Prinect vs Apogee

[motormount]

Hi all!

There is a strong possibility that my shop might migrade from Prinect to Apogee.

If there is someone who's tried both,i'd be very glad hearing his/hers opinion.

The first thing i'm considering is the preps-signa issue.

I have little experience with preps,and to be honest the latest version i remember -5.3 or something- looks a bit monolithic comparing to signa.

We are a medium commercial print shop,and there are days that i may produce 6-8 unique impositions,checking files,making minor corrections via pitstop and making plates at the same time,so speed and ease of use is a major issue.

Another thing that troubles me is what i read in a b4print thread that apogee compared to prinergy is more complicated.

I understand that lack of experience may make someone misjudge software he's not handy at,so even if a apogee only user can write down some pros and cons that would be very helpfull either.

Thank's in advance!

 

[SteveAgfa]

Hi Motor...


Have you had any discussions surrounding Apogee's new Impose module?

AGFA.com - Agfa's Apogee Impose Saves Time and Money in Prepress

Regards,

 

[motormount]

Steve thanks for your quick answer!

First time i hear of the module,sounds very interesting!

Is it a standard feature that comes with apogee?

Can you edit the imposition afterwards?
For instance maybe two pages/blocks must overlap,will it let you change the positions it created?

One more thing:

Could i create the imposition in signa import it in apogee and assign the pages there?

 

[akalaray]

Nothing Beats Heidelberg SignaStation! I have worked on Appogee and Heidelberg, Print ready and the service provided are far better! Metadimension, signastatsion, prepress interface, compucut. It all works!

 

[SteveAgfa]

Motor:

Please work with your local Agfa digital systems specialist,
who can plug you in to a live demo or 1 on 1 webinar to answer
any questions you may have.

Regards,

 

[motormount]

Thanks for the answers,tomorrow an Agfa trainer will pay us a visit!

 

[SignaQ]

I was all AGFA (Series 3, Apogee X, Apogee Prepress) until 2 years ago and have been on a Prinect workflow since then. Both are very solid workflows, Signa Station is the clear winner when it comes to imposition software. I claim no knowledge of Apogee Impose, either not available at the time or too expensive a module to add. That said, just don't skimp on the hardware you run it on regardless of which you choose. Sometimes I miss the Agfa setup despite the Preps issues just because it was on a much more robust server set-up. Clients are native to the OS in the AGFA world and not run in a java shell. A little snappier interface because of it I think. I think you'll like the demo. Let us know what you think of the Impose module if you get a chance.

 

[seejay]

I have worked with both printready for 10 years (in its various guises), apogee for 6 months - my take on a few pro's and cons:
Agfa
Apogee - superb interface, the speed of the RIP/Rendering knocks the socks off printready.
The preview checking features within apogee are far more clear than printready/signa.
for basic impo work apogee impose is superior to signastation; the gui (IMHO) is far more intuitive and easy to work with. However, signastation probably has the edge in terms of allocating the margins and gutters etc. Impose will involve a lot more manual adjustment to measurements.
The Apogee server/client setup is far more robust and responsive than printready and its housed on fewer servers - in our experience leading to far fewer issues/bottlenecks.
The clincher for me though is the level of service and support - I cannot speak highly enough of the Agfa service team. From the moment you log a call to the conclusion of the issue they are the best I've dealt with in the industry - never had a bad experience with them! Heidleberg service can be sketchy - dependent on the engineer - most are good, some not so!
The only real con as fare as apogee impose is concerned is for more complex impositions you may have to use preps/signa - for us :impose covers about 99% of our requirements. Feedback I have had from Agfa is that some of our imposition challenges will be addressed on the next release.