The Quirks of Dynastrip?

Started by Foozball, February 18, 2009, 10:45:33 PM

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Foozball

Is there a cache file of some sort for Dynastrip?

Had a HELL of a day today re-creating (imposing) four 48p books which went WRONG when I used the first book as a "source" and did "save as" to create the other 3 books.
Learnt a hard lesson (so did my supervisor) :huh: about creating ONE book correctly, exporting it and then IMPORTING it to make the remaining books. ANY freakin program defies my sense of computer/pre-press logic deserves to die! :death:

frailer

Ah, fooz. I still bear the scars from Dyna learning. Dyna and I have agreed to an indefinite Mexican stand-off. No sneaky unannounced moves, and nobody gets hurt.

But, not quite sure what you mean/did. In theory, there should not be a problem doing a Save As; and kicking off on a new job.
The main thing is to rename it, obviously, when you open it; and then go to Source Docs, and Delete/remove All. Then just bring in your new Source PDF pages.

The other way is to, once you have completed the 1st job, save each different type of Sheet/Impo as a Template. This is done by going back to the Sheet button, once you have the fully made up Impo/regos/bars etc....and Saving it as a Template by clicking on the Save As Template button. Or Save to Library...can't remember.

It's a bit of a strange interface, to say the least, but once you're used to it, you can fly in it. Er, assuming it "accepts" your PDF pages; my latest drama with CS4 stuff. Another story...

Stroll back though earlier posts here in Dynagram. Ignore the pathetic pleas and cries for help. There is some actual information there.

Post if there's more specific stuff...clarify; whatever. From work tomorrow, (Aussie time), I can put some screenshots up if you need 'em.
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

frailer

#2
OK, mate. The time diffs for U.S./Aus are crap, but we may be able to get a slot on a weekend that suits both of us. I'll most likely be at home, but that shouldn't matter. Could also do as a one-off; I could come up to work for an hour, (not far away), and I could do a Sat AM, while you stay back at work for an hour. Both of us would have access to Dyna; could get a lot out of the way in a short time. Use Chat as "live" feed. I can tell you're no slouch; you're younger/quicker than me...main thing is that I get you around the "weird" stuff in Dyna. I.e., so you don't have to re-invent the wheel.
The other possibility is you could ask boss to subscribe you to prepresstraining.com. TBH, the full sub is MUCH more cost effective, but the sub to Dyna tutes, would, on paper, be cheaper. The full Library sub, per year, is around $300. Have a look on their site. They are a great organisation. Real down-homey/Indiana type people to deal with.

here's a few screenshots as a kick-off. You may already know this stuff, but it doesn't hurt. We'll just kick it on in this thread. Nobody comes in here, anyway, LOL...   :laugh:


First shot below is the key...Select Object, then the Object Mode you want. Once selected, you get all the drop-downs you need for that Mode. You'll be slipping in and out of the different modes, second nature, in no time.


Second shot: In Signature Mode. I've "labelled" each tool. You'll get to know them pretty quickly.
When you click on each tool, you'll either get a dialogue box for that tool, or the ability to say, Rotate...(90˚ at a time).

See main dialogue for setting rows/columns/gutters. Rows are ALWAYS in line with the heads/feet, no matter which way they are orientated.. Columns are always "down the sides" (of the pages).

As you can see, the second shot is in Definition Tool; i.e.button is depressed, and dialogue box present.

I'm off to do friday arvo things now. Shall be in touch.

Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

frailer


This is a dip-in/work in progress...am at home now, wife watching Neighbours...you'd understand that.   :laugh:

Some "thoughts"/things I do:

-I create a "Dyna" folder. In it resides the main Dyna Icon for opening/re-opening the job; plus all ancilliary files. Dyna creates about 20 of the things, but they are to be ignored/left in that folder. You don't have to do anything with them. I used to be puzzled by them; now I don't even think about them.
-when it's time to print out your Sigs, it'll prompt you to navigate to....I create a "RIP Files" folder, within your job folder.

-keep these 2 folders as separate entities for the job.

-when the time comes, and you've created your masterpiece Sig, with everything on it you want, you can save a Template for repeated use. This is done from the "Sheet" Mode area. Right at the bottom there's a little arrow pointing to a yellow "page" (I guess).
You click on that, then you click anywhere on the sheet.Sig on your "digital Light table", (fancifully called!). Only then will it throw up a navigation finder...I navigate to a Templates folder which I keep in a Dyna folder on my Desktop. Name it so you can recognise it for use later. e.g. '4upA4_6DC.DSH...summin like that. You can organise them how you want...Saddle Stitch/perfect/Flat etc...then by type/size etc.

These Templates have the extension .DSH. When you open a new job, and you want to reuse a Template...from the Sheet Mode tool list, near the bottom, there is a little arrow, again, but pointing to a red "page". This means you are getting a Template for use, not saving one; the opposite. You can import one, 2 however many you want; you'll be given a dialogue box to specify...

These are a bit random for now...but will gel as we fill in the gaps... :grin:

Cheers, and later.
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

Foozball

Frailer - I'm pretty sure all our "operating procedures" for Dynastrip were written/taught by the same people. I think we do 90% exactly the same things as you do, and the other 10% I can figure out anyway.  :grin:
I'm actually really interested in the things I do here MANUALLY, that I can have dynastrip do for me, which mostly will relate to making larger books.
If you just walk me through your "procedure" to set up a book, I'm sure I can raise/pick up the important parts from there.

So, starting "from scratch":
If you needed to make a 40 page book, self cover, saddle stitch, with a high page "LIP" for the bindery. (Pages @ 8.5x11in and the paper is 25x38in)
I'd set it up as 2 sheetwise forms and a work & turn for the 8 pager.
How would you actually "DO" the layout in Dynastrip? No need to be overly detailed on the first post, I'll probably ask questions about anything I don't fully understand.



FYI - I'm developing my own "Dyna-isms" now, as some of the crap I had go wrong last month called for me to spend a little bit more time on Impositions, i now take extra steps to make it more obvious when Dynastrip has a "brain-fart". Supervisor actually prefers the way I do a lot of these things, which I'm happy about! :wink:

frailer


Fooz, it's a sunny Saturday AM here; gotta see a man about a dog...'n all. But shall be ensconced in the chair tonight. Am at home, but shall be able to answer your stuff, I think; but no screenshots 'til Tuesday. Queen's burfday long WE.

My Dyna learning was from prepresstraining.com, plus a few really helpful guys here at the outset, like santa.

before I shoot out...this kind of learning has its downsides. I got burnt by a powerful feature it has this week. I'd increased the gutter on a 4up to run a FC, 6mm>20mm. My colour markers and sheet markers were attached to the sheet, not the imposition. Fell inside. It's great to be able to plonk them anywhere with the mouse/space bar, but...Ouch!
Even if I can help out on stuff like this, it's well worth it.

Catch you later...

Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

Foozball

Enjoy the weekend man!! Just get back whenever you can, no rush! :grin:

Quote from: frailer on June 05, 2009, 06:06:08 PMbefore I shoot out...this kind of learning has its downsides. I got burnt by a powerful feature it has this week. I'd increased the gutter on a 4up to run a FC, 6mm>20mm. My colour markers and sheet markers were attached to the sheet, not the imposition. Fell inside. It's great to be able to plonk them anywhere with the mouse/space bar, but...Ouch!
Now THAT, I would like to know! Could really scare the owner here, if I gets me edjamakated!! :wink:

frailer



Man it's getting dark early here now...back home and 1830 hrs.

Right, 1st thing, a correction. Above, on 17 April post, I got the Template button descriptions wrong way round (from home). You may have figured this out already. Red'n'yellow one for saving a new Template Sheet to the Templates Folder. Yellow one for fetching a Template Sheet from the folder.

Right, back on track.

In answer to your question, you need to save Templates of each type of Sheet. Otherwise you'd be re-creating it each time.
So, if you are up to speed on making a sheet up...once you have finished it, go back to the Sheet Tool, in the vertical toolbar, (top button), and, once selected, go down to the red'n'yellow button, (second from bottom), click on that...then click on the sheet you have created in the layout window. This will throw up a navigation window, name your Template sheet so you can later ID it without too much trouble, and navigate to a folder...as outlined in previous posts. You've now filed a Template Sheet for later use.

Now, you can bring that in as many times as you want; in your case twice for the 2x16pp. Then another separate sheet made up as an 8pp, (for your work'n'turn). How you do this is simple, but we'll get to that. it's done from the yellow button at the bottom I.e. create'n'file Sheet=Red'n'yellow button. Fetch for use in a job=yellow button. Opposite directions. It's a kindergarten interface, but you get used to it.   :laugh:

Are you up to speed with centring impositions on the sheet, (pre-calculating sheet size etc.), attaching page numbers to pages to print just outside bleed, numbering the pages in the impo, setting gutters, adding rego marks...also Text Tags? Text Tags give you a long list of stuff you can throw around your imposition, (not in it   :embarrassed:  ).

Let me know if any of this stuff we need to look at. Also bringing in your own Illy made-up colour bars (Imported Marks). Easy peasy, believe me.

Enough information for one post, but, one last thing. You are aware that Dyna is not fully Adobe PDF compliant. I'm on 4.6.2 and it spits back CS4 stuff. I have to place those in CS3 and reExport. We don't do large page counts, so not such a big deal, but it will only get worse. Not even sure if v5 complies fully. Leonard tipped the can on 'em over at pp recently. Just so you're aware, is all.

Oh, and another last/last thing, don't get hung up on work'n'turn sheets. You just make them up as numbered work'n'turn, (8, in your example). Once you bring in the 2 16pp, then the 8pp, you just click on the Pagination button in the horizontal ToolBar, and it renumbers the whole impo, in accordance with how you pre-numbered. Screenshots next week...

All this stuff helps to reinforce stuff for me too, as I'm fairly recently to Dyna.

Seeya mate! We'll keep bouncing it back and forth, (across the Pacific).
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

Foozball

Today, the apprentice took down the supervisor! :grin:
I showed the supervisor some of the things I have found, by myself in Dynastrip, as he set up a book. ... I got one of those dazed/cautious kinda looks, like I just spoke Japanese, ... and in the end he just layed it out his way, but I think he realised that I am really "USING" the application, where-as he works "ole-school".
All is good though, I have a feeling he's going to ask me later on about my way of laying out books! ;)

Quote from: frailer on June 06, 2009, 03:28:00 AMAre you up to speed with centring impositions on the sheet, (pre-calculating sheet size etc.), attaching page numbers to pages to print just outside bleed, numbering the pages in the impo, setting gutters, adding rego marks...also Text Tags? Text Tags give you a long list of stuff you can throw around your imposition, (not in it   :embarrassed:  ).
How do you attach Page Numbers? And can I attach Reg Marks to the pages??


Thanks again!!!! :grin:

frailer



Fooz, I have been standing under Niagara Falls at work. But shall get back to you late today, (OZ time). Easy-peasy. Watch this space...

Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

frailer

#10
Quick post b4 home.

Screenshots. Go to your TextTag button in the right vertical menu Bar. (See earlier screenshots above). When you're into the Definition dialogue, (Top button within TextTag area), there is a dropdown with about 30 items. Choose pagenb...then make it about 5mm, and centre, (you'll see that). Next "Attach to Object Type" = Page" radio button, (as distinct from Sheet or Signature). Very important! Hit OK. Your "+' (Add) button will now be active.
Click on a page. It will turn green (if you haven't already   :laugh: ), ...you can now float it to where you want it with the mouse..  Best zoomed in on your page, at this stage. Rotate the number by clicking the Cmd. key, rotate by 90 º at each key click until at the orientation you want...see correction below*  (There's a 'T' symbol that shows the top, but you'll need to be zoomed in.
Once you've positioned it close-ish to where you want, (outside your bleed, I guess, is what you're after), mouse-click. It's there. You can adjust it with the Move tool within that palette; key in the numbers in the X/Y fields under the window.

The one good thing about this clunky procedure is that you can attach it anywhere in relation to the page. Very useful for 8-ups, where you want them placed in the centre gutter, say, at the SIDE of the page. Once on there, however, they're on the Template Sigs forever, and will provide you with page numbers for any job, without any further effort by you.
Interestingly, we only found out how to do this by getting the Fujifilm apps trainer to query Quebec. She wasn't aware of this. I suspect it's a workaround, of sorts, but if placed on Templates, it's worth the effort.

It's only worth doing this when you make up a Template. To do it for each job would be a wrist-slasher. (Some people think Dyna would do this anyway  :laugh: )
But, once you've got them on a, say, 8pp Template, you could bring in that Template 20 times, and once you hit the "Paginate button, all pages will have Page numbers attached.

Tip. Once you've added ANY TextTag, when you go back to add another, delete the previous!. They sometimes "tag" along with the next one. GRRR!

Tip 2. Where possible, attach TextTag to Sigs, not Sheets. Occasionally pages, but not often. If you later edit/adjust a Sig, (say to increase gutter width), Tags can fall into trim. If they're attached to the Sig., they'll move with it. Well, D'uh!
I had my arse seriously burned on this recently, by doing just this; attaching Tags to the Sheet.  :embarrassed:
There was much wailing, self-flagellation, and wearing of sack-cloth.

Will have more time later tomorrow, if you have any further stuff...

Tip 3. 'Escape' is your friend. Thought you were moving something, but still in the 'Add' button? Opps!... Hit Escape. Works for most Dyna "situations". And you do experience a few.


Bon chance!...as they'd say at Dyna Central. Haha...   

* (correctionRotate by holding down Cmd, key, and clicking with mouse
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.