Adobe® Creative Suite® 5 Bible

Chapter 36. Commercial Printing

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Proofing documents on your monitor

• Using Acrobat for proofing and preparing files for commercial printing

• Checking jobs for potential imaging problems in the CS programs

• Preparing files for prepress and printing

• Printing on commercial devices

As a production artist, you participate in workflows with production workers and technicians at prepress houses and print shops. Your role extends beyond the creative work you do to include proper file preparation, proofing your work, checking files for potential problems, and delivering a product that has an excellent chance for successful output. The Creative Suite applications offer you many tools for diagnosing documents and reporting potential imaging problems to you. In addition, some CS applications offer you options for creating file formats optimized for high-end prepress and printing.

This chapter begins with soft-proofing color and separations on your monitor before you send files to an imaging center, and continues with the file checking process known as preflighting. The last part of the chapter covers packaging jobs for imaging centers. Consider the contents of this chapter as the most important aspects of your production workflow when you create documents designed for commercial printing.

Soft-Proofing Documents in the CS Programs

Soft-proofing a document is the process of viewing the file on your monitor and checking various conditions for potential printing problems. You can check issues ...