give them the PDF from ILLY. X1a is a compliancy model...cmyk only no spots fonts embedded.

I got a professional proof of the PDF from Illustrator and he said it was 200 DPI or something like that (even though my background image was 300 dpi and everything else was vector)... And to get a good PDF you have to export it from Indesign with 2 pages of instructions.

I'm pretty sure the magazine wants this TIFF/IT, and nothing else...

did you scale the background in illustrator? you can make a perfectly fine pdf from Illustrator

No, didn't scale it. In fact, I think it was 300 DPI... despite what he said. But I think the magazine wants that TIFF/IT... Do you know how to make one?

I read something online about it being a standard format for advertisements and magazine publication. I think that's why they're adament about getting it (TIFF/IT P1)

if you REALLY must have a tif you can export one from Illustrator, as opposed to save -as, but you will lose the crisp edges in your type.

That's the thing though... They won't take a TIF exported from illustrator. The TIFF/IT P1 is a different type of format. Not the regular Photoshop/Illustrator TIF...

From some website:
TIFF/IT is a standard for the exchange of digital adverts and complete pages. TIFF/IT files only contain bitmap data, no vector data. The files are not rasterized (although they could be) but they contain 256 graylevels per channel. TIFF/IT is the abbreviation of Tagged Image File Format/Image Technology.

As the name indicates, TIFF/IT is based on the well known TIFF standard. Because the TIFF/IT standard is very flexible, a subset of the standard was devised that is called TIFF/IT P1. P1 is limited to CMYK jobs. It does not support spot colours. When most people talk about TIFF/IT, they refer to the P1 version. A P2 version is worked on right now.

TIFF/IT has only been successfull in some market like the exchange of adds for newspapers or magazines and the exchange of pages for magazine printers.

A number of companies selling TIFF/IT related products have announced products in which TIFF/IT data are ecapsulated in PDF files. This merging of these two formats, with PDF offering wide industry support and TIFF/IT's proven track record of reliability, is one of the more interesting evolutions in prepress today.

From Somewhere else:
Note: TIFF/IT-P1 is not equivalent to a Photoshop® Tiff!
TIFF/IT-P1 is the preferred file format for the submission of digital ad materials to Healthcare Informatics. It is recommended by SWOP and is ANSI and ISO accredited. TIFF/IT-P1 has proven to be an extremely reliable and widely accepted file format. It is a raster based file which means that it has already been RIP'd (Raster Image Processed). In other words, all of the vector data (i.e. fonts, logos, gradient fills, etc.), commonly associated with PostScript™ and PDF™, have been resolved to bit map data. This results in a very stable, predictable file.

http://www.prepressure.com/formats/t...fileformat.htm is what I found on the format. If you're on a Mac, it looks as if this free plug in might help you (to save it from photoshop) http://www.dmacs.org/tiffit.html

Good luck.

If you're rich you can try this option. http://www.plugin.com/product/12868

My 2 cents is it sounds like a retardedly limited format.

I just got word that Illustrator CS2 can export as PDF x1a, whatever the hell that is. But I think they take that too, so hopefully it looks okay. Having a proof made now. I can't believe no one has heard of this TIFF/IT format, and yes, it is retarded...

hmm I have to question how WIDELY accepted this format is.... I've been in prepress for 11 years and nespapers for 5 and haven't come across a place requiring you to jump through hoops to create a format not supported by the industry's default software packages. Yes X1-a is a world wide compliancy standard for printing from a pdf. I think I said you can get this from Illy.

Amen. I think it's a very rare format...

Never heard of this format. Printer trying to get everyone on the same page I suppose.
That is in the perfect world. I can see it now---4,000,000 copy 64pg saddle 4/cp Mag. prints tonight at 1am comes to a screeching halt because the ad that just arrived late which is on pg13 is a Quark file. Sounds like BS to me.