Mechanical Preparation, Continued
Putting it all
together
The finished mechanical must withstand considerable handling as it moves
from one phase of reproduction to another. Prepare your mechanical on
illustration board and cover it with a protective covering of tissue paper or
acetate. The larger the mechanical, the heavier the illustration board. If the
mechanical has one overlay, tape the overlay to the top of the illustration
board. If the mechanical has multiple overlays, register each overlay to the
illustration board so that they may be removed and easily replaced by the
camera person. Leave ample border all around the image on the mechanical
to insert instructions for the keying of separate copy elements. Mark these
instructions in nonreproducible blue on white areas and yellow on black
areas, such as a black patch. Use initials or numbers to key halftone
negatives for insertion. Above all else, keep the mechanical clean; the
camera records every stray mark, including marks that are ghostly visible.
Figure 1-41 shows a mechanical with a halftone insertion indicated.
Figure 1-41.—A layout containing
masked-out areas for halftones.
1-54
