Prepress Guidelines HAMILTON GRAPHICS ~ PREPRESS DEPARTMENT Phone: (513) 737-1413 Fax: (513)-737-7483 E-mail: bberne@hamiltongp.com or ddodson@hamiltongp.com Our Prepress Department considers customers who create their own designs part of our production team, working together to produce quality products. We can offer prepress solutions as you start your project to help it easily merge with our imaging technology, saving you both time and money. Below are some helpful guidelines. Please feel free to call us anytime with any other technical questions you may have at (513) 737-1413. Programs We Support We accept files created in these major design and layout programs. Please contact us if you do not see your program listed below. Adobe InDesign CS3 Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.1.2 Adobe Illustrator CS3 Adobe Pagemaker 7.0 Adobe Photoshop CS3 Quark Xpress 7.1 Microsoft Word Macromedia Freehand MX Microsoft Publisher Guidelines for Submitting Electronic Files SUPPLY FOR OUTPUT All fonts used in your work. Make sure to send both the screen and printer fonts, and be sure to include any fonts used in your Illustrator or Freehand files. Or, you can convert all text to curves within these programs. Keep in mind that we cannot edit text once this is done. Always keep your original files intact (not converted to curves) in case you need to make any future edits. All graphic files placed, linked or embedded in your document. Full-color PDF or laser composite printout at 100%. Provide a folded dummy if the project folds in a special or unusual way. COLLECTING YOUR JOB FILES FOR OUTPUT Most programs, InDesign, Quark, and Pagemaker have built-in Collect For Output functions that automatically gather all of the fonts, graphics and page layout files that we need to output your job. If you need assistance or have questions concerning collecting for output, please feel free to contact us. DOCUMENT GUIDELINES Document pages should be the trim size of the finished printed piece. If there are multiple pages for saddle-stitch binding, the pages should be in reader spreads, or individual document pages. Make sure to include 1/8 bleed in all documents. Do not apply style attributes such as Bold, Italic, Outline, or Shadow, etc. to text. Instead, use the specific font i.e., Helvetica Bold, or create the special effect you desire in a vector program such as Illustrator, convert the text to curves, then import it as a graphic. The pasteboard area of your document should be empty. Tiff files placed in QuarkXpress should have the picture box background set to white instead of none.
Make sure colors are properly defined as CMYK or spot color in both page layout and graphics programs used. Delete all unused colors from the color list that are not in your document Use the CMYK color platform and PANTONE Matching System - Spot Color for all specific color matches when designing your entire job. If your job prints in black ink only, use 100% black (not Registration or RGB color). Images should be in grayscale or bitmap mode. Should your design call for a rich black area (i.e., a large black solid area with reverse type), please use the following formula as Rich Black: Cyan 60%, Magenta 50%, Yellow 40%, Black 100%. DIGITAL RASTER AND SCANNED IMAGES Make sure image resolution is minimum 350 DPI at final output size when using photos, rasterbased text and special effects such as drop shadows, etc. Over resolution is not necessary and will not add to the image quality when your job is output. Save all raster images (photos) in.tif or.eps format to assure high output quality. Avoid nonstandard file formats (i.e.: Windows Metafile, Macintosh PICT, etc.) Convert all raster/ pixel based images to grayscale, duotone, or CMYK. Unexpected results may occur with any other colorspace (i.e., RGB, HSL, or Index Color). Avoid LZW compression in TIFF images, and JPEG compression of EPS files. Photoshop images that need to be saved as an EPS format (such as Duotones or files using clipping paths), should be saved with binary data encoding. All transfer and halftone functions should be turned off. Complex clipping paths created in Photoshop from a selection shouldn t be set with a tolerance lower than 2.0 pixels at 100% Continuous tone Images should be scanned at the proper resolution for printing which is 2X the line screen that your printer uses. Hamilton Graphics prints at 175 lines per inch. Below is a formula for properly calculating (DPI) raster image resolution: 2 X the screen ruling X the percentage of enlargement or reduction = DPI Example: 2 X 175 LPI (lines per inch) X 100% = 350 DPI (dots per inch) Line art should be scanned at 600 DPI Images taken from web pages are extremely low resolution and do not print well. Vector vs. Raster Vector Art is resolution independent and provides the best enlargement results. Vector images are sharp, crisp, and clean. Images can be scaled to any size without a loss of quality, For instance, a logo created in Adobe Illustrator may only be 4 in length, but when it is enlarged 500%, the quality remains the same, as vector art is made up of lines and curves instead of pixels. InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop all have vector art capabilities. Raster Images are made up of pixels, i.e., a photo taken from your digital camera is a raster image. When you scan a photograph, it becomes a raster image. In designing your piece, raster images should only be used for photos (continuous tone images). Raster image results can be poor if they are not the proper DPI (Dots Per Inch - a measure of spatial printing or video resolution (the number of individual dots or pixels within the span of one linear inch). All raster images you provide for output need to be no less than 350 DPI at 100% of the size they will appear in your document. If enlarged, resolution is diminished and quality is compromised.
ADJUSTING TOTAL INK AND COLOR IN RASTER IMAGES Start with a calibrated monitor before color adjusting and toning images. Make sure your image is in the CMYK color space. Check the Total Ink - Total Ink (combined levels of CMYK) should not exceed 286 in the shadow area (darkest area) of your image. If you are getting a reading of 300, then adjust your shadows accordingly so that the reading is around 286. Make sure there is a reading when checking the highlight area of your image (the lightest area). You always want to have at least 1% to 2% total ink present in these areas. TRAPPING Do not trap your files. Our imaging software will create the necessary traps set to our press requirements. EDITING There may be additional charges for fixing files not properly created, customer requested changes, and toning and color adjusting your images. Creating High Resolution PDF Files High resolution PDF files can be created, according to Hamilton Graphics Printing specifications once all of the above guidelines have been followed. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to generate high-resolution PDF files from the following applications: INDESIGN 1. File > Export > Save. Choose Format at bottom of window. Another window opens. In the new window, left hand column, select each of the following items: 2. General - Select your page options accordingly. Generally Pages All is checked. The rest of the boxes remain unchecked. 3. Compression - Color Images, Grayscale Images, and Monochrome Images should all be set to Do Not Downsample and Compression - None. 4. Marks & Bleeds - Crop Marks and Bleed Marks should be checked on. Use Document Bleed Settings should be unchecked. Bleed Amount should be set to.125 in all four areas, top, bottom, left and right. Include Slug Area remains unchecked. 5. Output - Color Conversion: Convert to Destination. Destination: CMYK U.S. SWOP Coated ; Profile Inclusion Policy: Don t include profiles. 6. Advanced - Subset fonts when percentage of character used is less than: 100%. No other items need to be checked in this window. 7. Security - Nothing should be checked in this window. 8. Summary - You can view a summary of the settings you have just made here. At this point you can save these settings by selecting Save Presets in the lower left hand corner of the last window. You might want to name these settings High Resolution PDF. That way, the next time you open InDesign or create a new document, all you do is select High Resolution PDF as your Adobe PDF Preset, and all of these settings are made automatically.
QUARK 1. File > Export > Layout as PDF - Then click on Options at the bottom of the next window. A new window will appear. In the new window, left hand column, select each of the following items: 2. Pages - Choose your page options according to your job. 3. Meta Data - We do not require that you fill out these fields. 4. Hyperlinks - We do not require that you check any of these fields. 5. Compression - Color Images, Grayscale Images, and Monochrome Images should all be set to Compression - None and Resolution Keep. 6. Color - Color Options should be set to Composite and As Is. 7. Fonts - Select All should be checked. 8. Marks - Registration Mark Options should be: Centered, Width-.003, Length-.003, Offset-.003. 9. Bleed - Bleed Type - Symetric; Amount -.125 ; Clip at Bleed Edge should be checked. 10. Layers - Select All should be checked. 11. Transparency - Transparency Flattening Resolution should be 300. Ignore Transparency Flattening should be unchecked. 12. OPI Options - OPI Active is checked; TIFF Options - Include Images is checked; EPS Options - Include Images is checked. 13. JDF Options - Output JDF is unchecked. 14. Summary - You can view a summary of the settings you have just made here. At this point you can save these settings by selecting Capture Settings. You might want to name these settings High Resolution PDF. That way, the next time you open Quark or create a new document, all you do is select High Resolution PDF as your PDF Style, and all of these settings are made automatically. MICROSOFT PUBLISHER You may generate a high resolution PDF or Postscript file from Microsoft Publisher or provide the original Microsoft Publisher document, any linked or embedded images and fonts it contains. If we encounter problems with your PDF, postscript file or native files, we will contact you. Sending Your Files Files can be accepted on the following media: DVD, CD, USB Portable Flash Drive, Zip and 3 1/2 Floppy. We also accept digital camera memory cards. Smaller Files (under 9 meg) can be e-mailed to our Pre-Press Department at bberne@hamiltongp.com You may upload files to our FTP Site via our website at www.hamiltongraphicsprinting.com. Click on the FTP Upload button and you will be directed to our FTP site. Please Stuff or Zip your files first, then contact us once you have uploaded your files. You may call (513) 737-1413 or email us at bberne@hamiltongp.com. Please make sure you have a duplicate copy of files provided. Hamilton Graphics Printing is not responsible for lost data. Proofing To assure that the finished product will be just what you expect, we provide a proof prior to printing for your approval. We can deliver a hard copy color or black and white proof for you to sign off on, or we can e-mail a PDF proof. If you choose to edit your proof, there may be additional charges.
OUR PROOFING EQUIPMENT EPSON STYLUS Pro 7600 - Full color proofs utilizing Best Color Software for color management. 24 Wide x Unlimited Length. HEWLETT-PACKARD LASERJET 5000N - Black and white laser proofs. Up to a 12 X18 sheet. Archiving All work is permanently archived for easy retrieval. We look forward to working with you! Please feel free to contact our Prepress Department at (513) 737-1413 if you have any questions. You can also email us at bberne@hamiltongp.com or ddodson@hamiltongp.com.