Printing variable data on a Xerox 700

[DigiCorn]

david-

im running command workstation 4/5 - however i dont use the VDP features, they are painully slow.. what i do for the majority of the VDP we run on it is:

Park your "fat PDF" static master on the firey server (under Freeform, use "create master")

Setup your VDP job (positioning) in InDesign without the master.. Merge your data, then output the firey, however this time in your options under Freeform, "use master" and the filename of your master.

this way it wont rip your static images for every page. should be 1000% faster.

The built-in VDP on the firey sucks ass. almost as bad as planetpress.

That's great advice, delooch. We're going to experiment with that later one and see how it works here!

[gnubler]

So, the 700 cannot take a CSV or a tab delimited file? It has to be a fat PDF?

That's right. What the others said. When I use Freeform on the Fiery I send 2 PDFs to the RIP - one dynamic (say a PDF with just numbers for imprinting tickets) and one static (the background of the ticket that doesn't change, that I select to use as a master).

I guess it depends on the project. Generally my static PDFs are not fat and it's only a one page PDF. If you're imprinting variable images things can get chubby so in the past I've split up large files into sections. The vast majority of my imprinting is numbers or text.

[gnubler]

BTW, if anyone is attempting to do projects like this without the right tools I'll tell you right now it's not gonna work. We just got a new digital copier with Creo RIP (not natively outfitted with VDP functionality) and I attempted to run some tickets straight on. One batch was a 400 page PDF which I started ripping when I left for lunch and an hour later when I returned it was at 38% and still processing. I had to kill the job and switch it over to our older Xerox w/ VDP capability.

I've explained to my boss the urgency to get Fusion Pro set up on the Creo and he said "next month" so I'm doing the best I can for now. 

[David]

Thanks Delooch, extremely helpful info there.
and thanks also to Youston, I'll check into what they have (.vps license on their RIP, or .ppml, or .vdx).

They are wanting Fusion Pro also, but I think that for what they are currently doing, it wouldn't have sped it up on press. I think it has to do with the way their work-flow is setup.

thanks for all your help.
I'll let you know what I find out.

[agent_orange]

i'm on cws 5 and have used indy for the pretty basic and limited vdp jobs that i've had, so far. i had a little time a few weeks ago, though, and tried the freeform function in cws. i'm glad i did because i got a graphic intense vdp job right after. it took forever to rip sending the whole thing out of indy. sent the master over to cws, saved in freeform, then sent over the variable data and it worked like a charm. here's the site where i found the info. they actually have a few helpful tuts on there:
http://w3.efi.com/Fiery/Products/CWS5/Resources%20and%20Training/How-To/Guides

[delooch]

they actually have a few helpful tuts on there:
http://w3.efi.com/Fiery/Products/CWS5/Resources%20and%20Training/How-To/Guides

great resource for firey things! thanks!

[David]

Just got out of a meeting with the xerox sales rep....

where's gnub when I need her?


and her gun

[gnubler]

Here I am



What u need?

[David]

damn, where was I when you posted this?

xerox sales are some really smart peoples....      ²

[gnubler]

xerox sales are some really smart peoples....      ²

No need to precede that statement with a trade name - they are all the same. Not so smart, just smooth talkers.

[David]

we had a tech support guy there, too.
another member of the brain trust.