PREPRESS 

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Check this page for any updates to procedures and methods that haven't yet made it into the latest update of our official documents.

Spot colors and PDF
The PDF workflow is composite (as opposed to pre-separated), which means that the files are separated into CMYK at our RIP. Any spot colors on the page are also separated into their CMYK components. So if you have a two-color job using Black (a process color) and PANTONE 185 CV (a spot color, corresponding to 91% magenta and 76% yellow), the RIP will output 3 plates - one for black, one for magenta and one for yellow - instead of the two you were expecting.

The workaround for this is easy. Simply use either cyan or magenta for your second color (you could use yellow, but it's a bit more difficult to see), or both for a three-color job, and tell your Customer Service Rep which Pantone color you'd like to use for that plate. It may look funny on screen, but it will print fine.

If you absolutely need to use spot colors (for a five-color job, for example), then you cannot use the PDF format with us and will have to send separated PostScript files instead, a format which handles spot colors very well.

Switchouts and Versioning
If your job calls for many versions of the same page (such as different addresses and phone numbers for different regions), the cheapest way to go is to have a black switch out plate. This assumes that the images are going to remain the same for all versions and the only changes made will be to the black plate.

This procedure is much easier if you have a program that utilizes layers, such as InDesign, or use ALAP's Xpert Layers for Quark XPress. Although it has layers, we do not recommend using Adobe Illustrator for page layout purposes. It's an illustration program, and doesn't handle layout-specific tasks as well as something built for that purpose.

Any images and text that are common to all versions should go on the base layer, and switch out text should go on separate layers, using only black. The black must overprint.

Once the pages are built, then print out the base layer only, with all switch out text layers turned off. This will be a four-color file, either as separated PostScript or composite PDF.

Then, turn off the base layer and print out each switch out layer individually in the same manner as you printed the base layer, but this time only one color will be printed, the black of the switch out text, which can then be merged with the base in CTP. You will now have one file for each version, plus one file for the base. You are now done.

If you do not have a program that uses layers (like Quark), or decided not to purchase Xpert Layers, you must use a workaround:

Since you aren't using layers, it will get a bit confusing to start piling text on top of text, so one way to avoid this is to build the base on the Master Page, then create pages using that master, one for each version, plus one page for just the base. All of the version text should be built using black, which must overprint. Before printing, remove the master from the version pages so that only the version text is showing. then print out each page (don't forget to print out the base as well).

There are many different ways to do this to accommodate different situations, so if you have any questions about this process, please ask us.

Marrakech Express Inc

Book and publication printing

Copyright © 1994 Marrakech Inc. All rights reserved.
Revised: July 24, 2002