File Specifications for Submitting Artwork
At Millarcom Inc., state of the art computer technology ensures the highest quality final output. The following guidelines will help to reduce delays, errors, extra costs and ensure that your final product is of the highest quality.
Camera Ready Art
As printing technology changes so does the definition of what is considered camera ready. Camera ready is considered as digital files in a format that can be immediately output with no alterations.
Most Millarcom projects use direct to plate technology eliminating the need for paste up and film. Therefore, black & white hard copies and film are no longer considered camera ready!
Submitting Files:
File formats compatible with the following
software are acceptable:
- Quark Express (Mac),
- Adobe InDesign,
- Adobe Illustrator CS3,
- Adobe Photoshop CS3,
- Adobe Pagemaker 6.5
- Corel Draw
Tip: export Corel Draw files as AI (Illustrator) files.
The following programs do not support high end output, therefore we are unable to output these files:
- MS Publisher
- MS PowerPoint
- MS Word*
- MS Excel*
- Corel Wordperfect*
*Note: These formats are acceptable as "text only" files for us to format at an additional charge.
Platform Issues
Millarcom Inc. is entirely Macintosh based, therefore all submitted files should be Macintosh compatible. In general the acceptable formats listed above are cross platform compatible. Fonts, however are a concern. Windows fonts should be converted to curves (outlines) or rendered as bitmaps. If your application will not let you do this make sure you stick with standard fonts such as Times or Helvetica.
Images
All images should be either TIFF or EPS. Other formats will need to be converted at an additional cost.
Avoid using JPEG compression. While JPEG makes nice small files it does this by removing image data thereby reducing image quality.
Resolution of grayscale or color images must be 300 dpi (200dpi for web printing). Black & white lineart should be 1200 dpi.
Images from websites, digital cameras, photo CD's etc. generally will not work as they do not have a high enough resolution (see note above).
If supplying photos for us to scan, do not write on the photo! If you need to mark cropping info, use a photocopy or a sketch.
Do not rotate or skew an image in your layout program (e.g. QuarkXPress, PageMaker). Do this in your image editing program (e.g. Photoshop).
Misc.
Make sure you build your file to the final page size (e.g. an 8 1/2" x 11" ad will not reduce to fit on an 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" page). If you are not sure of the project specifications please check with Millarcom.
When sending files by E-mail:
Please specify the name of the project in the subject. Also include a contact person and a phone number.
Whenever possible please compress attached files. Any standard compression software (such as WinZip or StuffIt) should work fine.
Do's and Don'ts:
- Do supply all fonts.
- Do include an accurate hard copy.
- Do build your documents to the final trim size (don't add the crop marks yourself)
Do call (780) 467-6121 or
email artroom@millarcom.com
if you have any questions.
We will do our best to help you.
