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But if you want your tri-fold to always come out right, there is a formula for calculating the size of each panel.

Length of the sheet = (3X)+0.25

Solving for X gives you the size in inches of the smallest (inside) panel.

See this example for an 8.5x11 tri-fold:
11=(3X)+0.25
10.75=3X
X=3.58 inches

Then just solve for the other two panels, keeping in mind that the front cover can go slightly past the middle panel. Remember that the other side of the sheet is a mirror image and not the same exact layout. The following two images show the panel sizes, front and back, for this example:



This formula will work for any size tri-fold if you simply plug in the length of the sheet and solve for X. No complaining, a little algebra never hurt anyone.]]> Page Layout http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry070613-160423 Wizard Graphics Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:04:23 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060727-141813
1. ( blue area ): For first class, Postage return address must be placed here.

2. ( purple area ): Your indicia should be in this area.

3. ( white area ): This is the indicia. The smallest font size on an indicia should be 6pt and the size of the indicia should be 3/4” wide by 3/4” high. Check your mail house, they should be able to supply you with a file.

4. ( purple area ): Your mailing address should be in this area. Graphics or text used as a background in this area should be grayscale and SHOULD NOT be greater than 7%.

5. ( purple area ): The Post Office prints their barcodes in this area. There SHOULD NOT be any text or graphics in this area.

6. ( yellow area ): No addresses with a Zip code and State. This will eliminate the risk of your postcards being returned to you by the Postal automation process. If necessary, an address can be placed in this area if it does not contain a state zip code. The Post Office will scan this entire area for recipient addresses and zip codes.











]]> Page Layout http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060727-141813 Wizard Graphics Thu, 27 Jul 2006 21:18:13 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060726-172602
By learning how rendering intent works, you too can make your photos look like they should, reguardless of their CMYK color space.

Let's say that you have an RGB picture that looks like this:


The first step in converting any image to CMYK, is figuring out which colors will be problematic for process printing. In Photoshop, this can be done by checking the gamut warning. (VIEW MENU - GAMUT WARNING) The gamut warning works by analysing your image, and replacing the preview with a "warning color" wherever your image has colors that can not be represented by your destination color space [working CMYK Space,(this is set in the edit menu under color settings)] This shows you which colors will not correctly convert to CMYK.

Here is the gamut warning for our picture.


As you can see by the ammount of grey, this photo contains a lot of colors that will not convert perfectly.

When this happens, the most important thing to understand, to achieve the desired result is how to control the way color management handles the colors that are out of gamut. In most color management systems, the setting for controling colors that are out of range is called "rendering intent".

In Photoshop, the easiest way to control these colors, is to use the "convert to profile" dialog window (under the edit menu in CS2). In this window, you can see the source profile of the image, and set the destination profile. All this is doing, is telling you, which icc color profile is currently assigned to the image, and asking you how the image will be finally output. The "convert to profile" window looks like this:


In this example, my color management working space is set to "North America General Purpose". For almost all commercial printing, choosing the "U.S. Web Coated (SWOP v.2) destination space is a good choice, because, not only is it the default in most current applications, but it is a fairly good CMYK profile.

You will also see the setting for "rendering intent" in this window. This setting will really make the most difference in helping you to convert your images to CMYK, while preserving the colors that are most important.

There are four different settings for rendering intent in Photoshop CS2. Each one has it's own characteristic for converting colors that are out of range to a printable CMYK color.

Perceptual- This rendering intent will change ALL of the colors in your image in an attempt to keep the tonal contrast the same, but change the colors so that everything is in gamut.

Saturation- This rendering intent will move the colors of you image that are out of range to another tone in attempt to preserve the saturation of the tones. While this will might change the tone of your colors, this intent is great for keeping the colors bright and vivid.

Relative colorimetric- This rendering intent WILL ONLY CHANGE THE COLORS THAT ARE OUT OF RANGE, moving them to the closest color that can be reproduced by the output profile (CMYK). This is in my opinion the best default, because it will convert your colors as faithfully as possible, with little or no unnecessary tone change. It does sometimes fall short if your image has a lot of colors out of range.

Absolute colorimetric- This rendering intent, like relative colorimetric, will only change the colors that are out of range, but will desaturate them with no tonal shift, until it creates a color that can be reproduced by the output profile. While extremely accurate tonally, this intent usually leaves the colors looking a little weak and washed out in appearance.


Here is what the image looks like using the saturation intent VS RGB:


Perceptual:


Absolute Colorimetric:


Relative Colorimetric:


As you can see all three conversions to the exact same CMYK profile have different characteristics.

Saturation is great and bright, but some of the colors are not as faithfully reproduced.

Absolute colorimetric seems a little faded, but very faithful tonally.

Relative colorimetric is very faithful tonally, but the colors that are out of range are not quite as bright as the original.

Whenever you are converting a photo with a large number of colors that are out of range, I would recommend simply:

• opening up the "convert to profile" dialog
• click the preview button
• watch the image change as you select different rendering intents.

Once you find the rendering intent that best suites your needs for the image, perform the conversion. By taking this extra step, I think that you will find that you can breathe new life into your final CMYK printed piece.

]]> Color Related http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060726-172602 Wizard Graphics Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:26:02 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060726-154618
Lets begin with how jobs get printed. Unless you are ordering a large poster or a whole press run, your job will be printed on the same sheet with other jobs. This is called a "Gang Run", because multiple jobs are run together. So if you order 1000 business cards, we don't print a sheet with 80 copies of one card, because that would only take 13 sheets. Instead, your card is on the sheet once with many other jobs and we print 1000 sheets, which is much more efficient.

A common assumption is that every sheet of paper we print on is exactly the same size. Actually, there can be a lot of variation in the size and shape of each sheet. However, for subsequent cutting it is essential that the image is in the same place on the sheet. As the sheet goes through the press the image is registered to one side and one corner. This is called the "Gripper and Guide". Also, the sheet can stretch up to 1/16" as it goes through the press, depending on the type of paper. On a 23" sheet this is not really noticeable, but worth mentioning.

At Wizard Graphics, we have extremely tight tolerances to reduce error as much as possible. Our cutter is accurate to 0.001 inches, and can easily cut 300 sheets of cardstock at a time. The many cuts required for a complicated gang run can be programmed so that 1000 sheets can be cut the same even if cut 300 at a time. In our business card example, when a gang run comes off the press as a stack of 1000 sheets, someone has to cut it out. The sheets are jogged into the cutter by hand to the gripper and guide so that the image will be in the same place on every sheet.

You might be asking, "Why does this affect how I design my job?"
In theory, it shouldn't matter at all, but in real life it is important to understand that people are involved and there must be some room for error. On that note, it is easy to design a job that does not account for this. Really thin borders or borders that are close to the edge are noticeable if cut even slightly wrong. Also, text cannot go right up to the edge of the page because it might be cut off. The easy fix is to make sure all borders and text have at least a 1/8 inch margin from the finished edge of the page. The bigger the margin, the less noticeable it will be if it is cut slightly wrong. It is also for this reason that we ask for 1/8 inch bleeds past the finished edge of the page.



In summary, this is not to discourage you from being creative in your design, but merely some helpful information to ensure that all of your printing looks the best that it can. Understanding every aspect of commercial printing including production is the first step to becoming a better designer.]]> Bindery/Post-Press http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060726-154618 Wizard Graphics Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:46:18 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060712-164540
1. Select anything with a white fill or stroke and make sure your overprint for that object is turned off( if you have this option available). In programs such as Adobe Indesign and Illustrator you can select any object(s) and use the “attribute menu” to check and see if your object(s) overprints or not.

2. Turn your overprint preview option on ( if it’s available in your program ) and you will see what objects will be overprinting (refer to examples A and B above). If you want your text to look like example “A” above and your text fill is set to overprint, you might be surprised to find that your white text has disapeared (similar to example “B” from above) when your overprint preview is turned on.

NOTE: In Quark Express, do not create a new white swatch without setting all trapping settings to “Knockout”.

Where is the overprint preview located usually?
To turn the overprint preview on in Adobe Indesign, do this: Go to the “View menu” on the top of your document and choose “Overprint preview”. In Adobe Acrobat professional go to the “Advanced menu” on the top of your document and choose “Overprint preview”. We recomend you download Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 from Adobes’ website. To turn the “Overprint preview” on in Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0, go into Acrobats’ preference menu, and click on “Page Display” on the left side of the menu when the preference menu pops up, and click the “Overprint Preview” option to check it. Next close the “Preference” menu. Your overprint preview in Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 should be activated now.
]]> Color Related http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060712-164540 Wizard Graphics Wed, 12 Jul 2006 23:45:40 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060712-143545
There is an easy way around both of these problems, however. By simply reducing the amount of magenta used to achieve the blue tint, and replacing it with black, a designer can take out "an insurance policy" against both drying issues, and the risk of purple tinting.

Here is my recommendation.

On the left is the standard 4-color build for reflex blue, 100C,75M,0Y,0K. On the right is a great solution, 100C,65M,0Y,10K.

Both of these builds will come out looking about the same on press, but with the build on the right, dry times are reduced, and there is very little, or no chance of it looking purple.]]> Color Related http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060712-143545 Wizard Graphics Wed, 12 Jul 2006 21:35:45 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060706-152917
First of all, you might be asking- What is screening? Screening is the process by which printers convert color images into halftones, or rows of colored dots. By printing dots that are the additive primary colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, we can trick the viewer into perceiving a full range of colors. This is what we call 4 color process printing.

Conventional (AM) screening has been used basically from the beginning of the modern printing industry. Originally color images were photographed using a color filter (essentially, a tinted piece of translucent plastic that only allowed C,M,Y,orK information to pass through to the camera aperature), in combination with a piece of clear film with actual screen lines imaged upon it. These films were later stripped together, to produce color seperations for the press. Conventional Screening is also referred to as Amplitude Modulation. This is because with this method, the dot size is varied, to achieve different values. Small dots make lighter tones, while large dots make darker tones.

This illustration shows a conventional dot gradient.


Stochastic (FM) screening is a relatively new technology designed to reproduce the same colors as conventional screening, but with higher fidelity. Stochastic is also referred to as Frequency Modulation screening. With stochastic, different screen values are acheived by varying the number of dots. Unlike conventional, every dot printed is the smallest dot that can be reproduced. To make light tone values, fewer dots are used, while darker tone values are achieved by printing more dots.

This illustration shows a stochastic dot gradient.


The difference in detail between stochastic and conventional can be seen in the following images.

Let's say that our photograph looks like this.


When we look at a magnified section of this image printed conventional, here is what we will see.


The same section will look like this when printed stochastic.

]]> Other http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060706-152917 Wizard Graphics Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:29:17 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060630-153900 I would strongly recommend always saving your files in CMYK color space for print. The first and foremost reason for this, is that CMYK is a color mode designed to represent the colors of images output using process printing inks. Every output device, (ie: your monitor, desktop printer, a printing press, a television) has what we call a destination color space (the range of colors that can be represented by that device). Most newer versions of professional graphic design software have features integrated for color management. While I could write an entire book on correctly configuring, using and maintaining these features; the actual principal of icc color management is relatively simple- ICC color management is a way to control color, to make images look as close as possible to the way that they are intended, reguardless of the device that they will be output on. That being said, if ICC color management features are used incorrectly, it can be much worse than if they had not been used at all. Another equally important reason to convert your print files to CMYK is GAMUT (the range of colors that can be reproduced by your output device. While CMYK process printing is capable of reproducing a wide range of colors, it can not display every color that can be seen on your monitor. Conversely, your monitor can not display every color that we can reproduce with CMYK printing. When you are designing for print, if you are working in CMYK, you can be sure that all of the colors you see on your monitor can be reproduced at least reasonably well in print.

The image below shows an example of an rgb color that can not be reproduced in CMYK printing.

When this color is converted to CMYK (SWOP v2, relative colormetric), the nearest color looks like this.

This can be very disapointing if you are expecting the first color.

Another common problem seen when files are submitted in RGB color mode, is a profile mismatch. Profile mismatches occur when the incorrect profile is assigned to the file before converting it to a new color space. This can be as easily done as opening the image in a different program, or on a different computer, that has color management configured in a different way.

(I don't expect you to know exactly what I am talking about with the details of the color mismatching in the following examples, I am just trying to demonstrate that things can teribly go wrong)

For example, if a photo should look like this:

But was saved using an SRGB profile, but mismatched to an Adobe 1998 profile before converting to CMYK, it will look like this:

Or was opened up by a program using Pro photoRGB for it's working space, but did not have the correct SRGB profile assigned when importing, it will look like this:

That last one is pretty hard to sell to your customer!!!


To make matters worse, If you remember it or not, when you first installed Photoshop, the program had you pick a setting for your working space. Odds are that you chose either Adobe 1998, or SRGB IEC1966-2.1 (these profiles are totally different!!!) If you forget to assign the profile that you used when saving your file in RGB, you have a 50% chance of your images printing correctly. I don't know about you, but 50% is not good enough odds when I am spending money on a quality print job.

The best way to avoid these problems is to send us your files in CMYK (we use SWOP V2 for our profile calibration because it is the most common, and is assigned by Adobe applications for your CMYK working space; regardless of which default that you choose when installing the program for the first time- Thus 100% chance of successful color.

]]> Color Related http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060630-153900 Wizard Graphics Fri, 30 Jun 2006 22:39:00 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060630-144831
Designing a job for print that will cut correctly at the cutter is very important because an excellent design piece that's cut wrong will be rejected by the customer. The most important part of designing is knowing the final cut size of the job and determining whether there's bleeds on the page or not. Bleeds are extra space of art work that extends off the edge of the trim area of a page. We recommend that our customers give us 1/8 inch of extra bleeds on jobs that have art work extending off the edge of the trim area. The graphics above are a good example of a business card with bleeds included by the designer (top left) and the same business card not having any bleeds (top right).

For the sake of this demonstration, let's use the business card on the top left of this page as reference. The top left busines card is a good example of a job submitted with bleeds. The standard size of a business card is 2 by 3 and a half (2x3.5). Let's do a quick tutorial on creating bleeds by using the top left business card as an example.

STEP 1: Make the page size of your file 2 inches high and 3.5 wide. The orientation of your page should be horizontal because this card is a horizontal card.

STEP 2: Draw a square box that has 1/8 of extra space on all 4 sides and center the square so that the center point of the square and the center of your page are at the same location. The size of your square should be larger than your page size ( your square size should be 2.25" X 3.75" ).

STEP 3: Once your square is centered correctly with your page size, the size of the square is your bleed size. The card in this case will be cut 1/8 inch smaller on all sides and the final cut size will be 2 by 3 and a half inches.

The background image of the business card above was created in Adobe Photoshop and the height and width of the image is: 2.25 X 3.75.

STEP 4: If the width and heigth of your image with bleeds is the same size as the square you drew, you should be able to center it with the square you've created and they both should line up correctly.

In the example above, I used Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. What I did was I drew a box that was 2.25 by 3.75 in Adobe Indesign and centered it with my page size ( 2 by 3.5 ). I imported the backgound graphic with crop marks and type into the box I created in Indesign. I then selected the graphic inside of the box I drew, press and held the command and shift key on my keyboard and then press the letter "e" to center the graphic automatically inside of the box I drew. I've already type set the text and created the cropmarks with the background graphic in Adobe Illustrator and saved the file as an EPS. The crop marks you see on the the top left example about were created in Illustrator by making a box 2 by 3.5 inches, centering the center point of the box with the back ground graphic and converting the box into crop marks using Illustrators crop mark filter. Keep in mind that I turned off the fill and strokes for the 2 by 3.5 inch box before I converted it into crop marks.

We recomend crop marks to be created automatically and not manually. The are options in most layout programs to automatically creat crop marks. The amount of inches the crop marks should offset from the bleed should be larger than 1/8 (.125) inches. We use .125.]]> Page Layout http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060630-144831 Wizard Graphics Fri, 30 Jun 2006 21:48:31 GMT http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060630-141556 C-35, M-45, Y-100, K-0 This is closest to PMS 873 on coated paper.]]> Color Related http://www.wgiprint.com/PrepressForum/wgblog/index.php?entry=entry060630-141556 Wizard Graphics Fri, 30 Jun 2006 21:15:56 GMT