Re: Have problem with Newspaper taking Color PDF x-1a and RIPs into B&W pla
Re: Have problem with Newspaper taking Color PDF x-1a and RIPs into B&W pla
Welcome aboard! Dealing with newspaper people can be quite frustrating as I experienced over the last year. A lot of newspapers decided to take the full prepress - preflight automation path. What that means is instead of dealing with a skilled prepress operator that decides if your PDFX1a file passes the preflight stage, it goes through an automated preflight system (such as OneVision Asura) that is as good as the guy who configured it. Then you discover that once printed, your black overprints are gone (what's wrong with black overprint if it does not exceed 180% which is way less than newspaper ink limit standards?), your black-only text box with reverse white type is now overprinting on top of the colored background (do I really have to tell you what's happening to the white type then). Then you place a call to get to talk to the guy in charge of the system. If you're lucky enough, you'll get some explanations such as "well, our system is configured to fix 95% of the crap files being supplied to us, we're sorry but you're file fell into the other 5% category so our system tried to fix what wasn't broken. We will treat the file manually the next time." If you're less lucky, you'll get this "Don't think we'll be able to change the Asura settings, it's an Editorial choice". I used to think that you build your file to certain standards, make a PDFX1a, and it will come out just like in your PS rip (I have 2 rips here, 1 Agfa and one Harlequin). Was I ever wrong! I don't have anything against automated workflows (beside the fact that they cut skilled people jobs, but that's another story) but if you implement such systems, test them properly and have some quality control procedures to check the result, don't blindly rely on them. Enough ranting now... Michael, what was the total ink limit in your PDF? That's another thing that may have happened, if it's over a certain limit (like over 240% for newsprint) some systems will "fix" your images. Try to talk to the technical guy whose in charge and get as much info as you can on their preflight procedures. Good luck.
Edited by: Colorblind on Mar 27, 2008 3:11 PM