The Power of PDF! -- January 15, 2002
Our first speaker of the evening was Mike Riley,
Business Development Manager of ePaper Solutions for Adobe Systems.
He's been with Adobe for 3 years and is an Adobe Certified Expert
in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Photoshop. He currently focuses on how
companies can streamline their business processes using Adobe Acrobat.
He began the evening by defining PDF (portable
document format). He mentioned that there are over 300 million downloads
of Acrobat Reader! PDFs are great for longer and printable documents.
Here are Mike Riley's reasons why to consider a PDF workflow:
- Software and platform independent -- always going
to work.
- When transferring a PDF there will be no missing
fonts and graphics (as long as you remembered to embed them).
- The file sizes are very small.
- PDFs can be used for soft proofing to see what
will print.
- Computer-to-Plate ready -- no need for film
(There are third party tools available to do this step to view desktop
seps).
- Repurpose -- downsample for other uses such
as for the web.
Their newest release, Acrobat 5.0, has been in
use for 6 months and comes packed with many new features. For example,
one can tile posters at full size now. Also, there is an overprint
preview (to preview traps on screen) and transparency preview (for
better control), all contained inside Acrobat. The color management
is now all on the same level (using the same color engine) for Acrobat,
Photoshop, and Illustrator. When sending the PDF document to multiple
people, everyone can view and add "post-it notes" comments
-- You can comment on the file right inside your browser. There is
now a sound attachment tool. Click on upload button (some backend
web server set-up is needed) URL to a document "I need 10 people
to look at this and the other's comments". You can save the PDF
and centralize all comments onto one document. Then, you can delete
comments or sort comments by author. These are just a few of the extra
things Acrobat 5.0 can do. Acrobat Distiller allows you to go through
and set all the settings for what you want it to do with your print
file. (The default option provides 4 standard categories). Mike strongly
encourages everyone to customize their distilling options. An example
of a few settings that can be customized:
- set which version of Acrobat to use
- set compression levels
- embed fonts
- set color settings (Note: You can "save
as" and printers can do a profile that all customers can go and
upload their specific requirements).
InDesign 2.0 allows one to place native Photoshop
and native PDF files right into your document. You can make a PDF
very quickly. You will not have to go through Distiller -- these changes
can be made in the application. For more information, Mike recommends
visiting adobe.com on the Acrobat page under graphics solutions. Also,
check out planetpdf.com and pdfzone.com for other user information.
Our second speaker was Linda Manes Goodwin of
Manes Goodman Associates (linda@manesgoodwin.com). Linda is a consultant
for the Graphic Arts Industry specializing in digital production.
Her customers are publishers, prepress and software developers. She
previously was the VP of manufacturing at PC World and production
manager for Esquire magazine. In 1999 she was awarded the DDAP (Digital
Distribution of Advertising for Publications) Joseph L. Pedone award
for outstanding contribution to the universal exchange of digital
advertising. Her focus this evening was to discuss the newest PDF
standard: PDF/X. She then introduced the audience to "Sir Tiff-it".
Although TIFF-IT files were accredited by the ISO (Industry Standards
Organization) in 1998, it was a format used only by the elite (publishers
and large agencies that could afford the large investment) due to
its high price tag. Because Tiff-it files could not be made on the
desktop, for the rest of us, we used film, native application files,
Postscript and PDF.
FILM: Linda referred to film as a necessary evil
in a digital workflow. The downside of film is the loss in generation
-- it is preferred to image through the first generation of a file.
The process of film can add up to 2 days to the production workflow.
NATIVE FILES: Wonderful to create files, but not
to deliver final digital files. (This format is dangerously impressionable
-- you need to have the correct platform, same program version, extensions,
etc.). It requires a large amount of maintenance and professional
prepress services, but is not always provided. You can't be certain
that what you see is what you get.
POSTSCRIPT files are just too big and can be interpreted
differently.
PDF, she stated, is the best choice but they can
be problematic -- especially if you forget to embed the fonts and
graphics, or covert the file to CMYK.
Well, there now is an improved PDF -- PDF/X 1A
2001 (also known as PDF/X 1A). This standard has also been accredited
by the ISO. Features:
- Embeds all fonts
- Includes trim and bleed
- CMYK and CMYK + spot only
- Traps can be on or off
- Printing condition is identified
- All images are encoded in the PDF
- Encryption is not allowed.
In order to make a PDF/X 1A, all fonts must be
embedded and all elements must be identified as CMYK. This is an improvement,
since you will not be able to save and transfer a PDF/X 1A unless
it has been created properly. (Still, it is important to have properly
prepared native files; if you don't, they will have to be corrected
before they can be transferred.) Also, you now can create CMYK + spot
colors! You cannot create a PDF/X 1A with Adobe Acrobat. You will
need an additional plug-in/tool. Some implementers are: Apago, PDF/X
Check-up, Enfocus, DALIM and Roarke Data. To successfully utilize
PDF/X 1A files, your printer will have to have Postscript level 3
rip. Linda and Mike suggested you visit the DDAP website (www.ddap.org)
for further details. You will find an abundance of information as
well as a digital ad database.
Many thanks to our speakers and a special thank
you to Aimee Graman, Joseph Zidarevich, Eileen Burke and Gerhard Runken
for putting together this informative program.
