Which VD format for EFI?

[kdw75]

We do a lot of VD mailings in the 4,000 to 9,000 range. We used to use PPML, which was very fast, but I found some color and artwork issues in a couple of jobs that scared me off using it. Since then, we have been using PDF/VT format, which seems to be great, except that it is much slower.

 

[arossetti]

PDF/VT is the universal format that I see taking the industry forward from here on out. I would stick with it. MailGuru might have some good insight on this.

 

[kdw75]

Thanks for the feedback. We didn't get the faster P RIP, so I generally let things Process and Hold overnight.

 

[cec-prepress]

When you say 'EFI', is that a Fiery front end on a digital press? If so, does it have HyperRIP capability? If yes, just use regular PDFs. They'll be slower than a PPML, but faster than PDF/VT which doesn't engage the HyperRIP for some reason. We've had this issue on every Fiery (different presses) for the past 5 or so years. Some reps from EFI told us that it was because only one software they know of outputs proper PDF/VT files. We'll just ignore the part where our Creos would process the same PDF/VT files just fine.

 

[MailGuru]

PDF/VT is the universal format that I see taking the industry forward from here on out. I would stick with it. MailGuru might have some good insight on this.

Yes, we use PDF/VT

 

[Craig]

Flatten the pdf before you make it a VT. Even with a hyper RIP it will slow way down. I have found pdf output from PSL MUCH faster than PDF VT from Fusion Pro.

 

[kdw75]

Flatten the pdf before you make it a VT. Even with a hyper RIP it will slow way down. I have found pdf output from PSL MUCH faster than PDF VT from Fusion Pro.

So it may be that Fusion isn't outputting a PDF/VT that Fiery likes?

 

[[email protected]]

Are you selecting APPE in Command Workstation?

 

[kdw75]

Are you selecting APPE in Command Workstation?

Yes.

 

[[email protected]]

So it may be that Fusion isn't outputting a PDF/VT that Fiery likes?

Assuming your Fiery updates are current then I might try using good old VPS (Creo) vdp output format which the Fiery can also process. Just make sure the postscript rip doesn't mess with your transparency levels.