Creep

[Hector Pascal]

Hi all (esp. Buontempi, if you are watching!)

I am studying the subject of creep, so that I can set the correct values in Buontempi's PDF Booklet maker software.

My research suggested that I first print a booklet, then manually measure the creep at the spine.

So, I used standard A4 copy paper and made a little "study score" booklet comprising 32 pages / 8 sheets. After saddlestitch stapling it, I measured 3mm of creep at the spine.

Now, 3mm in the Postscript world is 8.5 points ( I think). Buon's default setting in the software is 0.5 points. According to my calculations, I would need to specify a setting of 8.5 points.

Can anyone confirm if I am on the right track?

Cheers,
Hector.

[motet]

3 mm or 8.5 points seems about right for the difference between how much the innermost and outermost pages stick out, i.e., how much you will trim off the booklet. Perhaps the author's number is a per-page number. Since there are 8 pages, you would trim off about 1 more point for each page as you go from outer to inner, arriving at 8 points for the innermost page. To keep the margins even, you would increasingly move the image towards the gutter for each successive page by a distance of half that amount, or 0.5 points. So maybe that's the number that you specify to the program.

[BuonTempi]

Hector,

The creep function in my script is fairly crude, but if you look at it, it moves the position of each page on the sheet away from the edge by the set value. The next sheet increments the process, so it's a per sheet value.

Code: Select all

		# Set creep for next sheet.		
		if count%4 == 0:
			leftPage[0][0] += creep
			rightPage[0][0] -= creep

So you could try increasing the creep value to 1pt, and see if that works better for you. As ever, trial and error will show the way. I think I tried that first and found it a bit aggressive, particularly for large 80pp booklets. Paper thickness varies, too.

Things to bear in mind:

1. Printers can be inaccurate about where they place the image on the paper, and might be off by a mill or so. Some printers have calibration mechanisms for checking and adjusting the register of the image.

2. If the creep value gets too big, there's nothing to stop the pages meeting, or overlapping, in the middle! I may need to investigate what happens there.

[motet]

Also, you're not going to notice if things are off by only a little.

Your creep algorithm isn't crude--that's how it's supposed to work!

[BuonTempi]

Well, in the real world, it's not an entirely linear relationship. You probably ought to rein in the creep slightly for larger sheet numbers. Also, as said, if you have a silly amount of creep (or sheets), -- or indeed no margin -- then the pages will actually superimpose.

Anyway, if anyone wants the script, along with the various other PDF utils, it is here:

https://github.com/benwiggy/PDFsuite/bl ... booklet.py

I'm just completing another one that blends a tint panel over the top of every page in a PDF.

[Hector Pascal]

Hi Buon and motet,

Thanks for your advice. It's much appreciated! I think I understand the creep setting now.

One other thing (to do with the old gray-scale issue):

When I am in Finale and I go Print>PDF>Make booklet.py, I get a PDF that prints gray, not black. (Same when going Print>PDF). So, I am instead choosing to go Graphics Tool>Export Pages>PDF... THEN I open the said PDF and go Print>PDF>Make booklet.py.

It seems to be an ok work around... Is it wise for me to do it like this, in your opinion?

Cheers, and thanks again!
Hector.

[BuonTempi]

The Gray issue seems to be caused by the characteristics of the selected printer when you 'print' to PDF. Some printers print PDFs of Finale files in RGB, and other's don't.
You may want to try creating a new print queue for making PDFs. (I've also got a project on Github that gives you print queues which save PS and PDF directly to disk...)

[Peter Thomsen]

You can also get a Black-and-White PDF by using the Graphics Tool to export the pages as PDF.
This way is actually a little faster than “printing” to PDF.

[BuonTempi]

You can also get a Black-and-White PDF by using the Graphics Tool to export the pages as PDF.
This way is actually a little faster than “printing” to PDF.

Though not as fast if you want to process the PDF further (like a booklet) and then have to expend additional user activity to do so.

Also, Finale's Graphics Export has not been entirely trouble-free, with reports of incorrectly displayed notation elements; missing fonts; incorrect selection areas; badly parsed PDF, etc.
"It may work currently."

[David Ward]

Also, Finale's Graphics Export has not been entirely trouble-free, with reports of incorrectly displayed notation elements; missing fonts; incorrect selection areas; badly parsed PDF, etc.
"It may work currently."

Currently (and so far) it works perfectly for me, plus the advantage of smaller files.