Crop mark settings

Hi everyone,
There's a command under the effects menu called crop marks but when I use it, the size of the crop marks and the distance they appear from the object is always the same. I wondered if someone could tell me if there are any settings you can change with relation to the size and distance of the crop marks?
Appreciate any help.

Thanks for the action. I loaded the cs2/cs3 version into the actions panel in CS4 but when I tried it out I can't get it to work. I created a rectangle to use as a bounding box, then ran the action. It first came up with this error:
"The object "Ungroup" is not currently available." Stop or Continue
When I press continue, it runs through all the different steps in the action but instead of crop marks all it gives me is a tiny rectangle a fraction the size of the original bounding box rectangle that I originally specified.
Is this happening because it's not compatible with CS4?

Similar Messages

Change crop-mark offset default/settings?

I would love it if there was an option to make the crop-mark offset equal the bleed. Very often when printing or exporting PDFs, even if using a preset that's defined as including bleed and crop-marks, I still have to check the bleed amount and manual change the offset to match.

Thanks for the action. I loaded the cs2/cs3 version into the actions panel in CS4 but when I tried it out I can't get it to work. I created a rectangle to use as a bounding box, then ran the action. It first came up with this error:
"The object "Ungroup" is not currently available." Stop or Continue
When I press continue, it runs through all the different steps in the action but instead of crop marks all it gives me is a tiny rectangle a fraction the size of the original bounding box rectangle that I originally specified.
Is this happening because it's not compatible with CS4?

Booklet .pdf with crop marks, booklet doesn't fit the current paper size warning

Hello. I am on XP using CS4 InDesign.
I have the document set up as 4 pages, each 8.5 x 11, however, when creating a booklet .pdf, I mean it to be 2 pages 11x17.
When I add in the crop marks they do not appear on the .pdf when it is created. I receive a warning in the booklet diaglog that the booklet doesn't fit the current paper size and it says to specify a larger paper size.
What can I do to have the crop marks on my file? I understand the .pdf will be a little larger than 11x17 in order to fit the crop marks.
Thanks for any help in advance.

Hi Peter,
Thank you. I did try that first, but now I figured out what I did wrong. When the .pdf was made and opened, I cropoped the page according to the marks, but the page remained 12 x 18 instead of 11x17. I made sure that the "automatically adjust to fit marks and bleeds" and "use document bleed settings" was checked in the booklet dialog and print InDesign dialog.
When I cropped the page again to make sure I sized it correctly, it was 11x17.
Thank you!!!

Test: Using Crop marks in indesign CS4 with Epson 3800 Mac 10.5.7

Jun 19, 2009 9:35 PM
Crop marks using indesign CS4 with Epson 3800 Mac 10.5.7
My crop marks and pages are printing larger than my document sizes. My paper size is 13x19, so I should have crop marks at the exact corners of the page sizes. But indesign is printing the entire document larger. So my document which is 11x14.75 is now printing 11.25x15.5. All my settings are correct. So, is anyone else using an Epson 3800 with CS4 indesign having issues such as the above? And can I ask (beg) a few of you to do a test print with crop marks and let me know the results?
My workflow has been completely stalled because I can't get my pages to print the right sizes with the crop marks at the right measurements. I'm printing a photo portfolio on the Lumijet double sided paper and "when" it did work awhile back sometime several months ago, the finals looked great. I've already reinstalled both the Epson 3800 driver and the Indesign CS4 software, but the results are still the same.
So, here are my settings:
document size: 11x14.75
in the print panel:
Printer: Epson 3800
Setup: Paper size: Super A3/B13x19, scale 100% width & height, page position Centered
Marks & Bleed: Marks: "Crop Marks" checked. offset: 0, weight: .25, Bleed and Slug: Use Document bleed settings, include slug area. The bleed is 0 for top, bottom, left and right
Color Management: Document profile: Adobe RGB, Options: Indesign handles colors, Printer Profile: (A custom made profile using Xrite for the 3800 with Lumijet paper)
The settings on the Epson 3800
Epson 3800 Printer
Presets (set for the profile mentioned above)
No Color management
Sometimes, on a whim, the printer and indesign cooperate together like good little children should. But not often. And I can not conclude why they are nice to each other sometimes, but given the same detailed data at other times, they fight.
If anyone could run through a similar process using indesign with a photo layout and setting up the printer settings for both the Epson 3800 and in the indesign program and let me know their results, I would value your conclusions very much. You don't even have to waste paper or ink. Finally, after wasting so many pages of paper and of ink. I deleted the photos from the page, and printed it blank with only the crop marks for me to measure if it was coming out right or not.
Thank you for any response. And feel free to call me if you want to vent about Epson 3800's or about Indesign CS4 anytime! I'm up late.... 646 256 8853.
Thaddeus

I specified the paper size as strictly 13x19, no boarderless, no retain size. Same problem. I also did as you suggested below. The pdf document does remain true to the document. As a pdf doc. I changed the color mgmt to Adobe rgb 1998. It looks okay, but not as lively as I get when printing correctly with my color mgmt working and in sync.
Your final question about simply using photoshop. Well... I might go back to it and give up on Indesign if this is the case that it won't simply crop my documents to the sizes that I input them to be cropped as. But, I am using Indesign so that I can create a page layout that I can't do in Photoshop. My folio is about 25 or more pages with double page spreads. I am printing on a two-sided Lumijet paper and my folio was custom designed to be cut out at 11x14.75. If and when it is printed correctly, I am printing on both sides of the paper and trimming it to exact size.
It sounds as if you have exhausted the potential problems and don't have a clear explanation for why the doc isn't printing correctly in Indesign either with the color mgmt. or the document sizes. I'll try one more print using a different color profile similar enough to get at minimum, an okay print. If it doesn't print at least okay, then it isn't most likely my profile..... Okay done. Crazy. The color is inaccurate, but for some reason or another, the document size printed correctly. It measured exactly 11x14.75. What I have done during this period of time is:
First) I did as you suggested and turned the Print to Adobe PDF 9 and created a print there. I measured it and it did measure correctly. I didn't love the color, but... at least it is measuring correctly.
Second) I turned the Printer back to Epson 3800 (I'm beginning to think that this simple gesture was what caused the printer to print correctly) I didn't change any settings, but I did make sure that they were set correctly as before. The paper size was set to 13x19. When I make sure this setting is right in the "printer" dialogue for the Epson 3800, and then switch back to ID, the printer dialogue in Id changes to "Define by Printer." But I changed nothing, other than the profile to an older one that I used before. The color is still inaccurate, but at least for two prints just now back to back, the measurements were correct. What to do? Lol.
Thanks again for all of your time spent trying to resolve this issue.
Sincerely,
Thaddeus

EPS file placed within INDD art shows crop marks when exported to PDF

Hi Friends -
I have a INDD art file I'm working on, within which I placed an EPS image. Upon exporting the INDD art to PDF, the document has what appear to be crop marks surrounding the EPS image. This is not where the image should be cut, and these marks are being shown in a functional part of the design. Here is a screenshot of one corner of the EPS; the other 3 corners have identical marks:
Additional information:
- MS Windows 7 Enterprise SP1
- InDesign CS5.5 Version 7.5.3
- Marks are generated during export process/conversion to PDF; they are not visible in InDesign.
- EPS file does not create these crop marks when placed into another INDD file and exported using the same process as above.
- No other elements of the INDD file have similar marks displayed after export.
Any help with where I might find the setting in INDD to turn this OFF would be greatly appreciated!
D

That was probably the most expeditious reply I've ever received in a forum.
Anyhow, the crop marks are not part of the actual EPS image. Opening the EPS file in PS or AI reveals no stray crop marks so, unless the marks are somehow part of the EPS settings rather than a visible element of the image, I think it has something to do with INDD and its settings. To confirm, I did place this EPS in another INDD document and an export procedure utilizing the same steps does not reproduce the crop marks.

Adding crop marks to a documents with bleeds & save as EPS

Working on Adobe CS6
A sign maker has asked me to submit my artwork for different signs (quite a few of them, in different-sizes) as EPS with crop/trim marks.
For instance: The size of this sign is 24"x24" with a .25" bleed. The Artboard shows the right size, and the crop marks show uo as they should. But once I let go of the Artboard, no crop marks show on my screen.
Any crop mark I try adding via the Object ("Create Trim Marks") or Effect menu for crop marks, both cases would create them around the BLEEDS, rather than the REAL ARTBOARD, which, of course, defies the purpose of a crop or trim mark...
I usually submit files for production saved as PDF w/bleeds & crop marks, but this sign maker wants them as EPS.
Is there a way around it, other than create those marks manually?....
...Thanks.

Set your artboard to the size of your sign and save the file as a pdf with "Trim Marks" checked and the bleed settings where you want them.
Open the resulting pdf in acrobat and save as an .eps
Open in Illustrator to verify that you're cross-marks were preserved.

Crop marks using indesign CS4 with Epson 3800 Mac 10.5.7

My crop marks and pages are printing larger than my document sizes. My paper size is 13x19, so I should have crop marks at the exact corners of the page sizes. But indesign is printing the entire document larger. So my document which is 11x14.75 is now printing 11.25x15.5. All my settings are correct. So, is anyone else using an Epson 3800 with CS4 indesign having issues such as the above? And can I ask (beg) a few of you to do a test print with crop marks and let me know the results?
My workflow has been completely stalled because I can't get my pages to print the right sizes with the crop marks at the right measurements. I'm printing a photo portfolio on the Lumijet double sided paper and "when" it did work awhile back sometime several months ago, the finals looked great. I've already reinstalled both the Epson 3800 driver and the Indesign CS4 software, but the results are still the same.
So, here are my settings:
document size: 11x14.75
in the print panel:
Printer: Epson 3800
Setup: Paper size: Super A3/B13x19, scale 100% width & height, page position Centered
Marks & Bleed: Marks: "Crop Marks" checked. offset: 0, weight: .25, Bleed and Slug: Use Document bleed settings, include slug area. The bleed is 0 for top, bottom, left and right
Color Management: Document profile: Adobe RGB, Options: Indesign handles colors, Printer Profile: (A custom made profile using Xrite for the 3800 with Lumijet paper)
The settings on the Epson 3800
Epson 3800 Printer
Presets (set for the profile mentioned above)
No Color management
Sometimes, on a whim, the printer and indesign cooperate together like good little children should. But not often. And I can not conclude why they are nice to each other sometimes, but given the same detailed data at other times, they fight.
If anyone could run through a similar process using indesign with a photo layout and setting up the printer settings for both the Epson 3800 and in the indesign program and let me know their results, I would value your conclusions very much. You don't even have to waste paper or ink. Finally, after wasting so many pages of paper and of ink. I deleted the photos from the page, and printed it blank with only the crop marks for me to measure if it was coming out right or not.
Thank you for any response. And feel free to call me if you want to vent about Epson 3800's or about Indesign CS4 anytime! I'm up late.... 646 256 8853.
Thaddeus

You need the InDesign forum.

Crop marks nightmare

I have to supply a multi-page brochure to a client. I can't contact the printers directly so my dilemma is - do I add crop marks? Is this the norm for brochures going to print?- I'm reading all sorts of conflicting info on this and want get my facts straight before contacting the client.
(I can't seem to get rid of the crop marks (that aren't needed) in the centre of the double page spread. I know there's a plug in (print booklet) to resolve this problem but that doesn't seem to produce the same export results. When using same high res export settings with and without plug in - the plug in produces a file size that is 10mb less. This worries me....
What's the best way forward? If you were supplying a brochure would you generally put crop marks or leave them for printer to add?

Thanks for the replies.
The job is to be A4 booklet saddle-stiched A3 spread. When I export with the default crop marks it produces crop marks in the middle spread - just need corner crop marks.But how do I do that?
Think the client prefers the whole brochure as a single PDF rather than each page as individual pdfs. We have the bleed set to 3mm. Assumed the crop marks would be at the page edge (before bleed starts) - what is the offset setting for? Not sure I understand.
We are packaging as a pdf.
What's the norm? should we supply with crop marks? Is this something always expected by printers or is it something printers prefer to do themselves?
Sorry for all the questions...

Crop marks, color management, .psd files

Hi.
Working in AI 10. Have XP. PS7
I have my color settings set at the North America Prepress 2 for every adobe program except AI 10 because it is not listed. I have it on the North America Prepress without the "2"
I have been told that if I create a PS document that needs crop marks, to simply place it into AI & create the crop marks there for the printer if I need to show bleeds.
When I print the AI file with crop marks, the color does not match the PS file printed.
Is there anything I can do?

And you've double-checked your color settings (not just the overall preset but the individual options)?
One way to make sure you have the same settings in both apps is to save out a color settings file (.csf) in one application and apply it in the other. Just hit the SAVE button in the color settings dialog and give your settings a unique name before saving it to a location that you can easily find again. In the corresponding dialog in your other application, use the LOAD button.
I have PS 7-10 and AI 8/10/12 on a machine here, so, just to make sure, I just did a quick test with a CMYK image with the same versions as you. I show no color shift whatsoever between the PSD opened in Photoshop and placed in Illustrator.
As to the jagged text, realize that you're not looking at editable text once you've placed the PSD in AI. It's just part of the raster image at that point. Therefore, it does not benefit from any AI text anti-aliasing. What you're seeing is the difference in on-screen raster anti-aliasing between PS 7 and AI 10. This does not affect the printout.
I'm sorry, but without seeing your settings, I have little else to suggest.
P.S. - I see you are comparing printouts from the two applications. Since you are working in CMYK, I assume you're printing to a PostScript device. If not, you might be looking at slight differences in the way PS 7 and AI 10 deal with sending CMYK data to an RGB device (such as a typical desktop inkjet printer).
If you
are printing to a PostScript proofer, I'd ask to see your print-time settings in both applications.
If your printing company wants the AI file, send it to them and ask them for a digital contract proof before committing to press.

Japanese Crop Marks illustrator CS6

The setting to 'use japanese cropmarks' has been removed from the general settings in illustrator CS6. Any suggestions as to how I can get these back? I want them on my artwork not added at print. I have an Action to add them to my cutter profiles in CS4 and CS5 but this no longer works in 6 as the Japanese Crop Mark setting has been removed. I therefore only get corner trims and not center marks.

Thanks for your replies, I have ran the update on my illustrator and am now running 16.0.4 (as shown in screen shot) but still do not have this option.
Are you running English CS6 or ME version? We use ME version but Japanese trims were available in CS4 and 5 ME I am just confussed as to why they would take this option away from just the ME version. I have a English copy so I am going to run an update on that and see if I get a different result.

Exporting Crop marks

After distillilng a file iI then import it back into QuarkExpress
Though the crop marks are in the Acrobat file, when imported they no longer show up
What can I do to have them show up other then opening in Illustrator and resaving as a pdf?

I specify crops for all my AI, ID docs going to print in the PDF settings. Never create them in the native programs.
Are you then placing the crop marked PDF in Quark? Crops should be there. Not sure I understand why you need to import them back....

Greeting cards SRA3 "crop marks" problem.

Hello all
Am using: InDesign CS2 v4.0.5 - PC Windows XP.
I am trying to set up layout and crop marks for four A5 greeting cards (print to edge) onto an SRA3 sheet but when the print firm prints out a proof of the SRA3 sheet, the crop marks, that I put in myself, don't appear.
The measurements I think I am right in using for the greeting cards are: width: 432mm (210mm X 2 + four 3mm bleeds) height: 308mm (148mm X 2 + four 3mm bleeds).
Do I start by setting up (In document setup) the width and height of an SRA3 sheet (width:450mm height:320mm) with any or no bleed and slug settings, or would it be better to set the document up from the beginning as 432mm X 308mm (the size of the 4 cards plus bleeds)?
Have been struggling with this for four days so any help would be greatly appreciated.
kind regards
carly

It depends, but I would expect you to create the four A5 greetings cards
with the bleed and export to PDF with all the marks. Then the printer
will place them (impose) on to one SRA3 sheet. She/he gets to decide if
the marks show or not. You just have to make sure they are in the PDF
you send him/her.
What is your printer telling you?

InDesign CS5.5 - Adobe Acrobat export (incorrect master pages and crop marks)

Hi, I've recently experienced a couple of anomalies when exporting books from InDesign to PDF.
The first issue was that, on seemingly random pages of the book, the exporter suddenly seemed to interpret the crop marks incorrectly. The book pages would go something like: left, right, left, right, right, left, right.
The second issue was that the pdf didn't display the correct master page on one page of the book. The InDesign file has sections with slight grey backgrounds to separate particular sections of the book. One of the pages in one of those grey sections just appears as white (the text remained unharmed) in the pdf though the InDesign file is as it should be.
Any suggestions?

First issue: No pages are missing, the crop marks indicating whether right or left go out of l,r,l,r order.
Second issue: There is a background fill on the master page. I just checked and the attribute is fine. What's strange is that the first time I made this pdf and sent the book to print, this didn't happen. Now that I've reexported for a second print of the book it happened (the master pages haven't been touched between prints and the same print settings have been used). Is it possible that the exporter can just mess up?

Scripting newbie...help for a "simple" crop mark script

Hello,
I am after some advice or assistance on the scripting side of things for indesign please.
Basically where do you start? I'm wanting to do some scripts to speed up some repetitive processes.
What I'm trying to do initially is (what I'd think would be) a very simple script. Basically it's adding crop marks to document, with the horizontal ones running the full width of the document. I've just no idea where to start...
So, I think the process of the script would be this:
1. Find document size
2. Add a horizontal line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = document width + 20mm
X axis = document width divided by 2 (line sits centrally, hanging 10mm over left and right edges)
Y Axis = 0mm
3. Add a horizontal line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = document width + 20mm
X axis = document width divided by 2 (line sits centrally, hanging 10mm over left and right edges)
Y Axis = document height
4. Add a vertical line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = 10mm
X axis = 0mm
Y Axis = -2mm to -12mm (bottom line sits at -2, top of line at -12)
5. Add a vertical line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = 10mm
X axis = document width
Y Axis = -2mm to -12mm (bottom line sits at -2, top of line at -12)
6. Add a vertical line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = 10mm
X axis = 0mm
Y Axis = document height + 2mm, to document height +12mm (top of line sits at document height +2mm, bottom of line at document height +12mm)
7. Add a vertical line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = 10mm
X axis = document width
Y Axis = document height + 2mm to document height +12mm (top of line sits at document height +2mm, bottom of line at document height +12mm)
For the future I am wanting some more complex scripts but this will hopefully help me understand a little bit. (I will need one with input tables where you can add variables if that's do-able, but i somehow think it wont be me doing that one!!)
Thanks in advance for any help or pointers.
Phil

As said above, we can walk you through a custom script step by step
Let me get you started with this: the ESTK Help -- or one of its variants -- is your biggest friend!
"1. Find document size"
Use app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth and app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth for these.
"2. Add a horizontal line at 0.1 pt size,
Length = document width + 20mm
X axis = document width divided by 2 (line sits centrally, hanging 10mm over left and right edges)
Y Axis = 0mm"
app.activeDocument.graphicLines.add () adds a new graphic line on a default position. You can then move it into position.
Doing the math results in this little script to add the first line:
newLine = app.activeDocument.graphicLines.add();
newLine.paths[0].pathPoints[0].anchor = [ -20, 0 ];
newLine.paths[0].pathPoints[1].anchor = [ app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth+20, 0 ];
newLine.strokeWeight = 0.1;
newLine.strokeColor = app.activeDocument.swatches.item("Registration");
newLine.strokeStyle = app.strokeStyles[0];
A 'line' can consist of a number of paths (consider a compound path), but usually has only one single path. A new line only has two endpoints -- the anchors --, and you can move these around by setting the coordinates with an array of [ x y ] values. Important: These values are in your current measurement units! I'm assuming, for convenience, that you have mm for this. If you see 20 inch wide lines popping up, you know why :-) Another important point: the rulers' zero point must be in the top left of your document. All "absolute" values are relative to this zero point.
It is perfectly possible to have the script set the correct measurements and move the zero point for you, but now you know why it has to do that.
Notice you don't explicitly move the center of the new line; in this case, it's easier to immediately move each end point into its correct place.
There are a few other things you can do to make the script misbehave. The new line is created with the active defaults in your document. You could have the script change the defaults to the correct settings, but that's not really user friendly. Instead, you can change everything by applying new values to the new line only. You can see I set its weight, color, and stroke style.
A few points on these latter three settings:
Didn't I just tell you all values are in current measurement units? Well, line widths are always in points (as is font size and line spacing).
The correct line color is grabbed by asking for a swatch called "Registration" -- you might want to replace this with another swatch name.
The stroke style is grabbed by blindly using the very first stroke style in InDesign. I found out the hard way using "Solid" (or what is it called) does not work across different languages. Much later I learned there is a language-independent way of using the names, but hey, that's harder to remember.

CS5 Crop marks don't work in Save For Web

I'm playing in the trial version of Illustrator 5.
I'm having trouble figuring out the crop marks. I select an object and try the various versions of creating crop marks. But when I Save For Web, it does not use the crop marks as a guide to trim the artwork down. The crop marks are visible.
In CS3, which I've used for years, I would create an object and use the crop mark tool to create the marks at the size of my object. When I would Save For Web it would save the file to the exact size of my crop marks, no matter if I had artwork in clipping masks that go outside the crops.
Why does this not work in CS5?

You do speak the truth so in CS 4 and now Cs 5 you instead of drawing a rectangle and the making it into crop marks you simply draw an artboard then when you export you select to use artboards in the export dialog and select the artboard you just made and voilá.
Now before you go crazy this is an advance you can also choose to export all the artboards a range of artboards or a non-contiguous selection of artboards this way.
the difference here is that you draw the artborad which is actually drawing a rectangle and making the crop marks as in the CS 3 all in one opertation
it is really the same feature with lots of features added to it. Including the ability to name the art boards (cropped areas) number them reorder them
manage them in the artboard panel and then the team went farther than that with pasting in place pasting an element on all the artboards at once.
It is really just the crop area feature but with lots of possibilities.
If you need t draw an artboard within another artboard hold down the shift key.

Crop mark settings

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