Introduction

Until recently, most prepress tasks—such as scanning color photographs, trapping, imposition, color correction, and half-tone screening—were performed exclusively by skilled specialists working manually or on expensive proprietary systems. Today many of these tasks can be accomplished on the desktop.

The flexibility and direct control offered by this new technology have blurred the traditional roles of designer and prepress professionals. Designers who have the knowledge and the equipment can do their own prepress work. The prepress industry has changed to support the new requirements of the desktop publisher. Most commercial print shops are now equipped to image a file directly onto lithographic plates without requiring film as an intermediary, or even directly from a digital file to press.

Managing these changing relationships to achieve output of professional quality requires a knowledge of the processes and relevant issues. As a guide to the preparation of electronic files for commercial printing, this book addresses these issues and supplies the information you will need in deciding whether to perform a particular task yourself or to leave that task in the hands of a prepress professional.