Raster PDF Files

[prb302]

I'm looking for options to raster files for output to a digital and 4 color press (with trapping). We don't have the budget to replace our front end; ElecRoc, lots of issues with quarkxpress transparency. Also now having issues with our Canon Digital presses. I have been rasterizing problem files with photoshop. My boss now want's me to raster all files.

 

[cementary]

If you have acrobat pro you can flatten transparency with build-in preflight fixup. And with pitstop plugin you can rasterize whole pages. Also photoshop has batch processing mode, but it's not reliable to rasterize pdf's in via photoshop

 

[Mike the Print Man]

I'm looking for options to raster files for output to a digital and 4 color press (with trapping). We don't have the budget to replace our front end; ElecRoc, lots of issues with quarkxpress transparency. Also now having issues with our Canon Digital presses. I have been rasterizing problem files with photoshop. My boss now want's me to raster all files.

I did a video awhile back on how to set up a pre-flight profile to raster PDFs:

It doesn't deal with trapping, but it's a quick way to raster a multi-page PDF file.

 

[Repro_Pro]

You may want to check out stand-alone rips such as Harlequin and StudioRip.

 

[chriscozi]

Any solution will cost money.
Tell your 'boss' that the upfront cost will outweigh the cost of current issues.
FIX YOUR SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE issues.
Anything else is a bandaid and a waste of time and money.
We saved ~40% labor costs and lowered reprints by MORE than that immediately when we modernized.
YMMV

 

[Repro_Pro]

Buying major vendors' modern rip/workflow usually mean entering a costly subscription agreement, which usually entail mandatory upgrading of hardware.
This may become quite a burden for smaller shops.

 

[chriscozi]

Buying major vendors' modern rip/workflow usually mean entering a costly subscription agreement, which usually entail mandatory upgrading of hardware.
This may become quite a burden for smaller shops.

Agreed. In my opinion MAJOR vendors do not intentionally harm small shops. That is just a consequence of their need to maximize income.
There are MULTIPLE vendors who offer single price options that may/will include hardware options that you can manage and purchase internally. Xitron Raster Blaster RIP, Imposition Studio, and Affinity Suite come to mind.
And the heart of this discussion remains - caveat emptor. Buyer beware.
YMMV.

 

[Repro_Pro]

That is just a consequence of their need to maximize income.

Using any means?
When a major vendors' management instruct their service departments to deny any type of support to their long time customers - I tend to regard this is INTENTIONAL harm!
Their "need to maximize income" is translated to actually trying to kill all their EOL (End Of Life) equipment.
Smaller shops or non-technically savvy users soon go belly up!
Darwin would surely had been impressed.

 

[chriscozi]

Using any means?
When a major vendors' management instruct their service departments to deny any type of support to their long time customers - I tend to regard this is INTENTIONAL harm!
Their "need to maximize income" is translated to actually trying to kill all their EOL (End Of Life) equipment.
Smaller shops or non-technically savvy users soon go belly up!
Darwin would surely had been impressed.

I don't disagree.
But they have their own issues avoiding going 'belly up.'
This is one of the consequences of the type of commercial system we inhabit.
Capitalism results in strong vs weak businesses.
Sometimes that means large vs small.
It ALWAYS means every business has to be prepared to adapt to survive.
Go complain to the retail block ice seller, buggy whip seller, or the railroad tycoons.
These businesses evolved downward to a static basis to support the newly limited customer base.
I posit 'printing' is going through some of the same issues. I am hating the thought I have to SCRAP my 'hobby' offset printing press but there appear to be no other options. It had a good life.
We luckily have multiple segments that have different growth curves.
I am sure a macro-economics professor could detail the probable outcomes nicely.
Just my 2 cents after 50 yrs in the trade.

 

[Repro_Pro]

As a small business owner also more than 5 decades in the trade, I am well aware of the "Natural Selection" and the accelerated "Survival of the Fittest" happening in our rapidly changing and shrinking industry.
My point is that smaller shops wishing to modernize may sometimes find themselves mercilessly exploited by their vendors.
The need of vendors to maximize profits, causes them to use tactics of concealing extra/hidden costs and further down the road - wishing to kill their customers' older, still good and well functioning equipment.
These tactics may prove detrimental to smaller, less informed, unsuspecting shops.
So my strong advice is to try and limit exposure to possibly predatory tactics by carefully examining all alternative, less costly and thus less dangerous options.
Staying safe may well be worth some extra labor...

 

[chriscozi]

As a small business owner also more than 5 decades in the trade, I am well aware of the "Natural Selection" and the accelerated "Survival of the Fittest" happening in our rapidly changing and shrinking industry.
My point is that smaller shops wishing to modernize may sometimes find themselves mercilessly exploited by their vendors.
The need of vendors to maximize profits, causes them to use tactics of concealing extra/hidden costs and further down the road - wishing to kill their customers' older, still good and well functioning equipment.
These tactics may prove detrimental to smaller, less informed, unsuspecting shops.
So my strong advice is to try and limit exposure to possibly predatory tactics by carefully examining all alternative, less costly and thus less dangerous options.
Staying safe may well be worth some extra labor...

I can remember 'Copier Company A' selling 1-2 MILLION dollar machines and telling Print Shop owners (real craftsmen) they could move most of their work to the digital machines to lower cost and meet the monthly volume numbers.
And the owners would BUY the machines thinking they had a long term value like their presses.
Sigh.