Re: Metrix or Preps
Ryan,
It's hard to compare the price of Preps because there are different editions of both Metrix and Preps. Preps Plus and Preps Pro on the one side, and Metrix X-8, X-80, Commercial and Max on the other. Preps Pro is the closest comparison to Metrix Commercial, and in that case, Metrix is about a thousand dollars less. But it's still not fair because most people purchase multiple copies of Preps, and the per-user cost of Metrix goes down considerably as you purchase more concurrent users. Beyond that, the Metrix license can be a floating license, meaning that you can install Metrix on every PC and Mac in the building - if you've got a 3-user license, you'd be able to have ANY 3 people using it at any given time - MUCH more valuable than simply having 3 copies/dongles. For Printers with lesser needs, Metrix can be had for much less than the 3K you mention.
In any case, I did want to clear something up a bit: Comparing Metrix and Preps is really not fair in many ways. Preps is a cool tool (I worked for many years at ScenicSoft/Creo/Kodak and contributed to its development/support), but Preps' scope is limited. When we created Preps it was to create a digital stripping table. And to that extent, it really is a fantastic stripping table. But that's it - it doesn't have any intelligence, or rules-based functionality, validation, economic model etc. Metrix was created to solve the problem of planning a print project in the first place and when the operator is finished, the imposition Metrix creates is merely a by-product. Imposition is going the way that Trapping went - disappearing into the workflow - it's becoming irrelevant.
if you're curious, take a look at a few movies we have on our website that show Metrix' capabilities. I think you'll agree that Metrix goes miles beyond simple imposition, and ultimately makes a tool like Preps unnecessary. As for the aforementioned reference to UpFront, it was created by Rohan Holt, the creator of Metrix. As Rohan often says, UpFront was the prototype - Metrix is the real deal.
Grab some popcorn - the movies can be downloaded from:
http://www.lithotechnics.com/learning/3.0/index.html
davo