Offset to Large Format prepress transitioning

[photoshopdude]

Hello all,
I recently transitioned from 25 years in offset prepress to large format prepress and I found it very challenging . One of the big challenges was adapting to the variances in project sizes, which are so inconsistent and all over the place compared to offset where page sizes are pretty standard (8.5 x 11, 11 x 14, 11 x 17..etc). With large format prepress comes the fun of tiling and scaling either at the rip or manually in illustrator, it was very rare that a job came in at the correct size for the application it was intended. I think most customers sent in art with the "you figure it out and make it work" mentality, while the CSR's who create the job tickets don't have a clue as to what is involved in the job, which made for a total chaotic environment.
Was using Caldera rip and although it is impressive in scope and capability, I missed the simplicity of a Prinergy rip for offset.
I'm curious if any other offset prepress techs out there have experienced the same frustration if they made the switch?

 

[jotterpinky]

Never used Caldera but in my experience with Fiery XF and Onyx rips you need some software on the front end to setup these jobs efficiently. Illustrator is very flexible but lacking in automation. You should be looking at something like i-cut layout from Esko or Imp to setup your layouts. I currently do both in addition to all our digital work. You find that if the customer is spending money on a longer offset run they pay more attention to how its setup e.g. a professional designer sets most of it up. On shorter digital and large format runs you get a lot of projects that someone’s niece setup.

 

[Bill Ward]

"...someone’s niece setup. " LMAO
Boy you got that right!

 

[EZPower]

Our addition of wide format and transition has been interesting. Customer: Ned sign for the window. Me: Need exact size. Customer: Why? Very few customers who came from offset, who understand the industry and file formats for the project.

 

[photoshopdude]

Not to mention the clients who send in 72dpi jpg art and wonder why it looks like crap after is enlarged @1000%

 

[Soft_Sam]

Never used Caldera but in my experience with Fiery XF and Onyx rips you need some software on the front end to setup these jobs efficiently. Illustrator is very flexible but lacking in automation. You should be looking at something like i-cut layout from Esko or Imp to setup your layouts. I currently do both in addition to all our digital work. You find that if the customer is spending money on a longer offset run they pay more attention to how its setup e.g. a professional designer sets most of it up. On shorter digital and large format runs you get a lot of projects that someone’s niece setup.

Look at Imp software - Highly evolved ganging engine. Gang thousand of jobs of varying sizes, copies in one go without need of sorting and zero overruns. Visit www.insoftautomation.com