postscript only for Igen 3?

[ChrisL]

Hello everyone,

I've been in prepress for years for offset printing, but recently got a job as the only prepress technician at a company that does variable printing on an Igen3. They have always printed postscript out if InDesign and then used distiller to create a PDF. I think they did this to flatten the transparency. My question is does the Igen have a problem with files that are not flattened? Could I just export a PDF x1a that flattens the file?
It seems like twice the work to print postscript and distill. Any opinions on this?

[kansasquaker]

PDFs straight from InDesign should be fine. Although, like any rip, you can have some issues with flattening depending on which front end you're using. So be sure to double check your output.

If you're doing bigger VDP runs, look into FusionPro Desktop or XMPie for creating your variable documents so you can output them as PPML. It will rip MUCH faster than pdf. Basically, it allows the rip to process the static content once for all pages rather than over and over again as it has to do with pdf. Depending on the job, it can be literally thousands of times faster to process.

[pcmodem]

It all depends on the RIP you have driving the iGen3 not the actual device.