Indesign VDP plugins - opinions needed

[FastColorInColumbia]

We are looking for an Indesign VDP plugin. We have looked at Direct image (Print shop mail), FusionPro and XMPie. They all seem to offer the same abilities mainly because they use Indesign as a base but I know there must be differencies. My main concerns are settings for multiup printing, setting up specialized multiup templetes, PPML output, barcoding and of course interaction with our machines Rips (Ikon 650s, Canon 110) via PPML or any other method.

We use Planetpress and PlanetWatch right now and it works fine with the Canon 110 since we upload the image to the machine then direct the databases toward it with Watch. Its good, has its place and were not moving from it for most B/W work, especially the complex data center jobs (checks, finacial statements). But Planetpress is not meant for graphics work, which is our bread n butter, not to mention it isnt meshing well with the Command work station of the Ikon 650s. Also its just too many steps for short jobs.

Love to here some opinons on those programs

 

[CSimpson]

What rip are you using Creo or Fiery?

 

[Ritter]

I've been heavily researching uDirect (XMPie), FusionPro (Printable), and a few others. I attended Print 09 and went through atleast 10 VDP demos from the big guys to the little guys. Below are my feelings, I am not affiliated with any of these companies nor have I purchased any of these products (yet).

Printable's FusionPro
The key piece is an Acrobat Professional plug-in and all of the VDP work beyond a base design is done with Acrobat. The major strength is that basically a PDF from anything can be made VDP. The major weakness is that basically a PDF from anything can be made VDP (yeah that's what I meant to say). It is every bit as scriptable and controllable such as overflow text resizing, etc. as uDirect. The scripting (if you decide to write the VDP coding on your own) is based on javascript and which is not exactly a language many people outside of web-development are going to find quick and easy to learn. The working panels that drive the plug-in leave much to be desired and remind me of the old days of the confusing menus and panels of Macromedia Freehand.

XMPie's uDirect
The key piece here is an Adobe InDesign plug-in allowing you to design and VDP at the same time testing the work on the fly. The scripting language was fast and intuitive to me although I don't know specifically which programming language it was. The lack of the ability to make Quark files into VDP may be a buzzkill for many but programs/plug-ins like Markzware's Q2ID can be used to convert files. The panels are very easy and intuitive and you don't have to dig down to get to where you need to be to deal with headaches like overflowing text problems. One major problem I discovered on accident is that the Mac OS version of uDirect and the Windows version of are not the same program. The major idiosyncracies were as major as: some rules worked on one OS and didn't on the other, some database types were supported on one OS and not on the other, opening a file "programmed" on one OS saved and opened on the other would give endless error messages. As much as it makes me cringe to say this, I found the Windows version much easier to work with and the MacOS version very buggy. I found it very odd and troubling that these plugins based on the same program were not cross-compatible.

In the end both of these products leave things to be desired. In FusionPro's case: a logical working space, a sensible ease of use, and a programming language that I don't have to start from a blank slate to work with. In XMPie's case: a logical, consistent cross-compatibility. I personally prefer XMPie over FusionPro given my research.

 

[Gbane]

Re: VDP Plugins

Re: VDP Plugins

Greetings,

Have either of you taken a look at DesignMerge as an option for your VDP. It works as a plug in for both Quark and InDesign on the Mac and Windows platform. I am sure once you take a look at it and see all of the features and benefits DesignMerge offers, your choice will be an easy one. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 888-983-6746 or email [email protected].

Regards,
Greg Bane
DesignMerge Channel Manager

Meadows Publishing Solutions