Looking for new planning/layout software

[Wake29]

Our printing plant currently uses Upfront Builder software for our planning department. We have grown tired of the lack of software support and software limitations. We are having a hard time finding options that would fufill our needs. We are a mid size commercial printer with both sheetfed and web capabilities. Can anyone suggest a good planning/layout program?

[pcmodem]

You should take a look at Metrix from Litho Technics. LithoTechnics - Metrix, the automatic layout calculator for commercial and gang run printing I have never used it but I heard the guy who wrote UpFront and then sold UpFront to ScenicSoft realized UpFront was missing something and wrote Metrix.

[altejarat]

We acn supply KODAK UPFRONT 4.0.6 production planning software
at very good price and 2 year support from Kodak.
Contact at following e-mail for more details and bundle offer details.

regards

Mohammed A Al Nejaidi,
Al Tejarat Est.,
Riyadh, K S A
altejarat@gmail.com

[GiveUsPDF's]

We just did a demo with a rep for Metrix yesterday. It looks like a solid program. Knowing that UpFronts development has stalled or stopped all together, we are also looking at alternatives. We are fairly large direct mail web/sheet fed printer. Today we sent over some complex web layouts for combo/former folder press finishing. Im interested to see how Metrix handles these. It looks excellent for sheet fed work, but the jury is out for web inline and folder work. I will re post when the result come back.

Wake29 if you are looking for contact info send me a private message.

[Wake29]

Thanks for the feedback! I have searched and the options are slim. Everyone keeps pointing to Metrix. We had a demostration of Metrix over a year ago. They actually approached us. We thought it was great. Unfortunately, just like you said, the web portion is a work in progress. The web portion has been a work in progress for over a year. In fact, I just spoke to one of the Metrix technical reps on Tuesday. He said, they are still working on the web portion and they have no definitive time line for release to the public. ARGHHH!!! I am curious to see what happens with your test layouts. Please let me know how it goes. Thanks again!

[andreisarbu]

Hi,

You should have a look at the Protheus/Prograph from EFI (EFI Color Print Management Software Digital Printing).

Good luck.

Andrei

[splenguin]

We just did a demo with a rep for Metrix yesterday. It looks like a solid program. Knowing that UpFronts development has stalled or stopped all together, we are also looking at alternatives. We are fairly large direct mail web/sheet fed printer. Today we sent over some complex web layouts for combo/former folder press finishing. Im interested to see how Metrix handles these. It looks excellent for sheet fed work, but the jury is out for web inline and folder work. I will re post when the result come back.

Wake29 if you are looking for contact info send me a private message.

To follow up on GiveUsPDFs post, we got our test layouts back, and despite considerable skepticism on our part, they were able to build the difficult layouts we sent. One was a 24pp 2/3-1/3 combo folder that delivers 2up. It took about a week, but during an online demo, we witnessed the layout being built within about five minutes. Another concern we had was Metrix's ability to generate split-bump-regap type layouts for small webs, which basically look like they have pages hanging off the press sheet. This too, was no problem. In fact, at this early stage [not having actually used it], the only technical issue we've found with Metrix is its inability to handle bottling - the arbitrary rotation of pages; it can only rotate in increments of ninety degrees. Overall, we've been pretty impressed and are looking forward to seeing more of Metrix.

Aside from Upfront/Preps, what other layout applications are in use out there?