Re: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses: Thanks!
Thanks for all the responses. I got some very useful information here. I do have a couple of quick follow-up questions. On Sat, Jul 24, 2004 at 03:21:39PM -0500, Bill McClain wrote: Different shops might have different requirements, but Bookmobile simply requires an exact image of the book, page size defined to be the paper size. Easy. You're referring to just the interior, right? I would think that covers have to have a bit of bleed, no? This has all been for digital printing and perfect-bound paperbacks. Pretty much what I'm doing for now. As a matter of fact, partly inspired by your example, I'm attempting something rather similar to your publishing biz--though not in direct competition, I hope and believe. On Sun, Jul 25, 2004 at 12:01:03PM +0200, Mats Broberg wrote: Being a newbie when it comes to ConTeXt, but having worked in the commercial printing busines for a decade, I would say that the majority of printers actually prefer PDF files rather than Quark, InDesign or Pagemaker files. At least that is the case in Europe, and it would suprise me if it is not the same situation in USA. Well, yes. Many printers here do prefer PDF. However, there's a small problem in some cases--I know this is true for Kinko's, and was wondering if it's true for regular printers, too: they think that PDF means Adobe PDF--i.e. they believe that Adobe software is *the* way to produce PDF, and are mostly unaware that there is such a thing as a PDF standard. Now, I don't fully understand the issue, but apparently Adobe software doesn't entirely follow the published specs, whereas TeX does. And some processing software seems to be designed specifically to work with the quirks of Acrobat output, and sometimes has trouble with PDFTeX output. - Also, I don't know whether it is possible to downsample images in PDF's that you generate from ConTeXt. If it is, avoid it. That raises an important question: if downsampling is done, is it obvious what ConTeXt commands cause it to happen? The printer expects CMYK images (not RGB!) where the resolution is approx. 2 times the screen count in the final print, @ the physical size on the paper. So if you have an image in your PDF that is 10 cms /4 in. wide, and you want it printed in a 150 lpi (lines per inch) screen, make sure the original resolution is 300 dpi @ 10 cms / 4 in. Now that's interesting. I imagined you would get the best results with images that were designed exactly at the printer resolution. -- Matt Gushee When a nation follows the Way, Englewood, Colorado, USAHorses bear manure through [EMAIL PROTECTED] its fields; http://www.havenrock.com/ When a nation ignores the Way, Horses bear soldiers through its streets. --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.) ___ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
Re: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses: Thanks!
On Tue, 27 Jul 2004 00:15:09 -0600 Matt Gushee [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Different shops might have different requirements, but Bookmobile simply requires an exact image of the book, page size defined to be the paper size. Easy. You're referring to just the interior, right? I would think that covers have to have a bit of bleed, no? For the front and back covers I've just used the interior paper size. Given a page count the printer specifies the spine width, and perhaps they allow a little exapansion there? For the cover I create a single PDF file with the panels joined as so: back|spine|front -Bill -- Sattre Press Pagan Papers http://sattre-press.com/by Kenneth Grahame [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sattre-press.com/pp.html ___ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
Re: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses: Thanks!
On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Brooks Moses wrote: At 11:15 PM 7/26/2004, you wrote: On Sat, Jul 24, 2004 at 03:21:39PM -0500, Bill McClain wrote: - Also, I don't know whether it is possible to downsample images in PDF's that you generate from ConTeXt. If it is, avoid it. That raises an important question: if downsampling is done, is it obvious what ConTeXt commands cause it to happen? There's, to my knowledge, no engine in pdfTeX for downsampling images; there certainly be one coded in ConTeXt. Thus, I'd be fairly confident in guessing that it is indeed, fairly obvious, on grounds that there are no commands which do that. As a general principle, it makes no sense for pdftex to provide image manipulation capabilities. Such capabilities are useful to a much wider audience than the users of pdftex, so there are lots of tools to do image resampling and format conversions. All that pdftex should do is support inclusion of pdf. The limited support for including png images is a convenience, but if you are being careful you would want to make pdf images. -- George N. White III [EMAIL PROTECTED] Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada ___ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
RE: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses: Thanks!
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt Gushee Well, yes. Many printers here do prefer PDF. However, there's a small problem in some cases--I know this is true for Kinko's, and was wondering if it's true for regular printers, too: they think that PDF means Adobe PDF--i.e. they believe that Adobe software is *the* way to produce PDF, and are mostly unaware that there is such a thing as a PDF standard. Now, I don't fully understand the issue, but apparently Adobe software doesn't entirely follow the published specs, whereas TeX does. And some processing software seems to be designed specifically to work with the quirks of Acrobat output, and sometimes has trouble with PDFTeX output. At one of the company I work for, we generate thousands of press-ready PDF manuals (250+ pp each) every year that are generated from XML source using XEP from RenderX - with no problems at all. So I don't think it is a requirement for printers that the PDF files are generated using Adobe tools. Now that's interesting. I imagined you would get the best results with images that were designed exactly at the printer resolution. True, for line art - but the exactness is unimportant. A common imagesetter resolution is 2540 lpi, so you may want to create your line art in that resolution. However, most printers prefer 1200 dpi (but not less) for line art, since images with a higher resolution become so large (memory-wise). Regarding halftones (color or grayscale), the commercial printing community rule-of-thumb is a resolution about 2 times the screen count. If your image is 10 cm wide on the scanner and you want it to be 10 cm wide on the paper, and you want the printer use a screen of 150 lpi, scan it at an optical resolution of 300 dpi. However, as I mentioned before, this holds true only if the physical image size and the final image size are the same. If the image is 5 cm wide on the scanner and you want it to be 10 cms wide on the paper, you need to scan it with a resolution of 600 dpi. Never increase the resolution of an already scanned image using software interpolation. Regarding using a higher resolution than 2-2.5 times the screen count, try to avoid it, since the photomechanical laws of process engraving doesn't give you a better final image anyway. However, pls note that I am talking about conventional lito offset here, and that I am talking about a conventional screen technology (amplitude-modulated screening). If you are using waterless lito offset, the screen count is usually quite a bit higher (300-500 lpi are not uncommon), which requires higher resolutions. Also, if you are using a different screening technology - e.g. frequency-modulated screening, or a hybride screening - your images may need to be of a higher resolution too. Talk to your printer. Best regards, Mats Broberg ___ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
RE: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses
Yes, I eventually found it in that manual - sorry for using bandwidth for RTFM issues... :) Best regards, Mats Broberg -Original Message- From: Adam Lindsay [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: den 25 juli 2004 13:59 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'mailing list for ConTeXt users' Subject: Re: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses Mats Broberg said this at Sun, 25 Jul 2004 12:01:03 +0200: - I don't quite understand how ConTeXt:ers deal with solid PMS spot colours Mats, have a look at: http://pragma- ade.com/general/manuals/msplit.pdf Disclaimer: I haven't used spot colours yet, but I know it's in a manual. :) -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Adam T. Lindsay [EMAIL PROTECTED] Computing Dept, Lancaster University +44(0)1524/594.537 Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK Fax:+44(0)1524/593.608 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ___ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
Re: [NTG-context] ConTeXt output commercial printing houses
Mats Broberg said this at Sun, 25 Jul 2004 12:01:03 +0200: - I don't quite understand how ConTeXt:ers deal with solid PMS spot colours Mats, have a look at: http://pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/msplit.pdf Disclaimer: I haven't used spot colours yet, but I know it's in a manual. :) -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Adam T. Lindsay [EMAIL PROTECTED] Computing Dept, Lancaster University +44(0)1524/594.537 Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK Fax:+44(0)1524/593.608 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ___ ntg-context mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
