Ok so we are in planning for a new update of PitStop Pro, and you all get to request one new feature, or one improvement to an existing feature!
We are throwing this out to a lot of our users, so please don't be shy. The one that we get asked for the most obviously has the best chance to make it to the release....
Looking forward to the feedback
Single click button to all the info about the person that designed the file. Home address, hobbies, schedule, that kinda stuff. For research purposes only, I swear. :dev2:
You mean the 'facebook' button, the one next to the 'execute customer' button?
There is an execute customer button!
Damn I have to upgrade from 7.
Currently working on a 'execute press minder' button, but it's taking longer than expected....
In all seriousness though, if anyone is missing anything or if there is something that you would like improved now is a great time to say.
Can't promise anything as we are asking a lot of people for feedback, but if you do ask for something it will go on the list and into the feature request database.
better path editing and isolation.
More obvious functions and tools. I'm able to string actions and functions together pretty well but my coworkers not so much, no patience for finding the right tool or action and understanding it's use.I suppose that's mainly their fault but if they click on something and it doesn't immediately do what they want, they balk at it and go on to doing things some other way.
I hate when you grab a raster image, without a mask, but it still has a path outline on it; makes you think there is a mask or second item when there is none. Also, if you're deleting crop marks, it highlights ALL marks, but only deletes the one selected. Why, on cropmarks, doesn't it just select the single item chosen? I think this falls in line with t-pat's
Quote from: t-pat on May 18, 2012, 09:00:58 AMbetter path editing and isolation.
comment.
Quote from: DigiCorn on May 18, 2012, 09:16:58 AMI hate when you grab a raster image, without a mask, but it still has a path outline on it; makes you think there is a mask or second item when there is none. Also, if you're deleting crop marks, it highlights ALL marks, but only deletes the one selected. Why, on cropmarks, doesn't it just select the single item chosen? I think this falls in line with t-pat's Quote from: t-pat on May 18, 2012, 09:00:58 AMbetter path editing and isolation.
comment.
If you are talking about where it selects the single mark in blue and the rest are yellow/orange, if you either triple or quadruple click, it will select them all in blue and they can be deleted all at once.
For the love of God, if you open any Pitstop pallet have it select the Pitstop selection tool. Inspector does this but global change or any of the others does not. It drives me insane after the one millionth click of the day only to discover the Pitstop selection tool is not selected yet again.
Also, have Pitstop auto-start when I start Acrobat and auto-select the Pistop selection tool. If I start Acrobat there is 99.9% chance I'm going to use Pitstop so I might as well be ready for action when it opens.
make moar obvious
i dont use it - never have actually - so far had little need for it and solve issues by other methods - usually violence and murder :dev2:
Quote from: abc on May 18, 2012, 08:47:41 AMCurrently working on a 'execute press minder' button, but it's taking longer than expected....
In all seriousness though, if anyone is missing anything or if there is something that you would like improved now is a great time to say.
Can't promise anything as we are asking a lot of people for feedback, but if you do ask for something it will go on the list and into the feature request database.
Execute customer and the pressman?
Okay, in that case... I'll have a Coke
®.
are there key shortcuts for switching tools from select to move to scale to select path or whatever? If not - please!
Quote from: beermonster on May 18, 2012, 10:14:49 AMsolve issues by other methods - usually violence and murder
I thought that wasn't allowed in the UK? Cheers! :drunk3:
Quote from: Joe on May 18, 2012, 09:29:26 AMAlso, have Pitstop auto-start when I start Acrobat and auto-select the Pistop selection tool. If I start Acrobat there is 99.9% chance I'm going to use Pitstop so I might as well be ready for action when it opens.
Agreed, this is #1 with me. Also remember pallet positions.
There are many occasions where I have to replace a bad logo with a good one one every page, so I usually place the new one on the first page and adjust its size and position until I'm happy. Once I've done that, I duplicate an existing "Add copied graphics" action list and simply change it to grab the current selection and I can enter the coordinates manually, but I want to be able to click a button that picks up the existing location of the selection.
I'm a couple versions behind, so my apologies if this has already been addressed.
Oooh, I will check back on monday!
In pitstop 6 / global change / page boxes there was a field "Use from other box"..........i am missing that
and is there any chance to turn off or change so many numbers for values as "15,00004"???.....may be i was searching badly for menu to change it.....its :hangme:....if I set a value to "15" it should be "15" not "15,00004" .....I think it is not important 0,00004 in prepress......
when you try and select and object, usually a small one and you can't because it selects that invisible purple box (image mask) so you can't do anything to delete the object for example.
hiding the selection (purple box) does not work. Its quite maddening.
Hiding it works for me. (Right click - "Hide selection")
I might be doing something wrong but:
I noticed when you remap fonts it doesn't embed
you have to embed fonts after remapping?
Okay, I got one... would it be too much to ask that AFTER I reassign a spot color, that the new spot color actually show up in my sep preview before I have to close the PDF and reopen? Not a big deal, but it is an inconvenience.
Based on what DCS said, would it be too much to ask that if a spot is defined in ID by a placed .eps, and the build is incorrect for 4 color separation based on the Pantone color bridge, and you fix the .eps in Illy to the correct build that ID update the build properly?
wait, what? :rolleyes:
Quote from: DigiCorn on June 01, 2012, 09:40:38 AMBased on what DCS said, would it be too much to ask that if a spot is defined in ID by a placed .eps, and the build is incorrect for 4 color separation based on the Pantone color bridge, and you fix the .eps in Illy to the correct build that ID update the build properly?
Hey Corn? This is for Enfocus Pitstop. You'll have to talk to Mr. Adobe about that one. :hello:
Tell him his daughter says, "Hi".
Quote from: DigiCorn on June 01, 2012, 09:40:38 AMBased on what DCS said, would it be too much to ask that if a spot is defined in ID by a placed .eps, and the build is incorrect for 4 color separation based on the Pantone color bridge, and you fix the .eps in Illy to the correct build that ID update the build properly?
Yes, I hope the Pitstop developers get right on this. :laugh:
Brain fart Friday morning.
I got one - maybe there is a way to do this already, but I can't find it.
I would like to be able to either import a Photoshop Color Conversion Policy or to customize CMYK conversions within PitStop.
I sometimes receive PDFs that have scanned pages with color logos or pictures but text that should print black only. An easy way to deal with this - in absence of quality vector text - would be to convert the image to CMYK with black generation set to Maximum in Photoshop (this would make 100% black text with no under color and leave color objects in full color). I do this from time to time by opening pages in PS, converting and replacing in my PDF but would love to be able to just do it right in PitStop. I exported a .csf profile from Photoshop but can't seem to find a way to import it to PitStop, or any way to tweak existing conversion profiles within PitStop.
Here is a screen shot of the Photoshop color conversion settings.
Hi Ear. :hello:
I think I've done this before in Pitstop. I'll see if I can reproduce it this evening.
:grin: Thanks meng. I can import an icc profile but can't get it to convert correctly. Any tips would be appreciated.
Quote from: Joe on June 06, 2012, 11:12:41 AMHi Ear. :hello:
I think I've done this before in Pitstop. I'll see if I can reproduce it this evening.
still waiting for that b4print eal repository
I can find all sorts of places to convert or assign icc, but none of them allow you to browse for or import outside icc profiles. I found one place that does allow that but it doesn't actually have any effect on the conversion. The convert to CMYK says (using preferences)... I go to Preferences and it doesn't allow you to use anything other than the stock icc profiles. It should allow you to add to them in prefs.
Wouldn't you have to export your settings from PS, apply them as a custom set within color management in Acrobat, then have Pitstop emulate your custom settings?
That's what I was trying and I just got it to work. I had to do it by creating a new action in PitStop. I have it select images, remove existing tags and tag with my profile (this is one of the few places PitStop allows you to browse for an ICC profile, which I had already saved out of PS), then, once tagged, the action converts to CMYK. BAZINGA! Not the easiest way but now it's an action, so it is forever easy. :tongue:
Right on... I may try that one.
Quote from: Earendil on June 06, 2012, 11:34:12 AMThat's what I was trying and I just got it to work. I had to do it by creating a new action in PitStop. I have it select images, remove existing tags and tag with my profile (this is one of the few places PitStop allows you to browse for an ICC profile, which I had already saved out of PS), then, once tagged, the action converts to CMYK. BAZINGA! Not the easiest way but now it's an action, so it is forever easy. :tongue:
The problem I see with that is it's going to do it to every image on the page/document. I would take out "select images" and change the action to only run on the selected object (image that you have selected) instead of the whole page/document.
Edit: And I think your method is sort of the way I got it to work previously.
I will be checking out the action-which I don't use very much (actions)
here is a screen shot to get it into acro conversion
the file path is user/library
oh yeah, when you create your profile in photoshop
you save it to the file path
It ain't pretty having to do a max black but the fact that I have to do it in the first place means there is little hope for the quality of art, so it's better than nothing. If the client gave a crap, I would have them scan the text as high res bitmap and do the photos separately.
And Joe, as it stands, the images in question are letters printed on letterhead with logos and photos, then scanned and placed as one piece. In order to do it even semi correctly, I would have to dissect the entire page into Indy, at which point I wouldn't be worried about actions. If I could get hold of them separately, I would just grayscale the text. Sometimes, I go to these lengths... but there are a lot of pages in this job, the client is in a hurry, don't want to spend moneys on the prepress and probably don't even care. I'm only doing this to save from 400 density text for the press crew. I know, it's bad, but I at least attempted to polish the turd a little.
Quote from: t-pat on June 06, 2012, 11:23:24 AMQuote from: Joe on June 06, 2012, 11:12:41 AMHi Ear. :hello:
I think I've done this before in Pitstop. I'll see if I can reproduce it this evening.
still waiting for that b4print eal repository
:blank:
Quote from: Earendil on June 06, 2012, 11:45:38 AMIt ain't pretty having to do a max black but the fact that I have to do it in the first place means there is little hope for the quality of art, so it's better than nothing. If the client gave a crap, I would have them scan the text as high res bitmap and do the photos separately.
And Joe, as it stands, the images in question are letters printed on letterhead with logos and photos, then scanned and placed as one piece. In order to do it even semi correctly, I would have to dissect the entire page into Indy, at which point I wouldn't be worried about actions. If I could get hold of them separately, I would just grayscale the text. Sometimes, I go to these lengths... but there are a lot of pages in this job, the client is in a hurry, don't want to spend moneys on the prepress and probably don't even care. I'm only doing this to save from 400 density text for the press crew. I know, it's bad, but I at least attempted to polish the turd a little.
I know exactly what you mean. I do the same steps.
The man feels mah pain. We print some nice jobs but others... well, my bird would refuse to poop on them if I used them for cage liner. :puke2: Still I try...
I let a lot of them go these days. Pressmen don't care, customer don't care, honey badger don't care...why should I?
This may be an Acrobat wish and not a Pitstop wish, but it would be helpful if you could recalibrate your x-y axis to zero it out at a new location, and be able to pull guides to an exact position (and also be able to reposition said guides) like you can in ID or Illy.
Yep, probably an Acrobat wish. But I agree... been wishing for that feature since I was but a wee lad.
wee?
It is a relative term. :laugh:
Quote from: DigiCorn on June 06, 2012, 01:27:02 PMThis may be an Acrobat wish and not a Pitstop wish, but it would be helpful if you could recalibrate your x-y axis to zero it out at a new location, and be able to pull guides to an exact position (and also be able to reposition said guides) like you can in ID or Illy.
The Pitstop measurement tool, while not a "ruler" is much better. Click where you want to start. Click where you want to stop and it gives you the distance and angle.
Quote from: Joe on June 06, 2012, 02:50:29 PMQuote from: DigiCorn on June 06, 2012, 01:27:02 PMThis may be an Acrobat wish and not a Pitstop wish, but it would be helpful if you could recalibrate your x-y axis to zero it out at a new location, and be able to pull guides to an exact position (and also be able to reposition said guides) like you can in ID or Illy.
The Pitstop measurement tool, while not a "ruler" is much better. Click where you want to start. Click where you want to stop and it gives you the distance and angle.
is there a key modifier which constrains this to straight lines like the measuring tool in Kodak VPS viewer? I use the Pitstop measuring tool often but that would be a big help
I don't think you really need anything like that. These two measurements give you the straight line numbers no matter where your start and end points are.
anybody interested in a better way to replace images?
ie low res in the job and want to replace it with a better hi-res but match the crop, size and rotation?
or generally better image options in general?
Sure.
oh, the suspense!
Oh, the expense... I have to upgrade from 7.
Quote from: abc on July 11, 2012, 07:02:18 AManybody interested in a better way to replace images?
ie low res in the job and want to replace it with a better hi-res but match the crop, size and rotation?
or generally better image options in general?
I would want remapping separations that work correctly if I had my choice.
Channel remap not working for you?
I've had some pretty good feedback on that?
If you give me details i'll take a look
I should throw a small caveat in here and say that i've recently taken over Pitstop and your ideas are great for future versions, you guys use the product every day in anger so your feedback is really needed. Don't expect too much straight away, but if you find bugs they get acted on!
See this thread.
https://www.b4print.com/index.php?topic=5655.msg147349#msg147349 (https://www.b4print.com/index.php?topic=5655.msg147349#msg147349)
Gotcha, that's the old way
We introduced a channel remap where you can map the magenta to another separation
Ie Spot Color
I forget which version it was in, I think it was 10 update 3 (which check when back in the office)
It doesn't go through the CMM, it's a straight map
That does seem to work in Pitstop 10 Update 3 but it is a little strange. After the remap it is listed in inspector as C-SPOT-Y-K instead of just a spot. See attached images for example of what I mean. Attachement #1 is the way the colors show after remapping the magenta and attachment #2 is what I expected it to be.
I can see what you mean, you would expect it to be a separate spot color, where as what happens is the spot replaces the magenta.
From your perspective what should happen to the magenta in your case, should it still remain and just be empty, or should it be removed?
I used to do a lot of greetings cards back in the day and we used to replace the magenta with ruby red, so this visual representation makes cases in situations like that, but I can see your point.
any thoughts from anyone else?
I would think it should just make the original separation blank and add the spot channel although I guess it probably will work the way it is. It just looks odd to me. It's a big improvement over what it did do though. :thumbsup:
Quote from: abc on July 11, 2012, 07:02:18 AManybody interested in a better way to replace images?
ie low res in the job and want to replace it with a better hi-res but match the crop, size and rotation?
or generally better image options in general?
I can see a need for the image replacement option though I doubt if I would use it much myself. But what other image options are you considering? Being able to adjust the image curve and brightness/contrast within acrobat would be nice.
hadn't got that far actually, do you think there's a need for image editing in PDF?
the idea came from the pain that it used to cause replacing scans with low res images in quark/indesign and matching size, crop and rotation
I figured people still have to do that but in PDF?
or am I wrong?
editing blends and shadings is another one that springs to mind!!
Our customers, when they do place low res images, is because that is all they have. I can count on one finger the number of times a customer has wanted us to replace a low res image with a high res version in the PDF...and still have one finger left over.
I can see a use for basic image editing like curves and brightness/contrast. Especially on NChannel images that won't open in Photoshop.
Editing blends, shadings, and gradients could be useful too.
Opened, color corrected, sharpened alot of photos with PitStop and adjusted in PhotoShop and replaced... one step would be huge!
And as Joe said, NChannel support really helps so they don't have to be tagged and converted before opening.
You know what would really be useful to me right now would be an Align function similar to Illy/ID.
Quote from: DigiCorn on September 12, 2012, 01:01:35 PMYou know what would really be useful to me right now would be an Align function similar to Illy/ID.
Yeah, that would be a good one.
I ended up opening in Illy and deleting everything except what I needed to fix. Then aligned it and saved as a .pdf. Then I used copy --> enfocus replace to swap out the fix.
Shouldn't have to do that.
It's a travesty.
Quote from: DCurry on May 19, 2012, 12:49:30 PMThere are many occasions where I have to replace a bad logo with a good one one every page, so I usually place the new one on the first page and adjust its size and position until I'm happy. Once I've done that, I duplicate an existing "Add copied graphics" action list and simply change it to grab the current selection and I can enter the coordinates manually, but I want to be able to click a button that picks up the existing location of the selection.
I'm a couple versions behind, so my apologies if this has already been addressed.
@DCurry, you can do this now in the Global Change add graphic, there is a grab function, so maybe that's a solution rather than using the Action list?
nice, is this something in an update? I have 11 but I don't see that.
I hate to say it, and I'm sure I could come up with a lengthy wish list for Acrobat, but you do realize most off the things your asking for are things that the native application that create the PDF in the first place can typically do? This boils down to what we're asking for is a program that has all the features of Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop while having that programs native file format be PDF.
Kind of defeats the whole purpose of what a PDF was supposed to be don't it?
Quote from: Lammy on September 19, 2012, 09:45:59 AMI hate to say it, and I'm sure I could come up with a lengthy wish list for Acrobat, but you do realize most off the things your asking for are things that the native application that create the PDF in the first place can typically do? This boils down to what we're asking for is a program that has all the features of Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop while having that programs native file format be PDF.
Kind of defeats the whole purpose of what a PDF was supposed to be don't it?
I see a pdf as a simplification; all fonts and images embedded so there is no reason to collect. In our fast-paced print world, sending and receiving one compressed file is easier than sending and receiving multiple, large files. In that aspect, it is sometimes necessary to make on-the-fly adjustments, which is where PitStop comes in. If PitStop can offer more correction features, then it makes our job easier. If we have direct input as end users to improve the PitStop product, shouldn't we?
I don't know about y'all but I get pdfs that I call "Jesus" pdfs - they were immaculately conceived and there was no native file, ever.
Or at least that's what the sales pukes and their traveling roadshow of gypsy brokers try to convince us of. Never mind that I can see that the creator was indesign or illy or something, hey look over there it's a unicorn!
Quote from: t-pat on September 19, 2012, 09:36:21 AMnice, is this something in an update? I have 11 but I don't see that.
@t-pat, this should be in the version 11 (I think), I am running a newer version but as far as I know that's not a feature we just added?
Global Change>Standard>Add Graphics
Have a look and let me know, will double-check tomorrow when back in the office
Quote from: abc on September 19, 2012, 01:10:44 PMQuote from: t-pat on September 19, 2012, 09:36:21 AMnice, is this something in an update? I have 11 but I don't see that.
@t-pat, this should be in the version 11 (I think), I am running a newer version but as far as I know that's not a feature we just added?
Global Change>Standard>Add Graphics
Have a look and let me know, will double-check tomorrow when back in the office
hehe I see it now, under "add" - Thanks!