Will Preps v6.x files work with Apogee v3.x

[Norcrans]

Does anyone know if Kodak Preps v6.x impositions will work with an Agfa Apogee v3.x system? Our facility uses Prinergy for all of our current print processes but we recently acquired a print process from one of our other facilities and they were using Agfa Apogee v3.x and Preps 5.1.5 to create the plates for this process.

At this time I cannot transfer this process to our Prinergy System but we want to upgrade our Preps from v5 to v6 and I need to know if we upgrade Preps to v6 that the files will still be usable through the Apogee system.

[Norcrans]

I received word from Kodak that Agfa is recommending running Preps v6.x with Apogee 7.x only.

[DCurry]

That would surprise me, as Apogee 7 includes its own impo solution that doesn't use Preps at all. You can still get the Preps compatibility, though.

Rather then rely on what Kodak says, I would ask Agfa since they probably know more about their own product.

[P_Crosby]

Apogee Prepress has many options when it comes to imposition. It will accept JDF and PJTF from just about any imposition software that can produce those file formats. That would include JDF or PJTF from Preps 6.
Another method is through an option called template manager. This allows Apogee Prepress to work directly with Preps templates. This option supports Preps templates created with Preps 4.x or 5.x and templates created by Dynastrip.
Apogee Prepress 7.0 does have it's own impostion software, Apgee Impose. Even so, it will continue to support JDF, PJTF and the optional template manager. At this time it is not expected that Apogee Prepress will ever support Preps 6 using template mode.

[daniel.goettler]

All the options mentioned by P_Crosby are great. But they mean upgrading the Apogee server. Personally I am convinced that it gives the best results - but I am afraid that the system just bought by Norcrans' workplace might be a simple Apogee Light - a RIP software without imposition options. If they are looking for a solution in case of a V3 Apogee it is unlikely that they are in an investment phase.

My recommendation would be to create PostScripts with Preps6 and use these ones in Distilled or native format on Apogee 3. The reason is that Apogee 3 runs on the old CPSI interpreter which is not able to digest all PDFs, even not all 1.3 PDFs - to be honest. Only the distilled PDFs, because that was the recommended workflow at that time. Exporting PDFs was not a production option - at that time.