Prepressforums.com

Scott · #1 (**permalink**) 02-26-2004, 12:23 PM

Hey all,

Maybe I'm just a moron, but I got a customer sending me a pdf from a publisher file with 2 spot colors in it, and it's behaving badly. Her composite file reads as rgb. The only hope I have is using a separated file. Here's the thing... her seperated file takes eons to draw in acrobat. It locks it up frequently too. Also, preps wont read it properly either. It's only a two pager (4pages seperated) but I only get one page in Preps. Could this just be a corrupt file? I really no nothing about publisher and despise anyone who uses it. Is there a proper way to save files to pdf out of publisher? I've tried writing the pdf back to .ps and re-distilling it, but it behaves the same way. Suggestions? Please, I could use some help with this.

Cheers,
Scott

Cory · #2 (**permalink**) 02-26-2004, 02:23 PM

I've had a little luck using Creo's Seps2Comp plugin for Acrobat..

the reason her 2 color composite PDF is RGB is that the only mode Publisher supports when outputting composite..

you NEED to print seps from publisher if you want Spot/Process colors..

great program for the printing industry eh

DCurry · #3 (**permalink**) 02-26-2004, 03:55 PM

Believe me , I really despise Punisher, but I must say that the latest version is much better. It actually supports hi-res CMYK composite output. Before we upgraded, I would output a sepped postscript file, distill to PDF, then use Creo's PDF Seps2Comp to merge the plates back together into a composite PDF. Big pain, and didn't always work seamlessly. Since upgrading to Pub 2004, I've had about half a dozen jobs. All I do now is print a composite PostScript, distill to PDF, place in Preps and go!

JanZ · #4 (**permalink**) 02-27-2004, 08:42 AM

We used to print Publisher files to eps then take the eps files to the Mac for imposing. As long as the spot colors where setup properly in Publisher, this worked out best for us.

Jan

Vinny · #5 (**permalink**) 03-01-2004, 08:27 AM

Have you tried editing the PDF in Illustrator. Were just not fortunate enough to have pitstop installed so this is how I've done it. Just have to be careful about typos. I just change the RGB objects to Spot. That way the customer doesn't have to learn about spot colors (because most of them don't want to) and we get paid for this anyway.
Used to I would change the RGB objects in publisher to spot from within publisher then print to the rip from publisher. Big Pain.
I would kinda like to know any negative vibes on this if possible. I don't know if this is the best way or not. Just trying to survive.

Scott · #6 (**permalink**) 03-01-2004, 08:38 AM

Thanks everyone for the feedback..

Seps2comp was my idea, but we don't have it and we won't be getting it anytime soon. I ended up placing the seperated pdf files in quark and printing from there. I'll try the illustrator idea to see if that works. I really need a composite file because of the tight register and I can't trap a seperated file.

Again thanks!

Cheers,
Scott

Cory · #7 (**permalink**) 03-01-2004, 08:52 AM

If you have never used Seps2Comp, Creo offers a fully functioning demo for 30 days... Might be a chance to try it on this job and tell the higher ups that you NEED this plug-in

http://www.creo.com/global/products/...untryid=global

DCurry · #8 (**permalink**) 03-01-2004, 03:14 PM

Don't waste your money on Seps2Comp - it works, but it's a pain and it doesn't always work perfectly. Often requires extensive editing in PitStop afterwards, too. Spend the money instead on the latest version of PubeLicker. Then you can output composite CMYK (holds spots, too) postscript and distill it. Seps2Comp costs $399, versus Pub upgrade at $99 or $169 for a non-upgrade price.

Trust me - I do a fair amount of Publisher work.

Scott · #9 (**permalink**) 03-02-2004, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DCurry

PubeLicker

LOL!
:lol:

DCurry · #10 (**permalink**) 03-02-2004, 03:09 PM

Glad you liked that one - made it up all by myself!