Digital File and Film Specs
PRINT MANAGEMENT
We deal with many different printing technologies and there are different requirements for each. If needed you can supply us with your best-quality source material and let us optimize for each output format. Yes it is a lot of very technical and trivial details, so if needed, we are also available to help you - especially the artist, entrepreneur or small business without a design department - in managing all your printing and design coordination, not just what you print with us.
Failure to follow recommendations may cause a delay in your job or result in less-than-optimum results
In all cases it is recommended you send a hardcopy print or mockup of how the final product should look, and indicate if your proof is colour-accurate. We require a mockup to avoid mistakes so we have a standard fee of $10 for jobs submitted without a mockup or print sample.
Formats
Offset printing on paper (CD and cassette inserts, posters, etc):
- PDF/X-1A PDF files or CMYK TIF files are required
- DO NOT supply PDFs generated by Photoshop. The preferred program for generating press-ready PDFs is Adobe InDesign. Quark Express is also used.
- Color profile suggested: US Web Coated (SWOP) V2
- Files are usually imaged direct to plate so films are not required
- Maximum recommended ink density: 280% to 300%
- You will not get a rich one color black. For a rich black use something like 100K 60C 50Y 50M.
- Presses: 40" 12 Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster with Perfector & Perfecting Coating Solutions with auto-register; 29" 8 Colour Heidelberg Speedmaster with Coater; 40" 6 Colour Heidelberg CD with Aqueous Coater, prints on up to 40pt. board; all with advanced CPC24 image control.
- 4-color CMYK process printing is standard. PMS colors are printed as 5th color at additional cost
- Posters, postcards, promo items, etc may be printed on other presses.
Films for silkscreening on CD: See this other page
Films and art for pad printing:
- film positives
- emulsion down
- text and line art only
- avoid fine lines and large solid areas, and especially both at the same time
- see more info here
Art for offset printing on CD or DVD:
- 22mm to 116mm print area
- 175 line screen
- 1/4 point trapping
- elliptical dots
- maximum black: 250%
- Due to the printing method, most offset disc presses are not capable of printing a rich black. We suggest to use an extra colour silkscreened if you want a solid dark colour combined with offset photo printing.
- CDs are not metallized all the way to the center of the disc so there is a slight depression inside 38mm diameter - therefore the offset print may appear faded inside this area. We recommend not to print inside 38mm on CDs (this is not an issue on DVDs).
Laser print on paper
- If we can open it we can print it! However for best quality, normal requirements apply...
- We suggest you make sure all your artwork is at least 300 dots per inch resolution at the printing size. For example a CD cover should be about 1500 pixels wide and high.
- Include 1/8 inch bleed.
Inkjet photo printing on disc
- An RGB TIF or JPEG at 300 dpi is ideal. If you have very fine text or line art, export from your design program at 450 or 600 dpi. For a photo print 300 dpi is usually fine.
- Do not use solid black (0,0,0) . We recommend something around 15R, 15G, 15B as the darkest colour.
- Do not supply CMYK files or native design files for inkjet print. To keep the price low we do not include professional prepress and proofing with quick-printing on disc.
- Print area varies depending on chosen media. Typically we use 22 to 118 mm or 38 to 119 mm diameters.
- Art with extreme 100% color printing may be subject to extra charge (for example a solid 100% flood background)
- Solid floods and tints may show some banding.
Inkjet text-and-logo printing on disc
- An RGB TIF or JPEG at 300 dpi is ideal.
- Use a white background and 118 mm image size
- Do not supply CMYK files or native design files for inkjet print. To keep the price low we do not include professional prepress and proofing with quick-printing on disc.
- Print area varies depending on chosen media. Typically we use 22 to 118 mm or 38 to 119 mm diameters.
- Art with more than 25% ink density or vertical coverage may be subject to extra charge or revision (for example circular text all around the disc on a 24-hour rush 1000 piece order won't work due to the long time required to print)
Monochrome thermal print on disc
- Common colours are black, red, green, and blue.
- An RGB or grayscale TIF or JPEG at 300 dpi is ideal. RGB images will be converted to grayscale by the printer.
- Use a white background and do not design past 114 mm image size
- Do not supply CMYK files or native design files for thermal print. To keep the price low we do not include professional prepress and proofing with quick-printing on disc.
- Print area is 40mm to 114 mm.
- Art with more than 25% vertical coverage may be subject to extra charge or revision (for example circular text all around the disc on a 24-hour rush 1000 piece order won't work due to the long time required to print)
|
