Definitions:

Camera-ready art

Any drawing, photos, illustration or lettering suitable for photographic reproduction.

Bitmap (or "raster")

Electronic representation of a page, indicating the position of every position spot (zero or one). A graphic image or picture portrayed in pixel. Such as jpgs, gifs, eps, tiffs, picts, psd, bmp, etc…

Vector

a mathematical defined object (geometrically perfect). Can be resized or reshaped without diminishing its sharpness or smoothness. Found in ai, eps, cmx, cdr, dxf,wmf/emf

Paper Proof

color or black and white artwork printed on paper before printing on actual product(s).

Registration Marks

Cross-hair marks applied to negatives, artwork, photographs or mechanicals to ensure precise registration on the final product.

Crop marks

Indicators on artwork to show where an illustration is to be cut or sized.

Pantone
Matching
System (PMS)

Color scale used to precisely match colors for printing. Each hue has a coded number indicating instructions for mixing inks to achieve that hue. Available for spot colors and process colors in coated and uncoated colors.

Logo or Logotype

Style of lettering or design of a company used as a trademark to identify itself.

Color separation

Separation of multicolored original art by camera or laser-scan techniques to produce individual separated colors. There are four common separations: yellow, magenta, cyan and black

Industry Art Guidelines

Mechanical Artwork

The traditional standard for acceptable mechanical artwork is "camera-ready black and white" material. Typically, anything of a lesser quality may be subject to extra charges.

Vector Artwork Files

Vector artwork files must be written in the PostscriptTM language. Files can obtain no PostscriptTM errors, stray points or colors assigned to elements in manner inconsistent with the supplier's published requirements.
Any type set on paths must be converted to Postscript outlines (curves). If additional or future typesetting is anticipated or type left unconverted, the font files must also be supplied for use on the supplier's specified computer platform (operating system).
Any line thickness must exceed the supplier's minimum when the artwork is scaled to the actual imprint size. Files with any placed, parsed or linked elements require certain additional criteria described in the standard for "metafiles".
The artwork file(s) should be accompanied by a printed proof, or its electronic equivalent, which communicates to the supplier the desired result of the use of the e-artwork file(s)

Bitmap Artwork Files

Bitmap files should render images at 100 percent of actual imprint size.
Images that contain halftones, tints, grayscales or are intended for process color separation should have a bitmap resolution (pixels-per-inch) that is a multiple of no less than 150 to 200 percent of the line screen frequency specified by the printing process.
Images that contain line art or areas of solid color should have a bitmap resolution (pixels-per-inch) of no less than the supplier's specified minimum.
Unless suppliers specifically request CMYK files, the color space of images submitted for process color separation should remain in the native RGB color space to permit suppliers to apply their own separation setup preferences.

Page Layout Documents

Page layout documents must be prepared to render artwork and/or other elements to be printed at a scale of 100 percent of the actual imprint size.
In addition to submitting the page layout document(s), there must also be the submission of all vector and/or bitmap files that are referenced by the page layout document.
The font files and document preferences necessary to properly render any text in the page layout file must also be supplied for use on the supplier's specified computer platform (operating system).
The page layout file(s) should be accompanied by a printed proof, or its electronic equivalent, which communicates to the supplier the desired result of the use of the page layout file(s).

Acrobat (PDF) Files

PDF files created from vector files must be suitable for reverse-conversion to vector files or to use in the PDF format such that the file meets the quality standard for vector files.
PDF files created from bitmap files must be suitable for reverse-conversion to bitmap files or for use in the PDF format such that the file meets the quality standard for bitmap files.
PDF files created from metafiles or page layout documents must be submitted together with the source document, all fonts and imported graphic components unless the supplier specifically waives these requirements.
PDF files are acceptable as proofs (both for submission of the order to the supplier and pre-production examination by the distributor) subject to the limitations of the Adobe PDF file format and any other limitations published by the supplier.

Other Than Above
Unless digital files satisfy the readiness standards for vector files, bitmap files, metafiles, page layout files or PDF files - or they are otherwise specified as acceptable by a particular supplier - those digital files DO NOT meet the readiness standards for e-artwork.

Adobe Acrobat

Allows you to create PDF documents from any application - free Acrobat Reader Available

Winzip

Allows PC users to easily compress and distribute large files – free version available

Stuffit

Allows MAC and PC users to easily compress and distribute large files – free uncompression utility available

ACDSee 5.0

The most popular image management and viewing utility for the PC -free trial version available

FTP Explorer

Allows easy transfer for large files to and from FTP sites – free software

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