Book Two

The Specialty Graphic Imaging Assn.’s (SGIA) Jeff Burton and Dan Marx recently issued its 2008 Guide to Digital Imaging, an annually revised book. Jeff is SGIA’s digital resource specialist and Dan the organization’s VP of markets and technologies. The writers say the book has multiple purposes, mainly, to instruct new printmakers and provide deeper information for experienced ones. It also serves as a reference for print-machine buyers.

Skip chapter one if you’re an experienced digital printer and not a marketer. Marketers, on page 11, you’ll find three pages of useful data. For example, 81% of all (surveyed) graphic producers are primarily digital-print shops; 82.9% of their market is local; 72% are print-for-pay shops; 75.2% serve retail stores, and 48.4% primarily serve interior decorators and designers. There’s more.

Also, Chapter 1’s final three pages list end products; thus, it’s a useful, new-idea reference for both machine and print sellers. The list includes backlit signs, posters, wallpaper, fleet graphics, clock faces and, interestingly, swimwear.

In Chapter Three, “Digital File and Job Preparation,” the writers say to train your customers, so all color processes align. They sagely advise, “Customer involvement in pre-flighting, then, becomes a preventative measure rather than an imager’s error-discovery measure.” The chapter gives details on such processes.

Here’s a nitpick. Chapter 4 says raster image processors (RIPs) are, in part, the mathematical equations that describe vectors [which] “… become solid lines or shapes.” Mike Ware’s Wasatch Computer Technology website says, “In its simplest form, a RIP interprets data from your image file into a form that a printer can understand; this translated information tells your printer how to lay down the dots of each ink, to reproduce your image on the printed page.”

Truth is, a digitally printed vector line comprises halftone, grayscale or stochastic dots. A pen plotter can draw a solid line; a dot-producing, digital printer can only emulate one.

Excellent advice in Chapter 4 says you should buy a RIP that can grow with you, as you change equipment and workflows. And, on page 27, the writers commendably advise: “The truly subjective nature of color perceptions makes the color education of your client critical to your business success.”

Read and heed.

Chapter 5 details color-management systems and includes information on device profiling. It reminds you that color profiles, built for a particular situation, may fail if you alter the parameters. It also reiterates that monitor colors degrade; thus, you should calibrate your monitor often.

Burton and Marx define critical, digital-print systems in Chapter 6 and give coherent operations advice in Chapter 10. Read both, if you plan to purchase new equipment soon. Remember, however, the book was copyrighted in 2007, so check other sources for fresh updates.

Finally, on page 95, an output-device register (SGIA uses the term “output device” instead of “digital-print machine”) lists basic specifications on more than 200 wide-format, digital-output devices. The writers also recommend SGIA’s regularly updated list at www.sgia.org. A web search is free to non-SGIA members, but you must complete a web form.

Altogether, it’s a good book, but there are a few flaws. Most noticeable are the glossary’s generalizations (“Solvent: a substance capable of dissolving something”). At SGIA ’08, I asked Jeff about the glossary. He said it had been extracted from a previous publication and that he’d advised the publishing group to drop it.

They should have listened.

Also the book is wordy, a trait of technical writers. You’ll too often read “It’s important to consider that the … (replace with “Consider the”) and other preventable medleys.

For your copy, visit: www.sgia.org/publications.

CorelDRAW X4, the Official Guide
In the ’80s, many signshops purchased CorelDRAW to illustrate their designs, but used other software for technical work. Today, CorelDRAW is a full-fledged design and illustration software that easily competes with Adobe Illustrator. The proof lies in Gary David Bouton’s recently introduced CorelDRAW® X4, The Official Guide. It’s a 3.4-lb., 892-page book. Not a simple guidebook or tutorial, this Corel-endorsed volume is a comprehensive instruction and reference manual that every CorelDRAW X4 user should own.

X4’s improved, streamlined workflow includes ConceptShare,™ a real-time collaboration component; it also contains systems to match Corel’s colors with either Microsoft or Adobe applications. X4 also includes Window Vista® integration, to help organize projects and file searches. And, the new version features font identification and live-text formatting, and its new, page-layering structure allows different page layouts within a multi-page document. X4 also has expanded photo-editing features, including support for raw camera files.

Digital-print producers – or shops that farm out digital printing – will benefit from Chapter 28, “Printing. Professional Output.” It outlines prepress options, ICC profile applications and the software’s Printing Issues Tab (a preflight operation). The chapter also outlines Corel’s Service Bureau Wizard, which prepares images for printing elsewhere.

Fortunately, the author’s views are realistic. On font identification, Bouton says, “You’ll soon notice a problem with any computer program that tries to match a font. It doesn’t use its eyes (it doesn’t have any), but instead relies upon metadata (data about data) written into the typeface header. The problem isn’t with CorelDRAW … someone didn’t write the correct metadata into the file.”

Sign designers should reference page 121, because it covers setting measurement units on the screen’s property bar. This clause tells of changing the rulers to express your desired units – inches, feet, yards, miles or kilometers. Page 125 tells how to draw a building at scale, so use this method to design larger signs. It details the edit/scale, drawing/scale and a unit/feature boxes; therefore, you can accurately design at any size.

The Dimension Line tool, explained on page 243, permits you to indicate linear or angular distances, or degree values; the tool automatically indicates sizing or angles, and, after posting, you can edit the text and reference-point properties. Further, you can calibrate your monitor to make screen objects match real-world dimensions: five inches seen measures five inches across the screen’s face. This aspect allows you to confirm dimensions and, further, assures you of square, even-sided pixels (for sharper details in photos and illustrations); it also minimizes unplanned distortion. See page 127.

Chapter 15, “Creating Your Own Font,” teaches you font-creation methods as well as how to export your font to Adobe Type I, TTF or TrueType files. The writer doesn’t say you can’t create a profitable typeface, but suggests a set of special-use letters (paw-print letters for a pet-shop logo?) may be the more useful project.

This book, too, is wordy; Bouton didn’t include a glossary.