RIP, what does that mean for printing?

RIP, or the RIP, or ripping a file. This is some printer’s lingo we use a lot around the shop. Here is a brief explanation of what it means.

Thanks for giving us your file, we will give your design over to our prepress department, and they will RIP it and get it out.

Okay, don’t worry, no one is going to be ripping apart your design – either figuratively or literally. Instead, our prepress department will take the digital file you send us and prepare and send it to a special print server that we call a RIP.

This is a key part of the process of preparing a digital file for print. Usually when we receive a print-ready file from a customer, we still have to bring it into our system and get it ready to run on our machines. And we do this in a way that suits our shop’s workflow.

The first part of the process is called pre-flighting. This means we go through a file and look for errors, and then make corrections to match our equipment. This involves reviewing things such as color spaces (CMYK or RGB), fonts, transparent elements, and any of a hundred things that if left uncorrected could really make our prepress and production teams cranky. And we definitely don’t want that.

After the file is pre-flighted, the next step is to get it to the right machine for printing. For an offset job, we would send it to our plate-maker, and print the necessary plates to go on press. In a digital job however, we send the file to a print server for a final stage of processing known as Raster Image Processing, or you guessed it – the RIP.

Okay, so Raster Image Processing. What in the world does that mean?

Essentially, it is a process for translating an existing file type such as a PDF, postscript, or something else into a file type that the printer knows and understands. Mostly this alters the file’s resolution, and creates what is known as a bitmap or raster image. This means that the file’s contents are mapped to the bits or pixels on the screen. The pixels we see on screen are translated to the pattern of ink dots we will see on paper.

The file type created in software such as Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator is called a vector graphic. This is an endlessly editable file that designers know and love. But when the file is sent to the rip, that functionality is ended, and we end up with a rasterized file with printing as its main function.

The word raster, in case you were wondering, refers to patterning of the image of the file. A grid pattern of dots that form an image, just as on a television, or the screen you are looking at now.

The file, now Ripped into the language of the printer, is however editable in useful ways that we printers need. Using the hardware that contains the RIP, our production team determines and sets the imposition of a piece, adjust colors as needed, and completes higher-level functions such as preparing and running variable data print jobs.

The RIP we use at cutpasteandprint is known as a Fiery. Read more about it here.

cutpasteandprint Printing, graphic design, binding, and promotional product specialists in Huntingdon Valley, PA. We proudly serve the Bucks and Montgomery County areas with superior quality, great customer service, and a commitment to getting you and your the best possible printed materials. Our services include: Digital Printing, Offset Printing, Graphic Design, Promotional Items, Bindery, and Copying.