How To Get Artwork to Printers?
Nigel Gatherer
sponsorship, and one of the sponsors, a printer, has offered to "prepare
the stuff for printing". I was hoping to take it to an Acorn bureau, since
all the Artwork is in !Impression Publisher (it's a 30-page, full colour
Annual Report).
So my problem is: how do I give the printer the Artwork on disk? I can
think of three possibilities off the top of my head (detailed below), and
I'm wondering if anyone out there who has more experience than I could
pass on some opinions?
1) Cerilica Riscript. According to their press release, it is due for
release mid-January, but there's been no word yet. I guess it won't be
ready in time, so that option's out the window.
2) PDF files. I'm clueless about the possibility of doing this (I have
RiscOS 3.7).
3) PostScript. A bureau I used years ago once told me how to output
PostScript files, but I didn't take a note of it. Also, I'm having
difficulty loading a PostScript printer driver.
Even supposing I can succeed in one of the above, how does the font
translation work (I'm only using two font families, Ariel and Dingbats)?
I'd be worried that the translation would mess up the layout.
Many thanks for any light which can be shed on my problems.
--
Nigel Gatherer, Edinburgh
mailto:gath...@argonet.co.uk
Jim Lesurf
<gath...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> The job I'm doing has hit a snitch: the client has been seeking
> sponsorship, and one of the sponsors, a printer, has offered to "prepare
> the stuff for printing". I was hoping to take it to an Acorn bureau,
> since all the Artwork is in !Impression Publisher (it's a 30-page, full
> colour Annual Report).
> So my problem is: how do I give the printer the Artwork on disk? I can
> think of three possibilities off the top of my head (detailed below),
> and I'm wondering if anyone out there who has more experience than I
> could pass on some opinions?
> 1) Cerilica Riscript. According to their press release, it is due for
> release mid-January, but there's been no word yet. I guess it won't be
> ready in time, so that option's out the window.
Now due 1st Feb or just before.
> 3) PostScript. A bureau I used years ago once told me how to output
> PostScript files, but I didn't take a note of it. Also, I'm having
> difficulty loading a PostScript printer driver.
This may be your best bet, so you may need to persist. Can you give some
idea of nature of the problems?
> Even supposing I can succeed in one of the above, how does the font
> translation work (I'm only using two font families, Ariel and Dingbats)?
> I'd be worried that the translation would mess up the layout.
When you get the PS driver running, use !PrintEdit and remove *all* the
fonts you use from the mapping list it shows. This should ensure that the
PS file you create from the driver will include all the details of the
font shapes, etc, so should then render on devices that haven't seen the
fonts before. It makes the files bigger, but it helps avoid 'translation'
problems. There was detailed info on this in a recent 'Archive'.
N.B. I believe that some earlier versions of the PS driver produced output
that some pro printers didn't understand correctly, but output from
!printers 1.62 may be better in this respect. This may be why Paul has
found recently that he can now send PS output to his printers for
producing 'Archive'. I can't comment too much on this as my own PS never
goes further than about 5 feet from the RPC. :-) IIRC there was some
info on some 'hand editing' of PS to improve its acceptability to rips in
an 'Acorn Publisher' a while ago.
Slainte,
Jim
--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
MMWaves http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/MMWave/Index.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html
TechWriter http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/TechWrite/Tips1.html
Dutton CDs http://www.duttonlabs.demon.co.uk/index.html
Nigel Gatherer
> In article <49856b066...@argonet.co.uk>, Nigel Gatherer
> <gath...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
> > ...PostScript. A bureau I used years ago once told me how to output
> > PostScript files, but I didn't take a note of it. Also, I'm having
> > difficulty loading a PostScript printer driver.
> This may be your best bet, so you may need to persist. Can you give some
> idea of nature of the problems?
Well I've just reloaded a PostScript printer driver so that I could
remember the error messages I got, but it seems to be working OK! Typical.
By the way, I've installed the driver called "Linotype.200"; I wasn't sure
which one to load - does it matter?
> > Even supposing I can succeed in one of the above, how does the font
> > translation work (I'm only using two font families, Ariel and
> > Dingbats)? I'd be worried that the translation would mess up the
> > layout.
> When you get the PS driver running, use !PrintEdit and remove *all* the
> fonts you use from the mapping list it shows. This should ensure that the
> PS file you create from the driver will include all the details of the
> font shapes, etc, so should then render on devices that haven't seen the
> fonts before. It makes the files bigger, but it helps avoid 'translation'
> problems. There was detailed info on this in a recent 'Archive'.
Sounds like I need to re-subscribe to Archive AND Acorn Publisher. It's
looking as though I'll need to start working a lot more with Postscript
files and local bureaux, so I've a lot of research to do.
Thanks for your VERY helpful response, Jim. I'll let you know how I get on.
Jim Lesurf
> > In article <49856b066...@argonet.co.uk>, Nigel Gatherer
> > <gath...@argonet.co.uk> wrote:
[postscript]
> > This may be your best bet, so you may need to persist. Can you give
> > some idea of nature of the problems?
> Well I've just reloaded a PostScript printer driver so that I could
> remember the error messages I got, but it seems to be working OK!
Law of Sod. :-)
> Typical. By the way, I've installed the driver called "Linotype.200"; I
> wasn't sure which one to load - does it matter?
Hard to say for sure. :-) It will depend upon the relative requirements
of that and the actual software/printer/rip that you'll end up sending
files to. Alas, despite PS being a 'standard' one size does not always fit
all here! The only way to know for sure is to send a test file to the
printers and ask them to check it an comment.
The above said, if you examine the PDFs you'll probably see that they are
very similar inside. They are all filetyped as MDFs but are actually
squashed, so to view them: copy them to ramdisc, retype them as squash,
and double click on them. The results then become unsquashed and retyped
as MDFs, but if you load them into !edit or similar you find they are
readable text. Chances are that the only differences are:
1) The list of expected fonts and their mapping.
2) the pixres
3) the choice of prologue file.
The chances are that none of these will matter if you use !PrintEdit to
ensure all fonts are downloaded when wanted. This makes the list of fonts
irrelevant. The pixres seems to be effectively ignored for most PS
printing [1]. Choice of prologue may matter, but you may find it is the
same in all the PS level2 files... :-)
If you have a variety of PS MDFs and are not sure which is best, you could
generate a simple test file from each, then give them to the printer to
check out. The differences may be nil, minor, or crucial. If you do this,
my money is on 'nil', but if you don't I'd guess 'crucial'. ;->
> Sounds like I need to re-subscribe to Archive AND Acorn Publisher. It's
> looking as though I'll need to start working a lot more with Postscript
> files and local bureaux, so I've a lot of research to do.
AP is recommended if you get into this area. It is very informative. I
keep meaning to write about this for Archive but I keep being busy. :-/
Alas, it is now "exam marking and writing" time, and the new semester is
about to start. :-//
> Thanks for your VERY helpful response, Jim. I'll let you know how I get
> on.
Ok, thanks. Yes, I'd be interested to see how you get on.
Slainte,
Jim
[1] Not sussed this. It may set the units scaling to obtain a defined
level of 'snap'. PS doesn't *have* a pixel resolution in the normal sense
as all fonts and lines are vector objects/shapes. However the units system
of the RO driver is integer.
Mike Wilson
<URL:mailto:jc...@st-and.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Law of Sod. :-)
IIRC It was Dr Sodde who first propounded the law of pure cussedness
which has now come to be regarded as Sod's Law.
Sorry Jim for being so pedantic. :-)
Mike.
--
Mike Wilson 0113-253-3722 mi...@barc.demon.co.uk
Hope to see you at WAKEFIELD 2000 - The Acorn RISC OS Show
Saturday/Sunday 20/21 May 2000 Thornes Park, Wakefield
Jim Lesurf
Mike Wilson <mi...@barc.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <49860cc...@st-and.demon.co.uk>, Jim Lesurf
> <URL:mailto:jc...@st-and.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Law of Sod. :-)
> IIRC It was Dr Sodde who first propounded the law of pure cussedness
> which has now come to be regarded as Sod's Law.
> Sorry Jim for being so pedantic. :-)
OK, Law of Sodde meant that I shoulde gete thate wronge. ;->
Slainte,
Jim