Can anyone recommend a good imposition for single sided print from pdf artwork?

Started by philg1975, January 03, 2019, 10:05:20 AM

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philg1975

Hi All,

It seems i am now able to post my question so here goes!

I am currently looking over the internet for a solution to our imposition software problem, we are trying to find a decent priced software that will allow us to do the following:

Create a document with 3 lays on a sheet size, it needs to produce a cutter file that can be used with a CAD machine, ticks and CAD marks.

Currently our customer supplies to us pdf artwork that can consist of numerous pages, all the jobs from them are in sets of 3 so a 60 page pdf artwork means there is 20 sets to produce.

We currently create the layouts in Illustrator eg cutters, ticks and CAD marks, then we place the first lot of artworks within these layouts eg p1-3 for the first set. Once this is done we then save this as a common file and just re-link the pictures with the next 3 pages in the pdf artwork eg p4-6 for second set etc.

We would like also a code to be placed at the bottom to help identify what code we are printing too.

From looking online at a few of these imposition software, most are aimed at book printers or stepping the same image multiple times on a sheet, this is not what we want.

I have attached a picture of something we created ourselves but due to the increase in these jobs, the time it takes to produce these jobs can be quite time consuming, there has to be a piece of software that does not cost the earth to produce these pdfs we can use for printing and CADing?

Any advice or help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Phil.

Slappy

Not really sure about compatibility with "CAD machine" cutting (not familiar with what that means) but take a look at Imposition Studio. It's been mentioned here a few times, and for the price you probably won't find anything with as many features. We used it for about a year before moving up to a more robust system in Fuji's XMF, if you're not a medium-sized shop though that's probab;y overkill.
A little diddie 'bout black 'n cyan...two reflective colors doin' the best they can.

philg1975

Hi Slappy,

Many thanks for the reply, i have been looking at Quite Imposing, this is the only company to get back to me with a decent help support, every other company i have contacted in trying to figure out how to use their software to what and how we want to use it, all we get is 'refer to the user manual'.

If i hear that again today, it seems that tech support these days is someone at the other end of a keyboard typing just that, refer to the manual lol.

I am going through Quite Imposing now but struggling, i am awaiting a call back from them to hopefully help with my problems, all i want to do is something simple but the terminology some of these programs use is baffling to me, maybe just me but everyone is different lol.

We will only use this program about once or twice a month so we do not want to spend on something that cost too much plus i want as much support as possible.

I looked into Imposition Studio, where do you start with that program, so many options to choose from, it is a mind field if you have never used a program like that before, what do you look for in a program, i take it you know how these programs work or have had experience with them for many years?

I will keep looking but thanks again for your opinion on what software to use.

Phil.

Tracy

Quite Imposing is a pretty powerful tool
wondering if would you are doing can be done in indesign
since you are relinking images?

philg1975

Hi Tracy,

Many thanks for your reply, we currently use Illustrator as it is our main software we use in house, we currently re-link pdf of the same size into documents, problem is that it is time consuming sometimes.

Indesign seems to have a few imposition programs (via Scripts) that can be used with it but again, not a great fan of Indesign for what we want to use it for.

What we need is very basic, we only need to use a few bits of Quite Impose or any other of the other imposition programs, i am trying to learn how to import the pre made tick & CAD marks via backsheets or something.

I can N-Up my lay-out to how we want it but i want to learn how to to use it properly so we can create automatic actions that can be used on the same files again that may come into us, we can use upto 40 different cutter sizes so i need to learn how to set these up correctly so i can just open my pdf artwork and then click auto and bingo, the layouts are done with the cutter marks and CAD marks plus the code on the bottom.

It is now just fine tuning my idea with some support from Quite hopefully and we should be off and running.

Phil.

pspdfppdfxhd

Not entirely sure of your needs but I do know quite imposing pretty well.

There's a feature called "stick on pdf pages" where it will pickup pre made pdf's with marks etc. if they are used commonly. Little tricky to get going but you can make a playable sequence if it's a repetitive process.

Tracy

Interesting, I'm taking a CAD Class, are you using the CAD Marks for die cutting?
and are you putting the CAD Files into illustrator or creating Pdfs?
just curious

philg1975

Hi Tracy,

What we do here is create the size of the cutter in Illustrator eg 3 up blocks of the size we need, centred within a sheet size of 1850 x 1000mm.

Then we would put the ticks and CAD marks onto this then place the pdf pages into place within a boundry box so nothing bleeds into eachother.

Once set up, we then create a pdf of the placed artwork obviously without the cutter on but the CAD marks will line up to a cutter file we create separately (but it is made from the same file so everything matches correctly).

Once one is done we can then create the over sets of 3 by just re-linking the pdf pages with the new ones, due to the artwork being the same size, everything will fall into place exactly the same as the last pages of the pdf that was linked originally.

I hope that makes sense?

Problem with this way of working is that it can take a long time to set up all the files esp if you have over 300 or so sets to print.

This is why we are looking into a program that will help us and speed things up.

Phil.

philg1975

Quote from: pspdfppdfxhd on January 04, 2019, 09:21:43 AMNot entirely sure of your needs but I do know quite imposing pretty well.

There's a feature called "stick on pdf pages" where it will pickup pre made pdf's with marks etc. if they are used commonly. Little tricky to get going but you can make a playable sequence if it's a repetitive process.

Hi pspdfppdfxhd,

I am just starting with it so i have no idea what 'stick on pdf pages' is, sorry if i am not making things clear, it is not easy to explain exactly what we are wanting lol.

Basically i want to set up templates within Quite so i can create these single page artworks into 3up files as shown above in the picture within my first post, what we did in that picture was set it up by hand.

The person i spoke to yesterday at Quite was very polite and i wish i managed to remember more of what he was saying but they rang out the blue at the end of a working day lol.

I have tried to re-create the actions he told me yesterday about adding custom background that already has the pre made ticks and CAD marks on which i created already within Illustrator, i have tried to follow the online video about placing colour bars but it is using the standalone program rather than the acrobat plugin plus the blurred video resolution does not help either.

Basically this is what i need to learn and create:

Create Custom Background PDF of the ticks and CAD marks - Done

Create 3 up file within Quite within the sheet size and with the correct double cuts - Done

Drop in the Custom Background into the sequence of things - Tried to do but do not see anything

Create a template for that size of job so i can use it for many versions of the same size - Can not figure that out

Drop in the artwork pdf pages into the layout and then create the pdf artwork to rip to our press - Can not figure this out either.

Sorry if again it makes no sense?

Many thanks

Phil.

pspdfppdfxhd

in the sequences dialog, on the left, there will be a sequence of "stick on pdf pages", you must navigate to the pdf you made with marks and select it.

Still not gettin exactly what you want but if it's not showing up then maybe the box in front has a setting of white and not transparent?

Tracy

Thanks for the info Phil!
Seems to me it would be much easier to do in indesign than illustrator,
Place your cutters on master pages, make templates for specific sizes etc..
and you can do multipage imports and specify position if needed, relinking would be easier too.
May not be an option for you tho, Will they let you demo Quite Imposing?

philg1975

Hi Tracy,

What your basically describing is what we basically do within Illustrator to create the files we use for the printable pdfs, what i am worried about with using Indesign is the file sizes that maybe huge if we have around 100 different 3up artworks to create, would take a long time to open and save etc.

With using Quite Impose, it just takes out having to use Indesign, we can just use the acrobat plug-in with the customer pdfs and create the artwork in a quicker time so no overtime for me but a happy boss lol.

It seems i have just about got my head around what i am trying to do now, figured out the background problem i had, i have worked out how to set my file up to match my layout that was created within Illustrator so things are looking better.

All i now need to do is figure out if i can copy a code from the artwork and get it placed within the space i am wanting a code tag to go so we can use this for organising the job when sending to the customer.

The customer service at Quite is very impressive compared to other software companies, their software engineer / support engineer goes out his way to help and make sure you understand how to do things with their software by sending videos etc to help.

Many thanks for all your help guys, fingers crossed I have found the solution to my problem.

Phil.

wonderings

Indesign definitely seems simpler to use for this. As others not sure of what is best for a CAD file at the end of the day. I do use Imposition Studio Pro and it is great. Yes there is a lot there but you can save presets, so really once you have it set up the way you want and all your jobs are the same it is just a matter of loading up the PDF into the program and you are done. Support has been awesome for Imposition Studio. They helped me a lot when I first got the software as it did take a bit for me to wrap my head around how it worked. I told them of an issue I had with an odd job and they set the template for me and sent it back, been very happy with them.

As for illustrator, I would seriously look at doing that basic stuff in Indesign. Illustrator will want to edit the file and is certainly not a page layout program. Again if the job was always the same specs you could setup a template in indesign and just update the PDF with the current job and you are done.

philg1975

Hi Wonderings,

It seems you have a decent person talking to you on Imposition Studio, i downloaded the trial, i had no idea what to look out for so i contacted the customer support team and all i got back from them was check the manual and help files, if still stuck then contact us, i re-contacted them to get the same message back, so i tried again and then they decided not to help me any more and closed the case, very frustrating.

Like i have said before, what we are after is not rocket science but it is just figuring out how to do it and with what software to use to get the results.

I am keeping the option of InDesign open to us but due to us having to use Illustrator to create the cutters, i am going to go with the idea of creating the cutter for our CAD machine first, then create a background without the cutter on but all the ticks from the same file, as long as my placing is correct of the setting up of the Quite Impose then everything will fall into place, i can then save this auto action to use again on another job of the same size.

I wish i had someone from another software company contact with some positive feedback on their software so i had a choice but no0one has so i am going with the company that has looked after us which is Quite Impose.

Phil.

wonderings

Quote from: philg1975 on January 07, 2019, 08:38:47 AMHi Wonderings,

It seems you have a decent person talking to you on Imposition Studio, i downloaded the trial, i had no idea what to look out for so i contacted the customer support team and all i got back from them was check the manual and help files, if still stuck then contact us, i re-contacted them to get the same message back, so i tried again and then they decided not to help me any more and closed the case, very frustrating.

Like i have said before, what we are after is not rocket science but it is just figuring out how to do it and with what software to use to get the results.

I am keeping the option of InDesign open to us but due to us having to use Illustrator to create the cutters, i am going to go with the idea of creating the cutter for our CAD machine first, then create a background without the cutter on but all the ticks from the same file, as long as my placing is correct of the setting up of the Quite Impose then everything will fall into place, i can then save this auto action to use again on another job of the same size.

I wish i had someone from another software company contact with some positive feedback on their software so i had a choice but no0one has so i am going with the company that has looked after us which is Quite Impose.

Phil.

It is definitely frustrating when they do not get back to you. It has been a few years since I contacted them so maybe they are not how they were when I switched to them.

Indesign will probably do what you need. If all your jobs are the same size I would make a template. Make the cut marks and everything you need in Illustrator if they cannot be made in Indesign. Then import that into Indesign and make a box to import your artwork into Indesign. It would just be a matter of updating the PDF with the new file each time.

What file type does your CAD software use? Indesign will be limited to the kind of files it can output. If PDF then you should be fine.