Choose the File pull-down menu, then Export, then Save as PDF. The Preflight Verifier window will open. Choose the current profile as PDF/X-1a from the profile menu if you intend to export a PDF directly from Scribus. Choose PostScript if you intend to export a PS file for conversion to PDF by an application like Acrobat Distiller. Why are my pages blank? If you have tried exporting a PDF but the pages end up being blank, check to make sure that the layers in your document are enabled for printing. To do this, pull down the Windows menu and select Layers. The Layers palette will open. If the box under the printer icon is not checked, click to check it now. Your document should now print or export with content on the pages. 15

Exporting Your Scribus File as a Print-ready PDF (continued) Set the following specifications in the next series of four windows, then click Save when they are complete: General Tab Make sure All Pages are selected in the Export Range. Check the box next to Maximum Image Resolution. Make sure the Maximum Image Resolution is set to 2400 dpi. Don t forget to set compatability to PDF/X-1a! Fonts Tab Make sure to embed all fonts. Click the Embed All button. 16

Exporting Your Scribus File as a Print-ready PDF (continued) Color Tab Make sure the Intended Output is set to Printer. Check the box next to Convert Spot Colors to Process Colors. Pre-Press Tab Check the Use Document Bleeds box. The printer does not accept PDFs with any printer marks, so make sure to leave those options unchecked. Set the PDF/X Output Intent profile to US Web Coated (SWOP) v2. (This will only be available to you if you have installed ICC profiles from Adobe, as recommended on page 2 of this tutorial.) 17

PDF/X-1a Compliance with Adobe Acrobat Pro After exporting your PDF from Scribus, you can open it in Acrobat Pro to confirm PDF/X-1a compliance as well as run fix-ups to make the PDF compliant to that profile. Expand the Tools Pane from the top left corner to expose the different tool options. Expand the Print Production Tools at the very bottom of the tools list. Click to open the Preflight dialog box. There will be many options for fix-ups to run. Expand the PDF/X Compliance options and choose Convert to PDF/X-1a (SWOP), then click the Analyze and Fix button. The dialog box will run a report of fixes and changes made to the document. When the fix-up is complete, a green check mark will appear if the fix-ups are successful. If the fix-ups have failed, an X mark will appear. In either case, you can check the report for details about errors and warnings. Note: If you are using an older version of Acrobat Pro, you can find Preflight under Print Production in the Advanced pull-down menu at the top of your screen. If you can t find it, try searching for the location using Preflight as a key word in the Acrobat Help Menu. Check for compliance! After you ve run preflight fix-ups, it s best to verify the document s compliance. To do this, click on the PDF document icon in the left-hand sidebar. It will expand a pane detailing conformance standards and output intent. Confirm that the standard is PDF/X-1a and that the output intent is SWOP v2. Click the Verify Conformance link. This will run a quick check on the file and tells you if the file passes or fails compliance. 18

What Do I Do Next? Once you have your finished print-ready PDF of your entire card deck, it s time to upload them! Log in to your DriveThruCards account and go to your Publisher Hub on the Publish page. If you have not already set up a title record, go to TITLE MANAGEMENT/Set up a new title to do so. If you have already set up your title, you can proceed to the CARD PRINTING section. Use the Upload and manage printed card files tool. This tool will walk you through the process of uploading your print PDF file and ordering a physical proof of your cards. If you have any questions or need more information about how to proceed with filling out the title record s information, you may also find it helpful to follow our Walkthrough to set up a CARD Title located in the Publisher Knowledge Base. 19

Tips and Things to Remember About specifications All images should be 300 dpi/ppi resolution. The physical size of the image should at least be the size as it appears on the card. All images should be grayscale or CMYK. Do not use RGB or Lab colors. Using them may cause unpredictable color shifts during the export to print-ready PDF process. Preferred image formats are TIFF or EPS files. Refrain from using JPG or PNG files, which are more suitable for web publishing. Header fonts shouldn t be ridiculously large. The optimal range is 24 pts to 14 pts. Body Fonts should be 10 pts to 12 pts. Line spacing or leading is usually 2 points more than the font size. In making your text fit into small spaces, avoid Tracking your text more or less than 20%. It will look too squished or too loose. I Need More Help! I have questions that aren t covered here... To contact Publisher Services, please email brian@onebookshelf.com. Brian will do his best to help you and answer any questions you have that are not covered in this tutorial. Your questions will help us improve this tutorial, so it answers more questions for everyone! If you have decided that you don t care to do your own file layout, you can find people with professional skills and contract them to create your print files. The cost of this work depends on how much of the work you do yourself before handing it over. You can find freelance layout professionals at sites like www.upwork.com. We can also recommend someone for layout if you would like. Avoid widows and orphans: leaving a single word at the end of a paragraph or a single line at the top or bottom of a column of text. Black text should be made with a 100% black swatch, with total CMYK values of 0% Cyan (C), 0% Magenta (M), 0% Yellow (Y), and 100% Black (K). Black elements should not be built in Registration black or with the 100% black swatch used for text. They should be built out of Rich black. For best results, we recommend the CMYK values of 60% Cyan (C), 40% Magenta (M), 40% Yellow (Y), and 100% Black (K). CMYK total value should not exceed 300%. Text should be at least 0.125 from the trim edge. Embed all fonts used in the document (all font families used, including all screen and printer fonts). Do not add information or printer marks such as crop marks, web-press comments, etc. 20