3.5. F5 SPACING BETWEEN COLUMNS/ROWS panel

3.5. F5 SPACING BETWEEN COLUMNS/ROWS panel

This panel defines the spacing between columns and rows of the cell grid, i.e. the bleeds between cells. If the Add spacing switch is enabled (YES), bleeds, if present in the file, are cropped to half the distance between columns or rows. Therefore, if the column spacing is set to 6 mm, the left and right bleeds in the middle columns will be 3 mm, regardless of the bleed value set in the F2 IMPOSITION PARAMETERS panel. This value will apply to bleeds on the outer edges of the imposition. If the Add spacing switch is disabled (NO), imposition is performed without bleeds between cell grids, while the bleed on the outer edges of the imposition is retained.

Each spacing after a column or row can be assigned one of three attributes:

• 2xBLEED – its value is equal to twice the bleed value and changes as this value changes;
• ZERO – always equal to 0 mm;
• AUTO – calculated automatically by the software.

If the spacing has no attribute assigned, its value in millimeters is visible in the After column/After row column.

Use the pop-up menu to assign values in millimeters or attributes to the spacing. The selected attribute or value will be applied to all selected spaces. To select multiple spacings, use the left mouse button in combination with the Shift or Ctrl keys.
After selecting the Edit menu, you can enter the space value in millimeters for the last selected spacing or for all spacings without an attribute

Automatic spacing

The value of this spacing (or several, if there are more) is calculated by the program. It depends on the selected option Equal margins or Equal spacing, as well as on the mutual relations between the print area and the paper format, specified in the F7 OUTPUT FILE panel.

When the Equal margins option is enabled, the program calculates the spacing so that after cutting the sheet between columns, each part, limited by the automatic spacing or the paper edge, has the same left and right (and/or top and bottom) margins.

The drawings for the examples below show the automatic spacing values for A3 paper, a 3 mm bleed, and 90 × 150 mm cell grid.

When Equal spacing is enabled, the program calculates the space so that it is equal between each part, limited by automatic spacing or the paper edge.

The value of automatically calculated spacing also depends on the relationship between the print area and the paper format.

For comparison, below are the same spacing settings, but for a print area aligned to the left edge of the paper.

If the spacing table contains at least one spacing with the automatic attribute and the print area and margins are aligned to the center edge horizontally, the options Remove left and right margins (for column spacing) and Remove top and bottom margins (for row spacing) – F7 OUTPUT FILE panel become available. Selecting these options will space the columns or rows so that the left edge of the first column and the right edge of the last column are aligned with the left and right edges of the paper (for rows, respectively: the top edge of the first row with the top edge of the paper and the bottom edge of the last row with the bottom edge of the paper).