bleeds

infinity · 03-20-2012, 12:30 PM

i've been told all through out school to put bleeds on my work. i've been told that for printing there has to be bleeds.

my question is, when there is a bleed, and the file is printed, then it always leaves a white border around the art that has to be removed. So if this happens and the art goes to the edge of the composition, then why put a bleed? cant there be time saved by just not putting a bleed and not having to trim in the end?

im not trying to be lazy, or take the easy way out, and I know this may be a noob question, I'm just rather confused with this.

**Drazan** · 03-20-2012, 12:36 PM

If you are printing on your home printer, then yes it will print a white border. This is the home printer's fault, not the way you set up your artwork.

Bleeds are for commercial printing and allows the artwork to go to the edge of the page. The printer will print things at the full size, then trim to spec. The trimmers are not exact. The bleed is there so that when the pages are trimmed there is no white edging.

jimking · 03-20-2012, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drazan

If you are printing on your home printer, then yes it will print a white border. This is the home printer's fault, not the way you set up your artwork.

Bleeds are for commercial printing and allows the artwork to go to the edge of the page. The printer will print things at the full size, then trim to spec. The trimmers are not exact. The bleed is there so that when the pages are trimmed there is no white edging.

Actually the trimmers are exact. Once that blade, that will cut through a single human hair if one was to drag it across the blade, comes crashing down, it's exact. Now, presses are not exact and neither is paper straight out of the box. That is why side and gripper guides are important to know when prepping art for the press. For the pressman to know when "work and turn----work and tumble---sheetwise" jobs. For bindery people to know where to begin cutting, folding etc.

palo1 · 03-22-2012, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimking

Actually the trimmers are exact. Once that blade, that will cut through a single human hair if one was to drag it across the blade, comes crashing down, it's exact. Now, presses are not exact and neither is paper straight out of the box. That is why side and gripper guides are important to know when prepping art for the press. For the pressman to know when "work and turn----work and tumble---sheetwise" jobs. For bindery people to know where to begin cutting, folding etc.

Actually, I'm going to have to disagree. If trimmers were exact, they wouldn't bother putting in adjustment hinges. It's sort of like buying a camera and taking bad images because the prism/sensor is misaligned. It is very rare that a blade is misaligned, but it does happen. That being said, they are almost always ready to go, and once realigned they very rarely need to be recalibrated.

Human error, however...

Kinkos varies from store to store in terms of quality. Though not related to their printing capability, I recently had to send a fax through them. Their fax machine was so messed up on printing that I could hardly read the delivery receipt. Considering that they were neglecting something as simple to fix as that, I'd probably only take my work there as a last resort.

Infinity: If you have a UPS Store where you are, they tend to be a lot less expensive than Kinkos when printing on larger stock (they quote it more in terms of print quantity/color rather than paper size, then colors, then cover. That being said, a letter-sized print costs almost as much as a ledger-sized print.

I've also had less quality issues with UPS than with Kinkos or Staples (yes, I know, not the best places, but when you move to a new city, it's easier to find one of these places rather than a decent, relatively inexpensive local printer for small proofs that you need within an hour).

infinity · 03-20-2012, 12:43 PM

well i ask because I printed a project yesterday at fedex (yes I know i know, thats my first fault) and when it was printed it had the white border. so then is that just a screw up on their part?

PrintDriver · 03-20-2012, 02:05 PM

Depends. Sometimes you need to explain to them that they have to print to oversized stock and trim. If you told them to print on standard stock, they will blame you for their printer having borders...

infinity · 03-20-2012, 02:11 PM

thats what happened. They told me that it was going to have a white border because thats where it all ended. I told them I had it completely print ready, they gave me a blank look. so i had to revert to talking like I was talking to two year old's. hour and a half later they FINALLY got it. Ill never again go to fedex unless i ABSOLUTELY have to. I found a professional printer right up the street from where I live, im going to try and go to them from now on, depending on their pricing. if its not too outrageous for things, i won't mind paying a couple of extra bucks for high grade results. plus my theory is, if im turning stuff in that is of higher quality its going to look better to the teachers too.

VDM · 03-20-2012, 02:20 PM

I'm pretty sure they know their own machines there. It sounds like you don't know how to explain what you want. All copiers have that white border too. You have to print on paper larger than the finished piece and cut it down. The bleed is there because cutters aren't 100% accurate.

Cosmo · 03-20-2012, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VDM

I'm pretty sure they know their own machines there. It sounds like you don't know how to explain what you want. All copiers have that white border too. You have to print on paper larger than the finished piece and cut it down. The bleed is there because cutters aren't 100% accurate.

You've apparently never been to a FedEx. There is a reason the people there get paid minimum wage. If they can't just stick something in the machine and press "print" they have no idea how to handle anything. I guarantee they have no idea what a bleed is.

VDM · 03-20-2012, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cosmo

You've apparently never been to a FedEx. There is a reason the people there get paid minimum wage. If they can't just stick something in the machine and press "print" they have no idea how to handle anything. I guarantee they have no idea what a bleed is.

I started out at one a long time ago. The pay was better than most other entry level jobs, and we certainly had no problem dealing with issues like this. I guess your results may vary by store.