1. Once you have finished altering your pictures in Photoshop, Picture Publisher or any other picture processing software, crop the picture to size (remembering that about 5mm of the pictures will be cut off at the edges of the layout) and convert it to CMYK format and store as a TIF file. You can use JPG files, but they are best avoided. The resolution has to be no less than 300 dots per inch on the CD, so to be on the safe side, store at 600 dpi or higher. Do NOT add any text to the picture at this stage.
2. Open a layout programme such as Corel Draw, InDesign, Page Maker, or Quark Xpress. Create a template of cut lines for the front, back and inside covers, remembering to allow about 5mm of picture beyond the cut lines (this is known as 'bleed') and to not place any key graphic elements such at text or bar code any closer than 5mm to the cut lines. Place the image and any other graphic elements such as bar codes onto a page that is larger than all of the CD template.
3. Enter your text onto the page and also place all vector based graphic elements such as squares, circles, etc. Remember the copyright and publishing notices and logos on the CD itself. Also remember to include the cut marks and the printers marks. If you are using spot colour on the CD, then enter the Pantone number on the page, or within the title of the file. Check everything several times and check all the dimensions and spellings of all names, etc.
4. Go into the document info function of your layout software and make sure that all images and other graphic elements are black and white, grey scale or CMYK. If anything at all is labelled RGB then you must delete it from the layout and recreate it as a CMYK file, store it and then place it once again in the layout programme.
5. Now you can print to a pdf file or publish to pdf. Before you do, under PDF style, select PDF for Prepress or Press (depending on the version you are using). This is important, otherwise the resolution will not be enough for the printing process. Now you can save it.
Key dimensions for your templates
On-CD Spot colour on silver
CD outer circle 118mm diameter
CD inner circle 36mm diameter
On-CD CMYK on white
CD outer circle 116 diameter
CD inner circle 25mm diameter
Back cover
Outer total width inc. folds 150mm
Folds 6mm each
Back page width without folds 138mm
Height 117mm
Booklet and front cover
Width of each page 120.5mm
Height of all pages 119.5mm
Common Mistakes
RGB colour elements left on the page (This results in the printer creating seven separation plates, instead of four and the project cannot go ahead.)
Low image resolution (The print process is at 300 dpi, so all images have to be of higher resolution than 300. Any less and the printer will have to reject the file.)
Text entered in photo software and then supplied as a bitmap. (The result is text that is very un-sharp.)
Spot colours not provided as separate, grey-scale images. (The printer does not have the facilities to do a non-CMYK separation, this is a pre-press job, i.e. you should have done it!)
Text too close or even beyond the cut marks. (If it is cut off, it cannot be read!)
PDF files exported at reduced resolution more suitable for a webpage. (Use the Prepress export option or it cannot be printed.)
Forgetting the printers orientation marks for the on-CD spot colour prints. (If the background colour is not at the same angle as the text, you will only have yourself to blame!)
Forgetting to leave picture bleed outside the cut marks. (The guillotine is unlikely to hit the edge of the image exactly, as the paper can move a millimetre or two, so the result is a white edge at the cut.)
Getting the page orientation wrong. The machine inserts the paper fold-first, so the front cover is always the right-hand side of the booklet. (Again, the printer will reject, or, worse still, your front cover will not be on the front!)
Coloured text too small or too thin. (Text that is not 100% black or white, has to be rendered out as a series of small dots and therefore must be made larger to be readable.)
O kamchatka e eu próprio trataremos disso!
Excelente notícia!!
