Looking to move from Rampage to a new system.

[acrom13]

Since Rampage is pretty much dead as far as further updates and support, my company is looking for recommendations for another prepress workflow app to transition to (we are using Rampage 12.2). Does anyone else have experience moving from Rampage to another app. Will other apps work with our existing library of Preps 5 JDFs?

 

[[email protected]]

the question is what type of work do you do. flat, folded, Bound, all the above. If packaging, do you do nesting of graphics when building layouts. If commercial work, then are you offset and digital, or both? Do you do self combos forms, or want/need gang printing?
There are many choices today to implement tools that will integrate and automate workflows based upon your required complexity. Systems like Prinect, Printergy, XMF, ESKO all have their strengths and weakness, while a combination of tools like Metrix and Pitstop can be setup and tuned to handle both digital and analog layouts. Is there a MIS system in front of all this that should be integrated? CSS Group specializes in working with companies to maximize their print production automation

 

[Ultimate]

Hi acrom13, I looked at your Website (MPX) and I strongly believe our imposition solution, Impostrip is the ideal impositon for you as we can import Preps layouts/templates. All commercial work, including ganging can be done automatically at a fraction of what it would cost for something like EFI Metrix. In terms of workflow, you should consider a modular approach where you are not locked into a specific manufacturer. For example, you can consider tools like Enfocus Switch to mode files around, Tucanna T-Flow for several aspects of your workflow and if you want, add an MIS and Web 2 Print system (like Pressero). Our imposition solution can easily connect all these systems through our exclusive XML mapping functionalities.

If you want to discuss, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ray Duval
Ultimate TechnoGraphics
raymond @ imposition . com

 

[acrom13]

We are a mid-sized full-service commercial printer with offset and digital presses. Our MIS system is PrintSmith 8. We are in the process of implementing EFI DirectSmile for Web 2 Print.

 

[kansasquaker]

We just finished switching from Rampage v13, we'd been using rampage since v10 and use Metrix for imposition. We considered Esko, Fuji XMF and Kodak Prinergy when upgrading. We decided to go with Fuji, in particular because they employ many of the old Rampage people (since they're the ones who killed it). They made the case that it gave them a huge advantage integrating with Metrix and helping people transition from Rampage. To make a REALLY long story short, we ended up returning XMF after four months of Fuji's failed attempts to make XMF integrate cleanly with Metrix. We installed Prinergy 7 in December and simply could not be happier. Rampage was an awesome workflow and I was so sorry to see it die. But Prinergy is a great system too. It has a lot of automation that just didn't exist in Rampage. Having used all three on a daily basis in the last 9 months, I can safely say that Rampage and Prinergy are in an entirely different class than XMF.

There's also a bonus if you go with Prinergy, they will upgrade your preps 5 to preps 7 for free and all your old preps templates will work just fine in the new version. We actually had preps 4 (OS 9 only, that's how old it was) and got the Preps 7 upgrade free. All our extremely old templates sill work fine. We don't use it much because we do everything in Metrix, but it's handy for some jobs like pickup dies and the like.

 

[[email protected]]

CSS Group has done complete Metrix Integration both in feeding it MXML and pulling resulting layout JDF information to feed any system. If Printergy and Preps delivers a solid automated print production system, then why is Metrix in the mix? Managing and reading any systems JDF allows for workflows using tools based upon products like Impostrip, Pitstop, Metrix, and PDF editors that not just perform basic pre-flight but managing the prepping files for print production while keeping track of file history, change orders, and production decisions where jobs are between receiving graphics, merging and versifying Order information to being ready to plate. Many printers looking for savings want to be able to easily move jobs between digital and offset layouts, re-plan last minute changes, and run like jobs on gang forms. Production automation forces the integration of these systems, which without the right tool kit and processes in place most companies never achieve expected results.

 

[kansasquaker]

If Printergy and Preps delivers a solid automated print production system, then why is Metrix in the mix?

If you aren't familiar with the differences in capabilities between Metrix and Preps, you probably shouldn't be in the consulting business. You say you've done this before?

 

[DCurry]

There's also a bonus if you go with Prinergy, they will upgrade your preps 5 to preps 7 for free

This is more like a punishment than a bonus!

 

[kansasquaker]

This is more like a punishment than a bonus!

I don't know about that. I think Preps 7 is pretty good, but like I said, we don't really use it much because we have Metrix do everything before Prinergy even sees a job. I'm not too familiar with other options, but Preps 7 seemed very functional. It's far better than the impo tool in Fuji XMF. Those three are the only impo programs I've ever actually used so my experience is limited.

If somebody want to take my Metrix away, they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

 

[[email protected]]

Sorry, you didn't understand the statement. The question was meant to articulate that it appears with you having and using Preps Printergy is not the complete solution, as even with Printergy, you still opt to use Metrix. THAT was the point of the posting....

 

[kansasquaker]

Sorry, you didn't understand the statement. The question was meant to articulate that it appears with you having and using Preps Printergy is not the complete solution, as even with Printergy, you still opt to use Metrix. THAT was the point of the posting....

I understood what you were doing just fine. I wasn't making any comment at all about automation with Preps 7/Prinergy. That was your assertion, not mine. I don't have any experience with it. If you read my post, you'll see that we were already Metrix users before buying Prinergy and therefore didn't care about Prinergy/Preps automation. We don't use Preps much because there's no reason to rebuild all that automation when Metrix already works great. We only have Preps because it came for free as an upgrade from Preps 4 when we bought Prinergy.

As I said, we don't use Preps except that we can now pickup old Preps templates for standing die reruns, rather than having to manually build new layouts in Metrix. OP asked about using his old Preps templates with new software and migrating from Rampage to a new workflow, which is exactly the experience we have. I answered OPs question with a description of our experience.

You misrepresented the content of my post (and completely ignored OPs original question) and used that as an excuse to post an infomercial for your company.

And while we're at it, three different times now you refer to Kodak's rip system as PRINTERGY. It's not. It's called PRINERGY. There's no 'T' in the name. Seems like if you're going to get in the consulting business you should probably learn the proper names for the products you're supporting. In fairness, PRINERGY has only been around for about 20 years now. Maybe you guys will have time to catch up on the new stuff soon. And while you're welcome to post whatever you want about your business, please don't misrepresent what I post as an excuse to sell your services.

 

[Lodge307]

I would like to know more about the transition of bringing in a new instalation of Pace/Metrix and integrating a current fully functional Prinergy/Preps system. Any experience advice would be welcome.
Thank you

 

[Chasfinch]

I would like to know more about the transition of bringing in a new instalation of Pace/Metrix and integrating a current fully functional Prinergy/Preps system. Any experience advice would be welcome.
Thank you

We have a fully intergrated PACE/METRIX with Fuji XMF. PM me if you want info