Prinergy/Creo Joboptions for newer Distiller?

[tmazzullo_splat]

We have a printer that we supply PDF files to that has us using the Creo joboptions for their PDF files. Is there a newer release of the joboptions files that we can use for the newer Distillers(version6 & 7) or is it safe to use the older version we have. I searched Kodaks website and couldn't find anything. Or do Prinergy/Creo users prefer a more standardized PDF file like X1a now? Thanks in advance.

[Markbo]

I would ask your printer what setup they would prefer, or is working for them.

We are running Prinergy 3 with all the latest apps. It's really been trial and error for us. Sometimes PDF sometimes Postscript.

In general, you can't go wrong with an X1-a. Most everyone can RIP one of those bad-boys no problem. If your files aren't right it won't even make an X1-a...
just my .02

Vee

[mattbeals]

They are backwards compatible. If there's a feature in Distiller 7 joboptions that doesn't work when using it with 6.0, no problem. All a .joboptions file is, is a text file. Try it... Open one up in your favorite text editor. There are lots of hidden "features"/settings that are not available through the GUI. Be careful though, it could blow up a PDF.

As for PDF/X-1a, yes in general you cannot go wrong with it because it is an ISO standard. True, just about everyone can rip either PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-1a:2003. The cannot necessarily RIP it without problems.

It's not that you can't make a X-1a from a file that's not right. It is that you cannot make a PDF/X-1a of a file that does not conform to the specification. I can attest to the fact that there are A LOT of "bad PDF/X-1a's" out there. That is, they are technically PDF/X-1a:200x but that they do not meet the output requirements. Is anyone familiar with L.C.D.? Lowest Common Denominator? PDF/X-1a is that. It sepcifies nothing about resolution. It says you can have one of three, or any combination thereof, color spaces, that a few page boxes be present and that the fonts are embedded. That's the overview version of the spec.

Does a PDF/X-1a that has 72dpi images that are CMYK, 2 spot colors, embedded and subsetted opentype fonts (nothing wrong with those by the way!), has a bleed box defined but with no object in the bleed area meet the requirements for producing a magaine page? No, it doesn't. But it is a valid PDF/X-1a. So you can see that you can have a unprintable or otherwise unusable VALID PDF/X-1a. This is where things like PDF/X-Plus come into play. But that's a whole different dicussion.

And we haven't even discussed yet the fact that some RIPs are not correctly configured to apply overprints. So even if you had the perfect PDF/X-1a, a misconfigured RIP could potentially ruin it.