Prefight checking, part II technology's edge: new tools and PDF. (preflight software) (Industry Trend or Event)

The first article in this series on preflight software, which appeared in Vol. 26, No. 8, looked at the genesis of the preflight process and at the manual steps that a preflight operator takes to ensure that "electronic mechanicals" are film- or plate-ready. This article looks at the range of available software tools that can simplify the preflight operator's task and provides a glimpse of new tools and techniques that further improve the process, including the possible use of PDF in this task.

THERE IS A BROAD RANGE of software available with applicability to preflight. Most of it was not designed with preflight specifically in mind, but as the concept of preflight has gained popularity, the publisher has reconfigured the software toward a preflight purpose. "Preflight" has become a buzzword, and most RIP, server or workflow software is now billed as containing "preflight" features, although generally this means only that the software can check for missing fonts and graphics. Their effectiveness varies widely, largely due to a lack of definition of what steps are required for successful preflight.

Early efforts. Preflight as a concept dates back to about 1990, when Chuck Weger introduced it to a Color Connections conference in San Francisco. At that time prepress operators worried more about PostScript code and RIP times than about file construction. PostScript errors were a frequent cause of output problems, errors that either tied up a RIP for hours or stopped it altogether.

The first preflight software was Frank Braswell's LaserCheck, released in 1990. LaserCheck let users proof a job on a laser printer using the PPD (PostScript printer description file) for the imagesetter or platesetter that would be employed for final output. LaserCheck then sized the output to fit on the laser printer paper and output separated pages as they would appear on the imagesetter. This allowed operators to check output without tying up the imagesetter and wasting film, while checking rasterization times and potential PostScript errors. Final output also listed the fonts used for output and indicated whether they were available to the output device.

As key application software moved into third and fourth versions, and as RIPs matured, PostScript errors and "RIP killer" files became less problematic. This allowed prepress operators to focus more on the real problems in electronic mechanicals, problems of missing fonts and graphics, and, more importantly, file construction problems.

#1 problem: missing fonts and graphics

The preflight paradox is that roughly 75% of output problems are caused by missing fonts or graphics, but these problems are technically by far the easiest to remedy. The other 25% of the problems include a host of more complex file construction issues that often take hours or days to remedy.

It's easy to understand why file originators get confused about sending all of the required fonts and graphics when you consider how applications and operating systems handle these files.

Fonts are available with identical names from various vendors, in both Type 1 and TrueType formats. Some fonts must be stored in the Macintosh system file, while font utility vendors encourage users to store the bulk of their font files outside of the System Folder. Adobe's Type 1 font specification creates separate files for screen fonts and printer fonts, while TrueType fonts reside in a single file. Users can modify font kerning tables, changing line endings if the same font with a different kern table is employed during output.

There are nearly a hundred different graphic file formats used in the personal computer environment, although most designers and publishers confine their workflow to EPS, TIFF and PICT. But even these file formats have numerous variants. Adobe offers 17 different save format options in Illustrator 6; if you choose EPS, you get an additional six compatibility choices. TIFF is used only for bitmaps; EPS and PICT can handle both bitmap and vector graphics. Each of these formats can save to a wide range of color spaces, and have proxy options if DCS or OPI is employed in the workflow. It would be more surprising if people didn't make mistakes deciding what fonts and graphics to include with their output orders.

The basic functionality of font and graphic checking is the hallmark of most of the stand-alone so-called preflight software available today. The usefulness of this software is now much diminished given that both PageMaker and Xpress have this feature built into the software, as do Illustrator and FreeHand. These four programs account for the vast majority of electronic mechanicals created on the Macintosh platform.

Xpress and PageMaker tools

Quark Xpress has a series of tools and utilities for handling missing fonts and graphics. When a file is first opened, the software checks for fonts used in the document against those found installed in the host system and …