We have a Macintosh based prep area. The software applications that we can accept include:
Quark XPress 4.0 or earlier
Adobe Photoshop 6.0 or earlier
Adobe Illustrator 8.0 or earlier
Macromedia Freehand 7.0 or earlier

When sending a file electronically, be sure to include all printer and screen fonts and make sure all supporting graphics are sent and linked to the file correctly.

FONTS
In order to guarantee your font match, you need to send all printer and screen fonts for any fonts used in your file. When selecting fonts, be sure to use PostScript fonts using Adobe, Agfa or Bitstream fonts. We are unable to use TrueType fonts. TrueType fonts were designed for home computers and are a combination of both the printer and the screen fonts. If a TrueType font is sent, we would have to substitute with our closest match because we may or may not have the same font. You may wish to ask your customer service representative to fax you a copy of our list of fonts if you’d like us to reset something for you. We can not output any files using TrueType fonts. Also be sure to use the actual font and never to use the style palette to modify the fonts. (The style palette is the set of buttons on your screen that lets you make a font bold, italic, add a shadow or to put an outline on your fonts.) Using the style palette will look like the correct font on your screen and on a standard output device but will not be recognized by an imagesetter. (An imagesetter is the machine that puts the image on plate material to be used on the presses).
Another alternative to sending fonts, is to make the font into a graphic so the fonts are not needed. This may be done using Adobe Illustrator by using the feature “create outlines” or in Freehand with “convert to path”. These applications actually “draw” around each letter.

GRAPHICS
All supporting graphic file(s) need to be given the same name as the graphic(s) in your document. Changing the name after placement will make the graphics come up as “missing” or “modified” when read by our imagesetters. When using Adobe Photoshop, save files as a Macintosh TIFF with LZW compression. When using Freehand or Illustrator, save the file as an EPS. In any case, place the graphics at 100%. . A TIFF is platform-independent but has subtle differences between Mac and PC and an EPS doesn’t travel well between platforms. However, TIFF and EPS are most preferred. (TIFF is an acronym for Tagged Image File Format. TIFF pictures can be black and white line art or grayscale. They can also be color but we prefer B&W) (EPS is an acronym for Encapsulated PostScript and is a graphics format used for mathematically-defined illustrations.) We have also used JPEGs successfully. Any other file format is not likely to open easily on the mac platform and should be avoided if possible. Always use high resolution images. We recommend 300 pixels/inch or 120 pixels/cm for grayscale images and 600ppi for Bitmap (black and white line art).

FYI: If it is necessary to send a hard copy of your art, please be sure to avoid screens (shading). When scanning a screen, if it is necessary to resize the graphic, it becomes distorted. Always avoid screens for artwork that will be reproduced as a foil design.


Click here if you would like to send your artwork now.