We see if you do a search in Google for 
"How to Save File for Prepress in 
Illustrator" that the first 
result is a Markzware one. In particular 
for FlightCheck, which is vital for
Illustrator users, for preflighting 
your artwork before
outputting, and also allowing you to package 
all artwork and fonts used in 
your file, for archiving or for 
sending to the next party
in the workflow.
Let's pop into
and open Adobe Illustrator CS5, 
in this case,
and we will open up this file.
We are going to now go in here and
add some new text by
adding a new text
object in Illustrator. As you can see,
we can now save this for 
prepress or print in several 
ways to prepare for press.
As we have gone over in several other Markzware videos, sometimes we will want to convert these fonts
to outline.
You can watch the other tutorial on exactly how you can do that, but it is quite simple in Illustrator menu item: choose the Type item and then choose, "Create Outlines."
In many cases, you will not want to create outlines of the fonts, for you are not ready for that 
stage yet. We might need to adjust this native file on a continual basis.
But you still want to be able 
to professionally print it.
We can go to "File-Export" and 
see the Export options
we can instill,
and the many different 
file formats we can use,
including CAD and JPG.
What you will see is, if we do a "File - Save-as" instead of an Export,
that we can, of course save as a 
native Illustrator (ai) file, but also
as an .EPS file,
an Illustrator EPS file.
So, let's go ahead and save this example 
logo as an Illustrator EPS file now.
We will get several options, which 
are very important for printing.
We can include CMYK postscript 
in RGB files, 
which can be very 
important for printing.
We can choose the level of 
Adobe PostScript you want to use, 
like LanguageLevel 2, for instance.
We can also embed fonts 
(for other applications).
Now, if we had this "embed fonts" 
checked off in Illustrator, 
what you would see is (writing Illustrator EPS Format‚Ä¶)
that this could cause a big 
problem, preflight-wise.
This is where FlightCheck can come into play, to help you, to help you find these preflight problems.
To find lo-res elements of the 
artwork which may have been used.
So, the logo looks fine
on our web page, but 
will it print correctly?
These are the obstacles which stand i
n the way between web and print.
As graphic designers we must be very aware of these facts and also
even though we may be very good 
graphic designers, we all have our
Monday mornings and our Friday afternoons. This is where FlightCheck can help Illustrator graphic design users.
Let's show you how FlightCheck 
works in relation to that 
print EPS (vector based) file
we just created.
Now many times,
Illustrator for prepress
means that logo file may be 
used down the workflow road
in other document. For instance, in 
Desktop Publishing Layouts 
(DTP layouts) like
Adobe InDesign or even QuarkXPress, 
or even other others like Microsoft Publisher or
Corel!Draw.
As an example, if we created
a new InDesign document,
we can add
some text (text box),
adjust the fonts size and used font.
Then let's add that Illustrator EPS
image in the .INDD file. File-Place.
Then go and select that 
EPS we just created
and place it in there.
We can arrange the layout 
and all of that now, too.
It all looks fine and dandy,
so we can save this InDesign file.
We'll take a closer look here.
Let's open FlightCheck
on the Mac and see what 
happens when we preflight
this
InDesign layout, which us using the
Illustrator artwork we just prepared
and this is
supposedly prepared for prepress use – 
and thus, it should print perfectly.
Let's see what happens when we 
take this InDesign file with the
used fonts and images 
and drop it on the 
FlightCheck FlightStrip.
The preflight process initiates.
In mere seconds, we get a 
FlightCheck Results window, 
where we can
very quickly see that there are problems 
in red, and warnings in blue or orange.
Look, there we see that 
Illustrator EPS image, 
which we asked to be warned about 
in our Ground Controls of FlightCheck! Why?
Well, often EPS images or EPSF files 
can use fonts or images which may not 
be included and seen as
missing by the printers RIP at prepress.
In this case, FlightCheck allows 
us to see that the printer font
IS MISSING!
You can see
here that the
screen and printer fonts 
are both missing.
In the FlightCheck main window, 
you get all of the details on your file.
Not only the file, page and print info, 
but also your Color,
Fonts
and Images. It is in those Colors, 
Fonts and Images sections of 
FlightCheck, where you can see
what we are talking about.
We can see that we have 
three missing fonts. 
We can see which exact 
type of font that is,
the version and
even who is the manufacture or 
font foundry for that typeface –
very handy if you need to go 
purchase or buy that font.
FlightCheck can help you do  that.
Here you can see the image,
which we used, the EPS file. Through 
FlightCheck, we get a preview of the 
image, with the test we had in there.
We can right away see that this file is 
not ready for prepress use or for print.
This Illustrator EPS image has a missing 
screen font and a missing printer font.
And once again we can even see exactly 
which font is missing.
This is key, FlightCheck and 
preflighting,
for getting your 
Illustrator file ready for
prepress, in this case, 
using Adobe InDesign.
It should be noted that InDesign's 
Live Preflight cannot see any images
or fonts used or embedded 
within that Illustrator EPS.
FlightCheck can.
Not only will FlightCheck find
and pinpoint these problems,
it will also package
that InDesign file with all fonts and 
images, including those used in the
Illustrator EPS file
placed within InDesign –
very handy!
I should also note that FlightCheck can also preflight Illustrator and package Illustrator files in the native application, as well.
It can even preflight,
for instance,
the Illustrator EPS image.
Watch, no problem!
It will even allow you to 
collect that image
with used fonts if they were not embedded – So, if you define that, 
FlightCheck would be able to collect
that as well
very handy for archiving and passing 
on to the next graphic designer 
in the workflow.
FlightCheck software will also collect 
native Illustrator or Photoshop files.
So as you see, how you
save a file
for prepress in Illustrator
really depends on your 
final need or usage.
In many design cases,
you may not know that final graphic 
design need until later. Or the needs 
may change, which is one reason
many graphic designers will not
flatten
the fonts or the artwork so quickly,
or embed the fonts quickly, 
in the design process.
There are various options when saving your Illustrator files or doing a "File, Save-As" in Adobe Illustrator CS5.
You can even place PDF's now-a-days
or even native Illustrator files. 
Saving as an Adobe Illustrator EPS 
is still one of the most 
popular ways to
utilize vector artwork
that you have created within 
Illustrator for prepress.
Naturally, there are other ways of exporting a file such as a JPEG (JPG),
or even as a TIFF (tif), all fine for 
static image use as well – flattened.
The important thing is ensuring that 
your print-file in Illustrator is using
high-resolution artwork,
has all of the fonts used available 
and/or convert to outlines,
and a host of other preflight issues 
for which
Markzware FlightCheck can help you check, going through the file, 
bit-by-bit, looking for potential printing or prepress problems.
Over on Markzware.com, you can find more information about FlightCheck
in the Product section.
You get a full video demonstration 
on how FlightCheck works,
learn about FlightCheck 
Ground Controls,
to check your Illustrator, 
InDesign or Photoshop files,
and also the PDF file you export.
There is even a free FlightCheck 
demo 30-Day version that you can 
download and try yourself!
That has been, "How to Save File 
for Prepress in Illustrator."
The How-to for today from Markzware.
This is David Dilling from Markzware, signing off.
