PDF Publishing

What’s in it for me?

Before Adobe’s PDF file format can succeed A S YOU WILL RECALL
from last issue, Adobe has
made some very large promises with
in becoming the standard for cross- respect to what its new PDF (Portable
Document Format) file format will do to inject
media creation, it must first predictability and efficiency into the desktop print
production workflow.
Reliable file integrity, smaller file sizes, less preflight-
satisfy the demands of high ing, final page previewability, faster and more predictable
output time, the elimination of film proofs, and data repurpos-
end print production. ing; and I am all for every one of these benefits.

Agfa’s announcement PDF and the schizophrenic publisher

You have to understand one thing before I start. Yes, I’m a publisher,
but I’m a publisher with a serious case of schizophrenia. Not only do I wear
of its commitment the publisher’s hat (which means my primary concerns are looking after my ad-
vertisers and reducing production costs) but I also have to think like an editor
to a PDF (copy is never really finished until somebody pushes “Print”), an art director (can I
see it? can I taste it? can I trust it?), a designer (don’t make me spend a bunch of time
learning new software, and whatever you do, make it easy and intuitive), and a produc-
Publishing tion manager (get the damn job out, and don’t give me any more responsibilities).
Don’t get me wrong. Despite its awkward, complicated, aggravating nature, my current
workflow PostScript workflow still works (most days). It gives me what I need (more or less): creative
latitude, control over my production, and a printed magazine. Nevertheless, the publisher/edi-
raises the bar tor/art director/designer/production manager in me pines for a smoother ride to press (and my
printer wouldn’t raise any objections either).
So what’s really in the PDF workflow for me — and me and me and me and me (and him)?
even higher.
Meandering toward the ideal publishing workflow
For purposes of present discussion I’m going to make a couple of assumptions (even though making
leaps of faith runs contrary to my inbred Perry White instincts).
First, I am going to accept the basic core of Adobe’s contentions regarding PDF: well-structured code
that behaves properly and is now usable in high end print production; and viewable page format that is
font, application, device and platform independent.
Second, I will close my eyes, tap my heels together three times, and believe that, yes, Dorothy, before the
BY DAN BRILL year is over, third party developers will provide PostScript Level 3 support in these critical areas: PDF ripping
(a fundamental feature of PS3), RIP-based trapping, PDF color management (which shouldn’t be an issue since
PDF files carry the same color tags as the PostScript files), and either pre-RIP or (preferably) post-RIP imposi-
tion (which must be developed within or for each individual vendor or service provider’s workflow).
In my own workflow today, I use a hard drive to transport my job, a magazine in electronic form (except for

6 ˙m a r c h / a p r i l 1997 ˙g r a p h i c exchange
a few full page ads that get stripped in at the printer), created el to the left or to the right, or play with a bothersome drop cap
on a Mac. This isn’t particularly practical, and I could trim it font, or rotate an image clockwise a fraction of a degree, or re-
down to a couple of Jaz cartridges, or a boxful of Zips or size it a half of one per cent — it’s back to the application file.
Syquests, but that 2 Gb hard drive gives me the luxury of throw- And how does the designer feel about PDF? Well, I can’t de-
ing on support documents and extra fonts and my own versions sign pages in Acrobat, so it doesn’t help much that way. If you
of applications and system utilities and lots of other stuff that I want me to save my finished pages as PDF, fine. Give me a
might unexpectedly need. Suffice to say that this works for me. scrolldown menu in Quark that says “Save as PDF”; otherwise,
But that means toting around a couple of gigs of data and lit- don’t expect me to start learning another piece of software. I’m
erally thousands of elements: Quark files, big TIFFs, little TIFFs, still on page 3 of the Photoshop manual.
composite EPS’s, separated EPS’s, line art, grey scale images; And the production manager, who you know takes the blame
straight vector files, vector files with bitmaps in them, big when anything goes wrong? He doesn’t like to change to an un-
bitmaps; and lots of fonts and utilities. Despite my careful at- known, unproven workflow from something that works.
tempts to check that everything is print-ready and in the box, Prove that PDF can do everything Adobe says it can do,
something invariably gets overlooked, misplaced or corrupted. show me how it doesn’t just create new nightmares to replace
I’d be extremely happy if I could reduce the volume of files the old ones, and I’ll consider adopting it. But you also know
and the complexity of my job. As a matter of fact, I know exact- who’s going to have to learn all the ins and outs of distilling
ly what my ideal number of final production files is. One. With files, of course. So make it simple. And make it bulletproof.
perhaps one backup. But just one final file, ready to push Print. Give me digital color proofs I can rely on. And above all,
I’m also looking for a way to know that anything I hand over give me a good job docket (the easier to set up, the better).
is preflighted and rock solid. I don’t want any more calls saying,
“Got a problem with page 53. Keeps crashing the RIP. Can we Agfa goes live with PDF Publishing workflow strategy
get a replacement file?” It’s another gorgeous March day in Key Largo, Florida — 75
degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.
Five heads aren’t necessarily better than one I’d be out revelling in the sunshine, except for the fact that I’m
Mine is not simply a PostScript workflow. As with most pub- sitting in an airy meeting room at Key Largo’s swishy Ocean Reef
lishers these days, it’s specifically a Quark-based workflow. I Club, attending Agfa’s Executive Conference on PDF Publishing.
never really see a PostScript file and I don’t really want to see a In the room with me are a flock of Agfa marketing and product
PostScript file. I blithely let Quark separate the file, write it to managers, four key people from Adobe, and 26 technology man-
PostScript code and download it to be ripped and plotted. agers and workflow experts hand-picked by Agfa from the cream
I also want to get advertisers’ files that don’t need fixing. In of the North American graphic arts industry. More than a dozen
that respect, I’m just like the service bureau, except that it’s awful- of the biggest, richest printers and color separators in North
ly tough to ask my advertisers to pay for massaging their files — America are represented, a group whose cumulative annual rev-
especially since I’m the one who told them not to give me film. enues total $10 billion or more. Completing Agfa’s invitee list are
So now I’m paying the piper for files or fonts that are no about a dozen PostScript prepress mavens, wizards and pundits.
good. Even if they print on my laser printer, it’s no guarantee John Harrison, Agfa’s worldwide director of marketing for
that they will rip to the imagesetter. image processing systems, is laying out a workflow model
Which is to say, I can live with the inconvenience of learning designed around PDF and PostScript Level 3. It assumes the use
Acrobat Distiller and creating PDFs from Quark files if the pay- of PDF files for a multiplicity of purposes: conventional printing,
off is guaranteed output. If I could also shorten my turnaround digital printing, multimedia and Web. This is the first compre-
time and lower my prepress prep costs, the incentive to alter my hensive PDF-based workflow unveiled by a major vendor aside
workflow sooner would be that much more compelling. from Adobe, and incorporates off-line pre-ripping and imposi-
But how do I train my advertisers to deliver their ads as tion, and optional in-RIP trapping.
printable PDFs? And what do I do with them when I get them? Agfa mirrors Adobe’s Supra architecture, except that the
The editor in me says PDF is a good thing if all it does is “Normalizer” and “Page Store” in Supra are replaced by Agfa’s
prevent those damn text reflows and font substitutions. And it’s PDF Production Manager, which logs in PDF files and distills
handy to be able to fix a typo. However, it’s not much use PostScript to PDF. Instead of Adobe’s real-time live processing
when, just as a page is set to go, I suddenly think of exactly the approach, Agfa divides up the production steps: PDF or
right wording to fix that cumbersome sentence on page 47, PostScript in and diagnosed, PostScript Level 3 interpretation, ras-
which means rewriting the whole paragraph. And what about terization, storage and output.
when the publisher drags in that last minute ad and I have to PDF Production Manager reads the electronic Job Ticket,
rework my carefully fitted story to accommodate it? (Alas, some defines the PDF page imposition (through pointers, describing a
things will never change.) batch of pages going to a “virtual flat”) and sets trapping, screen-
As the art director, PDF is already a blessing. Acrobat lets me ing and separation values. It can also write the PDF flat back to
exchange low res files with artists and designers for approving PostScript Level 2 for ripping on PS2 RIPs, or even route the file
concepts and layouts. But when I want to adjust a picture a pix- to an APIS box for ripping through another manufacturer’s RIP.

graphic exchange ¨m a r c h / a p r i l 1997 ¨7

 The PDF flats are ripped through Agfa’s PostScript Level 3 PDF in a QuarkXPress-centric workflow
PDF RIP (or multiple RIPs), where trapping and OPI replace- To become a graphics standard, PDF will have to be ac-
ment are performed. The resulting raster file is picked up by cepted by every print production manager.
a Print Output Manager for output on a Hewlett Packard plot- With my production manager hat firmly in place, I ques-
ter or an Agfa output device. Or it can be transferred to a tion the notion of Quark-based PDF publishing straight on.
server for storage, archiving, or digital distribution to a Namely, what is Quark’s position on PDF support?
remote location. The Output Manager also includes a My e-mail to Tim Gill at Quark elicits this response:
PrintViewer for viewing the ripped file, dots and all. “[Tim] called Adobe [in October] to see if they had avail-
able code that would allow Quark to import and print PDF
PDF debates and futures, hopes and needs from within QuarkXPress. At that time they indicated that
Agfa’s vision for a PDF workflow is all-encompassing and such a code library was not available. That didn’t mean that
extremely ambitious: support for either pre-separated or com- they wouldn’t have it at some point, simply that they didn’t
posite workflows, trapping off-line or at the RIP, and a work- have it then (or that we talked to the wrong person). [Tim]
flow that can be cross-media or cross-vendor. talked to John Warnock [in early March] and he indicated
As we sit around the table, telling senior Agfa and Adobe that the libraries to do that are now available. We’re current-
execs what’s right and what’s wrong with their proposed PDF ly waiting for info on what’s involved.”
workflow model, we’re pulling no punches. What I hear from Quark is, don’t hold your breath.
The Agfa guys are giving it back as good as they get, So I can’t place a PDF in Quark as if it was TIFF or EPS,
emphasizing their need to prioritize which feature sets to and I can’t save a Quark file directly as PDF. But I can open
focus on first and which workflows to support. a PDF in Exchange or even Illustrator (although it’s painfully
But they’re getting hammered in the corners by some of slow), export it to EPS, and place it in Quark. And I can
the big printers over topics like the inability to easily integrate manually save a Quark file to PDF by creating a PostScript
scanned film into the workflow, and the flaws in not impos- file and automating Acrobat Distiller’s distillation procedure.
ing post-RIP, and how powerful PS RIPs will need to be to I’m not thrilled with converting PDF back and forth. But I
perform separations, trapping, screening, rasterization and also assume that this is only until Quark adds PDF import
spooling functions all at once, and the impossibility of mix- and export support. And if not, some ambitious XTension
ing an Agfa PDF workflow with a Creo CTP workflow, and developer certainly will. A PDF Import XTension called
the workflow’s lack of support for other formats such as Gymnast has been in development for some time, but still
TIFF/IT. For a student of desktop technology like me, it’s a no word on its release. As well, PDF has to be able to han-
lot of fun. dle fractional pages, which are presently problematic.
I hear some new terms and concepts: “Productizing.” As far as configuring Distiller’s Job Options, I expect the
“Reference document space.” “Dissolving into a ‘network- vendors to provide a library of automated scripts as Post-
centric’ publishing model.” “Digital Master.” Script Level 3 products emerge. And I hope they will be sim-
I hear recurring articulation of users’ needs: a reliable ple drag-n-drop interfaces.
desktop-to-CTP workflow; maximum last minute editability; Then there’s the trapping issue. If I trap in Quark, and send
foolproof electronic job tickets; the elimination of print dri- the file with separations off, I lose all Quark trapping. That’s
vers from the desktop workflow; the separation of PostScript fine, as long as the RIP has automatic trapping. If I send with
interpretation from screening and raster functions; a content separations on, I get four separations that can’t be viewed as
format that is cross-everything; content creation once, distri- composite in Exchange. Wouldn’t it be nice if Acrobat could
bution through many media; and more promotion and aware- let me see my page either composite or separated?
ness advertising by Adobe to raise PDF’s profile. I prefer the simplicity of a composite workflow, and I
Most important of all is the gnawing question: how soon don’t really want to trap anyway. So if PostScript Level 3 RIPs
and how readily will the customer adopt PDF as a standard? can handle trapping effectively, that’s the end of it. But if not?
Afterwards, Alan Darling, chief operating officer at Western Editorial workflow produces finished pages on a story-by-
Laser Graphics, sums it up: “I thought it was a very good ses- story or section-by-section basis. When they’re ready, I want
sion — what a great group of people. It was unfortunate that to send them to the RIP as single pages, and impose post-
we all concentrated on the reasons why PDF workflow would RIP. Imposition before or at the RIP would mean stockpiling
fail, rather than analyzing the benefits of going there — I pages until a flat is complete, but I don’t want to wait. I want
guess that’s just the nature of the beast, and indicative of how to see single page digital color proofs as quickly as possible.
badly we have been burned by ‘open systems’ in the past. And I want the proof I okay to be produced from the same
“The problem with the open solutions that were thrust ripped file that goes to film or plate.
upon us in the late 80’s and early 90’s is that we had to do Finally, there’s the bible of my job: the Job Ticket. There
the integration and work out the fixes to make these 80% better be a way for me to lock out changes if I choose, and
solutions work. I think that everyone is loathe to have to
find that extra 20% (and probably a different 20%) again!” CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

graphic exchange ¨m a r c h / a p r i l 1997 ¨9

How I would design my ideal PDF publishing workflow model
This is how I imagine a QuarkXPress-to-Production PDF workflow would page layout programs. Acrobat’s Security feature lets me lock files. It also means
look in my Macintosh environment. PDFs are immensely useful for checking my advertisers could lock me out of theirs (hmmm...is that good or bad?). Keep
layouts and simple page idea exchange. But Acrobat also lets me add, replace, in mind that we are waiting on some parts which
delete or copy pages in a document Files are distilled need to be developed by Quark, Adobe or
much easier than for low-resolution various prepress system
most proofing and internal vendors.
Design & Layout approval.

Page Print Pages Distill Soft proof Editorial

assembly to PostScript PostScript pages in Exchange approval

To create PostScript
files and Distill them EDITORIAL
automatically, use
PSPrinter 8.3.1 and
Distiller Assistant.

Ideally, ads supplied Files are distilled

as PDFs. Unfortunately using predetermined
it’s not yet possible to preferences specified
place PDFs into Quark. PDF Production by printer.

Final Print pages Distill Soft proof Print PDF To Printer

pagination to PostScript PostScript pages and define job ticket proofs
in Exchange

PostScript files can The automated PDF

be created and dis- Job Ticket (which could PRODUCTION
tilled automatically, be provided by the
using PSPrinter 8.3.1 printer) is the back-
and Distiller Assistant. bone of this work flow.
SUPPLIED

Creating a final PDF production file begins CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 PDF plug-ins. For the production manager,
with the creation of a PostScript file from
my QuarkXPress document.
there’s Tailor, a PostScript preflighter. For
1. Under Printer Type in the Page Setup dia- an audit trail to indicate if and when any printing, Lantana Research now has Cracker-
logue box, I could choose the Acrobat Dis- changes are made. jack, the Adobe module that was in develop-
tiller PPD which comes with Acrobat. How-
ever, I’m using the Scitex Dolev PS PPD
To the designer in me I say: go with the ment under the name Extended Print Services.
because it’s supposed to be more reliable. (I flow, babe. All those precious designs and For the designer, the art director and even
want my PostScript file to be distilled auto- layouts will keep happening in our favorite the editor himself, Scissors, an object-oriented
matically, so I’m using the PSPrinter 8.3.1
LaserWriter Driver and the Distiller Assistant
apps. PDF is just the lock on the door. And Acrobat plug-in, makes Acrobat pages fully
which comes with Acrobat to distill the Post- “Save as PDF” is already built into Adobe ap- editable. With Scissors, working in either wire-
Script file once it’s created.) This also means plications, though it may take time for Quark frame or preview mode, you can move and
that I had to make sure my Distiller prefer-
ences were set up correctly before I start- to follow suit. rotate any element, and add or modify lines
ed. Substitute Fonts and Smooth Graphics in But my designer persona would like to and curves, including clipping paths. But text
the Options menu are turned off since this point out that, sure as Bill has billions, Ex- is also object-oriented, and as such not much
would create a much larger PostScript file
that would take longer to print and display. change offers not even the most rudimentary more editable than in Acrobat.
2. Now I go to the Print dialogue box. In the design tools. Some simple grids, guides and But then the publisher asks, Does anybody
Destination box, I select PDF, leave Separa- rulers would be a small bonus, Adobe folks. realize how difficult (or even impossible) it’s
tions Off, Registration Marks Off, and then
click on Save. In the next dialogue box, I se- You know, those straight line thingees you been to convince ad agencies to supply ads on
lect Compatibility for PostScript Level 2, In- just finally added to Photoshop? disk? And now you think I’m going to be able
clude All Fonts, and set Binary file format. Of course, that’s after you figure out how to convince them to jump on the PDF band-
Once the file is saved, distilling of the Post-
Script file occurs automatically. I can choose to let me move an object on a PDF page, or wagon? What’s the incentive to do it — that
to save or delete my PostScript file and/or even perform a simple undo. doesn’t come out of my pocket?
automatically view the resulting PDF file. (This Meanwhile let’s keep the art director as far Answer that one, and maybe then the all-
option does not work with LaserWriter 8.X.)
Tip: Keep in mind that I could also designate away as possible from PDF in production. Just digital publishing workflow will have a
a Distiller station, another workstation on keep using PDFWriter, big fella. brighter future. But without agency accep-
my network that would receive and distill the But the editor is quietly reading the Sey- tance, the dream of eliminating film and going
PostScript files from a Hot Folder.
Tip: Get the Luminous Prepress XTension bold advance press releases on at least a straight to plate begins to dim.
(LPX) that builds even better PostScript. dozen new or improved Acrobat high end There are still holes in the high end PDF

12 ˙m a r c h / a p r i l 1997 ˙g r a p h i c exchange
 Color scans remain part of the digital workflow. Low res or placement FPOs is accepted as a contract proof in the trade today, and Iris inkjet and 3M
are returned to me for page layout. I approve digital color proofs. Kodak’s Rainbow dye sub continuous tone digital prints are often used. Remote proofing
Approval system output has obvious benefits in this workflow.
Some high resolution graphics
are generated by the creator
and embedded in the PDF,
others follow the OPI workflow. Color Scanning
To
Design Scan color Color Digital color Color
originals correction proofs approval

Ripped and trapped The ideal production

Read job ticket. single pages reside workflow uses the
Last minute changes on the RIP/server until same RIP for digital
and corrections are all pages are ready Print Production proofing and high
applied here. for final imposition. resolution output.

View pages RIP & trap Proof Impose Image final

in Exchange single PDF pages pages pages film/plates

Files no longer Printing PDF files to Using a composite

PRODUCTION require preflighting, a high-end output workflow, it is
since the production device is a function of possible to impose
PDF file is print ready. PostScript Level 3. pages post-RIP.
With PostScript Level
2, it is not possible.

workflow, but a cursory look at just the Before creating the PostScript file from my Quark need to be especially compact. Font subsetting em-
document, I have to set up Distiller’s Job Options beds only the characters used, instead of the entire
Acrobat plug-in market shows that they Menu as follows: 1. In the General menu, under File font set). 4. In the Advanced menu things get a little
will unquestionably be filled quickly. Settings, I ensure that Compatibility is set to Acrobat trickier. I select Distill with prologues.ps/epilogue.ps
The next CGATS draft of recommenda- 3.0 (if Acrobat 2.1 is selected, all spot colors are con- (before I ran Distiller, I had to move the
verted to process color [CMYK]). ASCII Format box “prologue.ps/epilogue.ps” file from the Distiller’s
tions for PDF will suggest a number of im- is unchecked. Under Device Settings I set the Default Xtra:high_end folder into the same folder as the Dis-
provements to its specs, including a trap- Resolution to 2400 dpi (the maximum resolution al- tiller application).This ensures that spot colors are not
ping indicator (Yes, No, Maybe), lowable; I checked beforehand with my printer for op- converted to CMYK. I deselect Convert CMYK Image
timal output resolutions). Default Page Size doesn’t to RGB, and select Preserve OPI Comments (embed-
support for embedding TIFF/IT, TIFF, EPS matter since that information is carried in the Post- ded high-resolution images are not affected by this). I
and DCS, “ZIPflate” compression (superi- Script code. 2. In the Compression menu, I turn off all deselect Preserve Overprint settings and Preserve
or to LZW), support for RGB and CIELAB compression options (JPEG is a lossy method of com- Halftone Screen Information (which also eliminates Il-
pression that degrades the quality of images). 3. Un- lustrator or FreeHand trapping and halftone screen
color spaces or a mix, and the implemen- der Font Embedding, I select Embed All Fonts and do calibration; I will let all trapping and screening be ap-
tation of “digital signatures” on files. not select Subset Fonts (used when distributing PDFs plied at the RIP). I deselect Preserve Transfer Functions
So even though everything I’ve seen for Internet or multimedia applications, where files and Preserve Under Color Removal/Black Generation
(because I assume that UCR is al-
tells me that PDF is not quite ready for ready in the scans and that it has
prime time print production today, it’s been optimized for the printers
convinced me that tomorrow PDF will be internal press conditions), and set
Color Conversion options as Un-
the bridge to a more productive, more re- changed (since my workflow in-
liable digital print workflow. corporates CMYK already).
If you make your living in design, ad- 5. Finally, I set up the Job Ticket (a
plug-in to Exchange or Distiller) as
vertising, communications, or printing per instructions from my printer.
and you haven’t familiarized yourself with
Acrobat, I heartily recommend you start. Tip: Look at CrackerJack, an
Acrobat plug-in from Lantana
And if I’m wrong, I’ll eat my hats. ✷ Research Corporation (inherited
from Adobe) which simplifies
SPECIAL THANKS TO LYDIA VARMAZIS FOR HER setting print job parameters.
These four screens show Docu-
INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE WITH THE ment, Pages, Output and Color
PREPARATION OF THIS ARTICLE. dialog boxes.

graphic exchange ¨m a r c h / a p r i l 1997 ¨ 13