Printing help

[maggols]

Hello All,
I am in need of advise about the best way to print a large project. It's a customized book - with every order, I'll need to drop in changes particular to that customer. I created the book in Xara. And then discover that no print shops have Xara. I then exported the images - or in some cases pages - as TIFF's and re-layed out the pages in CorelDraw. That program also posed a problem for the printer - (not exactly sure why). So now I'm trying to tackle the PDF scene. Is there a way to get high-quality printed output from a PDF? I did a few test pages and was not at all pleased - weird colors, jagged lines and fuzzy images, etc. I did try one page with the Distiller part of Acrobat and it took 70 minutes!
Can anyone offer any advise?
Much appreciated,
Maggols

[maggols]

Hello All,
I am in need of advise about the best way to print a large project. It's a customized book - with every order, I'll need to drop in changes particular to that customer. I created the book in Xara. And then discover that no print shops have Xara. I then exported the images - or in some cases pages - as TIFF's and re-layed out the pages in CorelDraw. That program also posed a problem for the printer - (not exactly sure why). So now I'm trying to tackle the PDF scene. Is there a way to get high-quality printed output from a PDF? I did a few test pages and was not at all pleased - weird colors, jagged lines and fuzzy images, etc. I did try one page with the Distiller part of Acrobat and it took 70 minutes!
Can anyone offer any advise?
Much appreciated,
Maggols

[webitect]

my first suggestion would be to choose a printer and ask which programs they can support. Usually it will be a few...if not, and they only support one, you might want to look into someone else more flexible. Once you have decided on a printer and file format, see if Xara will export directly into it or a compatible format. Many of Xara's exports can be imported by other programs, it is just a matter of connecting with the printer and finding out which will work best for both of you.

Chris

[maggols]

Thanks Chris...now for a related question...when I export from Xara, the graphic is not on a transparent background. WHich means that I have to bring it into PhotoShop,get rid of the background and then bring it back intoa lay-out program. Am I mising something from Xara?

[Erik Heyninck]

You did set your acrobat to print quality, didn't you? The default option is e-book, and that is indeed not printer-friendly.
Your printer will most probably work with Crashitosh (macs) so you will also have to convert your text to curves.
In eps, as far as I know (I'm not an expert), you have an option to make the white background transparant for import into Quark etc...

If you don't work against time, time often works for you.

[gwpriester]

Another solution is to create what is called a Printer file (PRN). In essence this is the same as printing from Xara without the person outputting the film needing to have Xara installed.

I covered this in some detail in WebXealot 26 in the Printing and Imagesetting section.

You do need to check with your Service Bureau (why does that term always seem like an oxymoron when it comes to Windows files) to see what kind of output device they are using and then install that printer driver on your computer and print to file using that output device.

It is the next best thing to outputting your files direcly from Xara.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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XaraXone

[maggols]

Hello All - First, I'd like to thank everyone for all the terrifically helpful advise...and then, I'd like to ask for some more. Does Xara do transparent backgrounds? When I import a photo from PhotoShop that is already on a transparent background, in Xara it has a white rectangular background. And when I export from Xara to CorelDraw, that image, too, has a background. Alternatively, is it possible to use Xara to clean up photos like I do with PhotoShop? I know I can mask what I want to keep, but what about fine details, etc? Thank you!

[gwpriester]

Xara does support PNG with alpha channel transparency.

Another thing you can try if PNG does not work, mask the image and create a solid black shape on a white background and export it as a separate file.

Open both in Xara. Select the color image and then open the Bitmap Gallery and select the black and white image and press Trans. This will remove the white background.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


XaraXone