Basic FAQ
1. Why should I use the Disc Makers templates?
2. Can’t I just use the measurements from a CD or DVD that I own?
3. What programs should I use?
4. Why don’t I see templates for Photoshop?
5. Why don’t I see templates for Publisher or other applications?
6. Why don’t I see templates for a sticker?
7. I’ve downloaded the templates. Now what do I do?
8. I’ve downloaded the templates. Why can’t I open them?
9. Which template(s) do I use?
10. Do I need to supply layout files for every part of my package?
11. What are all these text boxes and lines in the templates?
12. How much space should I leave for a barcode?
13. What are bleed and safety margin?
14. How small can I make my type?
15. What’s the difference between CMYK and RGB?
16. What’s the difference between process and spot colors?
17. Why isn’t my RGB file useable for my 3-color, on-disc printing?
18. Will the printing on my CD / DVD match my booklet or digipak?
19. What are the differences between printing on the disc face and printing the rest of the packaging that I should keep in mind when designing?
20. I like how my design looks off of my home printer. Can you match the color if I send in a sample?
21. How should I scan my photos?
22. I’ve got a digital camera. How should I supply photos?
23. I’ve got photos on my website. Can you download them from there?
24. Why do my EPS files appear so pixellated or jaggy on screen?
25. How do I make my image circular or round printing on the disc?
26. My files seem really large. Is this okay?
27. Can I send my files in over the Internet?
28. I’m supposed to send in my fonts. How do I do that?
29. The 5 most common problems with client-supplied design jobs
30. A final checklist
31. Special concerns for QuarkXPress users
32. Special concerns for CorelDRAW users
33. Special concerns for Illustrator 9, 10 and CS users

Advanced FAQ
34. Should I convert all my type to paths or curves?
35. Do I have to send my scans in if they’re embedded?
36. Should I embed a color profile to my Photoshop documents?
37. What is your dot gain and ink limit?
38. What are the differences between on-disc printing and insert printing?
39. Can I use OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) to import graphics into my layouts?
40. Can I supply a PostScript or PDF file for output?
41. What about trapping?
42. What if I’m supplying my own film?

Top 5 mistakes on client-supplied design jobs. Learn more.

Basic FAQ
1. Why should I use the Disc Makers templates?
The templates have been designed by our prepress department to ensure that your job will move quickly and smoothly through our print shop and packaging departments. Differences of as little as 1/32 of an inch can cause problems in the printing and packaging process. Any file that is not provided in our templates will incur a $75 out-of-template fee to cover our labor for adjusting your files.
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2. Can’t I just use the measurements from a CD or DVD that I own?
No. A jewel box or DVD case from Disc Makers may look the same as every other at first glance, but they have slightly different dimensions. Even slight deviations from Disc Makers specifications can cause problems in the printing and packaging process.
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3. What programs should I use?
We have templates available in all professional-level desktop publishing software. Here is a list of file formats we can accept:

Layout files:
• Adobe Illustrator (versions 8 - CS3)
• Adobe InDesign (version 2 - CS3)
• QuarkXPress (versions 3.3 - 7)
• Macromedia FreeHand (versions 7-11/MX)
• CorelDRAW (versions 8 - X4)

Photos or images:
• TIFF (.tif)
• Adobe Photoshop (up to version CS3) (.psd)
• Photoshop EPS (.eps) - with 8-bit TIFF preview
• Windows Bitmaps (.bmp)
• Corel Photo-Paint (.cpt)
• Photo CD (.pcd)
• GIF (.gif) – accepted, but not recommended for print
• JPEG (.jpg) – accepted, but not recommended for print

Fonts:
We can accept PostScript (our preferred format), OpenType, or TrueType fonts.

For the Mac, PostScript fonts will be a suitcase/screen file with separate printer files for each weight (e.g., bold, italic, plain), while TrueType will be a single suitcase. For PC, each TrueType font will be a single .ttf file, while PostScript fonts consist of two files, a .pfm and .pfb.
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4. Why don’t I see templates for Photoshop?
We do not recommend doing your entire layout in Photoshop. Photoshop is great for manipulating photos and creating special effects, but it is not a page-layout program, and does not provide us with some of the tools necessary in our publishing environment.

If you must supply your entire design in Photoshop, we have provided a PDF in the template download. You can open the PDF into Photoshop. It is VERY IMPORTANT when you open the PDF that your color mode is CMYK and the resolution is 300ppi. The template and guides will come in as a layer. When you add your art add it on a new layer (do not add it on the layer with the template info). Please send us layered Photoshop documents rather than flattened files, with any text layers still editable, and all necessary fonts. If you do choose to flatten the document you will have to be aware of the guides from the template. If you flatten the guides into your artwork we will not be able to remove them. Text set in Photoshop may not print with the same clarity as text set in any of our supported layout or illustration programs. Your lyrics, credits, and other text will be much easier for your audience to read if you create it in a layout program like InDesign or Illustrator.
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5. Why don’t I see templates for Publisher or other applications?
Disc Makers is committed to staying current with desktop publishing technology, and we accept files from all major page layout, illustration and image-editing applications. Some popular desktop applications like Microsoft Publisher are suitable for printing flyers to your home inkjet printer, but are not powerful enough to work in a professional publishing environment. Similarly, while we can accept text in Microsoft Word, we cannot accept any layouts or images created in Word or any other word-processing program.
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6. Why don’t I see templates for a sticker?
You can make your own template for a sticker in any of our supported programs by simply drawing a rectangle or ellipse of the appropriate size and leave a slight empty border along the edge of the sticker (we recommend 1/8-inch).
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7. I’ve downloaded the templates. Now what do I do?
The Mac templates are contained in a compressed HQX file, and the PC templates are contained in a compressed ZIP file. In order to open them, you will need to have a compression utility such as StuffIt Expander, available for free for both Mac and PC from www.stuffit.com. Another popular program for Windows is WinZIP, available from www.winzip.com.

Once you’ve opened a template, do not make any changes to the template itself (e.g., copying and pasting into a new page to save space, changing or deleting any of the crop marks, changing the page size, etc.). Our templates are created to maximize our in-house productivity. If you alter the template pages, we will have to reformat your job to fit into the original templates, and you will be billed for this work.

For maximum compatibility, our templates are saved back to the oldest version we support. You should save your documents in the version you’re actually using. For example, if you are working in Illustrator CS, do not save your layout file back to Illustrator 8; save it as Illustrator CS.
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8. I’ve downloaded the templates. Why can’t I open them?
The templates have been compressed to save download time. You will need a compression utility such as Stuffit Expander, available for free from www.stuffit.com, to open the templates. (See I’ve downloaded the templates, now what do I do? for more information.)
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9. Which template(s) do I use?
The templates from our website are organized according to format, and include illustrations to help you determine which templates you need. Each of our templates has been assigned a code number (e.g., CD100, W120), which can be found in our catalog.

You will also need a template for printing on the disc itself, as well as any promotional pieces you are ordering (posters, postcards, etc.).
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10. Do I need to supply layout files for every part of my package?
Yes. If you don’t provide layout files for every part of your package, you may have to pay design fees for us to create the missing files. The most commonly omitted files are for the on-disc printing and posters.
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11. What are all these text boxes and lines in the templates?
We have placed text boxes, crop and registration marks, and other items in the templates to help us prepare your job for printing. Do not delete or move these elements. Guides and overlays are on non-printing layers that can be turned off or sent to the back if they interfere with your design work. Consult your application’s help file or manual for information on adjusting layers. If you alter the template pages, we will have to reformat your job into the original templates, and you will be billed for this work.
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12. How much space should I leave for a barcode?
If your project is going to have a barcode on it we suggest designating a location (typically on the traycard, or the back cover of your Digipak/jacket/wallet/etc.) by placing a white rectangle in your tray card design that measures at least 1.25" wide by .5" high.
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13. What are bleed and safety margin?
Bleed is extending any color, photo, or design elements past the cut line. Our print shop trims printed pieces in stacks of hundreds of sheets at a time. This is much faster than trimming individual pieces, at the cost of a little accuracy. Bleed gives the print shop a margin of error when trimming, so that if the cut is a little off, the white of the paper won’t show along the edge.

We request you add 1/8-inch of bleed to your layouts. Each template has guidelines set up so you can see exactly how much bleed you need to add to your layouts. These are generally the outermost guides.

Safety margin is the opposite of bleed. If you put important information such as a song title or an important part of a photo right up against the crop line, some of it may get cut off. We recommend that you keep your type and other important elements 1/8" inside the crop marks. Each template has guidelines set up so you can see exactly how much safety margin to allow. These are generally the innermost guides.

Close up of a template showing the bleed and safety lines.	This cover was prepared without bleed (the black outline represents the cut line). The image stops at the cut line, and the type runs right to the edge with no safety margin.
Here’s what could happen once this job is cut. Without bleed, a thin white border of the paper shows, and without safety, the type closest to the edge gets cut off.	This is what a good cover should look like. The type has been moved in from the edge, and the figure’s left hand is safely away from the cut line. The image extends beyond the crop marks to provide bleed. The bleed area is represented here by the blue highlight, and the safety area is represented by the red highlight.

14. How small can I make my type?
Generally, for your printed pieces you can go as small as 4 or 5 points for black type on a light or white background, 6 points for white type on a dark, black, or complex background (also known as reverse type). This varies depending on the typeface used. For on-disc printing, we recommend type be no smaller than 6 points, 8 points for reverse type.

For smaller type, such as lyrics and credits, we recommend you use simpler typefaces such as Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. Display faces—the “fancier” fonts with lots of detail, like Vivaldi or Edwardian Script—are designed to be used at large sizes, and can be difficult to read even at 10 points.
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15. What’s the difference between CMYK and RGB?
CMYK and RGB are two different color models, and understanding the difference can mean producing a great-looking insert rather than a muddy, disappointing one. We’ll have to delve into a little science to explain this difference.

The RGB color model is used by monitors, televisions, scanners, and digital cameras. A monitor uses very small bands of red, green, and blue light to generate color. For a quick science project, put a drop of water on the front of your monitor in a white area, and it will act like a magnifying glass. You’ll be able to see the red, green, and blue bands. RGB is additive because when you add all three colors together, you get white light; when you turn off all three lights, you get black. By mixing varying amounts of red, green, and blue light, you can create most other colors.

The paper of a magazine, catalog, or CD booklet can’t generate light like a computer monitor. It has to rely on reflected light, and the subtractive color model CMYK. When you add cyan, magenta, and yellow together (CMY), you get a color close to black, and when you don’t lay down any ink, you get white—that is, the white of the paper. A fourth color, black, is added for economical and practical reasons, and is referred to by ‘K’ so as not to be confused with blue. By mixing varying amounts of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks, you can create most other colors. All commercial, full-color printing uses CMYK inks.

So why is the difference important? Most colors created on your RGB monitor can be duplicated using CMYK inks, but not all. Your RGB monitor is generating light, so it can create some bright colors that can’t be duplicated on any CMYK printing press. Paper can only reflect light, so if you print the super-bright RGB colors in CMYK, they get a lot duller.

If you’re designing artwork in an RGB color space, we’ll have to convert it to CMYK to print. Depending on your artwork, the colors might shift a little or a lot.


Some colors in RGB can become much duller in CMYK.


Depending on the image, an RGB to CMYK change may or may not look very different.

We ask you to provide all your images in CMYK. If there are any color shifts, you’ll be able to see them and take steps to correct it. If you supply RGB images, we’ll make the CMYK conversion here, and show you a proof. If you want to make any changes to your images at that point, your job may be delayed and incur additional charges. It’s much better for you to supply us with CMYK files up front.
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16. What’s the difference between process and spot colors?
Process color uses translucent CMYK inks laid on top of one another to fool your eye into seeing other colors. A spot color ink is a specially-mixed hue that is not made by combining two or more inks, but rather is a single ink of a specific color. Spot colors can be brighter or more saturated than process colors, or have special properties, such as metallic gold or fluorescent green.

Disc Makers uses process colors in printing packaging, and spot colors when printing on-disc. Spot colors are available in package printing for an additional fee.
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17. Why isn’t my RGB file useable for my 3-color, on-disc printing?
RGB is an additive color format, made by generating light, while on-disc printing uses a subtractive color format, made by reflecting light. On your computer, red, green, and blue combine to make white; on a disc, they would combine to make a muddy black. (See What’s the difference between CMYK and RGB? for more information.) Standard on-disc printing uses 3 spot colors.
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18. Will the printing on my CD / DVD match my booklet or digipak?
All packaging is printed in process (CMYK) color, while standard on-disc printing is done with spot (PMS) inks. While many spot inks and their process equivalents look similar, some colors—blue and orange in particular—look very different. In general, the spot inks used on the disc are brighter and more saturated than their CMYK equivalents.

If matching the disc to the rest of the package is important to you, you should design with a Pantone solid-to-process guide handy. That guide will show you which PMS spot colors have close process equivalents.

If you upgrade to four-color silkscreen printing on your disc, you will greatly increase the chances of your disc matching the rest of your packaging. Since the packaging will be printed using offset lithography, which is a different process than the silkscreen printing used on the discs, we still won’t be able to provide you with an exact match.
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19. What are the differences between printing on the disc face and printing the rest of the packaging that I should keep in mind when designing?
Discs are printed with a different process than the rest of the packaging. Booklets, digipaks, and jackets are printed with process (CMYK) inks, using a high-quality process called offset lithography. Discs are printed with spot colors, and are silkscreened. There are a couple of key differences to keep in mind:

• The tonal range that we can hold while silkscreening the discs is 15-85%. Tones lighter than 15% may blow out to zero, and those darker than 85% may fill in completely. As a result, we do not recommend using very dark or very light photos on the disc.

• High-contrast images work best. Subtle changes in tone can be lost in the silkscreening process.

• Gradients or blends do not print well, and can look uneven or blotchy. We strongly recommend avoiding gradients or blends on the disc.

Gradients that look smooth on CD packaging don’t translate well to the silkscreen printing process on the disc. Highlights and shadows don’t offer smooth transitions, instead dropping off dramatically and resulting in an uneven, rough-looking line.

• Due to registration issues with silkscreening, we cannot print overlapping screens such as duotones or spot color mixes (e.g., 25% PMS 115 and 65% PMS 215) on the disc.

• The line screen on the disc is 100 lpi, which produces lower-quality images than the 200 lpi printing for the offset-printed packaging.


Here is a comparison of a photo printing on a booklet and printing on a disc. The image on the disc loses details in the piano player’s coat, and the highlight on his head. The subtle variations in the background images are also lost. Expect to lose detail and overall image quality if you print an photo on the disc.
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20. I like how my design looks off of my home printer. Can you match the color if I send in a sample?
No. While inexpensive, ink-jet printers use same CMYK ink model that our printing presses use, the actual inks are not identical. If you printed your design on an Epson inkjet, an HP inkjet, and a Canon color laser printer, they would all look at least a little different, because each company manufactures their inks a little differently. Since your printer and our press are not calibrated to each other, we cannot accept your printout as an accurate color guide.

We will send you a high-quality proof of your job for you to approve before it goes to press. That proof will be a reliable indicator of final print quality.
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21. How should I scan my photos?
Here are a few guidelines to ensure professional-quality scans.

All color and grayscale scans should be created at 300 pixels per inch (ppi) at actual print size. For example, if you want to use a photo for the cover of your CD or DVD booklet, you’ll need to set your scanning software to 300 ppi at 5" x 5". If your software wants the measurements in pixels, multiply the inches times the ppi (i.e. 300 ppi x 5 inches = 1500 pixels). Do not scan at a resolution higher than 300 ppi; this will not increase the quality of the image on your printed piece. (Note: your scanner software may refer to resolution as DPI, or dots per inch. The same formulas apply.)

1-bit (black & white, or monochrome) scans should have a resolution of 2400 ppi at size (1200 ppi minimum). This is not the same as a grayscale image or black and white photo. A 1-bit black & white scan contains only black or white pixels, with no shades of gray. Examples of 1-bit scans would be the Nike swoosh logo, the CBS eye logo, and Chinese text characters.

Do not scan at a lower resolution and then increase it in Photoshop. This will result in blurry images. You need to input the proper resolution when you scan.

If you have an image editor, such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel PhotoPaint, you should convert your color scans to CMYK color mode before using them. If you don’t, we will have to make this conversion before we can print your files, and your colors can change (see What is the difference between CMYK and RGB?).

Save your scans as either .TIF or Photoshop .EPS files. Avoid using .BMP, .JPG or .GIF files as they can lower the print quality, and do not allow you to save in CMYK color mode. If you use .EPS files, be sure that you save the image with an 8-bit TIFF preview.
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22. I’ve got a digital camera. How should I supply photos?
You should take your photos on your camera’s highest quality setting. We recommend at least a 2 megapixel size. Use the lowest image compression setting, or uncompressed if possible. Consult your camera’s manual for instructions on how to set the resolution, quality and compression settings on your specific camera. You shouldn’t assume that the default factory settings are correct for professional print needs.

You’ll need to transfer your photos from your camera to a CD-R or Zip disk. We cannot accept compact flash or smart media cards.
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23. I’ve got photos on my website. Can you download them from there?
We could, but you probably don’t want us to. The images on your website are usually compressed to be as small as possible, so they load quickly in a web browser. Images need to have a lot more information for quality commercial print than they do for the web. Your web images will appear blurry, pixellated, jaggy, and generally poor-quality if used in your print work. You should provide us with the original images before they were compressed for the web.
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24. Why do my EPS files appear so pixellated or jaggy on screen?
EPS files have a low-resolution preview file for on-screen viewing. The high-resolution image is still there, and when you print to a postscript printer, the computer will throw out the low-resolution preview and use the high-resolution data.
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25. How do I make my image circular or round for printing on the disc?
You don’t need to make your image round to fit on the disc. All the templates come with a circular area for masking any rectangular image. Each application handles this differently, so consult your software’s manual or help file for information on masking your images into the template.
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26. My files seem really large. Is this okay?
Yes, this is normal. A properly saved 5" x 5" scan, in CMYK color mode at 300 ppi, will take up to 8-10 MB on your hard drive. Your application layout files from Quark, Illustrator, or other layout programs will be much smaller than your image files, perhaps even under 100KB. If you have WinZip or StuffIt installed on your system, you can use it to compress, or archive, all your files into one. These programs can compress your layout files down to as little as 10% of their original size. They cannot compress images files nearly as well, so don’t expect a lot of space savings with compressed scans.
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27. Can I send my files in over the Internet?
You may email files under 1 MB to your project manager or Product Specialist. If your files are over 1 MB but less than 100 MB, you may use our FTP site, accessible from any web browser. Click on the File Upload tab at the top of this screen and follow the instructions. If your files are over 100 MB, you cannot send them in over the Internet, and will have to send us a disk.

Before you upload any files, compress all of your documents into one stuffed or zipped archive. This will keep things organized in transit and decrease your upload time.

We strongly recommend sending a disk even if you are uploading your files to us. Uploading files does save time, but it’s not a flawless process. Files can get corrupted during transfer to or from our FTP site, and that can easily use up whatever time savings you had gained in using the FTP site in the first place. We recommend sending in a Zip disk or CD-R after uploading files as insurance.
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28. I’m supposed to send in my fonts. How do I do that?
The primary font format for Macintosh is PostScript. The fonts come in two main parts: a screen font (usually in a suitcase) and a printer font. If the font has multiple weights (such as plain, bold, italic, and bold italic), each weight will have a separate printer font.

Make sure you are sending us all parts of a font, as this is one of the most common mistakes (see The 5 most common problems when sending art on disk).

While we recommend using PostScript Type 1 fonts on the Mac, we also accept OpenType, TrueType, and dfont. These will only consist of a single file. Some TrueType fonts can be troublesome to print, so use the other formats when possible.

On the Mac OS 9 or earlier, fonts are usually stored in System > Fonts. In OS X, there are a number of possible locations:
- Home > Library > Fonts
- Library > Fonts
- System > Library > Fonts
- System Folder > Fonts

The primary font format for Window-based computers is TrueType. All of your installed TrueType fonts are usually located in the /WINDOWS/FONTS folder, and contain the .ttf file extension. The filenames can be cryptic, but if you double-click on a font file, you’ll get a preview window so you know you’re copying the right ones. Please do not copy the entire Fonts folder: just copy the individual TrueType font files themselves.

If you own any Adobe products for PC, there may be fonts stored in c:/Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Fonts.

We can accept Postscript Type 1 fonts for Windows, and they consist of two files: a .pfm file and a .pfb file. You must send in both files in order for us to be able to use the font. Type 1 fonts do not have a set location on your hard drive, but Adobe Type Manager usually stores them in a folder called PSFONTS.

We can also accept OpenType for PC files.

Users of Adobe Multiple Master fonts (Mac or PC):
At this time we can no longer accept Multiple Master fonts, as our current software cannot utilize these fonts properly. If you are using Illustrator, FreeHand, InDesign or CorelDRAW you must convert your Multiple Master text to paths/outlines before submitting your files; if you are using QuarkXPress you must not use any Multiple Master fonts in your layouts. If you are supplying your layout in Photoshop we can still accept .psd files with live text layers using Multiple Master fonts, but we will be unable to edit or modify these text layers.

If you are using Adobe InDesign as your layout application, we recommend you make use of the Package option, which will gather your fonts and images for you.
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29. The 5 most common problems with client-supplied design jobs
1) Failure to include fonts
By far, this is the most common reason a job gets delayed at the start. For a complete explanation, see 28. I’m supposed to send in my fonts. How do I do that?

2) Failure to include all linked images.
Before you send in your job, make sure you’re including in all linked files. Each application has a different way to check this. In QuarkXPress, use the Collect For Output feature. FreeHand, and Illustrator have Links menus, which will list all placed images in the document.

3) Image resolution is too low or supplied in RGB instead of CMYK.
For a complete explanation, see 21. How should I scan my photos?

4) Insufficient bleed or safety margins.
For a complete explanation, see 12. What are bleed and safety margin?

5) Failure to supply all parts of the job in Disc Makers templates.
For a complete explanation, see 1. Why should I use the templates? and 10. Do I need to supply layout files for every part of my package?
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30. A final checklist
When you’re ready to submit your job to Disc Makers, make sure that you’re including all of the following items:

• layout file for each part of the job (insert, tray card, on-disc printing, poster, etc.)
• all the fonts used in the layouts
• all the scans placed in the layouts
• up-to-date printouts of every layout file. Black and white prints are fine, even if your files are in color, but faxes are not acceptable due to lack of detail.
• a listing of the files on your disk (please also note the OS, programs and versions you used; i.e. WindowsXP, CorelDRAW 10, Photoshop 6, etc.)
• a folded and/or stapled mockup (where applicable)
• any special instructions you may have

You should also do a final proofread of all your text and layouts to make sure everything is accurate and complete.
Organize the files on the disk clearly. Set up separate folders for layout files, images, fonts, not-for-output files, etc. If you submit a disk with dozens of unorganized and/or unnecessary files, your project will be delayed.
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31. Special concerns for QuarkXPress users
Include any third-party Xtensions you have installed, such as Extensis’ QX-Tools. Some Xtensions, when used on a Quark document, are then necessary to open the document.

To do this, copy your entire XTensions folder (and XTensions Disabled for QuarkXPress 4 users) along with your other files.
Save your Quark files in whatever current version you are using. Our QuarkXPress templates are saved in version 3.x format, and Quark will not automatically save your layouts in a later format unless you specify this in the save dialog box.
We do not accept QuarkXPress Passport files. You must save your Passport documents without support for multiple languages.
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