workstation

[Keith]

In terms of computer hardware/software, what is everyone using to drive their digital devices? I have a Xante Ilumina, IR 3220 w/fiery and a Canon Imageprograf 44" pigment. I print a lot of banners and posters that are graphically intense from Photoshop using the plug-in supplied by Canon. (I use an iMac with 1.5 gig and Adobe CS2- I know it does not run very fast on Intel based Macs). A lot of my customers create with Illustrator and give me a PDF; I rasterize it with Photshop (150dpi for outdoors and 300dpi for indoors) and most files only take a few minutes. But I get some files that can take a half hour or more! Does a faster computer help? More memory?

I use FusionPro Desktop for VDP (mostly just addressing) on my Ilumina. After I merge the data with the static file (create a PDF), it takes forever (if at all) to RIP to my printer if the static information is kinda intense. Again, does a faster computer help? Am I using FusionPro incorrectly? I have tried sending it as postscript file but that is a whole new set of problems.

In conclusion, I am thinking of building a workstation and my pockets are not very deep. So some fancy-ass $20,000 file RIPping pixel smashing sandwich making printer driving machine is out of the question. I think (and this is where I am wondering what everyone else it using) a PC with XP and a quad whatever with 4 gigs of ram, Adobe CS4, PDF Snake or Quite Imposing Plus and possibly Enfocus Pitstop will do the trick and help ease the prepress bottle neck I suffer from.

Thank you,
Keith

 

[cjwworld]

Why are you rasterizing the PDF w/ Photoshop?.. The rip can handle it. If you got a good RIP.. Just installed an Oce cs 650 today that uses Fiery rip.

 

[Keith]

...because it didn't come with a RIP. I used to print directly from Illustrator or Acrobat and since it is not a Postscript printer it had problems with transparencies. I called Canon and asked them about this and they said it is best to print from the Photoshop plug-in that came with the machine. I tried looking for a third-party solution and all I found was stuff for Epson. Now, my Imagerunner 3220 has a Fiery but I'm talking about my Imageprograf wide format.

Changing subjects, cjwworld, how do you like your cs650? I have been looking at a new machine and spoke with an Oce rep. What were your deciding factors?

the RIPless one,
Keith

 

[cjwworld]

We haven't really used it that much but I am amazed of the color coming off the machine.. i wasn't involved with the decision making on this machine.. but they told me that they were impressed with the color and the way they print to NCR paper. which the machine uses less heat.. Xerox and others have problem printing to the NCR paper.. the color tends to smear because of the heat.. But Oce seems to have an upper-hand on that

Only precaution, I would advise to read the small print on the contract.. it took us 6 weeks to refine the contract because of an general fine print.. It was a struggle but hopefully will pay off

We have modules, the multi-tray big feeder, stapling and finisher/folder.

 

[mhilger]

Hello Keith,

I work at Printable Technologies so can shed some light on your workflow with FusionPro.

Since the FusionPro Desktop product is an Acrobat plug-in, I'd see about working with vector artwork when possible - especially on larger sized work. Large raster images can really bring the VDP workflow to its knees, depending on the size of your artwork and the capabilities of your RIP (or lack thereof).

While transparencies can be challenging w/ vector artwork, take a look at the transparency flattening capabilities in Acrobat. This will flatten the transparent areas of your PDF while keeping the vectors as vectors for the areas that don't have transparency. Unless you have transparency on the entire artwork, this should yield some speed improvement in both composition and printing.

Now you mention that you have a Fiery on your Ilumina. Is this a free-standing Fiery or an embedded Fiery on the printer? If it's embedded, you can likely only send it PDF or PS (composed from FusionPro). While FusionPro can output optimized PS (background and other graphics in the print-stream only once per print-stream vs. once per page they are used on), this may or may not result in better RIP times for you (lots of factors go into the RIP speed for non-VDP-centric RIPs).

Now if you have a free-standing Fiery, try composing PPML and sending that over to the RIP. PPML and the free-standing Fiery were designed for VDP as opposed to PS/PDF with the embedded-Fiery. RIP times should be considerably better with PPML and a free-standing Fiery.

Lastly, regarding a workstation to add some zip to the workflow, a faster workstation will give you better VDP composition times w/ FusionPro. It may (I am pretty sure) also result in faster printing if you print directly from Acrobat to your printer. However, the "print from Acrobat" route has a number of bottlenecks related to the print spooling process on the workstation (an OS function), network speed getting that data over to the printer, and finally the RIP itself if it's an embedded controller vs. free-standing. Whenever possible, if print speed is an issue, I recommend getting that print-stream file (FusionPro output, for example) copied over and loaded with the RIP GUI as opposed to doing a File -> Print from Acrobat. Not sure if that's an option for you, though.

For hardware of a workstation, look for CPU power and a couple gigs of RAM. I have my eye on a Dell Studio XPS 435 w/ an Intel i7 dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and 750GB SATA HD. Less than $1,000 w/out monitor. FusionPro is a single-threaded application so there will be negligible benefit from going with a quad vs. dual core setup (unless you are running a bunch of other apps simultaneously.

Another route is to go with a dedicated VDP server that offloads the processing from the Desktop to a server for VDP composition. <shamelessPlus>One such option is our FusionPro Direct or Server products</shamelessPlug>

Well, hope this is useful info. Might also want to post on the FusionPro User Community over at Printable User Community - Powered by vBulletin to see about getting some feedback from fellow FusionPro users.

 

[BAB Print]

what mhilger said + if ppml, gives you weird results, you can also try the output stream of single file vps - about 1,000 times faster than pdf or ps, and sometimes is a little more stable than ppml IMHO

 

[GotToner?]

...because it didn't come with a RIP. I used to print directly from Illustrator or Acrobat and since it is not a Postscript printer it had problems with transparencies. I called Canon and asked them about this and they said it is best to print from the Photoshop plug-in that came with the machine.

the RIPless one,
Keith

Buy that new computer and use your old one as a RIP. Try SA International PhotoPRINT Select for about $7-800. The Canon GARO driver is just fine EXCEPT when printing from PostScript applications (like you are!).

 

[Kingsfish]

Just a thought...make sure the port is a true LPR port and not the Standard TCPIP port selecting lpr. The through-put is not the same.

How to add the LPR Port option when making Printing Ports:

Network Places>Advanced Menu>Optional Networking components>Other Network and File Printing Services>Print Services for Unix

 

[Keith]

Thanks everyone for the help. I will certainly check out the FusionPro Forum (I love forums, they're like mystical oracles). I will also look into the LPR port thing. I'm not having alot of problems with my wide format- rasterizing with Photoshop and printing throught the Canon plug-in is working fine. Just occassionally, some files take a half hour to rasterize. A faster computer should do the trick. But the problem is still the VDP stuff. Last week I needed to print and address some envelopes. 190 of them. The return address had a logo in it with clipping masks and drop shadows. The file was a bout 5 megs. After I merged the addresses and tried to print the PDF (my Xante does not have a Fiery) it would take almost a minute for the computer to send one page to the printer. That could very well be a crappy computer problem. But, when I rasterized the logo and reduced it to just under a meg, it printed like a champ.

Again, thank you Mystical Oracle
Keith