Auto populate the Ink Tab

[kewlbigdan]

Does anyone know a way, either directly or from an out of the box idea, to auto populate the INK tab in pilot from a illustrator file (or pdf). The job would already exist in pilot so it couldn't be from job creation. Even if the data could be put into a Workflow Parameter would be ok, tho not ideal. The Illustrator is running the Ink manager.

 

[WI-Flexo]

I would be very interested in this as well. I have dealt with support on coming up with a solution in the past and they couldn't come up with anything either from illustrator or Artpro without some third party link. There are a lot of common sense things that you think would work but for whatever reason have no way to easily accomplish in Pilot.

 

[PDL]

Go to http://esko.com/support, find the Complete Automation Engine Manual. In the search field upper left type in “ink parameters”, select “Concept, Workflow, and FAQs”. Read the section, “What if the Job already exists? Can I use this task to update Jobs”.

 

[StillWaiting]

Go to http://esko.com/support, find the Complete Automation Engine Manual. In the search field upper left type in “ink parameters”, select “Concept, Workflow, and FAQs”. Read the section, “What if the Job already exists? Can I use this task to update Jobs”.

Another brilliant answer from Esko... Hey customer "Just read the manual."

 

[kewlbigdan]

Thanks, I will give it a try tomorrow. Sounds promising. I have already brought the inks into a workflow parameter via XMP smartname so this should be an easy step to add. I will let everyone know how it goes.

 

[kewlbigdan]

ha ok that is not as straightforward as the Manual states. The ink setting is XML but I need it from XMP. IF I put in the xpath to the XMP I have no idea how to get the specifics to load. I was hoping more for using smartnames to fill in the inks like the rest of the fields.

 

[PrepressDan]

OK, so here is the story on the Ink tab of the job setup. Initially this was only used in JDF integration. Now you can do it if you have the connect module. What you need to do is use the create job ticket and in the ink fields of that task, use smartnames that resolve the inks. These could be xpaths to the file or query any other data that has the ink information. You can use the create job ticket to create a brand new job or to update an existing job.

Hope this helps.

 

[WI-Flexo]

OK, so here is the story on the Ink tab of the job setup. Initially this was only used in JDF integration. Now you can do it if you have the connect module. What you need to do is use the create job ticket and in the ink fields of that task, use smartnames that resolve the inks. These could be xpaths to the file or query any other data that has the ink information. You can use the create job ticket to create a brand new job or to update an existing job.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info here jeffkin15 that does explain it much better than read the manual! kewlbigdan- I would say don't get you hopes up. We spent the money on the connect module (pushing $10,000) and worked with support last year and got VERY little accomplished. Some things work, some don't, updating inks after you change them in a job is a pain and never worked right. Designer inks never worked right. Angles, screening etc. never updated for us. Seemed to work OK with deskpack and basically not at all with Arturo. It turned into support doing a lot of trial and error at our expense. And FYI I did ask if there was ANY company successfully using connect to keep the ink tab current that I could be connected with and Esko could not come up with anyone. If there have been some great new developments that I am unaware of that the Esko folks could share I am all ears.

 

[bquarks]

jeffkin15 - yes, this is the way I use.​
You can do this to update parameters.

 

[kewlbigdan]

Ok update for anyone that is still interested in this topic. I found a method, tho clunky to autopopulate the Ink tab with the colors in the ai/pdf file. Using the XMP data and smartnames I extracted the colors from the normalzed pdf (based on the Ink Manager settings in Illustrator). Set up an workflow to export this data into a Hotfolder via XML. The hotfolder then reads the XML and updates the current job Ink tab with the color data. Clunky as I said, but works. There are quite a few smartname conditionals in the middle to weed out the technical inks and get all the screening/angles/colorbooks etc. written into the XML. But thats what computers are for.

 

[EskoAndy]

Sorry, just saw this topic now. I have a two step workflow (Create PAF/JPG/XML (LinkEdge) + Create Job) that will set the Job Inks using the inks in a Norm PDF.
No custom SmartNames needed.
Contact me offline if you would like a copy ([email protected]).