Strange one, trying to Soft proof a PDF out and client is complaining of an "odd item" above a letter in the Proof. Can't see it in Acrobat but it definitely shows in Preview or Spacebar-Quicklook in the Finder OS. (I know, I know - neither one is the right way to check a PDF, but I can see what they mean at least. I assume they're viewing on mobile.)

Attaching the Preview & the wireframe from Pitstop to show there's NOTHING there. I ran an Epson to assure them it's not going to print, just not sure wtf it is in the first place! Leftover "ghost" object from Illustrator maybe?

Our XMF Server is 6+ years old, and the OS of course is also that old. Wondering for the sake of security (mostly our IT folks pushing that line) and stability/longevity has anybody put together a new RIP?

I suppose I should reach out to XMF Support, now that we're legit again, and get specs for what we'd need. When we bought it, of course they supplied the hardware but there's no reason I can think of why I couldn't order a pre-built machine & reinstall the RIP ourselves.

Not really a cry for help but this is amusing.

We're finally updating our Switch Server to the latest release, with the help of a consulting company & also rebuilding the Flows to generally make it useful if all goes well. So we backed up everything & did the updates on Thursday. Friday I come in to a warning from the Outlook Admin:

"User SWITCH_NOTIFICATIONS@YOURSITE.COM has sent messages to 10000 recipients in the last 24 hours"



Note sure what it did, I assume maybe some logfiles that should've been getting cleared, weren't, and after the update it grabbed ALL of those old jobs & tried to re-process them. At least that email only goes out to me, and I don't believe it blacklisted the rest of our email service like would have happened if it was sending them to external email recipients. Good times.

Our Color Calibration guy left me a VM a few weeks back saying that we'd likely start getting ink carts without the dreaded Chip & we need to update our Firmware. Has anybody heard of/seen these yet?

I assume that the proofer will still see the other carts we already have on-hand with the chip, but I'm hesitant to flash the thing just yet.

Haven't seen this one before, a co-worker's version of SmartStream (loaded through inDesign 2022) just isn't imposing all of a sudden. We did a batch of BCs, set it to Fill Sheet and it literally did ONE card Top Left & facing Top Right as a Duplex.

Same thing with a basic 48pg saddle-stitch on a tabloid sheet. Even using their pre-loaded template it only placed a single page on each spread.

Un-installed using their app, re-installed and same results. I didn't want to remove InDesign completely, but I also don't think there are any other Preferences hidden anywhere besides the Plug-in Folder. We've got a call in to HP Support, just though in the mean time I'd throw it against the wall here too.

Somebody mentioned (yet another) online design tool coming down the pike from our favorite M$ so I went ahead and applied for the Wait List. Better to know how clients are going to potentially ruin our days now than to wait, right? 

Before I wade into the sheer disaster of their Support, anybody use Extensis Connect latest version, and have it corrupt your font vault? At least, that's what the FMCore Error I'm getting implies. I've tried doing what their FAQ suggests, removed it from my ~Local Library but the App isn't rebuilding the Vault.

I also tried copying it from another good user's Mac here, still get the FMCore Error. So I can't load ANY fonts unless I go back to the old way, and we have too many people sync'd in Extensis to make that reliable.

Of course, client needs banners TODAY and all they gave us was this low-res image of MLK. This is an iconic shot, but can't find anything that will scale up well (to about 8ft) without all of the background clippings.

Is there a repository for shot like this?

New territory for me, we just had a Summa F1612 Flatbed Cutter delivered and for some reason they don't include the PC/Workstation to run it. The "entry" specs are abysmally low, so the sales dude just said "as powerful as you can afford" which really doesn't help either.

I'm tempted to get a slightly beefed up off-the-shelf HP or something, 32GB of RAM, a couple TB drives and a decent mid-range processor. Don't need a dedicated GPU, as it's really not doing any rendering or heavy graphics lifting, right? I know it will use Onyx, but not sure what other software is involved or how intensive those files will be. Am I missing the mark on any of this?

Any other time, I'd tackle this but I'm short my only other co-worker & I've got a New Hire starting Monday who I'll be training full time. Soooooo....

I got sent a crappy raster image for a pretty basic corrugated box. The dieline has to go to a local vendor to make 'em, and I just don't have the time/patience to recreate the thing. Anybody wanna take a stab? I can send the image provided, at least it has measurements all of the measurement & pics of the sample I received as well.

Open to estimates~
Take pity on me!!!! 

Not sure what I'm after honestly, but I'm on track to move into a position handling how our MIS interacts with Enfocus Switch & also our current Web-2-Print interface. Since I'll be bouncing around a lot between the softwares & dealing with external vendors & consultants, I gotta find something to keep track of all the moving parts.

I used Basecamp years ago, it was cumbersome at best, dunno if it's gotten any better. Anybody use something currently?

I noticed a "new" cutter on the floor this week, a Perfecta 92, and the operator says "Yeah, I'm told you computer guys are going to send the cutting info to it so we don't have to even think any more!"



Briefly looked at the machine, can't even find a network connection & I recall from previous places that the cutter needs an actual PC attached to it, correct? Also, is there an add'l module for XMF (and HP since the digital work is all Indigo) to supply the JDF info?

I believe there's a Perfecta tech coming in this week to train the Ops, I'll see what they know about the software side but I'm skeptical since it's usually a whole different person handling that side.

Splitting off from the original thread since it appears the divorce is final.

So, in addition to trying to guide clients - what are we supposed to buy?
I mean, will the Free plugin do what we need for every day operations, or do we have to move to the Individual/Business (Teams) that looks like $89 PER User which is insane.

This is odd, I can't see any marks (Crops, Color bars, Slugs etc.) when I'm editing a template. Even in the Preview Pane while the job is open, can't see any of those marks.
Once the file is done, I can View Plates so it's not a server issue.
Trash local Prefs? Where the heck ARE they??

Looks like a printhead in our P7000 has gone up, so they're talking about just replacing it with a P6000 model. Any real differences?

The other one's at least 6 years old, I suppose it's time to let her go & I've heard a single printhead can be $2000+ anyway.

Seems that all of my InDesign Scripts that rely on importing/exporting files are failing.

Example 1: The Multipage Importer won't see any PDFs in nested Folder within Downloads/Documents - they're just greyed out. But it will access a PDF that's just sitting inside the Downloads or Documents Folder.

Example 2: The batch_convert Script fails completely, no matter where I direct the output. Returns an error "Cannot find the Folder "/Volumes/Users/name/Documents/And so On/"

I'm seeing that ALL files coming out of our Mail Dept (using PrintShop Mail) are missing Trim & Bleed boxes. Digital presses kinda need those, so I've been adding them to the 1st page then "Apply these Page Boxes to All Pages" but with thousands of pages, that kinda sucks.

Is there a faster way? Can I at least make an Action to 1-click it? Stupid garbage mail software.

We've hit the critical threshold for needing new hardware, due to the state of Software requirements, and I've got to present prices to the Higher Ups, like this week.

Since Apple has (for now) scrapped the 27" iMacs and all that's new are 24" models, I'm leaning towards Minis with decent 3rd party monitors. Kinda spoiled by the 27's 4k screens, even though ours are 5 years old now.

In the Mini camp, I guess I'd go Intel, 3.2GHz i7 & 16GB RAM. I dislike that the GPU offerings are basically no choice. The 10GB Ethernet is interesting, we have fiber connection being installed now but realistically, probably overkill. Roughly $1699 from Apple as spec'd.

Oddly enough, Costco locally had some 27" iMacs the other week: 3.1GHz i5, 8GB RAM and only 256GB storage. $1749 if they're still available. Little underpowered for my liking.

Darkhorse might be the Mac Studio, as Costco sells the base configuration for $1849.
M1 Max chip 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 32GB of unified memory.

Maybe I'm overthinking this but here's the setup:

We've been running a ton of shells in a PMS 287C & then imprinting several versions in black on a digital press.
Now, we want to run everything inline on a large digital press & I need to replicate that blue PMS with just Cyan & black.
In my head, that's not really a duotone (because most of the blue items will be vector) so how do I arrive at the closest mix to be near that PMS 287 as possible?

Our shop move is looming, and I'm sure somebody thinks we can just throw our nice Epson proofer in the back of a delivery van & hike it up the road, but I'm guessing that's a horrible idea.

Anybody move one of these things successfully? I'm assuming there's a procedure to lock the printheads down, maybe remove the ink carts - anything else in particular?