Fine jagged lines as in jpg artifacts or like antialiasing lines?
Are you looking at the QuarkXPress preview, or is this how they’re printing?
What resolution are the images? 72 ppi is going to look jaggy when printed. Print images should be about 300 ppi at same-size output. And rasterized text is liable to look jaggy at anything less than, say, 600 ppi, particularly in small sizes. There is NO inherent reason why they would just lose quality.
Are you resampling indexed color images?
Also, are you working in Classic? QXP 5 is not an OS X-native app.
Neil
They are printing with the jagged lines. Even when I turn them into Postscript files and distill them at 2400 dpi they still have the jagged edges. I’m saving them at 300ppi. I’m working in classic mode with the Quarkxpress and Photoshop. It happens mostly when I get an RGB image and have to convert it to grayscale or CMYK. But only happens with PDF files that I need to convert.
Please answer this question: what resolution are the original images? It doesn’t much matter what resolution you convert them to if they are low resolution to begin with.
Neil
They are at 300 ppi when I get them. When I open the file I choose not to convert so that I can see the original image that was sent. It’s only when I convert them to grayscale or CMYK and save them as tiff or eps. When I convert them they print fine in photoshop. But when I pull them into QXP they are jagged.
Within QuarkXPress, in your print dialog box, what is the Output tab set for? (Resolution? Frequency?) How about the Options for your pictures? (Normal? Low resolution? Rough? Conventional? Printer?)
[note: I’m on a machine using MacOS 9.2.2; but you should be able to find similar settings as I assume you are running under Classic emulation]
Neil
Since you don’t say how experienced you are with Quark, I have to ask: Are you using dcs? If so, Quark can only print the low-resolution (bit-mappy) image, except when separating plates. Also, if you’re saving as tiffs, make sure "Full Resolution Tiff Output" is checked in the Print/Options dialog.
If the images look fine and print fine in Photoshop (when you open them back up again after converting them) the problem has to be in Quark. Not in the conversion.
You already know what I am going to say:
"Dump QXP and get InD!!"
:~)
The problems is fixed. Thank you! I needed to change halftoning to printer instead of conventional.
I thought when converting QXS to PS and then distilling the file, that the distiller settings of 2400 dpi would override the QXS printing settings, it doesn’t.
Thanks for the help!
just curious, why are you originals PDF’s? and why do you want to convert them to raw fromat?
I publish a magazine and most advertisements come as PDF’s but they usually come as RGB, I must convert them to CMYK or grayscale and save them as PDF’s, tiff’s or eps files to pull into the Quark document. My printer doesn’t accept RGB files.
Kristina,
Take a look at the mechanical requirement sheets from major newsstand magazines. You will find that they are generally very strict about which file formats they will accept. If files are not submitted in the correct format, they are either rejected or subject to a market-value charge for fixing them. In addition, a specific "proof deck" may be required. There are caveats galore about incomplete submissions and deadlines of advertising materials.
Cuts down on errors; makes the workflow more efficient; and allows the publisher to recover costs if files have to be corrected or accepted after deadline.
Consider instituting a similar workflow. Although you might choose to be a bit more lenient than, say "Time" or "Popular Photography", you certainly can refuse to accept PDFs that are not made to your specs; or native application files from non-standard apps such as Word, Powerpoint, CorelDraw or KidPix.
Neil
It’s easier said than done. I am running a small business and cash flow is tight. If I was to refuse ads coming in because they weren’t in the right file format I would lose money. One ad can generate $2,800.00. The cost of refusing an ad could mean not taking a payroll check. In a perfect world I could refuse wrong file formats but under strict deadlines I take what I can get and rebuild the ad if necessary. I’ve published magazines for over 13 years and have found that 90% of advertisers don’t have advertising agencies or the ability to know the printing industry standards for file formats. My media kit actually does spell out accepted file formats but the average marketing person has no clue what they mean.
Thanks for the advice 🙂
Kristina
