Preflight fold points...

[kdw75]

Is checking fold point locations always a manual job, or is there some preflight software that can do this?

We spend a lot of time checking over brochures with 3,4 and 5 panel folds of all different sorts. Wondered how the big guys handle this.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

What would you like to check for?

Thinking out loud, it would probably only be workable for text, as lineart/images could be used for backgrounds and would trigger a false result when they are OK to cross a fold.

I too would be interested to see what others are doing.

EDIT: Or did you mean to check for the actual fold marks outside the trim box, not the content on the page?


Stephen Marsh

 

[kdw75]

I mean the fold points within the page. When you have solid panels that need to be in the right position.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

Sounds like a job for Design Layouts (which are visual guides on steroids).

A sample PDF would likely help the forum to visualise and or test.


Stephen Marsh

 

[mattbeals]

PitStop Pro has their design layouts. You can create a design layout that has ruler guides placed in the specific location of where a fold occurs. Then you can visually check the content to see if the content is in the correct fold position (based on rule guide position).

 

[[email protected]]

As you mention "solid panels that need to be in the right position" the following could work: using an Action List you can select objects of a certain size in a certain location and you can report an error when no objects have been selected.

I have my doubts about these solid panels, though, so I would also like to have a few sample files to see what would work and what would not.

 

[[email protected]]

CSS group has and enhancement to our product DataManager Web Portal to display an overlay on a PDF file to show the where the panels folds will fall. We store the JDF fold information for an Item, then based upon the PDF Trim Box, we will build a display of the panels. The Page is under development right now, but I can send you a PDF to show the functionality and features if you like. Typically JDF folds are symmetrical, may include panel size adjustments (Stock Caliper) or maybe the fold is not desired to be symmetrical, and have short panels along some of the fold. The features will include producing a JD fold file which can be saved and sent to the folder if JDF enabled

Regards
Steve MacKenzie

 

[PDL]

Just curious. Would it be feasible for the long run to have brochure templates available for your customers to design on that have the correct panels and fold guides applied?

 

[kdw75]

Just curious. Would it be feasible for the long run to have brochure templates available for your customers to design on that have the correct panels and fold guides applied?

We do, but we always have to verify, as they occasionally screw it up despite having the templates.

 

[dynamicpress]

We drop everything into a template, It would be great if this was part of a workflow solution.

 

[akalaray]

We have common templates stored and lay them over the PDFs to check the folds - We do a hundred or two hundred jobs a day. It is part of the procedure to check the folds.

 

[DCurry]

We do, but we always have to verify, as they always screw it up despite having the templates.

I fixed this for you.

 

[Tim-Ellis]

Hello Kdw75,

So, you have the fold marks set up as templates already. So all you need to do is drop them on again and then run a preflight check for overlapping objects with a specific stroke width and registration as their stroke colour?

Does that sound like your solution?