Control Separations when making a PDF

[pcmodem]

Matt,

What Glenn is talking about with knockouts could not be produced by turning off a Layer. Making the Layer Non-Printing yes, but not turning it off.

Example: You have a square background which is going to Foil emboss. On top of the square foil is a photo inside of a circle. The foil will be square with a circle area knocked out of the center. Turning off the layer with the circle will make it so the circle is NOT knocked out of the foil.

 

[mattbeals]

Quite so, but is it an important enough feature to build into InDesign? As it stands now much of or all of what you are asking for can be done with InDesign and Acrobat Pro.

 

[pcmodem]

Adding innovative features to InDesign is how they beat out Quark. Because Quark was sitting on their laurels. Had Quark of added the innovative features InDesign did, the majority of us would probably still be using Quark instead of InDesign.

 

[pcmodem]

True, majority of it could be done with InDesign and Acrobat today. Same thing could be said for creating drop shadows 15 years ago within Photoshop and then placing them behind the photo in your page layout application. Just because it can be done today, doesn't mean there might not be a better way to do this in the future.

 

[Shawn]

So wouldn't creating a layer called "dieline" and moving the dieline object(s) onto that layer, hiding the previous layer and exporting only the visible layer accomplish what you need using tools already available in InDesign or Illustrator? Even Acrobat Pro too.

Hi Matt

You're right that this can be done with current workarounds, but which is more efficient? To follow the steps you outlined above or to select PDF export and click a checkbox to output the separation plates you want.

With outputting separations you don't have to edit any artwork and you have some confidence that the output you get will match your sep preview. With creating a dieline layer you're editing art, you have to be careful to get all the pieces and make sure that you recreate the entire separation on the new layer. You have much more potential for error this way.

Say you have to process a hundred cards with foil and diecut plates, which method would you choose to get the work done quickly, if given a choice? Editing the artwork or clicking on a checkbox for a specific plate in the PDF export window.

Shawn