[atlantaprog] Re: CD Booklet / Layout



> -----Original Message-----
> 
> Some places can handle InDesign true, but ALL (print/graphics) places 
> can handle Quark. Likewise, some places can handle PCs, but ALL 

> platform. Also, unless you can provide both Mac AND PC versions on 
> certain fonts, your typesetting will go to heck!

Very true, good points.


> 
> If your designer INSISTS on working with something besides Mac/Quark, 
> then make sure they can provide a PDF file of the proper specs to 
> your manufacturer. PDF's are fast becoming the preferred way to 
> receive files for output because they are truly cross-platform and if 
> created properly, are free of font issues as well.

Do pdfs have resolution like raster art, or are they independent like
vector art?  (not to get too off topic)  If they are like vector art
then it's great for text and certain file types, but photographs are
still going to have a fixed dpi value, so you still need to make sure
that any of those are 300 dpi, just like you would in a regular DTP app,
right?


> >- Some places would rather have a single .tif (TIFF) file than a 
> >layout. If that's what they want (this is what I have always given 
> >print companies cause I think that dealing with TIFFs is far easier 
> >than dealing with a Quark layout!)
> 
> I would NEVER print at a place that just wanted a tiff file... the 
> reason is a tiff file is a fixed resolution, typically 300 dpi. 
> Imagesetters (the machines that generate film for printing) and 
> direct-to-plate systems can print up to 2400 dpi or higher. 300 is 
> fine for photos - and even large text, but small text can become 
> grainy and illegible at resolutions smaller than 1200 dpi.

Whoa, wait a minute...  A tiff file is fixed at whatever you saved it
as.  Don't confuse people who have no clue what we are talking about and
are trying to learn.  It's not like tiffs are ALWAYS 300 dpi and can
never be anything else!

As I said in the last email, if it is just a picture, it should be 300
dpi (the photographs that you see in most magazines are 300 dpi),
however mixed should be 600 dpi.  There is a margin of diminishing
returns, and for 99.999% of CD cover applications, 600 dpi should be
just fine.

Our last CD had white background with black text, and we use 8 point
font for the liner notes and credits.  With this color combination and
size, sharpness is critical.  We created this as a 600 dpi tiff file.
There was no blurring of edges present at all.  The printing is magazine
perfect, and couldn't be more legible (at that size, at least).  For
text like that (or anything on a CD cover) anything more than 600 dpi is
overkill.  You reach a margin of diminishing returns.  Now, on something
like printing photographs on a plotter to create huge posters, well then
in that case you might want to go 1200 dpi or more, but fr "normal"
print purposes it's not really needed.  Certainly not for a 4 inch X 4
inch square!  :-)

You know that there is no such thing as a "vector" printer.  All
printers are raster printers, which means they take the information from
something like illustrator or Quark, or whatever and "rasterize it" when
they print it (if some readers have no clue about the difference between
raster and vector art, don't worry about it.  Just the designers need to
know as far as this discussion goes).  Now, guess what resolution (by
default - and good for most aplications of the program) illustrator
converts it's documents to raster art in the printer?  600 dpi.  Browse
around your Illustrator print dialog and you'll see...  

I have no clue about Quark cause I've only used it once.

The big advantage of a TIFF file is that I can completely control
without any doubt what the layout and outcome of the printing will be.
Every place that I have dealt with has taken numerous file formats, and
I could have provided files in any format, but I choose TIFF.  I don't
have to make sure that the same fonts are used, I don't have to worry
about weather it's true type or post script and which I should include
with the file, none of that.  I have total control, and I just have to
send them the TIFF.  Besides, every now and then I run into fonts that
say don't have number characters, so for my bands name, I have to use
the I and S and flip the S around to create the "21" characters.  :-)


> 
> These are the reasons you should always have a pro prepare your 
> files! There are just so many variables.

Absolutely.  However, with someone to guide you along, it is not
IMPERATIVE that you use a professional, but it will probably save you a
lot of frustration (I had lots of frustration on our first CD back in 95
or 96 when I was doing the cover for that CD and didn't know squat about
printing!).  If you want to learn for yourself, get someone to guide and
help you.  If you really don't want to know this and just want to get it
printed, get someone else who knows what they are doing to get it done
for you!

Whew!  OK, now off to another topic....


Alex F/Brain21

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