Are Macintosh and Windows/PC formats interchangeable?
No, not really. The fonts from a PC do not translate over to the Mac. Depending on the application, we may be able to open the document and print it, but all fonts would have to be substituted with an equivalent Mac font. We can provide a list of available fonts for this purpose. Remember if the file is an EPS file or native application file, both the screen and printer fonts are necessary.
Can we edit the file?
If the file is in the raw or native file format (the original document, with all graphics and fonts included), yes we can make changes.
How can the files be transferred to you?
We accept Mac or PC floppy, ZIP, CD, or Internet transfers.
What file formats do you accept?
- These formats are printed with optimum turnaround time to get your publication to press. However, they will not print unless you embed all graphics and fonts:
• Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) How to Print a PDF (requires Acrobat Reader)
Note: Distilled Adobe PDF files are the preferred files
- These formats are original documents saved in the native application, and are printed smoothly as long as all graphics and fonts are included with the document. They are listed with the version numbers we can accept:
QuarkXPress 5.0+, 6.5
Adobe PageMaker 6.5, 7.0
Adobe InDesign 2.2, CS
Production Specifications
Keep all text and graphic boxes within the document boundary whenever possible to prevent possible PostScript errors during processing.
Delete extraneous elements from the pasteboard.
Use a line screen of 85 lpi. Use a resolution of 400 dpi for line art and 170 dpi for halftones. Scan images and crop them to final size. All images should be scanned at close to final reproduction size to avoid scaling problems which can compromise quality. Restrict scaling to no more than 25%.
Use the following screen angles: Black-45, Cyan-105, Magenta-165, Yellow-90.
Adjust your images to allow for a 25% dot gain on our presses. (Refer to your Photoshop manual for instructions).
If the final publication is CMYK, use CMYK for all color. If only using spot color, use only that color and the different shades (or screens) of that color (i.e. 20% purple or 80% green).
Choose bold and italic faces within font families instead of using the menu choices. Modifying screen fonts by using style menus or keyboard commands will alter the screen view but may not create printer fonts to reflect the alteration.
Use only EPS or TIFF images in your file.
Include a composite proof with any disks or cartridges for matching the color on the final paper pressrun to the color you desire.
Tips: Type and Other
We recommend using type sizes 8 points and larger.
Use real point sizes rather than scaling text.
Reverse type smaller than 12 points may not reproduce well.
Serif and non-bold fonts smaller than 10 points may disappear into reverse areas.
Multicolor type or text reversed out of a four-color images area should be 12 points or greater in size.
For optimum results, it is suggested that type not overprint a background screen (tint or ghosted images) greater than 25 percent. This allows for dot gain and provides the necessary contrast. Black type should always be in overprint mode. If in doubt, output a black-and-white proof to check legibility.
Downloaded graphics from the Internet may not reproduce well on the press.
When producing a document with Black and one spot color, print a proof of each plate to insure all the spot graphics are reproducing as desired.