Can you truly go to press with .ai files now?

[margarita]

I'm working on this big book project and one of the other people working on the project says that it is okay to go to press with .ai files, rather than generating .eps. This doesn't seem logical to me. There's no type in the artwork, so I don't understand why we wouldn't just be saving as .eps since they're all vector. Any ideas / input?

Thanks!
m

[Virgo Nightingale]

You're doing a whole book in Illustrator? :eek: I hope you just mean the cover!

As far as going to press with Illy files, find out what format the printer wants. That's what's important.

[margarita]

LOL, no we're doing the series of books in InDesign and the artwork in Illustrator with a few photos in Photoshop.

I don't have access to the printer. I know the first few versions of the book will just be printed out on an office printer from pdfs. I'm just leery of not just "doing it right, damn it" and not having some crisis at the eleventh hour. I hate those. And, of course, it's always folks like me who have to move our lives apart to salvage those jobs.

[urstwile]

Many printers are, in fact, going to press using .ai, but then again, many are not as well. Which is why checking with the printer for their preference is important. Safest bet is probably .eps if for some reason you can't get access to the printer to ask.

[margarita]

Thank you! It sounds to me it is still the best bet to go eps so that if we wind up with a final printer who does not, then we won't have to open every single one again.

Thanks!!!

[Samakimoto Graphics]

I am also currently working on a large book, and the Printer I work with recently requested that future artwork in Indy be in .ai. Previously I'd placed .eps artwork...

[margarita]

Did the printer indicate why, and did they say if eps would be okay? Does your artwork have text in it?

["Technical" Terry]

I find that in pre-press, placed .ai files typically have less problems than .eps in an InDy document. The opposite for Quark.

[doubting_thomas]

Some printers prefer to keep the transparency live, and I'm pretty sure that the
.eps file format will be flattened. This is good for some workflows, but bad for
others. I would prefer a PDF or .ai file over an .eps file, but it's not as though
it would be unusable to me. I would have to take a couple of extra steps in
order to trap the eps.

[budafist]

As a prepress person, I would like a pdf over an ai or eps file. No reason, it's just what I'm used to.

[billyPGA]

Saving it to eps from Ai somtimes it creats problem like 1 image is RGB and the other is in CMYK with transparency. Saving it as AI is saving to its native format. Some prepress RIP can not interpret Transparencies. Opening it in ai form woul give them the access to flatten the tranny.

[urstwile]

The correct answer to this question is to check with the printer. :)

[Alan G]

^^ That should be a mantra. We should have five sticky threads, all named "When in doubt, ask your printer."

[urstwile]

Indeed! :)

[doubting_thomas]

I wish our clients would check with me once in a while. If I had a dime for
every time I've heard "What did I do now?" when calling a client, I'd be out
of prepress and onto a nice warm beach.