Basic Imposition Software

[kslight]

Looking to buy something to impose with….the small shop I am at uses “pdfsnake” plugin which though technically it works, is super clunky and limited and the version we have isn’t compatible with my Mac m1 anyway (I have a legacy PC setup just for a couple old plugins like this). The only version compatible is a cloud version which I don’t feel confident about.

Obvious options I see are:

Quite Imposing (I’ve used this before for many years and I downloaded a demo and it works correctly on my Mac, so this is an easy sell, I also like the page management features)

fiery impose (I have a trial activated but it doesn’t seem to work right with hot folders on my m1 Mac, and it’s slow, clunky and even more expensive so I doubt I will go this route). The only thing nice with this is the Duplo 646 integration but we’ve lived without that so far so I’d say not a necessity.

Anything else worth considering? I am not doing anything fancy or unusual, just your basic 13x19 layouts (post cards, business cards, booklets etc).

 

[jwheeler]

Looking to buy something to impose with….the small shop I am at uses “pdfsnake” plugin which though technically it works, is super clunky and limited and the version we have isn’t compatible with my Mac m1 anyway (I have a legacy PC setup just for a couple old plugins like this). The only version compatible is a cloud version which I don’t feel confident about.

Obvious options I see are:

Quite Imposing (I’ve used this before for many years and I downloaded a demo and it works correctly on my Mac, so this is an easy sell, I also like the page management features)

fiery impose (I have a trial activated but it doesn’t seem to work right with hot folders on my m1 Mac, and it’s slow, clunky and even more expensive so I doubt I will go this route). The only thing nice with this is the Duplo 646 integration but we’ve lived without that so far so I’d say not a necessity.

Anything else worth considering? I am not doing anything fancy or unusual, just your basic 13x19 layouts (post cards, business cards, booklets etc).

Those are both quite common and excellent for what you're doing. I'd suggest giving Impose another look or ask the software specialist/trainer from your digital press provider (Xerox, Canon, Konica, Ricoh) to show you how to use impose. It is really powerful and intuitive. I used to sell production equipment and software and I'd never sell a Fiery without Impose. I also could sell Quite Imposing but rarely did because Impose is so much more visual and intuitive. Every customer loved it once they were shown how to use it. And hot folders will work, you may just need some guidance on how to set them up. The great thing about impose integrating with your Fiery is you can really reduce the manual steps. Not only can you make a business card auto impose 24up with crop marks, gutters, etc, but you can tell it to select the paper and print a sample sheet as part of the hot folder if you always do cards on the same stock(s). It's also an excellent tool for variable data to process files rapidly. It works in conjunction with the built-in VDP tools in Command Workstation. If you can't get hot folders to work, you can create a job preset and just right click on a file to apply it by selecting "Apply Workflow" after you drop it into the Hold queue.

 

[prepressdork]

You mentioned you're a Mac user but if using Windows-only software is an option, Montax Imposer might be worth a look see. For about $400, you can get all of its imposition features plus the convenience of hot folder automation.

Best regards,
pd

 

[kslight]

Those are both quite common and excellent for what you're doing. I'd suggest giving Impose another look or ask the software specialist/trainer from your digital press provider (Xerox, Canon, Konica, Ricoh) to show you how to use impose. It is really powerful and intuitive. I used to sell production equipment and software and I'd never sell a Fiery without Impose. I also could sell Quite Imposing but rarely did because Impose is so much more visual and intuitive. Every customer loved it once they were shown how to use it. And hot folders will work, you may just need some guidance on how to set them up. The great thing about impose integrating with your Fiery is you can really reduce the manual steps. Not only can you make a business card auto impose 24up with crop marks, gutters, etc, but you can tell it to select the paper and print a sample sheet as part of the hot folder if you always do cards on the same stock(s). It's also an excellent tool for variable data to process files rapidly. It works in conjunction with the built-in VDP tools in Command Workstation. If you can't get hot folders to work, you can create a job preset and just right click on a file to apply it by selecting "Apply Workflow" after you drop it into the Hold queue.

I’ve been using Fiery stuff forever so I do know how to use Impose, I sat on a virtual session with the analyst yesterday but there is an issue I am trying to get them to find the cause of that involves the hot folder…my hot folders work fine until I add a simple impose preset I created. Might be an m1 Mac compatibility issue. I’ll try using the job preset function and see if that works better.
I am very fast with quite imposing, will just need to create a handful of common presets and then it should be quick. I use job presets on the fiery already to apply my common paper / etc setups. I do like that quite imposing can do some other useful non imposition functions that I used to use all the time when I had it at my old job.

 

[kslight]

You mentioned you're a Mac user but if using Windows-only software is an option, Montax Imposer might be worth a look see. For about $400, you can get all of its imposition features plus the convenience of hot folder automation.

Best regards,
pd

I did see this one recommended but my primary computer is a new Mac so I quickly crossed that option off. Thanks

 

[namelessentity]

I prefer Quite Imposing. I don't like the idea of being tied to the Fiery ecosystem. Quite Imposing isn't as visual, but it's super fast and can do nearly anything. It's also crazy cheap for how much it does.

 

[kslight]

I prefer Quite Imposing. I don't like the idea of being tied to the Fiery ecosystem. Quite Imposing isn't as visual, but it's super fast and can do nearly anything. It's also crazy cheap for how much it does.

Neither do I. Every organized (heh) place I have been has stored imposed files for easy job retrieval on our file server, which is much less of a pain to do if you are imposing with something like quite imposing than on the fiery. I definitely do not need the visual element of the Fiery for this task.

 

[jwheeler]

Every organized (heh) place I have been has stored imposed files for easy job retrieval on our file server

Just an FYI on this topic for anyone who may not be aware... you can save the imposed layout from Impose as a flattened PDF to a folder on your computer instead of into the Command Workstation hold queue. When you close the impose window, click on "Browse" instead of "Yes" and you can select a folder from there. We use this feature quite a bit because we have some printers without a Fiery.

I definitely do not need the visual element

I can understand this. It's a preference and is helpful for some. While I don't need it most of the time there are some unique layouts where it's quite helpful. One example: when I'm trying to save on cuts for our bindery workers on the guillotine cutter (before we had a slitter/cutter/creaser)....if I have a business card that has bleeds along the bottom edge, but the top edge has no bleeds (or is a solid color), I can include some chop cuts instead of all gutter cuts. Impose allows you to make every other row rotated 180° and make a gutter on every other row, and no gutter on the other rows. The visual preview really helps in this case.

 

[joshlindsay]

I've been using Imposition Wizard for a couple of years now. Acrobat plugin for Mac and PC. Does everything I need it to.

Imposition Wizard — Professional PDF Imposition Software

Imposition Wizard is a PDF imposition software for Mac and Windows, with Adobe Acrobat integration, simple user interface, realtime preview, and command line support.

pressnostress.com

 

[DYP]

Imposition Studio is a good one. Imposition, Never be so easy! download the trial and check it out.

 

[Ultimate]

You can test for FREE our standalone (NOT a plugin) Ultimate Impostrip MUST, it is only $290 a year as a subscription or $550 for a perpetual licence. Since it is NOT part of a RIP option, it also gives you the benefit to impose for all your devices, regardless of their brands. This version is native 64 bit for Mac or Win (compatible with Mac M1).

Ray
Ultimate TechnoGraphics
raymond (at) imposition (dot) com

 

[steppy]

Looking to buy something to impose with….the small shop I am at uses “pdfsnake” plugin which though technically it works, is super clunky and limited and the version we have isn’t compatible with my Mac m1 anyway (I have a legacy PC setup just for a couple old plugins like this). The only version compatible is a cloud version which I don’t feel confident about.

Obvious options I see are:

Quite Imposing (I’ve used this before for many years and I downloaded a demo and it works correctly on my Mac, so this is an easy sell, I also like the page management features)

fiery impose (I have a trial activated but it doesn’t seem to work right with hot folders on my m1 Mac, and it’s slow, clunky and even more expensive so I doubt I will go this route). The only thing nice with this is the Duplo 646 integration but we’ve lived without that so far so I’d say not a necessity.

Anything else worth considering? I am not doing anything fancy or unusual, just your basic 13x19 layouts (post cards, business cards, booklets etc).

Another QuiteImosing.

Lots of useful feature, easy interface and love sequences.

stephen

 

[Dmiller35]

Yeah, another vote for Quite Imposing. It's a little basic but very powerful. We do have an impose license on our Fiery, so I've used both but prefer Quite Impo.

 

[wcdigital]

I have used Quite before migrating more of my workflow to Fiery recently. If you are really considering the budget you can also trial Imposition Wizard as an Acrobat plugin. I believe it is a third of the cost of Quite (which is already very affordable for what it does) but nowhere near as feature packed.

 

[kslight]

I have used Quite before migrating more of my workflow to Fiery recently. If you are really considering the budget you can also trial Imposition Wizard as an Acrobat plugin. I believe it is a third of the cost of Quite (which is already very affordable for what it does) but nowhere near as feature packed.

I did try out Imposition Wizard also, I am not crazy about it. I think Quite is my number 1 choice, I could make Fiery work though.

 

[Soft_Sam]

Looking to buy something to impose with….the small shop I am at uses “pdfsnake” plugin which though technically it works, is super clunky and limited and the version we have isn’t compatible with my Mac m1 anyway (I have a legacy PC setup just for a couple old plugins like this). The only version compatible is a cloud version which I don’t feel confident about.

Obvious options I see are:

Quite Imposing (I’ve used this before for many years and I downloaded a demo and it works correctly on my Mac, so this is an easy sell, I also like the page management features)

fiery impose (I have a trial activated but it doesn’t seem to work right with hot folders on my m1 Mac, and it’s slow, clunky and even more expensive so I doubt I will go this route). The only thing nice with this is the Duplo 646 integration but we’ve lived without that so far so I’d say not a necessity.

Anything else worth considering? I am not doing anything fancy or unusual, just your basic 13x19 layouts (post cards, business cards, booklets etc).

Spend few minutes to review this award winning one- Imposition and Ganging Large Format Diecut Print Estimation

For customized demo please do write to us- [email protected]

 

[StewartMultitasking]

I've mainly used Quite Imposing for years now, occasionally use Impose on the fiery because our dongle is still working, in the last year or two have used Imposition Studio and Bookmaker by Devalipi Software, the trails have limited use! also there is an old version (3.8) if you can find it, which is free and doesn't seem to have any restrictions, which I use for saddle stitched books on smaller presses (GTO52) where only 3 signatures will fit on a plate, there are settings for creep, gutters, crops (offsets and lengths etc.) it's good to have options.

 

[algio]

I ve been using Montax for a year now and has saved my life. To be fair I have no experience with other programs in order to compare

 

[Soft_Sam]

I ve been using Montax for a year now and has saved my life. To be fair I have no experience with other programs in order to compare

Hi Algio, Have a look at Imp Software from Insoft Automation. www.insoftautomation.com

 

[SYRUS]

Xerox.com/automate