Hi Karen:
Everything is sent CMYK, always. But there are remnant bits that are undetectable from way, way back. Sometimes I'm tempted to simply start over and not use the older templates, but that's not in my budget.

The fabricators have asked for layers for years on these panels. I believe they are trying to match the original PMS color designates.  It may have something to do with their RIP on their machines.  Besides I use two different vendors, so to match the colors, it's up to them to tweak according to their own systems. But that's what they want and I don't have the budget to learn their system and plan accordingly. It's much easier (time-wise) for me to let them tweak it (if they HAVE to).
 
All the templates are now converted into the new CC version. When I get warning messages from new versions of software, I DO have to pay attention to those. 

These kiosk panels are 48x60", and many used a combo of placed Photoshop files for illustrations and photos. I don't like INDesign for this type of layout, because there are maps and I create vector trails, roads, boundaries, international symbols, logos. The trails are sometimes using .ai files from GIS maps generated by government mapping programs. Sometimes I can use their vector trail lines, and other times I need to simplify so create my own and match the ones from their systems. It's just so much easier and faster to to in Illustrator.

I use InDesign for booklets and guides (and the preflight and collect features)  but for single panels, Illustrator has been a better program.
And before folks roll their eyes over the design of 100%-sized panels, just know that from my past experience, I don't create them half size anymore.  (I'm just sayin').

I think "collect for output" would be a great feature for Illustrator - but it never probably will have it.  Over 8 kiosks, I could have 50+ links, so it would be a timesaver to have a preflight that can analyze for me, but up until now I've done it manually by keeping a spreadsheet with an 11-point checklist for production. It saves me time later,  but is rather tedious and there is always something that can be overlooked. 
(Actually Adobe Bridge is a big help. I gather the links in a folder and from Bridge can run through the bunch and it shows me resolution, size, type and profile. ). That is my double-check for the spreadsheet. .

Thank your for thinking about this.
Best cheer,
Linda
_____________________
Linda M. Feltner
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, President
520.803.0538
On 9/23/17 7:48 PM, Karen Ackoff wrote:
[log in to unmask]"> What kinds of problems are you finding?

Why are colors needing to be adjusted? If you are working for print, you want to stick to CMYK. Yes programs and print drivers will convert RGB to CMYK, but the results aren’t always good. 

And what are you using Illustrator for? I’m asking because if it is something just as easily done in InDesign, InDesign has a “collect for output” feature that gathers images and fonts for the printer, and it also will show you any problems (like RGB images that should be CMYK, missing images, overset text, etc.).

Cheers. K



On Sep 22, 2017, at 5:44 PM, Linda Feltner-GNSI <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

OHhhhhh. Very interesting..... Thank you, Britt for responding. I will look into this. It's very much appreciated!

Happy Autumn!
Linda
_____________________
Linda M. Feltner
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, President
520.803.0538
On 9/22/17 3:41 PM, Britt Griswold wrote:
[log in to unmask]" class="">
I am betting you have been looking at Flightcheck. I think I may have used this way back in the 1990's.

That may be your only hope. I guess you have to ask yourself, do you have time, or do you have money.... $199 for a 1 yr subscription.  You can get a Free 10 day fully functioning version.

I actually don't know how useful that software would be. As I don't know if it can point to actual object, or just tell you there is a problem.

If you save the Illustrator project to PDF and use the preflight tools in Acrobat does that help identify things?
https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/analyzing-documents-preflight-tool-acrobat.html
It has a highlight tab with this in it:
Problems Highlighted By Transparent Masks



Identifies the problems by highlighting them. If this option is deselected, non-problematic content is highlighted and problem content is not highlighted.



Britt

On 9/22/17 5:46 PM, Linda Feltner wrote:
[log in to unmask]" class=""> Oh, and it would be nice to have a readout of all the links, their resolution, and RGB/CMYK. When I click on a link  in the 'Links" window, no matter what kiosk I'm on, it tells me the linked files is in the same folder,  even though I know it's not. There are 8 folders, each for one kiosk. .
It gives me the PPI reading though. but if it can mess up so badly on where the file is, can I rely on it's other information?


Cheers,
Linda
 

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