Pitstop or Flightcheck?

PrePress Gal

Active member
We are a small print shop working with Macs, QuarkXPress & CS4 applications. We get some native files along with PDFs from customers for jobs, but mostly we get PDFs. Can you tell me the pros and cons to each of these software packages as a preflighting tool?
 
Well if you are only working with PDF's Pitstop is the way to go in my books. Pitstop will only preflight PDF's .However, if you are working with native files as well, you may need to get both ! As Flightcheck will check native files and PDF's however, PITSTOP gives you a bunch of tools required for Editing PDF's and you said that you primarily work with PDF's you will definetly need this.
 
InDesign CS4 now have on-the-fly preflight tool. You define your own preflight profiles and as soon an InDesign document is opened, it will flag (but won't fix) any situation defined in your current preflight profile.
 
In case anyone doesn't know, I work with Callas, Enfocus and Markzware selling and training for their products.

FlightCheck is perfect for preflighting native files from all the Creative Suite and Quark amongst other native applications (including Office) and PDF's. The built in preflight in InDesign is fine, but it only preflights InDesign documents. For preflighting PDF's FlightCheck will do a very good job of reporting but it will not correct files.

Enfocus PitStop Pro is a PDF editing and preflighting plug-in for Acrobat that is very capable and is the only interactive PDF editor where you can actually manipulate individual objects. Create new rectangles, move a line of type, create elipses, etc. There is also PitStop Extreme that is a stand alone editor.

Callas has their pdfToolbox which is a plug-in and a stand alone PDF editor/preflighting tool. Callas is the OEM of the Acrobat preflight module.

Part of the question needs to be do you want to preflight everything once it's a PDF or do you want to preflight native files before you go to the trouble of making a PDF?

There are good reasons to preflight a native file first, I personally prefer it. Although when automating workflows it isn't always practical (Unless you get into FlightCheck Online). So generally people use Callas pdfToolbox Server, CLI or the SDK or PitStop Server.

All of the core preflighting you need to do is built into Acrobat Pro. Much of the edits you would find yourself doing can be done with Acrobat and Illustrator/PhotoShop. PitStop would be the tool to use for heavy editing, no two ways about it. pdfToolbox is a bridge between the two, Acrobat and PitStop with numerous added features.
 
Pitstop Extreme is only $3500, Pitstop Pro is $700 and FlightCheck Pro is $500. Why don't you get them all? You will have a choice of all the tools available on one computer only.
 
:) We have an old version of Acrobat Pro so that is why I was leaning to upgrade for $300. I just have to cover all the bases and answer the boss's questions.
 
Getting a current version of Acrobat Pro is the first start. Once you've got that you can do all e preflighting you need. There are a number of corrections that can be made with just the basic preflight module and with the tools in Acrobat. From there download pdfToolbox plug-in, PitStop and FlightCheck and see what you like. I don't think that PitStop Extreme is going to be what you are looking for simply because of it's price.You can get the upgrade, PitStop Pro, Callas pdfToolbox and FlightCheck for the price of the one PitStop Extreme.
 
Thanks guys for the clear advice. I will pass this on to my boss and let him decide. I am recommending we just upgrade Pitstop Pro and look into something else if we need it down the road. Personally, I do not need anything else. I think all the preflighting capabilities between InDesign, Acrobat Pro and Pitstop Pro will be all I need.
 
Check out pdfToolbox 4.3 plug-in and the bundled stand alone PDF editor. It's well worth your time to investigate. You can get all the benefits of your preflighting needs without the burden of Acrobat Pro (which honestly is kind of pig slow because it's so darned big...). There is a competitive upgrade for Enfocus users to boot. Give it a shot to make sure you cover all your bases before spending any money.
 
Not trying to hijack this post. Just curious if anyone is using Pitstop Extreme? If so, how do you like it.

I had signed up for a recent webinar, but my day got away from me, so I had to skip it.
 
Another word on pdfToolbox from callas

Another word on pdfToolbox from callas

Matt, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe another unique capability of pdfToolbox is its ability to handle XMP metadata.
 
Enfocus PitStop Pro is a PDF editing and preflighting plug-in for Acrobat that is very capable and is the only interactive PDF editor where you can actually manipulate individual objects. Create new rectangles, move a line of type, create elipses, etc..

Not so - Artwork System's Neo is a standalone PDF editor and saves our bacon almost daily! ;) We actually have PitStop as well but Neo is superior for the serious problem child PDF that tries to wreck your day.

If you have to do editing and are not looking to spend Neo-type $, PitStop has long been the industry standard. For simple preflighting, Acrobat Pro 9 does a lot on its own.

Don't know anything about Flightcheck.
 
Neo and PitStop Extreme are basically the exact same product. They share come roots and development. For a while there was Enfocus Neo which evolved into PitStop Extreme. So while not identical, they are sibblings...

Helene, with pdfToolbox you browse the XMP information in a visual manner. Specifically with InDesign CS4 exported PDF's you can browse IPTC information embedded in image which has been preserved during the PDF export process. Part of the IPTC info that you see, with a thumbnail of the image, is the copyright information and any geo-tagging information stored. A great way to audit rights usage of imagery. There's a ton of info you browse.

One other item about pdfToolbox that is unique to any product I have run across is the ability to re color raster images. While PitStop can do it too, the way that pdfToolbox does it is singularly unique. Check out http://www.mattbeals.com/videos/callas/RecolorRasterImages/RecolorRasterImages.html
 
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And if you are using InDesign CS4, you may want to check out the VIGC Live Preflight profiles for InDesign CS4: Standard Preflight Profiles

It's a good basis if you want to start from scratch. And the profiles are tailored to match the specifications of the Ghent PDF Workgroup.

Didier
 
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One thing Flightcheck ALWAYS missed, was when someone set some "Undesireable" options when saving .eps files from photoshop, like "Include halftone screen", This is not much of a bother anymore, but before workflow, this kind of thing could really ruin your day, Big moire's in your photos, I have an action in photoshop to do a save as, and still feel compelled to check every photo in a document by hand, Just to make extra sure, the designer, hasnt left boxes they shouldent check, checked!
We use Pitstop, its great!
 
In FlightCheck there is an option to detect halftone screens and transfer functions. Those should catch any screening info applied by PhotoShop, Illustrator, etc.
 
Early workflow preflight is the best, but some of the larger printers I spoke to for my analysis of preflighting tools a year back (I am a product/technology/market analyst/reviewer) said they didn't care where the preflighting took place for files that entered their workflow as a PDF. If the PDF failed preflighting , they would fix it using Neo.
 
The Professionals Choice

The Professionals Choice

Acrobat Professional with Pitstop is the pre-press choice IMO. Covers preflight and editing capability's. I'm 45 and have been in printing for 25 years, was a journeyman film stripper at color houses and large commercial printers and worked at eleven shops in southern california. Acrobat Professional with Pitstop according to my friends (also in large shops) agree. Hope this helps, Peace, Randy.;)
 

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