What Is Prepress?
Prepress encompasses the processes involved in preparing materials for printing, including creating printing plates and desktop publishing (DTP). It involves tasks like manuscript planning, text input, page layout, and outputting manuscript films for printing machines. With advancements in DTP, all prepress tasks are now achievable on computers, allowing sophisticated operations such as image import, processing, and page layout refinement.
Prepress has evolved with the proliferation of DTP and image setters, enabling direct plate making from manuscripts without the need for film output. This development has made prepress more efficient and cost-effective, particularly in publishing and commercial printing.
Uses of Prepress
Prepress plays a critical role in determining the quality of printing and binding. It involves standardizing colors for consistent reproduction and ensuring precision in the printed material. Digital prepress, which uses computers for most tasks, has become the dominant method in the industry, streamlining the process and reducing costs and lead times significantly.
Principles of Prepress
In prepress, the primary objective is to prepare a design and layout ready for printing. This stage involves proofreading data corrections, color sample checks, and finalizing the manuscript for metal plate creation and printing. The duration of prepress work varies depending on the readiness of the data and the extent of required revisions.
Structure of Prepress
Printed material production comprises three stages: prepress, press, and post-press. Prepress involves manuscript adjustments, design, character sizing, color tuning, and creating print data. It includes planning content, formatting advertisements or publications, creating images and designs, typesetting, image processing, layout assembly, and final plate completion. The press stage encompasses the actual printing process, while post-press involves finishing tasks like processing, binding, and shipping.
Types of Prepress
Prepress includes photoretouching, a vital image processing technology. Tasks in photoretouching range from cutting and erasing/transplanting parts of images to color conversion, restoration, and composite processing. Color proofing is another crucial aspect, involving outputting color proofs using plate data and digital proofing systems to ensure accuracy and consistency in color standards.