Print Layout

[aisling123]

Hi,

Can anybody help me find a non-manual way to layout a job for print like 4up 8up etc..?

Normally this was done by my printer but since I've changed I need to do this manually.

Which is the best application to do this in?
Some links or details would be great.

Thx
Aisling.

[urstwile]

What application are you starting off with?

[rickself]

Hi,

Can anybody help me find a non-manual way to layout a job for print like 4up 8up etc..?

Normally this was done by my printer but since I've changed I need to do this manually.

Which is the best application to do this in?
Some links or details would be great.

Thx
Aisling. For a simple 8 pg, take a piece of paper, fold in half and half again. With the folds to the left and to the top, number the front page 1 and on the back of 1, #2 and so forth. Now open up the paper and it will have your layout. Granted, this IS manual, but it works quicker than doing it on computer.

[aisling123]

Thanks for the quick response guys but what I want to know is how I can automate this process through a software application?

Thx
Aisling

[aisling123]

What application are you starting off with?

I use a few different ones (Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, QuarkXpress)

I'm looking for an automated way to do this through one of the above applications or another one you might know of.

Thx
Aisling

[urstwile]

I would just do a step and repeat.

[aisling123]

Yeah true but you have to manually set the crop marks in Illustrator for example.

Its ok for a small layout but for larger ones it can be time consuming.

[urstwile]

You can just use the "create cropmarks" under Filter>Create. Just draw a box the size you want your trim, and voila.

Other than that, I can't think of a button for you to push. Perhaps others will have some better advice.

[aisling123]

OK Thanks for the info I'll keep this in mind.

Anybody else got any suggestions?

[jimking]

You can spend thousands $ on imposition software or you can purchase simple plugins for Indy to impose. But really the cheapest way is to create print ready pdfs out of Quark or Indy with crops and bleed and impose in Indesign. The beauty of this is once you make your templates, lets say for a business card, it can be used over and over again. The other good thing about it is when you make the pdfs with crop marks it is those marks that are added to the template giving you somewhat of having automatic marks. Create your pdfs the same size everytime with crop (example--all business cards 3.5x2 with crops should be 4x2.5) will allow you to automatically update a common template, placing the new job into the template in its exact x and y every time with crops and bleed. The other good thing about imposing in Indesign is it has a hires preview.

[Jam]

indesign comes with inbooklet - file>inbooklet
you can then create an imposed pdf or indesign doc from thorginal artwork including crop marks bleed etc

[jimking]

indesign comes with inbooklet - file>inbooklet
you can then create an imposed pdf or indesign doc from thorginal artwork including crop marks bleed etc
Yes, but it's limited to fixed impose. Customization when imposing over time can lead to several hundred different impositions.

[julyski]

Try this. You must make a 1up pdf first, but it's a great program.

http://www.cutepdf.com/

[doubting_thomas]

I do it the same way jimking does unless it's more complicated, or
a large book. Then I have Quite Imposing to use. It's a bit spendy,
but is very powerful for the price IMO. I use it every day, but I also
use my pre-made templates every day, too. In fact, the templates I
use the most I make into Library files. Then I can drag and drop them
onto any layout and link in the necessary artwork. The key to all of this
is creating a pdf to impose in the first place.

[budafist]

We looked at purchasing imposing software, but it was cheaper to do it by hand. Yes, even though they have to pay our hourly rates to do it by hand.

In the time it would take my coworker to set up a 32 page A5 book with imposition software, I'd have done it manually with time to spare. My coworker isn't the quickest though so maybe that example wasn't such a good one.

[jimking]

We looked at purchasing imposing software, but it was cheaper to do it by hand. Yes, even though they have to pay our hourly rates to do it by hand.

In the time it would take my coworker to set up a 32 page A5 book with imposition software, I'd have done it manually with time to spare. My coworker isn't the quickest though so maybe that example wasn't such a good one.
Preps is pretty damn fast, pretty much auto pilot. What is very good about preps and some other costly impo programs is you can add creep into the job on the fly for book jobs. Very important.

[budafist]

Oh yeah. I hate working out creep. Hate. That's a strong word too. It hurts my head. Sometimes we gotta work from the inside out (if there is a map in the centre spread) and other times we got to to do the other way (if the cover cannot move).

[Gregory]

Budafist, I'm curious, do you work at a print shop? I can't figure out why a printer wouldn't have specialized imposition software (like Preps) or, on the other hand, why someone besides the printer would do the imposition.

During my time in the prepress galley, I preferred to receive 1-up documents and to handle all aspects of the imposition myself. But I know there are a other ways to approach it that are outside my personal experience.