Exporting PDFs in CS2

[Eggles]

Today I came across an issue I haven't faced before (I am still fairly new to using CS2) and that was creating a PDF to show the bleed margins (and hence crop and registration marks). I was a little taken aback to find there was no way of setting the paper size when exporting a PDF out of ID2. However, I discovered by trial and error that if you set up your document at the final printed size (e.g. A4), and included bleed margins in the setup, then this seemed to automatically be taken care of in the resultant PDF. Is this correct?

In other words, if you are exporting a PDF from say, an A4 page with 3mm bleed margins, the PDF that will be created on export will automatically add the extra 'canvas' size so the printers marks wil be visible?

 

[Lessa]

Yes, that's right. Though you're throwing me off with all that A4 and mm talk. I'm just an ignorant American.

One note of caution - ID's PDFs aren't perfect. When you send stuff to print, you're still better off printing a .ps file and distilling it with Acrobat Distiller. Especially if you have transparency.

 

[jimoblak]

One note of correction - ID's PDFs are fine unless you are using a RIP that does not support CID fonts. Lessa may be stuck with one of these older RIPs. Exporting PDF from InDesign is actually preferred since printing to PostScript will strip out any interactivity that you have set up in the document.

Printing to PostScript does not do anything better for handling transparency than properly setting the PDF export options of InDesign. If you export a PDF/X-1a file, InDesign will flatten everything just as if you were printing to PostScript.

For details on ideal PDF workflows, check out Dov Isaacs' presentations at the top of the Adobe forums:

http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.ee6b330

- - I hope this helps - -
[sub](Complain to someone else if it doesn't)[/sub]

 

[Eggles]

jimoblack

I am an avid reader (and participant) on the Adobe forums, and have also read that ID's export to PDF is preferable to the two-step method, even if preservation of hyperlinks and bookmarks is not a concern. Can't remember what it was about them that made them so good, but I love the ease with which ID exports PDFs. But going back to my original question - as long as you have set up bleed margins and instruct those to be retained when making the PDF (or wahtever the terminology is), that's all there is to it?

 

[jimoblak]

While I disagreed with Lessa on the preferred way to create PDF, she is correct about the automatic sizing of the PDF output.

- - I hope this helps - -
[sub](Complain to someone else if it doesn't)[/sub]