Preps Colorbars on top

[lnivin]

We have a need to make sure colorbars are on the top most layer in our Preps Templates.

So far, the only solution we've found is to tell the colorbar to "bring to the front". Then we need to select each crop mark individually and turn off "bring to front". Since we have a multitude of different layouts and they change daily, we're concerned this won't get done on every template.

So, we're searching for a way to have the colorbar be on top by default.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[TigerPress]

You'll have to test this, but I think the first item you put on the template is on top. This is how the pages work, so it's probably true for marks as well.

...Wayne

 

[pcmodem]

You could build the "Bring to front" into a smark mark and build a smart mark group to apply your marks to the template.

Provided you are using Preps 5 or above.

 

[lnivin]

I tried just the Colorbar as a SmartMark with "bring to front". Didn't work.

So I tried the Colorbar and Page Crop Marks as SmartMarks. Colorbar with "bring to front" checked, Page Crop Marks with "bring to front" unchecked. Still didn't work.

Preps 5.3.3
Prinergy 4.1.2.6

 

[MWinME]

I vaguely remember encountering the same problem back a few years back. We couldn't have the cropmarks interfering with the colorbar for the scanner. I think I edited the colorbar file in Illustrator and set the objects so that they wouldn't overprint. I may have even put a white filled box behind the colorbar too. (my memory escapes me) Then I made sure the colorbar was on top in Preps.

 

[lnivin]

We got the colorbars to print on top of the crop marks. We just missed a step. Put colorbars and crop marks in a group of SmartMarks. Name them with numbers at the beginning, lowest number will be the top most mark. Worked like a charm.

Thank you

 

[lnivin]

Now our problem is we have hundreds of ready-to-use templates. To use our new SmartMark group of the colorbar and crop marks, we'll have to remove crop marks and colorbars from all of these templates and replace with the SmartMarks. A little time consuming. Is there a better solution?

 

[lnivin]

It seems that first mark down prints on top.

If we removed crops, add the colorbar, put crops back on, then the colorbar will print on top.

 

[Joe]

Now our problem is we have hundreds of ready-to-use templates. To use our new SmartMark group of the colorbar and crop marks, we'll have to remove crop marks and colorbars from all of these templates and replace with the SmartMarks. A little time consuming. Is there a better solution?

Preps templates are nothing more than text files. Have you tried opening in a text editor like TextWranger and doing a search and replace to make the changes needed? TextWrangler has a very powerful search and replace function. Once you get a search and replace setup and working correctly on a test template you can then apply it to a whole folder of template files without them even being opened in TextWrangler. It can edit thousands of templates in mere seconds once you get your search and replace the way you need it. I do this a lot when I need to make a change to a lot of templates. It sounds like in your case you just need to change the order of the marks in the template file.

Word of caution...just remember to make up a backup of your templates folder before doing this because you can destroy a template with a wrong search and replace.

 

[mikeh]

Because of where it sits at the gripper, half of our .125" crop marks run into the color bar.

Instead of jumbling marks, we just select all crop marks at the gripper and change the length from .125" to .0625". Our bindery has no problem with this either.

Hope this helps -
M