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Conventional Prepress - Guidelines for Input Media |

General Information
- To avoid schedule delays and additional charges, please
submit all specifications and copy together, including art,
illustration negatives, digital files, and any needed proofs.
- Provide a pagination list that notes frontmatter pages, part
openers, unfolioed and blank pages, index pages, tips, wraps and
inserts with your specifications. Include all special instructions,
such as those that pertain to screens and dropouts.
- Be sure to supply head and gutter margins with all disks,
negatives or copy. Pages with non-standard format require accurate
corner marks to indicate placement by head or gutter. Use
reproducible (black or red) ink to note corner marks on your
reflective copy.
- Please be sure to note the existence of bleeds as part of your
print specifications. (Note: A bleed is any image that prints to the
trim, or is less than 3/8" from the trim edge.) Bleed images require a
larger paper size than non-bleed images for the same trim size. Therefore,
bleed pages must be identified in advance so that the proper sheet size can
be ordered. Extend the trim by 1/8" on all bleed pages.
Reflective Camera Copy (Repro)
- Please transmit all text copy at the same time, including
frontmatter and backmatter. Note that all copy is shot at 100%,
unless otherwise noted as a percentage clearly marked on the
copy. Supply the copy in single pages. Any pages received after film is
created will be billed as corrections.
- Please be aware that only one average exposure is used to
shoot each job. Line art, screen lines or copydotted halftones
requiring other exposures would be charged individually.
- Blank space around type for reflective copy (mechanicals and
repro) should be no less than 1/2" on all sides.
- Copy larger than 20" x 25" at Maple and 30" x 44" at Vail is
beyond our parameters to shoot, and requires subcontracting at
additional cost, as well as longer processing time.
- All two-color copy must be plainly marked to differentiate color
breaks in non-reproducible blue pencil on reflective copy. Clearly
written instructions for common elements (such as chapter opening
pages) is a satisfactory alternative.
- When tissue or acetate overlays are used to indicate style, more
than three repetitions of one pattern will incur additional charges.
- When acetate overlays are used, please provide register marks on
both base copy and overlay.
- Please indicate screened text background by rubylith overlays
or windows cut in correct position to the reflective copy.
Illustrations (Reflective Line Art and Continuous Tones)
- On reflective artwork, please indicate final size as a percentage
of the original, including any required reduction or enlargement
of text copy.
- Identify reflective art by figure number and/or page number, using
reproducible (black or red) pencil or individual tags. An art log
noting placement, percentage of reduction or enlargement, and whether
each is to be shot as a halftone or as line art is helpful.
- Note that if artwork is to be reproduced from a bound book, the
book will be cut apart unless requested otherwise. If the book must
remain intact, additional processing cost will be incurred.
- Indicate the size and placement of illustrations by exact size
FPOs or ruled boxes with figure numbers. It is satisfactory to
supply illustration corner marks (tic marks) for FPO prints or black
boxes in the exact size for proper placement.
- If ruled boxes on copy are used to indicate placement of
illustrations, please note whether the rules are to print. Specify
the weight of any rules that will print when the illustration is
supplied for scanning.
- Please note that illustrations will be considered combinations if
line art or text is within an illustration, or if the text, such as a
photo credit line, is 1/8" or less from the illustration window.
- Note that illustrations larger than 11-1/2" x 17", transparencies
(slides), and continuous tone negatives may require extra processing
time if they need to be subcontracted to an outside source.
- Unless you request otherwise, all halftones from art will be
shot at 133 line screen and at a 45° angle.
- Any supplied film halftones may be subject to photoprints being made and billed; consult with your Sales Representative or CSR prior to providing film.
- All scans will produce a digital proof for customer approval.
Single Page Negative Film
- Supply negative film as Right Reading Emulsion Down (RRED).
- Opaque the base side only, never the emulsion side.
- Be sure that all negatives without bleeds are trimmed no closer
than 3/8" from any image area and no larger than the trim size.
- On two-color negatives, identify each page by color and page
number outside the image area. Normal convention is to have
the identification reversed out of the solid, circled for deletion,
and positioned at the bottom outside edge of each negative.
- Supply register marks on two-color negatives within the trim
size of the negative film, but out of the image area. Registration
marks should be consistent for the entire book and positioned on the
top, on the thumb edge, and on the foot trim of each page. Do not
double-burn or drop them out of the image area.
- If supplying two- or four-page negative film images to be tiled,
ask for a Maple-Vail imposition from your CSR. Image a center
cross-hair registration mark to provide a 3/16" head trim for web
titles and a 1/8" head trim for sheetfed titles. Confirm that the
head and gutter margins on the negative film tiles match the written
specifications for the title.
Imposed Negative Film Flats
- All specifications from the previous section, Single Page
Negative Film, apply to supplied imposed negative film flats.
- Supply imposed negatives plate ready as one piece (cropped)
composite per color in exact register, stripped to a stable base,
hard-dot carrier.
- Please supply negative film in eight page units or larger to
Maple-Vail imposition, with register marks and fold marks clearly
imaged and opaqued as needed. Your Customer Service Representative
will provide the proper imposition template for each specific title
upon request. Imposition templates include placement of color bars,
dot gain scales and pins. Supplied negative film flats that do
not conform to our specifications will require adjustments at
additional costs, including complete restripping if not imposed
properly and punched to our pin register system.
- Impose your title on single-burn negative film flats. Double-burn
negative film flats will require special pricing, and limit
Maple-Vail's ability to ensure proper page registration and backup.
- Please do remember that jobs which possess full bleed pages
require larger size sheets for the same trim size. It is necessary
to compensate for bleeds on two-page spreads for grindoff
papercovers by 1/8" so that important image areas in the gutter
are not lost.

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