A Complete Guide to Creating Postscript Files for Windows operating System
What's a Postscript file?
A Postscript file is a file that contains all of the necessary information for printing a document. It allows almost any program to create files that can be output at a commercial printer, regardless of whether they have the program that created the document. With the recent proliferation of document design programs, this is often the only way many files can be output by a commercial printer.
There are several advantages to using Postscript files to prepare your files for output at Renaissance Printing.
Fonts and artwork are included in the Postscript file. There is no need to provide them separately.
They allow files to be output from almost any program, even those Renaissance Printing does not support.
A Postscript file will print exactly as it appears on your screen--text will not reflow.
Postscript files are much easier to process, allowing Renaissance to provide faster service.
The major disadvantage to Postscript files is that they are very difficult to edit. Almost all changes/edits will have to be made by the customer, and a new Postscript file created. For this reason, documents that need to be edited by the Desktop Publishing department should not be provided as a Postscript file.
How to create a Postscript file
Some programs allow you to save Postscript files from the print menu, but most do not have this feature. Creating Postscript files from these programs can still be accomplished by installing a virtual printer on your computer. A virtual printer prints directly to a Postscript file, allowing any program to create a printer file.
The Postscript printer language is used by almost all high-end output devices, but is often not used in more common inkjet or laser printers. For this reason, we recommend that you install a virtual printer using one of our printer drivers. This will allow you the full range of options for output devices, as well as minimize problems that can be caused by creating a printer file from a non-Postscript printer.
To begin installing your virtual printer, download Renaissance Printer Drivers for Mac or PC onto your local hard drive. From the Start menu, select Run.
Type in C:\Setup.exe as illustrated below
The Adobe Setup Opening Menu will appear. Click on Next.
The setup program will give you the option to copy the installation program to the hard drive. Unless you plan to install multiple printers, this is unnecessary. Select the No button to continue the installation and click on Next.
Note: If yes is selected, a directory "AdobePS" will be created and the necessary files will be placed into this directory.
Select the local printer button, and click on Next to continue.
The screen will display the available printer drivers.
The printer drivers for Renaissance Printing's output devices are located on the C: drive. There should be four different printers displayed.
AGFA Proset 9400: This is the printer driver for our imagesetter. It is used to create film and plate material for spot color printing. Choose this printer only if your jobs are going to be printed. Do NOT choose this printer if you plan to have your files copied.
HP Designjet 2500CP: This is our wide format color printer. This can be used to output documents larger than 12" x 18".
SplashDCPro: This is our digital color printer. All color output smaller than 12" x 18" should be sent to this printer. If you are unsure as to whether you would like black and white or color output, this is the best printer driver to install - it will allow files to be printed either way.
Xerox DocuTech 135: This is our high volume, digital quality black and white printer. Files that are just in black and white should be sent to this printer. If files contain mixed color and black and white, the SplashDCPro driver should be used. Postscript files created using the Xerox DocuTech 135 cannot be printed in color.
Select the proper printer driver for your files and click Next.
Select File, and click on Next to continue.
Note: If you want to use your existing printer to create printer files, change this setting under the Printer Properties screen, and it will sent all output from that printer to a printer file. If it is not a Postscript compatible printer, however, it may create an unusable printer file.
Unless you plan on sending all of your output from this computer to this printer, you should probably select No to use this printer as the default printer. Then select No to print a test page. Click on Next.
The necessary files will then be copied to your computer, and the new printer installed.
The Printer Properties screen should now be displayed.
Select the appropriate default settings for the printer and click OK. If unsure as to what setting you will need, just leave the settings as they are and click OK. They can be changed at any time later on from this screen, and usually from the document creator's print screen.
Congratulations! You have just installed a virtual printer. When preparing files to be output at Renaissance Printing, just use this printer to create the printer file.
