Contacts: Technical/Hardware
Systems/Tech Support - Tobey Crocker, techsupport@nerepro.com
Graphic Design/Software/Quotes - Jeff Thibdeau, design@nerepro.com

• Supported Programs,
• Supported Media,
• Document Creation/Job Submission,
• Graphics Programs,
• Resolution and Graphics Formats,
• Scanning,
• Digital Cameras,
• Text,
• Mailing Labels,
• Fonts,
• Document Construction,
• Camera Ready Material

Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe PageMaker 6.5, Adobe Illustrator CS2, Quark Xpress 6.0, Adobe InDesign CS2, Adobe Acrobat 8.0, Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Publisher 2003, Microsoft Excel 2000, Microsoft PowerPoint 2000

Most of these programs do cross-platform (i.e., we can read a PC QuarkXpress file on the Mac.)

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Supported Media

• Floppy Disks
• USB Thumb Drive
• Most Digital Camera Memory Cards
• Iomega Zip 100 or 250
• CD-R/CD-RW and DVD/DVD-RW
• Files may also be submitted via email or by transferring to our FTP site Email files to design@nerepro.com. Info on FTP site is available. . .

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Document Creation and Job Submission

Before you send your file to Northeast Reprographics, please review the following. The information below will help you provide everything necessary in the appropriate formats to insure accurate and timely completion of your order.

All job submitted should include:

• Printed sample with the most recent revisions, if possible. Please mark if sample is not at actual size and/or if revisions were made on file that are not shown on sample;
• Special instructions in writing or marked on sample;
• Disk(s) labeled with your name or company name and the job title;
• A list of the file names we are to output;
• Any ink colors/PMS colors that will be used for printing.

Disks should include:

• Final document(s) for output;
• All fonts (screen and printer files) required for output, including those fonts used in EPS graphics. The only exception is if you have converted all fonts to outlines or curves (in illustrator or freehand, for instance) or if all layers have been flattened and type rasterized (in photoshop or similar programs);
• All graphics, including any files or links related to or embedded within any file (i.e., tiff files placed in an illustrator file).

It may be helpful to consider using a program like Markzware Flightcheck or Flightcheck Collect to analyze your files and collect linked images and fonts. PageMaker 6.5 provides a plug-in in the utilities menu called "for Service Provider" which will provide this feature. (NOTE: Be sure to create a new folder to contain the items before using this command.) FreeHand 8.0 and QuarkXpress offer similar features; however, QuarkXpress does not collect fonts.

Important: Even programs such as Flightcheck will occasionally not include a font due to copyright and sharing restrictions, etc. You should always double check your disk to be sure all files are included. It is better to send more than you think we need, than to delay printing if necessary items are missing.

Disks should NOT include:

• The ONLY existing copy of any file(s);
• Files that are not related to this job or related printing projects;
• Your entire font library (please, send only fonts needed for this project).

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Graphics programs

These programs are strongly recommended for graphics creation:

• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Macromedia FreeHand

EPS files should include fonts or have text as outlines or curves.

Note: Avoid low-end drawing programs, such as those included with word processors and Publisher. These programs produce art that renders poorly at high resolution, and they lack adequate color support.

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Resulotion and Graphics Formats

Resolution

• For most printing purposes, 300 dpi is sufficient;
• If images are very small and being enlarged within the layout or file, higher resolution may be helpful;
• We do not recommend any file being at a lower resolution. Our printing devices are high resolution and low res images do not reproduce well on them.

Graphics Formats

• TIFF (.tif) - 1-bit, 8-bit grayscale, 24-bit RGB*, 32-bit CMYK
• EPS (.eps) - Encapsulated Postscript
• JPEG** (.jpg) - Use the highest quality setting and save as jpeg only as the last step. Repetitive saves as JPEG seriously degrades the image)
• PDF (.pdf) - Export option in many programs, provides a high quality portable image of your document and may eliminate the need to include fonts and graphics. PDF files can also support color separation. There are several steps and options in this setup. Be sure to select high resolution, etc. If you have questions, we will be glad to help.

*RGB images will be converted to CMYK. Color shifts are possible. **We do not recommend using the JPEG format. This process deletes important image and printing data from your file. The image size still needs be remain at 300 dpi and, once again, if used this should be the last step in saving your file before copying to disk, email or ftp.

Note: Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) is the only portable format for graphics that supports spot colors, such as Pantone. TIFF images will be treated as process color. Latest versions of Photoshop support spot color channels. These images must be saved in DCS 2.0 format (a subset of the EPS format).

Undesireable formats

• Windows Metafile (WMF)
• Windows Bitmap (BMP)
• Tiff-Indexed Color
• GIF*
• PICT (Macintosh)
• WordArt, Wordperfect Graphics (WPG) and other nonstandard graphics formats

These files may print; however, they are not intended for high resolution imaging and do not support color separation.

* Web graphics are often saved as Gif files. For best results, do not use low-resolution web graphics for projects which will be printed. Properly formatted web graphics, like GIFs, are very compact and download quickly. High-quality printing does not have the same concern about small file size as internet/web design. These images will reproduce blurry with large pixels, bitmapping and missing image areas. Not to mention, pulling images off a website may violate copyright laws. Call us if you need help with logos or graphics. We have many graphic images on file and can help with creation or recreation of logos, artwork and custom graphics.

If you are designing graphics which be used on both the printing and internet platforms, create the high resolution images for print and save them, then reduce image size and save images for internet under a different file name. As we always say, "once a jpeg, always a jpeg." There is no going back.

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Scanning

Line Art : If you scan a line drawing or logo that is solid black (or another single color):

• Set the resolution to 600-1200 dots per inch before scanning;
• Use the 1-bit bitmap scanning mode;
• Make sure the original is straight before you scan it;
• Avoid grayscale mode when scanning solid artwork. This tends to leave "fringe-like" edges which will appear ragged when output.

Color Art

If you need to reproduce a logo in two spot colors:

• A color scan will not work;
• Color bitmap images can only be separated as process color. Even if you assign a Pantone color in Photoshop, this image will not retain the color assignment except as RGB or CMYK;
• The best solution is to recreate the logo in a drawing program that supports Pantone spot colors;
• If this is not possible and you are unsure of how to create appropriate color separations, our design department can help. Please stop by or call for assistance.

Photographs

If you choose to scan your own photos, you need to be familiar with the printing process, particularly for color photos. Although scanning technology for the desktop user has come a long way, the printing process is still very demanding. Scans optimized for the internet/website will not be suitable for commercial printing.

• Resolution: minimum of 300 dpi at printing size
• Format: Tiff if preferred; EPS if clipping path is used; DCS if spot color channels are used If you produce your own scans, you assume responsibility for color and image quality.

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Digital Camera Images

As technology advances and costs recede, digital cameras are increasing in popularity. But do they offer acceptable quality for commercial printing? The answer ranges from "maybe" to "definitely not" Most digital cameras provide a very small image at low resolution. These images view great on screen and are ideal for emailing to friends or including on your website; however, unless you are ready to spend hundreds of dollars, most digital cameras do not perform as well as an inexpensive point-and-shoot. The technology used in digital photography uses different optics for the viewfinder than in the lens and compromises color in order to make devices portable and affordable. If you are considering the use of digital photos in your project, please contact us for more detailed information and helpful tips.

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Text

If you intend to provide text to Northeast Reprographics for your project:

• Text to be formatted by us can be provided in a text only format with no graphics or formatting;
• Suggested programs - MS Word, RTF, ASCII text, text only without line breaks
• Text to be scanned by us should be provided on a clean hard copy with no markings, writing or lines. No formatting will be maintained during the scanning process.

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Mailing Labels

Northeast Reprographics has the capability to place your mailing labels directly on newsletters and other projects produced on our Xerox Docutech black and white printer.

Following are programs and formats which we can except:

• Spreadsheet files, such as MS Excel, data files, or comma-separated text files;
• Data files should be saved as "Comma-delimitated" files;
• Text files should have a comma between each "field" and be saved as a data file;
• These files should simply be forwarded to us, as is. We will create the labels in the needed format for our equipment.

Of course, we also have the ability to copy onto grided label stock as well as to provide standard mailing services.

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Fonts

Tips for avoiding common problems and info on identifying font files:

• Type 1 Postscript fonts are strongly recommended, especially for Macintosh files. TrueType fonts are acceptable in most cases for Mac or Windows, although occasionally time-consuming problems arise. If you have a choice, please choose postscript.
• Postscript printer and screen fonts must always be sent together. They will not work without both components;
• Some suitcases contain screen fonts for both PostScript and TrueType fonts at the same time. This can cause serious problems during output. Please make sure the suitcases you send only contain one or the other. Drag the files you wish to send into a new folder and try to use the Postscript files when available;
• Windows font file names are often only eight characters long, which may make font file names undecipherable. If the full name does not show, try double-clicking on it in the desktop view;
• Postscript fonts have a separate file for each style: bold, italic, etc. If there is no file for bold or italic, then that font does not support those styles. If available, examine the type specimen sheet which came with the fonts or the program the fonts came with. If a bold or italic is not shown, that style cannot be used with that font;
• You should always select bold/italic font from the font menu, if available. Only apply bold or italic as a style if you know for certain that it is valid. If you use unsupported styles, the font may appear as a normal face, tracking may be tighter or looser than expected, letters may appear in the wrong font and overlap each other, letters may look fatter than normal, or appear to be "double-struck", corners may be ragged or the font may default to Courier;
• Most decorative, headline and script fonts do not support bold or italic styles.

Finding Fonts on Systems

• Macintosh Fonts are usually located in the System Folder on the hard drive, in a folder labeled "Fonts" unless you are using Suitcase or another font management program Font Suitcase, Contains screen fonts or TrueType fonts TrueType Font, May be loose in the Fonts folder or enclosed in a suitcase Screen Font, May be loose in the Fonts folder or enclosed in a suitcase Adobe PostScript® Font "Printer font file", other vendors will have different icons, but they will all show the "kind" as PostScript font;
• Windows Fonts are usually located in the &quotFonts" folder under "Control Panels" on your system TrueType Font (.ttf) c:\Windows\System\Fonts Adobe PostScript font (.pfb) c:\psfonts\ or (.pfm) c:\psfonts\pfm\

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Document Construction

How you construct your document will greatly effect the speed and quality of the final printed project. If you are unsure about any step in this process or have never created a document for printing, please contact our design department for assistance.

Recommended Applications

• Adobe PageMaker, Quark Xpress, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand, Adobe Photoshop, and MS Publisher are all commonly used programs which support high resolution images and color separations.
• Remember that graphics programs are for graphics and layout programs are for layout. Trying to layout an entire brochure in Photoshop will only cause you and your printer grief.
• Layout programs: PageMaker, Quark or Publisher*
• Graphics programs: Illustrator, FreeHand, Photoshop
• Word Processing, spreadsheet or presentation programs: MS Word*, Excel* or Powerpoint*
• Flyers and posters can be created in a graphics program and some layouts that require more graphics than text may be okay in Illustrator or FreeHand
• Brochures and Newsletters should never be completed in a word processing or graphics program because these programs do not provide enough support for margins, gutters, style sheets, etc. Features which are vital to a consistent, well-designed piece.

* Microsoft programs are notorious for word shifts and text wrapping issues. You may have noticed that anytime you print to a different printing device, your text shifts around or appears on the next page, etc. This problem is virtually unavoidable, even when building PDFs. If you send a document created in one of these programs, please include a hard copy for comparison. Most times, we can correct these shifts with little effort.

Page Size

• Page size should match finished size of piece. If you are creating a book which, when folded and stapled, will be 8.5 x 5.5, then you should create a document with 8.5 x 5.5 pages;
• If your document is an odd size or created on an oversize page, crop marks should be created within the document.

Bleed

• Any object, whether a photo or a solid box, that prints right to the edge of a printed piece must be extended 1/8" beyond the edge of the page in the document. Pages that bleed are trimmed after they are printed. If there is no "bleed" or excess image beyond the edge of the actual page, either the entire document must be trimmed to a smaller size or some pieces will have a sliver of unprinted paper on the edge.
• When created images for your document, always take into account that the width or height of the image must be larger than what you actually need.
• There is no automated solution for adding bleeds. Our only remedy is to enlarge or move the image, which can affect the layout, or to trim the piece smaller than originally specified.

Pagination

• Creating a book for printing can be confusing, especially if you have never done it. The easiest thing to do, is determine your finished page size, then set your document up with the number of total pages, say 8. Please DO NOT create printer spreads (i.e., 8.5 x 11 pages with pages 1 & 2 on it);
• If you are building your file in PageMaker, it comes with a plug-in to build a booklet. After the document is complete, this feature will put the pages where they need to go for printing the booklet correctly. Quark Xpress requires you to buy a plug-in with this feature.
• If your document is to be printed black and white on our digital printer, this device also has its own features to build booklets from your file.

Folds

• It is important to understand margins and gutters before setting up a folded document
• If you have a 3/8" margin on the outside then the distance between columns or at the fold should be double that at 3/4 When your piece is complete, there should be equal space all the way around the outside and on both sides of the fold.
• This is one important reason not to use word processing or graphics programs.

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Camera Ready Material

If your project is black and white, we only require a clean original, free of markings, writing, folding, etc. We can reproduce your document on one of our high quality copiers or, when required, shoot plates for offset printing.

However, if your job requires two or more colors, there are other considerations. Northeast Reprographics has two high quality full color laser printers. These devices provide excellent reproductions of most color materials. If you are unable to provide color separations for your project, this may be a valuable solution and, for four color process jobs, is the only solution without a digital file.

For a two or three color job, you should provide a clean, black and white original for each color represented in the final piece. Please call or stop by for more information on how to provide acceptable separations.

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