Prepress in Regards to Image & File Formats

1. Prepress in Regards to Image & File Formats Learning Lunch

2. Agenda • Image formats What they are and what do they mean?eps, tif, jpeg, gif, ai vector v.s bitmap (raster) high res v.s low res When do I use which? What do I need when? • Images and color expectations: CMYK, RGB, PMS & Index • The life of a PDF What is the difference between editable and non-editable? What is the difference between high & low res? Can pdfs be sent to printers? • Comps v.s Mechanicals Why low res is used in one, and high res in another? How it relates to resource management. • Filenamingand the server Most characters in a title • Common file formats

3. IMAGE FORMATS

4. Image formats • What they are and what do they mean? • eps: Meaning “encapsulated PostScript” (EPS), is a standard file format for importing and exporting PostScript files. It is usually a single page PostScript program that describes an illustration or entire page. The purpose of an EPS file is to be included in other applications. An EPS file can contain any combination of text, graphics and images. Since it is actually a PostScript file (PostScript is the primary language for printing), it is the most versatile file format that is available. Vector based art that will be imported into a desktop program or into a photoshop document to “raster” it. Also can send this to a printer for production. Can be a bitmapped image but not typically. • tiff: Meaning “tagged information file format” TIFF or TIF is, in principle, a very flexible format that can be “lossless” (meaning no data is lost). The details of the image storage algorithm are included as part of the file. In practice, TIFF is used almost exclusively as a lossless image storage format that uses no compression at all. Most graphics programs that use TIFF do not compress in order to maintain quality. Consequently, file sizes are quite big. Usuallyis bitmapped, uncompressed art that will be imported into a desktop program. Also can send this to a printer for production if 300 dpi.   • gif: Meaning “graphic interchange format” which saves bitmap images at 8 bits per pixel and caps the color at 256. The 8 bit level allows the image to work across multiple server platforms. This does compress the image when saving so some color information and quality may be lost. These are used for web and powerpoint only.

5. Image formats • What they are and what do they mean?Cont. • jpeg: Meaning “joint photographic expert group”. Named after the group that created it, this format is for raster or bitmap images. Its compression factor stores the image on the hard drive in less bytes than the image is when it displays, making it ideal for the web, email and for powerpoint. You will lose some quality in saving down to a jpeg because of the compression. • ai: Short for Adobe Illustrator file, this is a file created in Adobe Illustrator as a vector based image with bitmap images placed within it. This file is not an importable image. It does not compress. Usually, “Virgin” working vector based Adobe Illustrator file is needed by anybody that is going to work on the file, trap it, print it. Must have the Illustrator program to open, and not importable. • psd: Short for Adobe Photoshop file, this is a file created in Adobe Photoshop as a raster based image. Often, this file is complex with all its layers and pieces. It is often called a “virgin” file, kept in this format as a working, editable file with no compression so all the information stays intact. This file is not an importable image. It does not compress, in fact, is often VERY large. • pdf: Means “Portable Document Format” is a universal file format developed by Adobe® that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Because of its name “portable” you will find PDF a very common format which is widely used on the internet due to its platform independence. To view PDF files you need Adobe Acrobat Reader which you can download free. You can save these as high res for printers or low res for just viewing. Sometimes, you can open in Illustrator.

6. Image formats Vector v.s Bitmap? • Vector Images: • Vector images are images that are completely described using mathematical equations, made up of lines and points with lines interconnecting all of them or just a few. It is these lines that are saved when saving a vector image, so the file size is very small. • Because this art is based on lines v.s pixels, these images are very scalable without losing quality, making them perfect for company logos, maps, and other objects that need to be scaled down frequently. They are usually saved as .eps files. Because of the linear quality of these files, resolution is never an issue. They are easily reproduced and easy to prepare for printing.

7. Image formats Vector v.s Bitmap? • Bitmap (raster) Images: • Bitmap images are completely made up of colored dots or pixels. As you can see, the image consists of thousands of rows and columns of pixels. The human eye can’t see these pixels, so to us, everything looks smooth and tonal. You can have all kinds of bitmap images (see pic.) • The pictures you take with your digital camera are bitmapped. • Bitmaps can be very large because of all the pixel data that needs to be saved, but depending on what format (JPEG, GIF, TIF) you can control and compress the size. However, you need to keep in mind how large your bitmap images need to be. Bitmap images get pixilated and blocky if enlarged too much. Also, low-res images for printing becomes very pixilated and blocky, so it is important to use the best quality image possible for reproduction. But remember, more dpi (dots per inch) means more memory, so file sizes for printers can get slow and very large. Typically these high-res files are not e-mailable.

8. Image formatsLow-res v.s High-Res in bitmapped images? • Low-Res: Typically, art directors and designers work in low res files for a concept round (typically 72 dpi-150 dpi). This allows for creative depth-to focus on getting as much ideation done as possible in a short time without worrying about production files and a slow computer. These files would never be acceptable to a printer, but are passable for client presentations, e-mailed layouts and for powerpoint. The file sizes tend to be smaller, but the quality is a little bitmapped. The trade off is we get a larger range of work and approaches. • High-Res: Typically, high-res images are 300 dpi in size. Often this is needed for the best print quality. 300 dots per inch however tends to be a very large file, and depending on how big the finished piece is, the file could be 65 MB to 2GB. This is to ensure the image is smooth and crisp and you see no pixilization. Printers will ask for 300 dpi files. You cannot take a low-res (72) dpi image and just res it up. The digital information (the pixels) are not there to begin with. Res-ingit up doesn’t necessarily add more pixels. So for the best print quality we need the highest resolution file we can get from our clients, the stock houses and photographers.

9. Image formatsA word on fractals, it may save your client’s butt • Your client gives you the only image they have, and it is not big enough to res up for a tradeshow. It is all they have, and they won’t budge on using something else. • Enter Genuine Fractals®. • It’s based on CRAZY math. GF transforms the image into "resolution independent-assets" eliminating the relationship between pixels and resolution. The image becomes mathematically encoded as an algorithm and the pixels of the original raster image are replaced with a new file structure that stores the entire image and none of the pixels. When you open the image again, you can re-scale it to the desired size and the algorithm will generate new pixels while maintaining sharpness regardless of image size.

10. Images & Color Expectations

11. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • CMYK • CMYK: This is the format for most print art and imagery. For the most part photography must be duplicated in the CMYK format. This consists of dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Different percentages of them make up all the colors of the spectrum. The color range in CMYK is much shorter than an RGB range-because RGB is the based on the light spectrum. • This is important to know when converting RGB files to CMYK. One needs to be sensitive to a color shift that will occur because you are using less color range to match the RGB in CMYK-land. FORMATS: TIFFS, PSDS, EPS & PDFs

12. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • CMYK cont. • CMYK: Because “dots” make up CMYK printing, registration is really important (metal plates make dots layered on each other seamlessly to print things). Also, small type in a color with conventional printing is difficult to hold registration. SO keep it one plate color, or reversed. • CMYK is a smaller color spectrum. SO to have it match PMS is very difficult (more on this) Because of this, agency position is to work withCMYK chips only. In branding, we will deliver PMS matches as well. But printing PMS is costly and used only for company’s that can afford it or their brands are more “tightly held.”

13. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • RGB • This is the format that is based on screen color (light). Your TV and your monitor thinks in RGB and shows color in RGB. RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue. It is ranges of these three colors that will give you a variety of different colors. This format is ideal for Powerpoint, online viewing of layouts, websites and other light based sources. Digital photography is taken in RGB, to give the greatest amount of color information to the file. RGB gets a great range amount of color v.s CMYK. It gives you more room to move around in your photograph when converting to a CMYK format which has less. If you start out with more “Information”, you are better off when it is time to prepare files for printing. FORMATS: JPEGS, PDFs  & GIFS 

14. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • RGB • “Matching” then is a huge issue. Be aware that pdf viewing is different than printing. The vibrancy they see on a monitor will not hold in traditional printing. Art directors must match whatever the client approved as close as possible using the printing process that is being used as a guide. Therefore, what might be in the file for “comp” and design might not indeed be the final color mix in the final file that goes to print. This is especially important when developing brand architectures (logo color and approved palettes for the client)

15. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • PMS • What it is is what you get. • This is a line color system of flat inks. There are no variety of colors that mix together to make it. The color of the ink for printing matches the chip in the PMS book. These are colors laid down by one plate per color. Think of when you go to the store and pick up paint for your walls. It should never deviate. Your can is one color and matches your chip. The more colors “plates”, the more money. • You can use screens of a PMS color, and you can hold color in registration of small type because the type is not made of dots or a mix. • Matching a PMS color in CMYK is difficult, because even PMS is out of CMYK’s range. (see gamut and chip book.) • PMS is not for a projects with full color imagery, but more simple designs, logos and such. If a big brand wants a consistent red no matter where, a PMS color may be the way to go. • FORMATS: EPS, PDFs

16. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • INDEX COLOR • This is reduced color mapping of 8-bit or less. This is done to reduce images to their smallest size and these images are most commonly used on Web pages as they are small and quick to load. The 256 color palette is mapped for best results on the Internet, taking into account the differences between the Windows and Macintosh color palettes. • When an image is encoded in this way, color information is not directly carried by the image pixel data, but is stored in a separate piece of data called a palette: an array of color elements, in which every element, a color, is indexed by its position within the array.The image pixels do not contain the full specification of its color, but only its index in thepalette. • The palette itself stores a limited number of distinct colors; 4, 16 or 256 are the most common cases.

17. CMYK, RGB, PMS & INDEX • Why do you care? This is for the art people! • If your client needs to match their brand colors perfectly in a print job, suggest using pantone colors. Otherwise, matches are never exact in CMYK. If it is a CMYK job, suggest doing a 7 color job with an added PMS color plate and budget accordingly. • Photos are always shot in RGB, so conversion to CMYK will need tweaking and randoms and proofs. So budget accordingly in prepress money. • Manage client expectations on image conversions and color. Talk to your art team about what the client is approving against so we can make sure we choose colors in prepress that meets expectations (Fiery? Pdf monitor? Proof?).

18. The Life of a PDF

19. PDFsWhat is the difference between editable & non-editable PDFs? • PDFs are not readily editable in Acrobat - and editing may be explicitly prohibited. A precise snapshot, a PDF file is created at a specific date and time, and in a specific way. • If a PDF is editable, the maker has selected various fields using Acrobat in which someone can go in and “edit” or “fill-in” certain areas, like a form of some sort. Generally, images and graphic text are not editable in a pdf. • Now, all this being said, done properly, a PDF can be opened in Illustrator and edits can be made to it to some extent. Sometimes not all the information translates correctly, depending on what application the original document was created from. If the document was made in Illustrator then converted to a PDF, than it most likely can be reopened in Illustrator and worked on.

20. PDFsWhat is the difference between high-res and low-res PDFs? • PDFs can be saved out in various compression formats and resolution, depending on the end user. A PDF can be saved out to be the correct resolution for a printer to use and print from, but the size of the file will be large. A low res pdf is lower quality but can be saved to be small enough to e-mail to a client. These low res PDFs cannot be judged on crispness or color. They should not be any larger than 4 megs for e-mailing (sometimes smaller, depending on your client’s inbox capacity). • Can PDFs be sent to printers? • Yes, but they will be large (not e-mailable)and they will need to be a special, certified, printer friendly pdf, such as a PDFX1A, etc.

21. Comps v.s MechanicalsWhat do they mean and why is high res used in one, low res in another?

22. What do they mean and why is high res used in one, low res in another? • The answer to the above question is SPEED/RESOURCES, and how it relates to the purpose of each phase. • Concepts need BREADTH of ideas, not depth. That may mean something that does not exist yet and needs to be shot or created. It may mean just a lot of stuff to be built quickly without the burden of “heavy” files. Therefore things are comped, low res to get approvals for creation and purchase. • Final is about depth vs. breadth. The files are meticulously put together for flawless production. High res images are put in the file. Time and detail is focused on the final execution so it is perfect.

23. COMPS • This is the beginning phase of a project. We are often moving quickly and we are just looking at ideas and possibilities. (Breadth v.s. Depth). Often-times, because of the computer, comps can look tight and pretty finished. This is not the case. Often, these comps are directional and low-res. Imagery has been thought through to a certain point, but not priced out.

24. MECHANICALS (also, old schoolers refer to them as “keylines”) • This is an old-fashioned word, heralding the days when we used to do keylineand paste-up and create “mechanicals”. These mechanicals were shot by a camera to create film, then plates for printing. This used to be a meticulous process, and often times a letter change meant sending out for new type from the letterpress house. A small change could take a week. Though the process of keylining is obsolete, the term is still used today to speak to the process of creating a file for production.

25. MECHANICALS (also, old schoolers refer to them as “keylines”)cont. • Now, this process is completely done on the computer, which in many ways has been wonderful, but has brought on new challenges and new things to think about when we send out a file to a printer. Though the timelines are compressed, the meticulous process of thinking through a file and making sure it is correct to send out needs to be done, and Art Directors and Production Artists need the time to do it-because mistakes cost money.

26. MECHANICALS (also, old schoolers refer to them as “keylines”)cont. • High-res needs to be placed with color corrections. • Copy needs to be proofed and finalized. • Files need to be set to printer specs with bleeds and live areas accounted for and spec’d out. • Colors need to be spec’d. (Colors that a client has been looking at off a laser and approved may not be the color that will actually show up that way in a CMYK world). • Mark ups need to be created for the printer. • It will keep our productions costs down once our files leave these four walls. It will also ensure that the client is getting what they are expecting.

27. MECHANICALS (also, old schoolers refer to them as “keylines”)cont. • Because mechanicals are high-res, the files are considerably larger, and processing times get very slow. If you are working on a large format job, with high res images in place, the file may take 5-10 minutes to save each time, and moves may take 5 minutes for the computer to catch up. Some recent outdoor we produced took almost 20 minutes to save everytime. So it is important to remember that timelines must ensure proper time for production of files.

28. File Naming

29. FILE NAMING Best practices for our server • Brevity is best • For cross platform compatibility keep your filenames (with extension) 31 characters or less [but preferably 11 characters or fewer] • Avoid spaces  • Macintosh users like spaces. UNIX machines and URLs do not. In fact, system 10 on a mac will not let you add a space in a file name. Avoid them. In fact, Fetch, a Macintosh file-transfer program used to upload files to servers, automatically converts spaces to underscores when transferring files to UNIX machines. The UNDERSCORE character is a good substitute for a space. Spaces are BAD. Very Bad.

30. FILE NAMING Best practices for our server • Avoid special symbols  • Don’t use & # / \ : * ? “ < > | or other odd symbols in your file or directory names. Also, putting a comma or semicolon in a filename could cause major problems under various circumstances on any platform when working with lists of filenames and should be avoided. The characters listed above are frequently used for specific tasks in an electronic environment. For example, a forward slash is used to identify folder levels in Microsoft products, while Mac operating systems use the colon. Periods are used in front of file-name extensions to denote file formats such as .jpg and .doc; using them in a file name could result in lost files or errors. • Use lowercase characters only  • Unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise, strictly use lowercase characters in file and directory names.

31. FILE NAMING Best practices for our server • Give file names meaningful extensions • File name extensions are three or more characters that follow the file name and are separated from the file name by a period. Extensions convey information about the contents of a file and help Web browsers know how to display or serve a document. For example:   • index.html - An HTML file.  • graphic.gif  - A graphic file in GIF format. • newsletter.pdf  - A newsletter in PDF format. • movie.mpeg - A video in MPEG format

32. Common file extensions Raster Image Files Types and Formats .bmp Bitmap Image File .gif Graphical Interchange Format File .jpg JPEG Image File .png Portable Network Graphic .psd Adobe Photoshop Document .pspimagePaintShop Pro Image .thm Thumbnail Image File .tif Tagged Image File .yuv YUV Encoded Image File Vector Image Files Types and Formats .ai Adobe Illustrator File .drw Drawing File .eps Encapsulated PostScript File .ps PostScript File .svg Scalable Vector Graphics File Page Layout Files Types and Formats .indd Adobe InDesign Document .pct Picture File .pdf Portable Document Format File .qxd QuarkXPress Document .qxp QuarkXPress Project File .rels Open Office XML Relationships File Audio File Types and Formats .aif Audio Interchange File Format .iff Interchange File Format .m3u Media Playlist File .m4a MPEG-4 Audio File .mid MIDI File .mp3 MP3 Audio File .mpa MPEG-2 Audio File .ra Real Audio File .wav WAVE Audio File .wma Windows Media Audio File Video Files Types and Formats .3g2 3GPP2 Multimedia File .3gp 3GPP Multimedia File .asf Advanced Systems Format File .asx Microsoft ASF Redirector File .avi Audio Video Interleave File .flv Flash Video File .mov Apple QuickTime Movie .mp4 MPEG-4 Video File .mpg MPEG Video File .rm Real Media File .swf Shockwave Flash Movie .vob DVD Video Object File .wmv Windows Media Video File