How to work out paper weight in grams

To work out the actual physical weight of a printed item without the aid of scales can be calculated very simply. Paper stock is measured by ‘grams per square metre.’

In order to calculate an individual non-printed item use the following formula.
width(m) x height(m) x stock(gsm) = grams

Example A: a flat sheet measuring 270x613mm printed on 90gsm Matt Art would be calculated by the following:
0.270 x 0.613 = 0.16551
x 90 grams per square metre
= 14.8959 grams

Example B: A standard A4 sheet of 80gsm Bond copier paper would be calculated:
0.210 x 0.297 = 0.06237
x 80 grams per square metre
= 4.9896 grams

Please note that this does not take into consideration ink; special finishes like foiling or spot UV. A general rule of thumb I use is with each process add 1 gram to the equation.

Example A = 14.8959gram + cmyk 2 sides(+1), spot UV(+1) and foiling(+1).
Total weight would be rounded to 18 grams.

unsharp mask settings for newsprint

Using the unsharp mask filter in Photoshop is the quickest way to employ this necessary step to ensure images are reproduced sharply in newsprint. Sure, smart sharpen gives you more control over the image, however when working within a fast-paced studio environment, time is not always on your side.

Newsprint is produced at a substantially lower quality to that of offset printing and will result in images looking blurred, especially when registration issues (moiré pattern) has occurred.

Before applying unsharp mask to an image; you must ensure that it is placed in InDesign at 100%.This enables the user to apply the correct amount of sharpening to the image.

Select the image, copy the ‘W’ (width) measurement from the control toolbar; open the image in Photoshop and resize the width from the image size menu.

Import the new image and the percentage will now be at 100%.

Open the image in Photoshop and select unsharp mask from the filters menu.

Enter the above settings. Make sure you are previewing the image at 100% to see the final result accurately. When applying the Unsharp Mask Filter the onscreen result should look excessive – but it is necessary in order to reproduce correctly.

+ the original

+ unsharp mask applied

Over the years I have found these settings to work effectively with the majority of shots – and have developed automated workflows which use this as the basis for apply sharpness to images.

PDF Distiller Workflow

Creating an effective PDF workflow is relatively simple and a straightforward process. Implementing a distiller workflow is very useful within a production studio utilising multiple operators.

There are only three components which form the workflow:
• Distiller Settings (ie. newsprint, and offset)
• Watched Folders (which may sit locally or on a server)
• Print Settings (within InDesign for exporting postscript files)

All these take little time to set up and once in place, you will not need to think to much about weather a PDF has been created using the appropriate settings.

Firstly, ensure your Distiller Settings are correct and named appropriately for easy identification. Create different settings for different applications, for example, settings for offset print work and another for newspaper advertising.

 

Secondly, setup a ‘Watched Folder’ within Distiller from the settings menu. However, identify a location where the folder will be easily accessible, either locally on your hard drive for personal use or on a network server for multiple operators to access.

Load the appropriate settings for the desired watched folder, and select your post processing options. Add additional watched folders as required.

 

Thirdly, setup Print Presets within InDesign to ensure your postscript files are created with identical print settings each and every time.

 

Once all three systems are in place, you are ready to print your postscript file into the appropriate ‘in’ folder, which is then processed and placed in the ‘out’ folder of your chosen watched folder. There is no need to change to the required distiller setting in the distiller application as the postscript file will be automatically processed using the predefined setting of that folder.

TIP: Setup shortcuts on you local machine or on the network to quickly print your postscript files to the appropriate ‘watched folder'.

Microsoft Word: Unexpected file size issue

Occasionally Microsoft Word documents may suddenly increase in file size from say 1mb to 23mb. To correct the majority of problem files; the simplest way is to ensure that ‘Save Preview Picture’ is unchecked in the properties dialog box when saving your document.

 

In addition:
• Turn off ‘Allow Fast Saves’ under tools/options/save
• Turn off ‘Automatically save version on close’ under file/versions

 

Failing the above changes to the Document Structure, final possible solution is to copy the contents into a new document with the above options.

font conversions - floorplans

When importing PDF floorplans into Illustrator, fonts are often interpreted incorrectly. AutoCad and also many other applications from PC and MAC environments convert font information differently. Simply replacing the font does not always work.

 

In order for the correct interpretation to occur you must export the PDF as an EPS.

Use the following settings when saving the EPS:

Import the file into Illustrator and the font information is interpreted correctly.

Output Colour Differential

When placing an image within Indesign, a ‘trick’ (often lazy designers use) may cause variations of colour which may seem to be the same colour visually on screen. If an image does not cover a intended area on the page, you cannot simply add or colour pick and fill the background of the picture box.

   

A simple way to check to make sure this will print correctly is to view your separations. Turn the applicable plate off and you will visually see the difference in the cmyk breakdown of the intended colour.

 

In order to fix the problem, the original image must be extended in Photoshop. To correct, use the colour picker to select the colour you wish to extend, then resize the canvas appropriately, using the background / foreground colour as the extended area.

Replace the image in Indesign, remove any background colour applied to the picture box.

 

Finally, check your separations and you should now see no difference within the breakdown once the separation is turned off.

Multiple Transparency Overlays

Using multiple transparency effects on top of images within Indesign will cause problems when offset printing.

Pixilation occurs when the underlying image has multiple transparency effects applied.

 

The solution is to create the ‘underlay’ in Photoshop as an image. Import the ‘underlay’ Photoshop file (do not to apply any effects in InDesign).
 

Now you can create the InDesign transparency ‘overlay’ on top of the placed image. The end printed result will not pixilate.
 

To check, use Distiller to create the final PDF for printing from the postscript file.