Variable Image Software

[Slappy]

Talking about the kind of image that has a client name in the image, like so:



We haven't done much with this yet, but we've got a prospective job (not sure on the Qty) and I've been asked to see what we can get to push a job through potentially. I've looked at the Product page for DreamType & DirectSmile, I'm pulling a Demo for the DirectSmile VDP Studio right now which is their middle-tier version.

I guess I'm trying to get my head around the difference between how they provide files. Some say they do PPML, PDF or JYLT which is the HP proprietary format. Has anybody worked with this kind of project? I'll mess around with the VDP Studio for a few & see how it goes.

[beermonster]

not personally but i looked into Uimage a while back and it used simple photoshop images - which makes life easier perhaps?

[beermonster]

here

http://www.xmpie.co.uk/index.html

[youston]

Talking about the kind of image that has a client name in the image, like so:



We haven't done much with this yet, but we've got a prospective job (not sure on the Qty) and I've been asked to see what we can get to push a job through potentially. I've looked at the Product page for DreamType & DirectSmile, I'm pulling a Demo for the DirectSmile VDP Studio right now which is their middle-tier version.

I guess I'm trying to get my head around the difference between how they provide files. Some say they do PPML, PDF or JYLT which is the HP proprietary format. Has anybody worked with this kind of project? I'll mess around with the VDP Studio for a few & see how it goes.

Slappy,

I do this a lot. I mean A LOT. It's getting close to the time of year when this is pretty much ALL I'll be doing.

We use XMPie. Basically, we figure out what we need to do to the text in order to achieve the desired effect, and we write an action for it. Then, that action is referenced in the XMPie plan, the images are saved out as .jpegs and dynamically placed into the InDesign document.

Depending upon the record set, we do this in one of two ways: 1) Small record set < or = 2000 records): We let the XMPie server create the images on the fly, and write them to the press as VDX files (although we've used the VPS format as well). 2)Large record set (2001+ records): I spend the day setting everything up, and hit the "Go" button on my way out the door. Hopefully, by the next day, I'll have all of my images created, and I can set up a plan that swaps them out when needed.

Again, I do this a LOT, so if you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer them. I've never done this with any other software, but VDP software seems to be a lot like Quark -v- InDesign ... the basics of one are the same for the other, just maybe called different things in the menus.

[pspdfppdfxhd]

man she has nice teeth. If I had of taken care of myself over the years mine could have been like that. All 15 that are left.

[Skryber]

We looked into XMpie too. It's supposed to be the best and easy to use. My old manager played around with a demo and I was very impressed with the results. If we got into that type of work more, we would use XMpie.

[tapdn]

...and an even nicer tongue.  :tongue:

[youston]

We looked into XMpie too. It's supposed to be the best and easy to use. My old manager played around with a demo and I was very impressed with the results. If we got into that type of work more, we would use XMpie.

This is a lie. The sales team for XMPie likes to use the term "out of the box," as in, "XMPie can provide you with a web-to-print solution OUT OF THE BOX." What they don't tell you is that the person opening the box must have knowledge of asp, java, css, html, php (etc), and your company must shell out another 5 figures to get the APIs, unless you want your web-to-print solution to be so limited as to be absolutely useless.

The "flowing the data in to a layout for variable print production" aspect of it is relatively straightforward. But all of the other stuff (the stuff we shelled out $160,000 to be able to do) is unbelievably frustrating.

Plus, it's the absolute most poorly documented piece of software I've ever used. I have seven user guides to help me with the different aspects of XMPie ... all of them practically useless.

[Slappy]

Thx youston, I may take a look at XMpie, although they've already expressed a desire to stay away from it due to sticker shock. I've got a web demo set up for Friday morning with the DirectSmile guys and I messed around with the demo app for a while this afternoon. Not wonderfully intuitive, but I bet it would get the job done for now.

The DreamType service is just what I thought it would be: Supply a data set and custom image (or choose one of their templates) and they'll process it all and pipe back the batch of personalized files. I have a feeling we'll do that for our first few runs, as it's pretty inexpensive. if the sales force can justify the cost for a more involved application we'll move up.

If nothing else, it should justify a new, more powerful Windows box!  :cool:

[youston]

Thx youston, I may take a look at XMpie, although they've already expressed a desire to stay away from it due to sticker shock. I've got a web demo set up for Friday morning with the DirectSmile guys and I messed around with the demo app for a while this afternoon. Not wonderfully intuitive, but I bet it would get the job done for now.

The DreamType service is just what I thought it would be: Supply a data set and custom image (or choose one of their templates) and they'll process it all and pipe back the batch of personalized files. I have a feeling we'll do that for our first few runs, as it's pretty inexpensive. if the sales force can justify the cost for a more involved application we'll move up.

If nothing else, it should justify a new, more powerful Windows box!  :cool:

Sticker Shock: There are some downright affordable XMPie solutions ... none of them involve having 2 XMPie servers, the ability to do PURLs, use the API's ... but I hear GREAT things about uDirect (non-server based XMPie plugin for InDesign). Don't know how much a uDirect package with uImage included would be.

Also, I noticed that the new version of Darwin has these capabilities. I haven't played around with Darwin very much, so maybe it has had this for awhile, but I wouldn't know. I do know that a job that was projected to take the XMPie server 200 hours to process was able to be done by Darwin in just 100 hours ... just 12 hours past the 48 we had to do the job when it came in the door!

[Nick Burns]

I've used DirectSmile and was impressed with both the capabilities and the speed. Like you said it has a learning curve but nothing like youston's talking about with xmpie. I'm posting on my phone right now but I'll post a link here tomorrow for a seller who sells all these packages for way cheaper than anyone else.

[Nick Burns]

I spent a great deal of time looking for the best prices when we bought our digital press and came across this place, they're very knowledgeable, friendly and helpful on the phone. They should be able to counsel you and answer any questions you have, their prices blew away everyone else's I could find too... http://www.citationsoftware.com/

[pmhapp]

Just got DirectSmile.  I like it (except it's PC only).  Maybe pricey, but a lot cheaper than XMPie I understand.  The company - from Sales, to Support, to the tech guy - has been very good to work with.  It really doesn't take much to learn.  I pretty much self-taught myself with about 45 minutes of supplied videos, but also 2 hours of WebEx training has shown me about everything I need to know.

[ninjaPB_43]

Fusion Pro

http://www.printable.com/media/flatpageupload/FusionPro_Desktop_optimized.pdf

 

[pmhapp]

I don't think FusionPro will do the personalized image that Slappy is looking for.  We have both DirectSmile and FusionPro.  They can work together.