Good day!

What kind of file do you send to the customer for approval?

I don't have to send any where i now work, but when i had to, i send a normalized pdf, prinect normalizer produced.

That was the client file, preflighted and ''fixed'' by prinect's normaliser tool.

Fixes, as far as i remember, were basic stuff, overprint black's , rgb's to cmyk, hairlines etc (and some not so basic, but i don't see the need for a book printer to buy a trapping license ).

If the client file ''passed'' the normalizer, it would rip through metadimension, so the normalised file is what he got to approve.

I'm doing some work on a small printer lately, who just bought a ctp, and a metadimension rip, and must sent approval files to his clients.

Till now, the approval files was sent to his clients from his film maker partner.

They are ''normalised'' files from prinergy or apogee, as i quickly checked.

Since i don't have a normaliser now, what would my options be, to send a safe pdf to the client?

The signastation pc arrived with acrobat dc and pitstop 18 installed.

Meta does have a pdf export, but a 5mb book file rips to 150mb at 300ppi - i don't like to think what file a color catalogue would produce-

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

In the printshop i worked a couple of years ago, i used to send the imposed pdf to metadimention from cockpit, then send meta send it to shooter, gave it a last check and send it to our ctp.

Now, there's a small shop who bought a ctp, signa/meta and shooter as ''standalone'' apps, and i'm trying to configure them.

Till now i've managed to send a test job from meta to shooter, creating a ''new'' job, then browsing for the imposed pdf, and then sending it to shooter.

I'd like some help on how to print/export straight from signa to meta and then meta sending a paused tiffb to shooter.

Thanks in advance.

 The last 10 months i'm running the production in a middle sized plant, a 5 color KBA, bindery for saddlestiched jobs, two konica's c6085 and an igen4 digital presses ( and a couple of other's post press finishing machines ).


I'm facing a lot of problems with the digital printing ''presses''.


Till now my experience with digital printing was a bizhub 7000, when it was working, which when it worked it rarely printed good, and two label printing indigo's ( excellent machines ).

The excuse the tech's tried to use for the printing quality of the bizhub was the printing room temperature, humidity and dust collection. 

Unfortunately for them, all of the above were not an excuse since the printing room was the same with the ctp, and it was clean with steady temperature and humidity conditions.

No solution was found, till i left the shop and went to the label manufacturer with the indigo's.

Now i'm facing the same problems with the c6085's and the igen (4).

The ''presses'' break down all the time, i'm sure that they are down more hours the day than the hours they print.

But unfortunately for me now, i don't control the conditions of the printing room the digital presses are in, and the tech's put the blame on the dust and temperature/humidity factors ( which are not stable and for the near future the owner can't and won't do anything about it...)


Apart from all the hours the machines are down, i have a serious problem with color reproduction.

If i print the same file on the 3 machines, i'll get 3 different products ( color speaking ).
- Maybe more come to think of it in some cases, as color may shift during the run -

I don't want to color manage anything.

I want the machines to read only the CMYK values of the files, and reproduce them according to the FOGRA39 standard.

To achieve this, techs told us that we should use the ''bypass conversion'' adjustment on job color settings, but then color comes out with a shitty yellowish hue all over the sheet.
So we use the built in color manage profiles and eyeball the print in comparison to our cheap secretary screens before we run the job... 
- thats on the two konica's-



The igen can't print on plain stocks below 100gr and we never know beforehand if a 100gr or 120gr plain stock will be printed so we test it first and then cut the paper to it's final size...

Even then, if it is a big run it might start well and after 200-500 sheets the press won't process the stock - sometimes - 

Color is not stable either, even though every morning we run the calibrating procedure....

Two questions:

A) What do you think about the color reproduction of the konica's?
Does anyone here print's on these machines and how you handle color reproduction?

B) What stocks your igen4 won't handle well ( or at all ) ?

ps I left the best part last.

There's no actual proofer on the shop.

Clients sign the digital prints, and then the offset guys try to mach them on the KBA - if it's an offset oriented job -

Hi all,

I runned into a serious problem.

If my excel-csv file contains english characters everything works fine.

When i try to make a vdp file with greek characters i get ''chinese'' instead.

I don't even know were to start from.

I thought that character encoding is standard unicode for all software lately and problems like this were over, but that's not the case.

Any kind of help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!   

Like i read below, i'm not the only one having trouble with automator...

So I found this script on the internet, which makes folders out of filenames then moving the files inside them.

--------

for file in *; do
if [[ -f "$file" ]]; then
mkdir "${file%.*}"
mv "$file" "${file%.*}"
fi
done

--------

It works with terminal but first you must ''direct'' it to the proper folder ( writing cd and folder address inside terminal, then pasting the script )

I'd like - and i tried - using this script as a folder action with no success.
( I saved it as .scpt flie inside library/folder action scripts and then enabling folder actions to a folder, without any luck)

Then i tried with automator, as a folder action workflow, same there.

I'd really appreciate if anyone could tell me how should i do this, make a ''hot folder'' with the script above, to which when i throw a file inside, a new folder is created named after the file and then the file is moved inside the new folder.

I could also do with automator tutorials, if anyone has any or could help me find them, even in youtube - but those i saw weren't very helpful!

Thanks in advance!

Merry Christmas everybody!

I'm trying to make an app or hot folder with automator so when i drop my pdf there the pdf will be watermarked and encrypted.

I've already made the actions inside acrobat, but i can't find a way to import them or launch them with automator.

Any kind of idea or how to link would be much appreciated!
 

ok, after ten years on pc's i get to work to a mac environment again!

 So after a couple of months with the ''excuse'' that i need to refresh my skills on the osx environment i go and get an old macbookpro -  2010 - intel core duo with an ssd and 8gb ram, which unexpectedly runs the suite fine.

I'm all happy now, get a cheapo bluetooth keyboard and a nice delock miniport to HDMI adapter and plug to my EIZO, and test / practice / work there for 3-4 months.

Yesterday i lost connection to the monitor, i think the adapter edge was kind of ''loose''

So i use a second adapter, i regain connection after a restart, then try again the first adapterr and loose connection again for both adapters now 

Reset nvram-smc clean system prefs.

Check cables with different laptop, not a cable problem.

Any idea anyone?

- and has anyone managed to use a wacom cte-630 ( blue graphire model ) under High Sierra?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all!

After a lot of trouble and anxiety i found a job in a label shop!      

Thing is they do all file preparation in illy, and i'm really far from something like a poweruser in illustrator.

( Till now all editing was done in acrobat pro 9 and pitstop ( 9 or 10 ) and rarely in out trusty illustrator CS.
- no bad spelling here it was a CS with layered pdf export support baby! - )

So i started making some actions to be more productive but the only one working is centering an object to current artboard or key object.

One thing i could really use - but the action doesn't always ''behave'' like it should, is to create a layer and move inside what is selected either on top or bellow the working layer.

The '' move selected to new layer on top '' sometimes works, some others the new layer is created and i have to manually drag my selection to created layer.

Moving selected below most of the times doesn't do anything...

I was wondering if a script would be better - but i don't know how to write it - 

One other thing i noticed is that the most productive co workers doesn't use layers....

On complex files i'm at a loss even with arranging things on layers ( text - die cuts etc ),cant imagine how could i work with
out them, but i see a huge difference in speed with those who work based on object order...

Any suggestion or tip on productivity issue - whatever comes in mind may be usefull - will be gladly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

Good morning all!

I 'm sure i could use the artboard tool to snap to my selections center line.

Somehow now it snaps to the edge of the stroke, so when i have a rectangle 800*700pt for example with a stroke 20 pt stroke, select it and make the artboard snap to the selection, the artboard turns to 810*710 or 820*720 depending on the stroke alignment .

I just cant find the preference to make it snap to the line - if there is one but i'm pretty sure i've seen it somewhere someday ... -

Any help appreciated! 

Happy New Year to every one!

Getting straight to the subject.

The printshop i'm working finally hit rock bottom - even though we still have a lot of work.

The owner moved everyhing to a ''new'' company and he made new busines proposals to the remaining stuff.

For me the deal he proposed is working from home via teamviewer and he asked me to tell him what i would charge.

I'm thinking an hourly rate that is similar to my current one.

To achieve this since i'll not be an employee anymore but a freelancer/service provider i need to figure out somethings.

First medical care/pension and tax expenses.

Secondly an accountant fee.

Already done the above.

Am i missing something i should also consider?

Would you propose another charging method?

How can we both agree on how much time a job takes to be done, sometimes you need ten minutes to preflight and impose a well prepared file, some other times you ( i at least ) may take a couple of hours fixing problems.

Calls should be expected on various times a day, he said he'll need me for a couple of hours every afternoon but we both know that is not going to work.


I'm all ears on whatever you might wanna say, or for me to clarify!

Thanks in advance!

The client sent me an .xlxs file with 2 rows.

First row is made of  24digit numbers: ''000000089861000000000001'', second row with 128code title is like this: ''ΝΟΟΟ(Ζ]ΟΟΟΟΟ!nΞ''

When i apply a barcode font to the 2nd row entries in print shop mail, i get a pdf with barcodes which the barcode scanner doesn't read.

It understands that the code encoding i applied is 128 but no numbers are displayed.

So i duplicate the 24digit row and apply a 128code font and it reads just fine, but i don't understant why i was supplied the row with the ''strange'' characters...

Could there be additional information there, or it's enough when the barcode scanner displays the numbers below the barcode?

Thanks in advance!!!

Hi...

I'm trying to impose 3 different booklets on one imposition.

They should be printing together, first plate signature 1 of each booklet 
2nd plate signature 2 of each booklet etc.

I'm preparing the first imposition choosing the plate and scheme i want, then i make a new product part not choosing a plate but only a scheme, and then when i drag drop the new product part scheme into the first product part plate, only the signature i drag'n drop gets to the plate...

Do i have to drag n drop EACH signa manually into place??????

I remember i had done something similar a couple of years ago, and somehow all the signa's of the second product part got into place accordingly  as soon as i placed the first one....

I' trying half an hour now and not getting anywhere....

Signa 11 here!

Thanks in advance!

Hi all!

 I'm trying to get a pdf out of indesign or illustrator with a media box exactly 10mm larger than the trim box.
For examble if the cropped document ( trim box ) is 20x30, the pdf media box should be 22x32.

 I know how to do that with the pdf toolbox from heidi, i know i can do it with pitstop ( but with toolbox is so much more straightforward ) but i can't figure out a way to do it straight out of the box with indy - or illy.

 Know it's not really important, still i'm stuck with it...

Thanks in advance! 

Happy New Year all!!!

Hope you had a really good time, or even better still having some!

A client wants a bag printed with 2312U and our formula guide doesn't have it...
Could anyone tell us the formula please?

Thanks in advance,

Best of wishes for 2017!

Does anyone knows how's this things are massed produced?

A customer wants 3000 pieces, and google search provides me with hand crafting solutions...

I think one could print the ''inner'' parts on an ''open'' cube and then use printed sticker to unite the ''folding'' parts, that makes the big pictures, still too much hand work, for budget like a dollar for each of them...

Thanks in advance!

-contrary to prepress rage thread :-P -

  It may not come true, but still i want to share it with someone...

  After eight years in the printshop, a customer offered to provide us with a cmyk color guide and new pantone
color books.

  The pantone color guide we currentlly use is more yellowish than the shell logo ( in the little bits of paper not covered by the printers colored fingertips...)

  The cmyk guide is a 30 page advertising leaflet of the complete one we could have bought 20 years ago, and in much better shape than the pantone books since we never use it....

  Even if the customer won't bring the color books he promised, i'm so happy with all the care he shows to his humble print providers...
:cry:

  

... for a prepress technician future!

I work for a medium - getting smaller- printshop, and i have the opportunity jumping in the flexo market in a service bureau that mainly makes flexo plates ( six kinds of them at least ) and various other stuff as well ( artwork for new customers, digital printing and applications(banners etc )

Now i should be happy and excited, but the proposal includes a 20% wage cut down for one and a half year, ( which i can accept since i don't know anything about flexo but having visited the place twice didn't see anything i couldn't do ) and after that a 10% increase that will bring me to a total 10% cut down of my current income, plus a more difficult shift, currently i'm working 08:00-16:00 new shift 09:00 - 17:30....

Normally i wouldn't even think it, but the company i work is not going to get any better, and the last one i got interviewed asked me in his own way if i could get any of my current employer customers to him...

So at least do you think that flexo could provide a more stable future for a prepress technician, or i should look to a totally different segment?

I don't expect offset to raise it's head again, i'm just worried that digital might start pushing flexo shops too...

I'm looking forward for any kind of thoughts on the subject,

Thanks in advance!

Got an 1.4 pdf from mac InDesign CS6, pdf lib10.0.1 (a 28 page A5 magazine )

I preflighted the file, nothing weird but when i try to open it inside printready, after the prepare sequence the 
''an error exists on this page. acrobat may not display the page correctly. please contact the person...'' error comes out.

I used the acrobat's preflight fix ''convert to x1a'' , same as before.

I used a non trapping prepare sequence in printready, same.

Only after i used pitstop's convert to x1a profile the pdf could be opened inside printready....

Any ideas?

I can send the file if anyone's interested and having been warned that is in Greek - literally -   

Could there be a way to adjust printer marks position - crop marks especially, bringing them closer ( or further ) to my trimbox with pitstop?

If i want to move them further i can delete them all using one action, then create new ones with acrobat.

But if i want to move them closer?

I'm hoping i can adjust the current marks distance somehow!

Thanks in advance! 

I'd like to ask what traditional (not digital) offset printshops do with file preparation and color management.

Firstly if you accept native files - that's the ''easy'' part, if a printer has the infrastructure to work reliably with native files, then color manipulating/managing these files should be no problem to him, but then are you working in rgb mode letting the rip doing the separation or you work in cmyk inside the application giving the rip a cmyk tagged file?

Secondly, -and probably most commonly- in strictly pdf workflows if you color manage files,if you accept pdfx3-4 files etc.

(Here files are processed based on their cmyk percentages irrelevant of their profiles -if they have any-,and only time when color conversion takes place is when a job has to much ink for our old press to handle, where i use some ''ink save'' device link profile to drop down ink total.

If files contain non cmyk data,customer get's warned either sends files back or tell us to do the conversion ourselves and same as above then.)

Even though i read a lot about rgb workflows and late in rip separations scenarios, my real world experience doesn't provide me with lots examples of shops color managing their files - to be honest none, except from cases i read in the internet.

I'm writing again that i'm mainly interest on offset printshops, not digital printers and if it is possible i'd like to hear some small description of the shop - if i get all answers from people in big shops-plants with 4-5 prepress operators and inhouse IT departments things should be very different from the average medium printshop with one man show prepress workers doing anything from customer service to postpress chores-.

Every answer is valuable,thank all in advance!

ps I posted same question on print planet,interest in prepress is waning as Laurens from prepressure noted and every single answer is valuable like i wrote.
If there is any kind of problem with that, please notify me!
Thanks again!