checklist for a perfect PDF for printing

[mulneil]

thanks to youall for the advice

[David Ingram]

Your client/customer has worked hard to give you a document with the color just the way THEY like it. Yes, If im doing a 25.5 x11" piece Id rather have 2 spreads than 6 letter size pages. Re: color, having used these systems since photoshop 1.0, the one thing i can tell you is changing source profiles is not satisfactory. However it comes in, thats how it goes into the workflow with no conversion from the native source.

You DO have complete control OF PROFILES when generating your press quality PDF yourself - NOTE the OUTPUT TAB! More than likeley, you have a workflow system optimized for your press conditions, calibrated and optimized to your proofing system.
requireing your client to, check all kinds of extra boxes to give you "perfect art" is kinda a PITA - your workflow will use its own internal color management anyway. If your image suffers a horrible color shift from RGB>CMYK, profiles will not help much.

[Lukas Engqvist]

@David
Disagree (wholehartedly) with what?

Back in the old days photoshop was a gamble in RGB workflows because the RGB was the screen RGB. Personally I use up to date software and therfore can use modern technology with all that has developed in the mean time.

Your post does however make clear that workflow is hard to discuss in general terms.

The point I was making about perfect art is that just looking at the last step will not answer the question "Why is my PDF not perfect" Workflow must allways be looked at from source to final result. Fragmenting the workflow you will need to very carefully define each hand over.

Take an example:
Today I recieve a document the file contains inages in sRGB, Adobe RGB and untagged images also CMYK eps files (vector and rom Photoshop) some are tagged (with 9% ditgain others with ISO coated at 17% dotgain etc) some have no pofiles. Total ink on some CMYK images exceed the paper maximum. How do I handle the job?
If I do nothing I will spoil the job. There is no workflow that can be configured to meke all the right deceissions. I will make the decissions on a job basis, or I will inform the customers on what workflow assumptions I must make and ask the customer can you work wit these assumtions and take responsibility, or will you pay for me to be your safety net.
To say that perfect art is required to make a perfect PDF is the same as "SISO" where the customer is not accepting "SO" but is not able to deliver more than "SI". The issue who is going to be the amateurs (or the hard neck proffesional who will not listen to why his files are not working) diaper.

[kparker]

Agreed... preflight pane in Acrobat 9 Pro

[SusanSims]

Very interesting and informative discussion!
I suggest you look at our PDF Automation Server, which runs on all platforms, and can verify document compliance with these standards:

• PDF/X-1a:2001 - ISO 15930-1
• PDF/X-1a:2003 - ISO 15930-4
• PDF/X-3:2002 - ISO 15930-3
• PDF/X-3:2003 - ISO 15930-6

The user can set separate logic to handle output documents differently, depending on whether they pass or fail pre-flighting.

For each case the user can:

• Attach Results - Results of preflighting can be appended as a report, added as annotations, or both.
• Print the PDF File - Use this section to print the PDF file as part of processing it.
• Change the File Name - Use this section to change the name of the PDF file before saving.
• Save the File to a Folder - Use this section to save the file to a folder after setting the permissions.
• Post the File using FTP - Use this section to send the file to an FTP server after setting the permissions.
• Send the File in an E-Mail - Use this section to send the file by e-mail after setting the permissions.

I welcome feedback about our product, and whether you find this information helpful.

thanks.
Susan

[Lukas Engqvist]

Why no compliane with PDFx4 ?

[mattbeals]

The preflight engine appears to offer no configuration or settings file. I am assuming that all the preflight profiles are coded into the program. But the rest of the program looks quite interesting. It certainly seems to be fast.