Pattern Brushes- steps to print

Question

I am using AI CS2, and am designing a logo for a restaurant to be used as a neon sign in addition to menus, t-shirts, etc. this is my first real design job (i'm nervous!). so, as i developed the logo i used a pattern brush to create a rope, which the client loves. i realize that this is a bit of a no-no. how can i make the pattern brush printable?
thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Not to be preachy, but just a little more friendly advice, since you say this is your first real design job, and that you are nervous:
> Never send editable native AI files for someone downstream to edit unless they assume responsibility for any errors.
To elaboate: If there are errors in your file, you need to not only know about them, but you need to know how to correct them and how to avoid them in the future. Therefore, corrections should be made by you.
It necessarily follows that a beginner should especially avoid getting himself into projects with "crisis" deadlines. Leave yourself time to accommodate a round or two of edits if they become necessary.
If you are not already using Acrobat Professional, get it and get friendly with its settings. When you save your AI file as press-ready PDF, all that "live" stuff gets "normalized" to things a PostScript printer (and some other programs, like InDesign) can understand. Acrobat also has tools that Illustrator does not, like preflight checks and the ability to preview color separations to check for errors.
Do not automatically assume that everyone working at a printing house cannot / will not wreck your file. Printers hire entry-level workers, too, just like anyone else. Some of them even hire them into the pre-press room. Even an experienced pre-press worker may be less familiar with the application-specific design commands of the native program than you are.
Errors are inevitable. When disputes arise, the question invariably comes down to "who's error is it?" Work toward the day when you can confidently disallow anyone to modify your native files downstream. Correcting your own mistakes is the only way you will learn to avoid them.
Seek relationships with responsible and respected local output houses. A good printing house may not have time to give you free coaching on every project, but many are more than willing to help you understand their processes to help streamline workflows in future work you may bring them. Find one printer like that and most of the real-world knowledge you gain there will apply to other printing houses, too (even less friendly ones).
If at all possible, find opportunity to smell the ink, touch the paper, and understand the repro processes you design for. In other words, find an opportunity to spend some time in a press room, a pre-press room, and (although they are far and few between these days) a litho darkroom. If that means taking night courses at the local tech school, do that.
Understand that "the repro processes you design for" includes more than just offset commercial printing. Even in this post, you mentioned signage and t-shirts (silkscreen). There's also flexography, still used in packaging and labels. The best way to build your AI files can differ radically depending upon the target repro method.
Example: Although that "logo" (which I suspect is CMYK, correct?) may look great when prepared for offset printing, it may very well be quite disappointing when screen printed on a T-shirt. The best and "punchiest" screen printing is often not what we consider "normal" 4-color process, but leverages a wide range of possibilities inherent in screen printing, but not available in offset. One common and obvious example: Normal CMYK process assumes tranlucent inks, even in screen printing. Translucent inks look like crap on dark substrates. The best screen printing designs can be printed on colored substrates. (No one wants to
only wear white T-shirts.)
Another example: The sign industry actually
fabricates things. So it often involves devices (vector plotters--routers, cutters, engravers) entirely different from any kind of printing process. Those devices often require continuous vector paths, free of overlaps and crosscuts, not just artwork that "looks right" on screen.
A real logo (a true corporate or product identity graphic) usually has to be designed to properly accomodate all those repro disciplines.
JET