|
Scans and graphics are another problem area if not done correctly. The photo in the Columbus Museum Fall Newsletter was printed with
150 lines per inch screens and was scanned at 300 dpi for this purpose. Tips and instructions on scanning can be found at our page on also. Digital printing does not require as much information as
offset printed items and can be scanned at a much lower resolution making for smaller files. Don't be mislead by your inkjet or digital printer and photo
glossy paper, printed material can seldom match the hues of inkjet or digital prints. Printing on a paper to simulate the photo glossy look requires a very expensive paper. All files will need some manipulation after we
receive them unless you are a professional and understand postscript printing thoroughly and call ahead to insure you are using the proper Printer drivers. In
some cases even with professional files some tweaking is required to get the desired results. Web art is the worst source of art for printing. Web art is usually only 72 dpi and
has been processed to reduce the colors down to 8 bit color so it will load fast on your screen, where most printed objects need to be 300 dpi and in 16 bit or 32 bit color to
reproduce the color properly. We can remove information from an object, but we cannot put something in that has been removed. If you use web art in your printed piece it will almost
certainly have jagged edges, and the results will be disappointing. Enlarging or stretching graphics in your piece without planning for it can result in less than desirable results also.
If your art is too small you must compensate for it when you scan it see our page on unless you are using vector art which can be stretched to nearly any size required. For
additional information on scanning and preparing graphics for printing see our Software page.
USING COLOR--Spot or Process, what is the difference?
We get a lot of documents designed to be 2 color that are actually 4 color documents. The reason typically is a lack of understanding of how software treats color. If your inkjet
has 4 refills, you may already know something about this. Basically there are 2 types of color we use in offset printing,. Only one form is utilized when using an inkjet or laser printer.
Process color
is a process that uses 4 colors, cyan (process blue), magenta (process red), yellow, and black to produce full color as seen above.
The other is Spot Color
which is, let us say, Red and Black as separate colors, and they cannot be mixed. Most programs that allow offset printing of documents have both "types"
of color available, but will default to process to use in office printers. If you want to print spot color you must change your color palette. Spot Color is controlled by the ink color
used on the press and Process Color always uses the 4 process colors a stated above and referred to as C,Y,M,K. If you bring us a document in process color and you want a
spot color document printed, there is sometimes a substantial charge for the time it takes to convert the colors, if they can be converted at all. All programs handle color differently
so look in your help files for how to set up color in your program. If your program does not allow for separations in the print dialog box chances are you are going to have a problem,
call before you bring us your file, maybe we can save you and your company a lot of time expense and disappointment.
For additional information about color click here Pantone Color.
|
