Chapter 4
Chapter 4 starts talking about ancient times before pixels was even created and about how now its all about pixels when it comes to taking pictures with digital cameras. Pixels are the the tiny specs or dots that makes up an image. Without it we wouldn't have pictures or videos without them. If we did the pictures and movies wouldn't turn out near as good that it should be. JPEG is a compressed format that is delivered by a regular point and shoot camera. Professional digital cameras makes images into the Camera RAW format, has hardly any compression to it compared to a JPEG image. RAW images can be opened quickly into Photoshop and saved into other formats easier than a JPEG image. One big difference between the two is that RAW images take up more space on your computer and on your memory card than a JPEG does. RAW is also very flexible to work with. The chapter than goes on talking about all the Adobe Photoshop programs like Adobe Photoshop elements and Adobe Lightroom. Ppi is pixels per inch and its the resolution of an image. For websites, web images are used at 72 ppi at the final size. According to the Print Production book, "They are strongly held regarding the appropriate image resolution for printing." I learned from the book that 300 ppi image would be lost in a newspaper. The chapter then introduces bitmap images, which are sometimes referred to as line art images because the images contain black and white pixels with no shades of gray. Bitmap scans can provide a crisp clear image when it's scanned at a high resolution as well. It still produces small file sizes too.
After this the chapter goes on talking about scaling up and down then leads to planning ahead so you won't screw anything up on the scaling part of an assignment. Digital photographs are talked about next, which leads to our next topic, which is cropping and rotating images. Cropping should occur when you're saving an image or when you first to scan an image. If you are not sure you want to crop an image then it can always wait til later just as long as you save it so it don't become lost. Rotating images requires interpolation of pixel information. The safest rotations are 90 degrees. If you do anything else it will result in softening the detail of the image. Don't be afraid to crop or edit a picture just make sure its yours not some one else's or you will break copyright laws. The next part our chapter talks about is the image formats you can use when printing. The most commonly used files used to print are TIFF (tagged image file format) and EPS (encapsulated PostScript). They now say that some PSD (Photoshop document) is more flexible to work with than it used to be. TIFF is the most widely supported file format. I know when I have to turn photos in for the Kanza Yearbook, it has to be a TIFF file. PDF can also a good format for printing as well. Screen captures is then discussed and then talks about how to convert them to CMYK. RGB is then compared to CMYK and the differences between them, which was discussed in a previous blog I believe. The last part the chapter talks about is the files that aren't the greatest to print. Portable Network Graphics (PNG), BMP (bitmap), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) are the files that are not good to print. Most files are over the amount of the colors that the printer is able to print. The transparency tip talks about how certain software's do not correctly handle blending modes in a Photoshop file. An example would be like if you add a drop shadow to an image because you wouldn't see it after you brought it into InDesign or Illustrator. It would make your project look odd in other words. To make a drop shadow work the best, you need to do it in InDesign or Illustrator so you can make it look the way you want it too.
Chapter 5
A basic summary over chapter 5 is that its all about vector graphics and the formats of it. Vector graphics are pixel free. They are also not subjected to scaling restrictions either. Smooth shapes of vector drawings are usually smooth so its easier to be enlarged and reduced with nothing affecting the image. According to the Print Production book, "Since the File > Save and File > Export dialogs of popular drawing programs offer a dizzying list of prospective file types, it's important to know what's acceptable for print and what's not." The most common file format for the vector artwork used to be EPS, which is Encapsulated PostScript. The most common now is Adobe Illustrator file. When using Adobe Illustrator it is best when submitting a vector file to save it as an illustrator file not a EPS file because you can use illustrator files in other programs like Adobe InDesign. For a page-layout software file, there's really no reason to save it as a PDF. The vector formats that are not available to print are Microsoft Windows Metafile Format (WMF), Enhanced Metafile Format (EMF), and Raster Formats.
To embed fonts you can use Adobe Illustrator in either a EPS or AI file for placing it in other programs. It means the font information should be open or available to display and print. The only downside to this is that it does not allow the fonts to become available in the EPS or AI file. According to Print Production, "To edit text, you'll still need the appropriate fonts active on your system; embedding does not deliver fonts to you." It comes as a surprise to many people that not all fonts can be embedded. All fonts contain data, which is called hinting. It processes the look and printing of the text. "Converting text to outlines eliminates hinting, so text may display onscreen as of slightly bloated and will print slightly heavier on desktop printers because of the lower resolution of those devices," according to the book, Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications by Claudia McCue. If you have something that needs to be printed on a digital press then you need to avoid outlining the text. To simply your paths in Adobe Illustrator, you need to stop clicking all over the place with the pen tool. The less points you have on an image then the smoother the image your path or image will look. It will also be easier in the end when you move your image to Adobe InDesign. It is difficult to do at first, but all it takes is practice. I know I had to do that to make a path work for me bunches of times. This is why Adobe Illustrator is considered a drawing program not a page-layout program.
All the information I learned and used in my blog was from the book, Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications by Claudia McCue.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Note Pad Project
My notepad design I tried to design was one using my photography business, which is called JP Saunders Photography. I plan to put some of my black and white photos on my notepad to make it have a little bit of an edge to my project. The purpose of my product or notepad is for my digital file preparation class, but it also could be used for future clients that are in interested in photo sessions. My target audience obviously is my future clients or customers. I made a chart that I will post on here of what I thought made up my photography business. My project will be 5 x 7 inches for the trim size.. There will have a 1/4 inch bleed for my project. The colors will obviously be black and white since it would save me money in the end. The margin is also 1/4 inch for my QR code. The copyright for all the images that I am posting is by me and the pictures I plan to use on my notepad are also all mine. Each pad will have 50 pages. There will also be a card board back to the note pad as well. I will try to use Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop for this particular project. The call to action would be that customers or clients would notice the pictures on the pieces of note pad paper and see who it is by and then become interested.
According to Quick Print, it will cost $3.79 for just one note pad and it will take somewhere between one business day to one week to be produced for 50 pages. The type of file that they need to print the pad is .indd or .pdf. They prefer though a PDF is what I was told. Below this paragraph is the photos I scanned of my papers for digital file preparation.
First picture is my chart, second my five thumbnails, and the third one is my rough draft. Final draft planned to come at a later date.
According to Quick Print, it will cost $3.79 for just one note pad and it will take somewhere between one business day to one week to be produced for 50 pages. The type of file that they need to print the pad is .indd or .pdf. They prefer though a PDF is what I was told. Below this paragraph is the photos I scanned of my papers for digital file preparation.
First picture is my chart, second my five thumbnails, and the third one is my rough draft. Final draft planned to come at a later date.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Ch.1, 2, 3, Blog
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 goes through the meaning of prepress and preflight and processes to go through to accomplish a certain job. It then goes into detail about the Raster Image Processor (RIP). RIP interprets PDF or Post-Script documents or files and converts the data of them to a bitmap image that tells the marketing engine of the output device of how to image the film, plates, or in case of toner-based printers, the electrostatic drum. The finishing touches on the project is one of the most important aspects to each assignment. The chapter then goes into detail about the proofing and corrections process before going on to creating plates, which goes to the pressroom. The finishing process includes either trimming, folding, stitching, die cutting, binding, or gluing. Trimming is used to cut the printed sheets of paper so the size of the product can be finalized or cut apart content if they are to become business cards, according to the Print Production Book. Folding may have to happen if the paper needs it. It can be done inline or in a bindery. If it requires more folders than that like for instance, if it has pockets like in a folder than it will require handwork to complete the job. The only bad aspect about handwork is that it will cost you more money. The folding dummy is a blank sheet of paper that is folded in a process so it can be used in the finishing job. The pages are numbered and the folding dummy could be made by a planning department by certain operators that check the folding dummy for any errors just to make sure everything is correctly folded. Imagesetter is a device for scanning film.
According to the Print Production Book, "A RIP converts incoming PostScript or PDF information to very high-resolution bitmaps that guide the imagesetter's marking engine to expose the film with a laser or light-emitting diodes." The last part of the whole process is the shipping and the fulfillment. Pica is a unique measurement for Adobe software to design projects with. There are six pica's in an inch and a pica is equal to 12 points. Point is another type of measurement as well. There are 72 points in an inch. There are some designers that specify almost everything in points and pica's. They only used points when it's being referred to text size and rule thickness.
Chapter 2
In chapter 2 it mainly talks about ink and all the different colors like cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK), and talks about black and white plus spot colors as well. When printing in black and white the white is the paper and the black is the ink. When someone speaks of a two-color job, it means that it requires two colors for printing. The chapter then goes on talking about printing a four color job, which would be like CMYK. Prints that use a single color of ink is printed in tiny dots, which is known as halftone dots. It gives the color gray more of an edge when it's printed. When an image is printed with these tiny dots it's called a halftone. Screen ruling is expressed in lpi, which is lines per inch because it measures the halftone-dot sequence. These dots usually don't show up until the job is processed through the RIP. DPI is dots per inch, which is used to describe the resolution of an imaging device, which an example would be like a desktop printer, or an imagesetter that's talked about in chapter 1. PPI is pixels per inch and it also describes a screens resolution, and its usually set at 250 to 300 pixels per inch. It is common to save images at 300 ppi. The chapter then talks about the aspects of color printing and screen angle combinations.
CMYK is what is talked about even more in depth next, which is said before that it is cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. Even though it has so many colors, it still has a limit of what it can do. Images that can be seen on the monitor of a computer look much different when printed because what the human eye sees is actually lighter then what is actually being displayed. Spot colors are then explained in the chapter and they're used when it's necessary to print colors outside the range of CMYK inks. An example of the colors that fall out of this range would be like bright orange and navy blue, which is why spot colors comes as some importance. The Pantone Matching System actually goes with spot colors in InDesign or wherever else you may see them. They say its a recipe book for printers and ink-mixing formulas according to the book. The book then goes and talks about press issues and registration. Registration is accurate alignments of printer inks using the four process colors because its so crucial if something would happen to go wrong. Basically the reason why registration is so important because it makes sure when you print your file or project, it won't be all over the place because the registration keeps everything in line. Later on the book talks about digital printing and VDP. VDP is variable data publishing. An example would be like if I said Dear, Mr. Smith for a letter because this would describe variable data publishing software. This kind of letter designing requires extra careful planning to make sure nothing wrong happens. Some customers find the extra expense to use Direct Mail worth it just so nothing happens to the letter you have wrote ends up missing or torn. The rest of the chapter describes the digital printing issues.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 discusses mainly about the different kinds of binding and what steps to go through for the finishing touches for the project. Die cutting is the process of cutting or making a printed piece into a custom shape. Examples of this would be like packaging and pocket folders because it requires both die cutting and scoring. Scoring makes sure the folders are correctly folded using the die cutting to make the shape necessary for the printed piece. The die is made of sharp steel that cuts the edges to make sure you get the custom shape you need. Computers are now used to help with the die cutting process as well. The computers make sure the die cutting process is successful. Most the die-cutting devices are platen-based, which means that the die is a flat surface. Not all printing companies you know of perform their own die cutting just a quick note. You also sometimes need to create your own bleed areas if you plan on creating artwork because you don't want any of your art to be cut off or anything. Like told you in chapter 1 that the finishing process includes either trimming, folding, stitching, die cutting, binding, or gluing. In chapter 3 it describes all different ways you can bind your final projects. Examples are like saddle stitching, case binding, comb binding, coil binding, and others as well. Talking about the die cutting earlier also plays a role in the finishing process of your project because without it, you could have either your project not cut into the right kind of shape or you could have a piece of your artwork chopped off because you didn't give any bleed room. Toward the end of the chapter the last part of the finishing process is embossing, which adds dimensions to your paper or foil stamping, which uses heated, raised metal die to transfer fancy foil from a roll of material onto an underlying paper. I researched all this information from the Print Production Book by Claudia McCue.
Chapter 1 goes through the meaning of prepress and preflight and processes to go through to accomplish a certain job. It then goes into detail about the Raster Image Processor (RIP). RIP interprets PDF or Post-Script documents or files and converts the data of them to a bitmap image that tells the marketing engine of the output device of how to image the film, plates, or in case of toner-based printers, the electrostatic drum. The finishing touches on the project is one of the most important aspects to each assignment. The chapter then goes into detail about the proofing and corrections process before going on to creating plates, which goes to the pressroom. The finishing process includes either trimming, folding, stitching, die cutting, binding, or gluing. Trimming is used to cut the printed sheets of paper so the size of the product can be finalized or cut apart content if they are to become business cards, according to the Print Production Book. Folding may have to happen if the paper needs it. It can be done inline or in a bindery. If it requires more folders than that like for instance, if it has pockets like in a folder than it will require handwork to complete the job. The only bad aspect about handwork is that it will cost you more money. The folding dummy is a blank sheet of paper that is folded in a process so it can be used in the finishing job. The pages are numbered and the folding dummy could be made by a planning department by certain operators that check the folding dummy for any errors just to make sure everything is correctly folded. Imagesetter is a device for scanning film.
According to the Print Production Book, "A RIP converts incoming PostScript or PDF information to very high-resolution bitmaps that guide the imagesetter's marking engine to expose the film with a laser or light-emitting diodes." The last part of the whole process is the shipping and the fulfillment. Pica is a unique measurement for Adobe software to design projects with. There are six pica's in an inch and a pica is equal to 12 points. Point is another type of measurement as well. There are 72 points in an inch. There are some designers that specify almost everything in points and pica's. They only used points when it's being referred to text size and rule thickness.
Chapter 2
In chapter 2 it mainly talks about ink and all the different colors like cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK), and talks about black and white plus spot colors as well. When printing in black and white the white is the paper and the black is the ink. When someone speaks of a two-color job, it means that it requires two colors for printing. The chapter then goes on talking about printing a four color job, which would be like CMYK. Prints that use a single color of ink is printed in tiny dots, which is known as halftone dots. It gives the color gray more of an edge when it's printed. When an image is printed with these tiny dots it's called a halftone. Screen ruling is expressed in lpi, which is lines per inch because it measures the halftone-dot sequence. These dots usually don't show up until the job is processed through the RIP. DPI is dots per inch, which is used to describe the resolution of an imaging device, which an example would be like a desktop printer, or an imagesetter that's talked about in chapter 1. PPI is pixels per inch and it also describes a screens resolution, and its usually set at 250 to 300 pixels per inch. It is common to save images at 300 ppi. The chapter then talks about the aspects of color printing and screen angle combinations.
CMYK is what is talked about even more in depth next, which is said before that it is cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. Even though it has so many colors, it still has a limit of what it can do. Images that can be seen on the monitor of a computer look much different when printed because what the human eye sees is actually lighter then what is actually being displayed. Spot colors are then explained in the chapter and they're used when it's necessary to print colors outside the range of CMYK inks. An example of the colors that fall out of this range would be like bright orange and navy blue, which is why spot colors comes as some importance. The Pantone Matching System actually goes with spot colors in InDesign or wherever else you may see them. They say its a recipe book for printers and ink-mixing formulas according to the book. The book then goes and talks about press issues and registration. Registration is accurate alignments of printer inks using the four process colors because its so crucial if something would happen to go wrong. Basically the reason why registration is so important because it makes sure when you print your file or project, it won't be all over the place because the registration keeps everything in line. Later on the book talks about digital printing and VDP. VDP is variable data publishing. An example would be like if I said Dear, Mr. Smith for a letter because this would describe variable data publishing software. This kind of letter designing requires extra careful planning to make sure nothing wrong happens. Some customers find the extra expense to use Direct Mail worth it just so nothing happens to the letter you have wrote ends up missing or torn. The rest of the chapter describes the digital printing issues.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 discusses mainly about the different kinds of binding and what steps to go through for the finishing touches for the project. Die cutting is the process of cutting or making a printed piece into a custom shape. Examples of this would be like packaging and pocket folders because it requires both die cutting and scoring. Scoring makes sure the folders are correctly folded using the die cutting to make the shape necessary for the printed piece. The die is made of sharp steel that cuts the edges to make sure you get the custom shape you need. Computers are now used to help with the die cutting process as well. The computers make sure the die cutting process is successful. Most the die-cutting devices are platen-based, which means that the die is a flat surface. Not all printing companies you know of perform their own die cutting just a quick note. You also sometimes need to create your own bleed areas if you plan on creating artwork because you don't want any of your art to be cut off or anything. Like told you in chapter 1 that the finishing process includes either trimming, folding, stitching, die cutting, binding, or gluing. In chapter 3 it describes all different ways you can bind your final projects. Examples are like saddle stitching, case binding, comb binding, coil binding, and others as well. Talking about the die cutting earlier also plays a role in the finishing process of your project because without it, you could have either your project not cut into the right kind of shape or you could have a piece of your artwork chopped off because you didn't give any bleed room. Toward the end of the chapter the last part of the finishing process is embossing, which adds dimensions to your paper or foil stamping, which uses heated, raised metal die to transfer fancy foil from a roll of material onto an underlying paper. I researched all this information from the Print Production Book by Claudia McCue.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
QR Code Blog
A QR code is a piece of information from certain medias that look like a small box with no border and has tiny black squares inside it. These tiny black squares have information on each of them that can be scanned with a smart cell phone that takes you to the certain internet site that is imprinted on this square or it will tell you information about certain jobs as well or details about a specific product you are interested in buying.
You can generate smart codes by using the Open Source code that is usually an app on smart phones that allows you to take a picture of the QR code and it will give you information about what you took a picture of. The smart phone that is needed to allow you to scan the QR codes is either the Iphone or the Android phones. The QR codes are also used for a marketing technique as well. It is said that also Google as a tool that allows people to scan QR codes too. QR codes can be found in many places now, such as restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's. I know even Walmart has certain products, both food and non food items that has a QR code on it now. You would want to use a QR code on a printed product because it would allow your customers to retrieve more information about that product and will convince them to possibly buy the product if it interests them.
The reason why I would want to use a QR code on my printed project because then people would know more information about my project and about me, who made the printed project. I know people always want to know more information about who makes which project. There could be more than one of the same project. It's mostly unlikely , but if it ever happened and someone scanned the QR code then that individual would know who created the printed project and know more information about that person. I got all my information from the website, "What is a QR Code and Why Do You Need One?" It helped me so much when answering these questions for this class. Below is an example of a QR code that was off the site that gave me information over what QR codes actually were.
You can generate smart codes by using the Open Source code that is usually an app on smart phones that allows you to take a picture of the QR code and it will give you information about what you took a picture of. The smart phone that is needed to allow you to scan the QR codes is either the Iphone or the Android phones. The QR codes are also used for a marketing technique as well. It is said that also Google as a tool that allows people to scan QR codes too. QR codes can be found in many places now, such as restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's. I know even Walmart has certain products, both food and non food items that has a QR code on it now. You would want to use a QR code on a printed product because it would allow your customers to retrieve more information about that product and will convince them to possibly buy the product if it interests them.
The reason why I would want to use a QR code on my printed project because then people would know more information about my project and about me, who made the printed project. I know people always want to know more information about who makes which project. There could be more than one of the same project. It's mostly unlikely , but if it ever happened and someone scanned the QR code then that individual would know who created the printed project and know more information about that person. I got all my information from the website, "What is a QR Code and Why Do You Need One?" It helped me so much when answering these questions for this class. Below is an example of a QR code that was off the site that gave me information over what QR codes actually were.
Preflight Blog
During the preflight process, it is best to discover problems during the beginning of a job, rather than toward when the deadline of an assignment is due. It is mainly for when problems are happening with the job and sometimes the printer is able to fix these issues as well. The only problem that is occurred when having the printer fix the issue is that it costs you money to do it. An example of this would be like misspelled words, over set text, or wrong document sizes. Preflight arranges job files into one folder, plus it renames folders and preflight rebuilds image links in page layouts. I actually retrieved most this information from the Real World Print Production Book, or at least the part of the first chapter that was online.
An example of the preflight checklist would be like creating a page for the newspaper, such as the sports section because it has to go through eight steps just to make sure the page looks right and the catch the viewers eye. The eight steps the preflight checklist says that the creator is to include all fonts, include all linked images and photos, include all embedded and nested images and photos, save all image files as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), DCS multichannel, or gray scale, which depends on the job. The last few steps are to save the file to the correct file formate, and at the proper resolutions, set bleeds at least 1/8 inch beyond trim, verify your document size, and lastly supply laser proofs at 100% for reference. The Google site that helped me with this section of the assignment was the Premier Print Group website.
A job that would fit with the preflight subject would be like a prepress manager. They are responsible for creating plates that has the images run on the press. They do it either with chemicals or do it digitally. Prepress supervisors make a salary anywhere between $40,000 to $62,000 a year. I got this information off of the eHow Money website.
Below is one of the pictures I took at home during break and I just wanted to make sure that uploading an image would work. If you want to know what the JPS logo is toward the bottom right of the picture, it is my photography logo for my small business I just started last semester.
An example of the preflight checklist would be like creating a page for the newspaper, such as the sports section because it has to go through eight steps just to make sure the page looks right and the catch the viewers eye. The eight steps the preflight checklist says that the creator is to include all fonts, include all linked images and photos, include all embedded and nested images and photos, save all image files as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), DCS multichannel, or gray scale, which depends on the job. The last few steps are to save the file to the correct file formate, and at the proper resolutions, set bleeds at least 1/8 inch beyond trim, verify your document size, and lastly supply laser proofs at 100% for reference. The Google site that helped me with this section of the assignment was the Premier Print Group website.
A job that would fit with the preflight subject would be like a prepress manager. They are responsible for creating plates that has the images run on the press. They do it either with chemicals or do it digitally. Prepress supervisors make a salary anywhere between $40,000 to $62,000 a year. I got this information off of the eHow Money website.
Below is one of the pictures I took at home during break and I just wanted to make sure that uploading an image would work. If you want to know what the JPS logo is toward the bottom right of the picture, it is my photography logo for my small business I just started last semester.
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