Funky postscript files in distiller 8.1

[beefcider]

I work in a prepress and printing house and we print our AI and ID files to postscript,then distill to PDF before sending to the RIPs (Onyx and Wasatch). I've been noticing that things like crop marks don't always show up and linked images will have lines running through them - so far the only fix has been to save them as EPS files and RIP from those, the problem is when yopur EPS is nearly 600mb, where a PDF would be much smaller.

We can distill EPS files fine, or have been so far, but again, I'd like to avoid the EPS file size. Time is money and all that.

Saving as a press quality PDF directly from the apps doesn't always work either.

Am I missing something or is it just the nature of the beast?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Chris

[DCurry]

When you mention linked images have lines, are you talking about Illustrator? I'm in prepress, too, and I've seen that before, especially when the linked image is an EPS. My solution for that particular problem has been to embed the image first, then go about your normal workflow business.

There's really no reason to print to postscript from Illy - an EPS is an Encapsulated PostScript, so it's basically the same thing. If you can distill the EPS, then you shouldn't worry about file size - after you make the PDF, just trash the EPS (maybe keep a working file in .AI format for future revisions) and then send the PDF to your RIP.

As for the crop marks, I've never needed them because in my workflow, the EPS, PDF, or PS is run through an impo program (Preps) where every page is perfectly centered. For Illy EPS files, I always just make sure that the artwork that needs to print is perfectly centered on the entire artwork piece. Sounds confusing, but I just make an empty box (no fill, no stroke) and size it ecxactly to the trim size, making sure it is in the correct position. The I use the Free Transform tool, grab the top center handle, and Option-drag it upwards until it is taller than all the other artwork. By holding down Option, the bottom moves the same distance down, thereby kepping verything centered. Then do the same thing with the left side. It helps to turn on Outline view to see any stray points or pieces of art that are floating around. Just make sure the empty box you create ends up being larger than everything else.

Since the art is now centered on the empty box, I can save as EPS and then distill if necessary and drop it into Preps and tell Preps to center it. Hope that's not too confusing - it's kinda hard to explain but very easy to accomplish.

[beefcider]

Thanks for the info.

Most of our files are AI and not EPS, but we see pretty much everything. The crop marks are required for all manner of different things so they aren't always in the same places so just centering the image wouldn't do much good. Often we add cut lines, fold lines, etc.

I'll try embedding the images first and I'm sure it'll help. Like I said, the only fix has been to make an EPS out of an AI file, then to PDF in distiller. Simple vector only art will convert to PDF out of AI fine, but if there is any transparency, placed or linked images then it's a crap shoot.

Again - thx for the info.

Chris