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General Information
Always
feel free to contact Whitmore Printing with questions regarding
your file submission. Call us at 717/399-3405 or e-mail
us.
Click Here To Download Our CD Printing Specification PDF
Supported
Applications and Versions
Here
are the programs we currently support, followed by the most current
version we are operating. It is strongly suggested that files be
sent to us created from one of these programs. We consider each
of them to be powerful graphics tools and industry-standards for
the printing business.
-
Adobe Illustrator CS3 or lower - MAC & PC
- Adobe
Photoshop CS3 or lower - MAC & PC
- Adobe
InDesign CS3 or lower - MAC & PC
- CorelDRAW!
X3 or lower PC & 8.0 or lower Mac
- Quark
XPress 7 or lower- MAC & PC
File
Formats Not Supported
Here
are programs or file types we cannot use. Many of these applications
do not offer the advanced features needed to properly process electronic
art files. Note: this is a partial listing and does not include
all unacceptable file types.
- Adobe
PDF Files (we do use these, but must be created with our Distiller
settings)
- Pagemaker: we will open all Pagemaker 6, 6.5 and 7 files in Adobe InDesign.
- AnaGraph
· ScanVec CASmate*
- Claris
Works · Gerber Scientific Products*
- Microsoft
PowerPoint · Microsoft Works
- Paintshop
Pro
- Print
Shop Deluxe
Microsoft
Publisher can be accepted for some projects, please call to determine
if your version is acceptable.
Microsoft
Word can be accepted for single color projects provided there are
no pictures or graphics. Under NO circumstances can Word be used
for spot color projects.
Postscript
Files
Due
to our need to edit documents, we cannot accept postscript files
(.ps/.prn) as valid electronic art; unless prepared using our guidelines.
Screen
and Printer Fonts
Fonts
are normally necessary to print text from a file. To print text
from a document, the computer needs both the printer (outline) font
and the screen (bitmapped) font. Without the screen font, the printer
font cannot be utilized and the font will default. Without the printer
font, the screen font can only provide a rough representation of
the text.
When
setting up your electronic art, please use PostScript fonts over
TrueType fonts. Since our workflow involves: trapping, imposing
and direct-to-plate technologies and the rips which handle these
functions are PostScript devices, the use of TrueType fonts may
cause unpredictable results.
We
are set-up to accept Macintosh and PC/IBM-compatible fonts for all
applications.
Placed
Images
Applications
that allow images to be placed often retain enough information to
allow a preview of the image. This preview will normally give you
an idea of how the image is supposed to print. However, it does
not contain the proper information to print the graphic at higher
resolutions. Files printed with missing graphics either omit the
graphic altogether or print a "rough" representation that normally
is unacceptable. Without the graphic, electronic art jobs cannot
normally be printed to our workflow.
Some
programs, such as Pagemaker and Freehand, allow the file to be embedded
within the document, including the placed image's information inside
the actual file. This may seem like the solution to sending separate
image files, but we would highly suggest including the graphic file
separately. When graphic files are embedded within files they become
uneditable. If changes have to be made after the graphic is embedded,
the graphic file will have to be modified and embedded again. With
a normal link, a placed graphic can be modified, changes saved and
updated, and the job will be ready for composition.
Bitmap
Images and Vector Graphics
Most
computer graphic files fall into one of two categories: bitmap images
and vector graphics. Bitmap images are composed of pixels, or bits,
in a grid, or map. When all of the different pixels are viewed as
a whole, the individual pieces give the illusion of an image. Bitmap
images are good at reproducing subtle shading found in continuous-tone
images, such as photographs. Vector graphics are made up of objects
such as circles and squares. These objects are composed of lines
and curves that are defined mathematically. Vector graphics are
excellent for artwork creation because of their versatility.
Spot
printing cannot accept many types of bitmap images. The individual
pixels that make up a bitmap image are mixtures of either CMYK or
RGB. This makes multi-color jobs using bitmap images impossible
to separate into spot colors. Bitmap images that we can accept are
crisp black and white images. We can also accept multi-color bitmap
images that are printing as a composite, or as just one ink color.
In either case, we must emphasize the need to save the bitmap image
at a high resolution. We print to plates at a resolution of 2400
dpi, but saving the file at 600 dpi would normally suffice. When
scanning images, light shades of gray often appear where the image
should be white. This is normally due to the image mode in which
the image is saved. If the scanned image is a photograph or contains
screens or tints, save the file as a gray scale bitmap image. Otherwise,
please save the file as a black and white bitmap image. The file
format we would suggest saving your bitmap image is Tagged Image
File Format, or a TIFF (.tif).
We
prefer Vector graphics files. Programs such as CorelDRAW!, Freehand,
and Illustrator create vector- based images that are easily manipulated
and editable. When an object needs to appear as a particular color,
vector-based programs define that object as that color. Colors used
in vector graphics are solid, without variation. This allows the
file to be easily separated into its different color plates. Since
vector graphics are mathematically based, resolution is never an
issue. Objects are defined with coordinates and calculated mathematically,
providing smooth curves when printing. We highly suggest that
you set up your artwork in vector-based graphic packages.
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