OT: InDesign

[David Thrasher]

What I was referring to was providing InDesign files in their native format, not outputted as PDFs. I was just saying that not every commercial printing establishment is necessarily going to own that software or find it financially advantagious in this tight economic climate to buy it when they have only one or two clients over the span of months who submit jobs in that format. (I can only speak of my corner of the world from the little I can see. A lot of print service bureaus have gone out of business in the town where I live as well as a large printing plant that did work nationally. Basic survival is at stake and spending money to satisfy one client by buying InDesign or any other software package might not be justified if the income they bring in is less than the cost of the software.)

As far as PDFs, "well-designed" is the key. A lot of people aren't familiar on how to make a PDF file that will work well for printing. Their either use PDF Writer in the Chooser (talking OS 9 where most of the print world is right now) or they leave Distiller in it's original Job Option which is low res and leaves images in RGB format. Also they might not check their jobs to make sure the files look the same as the originals. PDF files can be difficult to edit, so you'd better make sure it's right before you send one.

Many print software tools can be used for video projects (not talking about the packaging now) but you have to understand the requirements of where you are going to use it. If it is an Illustrator file, you'll might need to export it to bitmapped format that your editing program can use at the correct pixel dimensions for video. Same with any other software that is designed originally for print. Also many graphics that would be great for print might not be so hot for video because of the lower resolution that video uses.



Original thread:

"> From: David Thrasher 
>
> I'm sure InDesign is very fine software but a problem you might run 
> into if you intend to have it printed by someone else is that InDesign 
> is not in very many service bureaus and printing facilities yet. This 
> poses a bit of a problem for you since it requires that either they 
> buy the software or that you put in into a form that they can use.

No it doesn't. I moved to an all-PDF-outflow years ago. Bring me 
ANYTHING and what you'll get back is a PDF. There are no service 
bureaus I know of that don't DELIGHT in getting well-designed PDFs 
instead of gosh-knows what from artists using various versions of at 
least three major software packages."



David Thrasher
5631 Ovid Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50310

e-mail: idave at earthlink.net
eBay name: daveindezmenez