Hints and Tips

Consult with National Capital Printing First

Please don't hesitate to contact the pre-press department at NCP before starting production. We can help with some of the decisions which need to made early in the design stages, which can save headaches and wasted plates at output time. Check out resolutions, line screens, tint percentages etc. relative to the process and papers which will be used.

Match Document Page to Size to Finished Trim Size

Let the application create crop marks and regos. If bleeds are needed, they should be 5 mm outside the main page area. PDFs should be saved at bleed size - i.e. with bleeds visible on screen. Please don't impose the job within the layout program, we have imposition software which can handle it quicker and more accurately.

Don't Modify Images

Ideally, all images should be placed into the document at 100%. Scaling, flipping or rotation of images should be done within the painting or drawing application. Resolution for line work (bitmaps) should be 1200 dpi, and for greyscale or colour images 300 dpi. Do not use picture styles within applications to change contrast etc. These styles will be deleted during Postscript creation. QuarkXpress "fake duotones" (greyscale over colour background) will not work correctly. Create duotones in Photoshop.

Simplify EPS Graphics

Complicated Postscript paths can prevent graphic images from printing correctly. Paths should not have too many control points. Split complicated paths or use "Simplify Paths" command. Flatness setting should never be used, and should be set to default or left blank. Don't nest (place) EPS graphics within other EPS images.

Vignettes, Gradients and Blends

Postscript blends and vignettes are only acceptable when kept small (100 mm long max.). Larger vignettes are better created in Photoshop with Add Noise used to eliminate banding. If gradients are created in Illustrator, select "Compatible Gradient Printing" in Document Setup before saving to overcome an Illustrator bug when creating Postscript files.

Fonts

Please supply all Screen and Printer fonts (Font Suitcase and Postscript Font). Avoid using Truetype fonts. They often conflict with other fonts and give unpredictable results when output at imagesetter resolutions (up to 4000 dpi). Don't use style com mands for Bold, Italic, Bold Italic etc. unless absolutely certain that there is a printer font for the variation. Even though it will appear correct on screen, it will not print correctly at the imagesetter unless a printer font is available. Outline and Outline Shadow type in Quark Xpress will not usually print as expected.

Trapping

Please don't apply any trapping to files to be output. The trapping in page layout programs is very unreliable, and may not match our press requirements. We will trap the files whenever necessary.

Colours

Please ensure that spot colour names in drawing programs match those used in page layout programs. Clearly mark spot or process colours and supply separated lasers to ensure colours are printed as required. DO NOT change Pantone CMYK values, if a different colour is required, create a new colour.

Problem Files

If you have had any problems printing your job PLEASE LET US KNOW. It can save us all a lot of wasted time and effort.

Andrew Brien
Martin Davies