CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • February 10, 2010 at 5:46 pm #54880
    sam452

    Member

    I've read what Adobe and David B have to say about the difference. Slug appears to cover the area where page info, etc go. In some online examples, it appears to be the bottom part outside the trim/page. It appears to be the same as bleed area covered. Clearly, it appears they overlap, but function differently at print time. You can prevent slug info from showing but keep bleeds. Perhaps vice versa as well.

    If it's the bottom, then why does the New document dialog box allow you to make slug info on all four sides?

    This is critical because we place ID documents into ID documents and it's imperative they line up. We have bleeds/slugs because there is info on the outside that must show up in the new composite document.

    But for this to line up right, both documents must have the same extra bleed/slug settings and that the correct import option is set, or it's unclear how to make it line up. I'm sure there is a way, but it's not obvious to me.

    Functionally, what's happening for these bleed/slug areas? thanx, sam

  • February 11, 2010 at 2:34 am #54881
    Tim Hughes

    Member

    On import, make sure you have “show import options” checked. You will get the option to crop the incoming ID document to the Page, Bleed or Slug.

    Beyond this I don't really understand what you are saying about lining up. If you are saying that they all have different slug or bleed areas then that is a workflow issue not a software issue.

  • February 11, 2010 at 3:51 am #54882
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    Tim: Sam needs two same pages with (possibly) different slug and/or bleed sizes to be lined up.

    Sam: You can place your files and have them automatically cropped to the Page size, which is the only constant you have. After placing, you can enlarge their frames to display the slug, without moving the page off its position.

    It appears to be the same as bleed area covered […] If it's the bottom, then why does the New document dialog box allow you to make slug info on all four sides?

    Without knowing what Adobe or David told you, but slug is there to allow any amount of extra information for the printer and/or binder and/or co-workers. Bleed *is* required, and you cannot (safely) put information in it like “This side should point up”. But you *can* put that line safely into the slug — on the top, bottom, or sides, whereever you want.

  • February 11, 2010 at 4:45 am #54883
    sam452

    Member

    Thank you for this informative answer. I had thought before reading it that the lowest common denominator was to use bleed to put this info.

    I had thought that Adobe put the option to put slug on all four sides was not unintentional.

    So let's see how this would work in our world. Say we put in fold marks outside the trim. If they don't touch the inside of the page trim, then they would fall off if we did not indicate slug in the document setup?

    I will try your page trim trick later this a.m. I am trying to make a bulletproof workflow that doesn't rely on a human to have to touch the placed file more than required to eliminate small things from becoming big problems in the life of the document.

    I have to experiment on placing these pages into other pages so that I understand its implications. Thanks for your response, sam

  • February 11, 2010 at 7:27 am #54884
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    So let's see how this would work in our world. Say we put in fold marks outside the trim. If they don't touch the inside of the page trim, then they would fall off if we did not indicate slug in the document setup?

    Correct.

    I just tried it out (usually I work with plain text pages ;-), and contrary to what I believed before, it seems you have to phyisically set the Bleed to more than the Slug — i.e., the Bleed value includes the Slug and does not add to it.

    So initially I had set both bleed and slug to “5mm” and was surprised to see only one additional 5 mm edge around my test doc. After setting the Slug to “10mm”, I got the extra space around bleed.

  • February 15, 2010 at 8:15 pm #54910
    prcookin

    Member

    In the world of prepress, we use bleed margins for bleed area only. All marks (folds, perfs, etc.) are indicated in the slug area. This area is also used to place in the file information pertinent to the print vendor, i.e., stock, ink, folding and other finishing instructions, etc. This area might also include special instructions to anyone picking up the file for future use. We have found it to be an invaluable tool.

  • June 5, 2018 at 10:07 am #104208
    Stephen Gannon

    Participant

    I recently saw an excellent article by David Blatner describing the function of the slug area and how it is useful for attaching information to a PDF that sits outside the print area and crop marks. I thought he could also go on to explain that when exporting an InDesign file to PDF he could have mentioned that the pre-determined dimensions for the page size, bleed and slug areas are embedded into the PDF file and this allows anyone creating an imposition at the printer to place the pages to select the page area or page area and bleed area and to view then exclude the slug area from the imposition. This is important as it seems to be lost knowledge as most artwork studios draw crop marks in Illustrator!!!

  • June 5, 2018 at 7:42 pm #104210
    Dieter Stockert

    Member

    Maybe this will help too:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jTIJ7SZ10

• Author
  Posts