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typesoup
07-12-2006, 04:45 AM
Watcha guys think of this info in here?
http://www.enterpe.com/cp/specs.php#formats
urstwile
07-12-2006, 04:47 AM
It's going to be different (slightly) from publication to publication, just so you know, typesoup.
typesoup
07-12-2006, 05:21 AM
Yep, I just thought the broader info looked pretty good.
urstwile
07-12-2006, 05:34 AM
Fewer and fewer publications (magazines) are taking native files, more are asking for PDFX-1A. That way the fonts are all embedded and there are no weird reflow problems that sometimes happen with native application files.
I say this from the perspective that I release ads at least two or three ads a week in the PDFX-1A format to different publications. It's stable and for the most part, is kind of a sealed package, and depending on the file size, e-mailable or ftp-able as well.
urstwile
07-12-2006, 05:40 AM
Here's the thing, typesoup: each printer/vendor/whatever is going to have different requirements for the files that you send them. The challenge for you is basically discovering what those are.
Some are super high-end, and can take your design on a wooden stick (as long as it's not in JPEG format :D ) and offset print it and it'll look great. Others can only take super low versions of Quark and have other limitations as well.
It's ALWAYS going to be best to contact each vendor to find out what they require for your specific project.
PrintDriver
07-12-2006, 11:16 AM
^ditto^
printmonger
07-12-2006, 01:04 PM
double ^ditto^
PDFX-1A is THE way to go.
When you find yourself assuming or in doubt about printing that project, always call the printer. That advice has saved the south-end of this north-bound dog many times.
L8'r
rickself
07-12-2006, 01:50 PM
Sign of the times - they still accept Iomega Zip disks!! Now where did I put that stack of 26 or so Zips? And if I find one, what slot will it fit into? Hmmmm. :D
jimking
07-12-2006, 01:53 PM
Sign of the times - they still accept Iomega Zip disks!! Now where did I put that stack of 26 or so Zips? And if I find one, what slot will it fit into? Hmmmm. :D
As long as it's not a jazz disk! Hated those damn things. :mad:
PrintDriver
07-12-2006, 01:56 PM
LOL! We just retired a whole box of battered Zip disks Rick.
We broke our last Jazz drive eons ago. Disk jam. Those things corrupted if you looked at em wrong.
jimking
07-12-2006, 02:00 PM
Anybody remember Brunelli disks? (could be pronouncing it wrong) I loved those, very stable disks and drives.
rickself
07-12-2006, 02:22 PM
Oh ya the Bernouli (sp?). About as ancient as the 5.25" Floppy!!
vtwin_gary
07-12-2006, 02:27 PM
look familar old timers
http://www.erinat.com/DSMuseum/1980s/1984Bernoulli/Bernoulli-Small.jpg
*edit* here's a smaller image & a link bernoulli (http://www.erinat.com/DSMuseum/1980s/1984Bernoulli/index.html)
typesoup
07-12-2006, 03:00 PM
Those Jazz discs were jazzy! We've gone from floppies to micro pocket drives in what, 15 years? Cwayzee.
OK, so the link was just for general, general info. I know each press house/publisher will be different and the one I'm going to start working with appreciated getting an email a week in advance asking whether they wanted indd or pdf (either), embedded or linked (either), font files or embedded (either), etc. etc. Even though this is my first start-to-finish at a real printing house (most clients can't afford it), I couldn't imagine sending them something without getting specific requirements from them first. I imagine it happens all the time, and the more I read, the more fascinated I'm becoming with the whole process. I've been on the art/creation end of things, but am realizing that the press end involved just as much artistry, plus alchemy, chemistry, finesse... probably a whole bunch more stuff too.
Pretty cool.
rickself
07-12-2006, 03:10 PM
We printing people are really a pretty good bunch. Sure, there's some crusty old pressmen runnin around, but hey, they don't know the first thing about forums!! So treat us prepress people with respect, ask questions, don't be afraid, and we will treat you the same. There's nothing we hate to hear more than "Well, the OTHER printer was able to do it the way I sent to 'em!" So one question... "Why are you coming to me? Did the OTHER printer refuse your work from then on?"
And, yes, there are some general prepress issues that cross the board.
urstwile
07-12-2006, 07:29 PM
As long as it's not a jazz disk! Hated those damn things. :mad:
I have quite a few jazz disks that I like very much. Coltrane, Monk, Miles Davis. :D
Sorry, couldn't resist. :rolleyes:
PrintDriver
07-12-2006, 10:50 PM
You like Coltrane?
Cool!
urstwile
07-12-2006, 11:02 PM
See? Jazz disks aren't that bad at all. :D
Augghhhhhh...don't remind me.....the zip disk drive clicking from hell. I had completely repressed that memory till now. I've got a small fortune in old zip and jaz drives and disks sitting in a box somewhere.
urstwile
07-13-2006, 05:50 AM
I was just playin' cj. The Jaz Drive and Zip drives...yikes, can't believe that's the way the agency I now work at used to back things up before I started working there and helped convince them that a solid network with a good backup system was the way to go. :eek:
Broacher
07-13-2006, 12:43 PM
Zip disks? Five and a quarters.
Kids.
Digital audio tape. At a screaming 300 baud. Now you're talking. Or, well... making funny noises anyhow.
Of course, there are those who walk (and trip) among us who no doubt qualify for Peabody Air Mile points as we remember camera-ready mechanicals, overlays, ruby....
Dating myself again.
And thinking maybe we should consider seeing others.
rickself
07-13-2006, 02:53 PM
Zip disks? Five and a quarters.
Kids.
Digital audio tape. At a screaming 300 baud. Now you're talking. Or, well... making funny noises anyhow.
Of course, there are those who walk (and trip) among us who no doubt qualify for Peabody Air Mile points as we remember camera-ready mechanicals, overlays, ruby....
Dating myself again.
And thinking maybe we should consider seeing others.
...wax on the fingers...those old hard shelled optical disks...and yes the cassette data tapes...pmt's...velox...good ole Ruby, don't take yer luv to town...aw yes.
Since this thread is devolving into a nightmare of vintage equipment I've got one more word for you...Rapidograph! Don't make me say it again.
rickself
07-13-2006, 03:07 PM
ohhh that sound when youo shake the pen...sounds just like a previously mentioned zip or jazz....tikka tikka tikka tikka
Broacher
07-13-2006, 03:19 PM
My room mate (with the wealthier parents) used to take out his rapidograph frustrations on a dartboard. Ironically, he went on to become one of the 'pioneers' in 3D animation.
But even tech pens had ancestry. Anyone still yearn for a Kern? They ruled.
Eggles1
07-13-2006, 03:54 PM
My first impression of the site linked to in the first post was that those guidelines must have been created about 5 years ago. Things have moved so much since then. PDF/X-1a is certainly the way to go for the format in which to send files to untested/unknown printers (such as sending ads to magazines), but it's also to good to read some of the guidelines that have stood the test of time.
tessabell8
07-16-2006, 09:23 PM
I don't even know what those are... I know zips... but the others... how long ago are these things? Jazz disks... maybe that's what my boss was talking about the other day when she was talking about the disks before zips... I had no idea.
urstwile
07-16-2006, 09:25 PM
Jaz disks (that was the actual name) were out after Zip disks, both Iomega. Before Iomega came out with Zips and then Jaz, there was Syquest and Bernoulli. Syquest disks were renowned for their unreliability. I never used Bernoulli, but they were supposed to be really reliable.
Syquest! Man, make me feel even older! I really had forgotten about those. I recall the low-tech "lever action" eject and the sheer weight of those cartridges...but thought it was the coolest thing to have a removable hard drive. Now they are stacked like cordwood in my storage room, and the last drive able to read them is stacked along with them.
urstwile
07-16-2006, 10:05 PM
cj, if you feel old, imagine how old I feel for having used them too. I go back even before that, to the deep-dish pizza shaped disks that we used to store our work on the front-end system we were using. They stored about a whopping 40 megabytes, if I remember correctly. :eek:
Okay urstwile, you've pushed me to it...how about the "cannister" memory from the old Varityper (sp?) typesetting machines? If I recall they were in a plastic cylindrical case with a handle on top? Might be wrong there...maybe that was the way we loaded fonts? Anyway, we thought our shop was the #$@% for having a whole room filled with typesetting machine and processer. And our model actually showed the SIZE of the font you were using, and whether it was serif or sans. You bet. Green text on a black screen.
Something tells me that you can top this.
urstwile
07-16-2006, 10:20 PM
Hmmm....my parents had a Varityper (yeah, I guess I'm a typesetting brat :D ), but I don't remember a canister thing. :confused:
It's amazing to me how far things have come. I could basically carry an entire six months work of work off those old pizza disks on something the size of a lighter now. Go figure!
I too am amazed at the progress, and really feel sorry for the early adopters such as my studio owner who invested HEAVILY in this machine, only to have it become a room-sized paperweight a few years later. The price of progress then was so high, when now our risk is several thousands of dollars, theirs was much more expensive, with the added potential to be saddled with a proprietary setup that would be outdated and unusable before it was paid for.