Re: ConTeXt output & commercial printing houses: Thanks!

[Matt Gushee <mgushee@havenrock.com>]

Thanks for all the responses. I got some very useful information here.

I do have a couple of quick follow-up questions.

On Sat, Jul 24, 2004 at 03:21:39PM -0500, Bill McClain wrote:
> 
> Different shops might have different requirements, but Bookmobile simply
> requires an exact image of the book, page size defined to be the paper
> size. Easy. 

You're referring to just the interior, right? I would think that covers
have to have a bit of bleed, no?

> This has all been for digital printing and perfect-bound paperbacks.

Pretty much what I'm doing for now. As a matter of fact, partly inspired
by your example, I'm attempting something rather similar to your
publishing biz--though not in direct competition, I hope and believe.


On Sun, Jul 25, 2004 at 12:01:03PM +0200, Mats Broberg wrote:
> 
> Being a newbie when it comes to ConTeXt, but having worked in the
> commercial printing busines for a decade, I would say that the majority
> of printers actually prefer PDF files rather than Quark, InDesign or
> Pagemaker files. At least that is the case in Europe, and it would
> suprise me if it is not the same situation in USA.

Well, yes. Many printers here do prefer PDF. However, there's a small
problem in some cases--I know this is true for Kinko's, and was
wondering if it's true for regular printers, too: they think that PDF
means "Adobe PDF"--i.e. they believe that Adobe software is *the* way to
produce PDF, and are mostly unaware that there is such a thing as a PDF
standard. Now, I don't fully understand the issue, but apparently Adobe
software doesn't entirely follow the published specs, whereas TeX does.
And some processing software seems to be designed specifically to work
with the quirks of Acrobat output, and sometimes has trouble with PDFTeX
output.


> - Also, I don't know whether it is possible to downsample images in
> PDF's that you generate from ConTeXt. If it is, avoid it.

That raises an important question: if downsampling is done, is it
obvious what ConTeXt commands cause it to happen?

> The printer
> expects CMYK images (not RGB!) where the resolution is approx. 2 times
> the screen count in the final print, @ the physical size on the paper.
> So if you have an image in your PDF that is 10 cms /4 in. wide, and you
> want it printed in a 150 lpi (lines per inch) screen, make sure the
> original resolution is 300 dpi @ 10 cms / 4 in.

Now that's interesting. I imagined you would get the best results with
images that were designed exactly at the printer resolution.

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee@havenrock.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)