PRINTING

When you are ready to print your document, select File, Print. You can select a print preset if one has been created, or use the default. Select the printer you want to print to and the PPD for that printer. In most cases, the PPD is preloaded, but there might be instances in which you need to select another PPD file for the document. See the information about PPDs in the PostScript Printing section that follows.

Use the left pane to navigate through your printing options.

General Options

The following options (such as number of copies and paper size) found in the General pane of the Print dialog (see Figure 21.22) enable you to choose how the document prints from your output device.

• Enter the number of copies.

• If you are printing multiple copies of tiled documents, you can select to collate the documents.

• Click the Reverse Order check box to print the pages in reverse order.

• Select to print all pages, or enter a range of pages.

• If you are printing a range of pages, click the check box if you'd like to skip any blank pages.

• Under Media, select the page size. It can either be defined by the print driver, a custom size (in which you enter the width and height of the document), or a predefined standard page size. Select the orientation of your document using the graphic buttons. If your PPD supports transverse printingthat is, automatic rotation to 90°click in the Transverse check box.

• Under Options, choose to print Visible and Printable Layers, Visible Layers only, or All Layers. You can choose not to scale your document and print it at its current size, to fit the document to the page, or to custom scale the document. Enter percentages for width and height. If the chain between the width and height entry fields is linked, the artwork will be scaled proportionally. Click the link to break it, and enter different percentages in the two fields.

Figure 21.22. The General pane of the Print dialog.

Setup Options

The following options, found in the Setup pane of the Print dialog (see Figure 21.23), enable you to choose how and where your document prints on the paper.

• Choose to crop your artwork to the artboard, the artwork bounding box, or a specific cropped area.

• The Placement section enables you to position your artwork exactly where you want for printing. To change the orientation, click on one of the points in the placement proxy and enter the x and y coordinates where you want that portion of the page to lie. You can also drag the document in the preview window to position it.

• For Tiling, you can print as a single full page, or you can choose to tile full page or tile printable areas. If you tile your document, it prints on as many pages as necessary to fit the artwork. The preview shows you the number of pages the tile will occupy. If you choose Tile Full Page, you can set up an overlap amount to duplicate that amount of space between pages and help with assembling tiled pages.

Figure 21.23. The Setup pane of the Print dialog.

Marks and Bleed Options

The Marks and Bleed pane (see Figure 21.24) enables you to specify printer's marks for the page, as well as set up a bleed area.

Figure 21.24. The Marks and Bleed pane of the Print dialog.

Output Options

From the Mode pop-up menu on the Output pane of the Print dialog (see Figure 21.25), select Composite, which prints all color plates on the same page, or Separations, either Host-Based or In-RIP. The average user generally prints only Composites or occasionally Host-Based Separations to check color coverage and to test the need for trapping in a document. If you are required to set up print presets to this level of detail, you should check with your output agency or the specifications of your output device to get the best settings for your document.

Figure 21.25. The Output pane of the Print dialog.

Graphics Options

The following options, found in the Graphics pane of the Print dialog (see Figure 21.26), enable you to choose how images and color print from your output device.

• In the Paths setting, move the Flatness slider to indicate whether you would like to print your paths at a higher quality or a faster speed. In most cases, keeping the settings at Automatic is sufficient. Uncheck the box and use the slider only if you have problems with either printing speed or the quality of the paths that are printing.

• Under Fonts, Download, choose None if your fonts are installed in the printer's memory. Choose Complete to download all fonts when the document is printed. Choose Subset to download only the characters used in the document.

• Under PostScript, choose the PostScript level that most closely matches your printer for the best output.

• Data Format refers to how InDesign sends image data to the printer, either as ASCII (more common) or Binary (smaller).

• If you have problems with gradients or gradient meshes printing correctly, click the Compatible Gradient and Gradient Mesh Printing check box to rasterize gradients and gradient meshes.

Figure 21.26. The Graphics pane of the Print dialog.

Color Management Options

The color space of your document is listed at the top of the Color Management pane of the Print dialog (see Figure 21.27).

Figure 21.27. The Color Management pane of the Print dialog.

Choose to let Illustrator or the attached PostScript printer determine your document color. If you choose to let Illustrator determine your color, choose the Printer Profile from the pop-up menu.

The Rendering Intent pop-up menu determines how color is printed, based on where it falls in the gamut and how it is converted from one color space to another. The Description window gives details about each choice and how that rendering intent is determined.

Advanced Options

Figure 21.28 shows the Advanced pane of the Print dialog, If your printer supports bitmap printing, you can select Print As Bitmap to rasterize your artwork during printing, creating more reliable output.

Figure 21.28. The Advanced pane of the Print dialog.

Select to Preserve, or Discard any overprinting you have applied in the Overprints pop-up menu. If you are printing a composite, or have specified overprinting with a transparent object, you can make the selection to Simulate Overprinting.

If your document contains transparency, you can select from the Low, Medium, or High resolution transparency flattening presets under Overprint and Transparency Flattener Options. You can also create your own preset by clicking Custom.

Summary

The Summary pane of the Print dialog (see Figure 21.29) enables you to drill down into your print settings and see each one.

Figure 21.29. The Summary pane of the Print dialog.