Brainstorming: Preflight-Tool for Dummies

[Syphon]

Okay, I see a big problem with the whole Automated Preflight Tool for customers.
They're too stupid to use it. Plain and simple.


I hate to say that about customers, but as long as they don't know nothing, I get to keep my job. :grin:

[Joe]

Preflight points out flaws in a job created by that customer. Most don't want to hear that their work is less than perfect.

[mattbeals]

It's not necessarily for customers to use.  But if they can use it and get meaningful information out of it, well all the better!

[mattbeals]

Preflight points out flaws in a job created by that customer. Most don't   want to hear that their work is less than perfect.

I wouldn't say it is about "good and bad art". I would say it is about giving printers good *information* so they can take appropriate action.

[Syphon]

It's not necessarily for customers to use.  But if they can use it and get meaningful information out of it, well all the better!

I still think its bad if customers know too much.
If they know everything about setting a job up right, then I'm the monkey who gets trained to stand there loading and unloading plates off the Trendsetter all day for fewer bananas.
But it brings up a couple of questions: Would they know what to do with that information? Or maybe they don't want to know what that information means?

[mattbeals]

Would they know what to do? Not necessarily, some might. Would some want to know what it means? Some might.
 
Let's separate this out into two areas; Online preflight and offline preflight. Both are automated ways of preflighting.
In the case of online preflight, do you want to present the report to the customer as soon as the PDF is uploaded? If yes then you can present the results as a PDF or as a web page. If in the case of a web page you can "translate" the messages from technical descriptions into something more "human friendly". If you do not want to present the report to the customer then the discussion is over. Only internal people would have access to the report.
 
In the case of off line preflighting there are several ways of handling it. Do you simply watch a folder for PDF's and dump it out the other size with a report? If yes then you're done and it doesn't matter what the customer wants to know or doesn't want to know because they never see it. Using an automated system like Switch to handle processing you can elect to email the client or not. If you do then you can simply say it failed preflight and someone will be contact you. Or you can do something more in depth. If you do not present the report to the client then it doesn't matter because they don't see it.
 
But! As an employee of the company whether the customer see's the report or not you have immediately actionable information as soon as you receive the document. That immediately actionable information is a key part of the decision tree that follows the reception of the document. The more quickly you have good information the quicker you can plan your actions instead of just reacting.
 
I go through this every once and a while with different levels of employees and management. Put quite simply in sports terms "the best defense is a good offense". Be proactive and mitigate the situation as quickly as possible.
 
Read the Art of War some time. Suz Tzu basically lays out the importance of intelligence in military and political affairs. And he's pretty damned right. If you can with without a fight, it is still a win. Use online/offline preflight as you would employ a spy; gather information and get it to the leaders as quickly as possible so that they can make sound decisions.

[DigiCorn]

Not sure if it was already covered in this thread or not, but InDesign CS4 has a simple preflight window that you set with the parameters you want (i.e. 300 dpi, no RGB, images disproportionately stretched, overset text, etc.) and it turns on a little red light. I use this to help me catch stuff faster when prepping a job for Rampage. I know customers are re-res, but if any of them took the 30 seconds or so it takes to set these parameters, they could have a chance at setting up better art. Won't help at all with missing bleeds, reader spreads vs. printer spreads, or the multitude of f%^ked up ways a creative bastard can screw something up, but along with the package tool could assist in getting us more workable $h!t.

[gnubler]

Hey Matt, does it still stink up in Edmonds? The last time I was there the air was perpetually foul-smelling. And do you know where Rick Steves lives?

[mattbeals]

No, it doesn't stink in Edmonds. You may be thinking of the pulp mill in Everett where they make diapers and feminine hygiene products or the mill north of Everett. That particular mill is next to the freeway along with the cow pastures on the east and west side of I-5.

Regarding the preflight function of InDesign, it works quite well for basic things. Which is much of what we want. Anyone remember FlightCheck Studio? Guess where Adobe took the idea from...
 

[DigiCorn]

Everett, Washington? Lots of family in that area, as well as across the state in Spokane, Colfax, Clarkston and Pullman. Talk about stinky - go across the Snake to Lewiston, Idaho where Boise-Cascade is. Smells like someone tipped over a bunch of porta-potties. However, without paper mills none of us would have a job. Smells like money.

[hotmetal]

Anyone remember FlightCheck Studio? Guess where Adobe took the idea from...

Well, yeah, good ol' Markz is still in business. Flightcheck is at 6.5 and our preflighter uses it all the time.

[jezza]

Preflight results are really only as good as the rules that it's set up to check for. I would imagine that most of us know what we're looking for, most clients would not. A low res rgb jpeg is the same as a high res tiff - it's a picture. This sort of thing is mentioned time again throughout the forum.


Indy CS4 can kind of preflight 'on the fly' depending on how you set it up. Check the bottom left of the document window for a little green or red blob, Errors or No Errors. The default is to check to missing images, but you should be getting a warning when you open the document.


(On a side note, I have to say that the links pallet in Indy CS4 is pretty awful, particularly if you want to see the path of the missing image)

[mattbeals]

Preflight results are really only as good as the rules that it's set up to check for. I would imagine that most of us know what we're looking for, most clients would not. A low res rgb jpeg is the same as a high res tiff - it's a picture. This sort of thing is mentioned time again throughout the forum.

RGB is good... Low res is a different problem though.

Indy CS4 can kind of preflight 'on the fly' depending on how you set it up. Check the bottom left of the document window for a little green or red blob, Errors or No Errors. The default is to check to missing images, but you should be getting a warning when you open the document.

It's at least a start. You can always create the settings and record a little video on how to use them. Post the video on your website and away you go.
 

(On a side note, I have to say that the links pallet in Indy CS4 is pretty awful, particularly if you want to see the path of the missing image)

Oh I don't know, it's not that bad. Better than Quark...
 
So with all the RGB is bad, ICC profiles bad, bad color separations, wrong separations, etc. I thought I'd fuel the fire a bit. I just gave a presentation in Portland last Thursday about color management for PDF/X. The jist of it was this; Printers have traditionally been color separators. So quit complaining about bad separations and RGB and do what you're supposed to do, separate color! Designers, you complain about having to make a file CMYK but you don't know which, you're not sure exactly how Printer A wants it and you know Printer B likes it a different way. You've used transparency in the layout but you're just using default settings to export the PDF. So use PDF/X-4. All this bitching and complaining from one to the other is getting old. My basic point was for people to use PDF/X-4:2008 to intelligently exchange art.
 
Why PDF/X-4? Well, it's PDF/X so there are basic minimum requirements like fonts being embedded. But PDF/X-4 allows for inclusion of ICC profiles and RGB as well as live transparency. This gives the designer the flexibility to design and "communicate" color information (through ICC profiles) to the printer and the transparency stays live. For the printer you can handle the color conversions which are tuned for your environment. Which means you can produce a better separation and therefore a better quality product. Once the color management has happened you can then trap the job with live transparency. From there if you have a Adobe Print Engine RIP you can render the job directly giving you maximum fidelity. If you don't have a Adobe Print Engine RIP you can flatten in Acrobat (or your RIP).
 
In the end all but one agreed with me. These were shop owners, prepress managers and prepress operators.

[Joe]

So use PDF/X-4. All this bitching and complaining from one to the other is getting old. My basic point was for people to use PDF/X-4:2008 to intelligently exchange art.
 
Why PDF/X-4? Well, it's PDF/X so there are basic minimum requirements like fonts being embedded. But PDF/X-4 allows for inclusion of ICC profiles and RGB as well as live transparency. This gives the designer the flexibility to design and "communicate" color information (through ICC profiles) to the printer and the transparency stays live. For the printer you can handle the color conversions which are tuned for your environment. Which means you can produce a better separation and therefore a better quality product. Once the color management has happened you can then trap the job with live transparency. From there if you have a Adobe Print Engine RIP you can render the job directly giving you maximum fidelity. If you don't have a Adobe Print Engine RIP you can flatten in Acrobat (or your RIP).
 
In the end all but one agreed with me. These were shop owners, prepress managers and prepress operators.

I agree. I've been on the PDF/X-4 bandwagon for a couple of months and have been requesting customers use it. RGB? No problem. Transparency? No problem. And Prinergy eats them up and spits them out. Trapped PDF's with live transparency. The way to go for our work.

[mattbeals]

If for no other reason, PDF/X-4 gives you a lot of information about the contruction of the document in terms of color. That information is valuable.