Professional Documents
Culture Documents
What do I Need?
1.
2.
This tutorial will offer you some advice on how to use Scribus
to create your content and prepare print-ready PDF files for
DriveThruCards. It will address how to set up one digital file so
that both sides of the card are printed in full color.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Formatting Text
8.
Adding Art
9.
Color Management
The screenshots shown in the tutorial use Scribus 1.4.1 for Mac
and Adobe Acrobat Professional X. If you are using a different
version of the software some of the instructions and screenshots
may be slightly different, but hopefully you can find the right
feature in your software version.
What is Scribus?
Scribus is an Open Source program that brings professional page
layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStations and
Windows desktops.
It is available for free at www.scribus.net.
At the time of this revision (10/30/2013), the current, stable version of Scribus (1.4.3) does not support export to the PDF/X-1a
format, which is the format most professional printing services require. There are two ways to work around this. The first way is
to set up your document in Scribus 1.4.3, and then download the newest, unstable release (which at this time is 1.5) to export your
document, because the 1.5 release does support export to the PDF/X-1a format. The other way is to set up your document in Scribus
1.4.3, and then use the preflight tools in the PDF editor, Adobe Acrobat Professional, to make your PDF/X-1a compliant.
If you do not have Acrobat Pro, you can download a trial version from the Adobe website: www.adobe.com.
1
bleed area
This is required.
The bleed must
measure (0.125)
past the trim line on
all four sides.
The pink area is the safety area for your text, logos and any
important images. If any of these elements run outside of this area,
it risks being trimmed off when the cards are cut after printing.
The white area edged by the dotted black line is called the trim
line. Literally, this is approximately where the paper will be cut or
trimmed off after the cards are printed.
trim line
The trim area should
measure 2 by 3
(2.5 by 3.5).
safe area
The safe area should All text, important
images, and logos
measure (0.125)
should remain inside
inside the trim line
this pink area.
on all four sides.
The total safe area
measures 2 by 3
(2.25 by 3.25).
page 1
In this screenshot, the document layout has been set to double-sided in Scribus. This will make it
very easy to design and apply master pages for the correct card front and back pages, which we will
cover next in this tutorial.
Cards do not need to have a common border color between their fronts and backs.
page 2
page 3
page 4
page 5
page 6
page 7
For example, if your background image is 300 dpi with a physical size of 3 by 4, you are good to go
since that is larger than the card. If your background image is 300 dpi but measures 1 (1.5) by 2,
then you have a problem. To scale up this image to meet the size of the actual printed card, your image
will be degraded because the physical size of the image is not large enough.
72 dpi
150 dpi
300 dpi
3
Then click and drag to place a frame for your master page image. You
can set the frame size in the Properties window using the X,Y,Z tool,
or you can manually resize it by clicking and dragging the blocks or
handles on the Image Frame box. The Properties window will be used
often, so you may want to leave it open while you work in your file.
handles
Heres a tip!
If you sel
select Snap to Guides
from the Page menu before you
resize your Image Frame, the
box should automatically align
(or snap) right to the guides
already set up in the template
for the safe area, trim, or bleed.
Once you have the page set the way you would like, go to the
Page pull-down menu and select Convert to Master. Name the
master page, then save it.
Use the Image tool in the Properties window to size the image
to the box simply by clicking the Scale to Fit Frame Size button.
Make sure to tick the check box for Proportional to ensure the
graphic is not stretched.
If you cant select items on the page with your cursor, check to make sure that your
document layers are not locked. To do this, pull down the Windows menu and select
Layers. The Layers palette will open. If the box under the lock icon is checked,
uncheck it. The items you are trying to select should be available to you now.
You can also click on the page(s) you wish to convert while holding
down the Shift key, pulling down the Page menu, and selecting
Apply Master Page. All the pages you chose should autoformat.
You can select all pages, only odd or only even pages, or just a
specific page range in the document.
Heres a tip!
You may want to turn on the
Rulers Relative to Page option
in the View pull-down menu. It
automatically sets the rulers zero
point to the upper left-hand corner
of each page as you work.
To place text, open the file with your text content, select the text
you want to place, and copy it. Go back to your Scribus file and
click on the first page inside the text area, right-click on it and then
choose Paste to import and place all the text you selected. It will
not be formatted but it will all be there.
Heres a tip!
If the same text appears
throughout the entire
document in the same place,
you can also make that as
part of a Master Page.
The Move Objects with their Page option ensures that objects stay
on their assigned pages when those pages change position in the
document. Although turned on here, it may not be desirable at all
times. When active, if you add an odd number of pages in the middle
of the document, your left-hand card back pages will become righthand pages but will retain the card back master images.
Do not change the Page Size information in the next dialog box.
Once you have the body text adjusted, you can go through and set
the headers by selecting them and setting their attributes, just as
you did with the body text. If you have a lot of text to format you
may want to set global body and header styles. To do this, click
the Edit pull-down menu and select Styles.
In the windows that open you can set the headers (Character
Styles) and the body text (Paragraph Styles). Once you have
set your styles, select the text to convert, then choose the new
style. It will now appear under the Style Settings in the Text tool.
Formatting text Paragraph and Character styles can save you a
lot of time in the long run.
Remember!
The body text will be small, so use a font that is
easy to read and without many flourishes. Industry
standard size is 10 to 12 points for type size, and
12 to 14 points for leading (or line spacing). Leading
is usually 2 points more than the type size.
10
Before you begin to move the text out of the way, next make sure
the Text Frame is not locked. You can simply double-click the text
and make sure the Is Locked option is not checked. You can also
find it under the Item drop-down menu. Dont forget to resize the
Text Frame out of the way, using the Arrow or Select Item tool from
the horizontal toolbar above your document window.
toolbar
11
By simply clicking the Scale to Frame Size button, the graphic will
fill the frame. If the Proportional option is selected, the graphic will
scale in proportion and not stretch. If the graphic is larger in width
or height than can proportionally fit in the frame, it will fit to the
smaller measure. The Scale command can also be found under
the Item drop-down menu; its called Adjust Image to Frame.
12
13
Verify!
Now you can open the Preflight Verifier pane from the Windows
menu and run a preflight report. In this pane, you can check your
entire document for potential errors based on your previously set
preferences, like checks for overflowing page text, missing pages,
or placed GIF files. It will give you a list of all pages and all images
and if they pass or fail the preflight verification. This gives you a
chance to fix a lot of mistakes before the file is sent to the printer.
14
General Tab
Make sure All Pages are selected in the Export Range.
Check the box next to Maximum Image Resolution.
Make sure the Maximum Image Resolution is set to 2400 dpi.
Fonts Tab
Make sure to embed all fonts. Click the Embed All button.
15
Color Tab
Make sure the Intended Output is set to Printer.
Check the box next to Convert Spot Colors to Process Colors.
Pre-Press Tab
Check the Use Document Bleeds box.
The printer does not accept PDFs with any printer marks, so
leave those options unchecked.
16
(SWOP), then click the Analyze and Fix button. The dialog box
will run a report of fixes and changes made to the document.
When the fix-up is complete, a green check mark will appear
if the fix-ups are successful. If the fix-ups have failed, a red X
mark will appear. In either case, you can check the report for
details about errors and warnings.
17
What do I do next?
Once you have your finished the print-ready PDF
of your entire card deck, its time to upload them!
Log in to your DriveThruCards account and
go to the CARD PRINTING section of your
publisher menu on the Account page. Use the
Upload and manage printed card files tool.
This tool will walk you through the process of
uploading your print PDF file and ordering a
physical proof of your cards. You might also find
it helpful to follow our Walkthrough for entering
new card titles, located under the TITLE
MANAGEMENT section.
18
About Specifications
Preferred image formats are TIFF or EPS files. Refrain from using
JPG or PNG files, which are more suitable for web publishing.
In making your text fit into small spaces, avoid Tracking your text
more or less than 20%. It will look too squished or too loose.
Black text should be made with a 100% black swatch, with total
CMYK values of 0% Cyan (C), 0% Magenta (M), 0% Yellow (Y),
and 100% Black (K).
Embed all fonts used in the document (all font families used,
including all screen and printer fonts).
If you have decided that you dont care to do your own file layout, you
can find people with professional skills and contract them to create
your print files. The cost of this work depends on how much of the
work you do yourself before handing it over.
We can recommend someone for layout if you would like. Please
contact Publisher Services for details.
You can also find freelance layout professionals at sites like
www.elance.com.
19