sidneykidney
Well-known member
These are the headlines I keep on reading. I understand the bit about design automation but I'd like to see case studies to follow up other ideas
Does anyone use AI within the Print Industry
- Thread starter sidneykidney
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Stickman42
Well-known member
I read a trade organization report that indicated AI is being used more frequently for job and/or shipping estimating. Does anyone here use it for these purposes? As a smaller business with somewhat fragmented systems, how would I get started on using AI for, let's say, just job estimating? I've got several price lists and spreadsheets that we use every day.
ChatGPT tell it what you want do and tell it to create a programme to do. I find it amazing and I have created a couple of programmes for estimating and print set up that would either cost a fortune in development cost or a fortune in subscription costs, plus it has the advantage of being tailored to your exact needs. You do need to keep chatGPT in check and be VERY clear about what you want to do otherwise it can run amok sometimes.
prepressdork
Well-known member
So, I asked for a programme made in python because once its made I can go in and make minor edits and muddle my way through it. But you tell it what you want and it just does it. The best way I found to do it was, spend a couple of hours creating a "spec" document of exactly what I wanted and upload that to chatGPT then prompt it to read the document and ask you any clarifying questions before starting. I found that got me about 80% to where I wanted to be, then its just back and forwards ironing out the bugs etc. Honestly dead easy. Easiest thing to do is start small and get it to create something small to get used to interacting with it. The hardest bit I found is trying not to say please and thank you (it's as computer after all!)
Stickman42
Well-known member
Holy smokes! I got help using ChatGPT just once, to write a letter to an official for one of my employees, and never had any other need for it until now. I am excited to try this out.
joshlindsay
Well-known member
With an older version of chatGPT I was able to create a full online estimating calculator for my website which ties into woocommerce.
All custom calculations with options chosen for a product - most others I looked at had a pricing matrix that needed to be made and updated for all options.
You can check it out here Shop
I have wanted to make this for years but was beyond my coding ability but now I'm able to do so much.
Also built a tool to generate and send highly personalised price increase emails from multiple database tables for clients.
All custom calculations with options chosen for a product - most others I looked at had a pricing matrix that needed to be made and updated for all options.
You can check it out here Shop
I have wanted to make this for years but was beyond my coding ability but now I'm able to do so much.
Also built a tool to generate and send highly personalised price increase emails from multiple database tables for clients.
Nice!
narseman
Well-known member
Excel can do that in no time.. Just saying.
ReproElectroProspero
Well-known member
AI for graphic design in the print industry has recently made a huge jump. The Adobe apps have AI vector generation now, though I find it lackluster. However my team uses envato and they have an AI graphic generator that gives us amazing quality SVG files, which can be imported into illustrator for great, custom, AI generated vector graphics. Here's a sample of something large format (8ft x 3ft) we made very quickly on a rush turnaround - even the text here was AI generated. (yeah a couple hearts have too many eyes but it's easily fixable since it's all vector)
Apart from design, I often use Gemini Pro to analyze feature capabilities, troubleshoot problems, or plan future upgrades. IE: What is the optimal rich black to use on my current wide-format machine based on print industry standards? What does error code SC-318 on my Ricoh machine most likely mean? I have machines A, B, and C. Considering purchasing machine D. What does it offer in terms of integration with my current equipment, and what alternative machines might integrate into workflows better?
Apart from design, I often use Gemini Pro to analyze feature capabilities, troubleshoot problems, or plan future upgrades. IE: What is the optimal rich black to use on my current wide-format machine based on print industry standards? What does error code SC-318 on my Ricoh machine most likely mean? I have machines A, B, and C. Considering purchasing machine D. What does it offer in terms of integration with my current equipment, and what alternative machines might integrate into workflows better?
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chriscozi
Well-known member
Except for those stubborn customers who continue to use transparency blend set to 0% so that once it's flattened - POOF ! the offending item is gone.
wouldn't Excel be easier for stuff like that?
Digi_Wiz
Active member
Not sure how much easier it can be than typing a sentence and walking away to a completed list thats formatted properly to copy/paste into command workstation.
to be clear im using the finished chapter sets function of that program to turn my 3600+ page pdf into finished booklets with variable throught out.
jwheeler
Well-known member
It is quite easy, but only if you already know the process. Using the automated "Fill Series" feature in Excel is basically the same as using an AI program since you're simply inputting a command in either one.
For future reference, if you want to know how to do it in Excel (maybe the internet is down!):
1. Insert the starting number (1) in the first cell (A1)
2. Click on the column header (letter A) to highlight the entire column
3. On the home tab, click "Fill" the select "Series"
4. On the next window, enter "12" as the Step value, and "3601" as your Stop value
Click "Ok" and you're done.
Save as a CSV if you want to connect with a VDP program, or CSV if you want a single line of numbers separated by commas.
ReproElectroProspero
Well-known member
You can do this programmatically and templatized as well. We don't really use series, ours is built for sequence, but you can certainly do both. We use this setup, but as a saved "base" excel file where we plug-in the needs of our merge:
This works SUPER well and has drastically reduced numbering merge setup time once a large portion of our INDD files were setup for this naming schema.
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chriscozi
Well-known member
Okay.
Here is the meat of it in my mind.
The questions you need to ask to describe the product needed are not linear to the final product - REALLY - they just seem that way because WE categorize the products as part of the process but they are really each just one-offs because the definition IS the product. If the product characterization is immutable you still need to determine whether it fits the customer's needs. Maybe it would work with lots of examples and then lots of resulting questions for a customer who doesn't understand the question let alone the answer.
Just because you need a screw turned doesn't mean a computer or robot should do it.
How much are you spending again?
BigSi
Well-known member
All good points. I guess I mention it because after many years I have yet to find ANY off the shelf quoting software that I have been happy with. All seem to have an inability to translate real world time to a quote.
eg. time difference to cut x1000 business cards made up of x3 different names against time difference to cut x1000 business cards made up of x4 different names. Yes I know! time should (in theory) be the same. Only difference being sorting time. but in the "real" world it does not work like that. This is just one small example of many.
Probably unrealistic to expect Ai to cope with this. Just my 2cents worth.
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