Printing problems are abundant in most prepress departments at service providers and studies have shown that as many as 86% of files received from customers require some form of correction before the job can be processed.
Problems most printers find are: Missing or incorrect bleed, RGB images, missing fonts or resolution issues. For the printer to remedy the problems before output, it means cost in time returning the file to the customer for correction or having to make the correction(s) themselves which often leads to extra charges for the customer. Either way, it does affect your bottom line.
Printing a graphic element to the trim edge of a printed piece requires first creating a bleed. A bleed extends beyond the live area of a printed piece on one, two, three or all four sides of the piece. Bleeds are done to compensate for inaccuracies in trimming. If a bleed is not included where one is needed, the results are printed elements that do not completely reach the edge of the trimmed piece unless it is under-trimmed.
Previous versions of PitStop displayed bleed if it was available and could automatically extend rectangular shapes to create bleed if none existed. Users could also manually manipulate a PDF to extend bleed if the file design allowed it. The new version is a leap forward as the new Add Bleed Action in PitStop 13 lets you add bleed automatically — even when no bleed exists! It can create bleed for vector shapes and raster or image data when this info is insufficient or missing, significantly streamlining workflow in the production process.
Files need two elements for proper bleed: A properly defined bleed box and objects that are intended to run to the page edge must be extended past the trim box to the edge of the bleed box.
When PitStop encounters a PDF file with no available bleed, it will not use a mirroring technique to generate sufficient bleed. The newly created mirrored object is kept independent from the original image, but is an exact copy of the original, retaining all attributes such as overprint, ICC profile tagging and colorspace for example. These objects remain completely editable for manual adjustments. And bleed can be generated for multiple objects, or for complete pages and documents.
Avoid both missed deadlines and increased costs with the new PitStop Pro 13!
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