How much creep do I add for a booklet?

[Richard_...@adobeforums.com]

I know, I know - let the printer do it. My guy's a local offset house with a 12x18 Ryobi and the price and timing is right. He doesn't have TrapWise or any of that stuff. I, however, have inbooklet. I have a 68-page book on 80# coated text. I arbitrarily used 12pts as the creep which I think may have been too little. I didn't want to screw up my book. My question is what is the general rule for determining creep? I do about 10 booklets a year for local charities and I use the same printer mentioned above and I would like to know what the general formula is. We almost always use 80# coated cover and once in a while 60# accent opaque for inside pages.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Eric...@adobeforums.com]

Take enough 80# coated text paper to make up a 68 page book, fold it, jam a staple through the spine, and lay a ruler on it. That's the general rule for determining creep.

[Richard_...@adobeforums.com]

I assume your talking about measuring the thickness of the book. While that makes sense there must be a general rule of thumb. Wouldn't want to have dozens of stapled dummies I have to measure everytime a new booklet order comes in.

[Eric...@adobeforums.com]

No, I'm talking about measuring how far the edges of the innermost pages stick out from the outermost pages.

[Richard_...@adobeforums.com]

Ah - that makes sense. Wasn't thinking. Still must be a general rule of thumb. Thanks.

[Robert...@adobeforums.com]

Richard,

The general rule of thumb is to let the printer do it. <g>

Bob

[Eric...@adobeforums.com]

Generally- creep is best handled by the printer.

Generally- there is no formula. Creep is a factor of paper weight and page count. Printers probably have some numbers jotted down somewhere for various combinations, but if you are looking for something like E=mc2, I don't think it exists.

Generally- creep is not something to lose sleep over. In a 68 page book it might be worth paying some attention to it, but accuracy is not very important. In a smaller book it isn't even worth factoring in-- anything below maybe 40 pages, unless you're printing some VERY heavy paper. Anything above 60 pages, you might want to consider doing a perfect bind.

[Larry_...@adobeforums.com]

Okay.. here's a paragraph that talks about this

Formula for amount of "Shingling" or "Creep": Total pages in book, divided
by 4 (for each 4 pager), times paper thickness. Take that number, and divide
it by the number of flat sheets in your book. This number will be quite
small, but will represent the amount that you should adjust each page's
outside margin, as you get closer to the center of the booklet. This works
in most cases but using a folded, drilled, dummy of the actual job stock is
best

Larry

[Greg Robb]

In article <231BBE311E1C3C22...@in.webx.la2eafNXanI>,
<Larry_...@adobeforums.com> wrote:

This is the method we use at work in prepress, using a micometer to
measure 10 pieces of paper to get the average thickness.

But whether it's important to allow for creep is determined as much by
the layout / design as by the number of pages or paper thickness.

If the design has 4 point rules on the face trim, shingling *and*
folding style become critical even for an 8 page booklet.

You need to consider the design in the light of it's overall
production. Printer shingling can't accommodate all design features.
Most often, the technique is to move pages toward the spine.

If the design has a rule close to the spine and one close to the face
cut, one or the other will be lost if the printer does the shingling.
But you could solve the problem be laying out the face cut rule so it
steps back each folio the required creep distance and tell your printer
that the pages have the shingling built in.

Similarly, cross over images are often ruined by printers doing the
page shingling. Diagonal elements become missaligned and faces can have
missing features.

-Greg

[nwshe...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, 17 April 2004 00:51:24 UTC+8, Richard_...@adobeforums.com wrote:
> I know, I know - let the printer do it. My guy's a local offset house with a 12x18 Ryobi and the price and timing is right. He doesn't have TrapWise or any of that stuff. I, however, have inbooklet. I have a 68-page book on 80# coated text. I arbitrarily used 12pts as the creep which I think may have been too little. I didn't want to screw up my book. My question is what is the general rule for determining creep? I do about 10 booklets a year for local charities and I use the same printer mentioned above and I would like to know what the general formula is. We almost always use 80# coated cover and once in a while 60# accent opaque for inside pages.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.

Here's a great explainer on manual adjustments for creep. http://www.theprintguys.co.nz/printing-tips-advice/creep/