Quote:
Originally Posted by kovachjon
I am confused and concerned.
Right now my workflow is this:
We get files in - be it InDesign, Illustrator, whatever
We make sure the files are good - bleed, crop marks, size, yada yada
We print, using Adobe PDF printer, to a .PS file
We distill this PS file to a PDF
We drop this PDF in a hot folder on our Onyx RIP
And we print - to two HP 5500 printers.
This is our final output - we do not go to offset or plates or anything like that... our proofs and final prints are all done on the 5500
So you are saying that this workflow is ancient and nobody should be doing this anymore? In the past, we've had font problems, color problems, etc. etc.... can I export straight to PDF now, out of all software? Or just InDesign? If so, what are the settings I'd use? PDF X?
Thanks!
Jon
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If you are using Illustrator and InDesign then you can direct export to PDF from each of those applications. When you export you can choose which level of PDF compatibility that you want, v1.3 (Acrobat 4 and _NO_ transparency) or PDF v1.4 (Acrobat 5 with transparency). By going to PDF v1.3 you get the same net effect of printing to PostScript in that transparency doesn't exist in PostScript. Transparency also doesn't exist in PDF v1.3 so it has to be flattened to be compatible.
The font problems and color problems are separate issues. The font problems can be attributed to Onyx not processing the fonts as they are encoded properly. As for the color problems that's most likely because ICC profiles are attached to objects on the page or that a color transformation is being done that you don't want or that one is not being done that you do want. That's a bigger workflow issue.
If you do use the PDF/X-1a settings then everything will be converted to SWOP CMYK. You can change the output intent from SWOP to another ICC profile if you like. But exporting to a PDF/X-1a file will force a conversion to "a" CMYK color space.
