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Photoshop (CS) v8.0 under Mac OS v10.3.5 on a G4/733 with 1GB RAM.
I recently received for output four CMYK flyers done entirely in Photoshop (Windows, not sure which version but quite recent), with lots of layers of type, vector effects, &c. Three of the four were set up at 600 ppi, and the other at 300. After editing the files (adding bleeds, inserting adjustment layers to turn 100/100/100/100 objects into a normal rich black, &c.) I saved them in Photoshop format then, as is my habit, made copies in DCS1 format for output, first downsampling the 600-ppi files to 300. Hoping to get the best possible definition from the type &c., I checked the box to include vectors.
Each separation of the originally-300-ppi file showed a size of about 13 MB. A little high, I thought (the ‘nominal’ size of the original being about 34 MB), but no big deal. OTOH the others weighed in at 45-50 MB each, despite having been downsampled. Must be the vectors, I thought …. Well, an imposed file of all four wouldn’t go through our ECRM (Harlequin) RIP, generating a PostScript error. Deciding there must have been something whacky in the vector data — I haven’t any experience outputting Photoshop vectors — I went back to my layered originals, flattened them (downsampling the three oversized ones to 300 ppi again), and saved as DCS1 (of course the vector-inclusion option was now greyed out). To my great surprise, the file sizes were the same as before! And they still failed to RIP.
Pretty well desperate by now, I opened the DCS files in my old Photoshop
5.5 under Mac OS 9.2 and resaved them in the same format; now they all
showed the expected 8+ MB per plate, and my four-on imposition went through the RIP just fine.
Any ideas as to what might have been going on here? Are there known bugs in saving in DCS format from Photoshop 8 / OS X? If so, is it just DCS1, or DCS2 as well? The latter would be a real problem; while I use DCS1 essentially for convenience, speeding up parts of our workflow, the only way I know to get arbitrary spot colour plates into another application is _via_ DCS2, making it essential for some jobs. Or might it be that for some reason (appearances to the contrary) the flattening (or downsampling) didn’t actually ‘take’?
—
Odysseus
I recently received for output four CMYK flyers done entirely in Photoshop (Windows, not sure which version but quite recent), with lots of layers of type, vector effects, &c. Three of the four were set up at 600 ppi, and the other at 300. After editing the files (adding bleeds, inserting adjustment layers to turn 100/100/100/100 objects into a normal rich black, &c.) I saved them in Photoshop format then, as is my habit, made copies in DCS1 format for output, first downsampling the 600-ppi files to 300. Hoping to get the best possible definition from the type &c., I checked the box to include vectors.
Each separation of the originally-300-ppi file showed a size of about 13 MB. A little high, I thought (the ‘nominal’ size of the original being about 34 MB), but no big deal. OTOH the others weighed in at 45-50 MB each, despite having been downsampled. Must be the vectors, I thought …. Well, an imposed file of all four wouldn’t go through our ECRM (Harlequin) RIP, generating a PostScript error. Deciding there must have been something whacky in the vector data — I haven’t any experience outputting Photoshop vectors — I went back to my layered originals, flattened them (downsampling the three oversized ones to 300 ppi again), and saved as DCS1 (of course the vector-inclusion option was now greyed out). To my great surprise, the file sizes were the same as before! And they still failed to RIP.
Pretty well desperate by now, I opened the DCS files in my old Photoshop
5.5 under Mac OS 9.2 and resaved them in the same format; now they all
showed the expected 8+ MB per plate, and my four-on imposition went through the RIP just fine.
Any ideas as to what might have been going on here? Are there known bugs in saving in DCS format from Photoshop 8 / OS X? If so, is it just DCS1, or DCS2 as well? The latter would be a real problem; while I use DCS1 essentially for convenience, speeding up parts of our workflow, the only way I know to get arbitrary spot colour plates into another application is _via_ DCS2, making it essential for some jobs. Or might it be that for some reason (appearances to the contrary) the flattening (or downsampling) didn’t actually ‘take’?
—
Odysseus
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