WHAT IS A “PDF” FILE?
Adobe Portable Document Format

Invented by Adobe Systems and perfected over 15 years, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) lets you capture and view robust information — from any application, on any computer system — and share it with anyone around the world. Individuals, businesses, and government agencies everywhere trust and rely on Adobe® PDF to communicate their ideas and vision.

Open format — De facto standard for more secure, dependable electronic information exchange — recognized by industries and governments around the world. Compliant with industry standards including PDF/A, PDF/X, and PDF/E.

Multiplatform — Viewable and printable on any platform — Macintosh, Microsoft® Windows®, UNIX®, and many mobile platforms.

Extensible — More than 1,800 vendors worldwide offer PDF-based solutions including creation, plug-in, consulting, training, and support tools.

Trusted and reliable — More than 200 million PDF documents on the web today serve as evidence of the number of organizations that rely on Adobe PDF to capture information.

Maintain information integrity — Adobe PDF files look exactly like original documents and preserve source file information — text, drawings, 3D, full-color graphics, photos, and even business logic — regardless of the application used to create them.

Keep information secure — Digitally sign or password-protect Adobe PDF documents created with Adobe Acrobat® 8 or Adobe LiveCycle™ software.

Searchable — Leverage full-text search features to locate words, bookmarks, and data fields in documents.

Accessible — Adobe PDF documents work with assistive technology to help make information accessible to people with disabilities.

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HPGL/2 Printing

The HPGL file format is a vector format developed by Hewlett Packard for driving plotters. The file extensions used for HPGL files include .plt, .hpg, .hp2, .pl2, and sometimes .prn. HPGL doesn't support AutoCAD OLE objects.

email leblanck@gilmore.ca

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What is Reprodesk?

Reprodesk is powerful software that allows you to CREATE an electronic job package, GATHER your drawings, PREVIEW for accuracy, COMPLETE a job ticket with all the pertinent information, and SUBMIT the job to Gilmore Reproductions.

• Reprodesk also offers:
• Sophisticated pen mapping
• Unlimited custom sheet stamping
• Scaling-on-the-fly without the need to use different pen tables
• Convenient 8.5" x 11" letter-size sectional printing at full scale or automatic scale-to-fit for convenient reductions
• and much more...

Reprodesk includes a WYSIWYG viewer, (What you see is what you get) so you can accurately preview drawings exactly as they will be printed. Since files are pre-processed by Reprodesk remote into a print ready format, Reprodesk will interpret and output them with high level of accuracy.

If you work with plot files and would like to spend less time getting your files printed and more time doing other things, then Océ Reprodesk is for you. Reprodesk is today's solution for productive, error-free printing.

Reprodesk enables users to create, process, preview and submit a print job for printing as a single task. It allows users to transfer files to our Reprodesk server via FTP connections. At your windows workstation the job is prepared and processed using Reprodesk. Reprodesk then creates a file in the vector image compressed (vic) format.

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Information about DWF

To get the very latest updates and information on DWF – you can visit Autodesk’s site set up specifically for DWF: http://www.dwf.blogs.com/ and at http://usa.autodesk.com/

There are also multiple discussion groups on the Autodesk site related to various aspects of creating/sharing/using DWF files.

Here are a few general points from Autodesk you may find useful:

What is DWF:
DWF is a secure file format that is smaller, more compact, and easier to distribute than DWG or IPT files yet still maintains the rich design data of the original design.

How secure are DWF files?
Protecting your intellectual property when sharing designs as a DWF file is essential. DWF files are basically electronic plots and, by default, include only what the designer intends to share. Layer information can be turned on or off; object properties or block attributes are not included unless published by the CAD user. For additional security, the DWF format has digital encryption and a password-protection feature that can be applied when publishing a DWF file from design applications.

How can I get better precision?
To get better measurement precision:

• The DWF author must intentionally publish the DWF at high enough resolution for accurate measurement. By default the precision is nearly that of physical paper as part of the security concept.
• The DWF author can increase the size of the virtual DWF paper.
• The DWF author can increase the DPI setting of the DWF driver to use more pixels and precision. Increasing DPI will increase the DWF file size, so you do not want to use an unreasonably large DPI. Doubling the DPI will only have a slight effect on file size, but will double the precision. DPI values above 5,000 are rarely required, but you may use any value up to a maximum of 2,147,483,648 divided by the longest dimension of your paper in inches.
• Plotting without line weights may make DWF files more visually precise.

RGB vs. CMYK

Bitmap colour graphics fall into two major categories - RGB & CMYK colour modes. Understanding the difference between these two types of images is essential when printing your Digital files.

RGB IMAGES
RGB images consist of 3 colour channels (Red, Green, & Blue). Each of these channels is made up from 256 levels or shades of each primary colour. Monitors and Televisions & most scanners use this RGB spectrum to create it's image. Programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint & Microsoft Word ONLY work in RGB Modes. Use great caution when matching colours with these programs. If CMYK colour is needed we recommend programs like CorelDraw or Adobe Pagemaker for your important projects.

CMYK IMAGES
CMYK images consist of 4 colour channels (Cyan, Magenta,Yellow, & black). Each of these channels is also made up from 256 levels or shades of each primary colour. Almost all Printer's such as our Minichrome & Megachrome use the CMYK spectrum to create it's image. Programs like Adobe Photoshop use both colour modes. If you are unsure about the colours you may be using ask us for a Minichrome or Megachrome Colour Chart.

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Bitmap vs. Vector

Computer graphics fall into two main categories - bitmap images and vector graphics. Understanding the difference between these two types of images is useful when you’re creating and editing digital images.

BITMAP IMAGES
Bitmap images, also called raster images, use a grid, or raster, of small squares known as pixels to represent graphics. Each pixel in a bitmap image has a specific location and colour value assigned to it. When working with bitmap images, you edit groups of pixels rather than objects or shapes. Images created in Adobe Photoshop are bitmap images.

Because they can represent subtle gradations of shades and colour, bitmap images are the most common electronic medium for continuous-tone images, such as photographs or images created in painting programs. Bitmap images are resolution dependent - that is, they represent a fixed number of pixels. As a result, than can appear jagged and lose detail if they are scaled on-screen, or if they are printed at a higher resolution that they were created for.

VECTOR IMAGES
Vector graphics consist of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors. Vectors describe graphics according to their geometric characteristics. For example, when you draw a 1-inch circle in a vector-based program, the program creates the circle based on it’s shape and size. You can move, resize, or change colour of the circle without losing the quality of the graphics. Graphics created in Adobe Illustrator are vector graphics. Vector graphics are resolution - independent - that is, they are not defined by a fixed number of pixels and so are automatically scaled to appear crisp and sharp on any output device at any resolution. As a result, vector graphics are the best choice for type (especially small type) and bold graphics, such as logos, which require crisp, clear lines that can be scaled to many sizes.

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Facts on Fonts

Fonts consist of two parts: a screen font and a printer font. The screen font is displayed on your monitor in your favourite DTP application; the printer font is used by the RIP (raster image processor) to create the raster image from your application.

MAC Screen Fonts	Printer Fonts

TRUETYPE fonts are the most commonly used fonts in Microsoft Windows. You may access these fonts through the FONTS icon in your control panel.

When using TYPE 1 fonts with Microsoft Windows you will require third-party software such as Adobe Type Manager while TRUETYPE font management is built into Windows. When sending Windows TYPE 1 fonts make sure to send the appropriate PFM and PFB while TRUETYPE fonts only require one TTF file as shown.

If you are unable to send the Postscript Print file (PS or PRN) that includes the fonts you used in your application, be sure to send the proper fonts which you used. For example, two fonts with the same name that are made by different manufacturers are different. If TRUETYPE fonts are used and then output with TYPE 1 fonts, the results may be different. Even a slight difference can alter the text flow in your publication. Another alternative in CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Freehand is to convert type to artwork or curves. This will modify your selected text to vector artwork, although converted text cannot be reformatted or modified after you have done this. This is very handy with text in logos where character and line spacing is very crucial. The only drawback to converting to vector artwork is file sizes - they can become quite large due to the total amount of text converted.

To ensure the fonts you use are printed properly, create "Print Ready" files as "PDF" and be sure that the Embed All Fonts option is on. Always feel free to contact Gilmore Reproductions' Digital Services Staff.

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