The Help Desk

Application Files

Examples: Smellies supports Microsoft word, Powerpoint, Excel, Publisher, Adobe PageMaker, Photoshop, Illustrator, & QuarkXpress.

Adobe PDF ( Portable Document Format) Files 

Adobe PDF is the ideal format for electronic document distribution because it transcends the problems commonly encountered in electronic file sharing.

Postscript Files 

PostScript is a standardized printing language, allowing portability of print files to different output devices. When you create a PostScript file what you are doing is capturing the printing instructions and placing them in a file instead of sending them to the printer connected to your system. The process of creating a PostScript file varies depending on the application your are using.

Smellies can accept the following file formats:

PC Windows, CorelDraw 9, Quark Xpress 4, Pagemaker 6.5, Adobe Photoshop 6, Microsoft Publisher 2000, Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Powerpoint 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000

Sending us Postscript files is your least expensive option.   Our prices are based upon Smellies receiving Postscript files.   We will gladly accept native format files in any of the above formats; however we charge $45 per hour to repair problems caused when sending native file formats.  You can eliminate this cost by creating your own postscript file from any application, simply by installing a postscript print driver and printing to a file.   You can find where to download postscript print drivers and read detailed instructions in our Creating Postscript files section.

Getting your electronic files to Smellies  

Email file attachments should be sent compressed (Zip or Stuffit) using MIME encoding to: Submit Page

You may also send your files on any of the following media.

• Floppy Disk

• Iomega Zip (100)

• CD

Creating Postscript Files

Postscript is the universal language of printing. All application files must be converted to Postscript before being printed to one of Smellies high – end printers, like our  DocuColour Series 50 or  Document Centre 230st/slx.  

If you prefer to send us native format files, we’ll be glad to do the conversion on our end. We charge $45 per hour to convert native format files to Postscript.

In order to keep our prices as low as possible, we give you the option to send us Postscript files, rather than native application files. Once you learn how to create Postscript files, you’ll find that it’s easy and simple process that actually gives you more control over how your printing will look.

Choose the driver that corresponds with how Smellies will print your file:

Black & White Printing ftp://ftp.xerox.com/pub/Document_Centre/220/english/dc40ps95.zip

Colour Printing

ftp://ftp.xerox.com/pub/

Large Format Printing

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/plotters/software/pl106en.exe.html

Common Questions

Q: What DPI should I scan my photos at?

A: Between 200 and 300 dpi at the final size.   If you scan a photo that is 3”x 3” and place it in your file at actual size (3”x3”) then you should scan at 200 – 300 dpi.   If you are placing the 3”x3” photo in a file that will be enlarged to 6”x6”, this is a 200% enlargement, you should can at 600 dpi.    Any scans that are scanned above the recommended dpi, will waste space and time and could result in overtime charges.   Any scans that are scanned to a lower than recommended dpi could result in unsightly pixelation.    You cannot increase resolution in Photoshop, nor can you maintain resolution while enlarging an image.  Once an image is scanned, any enlargement will result in a decrease in resolution.   Therefore, it is critical that you scan it to the proper final size to begin with.

Many people confuse imagesetter resolution with scan resolution and have difficulty understanding how a 300 dpi scan yields a publication – quality image.   Without going into a complicated technical explanation, suffice to say that imagesetter resolution (typically 2,540 – 3,556 dpi) is a completely different concept from scan resolution (typically 200-300dpi). The simple explanation for this is that scans are continuous tone images, while colour separations are screened images.   In order to allow for sufficient variation in dot size and frequency when creating screens, it is necessary for an imagesetter to operate at a munch higher resolution than the resolution that the image was originally scanned at.   The ratio is 8:1, meaning that a 300 dpi scan requires 300 x 8 = 2,400 dpi of imagesetter resolution to output with all the shading and nuances intact.

Q: What is the best format to save bitmap images in so they can easily be imported into another program?

A: You should always use a CMYK format.  TIFF and EPS are examples of formats that support this colour mode.    If you don’t use this colour mode, your files may print black and white or the colours may be unacceptable.   Corel 3 does not support CMYK bitmaps, so you should use RGB instead.  All later versions of Corel support CMYK.

Q:  How do I gather required fonts?

A:   Follow these procedures:

Windows 95/98/NT:

• Type 1 Fonts:

On your hard drive there should be a directory called \ psfonts which contains [filename].pfb files. Within that directory is a directory called pfm\. This contains the [filename].pfm files. For each font Smellies needs both the .pfm and the corresponding .pfb file. Once you copy these files out of these directories, you can then verify they will install by trying to reinstall them from the directory you copied them to.

• True Type Fonts

In the control panel, open the fonts folder.  Right click on the desired fonts, select “copy” and drag them into another folder.   Then send us those files.

Windows 3.1

• Type 1 Fonts

On your hard drive these should be a directory called \psfonts which contains [filename].pfb files. Within that directory is a directory called pfm\. This contains the [filename].pfm files. For each font Smellies needs both the pf. And the corresponding pfb. File. Once you copy these files out of these directories, you can then verity they will install by trying to reinstall them from the directory you copied them to.

• True Type Fonts:

Open the file win.ini from your \window\directory in a text editor such as notepad. Locate the font name. You will see a file on the same line with the extension .fot. Locate that file in your /window/system directory. You should see another file with the same name, but with the extension .ttf.   This is the file Smellies needs. We do not need the .fot file.

Macintosh:

• Type 1 Fonts

Copy the screen fonts and printer fonts out of you system/fonts folder.

• True Type Fonts

Copy the True Type fonts out of the System/Fonts folder.

Q:  How  do I create a bleed?

A:  Extend the image 1/8” past the page boundary

Colour Print Files – This information applies only to files destined for Colour Printing

Our DocuColour Series 50 represents the latest technology in on demand digital colour printing.  It is designed to produce high – quality, full colour printing in extremely small quantities.   It is most cost – effective for orders of 1 to 1,000 pieces.  

This technology opens up a world of opportunities to enhance your marketing materials using full colour.   Instead of settling for black and white, or being locked into printing thousands of colour pieces, you can now print just a few hundred at a time.   You’ll eliminate inventory costs and you’ll be able to make changes continuously, ensuring that you’re always sending your customers the most current information.

Before you begin preparing your files for the DocuColour, there are some important guidelines that you need to follow and limitations that you need to be aware of, to ensure that you get high quality results.

• The DocuColour is not an offset printing press. It is a toner – based digital colour – printing device. While it is the most advanced machine of its type and produces excellent colour for most applications, you should not expect it to match the quality of conventional offset printing.

• Certain paper stocks work much better that other stocks.    Smellies have a selection of paper types that yield superior results on the machine.

• Photographs, solid tints, and fine text reproduce with excellent results on the DocuColour.

• Avoid printing over fold lines. Toner is prone to cracking when folded.

The DocuColour combination of low cost, fast turnaround time and the flexibility of digital printing make it ideal for many short – run colour applications.   Obviously, these are limitations to what the machine can do, but if you have realistic expectations and follow the guidelines above, we believe that you’ll be more that satisfied with the finished product.

Smellies do have presses that are capable of running larger runs of full colour jobs.    Please keep in mind that a press turn around time is longer.   A press takes time to have film, plates, and the press set-up to run jobs.  Please allow sufficient time to have your job properly run.

32 Manitoba Street, Bracebridge, Ontario P1L 1S1

705.645.4600   fax 705.645.5317  

smellies@muskoka.com   www.smellies.muskoka.com