Problem ripping

[gumbylives]

Hi gang,
we have a problem here. A new client has sent us complex map files in illustrator with drop shadows and blurs galore. Is there a way to make these run as pdfs efficiently without any issues with transparency. When we export these ai files as eps's they are huge and still take a toll ripping. We place these in indesign and then export as pdfx 2008 with high resolution because of the shadows and transparency. We have tried refrying them, but our rip xitron using ripmanager is just taking forever. Sometimes it takes 1 hour to precheck and then it just dogs it in seperations and trapping. We cannot turn the trap off. Is there maybe anyone with some ideas. We are lost. Any tips and tricks to bringing a file size down, or decomplicated the illustrator file?
I need help.....please!!!!!
cheers
Gumby

 

[oxburger]

If there are no spot colors, try ripping the file in photoshop at 600 dpi or so and using photoshops trap feature.

May be a solution.

 

[DonBlock]

To clarify a few things, why are you placing these files into indesign? By Rip Manager are you referring to the new GPS RIP with v.8 of the Navigator? Sometimes PDF is not the way to go. We have a local customer that does Large (36 x 40) maps and they find it much faster to just print directly from Illustrator and let the RIp handle it as a PS file. This way you also won't have to worry about the transparencies etc.....

 

[alvarorb]

The version of the rip plays a significant role in speed and accuracy. If you have not upgraded to the latest Harlequin release (8.x), I'd would recommend you do so. You'll notice right away a important speed increase.

Regards

Alvaro


________________________________________________

Alvaro Rodriguez
VP of Sales

Compose Systems Inc, USA.
4740 Northgate Blvd. Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95833
Tel: (916) 920-3838 Fax: (916) 923-6776
Email: [email protected]
Skype:alvarofrb
Web:COMPOSE SYSTEM LIMITED

 

[gumbylives]

Hi we are using rip manager version 6 with the latest dynastrip. I cannot run the file directly from illustrator. It's got other items in the indesign file, and the customer surely would not want all they're fonts rasterized in photoshop. I think it's just not going to go from dynastrip two up imposed to the rip. we have tech working on it...any tips on creating good eps files?

 

[pcmodem]

There is no point in exporting a PDF from InDesign for your reason of the Trasnparency and Drop Shadows. You have already flattened the Illustrator file by saving it to an EPS. If you want to maintain the Transparencies from the Illustrator document in InDesign. You will need to either place the Illustrator file into InDesign or save the Illustrator file as a PDF. These two options preserve transparency, provided you don't flatten the file before hand.

 

[david]

Trap it using I-Trap

Trap it using I-Trap

I will be glad to provide you with a fully functional trial version of I-Trap. I am certain that it will be able to trap your job much faster and more reliably than the trapping you are using now. This type of job is one of the best reasons to go with I-Trap.

David Lewis
[email protected]

 

[2ndShiftProblemSolver]

Tried a different RIP / Workflow yet?

Tried a different RIP / Workflow yet?

How big are the exported PDFs from Illustrator?

Do you have an FTP site you can post them to?

Does your Dynagram export .tpl files?

If not, can you export from Illustrator as PDF, step them in DynaStrip and then post the output as a PDF somewhere?

Does your CtP / CtF device have a 1-bit Tiff catcher?

If you would like to post them somewhere, I'd be happy to dump them into my Apogee 5.0 workflow and send you 1-bit tiffs at the linescreen of your choice.


Even if it's too late for this job, I'd still like to see the files as I've yet to find anything I can't rip through this thing...

 

[gumbylives]

thanks

thanks

Turns out it was the illustrator file and the rip just could not handle it. No rip really except for the latest xitron $35,000...so we cheated and rasterized the files. Try to do it right and you end up cheating. lesson learned. The customer did not mind either.

 

[2ndShiftProblemSolver]

35k?

35k?

Glad you got your "problem" file worked out.



It's amazing how many things I used to fix by rasterizing in Illustrator or Photoshop before I had Apogee with the PDF Print Engine!

Scitex, O.R.I.S., and DALiM all had those "issues"

$35K for Xitron?

WoW.... just wow

Apogee is looking more and more like a deal!

 

[DonBlock]

Gumby,

Good to see you got your file out.

Remember that even with the advancements of today's RIPs, somethings may require a workaround. Also I'm curious about the PC the RIP is running on. If it were set up properly and had the horsepower I think you would see a significant difference.

 

[gumbylives]

Just letting you know

Just letting you know

We found out the previous printer rasterized the entire file without the clients knowledge. We tried to do it the correct way and that was the headache. Workarounds are good but the headaches to figure it out is sometimes painful.
Btw Xitron is 35K for the Upgrade, they want 45K for the full version....Yowsa.
Thank you all for your help and suggestions.....until next time

Gumby

 

[shazam]

Little late to the party, but....
I just replaced our nearly 10 year old Xitron Rip.
The old one was Dual P3, 1GHZ, 1GB RAM, Navigator v5 I think.
Our new box is a 2.83GHZ Four-core Xenon, 4GB RAM and 15,000RPM drives, with Navigator 8.something (it's in the closet). This version seems to be multithreaded.

A job with 8 colors, roughly 36x48 inches, took 'over an hour' on the old box.
The same job ripped in 76 SECONDS on the new box.

Maybe your old set-up isn't that old, but this is astounding performance. Had it up for about a month now, continues to delight.

As far as I know, it was less than $10,000 total of hardware and software, and I think we've 'saved' that much already. I had to install/build/config it all, it wasn't a turnkey from Xitron, but this is a staggering improvement.

 

[DonBlock]

Shazam hit it right on the head although he is using the Navigator RIP, (Harlequin) and Gumby is using the Xenith RIP, (Adobe) based off of the dollars you are quoting. Both are very good RIPs and you will not have problems if installed on the right platform.