Technical Tips & Information
General | Colors | Fonts | Transparency | Support Files | Application Files
GENERAL
Please include a laser or inkjet printout of the project you would like us to print as well as printouts of the color separations. Include these with your digital files. Laser or inkjet proofs help us double-check that your files are accurate when opened on our systems. If your project is being folded, please include a folded sample.
When creating content it is always best to start with new files. Problems could arise when reusing an old document by deleting its contents and adding new information. Starting with a new document prevents any file corruption that might be carried over from the previous document. If you must repurpose an older legacy document into a new one, create a new document and perform a "thumbnail drag" of the old pages into the newly created document. This will now give you a new document identical to the original, without any potential problems from the previous one. Use stylesheets and master pages to ensure a consistent appearance throughout your project.
Make sure all lines have a designated point size. Please do not use the hairline setting. It may produce unexpected results. Instead use the numerical point size (example: .25 pt)
If your document bleeds (color extends to the edge of the page) we will need the image or color to extend at least 1/8 inch beyond the edge of the page. When the piece is printed, it will be trimmed to the correct size.
Delete all unused items that are outside of the page.
Always keep a backup of your file.
COLORS
Please make sure your full color documents are created using CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). CMYK is the color model used for commercial printing. These 4 colors create all the colors you see when looking at any printed piece. RGB (red, green, and blue) is the color model used on monitors. This color model works well for web media, multimedia and slide output, but cannot be printed unless it is changed to CMYK color space. It is best to work with CMYK when submitting files to be printed. When RGB files are converted to CMYK, the color shifts slightly because RGB has a wider range of colors than CMYK. RGB colors tend to look brighter on your screen than the CMYK printed version.
Please make sure all Pantone® colors (also called spot or PMS colors) have the same name. Pantone® 300 CV, Pantone® 300 CVC, and Pantone® 300 CVU might seem to be the same color but because they have different names, the computer will interpret them as 3 separate colors and the file will separate out into 3 separate negatives. Also check to make sure they are Pantone® colors and not the CMYK equivalents to Pantone® colors.
Check to see if your files can color separate. Color separation is when each color is output separately in order to make plates to run a job on a press. A business card with 2 colors would have 2 negatives, one for each color. The press operator would put 2 plates onto the press. The press would first print one color and then the second color. If your file cannot color separate, then it cannot be run on a commercial press. In the past, all Microsoft® software could not color separate. Publisher® 2000 is the first Microsoft® program to allow color separations. The main layout programs, QuarkXPress™, InDesign®, PageMaker®, Illustrator®, PhotoShop®, FreeHand® and CorelDRAW™ can all color separate. If you have any questions about the color separation capabilities of your software, please see our Business Links page and contact your software company. To link directly to the Business Links page, click here.
Do not rely on your monitor for accurate color display. As explained earlier, a monitor uses RGB to show color and a printed piece uses CMYK. Also, most monitors are not calibrated. Next time you are looking at TVs in an electronics store, look at the colors that vary from set to set. The same is true for computer monitors. At Sorrento Mesa Printing we have a very accurate color managed environment. The documents on our monitors, our Epson® printouts and our proofs created from the film output from our imagesetter, are all color calibrated to look the same. However, even with a sophisticated color calibration system, RGB and CMYK are two separate color models and will look a little different. Look at the CMYK color percentages for accurate color. Or use Pantone® spot colors for color that must be accurate such as a corporate logo. Currently the Windows® platform is less accurate for color calibration, and Microsoft® programs do not produce consistent accurate color. If you are using Microsoft® Publisher® on a Windows® operating system, keep in mind the colors will look different on your monitor than they will on the final printed piece.
If you are working with Adobe Illustrator®, set the document color mode to CMYK (File>Document Color Mode>CMYK Color). Be careful when applying blending modes to objects with spot colors. Don't use spot colors with the Difference, Exclusion, Saturation, and Luminosity blending modes. Doing so can add unwanted colors to a document.
The Overprint Preview display option (View>Overprint Preview) in Ilustrator®, InDesign® and Adobe Acrobat® displays the closest possible approximation of how overprinting will look in your color output. In Illustrator® 10, uncheck Ignore Overprinting in Composite Output in the Illustrator® 10 pane of the print dialog box. This ensures that the printed output will match as closely as possible the onscreen display with Overprint Preview enabled.
FONTS
Please include all fonts with your files. This includes the fonts used in your page layout program and all fonts used in your supporting files. There are now three types of fonts:OpenType®, PostScript® (also called Type 1™ fonts) and TrueType® fonts. PostScript® fonts have both a screen font and a printer font. When submitting printing projetcs to us, please send us both. OpenType® and TrueType® both have only one font that functions as a screen and printer font combined.
Also, send us all styles you use for each font. Times Bold and Times Italic are two different fonts. Be sure to include both. If you are using a Macintosh®, please designate each font with the font menu. Do not bold or italicize a font using the palette buttons. If you do, your font will not print correctly to film or plate.
Postscript Type 1™ fonts and TrueType® fonts are what we call "platform-specific" which means the fonts are different for the Macintosh® and Windows® operating Systems. You cannot use Macintosh® Type 1™ or TrueType® fonts on a Windows® machine nor can you use Windows® Type 1™ or TrueType® fonts on a Macintosh® except under OSX. OSX the new operating system from Apple® which is based on UNIX will now allow Macintosh® users to use Windows® TrueType® fonts. To use Postscript Type 1™ fonts under OSX they must still be Macintosh fonts.
OpenType® fonts however are the latest standard and are completely "cross platform". Which means the same set off fonts can now be used both in the Macintosh® OS (both OS 9.x and OSX) and the Windows® OS. OpenType® seems to be the new font standard for the future and Adobe has now made their entire Font Folio™ available in OpenType®.
TRANSPARENCY
If you are preparing your layout in Adobe InDesign®, set the Transparency Blend Space to Document CMYK (Edit>Transparency Blend Space>Document CMYK). Move nontransparent objects to the front. Objects that do not have transparency effects should be moved to the top, especially text and objects to which spot colors are applied. When non-transparent objects overlap transparent objetcs, the non- transparent objects should be on top.
Use good design judgement when applying transparency effects. For example, if you feather serif or small typefaces that contain fine stokes, the resulting text may not be legible.
Don't flatten transparency in your files unless you absolutely have to. If you must, please call us first so we may guide you through the process and give you the proper settings for your transparency flattening palette. It is best to try and maintain live (unflattened) transparency as far through your design process as possible and let us handle your transparency flattening settings for final output. Our RIPS are upgraded to handle native transparency through our workflow and we can determine at the time of output how best to handle transparency in your files. This gives us more flexibility and can guarantee optimal results.
SUPPORT FILES
Include all images with your document. Some programs allow you to embed images into your page layout program. DO NOT EMBED YOUR IMAGES. If you embed images, we cannot check them for color accuracy, trapping resolution and quality. We need the original images so we can ensure your files print correctly.
Check to see that the image resolution is 300 ppi (pixels per inch) at final size in your layout application when working with photographs and scans. Photographs and scanned images are raster images. Raster images are created with pixels. Each pixel has a level of color and together the pixels create an image. Images need to have enough pixels in order to print clearly. Low resolution images (images that do not have enough pixels) look jagged and muddy and will not yield desireable results.
Check to ensure that the image resolution is 300 ppi at the size it is in the page layout document. If you have a 300 ppi image and enlarge it 200% in the page layout program, it is no longer 300 ppi - it is 150 ppi. Graphics used on the web are 72 ppi. These are NOT suitable for printing. If you take images from your website into PhotoShop® and upsample them to 300 ppi this will just add noise and unwanted artifacts to your image. Your resolution will now be correct, but your image will be degraded and will yield subpar results when printed. Please use the original images scanned at higher resolution and not the ones that have been downsampled to72 ppi for your web content.
There are two kinds of support files, raster and vector. Vector graphics are created with mathematically defined curves and lines so they may be scaled to any size and remain crisp and sharp. Most clip-art drawings and company logos are vector images. Almost all files created with Illustrator®, FreeHand®, or CorelDRAW™ are vector graphics. Raster images are created with dots or pixels. Photographs and scanned images are raster images. Anything out of PhotoShop® is a raster image. Below are a list of the most common file formats:
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) This format is for raster images. All photographs and scans (or anything out of PhotoShop®) can be saved in this format.
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) This format is for raster or vector images. All vector images (anything out of Illustrator®, FreeHand®, or CorelDRAW™) should be saved as an EPS file unless working with InDesign and then we recommend you leave Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop files in their native .ai or .psd format. Any raster images that have a clipping path or duotone information should be saved as an EPS file.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) This format is primarily used for storing full color images or transmitting graphics via the Internet. The JPEG format compresses images in order to create a smaller file size. When an image is saved as a JPEG, then reopened, the image looks the same but is missing information that was thrown out in order to compress the image. This type of compression is called "lossy" compression. Please do not send us JPEG files because when we open them, they will not have all the image information. Instead, save your files as TIFF or EPS. If you are sending us your files by e-mail or ftp and want to compress your files, use a compression program such as StuffIt™ or WinZip™. These programs will store your files together into one smaller size file so that they can be transmitted faster. When we receive the "stuffed" or "zipped" file, we will be able to open it and have all of your original files in their original file sizes.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) This format is primarily used for web media and is used primarily for logos and graphics that are not photographs. Please do not give us these images for printing. This format is limited to 256 colors. Save them as TIFF or EPS images instead.
It is important to have high quality scans when using images. If you do not have a quality scanner, please let us scan your photos for you. A poor scan will look good on your monitor but will yield poor color separations that will look poor in print. A high quality scan will produce a high quality print.
APPLICATION FILES
Make sure you include all fonts, images and artwork. Some programs give you the option of embedding images into the page layout file. DO NOT EMBED IMAGES INTO THE DOCUMENT. The program will ask you when importing whether you want to embed the image. When asked, always choose not to embed. This can cause many problems. If you embed images, we cannot check them for color accuracy, size, resolution, trapping and quality of the image. If the image is saved in the wrong format or set up wrong, the image may not print out on the film. We need the original images so we can ensure your files print correctly. Also, embedding images causes the file sizes to be very large and difficult to work with, and may lead to file corruption. Below are some tips for specific page layout programs.
QuarkXPress™
QuarkXPress™is one of the two programs we recommend to use for page layout. Quark™ on the Macintosh® platform does not embed images so all images you see on the screen are placeholders and the actual images are linked. Quark™ on the Windows® platform gives you the option of embedding images but as explained in the above paragraph, do not embed your images.
The "Collect for Output" command located under the File menu collects images but does not collect fonts in version 4, but will collect fonts in version 5 and 6. Please be sure to collect the fonts before giving us your files. To find out what fonts are being used in your Quark™ document, look under the "Usage" command in the Utilities menu. This will give you a list of all the fonts and images used and show you where they are located in the document.
Adobe® InDesign®
InDesign® is the Adobe® program we recommend for page layout. InDesign™ is the next generation page layout program from Adobe®, and is the intended replacement for PageMaker®.
InDesign® does not embed images when importing. It is possible to embed images by using the Link option, however please do not embed images as explained above.
Please use the "Package" command located under the File menu. This command collects all images and fonts used in your document, including fonts used in your image files, and saves them into a folder.
When working in InDesign®, we recommend that you save your Illustrator® support files in their native .ai format, and your Photoshop® files in their native.psd format. This will give you maximum flexibility in your design process and add to the functionality built into InDesign®
When printing a color proof an InDesign® document with transparency, select Simulate Overprint in the output pane of the print dialog box (Simulate overprint should not be selected for final separations output.)
Adobe® PageMaker®
PageMaker® is another standard program for page layout. Adobe® has replaced this program with an even better page layout program, Adobe® InDesign™. PageMaker® 7.0 will probably be the last version of this program.
PageMaker® gives you the option of embedding your images when importing. Please do not embed your images.
Please use the "Save for Service Provider" command. It collects all of the fonts and images used in your file. It is located under the Utilities menu under the Plug-Ins option.
Corel®
Corel® includes CorelDRAW™, a vector drawing program that can be used as a page layout program, and Corel PHOTO-PAINT™, which can work with raster images.
Please print color separations on your desktop printer to check that your file is only using the colors intended. To print separations, choose Print from the file menu, then click on the Separations tab and check the box that says "Print Separations".
Corel® does not notify us of missing fonts. If a font is missing, another font on our system will be substituted in place of the missing font. This means we will not know if fonts are missing because it will appear to us that the substituted font was built into the file. Be sure to include all fonts as well as a printed copy of your file so that we can double-check for accuracy.
Please do not embed images when importing into Corel®.
Sorrento Mesa Printing is currently the only Corel® Platinum Service Provider in San Diego
Microsoft® (Publisher®, PowerPoint®, Word®)
Microsoft® Publisher® is now able to print color separations which means that Publisher® files can now be printed on a commercial press without having to first recreate the files in another program. Sorrento Mesa Printing is one of the first commercial print shops in San Diego to become a Microsoft® Publisher® Service Provider. We also have the capabilities of printing PowerPoint® and Word® documents through Adobe® Acrobat®.
Please do not use TIFF graphics. They can sometimes cause problems when outputting files to film. Instead, save your raster graphics as EPS files.
Microsoft® programs do not notify us of missing fonts. If a font is missing, another font on our system will be substituted in place of the missing font. This means we will not know if fonts are missing because it will appear to us that the substituted font was built into the file. Be sure to include all fonts as well as a printed copy of your file so that we can double-check for accuracy.
Please import images instead of "cutting & pasting" images from one document to another. If you "cut & paste" the image you see will be a screen shot and print out at 72 dpi which is too low of resolution.
All Microsoft® programs do not have an accurate color management system. The colors you see on your monitor or color desktop printout will be different than the printed version of that file. Please keep that in mind when building your files. Please call us if you have any questions regarding your Microsoft® files or contact Microsoft® directly for help.
When working in Publisher®, please print color separations on your desktop printer to check that your file is only using the colors intended.
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