Upgrade learning curve

[Stiv]

I have version 5.1.5 on OSX 10.14.11.

I want to upgrade to the latest version and learn to use Smart Marks. OK, I'm slow to upgrade my Preps I know but it works.

I have gone through the Smart Marks tutorial. I still cannot get a good template to come out. What was your learning curve like? Did it click with you the first time or did it take alot of testing?

I have a feeling this is going to be trouble - I gave up drinking for Lent.

[Joe]

I'm using smart marks all the time. What kind of problem are you having?

[DigiCorn]

I have never used the "Smart Marks." I have always made my own marks and used them so as I know what to expect. What advantages do the Smart Marks have to offer?

[tapdn]

I have never used the "Smart Marks." I have always made my own marks and used them so as I know what to expect. What advantages do the Smart Marks have to offer?

Creating new template for four 8.5x11 pages on a 19x25 press sheet,
create imposition- two vert/ two horz etc
then go to Template/ add static mark/ vert mark-
then move the mark on press sheet to position-
now repeat this umpteen times to get your crop marks.

or

...go to template/ add smart marks/ crop marks-
blam you're done.
the advantage is ease and time.

[frailer]

I'm rusty on PREPS. Don't use it much now. But did oversee the upgrade to 5.3 recently. Joe may confirm that this should be a freebie upgrade. In which case, I recommend doing it. You may have some problems "go away" when you do.
My [brief] experience with Smart Marks was similar to tapdn's. Pretty much a button-click. As Joe says, outline what you are doing/seeing with a bit more detail and someone will try and nail it for you.
make sure you Migration Assistant when you do it...keep all your Templates etc.

[Joe]

Yes, if you have any version of Preps 5 you can upgrade for free to 5.3.1. (They added another while you weren't looking frailer.  :laugh: )

[Joe]

I have never used the "Smart Marks." I have always made my own marks and used them so as I know what to expect. What advantages do the Smart Marks have to offer?

From the Preps manual:

Template Marks

Overview:

Note:  This chapter covers features that are rarely used in on-demand printing environments.Preps uses two kinds of template marks:

• SmartMarks, which are positioned and sized dynamically and have some special features

• Static marks, which are positioned by coordinates

A variety of both kinds of marks are installed with Preps ready for use, and you can create your own custom EPS or TIFF marks for use as both SmartMarks and static marks. You can also create a PDF version of a custom EPS mark to be used in PDF-native jobs; Preps substitutes the PDF version for the EPS version when you print or preview the job (see Creating and Using Custom PDF Marks on page401).

SmartMarks and static marks can be used on both Macintosh and Windows, and both kinds can be used singly or as duplicating marks.

SmartMarks versus Static Marks

In most situations, SmartMarks are the better choice because they are more powerful and versatile. On a Macintosh, you can manipulate SmartMarks through the AppleScript dictionary as well as the user interface.

Marks in jobs created before Preps 5.0 are static marks. Static marks come built in, such as rectangle marks or text marks, or as separate EPS or TIFF files, such as color bars or registration marks.

SmartMarks reposition and resize themselves dynamically in response to rules you specify, and you can easily copy them from template to template. SmartMarks are either embedded in a template file or defined in a SmartMark (.SMK file). You can also create sets of SmartMarks, called "mark groups," to apply to a job all at once.

Many, but not all, SMK files contain a reference to an EPS or TIFF file in the Marks folder. The SMK file resides in the SmartMarks folder and contains the rules for placing the SmartMark. The EPS file is simply used as the image to place on the output media and be referenced by the SMK file. You can specify SmartMark positions with respect to press sheets, impositions (with or without accounting for bleeds), vertical gutters, horizontal gutters, non-tiled media size, and the margins between an imposition and the edge of the press sheet. If you specify that the collation mark is to be positioned between the high and low folio pages, and then you add more pages to the job and reimpose it, the smart collation mark automatically moves into position between the low folio and the new high folio.

Note:  As with static marks, SmartMark references to EPS files are automatically shifted to the corresponding PDF mark file when the SmartMark is used in a PDF-native job.

Selecting a mark generated by a SmartMark selects all the marks generated by that one SmartMark definition. For instance, if you place a custom mark at the top of each vertical gutter and you have a two-row, four-column imposition, the custom SmartMark generates three marks on the press sheet (one for each vertical column). Selecting any one of these three SmartMarks selects all of them.

In two respects, static marks can be more flexible than SmartMarks. You can place static collation marks anywhere you want, while smart collation marks print only between the high and low folio. You can also drag static marks to position them; you cannot drag SmartMarks.

Note:  Templates that contain SmartMarks are not backward-compatible with earlier versions of Preps. There is no way to convert a SmartMark to a static mark or to convert a template that contains SmartMarks into a form compatible with Preps 4.x; however, older templates edited in Preps 5.0 that do not contain SmartMarks are still usable in Preps 4.x.

Note:  Marks in Preps jobs exported from UpFront are static marks, and marks that were grouped in UpFront are ungrouped in Preps.

[Stiv]

It may have more to do with Rampage requiring the pages to be rotated, I am not sure.

My pages are rotated and the Marks are not as they should be. We use a wide variety of Marks on a sheet, Guides, trim, bleeds, sig collation ID, color take off bars and such.

I will try to start up the testing again to get more specific.

Thanks.

[DigiCorn]

You said, <<<"Creating new template for four 8.5x11 pages on a 19x25 press sheet,
create imposition- two vert/ two horz etc
then go to Template/ add static mark/ vert mark-
then move the mark on press sheet to position-
now repeat this umpteen times to get your crop marks.

or

...go to template/ add smart marks/ crop marks-
blam you're done.
the advantage is ease and time.">>>

This isn't exactly wow-ing me. I draw a box around all 4 impo'd pages on one side of the sheet and then go to "Templates," --> "Modify Template Page" --> "Add Crop Marks" and voila, I set the distance, size and whether I want around each page or around each impo'd area. You can draw a box and manually delete individual marks that you don't want. Is this a "Smart Mark," and I didn't know I was using them?

\"I would just like to say that after all these years of  heavy drinking, bright lights and late nights, I still don\'t need glasses. I drink right out of the bottle.\" - David Lee Roth

[Gutnbg]

Do you often use a similar setup? If so, you can set up SmartMarks to reflect that.

We use templates with static marks for ticks, cutoff etc., but I can see the advantage of using smart marks instead, if you run a lot of, say, 8.5"x11" 4-up.

We use SmartMarks to put things on the lead edge of our plates that are important for us to know: date, time, job name, page set, type of dot. We have one set for each size press.

[tapdn]

Do you often use a similar setup? If so, you can set up SmartMarks to reflect that.

We use templates with static marks for ticks, cutoff etc., but I can see the advantage of using smart marks instead, if you run a lot of, say, 8.5"x11" 4-up.

We use SmartMarks to put things on the lead edge of our plates that are important for us to know: date, time, job name, page set, type of dot. We have one set for each size press.

...ditto for our standard sheetfed jobs which normally run on 19x25" stock I have a template with all the standard color bar, side guide, run info, etc placed and saved as untitled. All I have to do is create my imposition, say 4 up 8.5x11, set gutters and select smart marks/ crop marks- not explaining well I know, but... you get the idea I dont have to place the crop marks at corner of each page and that is a hugh timesaver for me.

[DigiCorn]

Each time I strip a unique form, I save it under a size. For example, we commonly run 25 x 19 press sheets, but have a number of different set ups. 1-up 8pp 8.5 x 11... 1-up W&Turn 17 x 11... 2-up 4pp W&Turn 5.5 x 8.5, etc. I have multiple sigs for each option saved in the templates folder under the header 25 x 19.tpl When I get a job 25 x 19, I go to my 25 x 19 layout, select the appropriate form and cut and paste to a new template; They have all my marks and color/take off bars in place. I then save it under the new job number, i.e. 8467_CELSOC.tpl Then I just alter whether it is flat work, saddle stitch or perfect bound and make a run list. I rarely have to make new templates. Later, I will archive the old templates into folders by job numbers, i.e. folder called 8000 with subfolders 8000-8099, 8100-8199, 8200-8299 etc. so if I get a repeat job (specifically those with dielines) I can strip to the exact position (crucial for die work). I am at a new job, which is why I joined the forum - I am using a new mark I hadn't used before (platenames_roto9x.eps) and didn't realize it always has to be "Bring to front" to work properly. My old work had an Agfa Palladio which always put a plate identifier on the plate automatically. This is the first time I have had to manually put it on in Preps.

[Joe]

See this one for one of the differences between static and smartmarks:

)&$#@^*&* Collation Marks!!!

For a normal collation smartmark you just define it once and add it to all of the impositions in a template at one time and it puts it in the correct place regardless of plate size or trim size. With a static collation mark you have to define it and place it manually for every freaking trim size. I'm stuck using a static one on 2 up templates because it will only put it on one of the sigs on a 2 or more-up.