Re: Producing PDF x/1-a:2001 output.

[John Culleton <john@wexfordpress.com>]

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On Friday 30 October 2009 12:03:33 luigi scarso wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 4:48 PM, John Culleton 
<john@wexfordpress.com> wrote:
> > At least two commercial printers that I use prefer or insist on 
the
> > format PDF X/1-a:2001 output. The only way I have found to
> > produce such in TeX without a pass through Adobe Acrobat
> > Distiller or the shareware program Pstill is via the package
> > pdfx.sty
> > authored by  CV Radhakrishnan  and  Han The Thanh. This in 
turn
> > uses some other files such as xmpincl.sty.
> >
> > I wonder if this setup could be incorporated into some flavor 
of
> > Context?  Or even pdftex? I prefer not to live within the 
strictures
> > of pdflatex.
>
> is not Ghostscript  OK ?
> (I have seen
> http://www.ghostscript.com/pipermail/gs-devel/2009-
September/008566.html)
Yes, I started that thread also.  It seems that the spec can be met 
via Ghostscript. What is also needed is the internal labeling of the 
file as pdf X/1-a:2001, and some xml add-ins. 

The prepress staff will look at the file and if it is not labeled 
correctly run it through Distiller, which can degrade text and 
barcodes  by converting them to bitmaps.  LSI  handles hundreds 
of pdf cover files each week, many of which are out of spec. If it 
does not look  like X/1-a:2001 they will bitmap it, and in the 
process mess it up to a degree, or so I am told.  So getting the file 
within spec is necessary but it also has to look like it is in spec.  
Their Customer Service Rep specifically mentioned Ghostscript as 
producing non-acceptable pdf files. 

This is not the only hoop to be leapt through in dealing with LSI.
they have a limit on total ink coverage that is more restrictive 
than the usual formulation for CMYK rich black. They want only 
%240 total coverage so I cobbled up  CMYK 60,40,40,100 which 
adds up to 240%.  In brief, they are a royal pain. But they have a 
near-monopoly on POD printing for bookstores in the US and their 
pricing for Amazon beats anyone including Amazon's own subsidy 
Createspace.

Hans:
The needed files and the documentation for pdfx.sty are located 
here:
http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/pdfx/

The files in the package include:

README




glyphtounicode-cmr.tex




manifest.txt




pdfa-1b.xmp




pdfx-1a.xmp




pdfx.pdf




pdfx.sty




small2e.pdf




small2e.tex




small2e.xmpdata





-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html

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