I seem to have read this email out of chronological order, but it does provide me with new info and new questions. We introduced OPI at the Irish Farmers Journal, as far as I can remember, because our layout programme otherwise loaded original graphics files into current memory. Before we got OPI online, we could have a coffee break between keystrokes. 3B2, our layout programme, was a real dog (though nothing like as bad as SII's MTX newspaper layout system). Things further improved when we went to PDF for final output. I can't actually remember how our Distiller job options were set, but I know I had to copy them from the NT server to the local version of Distiller on my Macintosh. I was the only person in the office who had to work cross-platform (everyone else was on a PC) because our TV pages were laid out in Quark. (Don't ask; it was just one of those things, as Cole Porter would say.)
However, I thought that Quark always loaded a preview while you were working on a file and replaced it with the original when you sent it for final output. How does OPI work with Quark exactly? And why would it be used with a Press Optimised PDF, which, I thought, was meant as your final product for the printers?
I hope you'll excuse my ignorance. I come from that odd breed of journalists who seem to be common in Ireland and Britain but not so common elsewhere. I am basically a sub-editor who has, by necessity, learned the basics of page design --- because there's no one else to do it! That's why there are big gaps in my knowledge of a field in which I've worked for about 25 years now. I have done everything in my time ---- edit raw copy, re-write it, write the headlines and standfirsts, write the captions, do a bit of scanning, a bit of Photoshop and finally put it all together in a page. That is part of how I accidentally drifted into DTP, which I still do only part-time.
These days I spend the rest of the time sitting in a major newspaper office, using SII's complicated mark-up language to tell an outrageously outdated computer and software system that I'd like a selected word to go into BOLD. And I can't see whether it actually worked until I ask the boys in the caseroom for a proof! (I kid you not. This is all made necessary by union demarcation lines.) This system (SII's MTX) comes from Sacramento. God, I hope the Sacramento Bee isn't saddled with it.
When I'm working from my home office, I find it a WYSIWYG liberation, but I also come across technical problems that I'm not really qualified to solve. So I don't really know about PDF/X or what its advantages may be.
Catherine Osborn
On Monday, Apr 5, 2004, at 11:50 Europe/Dublin, Jon Bessant wrote:
[ OPI and DISTILLER/OPI]
Jackie,
OPI in its true sense means 'Open Pre-press Interface'. Very common some years ago when computers and networks were very slow. You purchased an OPI application which would then 'swallow' high resolution images and 'spit-out' low resolution *copies*. The designer (or similar) would then place/import the low resolution image into their Quark/InDesign layout. This then enabled the file import and subsequent file manipulation on-screen and proofing to be very quick.
When the time then came to print - the OPI system would then 'silently' swap back the high-resolution image - since the file names were always the same. It all worked very transparently.
There were some niggles however - people experienced issues when you tried to colourise an OPI image - this would not reflect in the original high-res file ... and sometimes the high-res image would move slightly. I know OPI is more stable these days ... but that gives you some history.
Distiller actually gives you the option to have the same ..... You could produce a postscript file (which uses the OPI images) and then Distill - providing you turned the 'OPI Comments' ON within Distiller. When the PDF is then sent to a RIP - the OPI system knows to swap-in the high resolution images.
The downsides to this were that since the final OPI swapping could only take place on the RIP just prior to the print job - many people felt un-easy about proofing a PDF to a client if that *might not* be the final/ultimate PDF.
Also - CPUs and network speeds have increased substantially .... therefore you could say that the need for OPI is no longer required - though some people with huge files might disagree.
Regular PDFs created with the 'Preserve OPI' option selected in Distiller contain a particular file/path-name and objects called 'FormsX' and this can be problematic to RIPs.
As previously mentioned, the 'OPI' category was selected by default in the PRESS settings for Distiller 4 and 5 ... therefore confusion has arisen.
I trust this helps,
Jon
===============
On 5 Apr 2004, at 11:40, J Jackson wrote:
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And as far as OPI goes, Adobe isn't the only culprit. Quark 6 still has OPI
turned on as the default. And most users have no clue what it is so leave it
alone.
_____
This thread has been very interesting to me. I'm one of those who have no
clue, but I did read, somewhere, OPI can cause problems. We impose pdf's
into Quark to RIP, some just wouldn't go. When I had the designers uncheck
OPI, most worked.
Now my question, what is OPI and why would I need it?
I've wanted to ask for sometime, but lurked instead. I have no formal
training, just had to jump in & learn what I can. This list has been
invalueable!
Jackie
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