Pre-press Technical Specifications

 Prepress

Prepress is where pdfs are imposed and output to plates for the printing press using the latest in plate systems: 2 ECRM Newsmatic CTP platesetters. The plate is imaged by violet lasers at speeds of 30 plates per hour per CTP.
We use a Harlequin Dispersed Screening which is a second generation FM screening allowing extremily good detail and clarity in the printed product, excellent registration and a cleaner finished plate with automatic bending at the end of the process eliminating all the previous occurrences from traditional plate making system. All this contributes to making your final printed publication sharper and cleaner.

Formats:

Horton Media prefers pre-press files to be submitted as Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) files. For optimum reproduction, please take note of the following PDF specifications:

1. Composite colour pdfs or BW for black and white pdfs.
2. Images within the PDF should be a minimum of 200dpi (dots per square inch) and not more than 450dpi.
3. All images should be CMYK using our press profile which can be supplied.
4. All colours defined within the document should be process CMYK, including Pantone colours.
5. All pages should conform to our recommended page sizes.
6. PDF file names should clearly reflect the page numbers of pages that the publication contains.
   

   For example:
   a) Pg001-iss042-hml.pdf
   b) Pg002-006-iss042-hml.pdf
   c) Pg007-104-iss042-hml.pdf

7. If a job is stitched and trimmed with bleeding images - be advised that our minimum acceptable bleed is 5mm. This will need to increase if paginations are higher than 48 pages. Too much bleed is not a problem so be generous.
   

EPS and Photoshop files can be accepted as well but checking should be done to ensure that the proposed files are compatible.

Preflighting

We have comprehensive preflight software available so that files can be preflighted and tested as they arrive. Go go home knowing that they all work.

Delivery methods

Our FTP site is the most convenient method for transfer as this allows interactive use of our preflight software from your premises and for us to fix your problems on the spot. USB drives, DVD and CDs are also accepted.  

Making PDFs

We have preset job options for distiller and exporting from most applications, we have actions and colour profiles for our presses for use in Photoshop. Please contact us if you have any queiries as it is easier to fix at the beginning than after the paper has been completed incorrectly.

Adobe CS+ 

We suggest using PDF/X-1a:2001 as a constraint. Select "Convert images with image masks to striped images" .

"Images"- Choose CCITT G4 for B/W and 1 Bit images and LZW or JPEG compression for grayscale and color images.

According to our experiences, decompression of JPEG 2000 coded images is a process that is not yet completely defined. This means JPEG 2000 compressed images may be decompressed slightly different on various devices and applications. This is why our preflight software manufacturer recommends not using JPEG 2000 compression without verifying the results, as there is the possibility that images do not offer the expected quality after decompression. This is especially valid for images compressed with high compression rates.

 Pages should also be numbered so they list in the correct order. This protocol is necessary to reduce pagination errors.

Media:                            DVD,  CD,  FTP,  FLASH DRIVE 

RIPS:                               Harlequin

Screen:                           Harlequin Dispersed Screening

Plates:                             Fuji NPV 2

CTP:                                ECRM  Newsmatic