Print problems with Indesign

[Claire54]

Hi

I'm trying to print an illustrator file (AI native) within Indesign on a Mac Intel G4 Mac Book to an Epsom Printer Stylus 9880 (not postscript). But each time the file is sent to print it spools for up to 30 minutes before crashing entirely. Would you recommend I bite the bullet and buy a RIP (£1000) or is there a better alternative to make my workflow faster and more reliable, have lost all confidence in Indesign. Up against very tight deadline to produce a book.

many thanks,

Claire   

NB increased RAM to 2MB and have external Lacie hard drive running.

[frailer]

Claire54, most of this bunch are asleep, but maybe some more info before they wake up and try and help out. Is it a Linked.ai file within InDesign? Has the link been properly updated? Have you tried Exporting a PDF and then try and print that from Acrobat? Are you talking about a single page containing the Linked file?
Your description at this stage needs a bit more detail. This will help narrow it down. Am assuming it's InDesign that is crashing?
I'm headed towards sleep time down here...

have a look here while you're waiting for "tech support".. :grin:

https://www.b4print.com/forums/index.php?topic=1823.0

Hmm...why would you need a RIP if you are the one producing the book? Good, Print Quality PDFs would be the go, surely...[talk to the people who will be printing it]. And you can get those via the appropriate PDF Export from InDes. Just a further thought, is all... :undecided:

[almaink]

Could also be to complex an Illustrator file for your Epson to print. Try printing using Optimized subsample or even proxy in the InDesign print options graphics tab, and see if it prints.

[David]

can you print the .ai file from Illustrator?

have you tried saving the .ai file as a pdf and placing that in Indesign to print?

[Tracy]

I have had to create pdfs and place in indesign to get some files to work.
ive also had to create a pdf from indesign afterwards to fix some glitches, why? I dont know!

[Monkeyman]

I'm always going to suggest having a rip in front of a machine like that but I also understand the price issue. Often times with our 9800 we need to just rasterize the file in Photoshop. 150-200dpi for 100% size usually does it justice for us. Takes time but almost always works for us as a last resort.

[frailer]

Almaink may have hit the nail on the head. Could be a layer, say, with a squillion control points. These files can make RIPs "hang", as well.
Maybe make a copy of the .ai, see if there's such an issue. [or do a Save As].
Could rasterise that layer at an appropriate res; Link that and see if it prints.

At least it might give you a diagnosis.

..or do what Monkeyman says.    :cheesy:

[David]

Are the files you're trying to print located on the external drive?
Is your printer plugged into your Mac or on a network?
If so, there may be a network issue at play here.
If the speed of the external drive is too slow you may not be getting the data to the printer fast enough and it's timing out.

[almaink]

Odd things can and do happen when you print directly from page-layout applications, even if you have a rip. Check out what happened to this process neg ripped from InDesign CS2. Must have been a glitch because a second effort came out correctly.
LOL the subject matter made this neg a collectable IMO.

[Claire54]

Hi All

wow, did not realize how incredibly helpful this site is. Want to say thank you to you all for getting involved, especially Frailer and Almaink. We spent the entire day yesterday troubleshooting the job (ten hours with strict coffee only breaks) and resolved the problem with success. This is how we did it:

Had to do as 'Frailer' pointed out and make sure the single page file was linked correctly and updated, it was. We then tried exporting it & printing from Acrobat although sadly the colour was darker and completely out of gamut. (even after color calibration in Bridge; go figure). Agreed entirely with what he said about not needing a RIP, especially after buying CS3 with the intention of printing the book independently.

Almaink was right the complexity of the Illustrator files appeared to be the main cause of the problem and we had to work out best how to get the printer to handle it suitably (ie without pixelated lines). Using the default 'Optimized subsample' works best. Proxy was a terrible option, although did make us giggle!  A little like your process neg rip with the ladies random floating head...LOL.

See one spread from the book here if you're intrigued about complexity of the illustrator file, click 'illustration':

http://www.tatetotate.net/ 

Monkeyman, thanks for your suggestion to bring it into Photoshop and drop dpi to 150; didn't think you should reduces images less than 300dpi but always good to experiment. And interestingly the best results did originally come from the rasterized tiff or the .ai printed directly from Photoshop but it kept hanging the application.

We then moved onto David's suggestion and saved the .ai file as PDF, printed it from Indesign and it worked perfectly so we've gone with this option. Although the spooling time for each spread is 15 minutes it's well worth the wait. The colours are beautiful & punchy and the lines aren't pixelated at all. We're delighted with the stunning results.

To answer your other questions the file was on the desktop and the printer plugged directly into the mac, no network connection.   

Everyone who got involved thanks kindly for all your help, it's been sincerely tremendously.

[almaink]

Glad you got it resolved.

[David]

congrats!

a round of drinks on the house!

(seems to be trouble on photobucket so I can't post a pic of my drinks, sorry, but it's the thought that counts)

[PrepressCrapFixer]

congrats!

a round of drinks on the house!

(seems to be trouble on photobucket so I can't post a pic of my drinks, sorry, but it's the thought that counts)

Oh so it's photobucket that's the culpret?  I couldn't get my logo uploaded earlier.

[frailer]

So...the final score?

-David:1
-the rest: something<1.    :laugh:

Glad you got it sorted out Claire54.    :cheesy:   BTW, we all learn from this stuff, anyway. Must admit I've started thinking in terms of PDF Save As from Illy more and more. Apart from getting Bleeds and Trims when you need them, it seems to be a pretty smooth route.

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

So...the final score?

-David:1
-the rest: something<1.    :laugh:

Glad you got it sorted out Claire54.    :cheesy:   BTW, we all learn from this stuff, anyway. Must admit I've started thinking in terms of PDF Save As from Illy more and more. Apart from getting Bleeds and Trims when you need them, it seems to be a pretty smooth route.

Captain...Make your page bigger to encompass all the art in AI. Export as PDF. AI when making the page larger, goes from the center out. So, as long as the image is centered on the page, making your page larger will allow you to get the bleeds when exporting.