Action to help proof the 5/8' clear zone for coil punch

[markb]

Hello, I am looking into how to develop a way to help ensure there is no content in the 5/8" area from the left trim edge on odd pages and 5"8' from right edge on even pages. My idea is to see if there is a way to develop a Pitstop action to overlay a 1 pt magenta line from top to bottom of page at this 5'8" mark so prepress and clients can review on screen. Is this something possible to do in Pitstop? If so, is there a way to make this line non-printable, or is that 2nd action to develop. Thanks for any insight.

 

[abc]

Do you have a test file at all?
From your description this is possible. It might even be possible to make a preflight check for it.

 

[mattbeals]

The problem will be false positives for things like objects with no stroke, no fill, white filled boxes, white strokes, masked objects, etc. You can do it now with the select inside/outside region. Start with the lower left of the media box, go out .625, up 11. THen use the log selection and give it a text comment like "objects are in spine area". Then run the action. I came up with a number of false positives in one sample that were lines of text with a white fill on a white background in a clipping mask. Checking by ink coverage as far as I know cannot be constrained by a select in/out of region, it can only be for a page.

So yes, you can do it. It's not hard. It's just hard to filter out what is not meaningful.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Sounds like markb is looking for a purely visual solution without any underlying validation. In addition to an action, a design layout may also be suitable and perhaps preferable.

EDIT: Attached is a simple Design Layout file for version 12. It puts a guide at 10mm from the left edge of a right hand page, simply adjust the position to suit (it is set to auto mirror for even pages). Of course, this can get a whole lot fancier by also including zones and simulations of the punch holes etc. The drawback of using a design layout is that the customer would also need PitStop Pro as well.

EDIT 2: I have also added an “add eyelet” action as an example, however it will add an extra spot colour and you will then need to remove this spot colour (I am not sure if there is a way to make it non-printing, that is what design layouts are for). Your client will not need a copy of PitStop if this method is used.

There are of course pros/cons for each!


Stephen Marsh

 

[mattbeals]

yes, a design layout would be a great way to do this visually.

 

[markb]

Thank you guys, I've been swamped at work today and will take a closer look at Stephen's sample files. Yes, I am looking for a visual solution. We are still on Version 11 and I am unfamiliar with some of the design layout concepts mentioned here so I have some homework to do.

 

[abc]

Thank you guys, I've been swamped at work today and will take a closer look at Stephen's sample files. Yes, I am looking for a visual solution. We are still on Version 11 and I am unfamiliar with some of the design layout concepts mentioned here so I have some homework to do.

it's a great time to upgrade to Version 12 as you will get Version 13 for free when it releases in April 😁