PRINTING TIPS/ FILE PREPARATION & TRANSFER

File Preparation for Digital Printing

To achieve the best results:

• Send us high-resolution print-ready PDF files, Acrobat 5 compatible, together with your working files. Please include all fonts (including those in placed EPS files), as well as any pictures or external objects that you have used in your document.
• Images imported into page layout programs should be in either EPS or TIFF format. We do not recommend JPEG or LZW compression of images.
• Images included in any document should be cropped to their intended output size and scaled to their final resolution in Photoshop prior to being imported into any page layout program.

 

Design Considerations

Please remember these design considerations when creating your documents:

• When preparing colour files, black should be comprised of the following colour combination: 20% Cyan, 20% Magenta, 20% Yellow and 100% black.
• Digital printing technology uses toner, which is prone to cracking when folded. It is therefore best to design so that fold lines occur on white or light areas, rather than full or dark colour areas of your document.
• Include crop marks for trimming to the final required size, and show fold marks if needed.
• For documents with a full bleed, i.e. colour that goes right to the edge of the page, you should design your file so that colour bleeds beyond the edge of the printed page, and include appropriate crop marks. Otherwise, some colour will be cropped from the edges of the document upon final trimming.

 

Colour Control

Two important points to remember when preparing colour documents for digital printing:

1. 100% colour accuracy is not always possible .
   At CSM we calibrate our printing equipment every day in order to maximize colour consistency. However, this does not guarantee that colours will be 100% identical from one day to the next. Colours printed on one stock may look quite different when printed on another stock, and temperature and humidity differences may also cause colour variations.
   
   Proofs should always be on the same stock as that to be used. This is especially important when using a specialized stock, such as glossy paper or card stock.
   
   If 100% colour accuracy is critical, we do not rely on colour proofs made in advance. We can make arrangements with you to review a colour proof immediately prior to the print run.
2. Colour does not print as displayed on your computer monitor . (RGB vs CMYK)
   Computer monitors use the three primary colours of Red, Green and Blue (RGB). However, digital printing equipment uses a process based on the colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK). As a result, colours on the printed page will appear different to the colours on your computer monitor.
   
   Generally, conversion of an image from RGB to CMYK should be done only once, usually when all manipulation of the image has been completed and it is time to save it for the final time. The range of colours possible in RGB is significantly larger than in CMYK. Some colours will therefore be lost when images are converted to CMYK, and consequently, converting back and forth more than once between RGB and CMYK will significantly reduce the quality of an image.
   
   Prior to converting an image from RGB to CMYK, it is a good idea to save a backup copy of the RGB image that can be worked on should your CMYK conversion have less than optimal results.
   
   All original artwork and colour blends should be created in CMYK rather than RGB

 

Image Resolution

Scans and raster images should be as close to CSM recommended resolutions as possible. Images below recommended resolutions may result in blurred images, and dull colours. Images above recommended resolutions will take much longer to process and will only provide a nominal quality improvement.

 

We recommend that images be within the following resolution ranges when printed at final size:

Small Format Colour (up to 13” x 19”)

Minimum: 200 dpi
Recommended Resolution: 300 dpi
Maximum: 600 dpi

 

Large Format Colour

Minimum: 150 dpi
Recommended Resolution: 300 dpi
Maximum: 600 dpi

Scanned images are like photographs. The resolution of an image increases when scaled down and decreases when scaled to a larger size.

Our recommended resolutions are all based on the final printed size of the image. If the image is to be printed at twice its original size, the resolution of the original should be twice the recommended resolution. If the image is to be printed at four times the original size of the image, then the original resolution should be four times the recommended resolution.

It is difficult to improve upon an image that is scanned at a low resolution (unless, the image is to be printed at a smaller size). Although Photoshop and some other software programs allow you to increase the resolution of an image, this image manipulation will not always give you good results. The programs do not provide “real resolution” but rather interpolations, or estimates, of what the image might look like at a higher resolution. Usually, quality improvement is minimal and interpolated images can look “flatter” than the originals. For best results, images should be scanned at a resolution equal to the intended resolution of the final output.

File Transfer

• Email: please send your files as attachments by e-mail to csm@csmmedia.ca
  ISP (internet service providers) often limit the size of files that can be sent by e-mail so that large files can be delayed, or sometimes will not arrive at all at CSM. You should use appropriate file compression and limit your final (compressed) file size to 10MB or less . Files that are more than 10MB should be sent to us via our FTP site.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) : this is a convenient method to send large files to CSM. If you already have an assigned password, you may upload files directly to our secure FTP site. If you would like to obtain a password so that you can use our FTP site, please contact our production staff via e-mail at csm@csmmedia.ca . Once you have the password, uploading files to our site is as easy as ABC:
  1. Using FTP software, type the site address, 64.226.183.231 (without a “www” or “http://” preface), into the browser window.
  2. Type in your ID name and password.
  3. Open the CSM folder and upload your files using drag and drop or the cut and paste options under the edit menu.
• There is no automatic notification to CSM when your files have been uploaded. You will have to let us know each time that you upload files to our FTP site.

 

More Questions?

If you have more questions about how to achieve the best results with your digital printing project, please email us at csm@csmmedia.ca , or give Martin a call at
(403) 237-9237.

 

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