Not sure what would be a good choice for our shop, but in the near future we need to change our workflow. Not sure if we need to upgrade or just start from scratch with a whole new workflow. Common issues below and shop equipment /workflow listed at bottom.
After working for 8 months I realized we have lots of lots of problems with our current workflow, which is prone for mistakes and constantly creates lots of plated problems, and the blame rightfully falls on prepress. I feel like i'm set up for failure before I begin.
The cheapest route may be to upgrade from Navigator 7.0r3 to 8 but i'm not a fan of the Navigator/Harliquen rip so far. And PDF based engine would be really nice.
Xitron Xenith Sierra Looks very nice and has a whole workflow....but looks expensive for a small shop.
Nexus was a thought, but it looks like it's more optimized for flexo ?
Rampage was another one I looked at
Not sure on the ballpark prices of these or if there's another one more suited??
Common Issues
Like today me and the other prepress operator spent 2 hours trying to output two 4/4 11x17" jobs....thats ridiculous. Customer PDF's came in (from CS3) , where preflighted and passed x1a compliance. Sent to dynastrip, constantly locks up, crashes, and refused to work unless a postscript was used (placed in indesign) finally a press ready pdf. drug to hotfolders and 20-30 mins later we have it ripped, but a transparency dropped out. So back to square one.
My partners solution is to say oh well and rasterize everything inside photoshop....goodbye thin crisp type
A common problem with the Xitron rip is that it will flush complex vector jobs with a trap pro memory problem. and those type of jobs will take 2-3 hrs to rip if they make it through. Avg rip time is 4-5 min per 19x25 sheet.
Another issue is that we have no way of previewing our ripped image unless we view it in the server monitor, which gives you a birds eye view or dot level zoom.....very frustrating. Not sure if the viewer plugin works with 7.0 ??? Also the root of plating a lot of flattening or transparency problems.
They also have a Evo/preps rip but after they set it up no one could get it working so they let it sit for two years...only used a dozen or so times.
No color managment currently ...but that's another project.
When the managers /owners are ready to upgrade or replace I would like to have an informed opinion to give them.
Pressroom Small offset sheetfed shop -
Kodak / presstek DI 4 color 12.5x18.11
1 older 5 color heidelburg
1 older 2-color heidelburg... both run up to 19x25 sheets
1 small ryobi 1 color press for 8.5x11 and smaller , small runs
1 itek 2 color press up to about 11x17's, small runs
Prepress Room
1 intel 2ghz iMac 2gb memory
1 g4 iMac 1gb memory (not used anymore, just brought in my personal mac pro)
Mac Pro 2.66 quad, 8 gigs memory, 2.5 TB, w/ 24" Eizo Coloredge
Servers
Xitron Server - 3ghz pentium 4, 2 GB ram
Directworks rip - 2.8 (ish) Xenon dual core
Evo /Preps server ( not used at all)
some kind of dell server for Matchprint
Output Workflow
Receive pdf or native files ( 70% pdf's)
Proof - Email PDF or on Kodak Matchprint rip via HP Designjet Z2100
export pdf's to Dynastrip 4.4.3 &Drag into hotfolders
Xitron Rip Navigator 7.0r3 , Trap Pro module
plate to Heidelburg topsetter
DI workflow uses Kodak Directworks (EFI Oneflow) for imposition + rip.
After working for 8 months I realized we have lots of lots of problems with our current workflow, which is prone for mistakes and constantly creates lots of plated problems, and the blame rightfully falls on prepress. I feel like i'm set up for failure before I begin.
The cheapest route may be to upgrade from Navigator 7.0r3 to 8 but i'm not a fan of the Navigator/Harliquen rip so far. And PDF based engine would be really nice.
Xitron Xenith Sierra Looks very nice and has a whole workflow....but looks expensive for a small shop.
Nexus was a thought, but it looks like it's more optimized for flexo ?
Rampage was another one I looked at
Not sure on the ballpark prices of these or if there's another one more suited??
Common Issues
Like today me and the other prepress operator spent 2 hours trying to output two 4/4 11x17" jobs....thats ridiculous. Customer PDF's came in (from CS3) , where preflighted and passed x1a compliance. Sent to dynastrip, constantly locks up, crashes, and refused to work unless a postscript was used (placed in indesign) finally a press ready pdf. drug to hotfolders and 20-30 mins later we have it ripped, but a transparency dropped out. So back to square one.
My partners solution is to say oh well and rasterize everything inside photoshop....goodbye thin crisp type
A common problem with the Xitron rip is that it will flush complex vector jobs with a trap pro memory problem. and those type of jobs will take 2-3 hrs to rip if they make it through. Avg rip time is 4-5 min per 19x25 sheet.
Another issue is that we have no way of previewing our ripped image unless we view it in the server monitor, which gives you a birds eye view or dot level zoom.....very frustrating. Not sure if the viewer plugin works with 7.0 ??? Also the root of plating a lot of flattening or transparency problems.
They also have a Evo/preps rip but after they set it up no one could get it working so they let it sit for two years...only used a dozen or so times.
No color managment currently ...but that's another project.
When the managers /owners are ready to upgrade or replace I would like to have an informed opinion to give them.
Pressroom Small offset sheetfed shop -
Kodak / presstek DI 4 color 12.5x18.11
1 older 5 color heidelburg
1 older 2-color heidelburg... both run up to 19x25 sheets
1 small ryobi 1 color press for 8.5x11 and smaller , small runs
1 itek 2 color press up to about 11x17's, small runs
Prepress Room
1 intel 2ghz iMac 2gb memory
1 g4 iMac 1gb memory (not used anymore, just brought in my personal mac pro)
Mac Pro 2.66 quad, 8 gigs memory, 2.5 TB, w/ 24" Eizo Coloredge
Servers
Xitron Server - 3ghz pentium 4, 2 GB ram
Directworks rip - 2.8 (ish) Xenon dual core
Evo /Preps server ( not used at all)
some kind of dell server for Matchprint
Output Workflow
Receive pdf or native files ( 70% pdf's)
Proof - Email PDF or on Kodak Matchprint rip via HP Designjet Z2100
export pdf's to Dynastrip 4.4.3 &Drag into hotfolders
Xitron Rip Navigator 7.0r3 , Trap Pro module
plate to Heidelburg topsetter
DI workflow uses Kodak Directworks (EFI Oneflow) for imposition + rip.
