Art Specifications and Guidelines

For the most part you are responsible for the quality of the final product. Following these few guidelines will help ensure you get the product you want and will keep set charges and turn-around times to a minimum. Please contact your customer service representative to put you in touch with the graphics department should you need any further assistance. A downloadable PDF version of this is also available.

Vector Files are preferred.
When ever possible, vector files should be sent. Bitmap images (photographs) are resolution dependent where as a vector file can be made as large as necessary.

Bitmaps/Photos
When sending bitmaps, 300 dpi should be considered a minimum as image quality degrades if you increase the scale of the image. A general rule is for every 100% increase in size, resolution is cut in half (5” x 5” image at 300 dpi will become 150 dpi when the size is increased to 10” x 10”). Correctly scaled images with sufficient resolution will be between 20 and 60 MEGS for proper resolution at press.

Size your layout properly
Make sure that you create your layout to that of what you wish to receive for your final product. If your are wanting a brochure make sure that you take into account the space in between the folds and that your copy and art are centered correctly. If your final product is going to be a sign or banner, then make sure your layout is set to 1”=1’. This will insure that your banner/sign will be produced at the correct size.

PDF’s
When sending PDF’s it is important to make sure that you created the PDF correctly. All fonts must be embedded and all colors must either be Spot PMS colors or process (CMYK) color. RGB file are not the correct color format. Although we can convert your files to process, they will produce a different color gamut than that of the process file. Make sure if you are using Acrobat Distiller to create your PDF’s that you have the “Press Quality” preset selected in order to ensure that no photos where downgraded in resolution.

Include a printed copy/PDF of your desired layout
All artwork must be accompanied by a printed hard copy with all PMS colors specified in the file. If there are no PMS colors specified then we recommend that you provide us with a approved color hard copy (Brochure, previously printed piece, etc…).

Images/Photos copied from the Internet
Graphics requirements for the internet are much more forgiving that with digital production. Web pages almost always contain low-resolution (72 dpi) bitmap images that can not be produced correctly. Original image files are required.

When sending PC files, include your fonts
Be sure when sending fonts from your PC that you include both the screen and printer versions (*.pfb and *.pfm). If you used True Type fonts (*.ttf) then there will only be one file. Never send text that has been converted to bitmap this eliminates the edit capabilities. Try to stick to type 1 fonts when ever possible.

Quark/Adobe Indesign are preferred
When ever possible, if you are producing a multiple page document Quark and Adobe Indesign are your best bet. These programs are used widely in the graphics and printing industries and are considered the best. If you are using a Microsoft product such as Publisher, Word, Power-Point, Excel, Print Shop…etc., these programs are usually RGB programs and are ment for in home production not commercial. If you are using one of these, we require that you send a PDF of your file so that we can make sure that the conversion process takes place properly. This is due to the fact that we can not produce your product from these programs. [Back to Top]

Always include all support files
When placing logos, images or linked files to a layout no matter what program you are working in, always include those individual files in their native format (Ex., Photoshop (.psd), CorelDraw (.crd), Tagged Image File Format (.tif), Encapsulated Postscript (.eps), etc…), or in any of the approved file formats below.

E-Mailed Art
E-mail is accepted. Vector files and small picture files can be e-mailed. Larger files (above 5 MEGS) need to be posted to our FTP site (see FTP info below), or sent on disk. Any artwork needs to be accompanied by a faxed layout to confirm the file was received correctly. An approved Compression Utility (see below) can be used to reduce file size and reduce the risk of file corruption. Please no self-extracting files. Send e-mailed art to your Customer Service Representative.

Acceptable Applications
Precision Printing has both MAC and PC capabilities, though MAC is the preferred format. The following applications and file formats should be used when sending digital art.

Applications

• Quark 6.5 or earlier
• Adobe Creative Suite 2 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Acrobat)
• CorelDraw 12
• Freehand 10

Formats

• Encapsulated Postscript (.eps)
• Tiff (.tif) grayscale or bitmap
• JPEG (.jpg)

Media

• CD
• DVD
• ZIP
• 3.5” Floppy
• Scans
• Original Art (Scans are limited to 11” x 14”)

Compression Utilities

• Stuffit – MAC
• WinZip – PC

FTP Information
To transfer files using to our FTP, you’ll need a network browser such as Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape or FireFox. Just click the link below to either upload or download files from our FTP.

Web Address: http://www.megatrans.com/en/home.mtml

To Send: Select “Precision Printing Company” from the Pulldown
Click “Send”
Click “Submit”

The next window will ask you to browse to your file, find it, select it and click “Send File”. It will then ask you to assign a “Retrieval Code”, type in the name of the file excluding the extension.

To Receive: Select “Precision Printing Company” from the Pulldown
Click “Receive Files”
Click “Submit”

The next window will ask you for a “Retrieval Code” this will be provide by your Customer Service Representative, but it is usually the name of the file. [Bact to Top]