Pamphlet/Booklet/Book Layout Software

streetsnake

Active member
I’m not sure this is the correct place for this question, so feel free to move it. I’m a newbie printer that is trying to learn as I go. Im hoping someone can recommend a free or inexpensive software/app that can easily adjust copy position, layouts, etc. I have a xerox c70 and was looking into the MakeReady software but 1 license is $500+ a month. That isn’t in the cards right now. Any good alternatives out there? Thanks in advance.
 
I haven't used MakeReady, so I'm not sure what it does. Are you looking for a tool to impose pamphlets, booklets, books, etc?
 
> I haven't used MakeReady, so I'm not sure what it does. Are you looking for a tool to impose pamphlets, booklets, books, etc?

From Magnus's response, I gather the answer is yes.

PDF Snake imposes booklets etc. and is $12.39 per month. No Acrobat required.

Full disclosure: I'm the author of PDF Snake.
 
Quite Imposing Plus, permanent licence $899
Montax Imposer
Imposition Studio
Thank you for this. It seems the files I have been receiving need to be modified slightly for best results. I’ll check these out. Thanks again
 
Thank you for this. It seems the files I have been receiving need to be modified slightly for best results. I’ll check these out. Thanks again
You will discover that most of your time is spent fixing and modifying customer supplied files. This is what we have been doing ever since customers gained the ability to create their own artwork on low cost hardware.
 
Nie som si istý, či je toto správne miesto pre túto otázku, takže to pokojne presuňte. Som nováčikom v tlačiarni, ktorý sa snaží učiť za pochodu. Dúfam, že mi niekto odporučí bezplatný alebo lacný softvér/aplikáciu, ktorá dokáže ľahko upraviť polohu kópie, rozloženie atď. Mám xerox c70 a hľadal som softvér MakeReady, ale 1 licencia je 500+ $ mesačne. To teraz nie je v kartách. Existujú nejaké dobré alternatívy? Vopred ďakujem.
Ahoj, používam Montax imposer. Vyradim na tom všetko čo potrebujem.
 
I'll don my tin hat for this one, as we do all our impositioning in Indesign. I'm sure that may not be the correct or most professional way, however it works for us and once you have a few template files set up and a catalogue of common jobs programmed into the guillotine, all is relatively quick and simple. So for each job, we'll have the 1-up version that's made a PDF for client approval, and then a 2, 4, 8 or whatever-up version with the 1-up .indd file placed multiple times, to make the PDF for the digital press.

Anyone else doing this?
 
We used to use indesign for everything but I now switched to Fiery Impose. A lot more flexibility and faster with less chance of mistakes.
For booklets we can easily add creep, gutters etc.

Just to note the impose license is for one computer but is transferable so doesn't need to be on the Fiery rip.
 
So if I’m mainly just going to be tweaking client layout to run booklets, is there a consensus on what may be easiest to use? I like the idea of creating one proof file, and then a 2up/4up version as well. Or maybe a better question, is there one/two that would be overkill?
 
Today, I downloaded Imposition Studio. Obviously need to learn it a bit over the trial period, but it seems more geared to offset versus digital.
 
I have been using Imposition Wizard for the last few years. Nice and easy to learn.
Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to try it out. It seems with Imposition Studio, as I image all software, is geared for offset which makes sense. I just want to be able to easily set up for digital and make adjustments like the placement on the page, gutters, etc.
 
Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to try it out. It seems with Imposition Studio, as I image all software, is geared for offset which makes sense. I just want to be able to easily set up for digital and make adjustments like the placement on the page, gutters, etc.
Nah, Imposition Wizard is much easier. I felt with Imposition Studio the need for templates is big. With Wizard I don't bother. Super easy.
 
I’m not sure this is the correct place for this question, so feel free to move it. I’m a newbie printer that is trying to learn as I go. Im hoping someone can recommend a free or inexpensive software/app that can easily adjust copy position, layouts, etc. I have a xerox c70 and was looking into the MakeReady software but 1 license is $500+ a month. That isn’t in the cards right now. Any good alternatives out there? Thanks in advance.
I've liked Quite Imposing for a long time now. It has a number of very useful features. The ability to program repetitive jobs. Trim/shift, creep adjust, etc. If you can swing it, Quite A Box of Tricks I find useful also. One time purchase. There is also a help link.. Couple of times I used it, a guy emailed and will call within 20, 30 mins. Esp with help for shuffle pages in a particular order, etc. Simple to use with a little practice.
 
I'll don my tin hat for this one, as we do all our impositioning in Indesign. I'm sure that may not be the correct or most professional way, however it works for us and once you have a few template files set up and a catalogue of common jobs programmed into the guillotine, all is relatively quick and simple. So for each job, we'll have the 1-up version that's made a PDF for client approval, and then a 2, 4, 8 or whatever-up version with the 1-up .indd file placed multiple times, to make the PDF for the digital press.

Anyone else doing this?
I do that with PDFs in Acrobat Pro 11, and Quite imposing. One up for client. Multiup for print.
 

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