What is Camera Ready Artwork?

Have you ever been responsible for putting together a simple newsletter?

It may start something like this. Your supervisor says that the company wants to start a simple four-page newsletter for its employees. The newsletter will have the company's colors, four-pages and a distribution of 2,000 copies.

Your supervisor assigns this task to you saying, "You are so good with that new design software we recently puchased, and I know you can do it." It'll be real simple. Other people within our company will write the articles and email them to you. You don't actually have to write them just cut and paste, and you can get the graphics from the company's website."

"Oh, by the way, we need to mail the newsletter next week."

Two days later everyone has sent in the articles, you have masterfully inserted them into the newsletter, downloaded the company logo and some pictures just to spice it up a bit. Your supervisor thinks it is great and so do you! You feel very confident with the new software and the newsletter is ready to go to the printer.

Your're ahead of schedule. Surely the printer you have selected can do a simple job like this in five days. So you call the printer and place the order.

Your printer asks "if the artwork has been designed and print-ready?" Your response is the newsletter has been designed and is ready to print. You have spell-checked, and proofed it and you have printed the newletter at your location. The newsletter looks great. Even your supervisor thought so.

Your part is done, whew!! Right? Wrong!

When your printer asked if the newsletter was print-ready, what the printer is asking is "Do I have to do anything to this file except print it on my equipment?"

The phrase "Camera Ready Artwork" is defined as a piece of artwork that is ready to be placed in front of a camera that in turn is used to produce printing plates to run on a printing press. With the advent of the computer the camera has become obsolete. The correct phrase is "print-ready." How do I know when my newsletter is "print-ready?"

Print-Ready

A document is print-ready when it is ready for output (production). The most common problem created by not understanding what is "print-ready" is the problem of pricing. When you tell your printer that you are providing print-ready artwork at the quotation stage, you are given a price that does not include any cost or time for design or working with the file. If you then send in the order with artwork that is not complete, the printer is going to give you a new, higher price.

Print-ready artwork means that the document is complete and can be sent to a digital press or plate maker or wide-format printer, etc. A complete file consists of three file components; supporting fonts (Arial, Times, etc.), supporting graphics (pictures and logos) and the core document (Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, etc.)

Supporting Fonts: Font files are required for proper output and on-screen viewing. Most application software does not warn of mission fonts. In fact, some application software will substitute fonts without warning. Fonts are resolution independent meaning that they print at the highest resolution. However, fonts are not cross platform capable therefore the fonts for Macintosh do not work on a PC.

Supporting Graphics: Graphic files are required for output and different application software handle graphic files differently some link and some do not (embedding). Linking is preferred because it keeps the core file size down and manageable and is easier to make changes to externally linked graphics. Changes to external graphics are automatically carried into the core document - great for version control.

There are two types of graphics, Vector Graphics and Raster or Bitmap Graphics.

Vector Artwork: Artwork that stores geometric information about shapes and lines called vectors. They can be scaled easily without producing the stair-step edges you will see on pixel based (raster) images. They adapt to the resolution of any output device and are considered to be resolution independent. They are generally produced by programs like Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and CorelDRAW. Examples of Vector-based graphics would be company logos and geometrically-shaped graphics, clip art files are typically vector graphics.

Raster Artwork: Artwork and images that are defined by a grid pattern of pixels or dots similar to if you were to view a newspaper photograph under magnification. Raster images are dependent on the number of original pixels and cannot be enlarged without producing noticeably jagged, stair-stepped edges. They are produced by digital cameras, scanners, and can also be created by programs like Adobe PhotoShop and CorePHOTO-PAINT (among others).

Raster or Bitmap graphics can be low resolution 72 DPI (dots per inch) up to 1200 DPI. 72 DPI is the standard for web-based graphics resolution. 300 DPI is the print-ready standard for color or 1200 DPI is the print-ready line art. A low resolution warning sign is the graphic prints pixilated or "stair-steppy." Typical low resolution graphic formats are ".GIF" and ".JPG" where typical high-resolution graphic formats are ".TIF" and ".EPS".

Core Document: A document that is produced using a lot of different application software, ranging from Microsoft Office to Adobe Creative Suite. However, it is important to keep in mind how the final document will be produced. Will the document be produced internally? Will it need to be enlarged? Do I need to send it to my printer to be reproduced? Can my printer handle MAC and PC files? Is their version of software compatible with mine?

Graphic designers and printers use Adobe Creative Suite, InDesign, Illustrator, Quart, etc., these programs are used to create documents that will be mass produced consistently. The most common software used by corporate America is Microsoft Office, this software is used to produce low quantities of prints.

Sending a File

Even the best files can be corrupted when sending over the internet. Before sending any artwork file, you should use compression software to protect against damage-in-transit. Compression can make large files smaller to decrease the online transfer time but the most important benefit is the way it enclosed the delicate artwork files inside a file type that was designed for proper transmittal.

The two most popular compression formats are ".zip" and ".sit" (don't confuse "zip" with the popular Iomega brand disks of the same name). Each compression format is also capable of creating "self-expanding" archives with the file extension ".exe" (for Windows) and ".sea" (for Macintosh).

Author Contact Information:
Lynn McKenzie
Owner
Alphagraphics Lisle/Naperville
1997 Ohio Street, Unit B
Lisle, IL 60532
lmckenzie@alphagraphics.com

Business relationships are all about connecting with people, people who care. At Alphagraphics, Lisle/Naperville, we listen and learn what our customers need. Then we leverage our expertise to help them communicate better, and help them connect to their customers. Whether it's a simple or a complex project, we simply give them what they want, the way they want it. And we give them something more; on-time because that's the way they need it, and with quality because that's the only way we do it.