File Preparation: General Design Considerations

General Design Considerations for the Production Artist

Above all, always remember that the underlying technology we are relying on to process your electronic pages is PostScript. PostScript code is created when we build graphics in an illustration application, when digital color subjects are separated or when electronic pages are composed. All of these pieces must be processed through a PostScript Raster Image Processor (RIP) and be rendered on our imagesetter. Our industry depends totally on the reliability of PostScript to produce our digital pages. Even with today’s newer, more powerful processors and RIPs, errors and excessive processing times occur - sometimes with excess charges. Click here to learn more about PostScript.

Here we identify how to avoid the more common errors. Keeping them in mind while creating digital art files will aid greatly in smoothing out the production of your jobs.

About Trapping
Our digital prepress workflow includes powerful and efficient trapping software that works reliably in 99% of imaging situations. For the remaining 1% our prepress techs have seen it all and done it all and know their trapping. It's good for production artists to to understand the principals and limitations of trapping colors that butt together and how to create accurate traps. Consult you software manual or Help menu in your graphics software application for in-depth information about trapping. However, we generally recommend that you leave the trapping to our specialized software and team of digital prepress experts. In the event that you do create your own traps, make sure to indicate it on your printed proofs.

Simple Construction is Always Best
Simplify your project in a way that will produce a minimum amount of processing. For example, only two to four points are required on the circumference to draw a circle in an illustration program. Numerous nodes or points unnecessarily complicate processing. Closely evaluate shapes, delete unnecessary nodes and adjust control points to compensate for the deletion.

Auto Tracing
Auto tracing features ask a program to make decisions about placing nodes or points. These automatic choices are often not the most efficient choices and produce too many nodes which can slow or stop file processing. Evaluate these images very closely and simplify them where possible.

Controlling Flatness
The RIP converts curves to tiny straight lines during processing. Raising the flatness setting results in fewer line segments and more efficient processing. Too high a setting produces a choppy looking curve. The proper setting can improve RIP speed and efficiency without visibly changing the image. Refer to your software manual or Help menu for specific instructions on adjusting flatness in your application.

Nesting
A shape built in one program and imported into another program is nested two layers deep. By importing the combined image into yet another document (perhaps a layout document), nesting becomes three layers deep. During processing, the RIP can struggle trying to follow the links to find each of these nested elements. Beyond two layers deep, the RIP may never find them. If the RIP cannot track down all elements, the graphic may have to be rebuilt without nesting (elements may have to be isolated and copied/pasted into a single document).

Scaling, Cropping, Rotating
The scaling, cropping and rotating of high-resolution raster images should be done in the native application (illustration or photo manipulation program) instead of in the page layout application. Performing these tasks in the layout program compromises image quality and increases processing time. Use the layout program tools only to fine-tune an image.

Electronic White-Out
Don’t cover up unwanted elements with a white box. They will still be processed by the RIP. Delete them from the file. Elements that are designed in drawing programs have masking options available to trim excess image. Effective use of these masking functions can eliminate the need for overlaid white shapes. Consult the software manual or Help menu of your favorite drawing program for more application-specific information.

Linked Images
Page layout applications treat imported or placed graphic files as electronic "pick-ups" and refer back (by following the link) to the graphic file at output. After placing an image in a drawing program or page layout document, it’s important not to rename the image file. File names are a critical reference link between the document and the graphic. Graphics placed in a layout must travel with the project for output. Designers should always take care to make sure all links are updated properly before sending files to the printer. If the designer modifies an imported EPS or scan, they should always update it in the layout document to make sure that the changes haven’t caused an unwanted shift in position.

Always Provide Printed Proofs
Always print laser proofs - not only to check your design and supply a proof to the printer, but to see that the file is printable. If the file crashes on a laser printer it will probably crash on an imagesetter - higher resolution output requires more complex processing. Unfortunately, the reverse isn’t always true. Just because a document will print out okay on a laser printer is no guarantee that it will print flawlessly on an imagesetter. Another great way to check the PostScript compatibility of your file is to generate a high-resolution "Press-Ready" PDF file.

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