Teaching Acrobat new tricks: pioneering publishers discover prepress uses for Adobe's electronic document software

Article Abstract:

Adobe Systems' Acrobat software, originally meant for creating and distributing electronic documents, is being used by some publishers as a prepress tool for black-and-white and even color publishing. Portable Document Format (PDF), Acrobat's file format, lets users open, manipulate or print documents independent of the format employed to create the documents. PDF offers advantages compared with PostScript, which typically works with larger files that are slow to output. Acrobat's Distiller program transforms documents into PDF, and if PostScript documents are thus distilled, extraneous information is eliminated. Resulting files are simpler, faster to download and faster to print. Publishers are exploiting these and other Acrobat features, using methods that tend to be relatively inelegant and complex. An Adobe spokesman says the company intends to incorporate prepress capabilities in future releases of Acrobat, aiming to make processes more intuitive and straightforward.

Technology application, Electronic publishing, Product application

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Layer by layer: colorizing scanned line art

Article Abstract:

Adobe Photoshop can be used to colorize scanned line art as well as to manipulate scanned photographs. The scanned line art should be in a grayscale file rather than in RGB, and it should be touched up using the eraser and paintbrush tools. Then switch back to RGB, select the black lines and send them to a separate layer. Color can be added using the paint bucket tool, but it is easier to add layers, and doing so makes more options possible in the future. A separate layer should be created for each color, beginning with an empty layer behind the colored lines. Depth can be added to flat colors by activating Preserve Transparency and painting in highlights and shadows with the airbrush tool. Adding texture is facilitated by the filters built into Photoshop, but scanned or stock-photo textures can be used as well.

Software Publishers, Energy Mgmt Software Pkgs (Micro), Column, Graphics software, Image processing, Image processing software, Tutorial, Adobe Photoshop (Image processing software)

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PDF color-separation secrets

Article Abstract:

Preparing PDF (portable document format) files for color separation requires a basic knowledge of printing process color, printing spot color, and correcting files that include improperly identified colors. In fact, the most commonly encountered mistake made by designers who do not understand prepress requirements and the proper assembly of files is improper identification of color. Version 6.52 of Adobe's PageMaker publishing program, in combination with Adobe's PDF Import Filter, can be used to correct color problems. A seven-step process is described, beginning with creating a PostScript file. Procedures for printing spot color using PageMaker and QuarkXPress are described.

Methods, DTP software, Desktop publishing software, Document processing system, Document processing, Quark Inc., QuarkXPress (DTP software), Color separation, Adobe PageMaker for Windows 6.5 (DTP software)

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