PostScript output, but how?
Besides the many possibilities of converting data formats with Bridge, you will find that the completely revised and fully functional PostScript output engine forms an important tool in Bridge.
This automatically raises the question whether the PostScript output of the PS printer driver is better or worse than that from Bridge, or whether you can dispense with one or other of these two possibilities.
You will soon find out the answer for yourself when you understand the difference between the two outputting concepts:
The PS printer driver writes ready-to-print Calamus pages, in which the Calamus rasterizing, the Calamus colour separation, the transparency effects and all layout elements of Calamus are used. For this you have to know the output resolution of the imagesetter in advance, as the PS printer driver writes pre-RIPped colour separated layers in which the complete tried and tested SoftRIPping of Calamus is used.
Bridge on the other hand writes object oriented
PostScript,
so that neither the output resolution nor rasterizing is required in
advance. Such PostScript files are only adjusted to the final output
resolution, rasterized and if necessary separated during the actual
imagesetting (or during printing) by the RIP processor of the output
device (photo-composition machine, printer). The image data with
Level 2 output and activated Calamus colour separation can
nevertheless be separated directly in Bridge. On the other hand,
transparency is not supported by PostScript up to Level 2 inclusive.
Therefore you yourself have to ensure that any transparency effects
used are made PostScript-ready by corresponding vectorial masking.
So generally you have to differentiate between:
