Caralan Help - INTERPRET A PROOF

Inspect your proof in Photoshop or similar: - Proof files are compressed bitmaps. A bitmap is the only way to really proof your job since all other file formats only show you what some software thinks your job should look like. Our proofing system actually shows you the bitmap files we would make plates from only at a lower resolution and with all the plates combined into a single file for viewing. Use your bitmap editor to inspect the colour makeup of your job. Photoshop allows you, using it's 'Channels Palette' , to view your job as CMYK separation and turn off each colour at will. This is especially useful for inspecting your overprint black settings.

Don't Double Click on your Proof: - If you do this whatever program you have associated with JPEG or TIF files will attempt to open your proof. This is often your web browser and it may not cope with a proof file. This is because proofs are compressed and when they expand they can become very large 50Mb - 100Mb is not uncommon. Web browsers are not designed to work with large CMYK files.

Type Problems: - Check for text reflow and missing fonts being substituted for Courier. Missing fonts are often a problem in imported postscript graphics (EPS, PDF, etc). It is common to find that people don't embed fonts when creating these graphics. You won't normally see this problem in your page makeup program because you will be looking at a placeholder preview created using low resolution font rendering on a system that has the fonts. However, when the job is rendered for high resolution printing the absence of the font becomes a problem - you get courier instead!

Using fonts you don't have: - Another common error is using the font style palette in your page make-up program. Many programs allow you to apply style attributes such as 'bold', 'italic', etc. that don't exist. For example Quark allows you to set a font such as Bookman Light to Bold using its font palette. There is obviously no such font as 'Bookman Light Bold' though Quark will create a low res rendition of this pseudo font for you. It will look OK on your monitor and will even print from your low res printer but when rendering at high res you will get either 'Bookman Light' or Courier. As well as changing the visual effect of your job you are likely to get text reflow since the spacing of 'Bookman Light' is different from 'Bookman Light Bold'. You should be selecting 'Bookman Book' or 'Bookman Medium' from your font list. Basically if it's not in your font list you don't have it so don't try to use it!

Overprint Colours: - If your software allows you to set objects to overprint other objects then this can cause things to unexpectedly change colour or disappear in the proof. All our inks are transparent so when a yellow object set to overprint is printed over a blue object then the yellow object will become green. Most programs do not show you this on screen since they are not just catering for print. If you set a white object to overprint it will disappear from the proof completely but still be visible in your program and in a PDF or EPS file. This is how it should be. The proof is showing you what you will get when the job is actually printed on a press - not what some program thinks it will look like.

Overprint Black: - Most black objects SHOULD be set to overprint. It is normal practice to overprint black objects, especially type, in order to minimise the possibility of unsightly white lines appearing around black objects as the paper flexes slightly during the printing process.

Strong Black: - Offset black ink does not produce a very dense black. This is not noticeable with small objects and is actually a requirement of good photographic reproduction. However, if your job contains large black solid areas it is a good idea to boost them by creating a colour such as C30 M30 K100. This will produce a rich vibrant black. Avoid using this colour for small black objects and text because of potential paper flexing problems.

Dot Gain: - Tint values are shown in a proof BEFORE DOT GAIN. This means that when your job is printed the tint values will increase slightly due to the physical process involved. Usually it's best for you to ignore the effect of dot gain but it will have an effect in light background tints.

Colour Accuracy: - Unless you have a properly calibrated monitor or printer you cannot make an accurate visual appraisal of colour in your proof. Uncalibrated monitors and printers vary massively and will mislead you. However programs like photoshop allow you to take colour measurements with a densitometer tool giving you an exact measurement of colour before dot gain is applied. If photoshop says your tint is C40,M40,Y10,K0 then that, plus dot gain, is exactly what you will get on printing.

Non CMYK objects and Colour: - If your postscript file contains colour objects that are not CMYK then your proof will not be colour accurate in these areas. Normally we would convert thes files manually but the proof you see will have had its non CMYK objects automatically converted using our base colour tables. If you want to see colour accuray of non CMYK objects ask us to prepare a proof for you.