Which PDF/X standard for navigator 7.0r3 ?

[zcto7]

I just started working at a small (5 offset presses, 2 prepress) shop and they have never done any preflighting and the pdf workflow is shakey...pretty much whatever goes. This week I have been reading up a lot on preflighting and will be doing that in indesign and then a final one in acrobat 6 or pitstop 6 on another machine. Which brings me to the question of which PDF/X standard should I be exporting and preflighting?

I have ripped several things with live transparency before but I had one occasion that it knocked out the newsletter cover (cmyk) at the rip and wasn't caught until press. So i've been gun shy ever since, and usually I flatten it.

I have been using PDF /3 this week but just learned that it accepts RGB files which we dont use, so would the X1a be a better choice? We have all offset presses and 1 kodak offset DI.

 

[maxon]

PDF/X-1a should be ok but is not completely failsafe. As for preflighting Acro 6 won't help much, and Pitstop is time consuming. In your case I would install a newer version of Acrobat to preview the output and rely on the rip's roam to check the separations (or even use some rip add-ons for a quicker and better/zoomable preview).
If you receive files from customers try to keep your apps up to date as you won't be able to handle some of the newer file formats properly aspecially when it comes to pdfs and transparencies

 

[zcto7]

Thanks Maxon, would you recommend any other programs to preflight with? I will be getting the CS4 suite real soon, as well as the newest pitstop. I cant stand their G5 iMac any longer, i'm bringing in my Mac Pro and Eizo to get the job done a bit faster

 

[maxon]

There are several software pieces to do preflight... I'll let others to elaborate on this, I've only used the preflight built in polkadots's workflow which is enfocus based, also pitstop professional. I already ordered the pitstop 08 some say it's faster than ver. 6, will be back with comments in a week or so

 

[kernk]

I just started working at a small (5 offset presses, 2 prepress) shop and they have never done any preflighting and the pdf workflow is shakey...pretty much whatever goes. This week I have been reading up a lot on preflighting and will be doing that in indesign and then a final one in acrobat 6 or pitstop 6 on another machine. Which brings me to the question of which PDF/X standard should I be exporting and preflighting?

I have ripped several things with live transparency before but I had one occasion that it knocked out the newsletter cover (cmyk) at the rip and wasn't caught until press. So i've been gun shy ever since, and usually I flatten it.

I have been using PDF /3 this week but just learned that it accepts RGB files which we dont use, so would the X1a be a better choice? We have all offset presses and 1 kodak offset DI.

Adam,

Have you found a solution?

You should look into upgrading the RIP to version 8 (updated for the newer PDF files) and adding automated preflight tools with the Xitron GPS (RIP Manager) workflow software.

kern