13 Aug
2010
2 Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
The last tip in this series – which we hope you’ve enjoyed and found of use – simply contains two main points (you’ve read enough, we’re sure!)…
13 Aug
2010
3 Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
It is common for Adobe Illustrator documents to contain multiple instances of the same raster image. Duplicating artwork (including vector) features an inherent danger; if all instances need to be updated in a synchronized manner, there is a risk that one or more instances are forgotten and the integrity of the document is therefore damaged.
This article reveals several approaches to handling multiple instances of raster images within an Illustrator document and how to avoid incomplete artwork revisions.
12 Aug
2010
3 Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
Do you remember when as a young child, you played with poster paints and liberally squirted the tube of runny paint all over the cheap wall covering paper ripped off from the roll? Now they would call it art and hang it in the Tate Modern, but back then what mainly resulted was a soggy mess as the paper screamed its surrender at trying to cope with so much liquid paint being thrown at it.
It was all fun then. But the same really applies to offset printing with professional inks, applied via a professional press and on professional paper. And with a professional charge when it all gets too much for the paper as is starts to crinkle and ripple due to excessive ink being applied.
This article covers the topic of over-inking. As in most professions such as mechanical engineering, the majority of production and cost implications are set at the design stage. Armed with Adobe Illustrator, you have the power to make the right design… or a costly and mushy mistake. It would be advisable to read on…
12 Aug
2010
No Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
A common requirement for designers and publishers is to convert artwork into pure grayscale, or “greyscale” if you’re on our side of the pond. This process may at first glance appear to be simple and fool-proof using Illustrator’s native command introduced in Illustrator CS3. (Sorry Illustrator CS2 users; the is not as advanced, disallowing certain objects including gradients to be converted.) But this simple approach does not always produce the best results. Other native Illustrator methods are available, which will be discussed.
The other major aspect of this article, as indicated by its title, is the production of “warm” desaturated results as catered for with the Desaturate tool found in the Phantasm CS range. Technically, true “grayscale” artwork only exists in the black separation, using only black ink (or any other single ink at output stage). However, it’s sometimes more suitable to produce artwork which appears to be monochrome like grayscale, but contains a mix of inks to add some perceived warmth.
11 Aug
2010
1 Comment
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
Overprinting black text and other objects can ensure quality print jobs. It’s often the simplest way to ensure crisp results and is a age-old work-around for the issue of mis-registration on a print press – a topic discussed in the previous article, Rich black strokes and text. Here, we’ll describe methods to set objects defined with black ink only (“pure black”) to overprint using both native methods and tools as well as the overprint black option found within Phantasm CS.
11 Aug
2010
1 Comment
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls No – it’s nothing to do with a color’s financial status. “Rich black” refers to a deep black defined in CMYK using a high levels of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Wikipedia features this page to describe rich blacks.
Isn’t black ink on its own enough? Well, not really. The trouble is that all inks are semi-transparent to different levels. It’s accepted that you can see right through yellow ink and that it only displays a low level of opacity. But neither is black completely… black.
10 Aug
2010
1 Comment
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
The joys of personal experience. Somehow life manages to dig out a series of problems thousands or millions of others have already discovered to their cost, yet keep some apparently new situations just for you. So this lighter tip comes from AG’s own personal journals.
Live Effects are such a wonderfully powerful tool within Adobe Illustrator. If you want convincing, this earlier AG blog video tutorial shows the creation of a completely editable text effect – simply by using the power of live Effects. But what this tutorial also displays is the vast level of complexity such a stack of live Effects can conjure. And with that comes the spectre of annoying your local printer and delays to your job!
10 Aug
2010
No Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
Adobe Illustrator can contain two forms of artwork:
It is commonly know that images such as TIFFs, JPEGs and Photoshop PSDs can be linked and placed within an Illustrator document. But did you know that it is also possible to link and place a PDF, EPS and even another PDF-compatible Illustrator .AI document?
The advantages of linking artwork include:
However, linked files also present some clear dangers to the unwary designer and operator. This article covers some major potential pitfalls, especially the color aspects.
9 Aug
2010
2 Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
Images can be either linked (ie. external) or embedded in Adobe Illustrator documents. Both methods have their pros and cons, but embedded images are common and often have to be adjusted.
It’s a strange fact that Adobe never endowed Illustrator with a method to allow users to edit or access embedded images. Whereas linked images are provided with an option to edit the original linked file, embedded images are normally locked in. This can cause huge issues when a last-minute adjustment is required that only Photoshop can perform.
This tip shows how to overcome this obstacle and save heart-ache when the deadline is fact approaching.
9 Aug
2010
4 Comments
This article is published as part of the exclusive AG blog series Avoiding 10 Illustrator Publishing Pitfalls 
What better place to start this series of tips on avoiding publishing pitfalls in Adobe Illustrator than one of the most common: “overprint white”?
