• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

Ready to publish!

Participant ,
Dec 31, 2021 Dec 31, 2021

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi!  I'm new to Illustrator (been using Photoshop 20+ years).  I just illustrated a children's book (62 pages @ 8.5x11") in Illustrator and am ready to publish.  Each page's file is LARGE and heavy with lots of layers, gradients, etc.  Any hints on prepping these files for publication?  Thanks!

 

You need to ask program questions in the forum for the program you are using
To ask in the forum for your program please start at https://community.adobe.com/
Moving from Using the Community (which is about the forums) to the correct forum... Mod

Views

1.4K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 12 Correct answers

Community Expert , Dec 31, 2021 Dec 31, 2021

Ross,

 

You can start here, especially with the first search result,

https://helpx.adobe.com/search-results.html?q=save+as+pdf+illustrator&scope=%5B%22helpx%22%5D&subscope=%5B%5D&limit=10&start_index=0&sort_orderby=relevancy&sort_order=desc&post_facet_filters=%7B%22applicable_products%22%3A%5B%5D%7D

 

 

It is always safer to Save a Copy as PDF: Save As PDF can lead to the destruction of your document if done wrongly.

 

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Dec 31, 2021 Dec 31, 2021

Hi @rossisaacs, that's great. Congratulations, how nice to end the year with this accomplishment! You will certainly want to have a PDF file for print versions. Typically, you'll need a separate front cover/spine/back cover file, which has a different trim size as these three elements are all in one file output. The printer or platform you use will have some specifications on how to prepare your files, making sure the trim size and bleeds are set properly. Most publishers allow very large-size f

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

For my part you are welcome, Marilyn, and Happy New Year.

 

You can answer the "just the artboard" part by saving a PDF copy of any artwork that extends past the Artboard.

 

With regard to the (other) properties, always ask the printer, as Jain already said.

 

Particular care (and advice) will be needed with the bleed, because you have to create the pages with surplus artwork to be cut off at all sides (allowing for a certain inaccuracy).

 

You can create the artwork for each spread (like your p

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Marilyn,

 

As a different subject, my guess is that yous have considered (and maybe reconsidered) the use/avoidance of hyphens/separations within words.

 

Have you also considered/tried to adapt with small adjustments of the width of the paths (used for the Area Type), such as a wee widening or narrowing of the one on page 3? Sometimes it is amazing how little it takes to obtain much.

 

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Where will you publish it?

Number one should always be to get in contact with the publisher and ask for their requirements. Not all PDFs are equal, the options matter a lot.

 

Are there just a lot of objects? Or also transparency, masks and the like?

Many objects will lead to high file sizes and it might be over the top with no chance of compression (for vector objects).

In case you have also used opacity masks, blends, transparency and the like, you might get ridiculously high file sizes when u

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

It looks darling, Marilyn! You have a lot of helpful hints and suggestions. I recommend a small print run or print-on-demand copies to see how it turns out. Also, text spacing in print looks better when there is only one space between sentences, and it looks as though you have two?

 

Depending on the printer and binding, you may end up with extra blank pages inserted at the end (64 pages would be 4 full signatures). InDesign is the best program for book layouts. You may find it easier to use Ill

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

>> I recommend a small print run or print-on-demand copies to see how it turns out. 

Good advice.

 

If you are commercially printing the book, ask the printer for "contract proofs". Those are proofs that the printer is guaranteeing what the job will look like when printed (with slight variations). Usually, they can even be on the same paper as the final product for better accuracy. The proofs cost more, but for a job with critical color such as this, you may not want to chance non-contract proof

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

I would seriously consider putting the job together in InDesign. 

 

If you really want to stay in Illustrator, you don't need to combine the artboards (pages) together if they are not meant to be a spread. Just make sure the printer knows the order of the pages (get a proof!).

 

If you actually created a drawing as a spread in two separate files (I'm not sure how...), it should be on two adjacent artboards. 

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Transparency flattening will create whatever your options are. You might actually end up with a file that is even larger than what you have now.

 

Considering the transparent overlays I would convert the artwork to pixels. That is: only the artwork, not the text.

 

You can either export pixel files out of Illustrator or import the file into Photoshop thus rasterizing it.

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Large file size is subjective. Your artwork is complex, and Illustrator is a "verbose" program (tends to make large files). 

 

To take a look at them in Photoshop, try the File > Export > Export As... menu.

Change the format to PSD and save. 

Select Preserve Text Editability; the second option may not be necessary. 

(I would move the type layers to the top layer just as policy.)

If all looks good, save as to Photoshop PDF. 

image.png

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

>>I went to File > Export > Export as and the image above was the only field that showed up. 

Click export and the next dialog box should be the one I shown. 

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert , Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Before rasterizing anything I would talk to the printer about the file specifications. They need to tell you the resolution they want as well as color profiles to use.

 

You don't want to redo everything after sending them the file, do you?

Votes

Translate

Translate
Adobe
Community Expert ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I would consider importing your Illustrator files into InDesign. You can build the entire 62-page book in once document and output to a press-ready PDF. (You wanted to learn another program, didn't you?)

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi David,  HAHAHAHA!!!!!   Love it!  Yes, I spent several months learning Illustrator.  I guess ya can teach an old dog new tricks, and I'm defintely up for learning a new program like InDesign.  I'll crank up the ol' YouTube tutorials (that's how I learned Illustrator!!!). Thanks for your help!  Happy New Year

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Can you bring into photoshop? Make sure resolution is where you need it to be. Then flatten the image and save as a tiff, or jpeg if printer allows jpegs.

Lee- Graphic Designer, Print Specialist, Photographer

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi Lee,  I've exported files into Photoshop as a PSD.  If I do it as a JPEG the resolution defaults to 72 dpi.  I wanter higher res, and exporting it to Photoshop gives me 300 dpi.  Like you said, I can always create a jpeg from the psd image.  Thanks -  Happy New Year!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I would never use JPEG for this type of art. Too much potential for artifacts.

 

If for some reason it goes into Photoshop, bring in the type layer intact. Then save as a Photoshop PDF so the PS vector elements (such as the text) stay vector. 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Got it!!!!!  I prefer the PSD file, too, if for nothing else, the higher resolution.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Assuming you didn't rasterize any art in AI, the art would be vector and wouldn't have a resolution. It would printer out crisper than a Photoshop file (although it might be hard to tell except on the text).

 

If you did you use any raster effects in AI, you can set the resolution under the Effects > Document Raster Effects Settings. If you created a print file to begin with, it would be in CMYK and at 300 ppi already. 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Jan 01, 2022 Jan 01, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi David -  of course...still adjusting to a vector world while my brain is in Photoshop raster - forgetting that vector is an entirely different animal.  I haven't rasterized any of my files and they are all in CMYK.

Thanks!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 02, 2022 Jan 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Marilyn,


A few different things with (possible) mutual influence, hence this separate post.


Now that you have been daring and thrown yourself into the arms of Illy (job description Adobe Ilustrator) and hopefully already found that she is always eager to help, you might consider

different (lacks of) daring concerning the way from artwork to print as suggested by different helpers.


But to begin with the beginning: since you have the artwork fill the pages right to the edge of the paper, have you made the necessary bleed? You can read on here, starting with the first

link,

https://helpx.adobe.com/search-results.html?q=bleed+illustrator&scope=%5B%22helpx%22%5D&subscope=%5B...

%22applicable_products%22%3A%5B%5D%7D


You can also bookmark this empty Helpx search page and use it for searching whatever else is suggested (here or elsewhere) or you come across yourself, just insert the term you seek,

https://helpx.adobe.com/search-results.html?q=&scope=%5B%22helpx%22%5D&subscope=%5B%5D&limit=10&star...

%22applicable_products%22%3A%5B%5D%7D


Without bleed, the outer parts of the artwork will be (literally) snipped off and/or you will have white nothingness here and there, owing to inaccuracies.


If there is no bleed you can still make it (it sounds better than fake it) especially because you have Illy to help you with your vector artwork: you can scale up the artwork just enough to get the needed bleed on all sides; you can just select everything on the Artboard except the text box(es) (which may need readjustment) and then add twice the bleed to the W box and the H box (just click in each box and go to the end and insert + followed by twice the bleed) in the Transform panel with the centre Reference Point ticked; this will give an (almost) invisble change of proportions; to avoid that you can choose the smaller of side length and add twice the bleed there, then hold Ctrl/Cmd and press Enter to scale up by the same proportion.


This brings me back to my suggestion about one piece of artwork for the whole spread. It started because I noticed that pages 2 and 3 had more or less continuous artwork at the bottom,

including the mushroom and some greenery, but in the upper part there are some clear differences, so I believe it is rather a suggestion to consider for the following books/other artwork.


More specifically, the suggestion is to create the artwork as a whole for both pages in the spread including the needed bleed on all four sides of the spread (which you know will be lost). This will give you (and the readers) one continuous piece of artwork to enjoy. To make it work, simply create two overlapping Artboards with normal bleed, the overlap being twice the bleed. With this, the outer bleeds will be cut off and be gone, whereas the bleed down the middle on either Artboard will be identical to the outermost part of the artwork on the other Artboard when both are cut off accurately.

 

To go straight to the actual printer work, presuming a certain length of the run, you might consider FM screening/stochastic screening, maybe in this connexion, maybe for later books.


To go back to the text, I am sure you adapt every text box to both the text and to the artwork round it. I agree with David about non justified text, and in that context you might consider

a more free shaping of the box; you can use another shape than a non (rounded) rectangle for the inner white part and then just Offset Path to create the path of the transparent edge (as I believe you are doing already).


This adaptation means that we are really looking at a picture book where even the text bits form fully integrated/adapted parts of the pictures (such as the texbox on page 3 is with the monkey and the mushroom), which makes me suggest your (daringly) making a go at creating the PDF just with the help of Illy, if only to have the experience before trying other ways that may be (more) obvious in other contexts and a fuller basis for your choosing your preferred way.

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Participant ,
Jan 02, 2022 Jan 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hi Jacob -  thanks so much for your help!!!  

 

Yes, I do have a bleed area.  I'm a "sloppy" designer and have parts of the image going out way past the artboard.  And, I've gone back into every image to make sure that it's MINIMALLY 1/8" beyond the artboard (I did a clipping mask to "clean up" the image for me, visually).

 

I just started working on 2 artboards, side-by-side, for the images that span 2 pages.  Wish I knew this at the beginning...but hey, part of the learning process, right?  

 

The text I'm working on - my husband, Jay, is the author.  The idea of more free-formed "boxes" around them sounds good!  For some of the pages, the boxes were designed free-formed to go around images.  And some parts (some of the dialog) I used a funkier font.

 

Gotta say -  I'm very excited about this book.  I've been working on it since April, learning something new in Illy every day.  I look at my original files and scratch my head thinking "why on earth....?"

 

Again, I appreciate all your help.  

Take care, Marilyn

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 02, 2022 Jan 02, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

For my part you are welcome, Marilyn.

 

I believe there is no need to say always keep a copy of the artwork before you destroy it, applying to both full documents, which ought to be backed up in different places of different kinds and preferably going back through different versions, and to artwork within the individual document/layer, which ought tp be hidden/locked when going on with a copy for irreversible changes; the latter can be discarded when you are certain enough (to rely on the possibility to fall back on an earlier version of the document).

 

It is often better and more efficient, rather than sloppy, to have a surplus so you can move everything more (freely) about, and sometimes obtain unforeseen advantages and/or avoid the disaster of (literal) shortcomings (even if by a few pt).

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines