To ensure the correct functionality of this Fixup, the following requirements must be met:

• The irregular silhouette can be created as an outline in a Spot Color.
• The irregular silhouette can also be created by a masked shaped within the PDF.
• The BleedBox may already be present.
• The Bleed for the Print Item is already available.

Figure 1: The Create Bleed on Irregular Shape basic settings and the Create Bleed on Irregular Shape advanced dialog

The following options are available to create a Bleed on an irregular shape:

• Templates [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a template and later applied to other Articles/Print Items, and used in the Operation Apply Fixups.

Basic Settings

• Create Bleed on [2] – in the drop-down menu, select whether you want the Bleed to be created only on the outer edge of the Print Item or also on the inner edges. For instance, if the Print Item is displayed as "D", a Bleed will be created on both the outer and inner edges. The following options are available:
  • At the outer border – the Bleed is created on the outer border of the Print Item. For example, if the Print Item shows the letter "D", the Bleed will only be created around the outside border.
  • On outer and inner border – the Bleed is created on both the outside and inside edges. For example, if the Print Item shows the letter “D”, the Bleed is created both on the inside - for the Counter/Aperture - and on the outside.
  • Variable Content [8] – select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field -, from which the value to create the Bleed will be taken. The following values must be present in the selected field for the Bleed to be created:
    • AllExW
    • AllExWInBo
• Spot Color for Irregular Shape [3] – select the Spot Color in the Print Item that describes the irregular shape. If no Spot Color is selected, the irregular shape from the masked content in the Print Item will be used.
• Create Bleed behind existing page content [4] – specify whether the generated Bleed should be created after an existing Bleed to extend a previously small Bleed.
• Bleed [5] – determine how much Bleed should be applied to the silhouette. For the Variable Content [9] select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for the Bleed should be retrieved.
• Resolution [6] – enter the desired resolution for the Bleed. The Bleed is created as a pixel image by repeating pixels. The smaller the Print Item, the higher the resolution should be. For Variable Content [10], select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the resolution value will be taken.
• Starting Point Pixel Repetition [7] – this value determines which pixel in the Print Item - based on the silhouette - will be used for the pixel repetition. Note that this value does not work equally well for all Print Items! For example, if you use a larger value - e.g. - 0.9 mm - the Fixup will work for almost all Print Items that have been cropped correctly. For Variable Content [11], select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for the starting point of the pixel repetition should be retrieved.

Advanced

• Layer Name [12] – determine the name of the layer on which the newly created Bleed should be applied. If no separate layer is required, remove the name from the input field. For the Variable Content [14] select the desired placeholder - database field or user-defined field - from which the value for the Layer Name should be retrieved.
• Conformity of Processing Steps according to ISO 19593-1 [13] – by default, a Bleed should be created according to ISO 19593-1 on the Bleed Layer within the Group Structural of the Type Bleed. For more information on the ISO Standard, refer to the description for Processing Steps ISO 15931-1.

Figure 2: Left: Original file; Right: Edited file with a Bleed of 3 mm

In the source file "Irregular_Shape_Start", the Spot Color Dieline defines the silhouette of the irregular shape. The TrimBox for the Print Item measures 93 x 103 mm and the BleedBox measures 99 x 109 mm. The Print Item does not currently include a printable Bleed. However, the mere presence of a BleedBox is not sufficient for production.

Creating a Bleed is essential for the next stage of processing. A Bleed of 3 mm around the irregular shape, as described by the Dieline, must be created for the item. The values shown in Figure 1 are applied to the source file.

When the Fixups are executed, the corrected version "Irregular_Shape_End" is generated. During this process, if a Spot Color has been selected for the irregular shape, the Print Item is first masked according to the irregular shape defined by the Dieline.  Following this, the Bleed is created by repeating pixels to form a Bleed of 3 mm. If the TrimBox does not yet match the dimensions of the selected Spot Color, the TrimBox is adjusted to match the size of the selected Spot Color, and the BleedBox is set to align with the TrimBox, offset by the value entered for the Bleed.

Figure 3: A comparison of the source and target files

Article update: Version 1.29.0 – 03/2025