Scanning and placing in Quark 5

[kylebellamy]

I am currently stumped by this one. I have two negs for plates that I have scanned. When I bring them into Quark, they end up having a white background that will not go away despite setting the background to no color. I figure that means they are a part of the image itself but I do recall having images that had no background except for the art in the image.

I need to line these two images up exactly so that the trapping will be on but I cannot see the crop or printers marks to do so due to the white background. So...

What format should the files be saved in to make the background be clear and/or can I set Quark in any way to facilitate this.

Thanks
Kyle

 

[blueark]

Try scanning / converting them to Line Art rather than grayscale or color. Then you'll be able to change the background to none.

 

[Foamcow]

sounds like you are trying to make an image from negative separated films?

Why not combine them in an image editor like Photoshop and save them as a final coloured image.

Or convert them to lineart (bitmaps) and save them as TIFF's. You might find that the image preview within Quark isn't good enough quality to align the images exactly, in which case use the first method.

 

[kylebellamy]

That's exactly the idea I'm trying to achieve but I need to have them re-seperate again later and some of the things I run into are close registration so I have to put them into photoshop, and make a multi-channel out of them. Which is a b**** and slows the work flow WAY down.

What gets me mad about all of these "high-end" scanning programs like SilverFast Ai is that the assume that you want to scan film from regular cameras exclusivly. There ar no settings for PrePress film so I have to mess with it till I get it right.

Ah, well... so then bit map is the key? Iv'e tried the Tiff way and i still get a large white square that is opaque where the scan is. I cannot seperate the background from the text.

http://www.kylebellamy.com

 

[blueark]

Double check your settings:

1. In Photoshop, your scan should be set to Bitmap mode.
2. Make sure it's saved as a TIFF.
3. Bring it into a Quark picture box.
4. Item > Modify
5. In the 'Box' tab, make sure the box color is None.
6. In the 'Picture' tab, make sure the image color is correct.
7. (Optional) You might need to set Runaround to None too, if your picture is overlaying any text.

That should work...

 

[kylebellamy]

Ok, I'll give it a try. Thanks for the ideas!

http://www.kylebellamy.com

 

[Foamcow]

Also make sure that if you are scanning linework for press output that the image is 1200dpi at 100% enlargment.

AND...

If there any halftones in the film seps then you had better watch out for Moire in the final output.

 

[kylebellamy]

I've already told the sales staff (as if they listen or understand) that halftone negs and screens are to be used as a last resort. Thier customers are going to have to come up with new art.

http://www.kylebellamy.com