Crop Marks

CorelDraw 9 since 1989. Now I'm going to sound like a real dummy.
How can I make crop marks easily without having to draw them by hand? I know there must be an easier way.
Most of my output goes to a printer with letter/legal/11X17 paper sizes and I convert them to .pdf then email the file(s) to the print shop. So that leaves out using the 'finished' paper size and letting Corel insert the crop marks using the Imposition Tool that I used to use when sending a .prn file to a dedicated printer with dedicated hardware/software that would print a .prn file.

Thank you so much for your time.

If you are sending him a .pdf anyway, you could have the .pdf add the crop marks for you but I just openned my version 9 and there is no option for that.

When I have to make crop marks and want to make them on my own I draw a square tangent to the page corner point. Then convert outline to object, erase where it needs it and in the corner point so that doesn't show. Then I use the transform palette, I put in the numbers and tell it to duplicate. However if you flip it now. it is on the wrong side of the corner. Holding down the ctrl & the alt key, grab the left-middle edit handle and drag and it will flip it in proportion just like that.

Now you have two crop mark. Marquis select, then ctrl "G" for group. Transform and tell it how far to duplicate. Again the marks are facing the wrong way. Do the ctrl + alt trick again and you are done!

BTW, just holding down ctrl or alt individually, you can drag but it is not constained to the same size flip.

Hope this helps. Now if you upgrade to 12 which I use all the time, the .pdf export puts your crops on for you. It has the standards for professional .pdf built in. Quite handy.

Thanks so much Sally. I'll try that.

Sallybode,
I purchased the CD12 upgrade, installed and tried to figure out how to make 5 pages of business cards on one page w/crop marks in a .pdf file. I've also installed Adobe Acrobate 7.0 Professional.

Can you help me. I've read the help and found nothing. I maybe using the wrong nomenclature to find the correct help.

Also, I wish Corel would get it's act together. After installing the 12 upgrade I selected the 'check for upgrades' option and of course there were upgrades. Well the upgrade would not finish because of an IE file the Corel opens when downloading/installing the upgrade(s). I kept getting that a file was busy that needed upgrading and to close the window........ well.......... I'm not sure of the outcome now, hahahah


Thanks, Sallybode

I know its weird, but actually the upgrade installs nevertheless. I do not work for Corel though I use their software at my work all the time.

To add crop marks using Acrobat professional, look for the "Advanced" button at the bottom of the dialogue box for "Print", then inside of "Advanced" check on "Marks and Bleeds" and you can turn on your crop marks.

Regards,
Sally

I have done that but if I want to print multiple (ie: business cards) on one page with crop marks inbetween the only output I can get from .pdf is each card on it's own 3.5 X 2 page w/crop marks.

What I'm trying to accomplish is very similar to the imposition layout in CD where all the forms are on one page.

I guess I mis-stated my original problem. But, now I have CD 12 which I probably would not have had otherwise.

You can do your imposition in CorelDRAW. I guess you are doing several up on the page. If they butt right up against each other, the printer doesn't then need a gutter, just trim marks.

Under the Arrange Menu, choose Transform/Position.

This lets you make duplicates of your artwork specifying the vertical and horizontal offset. Easiest to just offset in one axis at a time.

So if you were imposing business cards and wanted them 8-up, you'd transform the position horizontally by 3.5" and tell it to apply to duplicate. Then selecting both business cards (now 2 side-by-side), you'd transform the position -2.0 and hit "Apply to Duplicate" three times.

If you have bleed or if your printer uses a slitter or other equipment, your offset will be different. You can also copy your crop marks in the same manner.

Acrobat will not do your imposition for you. But it can add crop marks. Once you have set your document up in the correct multiples, and if there is a reverse side, you have to reverse your spacing unless you have center stacked. Often times you will print to the edge to make one less cut. In which case, if you don't flop your layout, it won't back up properly.

Hold up single-sided proof pages to the light or on a light table to be sure that it backs up alright. Sometimes you want a work and turn, other time work and tumble. It depends upon the run. Most jobs are head to head.

If you have a specific run you must tell the printer how the output must be.

Here's a crazy thing. I don't even have the 'arrange' option on my menu bar. I've checked out the 'optins' to add it but there is no 'arrange' by itself. The list is only all the options I've ususally seen when I drop down 'arrange'.

But I don't think this method will work for business cards with different names. In imposition I choose page(s) first then imposition on the page.

I'll keep trying stuff though.

There is also a docker so you can either get at it as I had describe or turn on the docker.

The docker allows you to change position, duplicate and move, rotate, skew, mirror and reflect.

If you can't find these tools go to help.

Sometimes I get tired and just zone out and can't see what I am looking for just out of frustration

Hello All,

I, myself am having problems creating a pdf out of a prn file. The main reason I need to do this is so i can have the impositioning and crops how I want it, so i can easily email the printers a pdf that needs only to be printed and cut.

Now the funny thing is, is that I was always able to do this with Acrobat Distiller 6.0. I would normally print to file out of CorelDraw 12 and then using distiller, create the pdf from my prn file. Now for whatever reason I havent been able to create one this way. What Could Possibly Be Wrong????

Forget my last post, I just figured out how simple it is to print to pdf (brilliant!) although I have a little pixelation on an object that i gave a gradient transparency to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by inphoenix

CorelDraw 9 since 1989. Now I'm going to sound like a real dummy.
How can I make crop marks easily without having to draw them by hand? I know there must be an easier way.
Most of my output goes to a printer with letter/legal/11X17 paper sizes and I convert them to .pdf then email the file(s) to the print shop. So that leaves out using the 'finished' paper size and letting Corel insert the crop marks using the Imposition Tool that I used to use when sending a .prn file to a dedicated printer with dedicated hardware/software that would print a .prn file.

Thank you so much for your time.

---

There sure is an easier way-
http://www.oberonplace.com/vba/drawmacros/index.htm
Go here, this guy has written a VBA macro to do just that!

Check out the "Crop Marks" macro and also the "Object Tiler" macro for relief from cropmark and imposition pain. Both of these are a great boon to those that do not have Acrobat Distiller and rely on Corels export to PDF function.

Thank you so much David for the macro link

Yup, nice one! :)

Dear Sally

I've installed X3 and am able to use the imposition but after I get the business card 5 up and 2 across it does not convert into a .pdf properly. In the o/p of the .pdf there is only one card in the middle of the page. I changed my page size from labels (also tried 3.5X2) to letter size and centered the card(s) on the page and converted again to .pdf. Again only one card shows instead of ten. Any ideas???
I send .pdf to the print shop for them to make a plate.

I don't understand why you don't make the .pdf from your DRAW file. There is no need for an intermediate step.

You can make the necessary crop marks on your file in DRAW itself. I work for a printer myself and have never had anyone send us a .prn file since I have been there myself. Not even our service bureaus are using them, all goes off in either .pdf, .eps, or .tiff, .ai, or Quark .qxd. There are more bureaus taking .cdr but I have standardized, everyone gets a .pdf, that way I can keep track of things.

You are welcome to run your question past Foster Coburn or unleash.com, he is the most experienced DRAW user I know.

Ask him at the forum: http://www.unleash.com/forums/default.asp

Or you may want to ask here also: http://forum.oberonplace.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

which is the OberonPlace.com forum, very helpful people there also.

OK Sally, I must be saying something incorrectly.
I do make my .pdf from the draw file. I just want to be able to produce an 8½ X 11 sheet of paper with 10 business cards on it. I want the 1st card in upper left (this is relative) to be the master and the other clones. I also would like the option of crop marks between each card. I would also like to be able to do this with only 4 business cards (sometimes horizontal and sometimes vertical).

Currently I have to create my own crop marks to send this letter size sheet in .pdf format to the print shop.

This may all turn out to be a mute point as now they have installed a machine that will print from puter and make a plate so they would not need crop marks. Only when they produce their own plates, manually, do they need crop marks for placement onto the offset press.

I hope this helps define my problem.

I'm so amazed at you and your knowledge. Wish I had one teeny tiny bit of that.

Ask the printer what their preference is. They have most likely a template to put your business card in and may prefer to do their own imposition. The reason I say this isn't to discourage you from doing it, but the printer's template is set up plotted from the x and y axis and offset from the paper edge for the exact gripper margin, so that next when it goes to the trimming operation, the spacing of the slitter is normally set to a precise gap and it is much faster for them to do it this way.

They can also give you a template upon which to return your artwork, that keeps you both happy.

I do things by the numbers because I work for a printer and I don't have to be close, I have to be on the money, so I use my x and y coordinants and I use the transform palette to exactly place my artwork duplications. I normally do this with the business card outlined to the actual trim (2" x 3.5"). I can use the crop marks from OberonPlace.com, their script works really well. However, you only need crop marks top and bottom if they are using a slitter. Our slitter trims out a 1/16" between business cards. But other brands may eat more or may actually use artwork butted up to each other's final trim if there is no bleed.

Going to the printer and talking to their graphic artist is really the best way, that way you have no problems when it comes to print whatsoever. And if you are using spot color, they will have swatches you can pick between, they will also be able to show you the difference in color from what is printed on matte vs. glossy or rather "coated" paper.

Paper costs money, so maximizing your imposition to give you 12 out it best. But since printers try to be efficient so that their personnel know how to handle each job, they try to make it as similar to the last job, it cuts down on mistakes. This is one of the best reasons to use a template. If they have to rerun your job, you won't be getting it on time.

Using scripts and dialogue boxes to exactly place and duplicate artwork is the key to being accurate.

You'd be surprised how often I get in a business card that someone laid out and it isn't even the correct height and width.

I have found it is most useful to put up the Transform Palette. Because the Transform palette shows many of the same options, it may seem redundant but it shows things the property doesn't because the Property bar changes, the Transform bar remains happily the same. So as not to be confused, I have dragged it and docked it at the bottom of my Window. You can turn it on in Options/Customization, Command Bars.

On the Transform palette you have your x and y coordinants. You also have the exact height and width of anything, including text. How often do you need to make text a certain width in measurement, not exactly a point size, it has to fit or you have to match and replace some damaged existing text, this is the way to do it. Your boss tells you to make the whole thing 10% smaller because their isn't enough gripper. By typing in 90% you have it right then and no fancy calculating height and width. If you pay attention to what this bar reads you can learn alot about your document that is useful to you. You can also use it to change your objects size disproportionally by opening or closing the lock beside it. You can rotate with it. And by either using "ctrl d" or "ctrl r" in X3, do most of the functions of the Transform Docker. You can also change things by percent. Back before computers, artists had to calculate the percent of a photographic reduction. And for this I used a reduction wheel, two circled joined in the middel with a rivet with round rulers and a percentage window, so you could predict the outcome of a reduction you requested from the darkroom or if you went from their to the stat camera and dialed in the depth of the copy board from the lens or the aperature of the F stop. The same pertained to using the Lacy Lucy but it was more a visual approach. Knowing how to calculate your changes can shave a lot of experimentation off your time, which makes you more efficient, more employable and if you are self-employed, more money.

I have added a script to a button in DRAW that launches the Windows Calculator from OberonPlace.com's forum, though I don't use it much, you can do most basic math functions in your spin bar controls in DRAW. For example, your box is 3.0 inches wide and needs to be .25 wider. You can find where it reads 3.00 and type + .25, enter, and you are there. Of course most people can figure that one in their head, but suppose you need 3 5/16. I have to look up the decimal equivalent for that or I can just type "3 5/16" in the Transform bar and hit enter and it knows to convert to the decimal equivalent. This doesn't work in the Transform Docker, however. But since I can see the Transform bar when the Transform docker is open, I just copy the numbers. Now since the cutters at a print shop are also dialed in numerically, you can see the advantage of doing it by the numbers. If your work is right more than the next guy, your customers will come back again and again.

But....

If your cut is not the same consistently through the box of business cards, the customer will not be happy.

Thanks for the compliments, BTW, means a lot.

Good luck.

Sally