ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

tony_mclachlan

Well-known member
Hey everyone!!

Anyone having trouble submitting PDFs using the new InDesign CS3 effects such as Gradient Feather, etc through the Adobe Print Engine PDF Renderer in ApogeeX? Would have to double check all of the specs of the files, etc, if you need any more info but I just know any PDFs using these effects I have had to manually flatten the file before submitting to ApogeeX to get it the render. Any info much appreciated!!

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Tony - let me know what you find out, we will soon upgrade to 4.0 here.

Thanks!
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Hi Steve,

Finally back at work today so I have had a play with this a bit further.

Created a blank page with a solid magenta box, then individually applied each of the effects from the new InDesign CS3 effects palette creating a new PDF for each effect to test. All of them rendered fine except for the Gradient Feather Effect. It would sit in Normalize for a few minutes and then just error, saying that Normalize was stopped during processing. All of the other effects processed extremely quickly and produced expected results. Only way I can get the Gradient Feather Effect to render is to flatten the PDF before dropping into ApogeeX 4.0.

So everyone out there, is anyone else having this error with PDFs featuring the Gradient Feather Effect from InDesign CS3? Maybe I should change the subject line on this now that I have narrowed it down a bit...

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

If you have ApogeeX 4.0, why do'nt you use PDF-render. In this case no need use Normaliser for flatten transparencies.
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Hi Sergey,

We are using the PDF Renderer but all of our hot tickets also have the Normaliser as well... Im new to this whole system. I've tried taking out the Normaliser TP and the job doesn't do anything then. Do I need to create a new hot ticket maybe?? What exactly is the Normaliser doing, its set to Acrobat 8 so I figured it would be keeping all of the transparency intact through to the PDF Renderer anyway??

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Normalizer creates PDF from PS data. If you're submitting PDFs then there is no need for Normalizer.
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

are you printing to a hot folder? or exporting a pdf and then running it through the normalizer tp?

We print to a Tcp/ip or appletalk hot folder and I created a test page with the gradient feather and had no problem, it went right through.

I also exported out of ID3 as a pdf and ran it through the normalizer tp and it went through.
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

We had a job about two weeks ago that used a gradient feature. Sure enough, the Normalizer would crash when trying to process it. The PDFRender tackled it just fine though.

Cheers,
Jon Morgan
Hopkins Printing
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the new replies... I had kind of forgotten about this thread and still just flattening out any PDFs with this effect through Acrobat before submitting! Now I'm glad I came back to it...

So like I said I am new to this system and we've been running with the hot tickets as per the setup by AGFA when we had the installation done. We are not printing to the hot folder, basically just taking PDFs and dropping them into the hot folder for processing. All PDF, no postscript.

So if the Normaliser only deals with incoming PS data is it doing anything to these PDFs when they are submitted? I have tried removing the Normaliser TP from my plan (after submitting a job though) and the job doesn't progress anywhere then. Would I need to remove it from the actual Hot Ticket plan maybe??

If possible might some of you be able to send me a screen shot of your Hot Ticket setup so I could see where I'm going wrong with this please. That would be much appreciated!!

Oh and also for the record, had an AGFA tech up just two days ago doing upgrades to our ApogeeX server. I asked him about this and he said to try changing the Acrobat version in the Normaliser down to a lower version. Of course tried and no go, thats why I decided to come back and ask the experts ;)

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

> flattening out any PDFs with this effect through Acrobat
This is very dangerous way. Acrobat have many bugs in flattening. We had a good luck, if our flattening was correct.:)
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Hi Sergey,

Yea sure... Im on weekend break now (woohoo... beers!!) but when I get back on Monday I will post up a shot of our hot ticket and you can check it out.

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

I agree its not the best way but its the only work around we have so far. Of course everything is proofed first before plates and approved by the customer so no trouble so far. I still don't want to be editing the supplied files this way but... Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Hi Sergey,

Here's a screenshot of our hot ticket... Hope you can give me some informative feedback!

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

I can't understand why your administrator insert Normalizer in this Hot Ticket. My Normalizer only write 2k of metadata in the end of Pdf file and don't change any byte in file. May be you ask your ApogeeX administration about Normalizer in your Hot Ticket?:) Or you can post screenshots of the presets of you Normalizer and we continue solve this puzzle.:)
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

Hi Sergey,

I tried creating a brand new Hot Ticket today at work with all specs same as the screen shot I sent through except taking out the Normaliser TP. And guess what, PDFs using the Gradient Feather effect went straight through! Only thing I didn't get were document thumbnails so my Results tab showed no thumbnail previews, but after rendering they job appeared no worries at all.

So can I ask what exactly is the Normaliser doing then? I'm inclined to just leave it out if it means files are going to process through no worries.

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

> So can I ask what exactly is the Normaliser doing then?
Create thumbnail previews.:) IMHO no needs for using Normaliszr in Pdf workflow.
 
Re: ID3 effects through ApogeeX 4.0 PDF Print Engine

lol I think I agree!!

Thanks everyone for your help on this one. I have now gone through and removed the Normaliser TP from all of our Hot Tickets and regenerated them. Have also reset our PDF settings to include thumbnails during creation. Tested today and appeared to be working fine so now I can rest easy knowing I am not touching supplied files (like flattening out through Acrobat) anymore!!

Many thanks, Tony
 

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