Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

[jbingaman]

Which one is best? And why?

I would appreciate any opinions from users of either or both. We are about to upgrade and rework our entire Preflight process and I'd love to know from those in the trenches which one is fastest and allows for the most automation and ease of use/reporting, etc.

Thanks in advance to all of those who take the time to reply!

 

[stargate]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

Can you preflight Quark, illustrator, eps, indesign or photoshop files in Pitstop?

That's why my vote go to Flightcheck. Pitstop is VERY slow. If Pitstop was a separate product (like Neo), not a Acrobat plug in I would like it. With every newer version of Acrobat Pitstop is slower and slower.

Of course Pitstop will work only with pdfs. It can check them and fix some of the things which FlightCheck will not do. It really depends on your workflow. If you ONLY use pdfs you may be happy with "properly configured" Pitstop.

 

[Tech]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

We run Flight Check Prof on our native files and PDFs. When I have time, I often preflight PDFs in both Flight Check and Acrobat.

If we work with more PDFs, I would requested for Pitstop though.

 

[DavidMa]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

From my experience, Pitstop works great on PDF files and Flightcheck works great on native files (Quark, Indesign, Illy, etc).
I don't get good results when using Flightcheck on a hi-res PDF, it gives me incorrect effective output res info.

 

[hohmj0kw]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

In a strict PDF environment, Pitstop is the way to go. Hands down.

Open apps, use FC.

 

[davidmwe]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

I work with Markzware, just to be clear, and I do find [FlightCheck|http://www.markzware-europe.com/store/flightcheck] easier (no shocker there!).

Using FlightCheck is simple - you just drag-and-drop a file (currently over 50+ document types supported) then instantly it generates a report. The latest version of FlightCheck v6.12, certainly is fast.

This report is customizable and may be as simple or detailed as you would like. (There is a nice film [here|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8uCud5-UhM] on how it works.)
My analogy is that FlightCheck Professional is used to receive a routine check-up with your doctor. The PitStop product has a different function and is akin to going to a specialist, that might subscribe surgery. PitStop Professional is widely used for those moments when there is no other choice than to go in and edit that PDF.

At times, both products are useful together, for instance within SWITCH workflows.
The following are some example flows to give you some ideas on the automations possible (naturally it is also AppleScriptable):
[http://crossroads.gradual.com/flow.php?myflow=23|http://crossroads.gradual.com/flow.php?myflow=23]
(searching for "flightcheck" will provide additional workflows.)
Also, we made a movie (two parts) on how FlightCheck works within SWITCH:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLm7hxLu2VE|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLm7hxLu2VE]

Have a fine day,
David Dilling
Markzware

 

[jbingaman]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

Wow...this place is great!
Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply to this question as well as those who have reached out via email or phone.
It looks like we'll probably have to use both since we recieve pretty much any type of file the customer sends then decide what to do with it.
I've gotten a lot of great information on both and am looking into available options as far as implementation and training.

Thanks again all!
-Jeremy

 

[pkleinheider]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

Jeremy,

Acrobat professional comes with a complete PDF Preflight tool. This mean for preflighting PDF's, you do not necessarily need any other products.

Since Pitstop and Flightcheck (which is the only stand alone program to check native file formats) are mentioned, I want to point out that callas' pdfToolbox 4 was just released - www.callassoftware.com

Regards,

Peter

 

[Purple Cat]

Re: Flight Check Pro vs. Pit Stop?

Let me add my two cents, clearly stating that I am from [Enfocus|http://www.enfocus.com] so you know where I come from.

1) Like many of here said, the PitStop product line focuses on preflighting of PDF documents, FlightCheck can preflight about a billion of open document formats. Both are important to be honest as some errors can be detected better before a PDF was generated, some errors only appear as the result of PDF file conversion and have to be checked afterwards. So I would advise not to think of this as an either or, consider both tools as complementary.

2) And focused more on automation, both of the products can be automated quite well. Using [Enfocus Switch|http://www.enfocus.com/product.php?id=4706] it is quite easy to setup an automated workflow that separates native document formats and PDF documents and uses the appropriate tool to automatically preflight both. As both Markzware and Enfocus cooperate in the [Crossroads|http://crossroads.gradual.com] initiative (together with lots of other application vendors) it is also easy to find out how to set this up and make this work.

Using this kind of automation not only allows you to use preflight solutions from other vendors (such as DevZeroG or callas software) but also allows you to include file reception, creating PDF files, impositioning etc... in the automated process.

This might already be overkill for what you are trying to set up, but as you referenced "most automation" possible I thought I should point this out.

Hope this helps,
David.

 

[Bobmorli]

we are currently looking into getting Switch in combination with Flightcheck pro or Pitstop. Great to see these post regarding the matter. No need for me to start it.

I do wonder if anyone knows if Switch can do some finder tasks, like create an alias to a file. The reason is this:
When our MIS system makes a new job, we want all the working files in one folder, but if we could make an alias to the file, it would save us a whole bunch of storage space.
If Switch cannot do such a thing, does anyone know if there is a piece of software that can create a Mac OSX shortcut from the info in an XML file?

 

[Purple Cat]

we are currently looking into getting Switch in combination with Flightcheck pro or Pitstop. Great to see these post regarding the matter. No need for me to start it.

I do wonder if anyone knows if Switch can do some finder tasks, like create an alias to a file.

There are two things that could help you if there is no other tool available. First of all, FullSwitch and PowerSwitch can execute Apple Automator workflows, so if you can write your task as an Automator workflow, you can then run that workflow from within a bigger Switch flow.

Secondly, PowerSwitch on the Mac supports AppleScript. This would let you write your own scripted tool which can execute arbitrary AppleScript - things like making aliases should be possible using that route.

 

[smorg]

I agree with Purple Cat having used Flight Check, Pit Stop Server and Pit Stop Automate and upgraded to Odystar. Cut our processing errors down to 0%. I would also like to point out that using Acrobat to preflight PDF's will only lead to trouble at some point, especially if using Adobe products to create PDF's. It's best to use a 3rd party product to double check than have Adobe checking itself.

 

[rich apollo]

apples and oranges

apples and oranges

These aren't comparable products. While PitStop can perform some preflight processes, that's not where I find it most useful. It contains a suite of PDF editing tools that are absent from Acrobat.