Malpractice trap

——Overview of common software flaws, output traps and output tips

7125 factory plate making company Chen Gang

"Quality is the life of an enterprise!" Prepress is the lifeblood of the quality of the printing factory! As an output in prepress, it is the prepress before printing. If you can not put a good output quality, the entire output center or printing plant has no place! Here I combine my own output work practices, talk about the shortcomings of common software, output traps and output skills, due to space limitations, can only select one or two software representatives, I hope everyone through my personal opinion, can do learn by analogy!

First, the common disadvantages of Pagemaker and its treatment

Chinese characters are difficult to align in Pagemaker: Within the same paragraph of text, there are "address: phone: zip code:" and other content requires the alignment of the first word and the colon. The same number of words with the same font size will actually be missing! Only adjust the kerning method. It can be dealt with for the time being, but once the content is rotated, the old fault is again committed. In contrast to this, both Wessex and Feiteng are doing much better (I usually use Ctrl+Shift+M or TAB to handle it, but it's not enough to split it into several blocks of text and align it manually).

Automatically generated page number, once imposed... Pagemaker's best feature is not production, but its powerful typesetting and imposition features. For example, use it to arrange more than 100 pages of books, illustrated, free to place text blocks, what you see is what you get ... really convenient, and can automatically generate page number: enter the main page (that is, the left end of the scroll bar is written with R And the two pages of L), type Ctrl+Shift+3 where you want to add a page number. Each page number is generated automatically! Don't be too happy. If you request imposition output (that is, you compose two or four pages into one page), how can the page number not move? Had to slowly add a page to the page manually ... ... My experience is: to make the best manual add page number, do not need to automatically add pages.

Unaligned pages, page top right, bottom right options, etc. If you place a picture, about one-third of the size of the layout requires the page to be placed in the middle. If Coreldraw, Ctrl+A, can be in Pagemaker, what should I do? Let's be honest with it: version of the heart size minus the size of the image, and then remove the 2, and then ... pull a reference line out, finally aligned. Less content is OK, but more pictures? (I generally draw a block of text, the length of which is equal to the level of the image, place the picture in a block of text, and then select the center. The problem is solved, but it always feels awkward, not so smoothly).

The reference line cannot manually give coordinate parameters. Sometimes it is necessary to draw a reference line at a certain coordinate point. It is very simple. When the mouse is pulled, the reference line comes out and it is put on the desired position. It will take a long time to align. However, in case of a mouse with a poor sensitivity, it is troublesome. I do not know how to solve! Have to wait for Adobe to rewrite the software!

Can not reduce the size of the page content, etc. or zoom in Coreldraw or Illustrator to do a thing, graphic and mixed arrangement, a page within the picture and text are more, the text is mostly an image description or annotation. The same can be done with Pagemaker, and because the file is small, the operation is faster than the above two software. In case you need to reduce the overall content of the layout to the original 90% size, group it in Coreldraw or illustrator, and then use the selection ratio, OK! Pageamker also selects the group, then selects the proportion... Wait, the image class is all OK, how the text does not shrink, but the text box is shrunk, and the text position is in a mess... (My experience is: had to zoom in RIP proportion)

Second, the common trap in the output

Because there are too many traps in the output, we have to be very careful and fall into the trap of the computer with little care. Here are the traps I often encounter in my work:

RGB graph not converted to CMYK

Consequences: Most software (such as FreeHand, PageMaker, etc.) will not separate RGB images. If you mistakenly use an RGB image, the resulting color separation film will either have a map on the black plate only, and the rest of the color plate image will be partially blank, or have equivalent grayscales on the four color plates. Solution: Don't forget to convert RGB to CMYK before outputting. Tip: It is difficult to see whether it is RGB or CMYK from the file name or file icon. It is too much trouble to open them one by one. For TIFF images, it can be seen clearly by linking the information. As for the EPS image, it can only be checked one by one.

FreeHand fonts use Heavy (heavier), PageMaker fonts use Bold (bold)

Consequences: If the Chinese fonts used in FreeHand use Heavy, most cases will be ambiguous; while in Chinese in PageMaker Bold, it will certainly be overlapping words with teeth. Again, other font effects in PageMaker will cause problems. Solution: Try to avoid using the above effect. If the font needs to be bold, the corresponding bold Chinese characters should be used, such as selecting the bold typeface or bold typeface. If there is no corresponding bold text, you can use Fill and Stroke in FreeHand.

FreeHand using Fill and Stroke

Consequences: Use Fill and Stroke to make fonts bolder, or to make words with different colors. However, improper use can result in stencils, or the edges are too thick, and the colors of the characters themselves are crushed. Solution: 3% principle (original font size multiplied by 3%). If the font itself is bold, the proportion should be smaller.

Misuse of JPEG compression format

Consequences: There is an image on the screen and the output is missing. Solution: In the PhotoShop software, save it back to TIFF or EPS format and go back to vagemaker to reconnect.

The big picture is reduced to a small circle

Consequences: The time that affects the output. Solution: In the typesetting software, it is convenient to zoom the graph, but the cost is multiple or several times the output time, so be sure to set the size and resolution in image processing software (such as Photoshop), and then reset the layout software.

Section head empty, table with spaces

Consequences: Qualified text or forms on the screen are missing. Solution: If you use PageMaker or QuarkXPress, the software itself has a very good indentation positioning function, you can make a very professional and very neat form. As for the paragraph head, it should be set in the row.

Borrow DCS format

Consequences: Different situations have different consequences. 1. The black-and-white print has a picture, but there is no picture on the output film; 2. A black-and-white drawing when printed in color; 3. Although color printing is a color image, it is rough. Solution: The reason for l is that only the main file is exported but no color separation file. The reason for this is that the main file contains only the grayscale image of the low resolution image. The reason is that the main file contains the low-resolution color image. . Tip: Do not use the DCS format unless you have a particularly good reason or have a good understanding of DCS.

Misuse of "Pattern" Fill in FreeHand

Consequences: FreeHand has a pattern fill that fills a regular pattern with a regular pattern. This type of pattern is latticed, and the Level 1 RIP image-setter provided earlier does not support such a padding output, and the Levell 11 imagesetter can output. But one thing to note is that you can't set colors outside the field for it. If you try to set a light color of C10%Y10%, although it is displayed on the screen, the output must be 100% dark green for CY! Solution: Unless not used.

Jumping words - There are two main reasons why jumping occurs in the output: one is the position of the word after the replacement of the font, and the other is the space between the word and the word. The only way for the former case is to re-adjust the position of the word after the font is changed, and there are two ways to solve the latter: first, divide the word into two parts and place it in its original position; The solution is to use the True Type font. After the position of the word and figure is determined, the word will be Outlined, but it should be noted that the space between the words must be English space, otherwise after the Outline, the empty position will appear. mouth".

Bottom black and white figure

Storing graphs in Grayscale as TIFF images in Photoshop and placing them into Freehand is problematic - if a grayscale graph is selected under a black overprint, then the white part of the Grayscale graph becomes a color patch or if it is underneath. The corresponding part of the basemap, the reason for this problem is that the Freescale is placed in Photoshop's Grayscale map default fill color is K100, in the choice of black overprint, the white part is considered to be CMYK are zero, which naturally reveals its color The version of the color, for this case, there are two ways to solve: First, in Photoshop, the Grayscle into CMYK, in the Channel dialog CMYK total Channel selec all, copied to the Channel Black, and then delete the C, M, Y three Channel in the image; Another approach is in Freehand, the Grayscale map fill to Y1, K100, so that when the choice of black overprint will not be a problem.

Output low accuracy map

Pagenaker puts in a graph and asks if you include this graph or not. In the case of a disassembled EPS image, it contains only the header. Its interpretation is very low, and its megabyte is less than PageMaker's threshold. PageMaker automatically includes this file header and no longer links the remaining DCSs. In the case of a color file, the output will become a low-accuracy map. Similarly, the diagrams contained in the PageMaker file are modified in other software, and PageMaker does not relink, and the old ones that have not been modified are still coming out.

Third, the output skills

The graphic produced in Illustrator can not be directly used for four-color output. When placed in the Freehand output, it often disappears after small or inverse graphics output. The Freehand format should be selected when Illustrator is saved and opened directly in Freehand. With Freehand, use less fonts for Inline, Outline, and Pattern to avoid complex images affecting the output quality.

When Freehand outputs EPS image to PageMaker file, do not Join Element, otherwise there will be problems when outputting, and the EPS line drawing placed by PageMaker cannot be automatically printed in black version, and it must be printed in black on other software. Only after the output.

Freehand makes gradient output ladder, if you want to get better output, set high resolution in the page settings before making, also recommend the use of Photoshop or Illustrator to create gradients, Illustrator can easily make a variety of Multiple gradients.

CorelDraw is the most typesetting software used by users on PCs. To get the best film or proof in the shortest possible time, please don't use RGB color to fill the block or line in the production process; the number of nodes of the text after controlling the curve is controlled within 1500 points; Minimal use of PSD format for graphics files; Pantone special colors available for spot colors; Pantone printing colors are not available.

Before printing, you must pay attention to the following issues:

According to the software produced, select the appropriate print output method.

The TIFF mode must be in CMYK mode with a precision of at least 300*300dPi/pixel/inch.