Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they do)

cosmotcat

Member
I am a 'prepress technician'. I am the guy that receives/prefilghts/adjusts/fixes file sfor printing that are suppled by 'artists'. I keep wondering (and sometimes yelling out loud)... +'what are these people doing'?+ Are there no standards (being taught) for file naming conventions?

I had a job that, when copying to our server, kept getting a message that file(s) couldn't be copied because of certain types of characters or too many characters. I checked/fixed MANY of the filenames, until I got to one ... had to stop and take a deep breath ... then laugh ... then scratch my head ... I had to stop and laugh again when counting the NUMBER OF CHARACTERS in the file name when I got to ONE HUNDRED-THIRTY. Once I recovered, I kept counting ... to ONE HUNDRED-THIRTY-SIX.

That's *ONE HUNDRED-THIRTY-SIX* ... characters ... in *ONE* file name. I didn't think that was even possible.

Are 'art schools' NOT teaching technical sides of files? Whatewver happened to common sense?

Also files that are named 'FINAL'. WTF is up with that? FIles that are named 'FINAL' usually ALWAYS need to be revised. SO what then ...is the next file supposed to be named 'FINALFINAL'?

Are there no file naming standards being 'taught'?

Stopping a job to fix a batch of file names, then RE-LINKing to those files, slows the job down considerebly, adds more cost to the job, and opens the door WIDE OPEN to the possibility of something going wrong.

*I need a vacation.*
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they do)

You got me beat. The longest file name I've gotten was 126 characters. But I have gotten a FinalFinalFinal file before.

We do a newsletter for a client that uses long file names for all the Word files they send us. I have to do it on my hard drive, then zip the folder of Word documents to copy it to the server. It's easier than re-naming everything.

Renae
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they do)

There's a nice, but brief, section on file naming in +Real World Print Production+ by Claudia McCue.

I suppose, at the end of the day, unfortunately, you've got to communicate to your clients what you want; whether by newsletter / phone-call etc...
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

holy crap.

and I thought 55 chars was long. ( our server supports 24 chars max i believe)
so renaming and relinking is a pain in the a$$ and does leave room for mistakes to be made.

Its funny how you communicate to certain clients over and over about file name length and naming and it goes in one ear and out the other.

:X

Vacation? Whats that?
Never been on a VAC in my life (tho im young, plenty of time left to burn out)
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they do)

"it goes in one ear and out the other" - C2C

It does indeed... And try convincing designers to use textured backgrounds when submitting jobs for digital printing! They say they'll design-for-digitial... and then submit a bunch of solid PMS-colours.
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

If you are having problems with your Server truncating your filenames. You need to invest in a new server or software to run on your server. The newest version of Windows Server does not support more than 31 characters when a volume is mounted via AFP. In order to support more than 31 characters you will need to install ExtremeZ-IP or a similar progam.

Brian Cupp
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

I personally love it when a job has different pictures in different folders BUT THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME NAME.
(not 136 characters though!)
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

I'm the prepress guy at a big ad agency. I get the application files from designers and I transform them into final printable PDFX1a file that I distribute worldwide. I had to implement a naming file convention, asking everybody to use a script that will check and fix every filename to make sure it doesn't exceed 27 characters (so when".pdf" is added it does not exceed 31 characters) and to change all spaces in a filename into underscore. Some ftps won't let you transfer files that don't meet these requirements. But you got to remember, those guys are designers, they don't know all these technical issues so you have to teach them.
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

It's just another case of "what works for you," isn't it? I suppose if you're uploading/downloading files a lot then spaces in file names become really important to remove.

Is the script you're talking about AppleScript? I've been wanting to learn it; just bought myself +AppleScript: The Definitive Guide+; think it could be invaluable to know.
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

AppleScript it is. Never read that book but I highly recommend "AppleScript The Comprehensive Guide to Scripting and Automation on Mac OS X" by Hanaan Rosenthal. Also www.macscripter.net has a weekly tutorial on the subject+ lots of ressources.
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

> {quote:title=Mark wrote:}{quote}
> I personally love it when a job has different pictures in different folders BUT THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME NAME.
> (not 136 characters though!)

Mark,

i used to run into this all the time...i actually had an OSX automator workflow set up that would compare 2 folders by file name and modification date, and would indicate and seperate any differing images. it saved me a ton of time. i originally found the link for it on the apple website.

if it interests you, i can try and dig it out. i havent had to use it in a long time, we pretty much use pdf workflow 100% now, but i can look if youd like.

cr
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

I've worked in several fields not just printing, but the reality is, there is no common sense... anywhere.

At the least, we're not alone.

However, I had to laugh when I saw the comment about FINAL in a file name. You know for sure that you will be editing THAT one.

Edited by: George (geozinger) on Sep 17, 2007 3:43 PM
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

X29-Renamer. It will save you many lost hairs. Still need to link them in the layout app, but that way easier than trying to figure out which names are too long.

Last I knew, least round here, all the schools were teaching was how to do web stuff. Place I worked had hired several people right out of college that never ever heard of things like CMYK, Bleed, Trap, Spot color.

__________________
Lammy

EPP Manager • Brass City Printery
OSX 10.4.10 • RAMpage 9.4 • Dynastrip 4.2
EFI Colorproof XF • Avantra 30 • Epson 7600
 
Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Re: Curious about file naming standards (how 'artists' use names that they

Yeah, when I wen to college (1992-1995), I graduated from the first graduating class of Graphic Arts Technology with an Associate of Science degree. I didn't know about CMYK, trap, high resolution, etc. Basically was taught film stuff (that was going out of style a few years afterwards) and how to use the programs (like I couldn't have gotten that info condensed into a couple classes and not have to take a class for each app). It wasn't until I started working at a color separation house that I got real printing knowledge.

Don
 

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