Entry Level Workflow. Similar to Odystar?

[Sherbert]

Afternoon all,

Been tasked with finding out about prepress workflow solutions. One of the guys in the office used to use Odystar and says it was pretty good. But it's probably out of our budget.

Any other recommendations? Only real feature that it needs to have is to be able to generate a "RIPped" PDF for the client to approve etc.

Basically we want to get people to sign off ripped PDFs which we currently don't have in house due to the nature of our press and rip system.

Any other features are an added bonus.

 

[Gianni_S]

Hi, you could give a look at Elecroc... I've tested it few days ago, it works good and it doesn't cost too much compared to Prinergy or Apogee
Founder Electronics

 

[abc]

could take a look at Enfocus Switch for a GUI driven workflow but you would need to source a RIP elsewhere

Enfocus - Switch

What devices do you need to drive and what else do you need, Imposition, Trapping etc?

 

[Sherbert]

Will need to work on OSX.

Currently we print soley on our HP Indigo 5000, this may change in the future.

Regarding imposition, we currently use Quite Imposing Plus 2. We are happy with this, but obviously if the software provides imposition then thats great.

Regarding trapping, we generally don't use any trapping besides the indesign/illustrator trapping engine.

Also the Indigo has the adaptive halftone feature which is similar to trapping if we need it.

 

[Ultimate]

If you choose a modular workflow, you can use Impostrip OnDemand to automate the imposition taks either with an XML ticket and through dynamic hot folders. You can get a free complete trial license by contacting me directly.

Ray Duval
Ultimate Technographics
raymond (AT) imposition.com

 

[pcmodem]

Prinergy EVO might be another contender. I don't know how much is costs though.

 

[akalaray]

Heidelberg Print Ready P - Less than $25,000 - Look at the plug ins to acrobat - PDF Assisant

 

[Greg_Firestone]

Hi Sherbert,

One thing to keep in mind is that if you have RIP "ABC" in front of your HP 5000 and RIP "XYZ" generating your raster PDFs, you could end up with different results unless they are the same RIP with the same settings. You could RIP the files prior to sending to the HP RIP, but that might not be very efficient.

Greg

 

[onwsk8r]

When you say generate a "ripped PDF", are you referring to something the client will look at on a computer? If so, why not just use Acrobat to generate a PDF X4? That should look exactly like the print version (ie transparency, blending, rasterization, et al) and should save a step as well. It's also a good habit because I've noticed RIP's tend to do a worse job with Adobe PDF's than Acrobat (however this doesn't seem to be true on, say, a PDF from Quark).

Also, presumably your Indigo came with a RIP of some sort and, like Greg said, different RIPs produce different results. It might make sense to just send PDF X's over to the RIP that came with the machine to get the best and most consistent results.

One other thing - the decision to buy a rip is a pretty major decision, and there's a million factors to consider. Ability to show your clients print-ready artwork is a feature of Acrobat - if you're having trouble finding a RIP that can do this, there might be a reason You need to consider your workload, operator ability, who all is printing (just ops, etc), what kind of stuff you're printing (variable data, lots of images, PANTONE's, lots of pages per item, etc), and a million other things. You probably won't get very accurate advice without giving us a boatload more information.

 

[SusanSims]

You might take a look at PDF Automation Server. It's a unique product for watching multiple places, performing tasks based on criteria you supply, then saving or sending PDFs to multiple locations. Things it can do include converting to PDF from images or other file types, putting watermarks or comments onto PDFs then sending or saving the results to desired location(s). It runs on MacOSX as well as Linux or Windows.

 

[Sherbert]

When you say generate a "ripped PDF", are you referring to something the client will look at on a computer? If so, why not just use Acrobat to generate a PDF X4? That should look exactly like the print version (ie transparency, blending, rasterization, et al) and should save a step as well. It's also a good habit because I've noticed RIP's tend to do a worse job with Adobe PDF's than Acrobat (however this doesn't seem to be true on, say, a PDF from Quark).

We normally advocate the use of PDF/X but not all customers listen, we have around 300 customers with regular jobs. Normally tiny orders say £50-500. Sometimes £1,000-£5,000. Its not like one big "contract" we have where we can easily change the flow of what our customer is generating.

I know that X4 is probably the best version of PDF/X for CMYK+Spot printing, but it isn't always 100%. I admit its pretty good, and its most likely our RIP giving grief.

Customers can cock up if they don't know what they are doing, never underestimate stupidity I guess.

Also, presumably your Indigo came with a RIP of some sort and, like Greg said, different RIPs produce different results. It might make sense to just send PDF X's over to the RIP that came with the machine to get the best and most consistent results.

Yeah, some sort of Harlequin varient and we are currently Ripping PDFXs as that. Just using the Hot Folder on press, it works really well.

I guess what my MD is after, is where an incompetent person can action PDFs, send PDFs to the customer to be signed off, then send them to press when they are approved.

One other thing - the decision to buy a rip is a pretty major decision, and there's a million factors to consider. Ability to show your clients print-ready artwork is a feature of Acrobat - if you're having trouble finding a RIP that can do this, there might be a reason You need to consider your workload, operator ability, who all is printing (just ops, etc), what kind of stuff you're printing (variable data, lots of images, PANTONE's, lots of pages per item, etc), and a million other things. You probably won't get very accurate advice without giving us a boatload more information.

It was a little "Project" given to me by the MD to look for a better workflow, currently the RIP on the Indigo doesn't output a good enough PDF. Think 30 PPI or something retarded like that.

So currently our "workflow" is pretty much sending back the PDF they sent over, unless there is something wrong with it. We rarely get any problems with non-press ready files getting to press.