Markzware had the pleasure of attending the PIA San Diego Seminar “Printing 101″ which was located at Marcoa Publishing. This beautiful facility was an excellent place to tour and gain an understanding of what takes place behind the scenes.

PIA SD Location for Printing 101

The Printing 101 seminar, a type of printing how to presentation, was a great opportunity for anyone getting into the printing industry or for those who are currently in the industry that wanted to learn more about the basics. The overall big picture overview helped the student to gain an understanding of the different processes/requirements, file construction and the importance that preflighting plays, color (theory, use and characteristics), proofing, film assembly and CTP, Press, Finishing which was taught by Neil Bruington.

Printing 101 Seminar at Marcoa Publishing

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Ernie wins Markzware FlightCheck

Markzware FlightCheck winner

Bruington who is a graphic arts instructor and has had a 27-year career at Palomar College shared his expertise and knowledge to a packed class room. Included in this seminar, was a tour of the facility where the students saw first hand the printing of plates, and what takes place in the production process. They were able to ask questions and see the process unfold in real time.  Read more... (324 words, 4 images, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Preflight Overview

I a. What is Preflighting?

Preflighting is the process of checking digital files for potential problems prior to output (Exporting to PDF or Printing). This can also be a process best done on native or source file types, such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator or QuarkXpress, everytime before saving or sending the job onto another party- simple quality assurance. Special software such as FlightCheck Professional from Markzware or PitStop from Enfocus can be used, or the process can be done manually, often called the eye-ball method.

Specialty software automates the preflight process and reduces the chance of human error. Preflight software scans documents for problems with images, colors, fonts, and other issues detrimental to print reproduction. It then creates a report that itemizes the problems and suggests how to correct them. To preflight without software assistance, one must first acquire and understanding of the problems that can arise during film output and printing.

Whether using software like FlightCheck or checking files manually, the goal is the same: to get great print results from source digital documents.

I b. Why do we Preflight?  Read more... (474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Zevrix has today announced that they have updated their professional quality control tool for graphical source files. This is a neat, affordable software for checking image files which is further noted in the press release as;

“…Graphic Inspector provides a professional quality control solution for users of any trade, whether it’s print, prepress, web design, electronic publishing or digital photography. With Graphic Inspector, users automatically get crucial information on multiple raster and vector files, saving hours of manual checking and eliminating costly mistakes. Graphic Inspector will display the file kind, color mode, resolution, compression, color profile, spot colors, fonts, metadata and other attributes.”
SOURCE: http://graphicstart.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=126

FlightCheck from Markzware can also be set to batch control numerous color graphics image files (as well as of course the layout document such as QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign), as is exhibited in this movie on YouTube:

Preflight Checking a batch of Images with FlightCheck

Now that a good decade has passed since the advent of computer-to-plate (CTP) printing, the industry has a good feel for what is working, and what isn’t.

Developers and vendors can be credited for quickly supplying the tools printers needed to make CTP work. Open file and language standards enable more seamless communication between technologies driving digital proofing, prepress systems and press room solutions. With highly automated workflows, it’s possible — now, more than ever before — to keep the presses running at a steady pace. That is, as long as there aren’t any bottlenecks in prepress.

Unfortunately, bottlenecks abound at most prepress departments at printing companies across the country. Many suggest that as many as 85 percent of the digital files they receive from customers are problematic, requiring some form of intervention before the job can proceed. Many of the problems printers see are merely innocent mistakes that can be fairly easily remedied — perhaps it’s missing fonts, an errant RGB image or a resolution conflict.

To complicate matters, there are plenty of methods by which the customer may be preparing the digital file — working in any number of digital file formats to send to the printer (native application files, PDF or PDF/X-1a files, for example).  Read more... (987 words, estimated 3:57 mins reading time)

Press Release 6/11/08

I know, it sounds like the title of a movie- but it is not. The Ghent PDF Workgroup, who has developed many valuable specifications to make PDF delivery for print more predictable, announces the first Universal Proof of Preflight.

When implemented in a software solution, this best practice specification offers users the ability to review a PDF file’s preflight audit trail, including a digital signature, at any time during the design to print workflow.

This capability provides users the assurance that they can safely accept a PDF file with a Proof of Preflight. This process verifies which GWG preflight Specification was used to preflight the file and also the outcome of the preflight check.
SOURCE: QuickPrinting.com via Graphicstart.com

It will be interesting to see how this progresses as it sounds like a good idea.

Preflight, in the graphic arts sense, is the process of checking a digital document before it goes to plate, print or otherwise output (exported – such as to PDF). It traditionally is a way to check quality before going to the printing press, digital or otherwise, but can also be used to check online banners and gifs. Preflight is best done on the source document, such as those created in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXPress or Corel!Draw as some examples, before becoming a PDF (Portable Document Format). Similar to a pilot whom walks around and performs a pre take-off pre-flight check, preflighting for designers and prepress operators should be a must.

The term preflight was first used during a presentation in 1990 by Chuck Weger, a well know industry consultant. There were some early on postscript (rips) that interperted data and provided a preflight report of sorts. However the first true preflight application came from Markzware and was wisely called FlightCheck another term pilots also use.

Even before FlightCheck® was out on the market, Markzware applied for and was dully granted a U.S. Patent Number 5,963,641 – ‘Device and method for examining, verifying, correcting and approving electronic documents prior to printing, transmission or recording.’  Read more... (508 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

We have heard of many creatives and designers starting to use FlightCheck to check their web banners before posting.

This video explains the quick and easy process of batch checking images files to ensure either web or print quality. Users of Photoshop or other image editing tools, should love this one!

MARKZWARE ANNOUNCES THE UPDATE OF FLIGHTCHECK V6.11

SANTA ANA, California — April 22, 2008 — Markzware, the inventor of preflighting and data-conversion software leader, today announced the release and immediate availability of the FlightCheck upgrade v6.11. FlightCheck is Markzware flagship prepress application that manages quality control of digital files destined for print or electronic distribution.

This FlightCheck v6.11 update is a maintenance release that fixes reported issues and improves several features and other refinements to this award winning preflighting solution. Detailed information on all of the changes and improvements implemented in FlightCheck v6.11 can be found at:

http://www.markzware.com/downloads/documentation/FlightCheck6_Release_Notes.pdf

“We have been committed to providing, fast reliable and accurate upgrades of our preflighting solution, FlightCheck, “Mary Gay Marchese, public relations director of Markzware said. “We are dedicated to serving our customers by meeting their needs while continuing to provide world-class preflighting support.”

The FlightCheck v6.11 update is available free of charge to all registered FlightCheck 6.x users. The MSRP for FlightCheck Professional is $499. For more information, or purchase, visit: http://www.markzware.com/store.

Markzware FlightCheck Professional is a prepress application that is used to manage quality control for print jobs. This solution provides both native file and PDF preflight checking and is covered by a U.S. Patent.  Read more... (272 words, estimated 1:05 mins reading time)

Quality Preflight – Checking everything from PDF To Graphic to get it right the first time!

What is a preflight quality check?

It is a final look through all your production files in order to do a last quality check before they leave your building. This not only saves time as it hopefully eliminates many common project-delaying errors, but it also saves money as a final quality and content check ensures all the client’s colors are correct and all the project specifications are adhered to with the best image printing.

I have always felt it is best to have someone other than the production artist look over the files as a fresh set of eyes is more likely to catch potential problems.

Create a paper checklist to keep your work methodical and which you can hand back to the artist flagging problems for correction.

Depending on your industry or the nature of your files, use and adapt the following checklist when Preflighting files:

Quick Quality Checklist by a dedicated Preflight Manager