why is postscript from Indy "cleaner"?

[frailer]

Had a 2 col spot job supplied for printing. Looked nice. CS2 Indy PDF, No apparent problems. When taken via our normal route; PREPS v5 (OS X 10.3.9), then through Harlequin RIP (upgraded 1 year ago), it flushed. Then the hi-qual PDF of the imposed PScript came up blank seps on roam; they usually work OK. More experienced operator's workaround was to import the imposed PDF into Indy, re-print PScript, and hey, 2 nice spots only. I recall seeing somewhere it's to do with the fonts in the file causing the problem. I know PREPS converts all incoming PDFs into PScript; that surely doesn't help. It's all a bit of a jigsaw, but importing PDFs into Indy CS2 seems to be developing into "fixit' routine. Anyone familiar with the behind-the-scenes 0n this?

[jimking]

Yes, this is one of the ways to trouble shoot or "work around" to get a supplied pdf to work. I've not worked with this particular workflow except for preps. But I've done the same thing many times with my flow. Why this works, I'm not sure except it may strip something from the pdf that allows it to work. I don't think it's do to with the fonts because once the pdf is made with a bad font and by placing it in InDesign isn't going to make the font better, but I could be wrong.

[rickself]

Preps is a good program. It could be a great program.
It still is not PS level 3, which for the scope of the program, rather ancient.
I used to think that PDF/X-1a was the way to go. Then we started catching some things dropping out or seps not working right.

Then I switched to PDF/X-3 and there hasn't been a problem since. Just make a minor adjustment to your pdf settings in distiller: turn all image compression OFF. Even RageMaker files go through Preps when they've been postscripted and distilled as PDF/X-3.

Also, if you are having trouble ripping a pdf thru Preps, take the pdf and save as postscript. Open "Settings" and make SURE that you uncheck the box labeled "Use Maximum Available JPEG2000 IMage Resolution". This seems to hang the rip, and then redistill as PDF/X-3. Seems to consistently work.

["Technical" Terry]

My workflow requires special registration marks for the various print houses. So supplied pdf's always get imported to InDesign CS2, marks get added, and then RIP to Harlequin PS Level2 for negatives. Occasionally, I have the same problem, file gets flushed (or even more rare, the fonts go all crazy).

Solution:
(1) Save current document
(2) Save as.... new document (something like !print.indd)
(3) Export the InDesign document to pdf (do not downsample / no compression).
(4) Delete all items in the current document
(5) Import the pdf you just created
(6) Let er RIP


Why this works, I have no idea. But when it is crunch time and files keep getting lost or negs are coming out bad, it sure can save your sanity.

[frailer]

Thanks a million for the replies, especially for the tips on the Distill settings
.Shall investigate this further and consolidate this little learning scenario.
Speaking of PDFs. Just got supplied what was meant to be a 60pp A5 booklet...but...PDFs supplied as double page spreads; but as they would be IMPOSED (impo pairs/saddle stitch)
together, not as-you-read DPSs!? Where do people get these ideas from. Upside is; not allowed to bounce the job so got lots of prac bringing cropped PDFs of the A5s into a new 60pp Indy doc, so the rest would be a seamless flow through PREPS etc. Not sure whether it was elation at the end, or the feeling you get when the head stops banging against the wall.

[frailer]

Think I resolved the source of the "imosed-for saddle-stitch" double page spreads from above post. probably a plug-in for Indy CS2, called InBooklet. This is bundled, and came from ALAP (A Lowly Apprentice Productions). It may be handy for someone in a shopfront QuickPrint style op, but a pain in the bum when you really needed single page PDFs. You could concoct an impo to accommodate the pairs as a landscape, I guess, but who needs the hassle?
By the way, hasn't ALAP been absorbed into the company that owns Quark, and you can now buy ImposerPro as an imposition plug-in for quark? Anyone know?

[urstwile]

This is just something I've notice about InDesign vs. Quark in terms of printing (to our color laser printer at work).

We have a logo that we designed for one of our clients. When printed from Quark, the logo, which to describe it roughly has a gradient type treatment on a black background, with an arc shape bordering the whole thing, prints as if there's a different type of black (more of a rich black) applied to the stroke than to the fill (which prints more as a single color black). When the very same logo is printed out of InDesign, the whole thing prints out as if everything that's black is the same black.

Another difference. When printing a Quark document with multiple master fonts, if the printer has been rebooted and the font downloader program has not been run, Quark prints the font in Courier. InDesign prints the fonts regardless of whether the downloader has been run or not.