Neil Armstrong <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>At 02:52 PM 10/17/97 -0600, F. Alfredo Rego wrote:
>>How about two other possibilities, for those with nice PostScript printers:
>>- As a PostScript file (smugbook.ps).
>>- As an Adobe PDR file (smugbook.pdf).
>
>I think the main reason is that we do not have any PostScript printers
>throughout the organization and we had no way of testing how it would look
>or even print.
Fair enough. I'll be happy to do the testing at Adager. Ever since Wirt
Atmar opened my eyes several years ago, I have become a PostScript
enthusiast and we have many PostScript printers (and fax machines) at
Adager, including a wonderful Apple Color LaserWriter and an over-size
color PostScript printer made by Epson. A wonderful workhorse for the last
couple of years, with duplex printing and multiple input/output bins, has
been HP's 5Si MX (which I saw for the first time at Allegro). Whenever I
see a book-like document I like on the web, I download it and print it in
duplex mode, using pre-perforated 3-hole paper for my 3-ring binders.
Presto! (This, of course, is a lot easier to do with PostScript or PDF
files than with a bunch of tiny HTML files that require manual attention
and constant clicking to get from page to page).
>I personally have very little knowledge of PostScript and the various
>utilities that support/know PostScript. If someone can tell me offline how
>to convert a help or doc file into these formats I will look into getting it
>done.
I believe the whole community would benefit from an online discussion of
PostScript. In fact, the HP3000 makes a wonderful PostScript SERVER and we
have used our HP3000s (with Wirt's QueryCalc) to print (and fax)
great-looking output directly from our IMAGE databases to our customers.
The fact that PostScript, in just a few years, completely changed the whole
printing industry, is as remarkable as anything I have seen. It is worth
your while to learn as much as you can about PostScript.
So, I'll contribute a paragraph or two regarding what I personally do at
Adager with PostScript (I'm sure Wirt can contribute a book or two on the
overall theory). In fact, I'll concentrate on the stuff I do on my Macs
and I'll let Wirt concentrate on the HP3000 side of things.
First of all, I keep all of my "source" in FrameMaker (Adager
advertisements, technical papers, web material, etc.). Besides running on
the Mac, FrameMaker runs on average platforms, so everyone can also have
access to it :-)
Wirt claims (with reason, I'm sure) that FrameMaker has produced "somewhat
excessive" PostScript in the past. Adobe now owns FrameMaker, so I am sure
things have improved since the last time Wirt studied my outputs.
Regardless of the economy of output, I would rather have "the machine" do
the translation (I just can't imagine myself optimizing PostScript code by
hand).
From a single FrameMaker source, I can produce any number of "compiled"
outputs in plain paper using PostScript printers, or as HTML files, or as
PostScript files (either binary or ASCII), or as Portable-Document-Format
PDF (either standard or compressed), and so on. It is as easy for me to
produce color separations (for Interact's fourth-cover Adager ads, for
instance) which I send directly to the film producers (and which I can
easily send from my computer to a plate, with CTP, whenever Interact's
printers implement such technologies). All of this with just a couple of
clicks of my Mac mouse. With the correct screen angles, lines per inch,
dots per inch, and so on.
I am sure Microsoft Office is not lagging too far behind and will swiftly
copy this technology, which was present on the first Macs in 1984 (well,
PDF was NOT available then, but PostScript certainly was). When David
Greer of Robelle visited me in Whistler more than FIVE years ago, he
commented on the 21-inch Mac monitor I carried with me on Adager's airplane
in those early days of Mac PowerBooks with tiny screens; I now carry just
my PowerBook 3400c, which has a large monitor and, at 240 MegaHertz, is not
too shabby for a RISC laptop.
Regardless of the relative power(s) of my Mac(s), though, PosScript remains
as fundamental as the HP3000. And there is new and powerful PostScript
material just coming out from Adobe (just as there are new and powerful
HP3000s coming out from CSY, as well as new and affordable HP3000s...)
For a good EntryPoint on a marvelous technology, visit
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/postscript/overview.html
Enjoy!
_______________
| |
| |
| r | Alfredo [log in to unmask]
| e | www.adager.com
| g | F. Alfredo Rego Tel 208 726-9100
| a | Manager, R & D Labs Fax 208 726-2822
| d | Adager Corporation
| A | Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000 U.S.A.
| |
|_______________|
.
|
