Printing, Photoshop and Illustrator

A customer service representative (CSR) for short gives you an insight to your special print jobs.

                When producing print jobs; communication is key to a successful job.  In other words, talk to your printer, which is probably a sales person. Talk about potential problems that can occur during your printing job.

                When planning for print; there has to be a certain important specification such as external document size and adequate bleed.  As well as internal panel sizes, artwork interactions with folds, perforations or die cutting. Correct number of pages and correct inks are essential.

                Also, check any raster or vector for resolution; usually 300 ppi, color space and filename. Vector artwork is somewhat similar; make sure you have correct colors, images, fonts, texts, and bleeds.

                There are proofs for identifying an image and page proofs that allow the work flow of your print service provider, signing off on proofs mean that you’re satisfied with the work.

                When rotating in Photoshop, you can be more successful than in page-layout software such as InDesign. Usually performing a single rotation is recommended for the least amount of erosion on your images.

                Usually resolution for a document of any size should be high when printing, 300 ppi is appropriate for any size. For clean, clear, and crisp details in an image or vector artwork.

                Color space in Photoshop includes vanishing pint, texturizer and artistic filters; they are not available when converting to CMYK. RGB has more flexibility.

                Layered files in native Photoshop are favored by InDesign and Illustrator. However, if a Photoshop file grows too large (hundreds of megabytes), it would be wise to flatten the Photoshop document.

                Transparency refers to a special effect in Photoshop such as the opacity of a document or image.

Creating a path is easier said than done when in Photoshop. Because Photoshop doesn’t offer a preview of paths.

                A duotone is composed of two colors that are usually black and a spot color. Any white that is present in an image is the paper itself.

                Art boards are imaginary pieces of drawing paper that can be extended beyond the scope of the white paper. When creating a new Illustrator document, an art board is automatically created.

                When creating an Illustrator document, you are given the option to create a bleed and specify the bleed.  Bleeds can be asymmetrical and have up to one inch in depth.

                There are benefits to simplifying artwork when RIPs are concerned to make processing and efficiency more accurate. Just choose object>path>clean-up to erase stray points and empty text paths.

                In Illustrator, effects are divided into two sections; Illustrator effects and Photoshop effects. Illustrator effects are applied to the interiors and edges of vector images. Clipping masks are also included for placed images.

                Transparency in Illustrator includes the opacity and blending. They create interesting visuals between objects. Be sure to use carefully, however, as it may create undesirable results.

                Linking and embedding images is a choice in Illustrator. Linking results in a smaller file while embedding makes it easier to keep track of all of the components of a file.

Check out Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications : chapters 8, 9, and 10