Variable Data software

[Dean Taylor]

Looking for input on variable data software. Good and bad. Currently using Fusionpro VDP Creator and don't have an operator with extensive training or experience. Company is growing and could be expanding our variable data services. Trying to figure if we have the right software and just need to training or do we need to switch software and then do the training on the new.

[DCurry]

FP can sure do a lot - I can't think of much you couldn't make it do, but it does require JavaScript knowledge (or at least the ability to cobble together solutions you might find on their very helpful forum) to really get the most out of its capabilities. It's just not very user-friendly.

The only other VDP solution I have experience with  is HP SmartStream. I use this quite extensively, in tandem with its big brother, the server-based Composer (we use SmartStream to build templates, then use an automated workflow to feed data files to Composer to perform the actual processing.)

With SS, it is a lot more user-friendly, and everything is built within InDesign. You can use native InDesign features pretty creatively to do some pretty nifty things, but there are limits to what it can do. It says you can add functionality by using external scripts, but there's really no support or guidance provided and the installed user base is pretty small, as far as I can tell.

So, we use SS for 90% of our VDP work. The remaining 10% we use FP, either because the job requires something that SS can't do or because we haven't felt like rebuilding the job as a SS template.