(FM 9) layout for die-cut side tabs with text?

[Alan T Litchfield]

Hi Becky,

I am not certain how you are going to have this processed in pre-press  
but in my experience with pre-press operators is that they really hate  
it when they have to delete and rebuild crop marks on multi-page pdfs.  
Especially if they are reflecting left/right page layouts.

The page shown onscreen in Framemaker (and different to page layout  
programs like InDesign that include the pasteboard) is the physical  
page that is enclosed by crop/trim marks. That means what you see on  
the page is that area that is bounded by the excess that will be  
chopped off when the page has been printed. Typically anything outside  
the page boundary will not exist when the job is done.

If you are wanting to die-cut anything on a page you need to have that  
within the trim marks (on the physical page shown in FrameMaker)  
otherwise you are forcing the pre-press operator to create arbitrary  
trim marks for you. They may or may not be accurate because they were  
not created at the time that the document was and they will not have  
been created by the program that created the file was.

That is why you received the earlier responses that you did. You need  
to consider creating a die-cut on your page master pages and put  
inside that the page elements you want on the finished printed page.  
The page dimensions would be the standard page size you are working  
with, say A4 (210mm x 297mm), plus the tab dimensions which would add  
an additional 15mm (at a guess). This would make your actual page size  
225mm x 297mm. You would have two die-cut images that reflect each  
other for right and left pages, and of course however many die-cuts  
you have running down the page would necessitate additional image file  
pairs.

If you are splitting this up into sections/chapters denoted by the die- 
cut tabs then each file would have a slightly different master page  
with a different die-cut image pair.

The die-cut image files will have the same spot colour that is not  
used in the document. Do not use something like black, magenta, or  
cyan for it. The die-cut knife makers will need to be able to produce  
separations so they can program their machine that makes the knife (if  
it is automated) or produce accurate film output (if they are doing it  
by hand, which many do).

HIH
Alan

On 17/10/2010, at 7:34 AM, Edmondson, Becky wrote:

> OK, I figured this out.
>
> For those curious about what I'm doing: I am setting up pages for  
> die-cut tabs. The tabs extend beyond the trim lines of the page,  
> just like manila folder tabs. I need to get some text on those tabs,  
> which means I need to move a text box out there.
>
> Turns out you can position anything of any size off of the page, *as  
> long as one edge of its bounding box is on the page*. And Frame  
> makes it easy for you. Create an object (text box, filled object),  
> and press CTL-ALT to move it off the page. Frame will move it until  
> one edge is right at the page edge and no farther.
>
> Create a PDF with trim marks. You will see the object outside of the  
> page.
>
> The hard part is calculating how to position the text boxes. You  
> have to figure out the horizontal and vertical center of each tab,  
> then how big to make the text box to center it's middle on that point.
>
> Cheers,
> Becky
>
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--
Alan T Litchfield
AlphaByte
PO Box 1941, Auckland, 1140
New Zealand
http://www.alphabyte.co.nz
http://www.alphabyte.co.nz/beatrice