Anyone interested in pilot testing a new preflight program?

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

Well I'm going to check it out. I've found over the years it's better to keep up with technology to ensure you are qualified to work in the future rather than to hope nothing changes and you'll have a job down the line. I've automated myself out of many jobs but because I try to stay on top of new and emerging technologies I've always been able to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper.

Uh-huh.

[gnubler]

Maybe Joe has a keylogger on his Mac.

[DigitalCrapShoveler]

That didn't even sound like him. All business-like and hopeful for a future. Okay, who killed Joe? It wasn't me, I swear!

[frailer]

Well I'm going to check it out. I've found over the years it's better to keep up with technology to ensure you are qualified to work in the future rather than to hope nothing changes and you'll have a job down the line. I've automated myself out of many jobs but because I try to stay on top of new and emerging technologies I've always been able to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper.

   Amen to that. Have tried the same thing, in my own small-time and modest way. The transition to digi hurt my aging brain, but with the help of the old (ransacked) PPF, and then here, every time I went under I managed to re-surface and gulp air. Call me dramatic, but that's how it was.
When it comes to tech change, I am a seriously dependant personality. But I don't want anyone to be freaked by this.    :laugh:

[gnubler]

That didn't even sound like him. All business-like and hopeful for a future. Okay, who killed Joe? It wasn't me, I swear!

Wasn't me.

There is another naked body under that tiger suit now.

[delooch]

Well I'm going to check it out. I've found over the years it's better to keep up with technology to ensure you are qualified to work in the future rather than to hope nothing changes and you'll have a job down the line. I've automated myself out of many jobs but because I try to stay on top of new and emerging technologies I've always been able to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper.

although im spewing negative, i agree with keeping up with tech..

my problem with this "solution" is that knucklehead managers, such as the one i had, would subscribe to this type of "one size fits all" bananas, which we all know isnt really practical with all of our collective workflow tweaks. 

who gets crapped on when the press jobs go bad? usually prepress. if your boss can eliminate a couple of self-righteous prepress knuckleheads given the opportunity, he would. mine would have. the problem is that he doesnt know what the F i do. im guessing most of your supervisors dont either.  by the time your laid off, and this fails, things would be so awry it wouldnt matter if they hired you back... 

we did a similar "tech upgrade" to our outgoing postage services a year back. laid off 2 workers, only to hire a totally different dude a year later to run the old equipment when the new crap failed.

perhaps im a bit skeptical...

[rickself]

Well I'm going to check it out. I've found over the years it's better to keep up with technology to ensure you are qualified to work in the future rather than to hope nothing changes and you'll have a job down the line. I've automated myself out of many jobs but because I try to stay on top of new and emerging technologies I've always been able to stay one step ahead of the grim reaper.

perhaps im a bit skeptical...

A skeptic in prepress...imagine that!

[Joe]

Hi all,

I'm currently working on a new preflight program designed for small and medium size publishers and printers. I'm looking for more pilot testers to provide user feedback which translates to "who wants to use the software for free as long as they'll give me feedback". I want to know what you like, what you don't like, what can we improve, etc.

It's a cloud-based solution so there's no software to install. All you need is Adobe Flash 10.0 or higher and Acrobat 9.0 or later (Acrobat Reader is fine). It imports any PDF, EPS, PS, JPG or TIFF and outputs PDF/X. It automatically fixes a ton of items including unwanted 4C black text and vector objects, over-inking problems, overprint issues, incorrect colorspaces, and more.

If you like to tinker with 100's of settings (which is probably most of the people on this forum), you might be disappointed because most of those settings are hidden from the end user. The software has preset job options designed for North American newspaper and commercial workflows. We plan on adding settings for additional geographical regions in the future.

If your interested in testing, drop me a PM and I'll provide you access. It's free to use, no strings or hidden sales agenda. I'm just looking for useful product feedback.

Regards,
Greg

OK, had some time so I uploaded 24 pages that originated in the wonderful page layout software called Microsoft Word. Job runs grayscale so all it needed to do was convert everything to gray...which it did. 4 pages were rejected because fonts were not embedded but the others it mad PDF X4 files keeping any transparency live though from Word I'm not sure if that is even possible to have live transparency. Preflight report was thorough. All in all I don't think it's a bad product but...

As others have mentioned it's not clear who is the target audience. As a printer I don't think we would have a lot of use for it as we're not going to have the customer upload the files and then we have to upload them to a remote server, let them process and them download them all over again. I certainly would not feel comfortable recieving those files back and outputting plates without checking them which is pretty much how we operate now. As far as it might be useful for designers, I suppose, but as Greg already mentioned they usually are not receptive to this type of thing. And the good designers probably don't need it and the bad designers probably wouldn't be smart enough to use it.

I know the industry is pushing this type of technology, promising printers PDF files that fly through without the need for human intervention. But how is going to catch wrong dates, pages created at the wrong size, pages not positioned correctly, pages numbers on the wrong side of the page, words misspelled, items missing, etc...? You still need a human for most of that stuff and I've still yet to see a product correctly handle B&W rgb images and convert them to B&W. Yes it will catch some of them but even with Prinergy we still find lots of gray RGB that come out 4 color instead of it converting them to grayscale which is the number one selling point that a salesman will tell you. Oh sure, it will convert them to grayscale based on the amount of RGB in the file. Yeah, it will. Sometimes. What happens when it doesn't? A human being intervenes to fix it.

I do think it works well. I just can't figure out where it might be useful.

[gnubler]

Agree with everything Joe said and I appreciate he took the time to test it out.

If all it's good for is for someone to submit print-ready files to a printer, it's not gonna happen. With the level of crap we get and people not even comprehending the concept of bleed after it's been verbally explained to them, they will not go through this process. Why should they care? We, the human printers, are here to make the crap work with the tools on hand.

[Greg_Firestone]

OK, had some time so I uploaded 24 pages that originated in the wonderful page layout software called Microsoft Word. Job runs grayscale so all it needed to do was convert everything to gray...which it did. 4 pages were rejected because fonts were not embedded but the others it mad PDF X4 files keeping any transparency live though from Word I'm not sure if that is even possible to have live transparency. Preflight report was thorough. All in all I don't think it's a bad product but...

As others have mentioned it's not clear who is the target audience. As a printer I don't think we would have a lot of use for it as we're not going to have the customer upload the files and then we have to upload them to a remote server, let them process and them download them all over again. I certainly would not feel comfortable recieving those files back and outputting plates without checking them which is pretty much how we operate now. As far as it might be useful for designers, I suppose, but as Greg already mentioned they usually are not receptive to this type of thing. And the good designers probably don't need it and the bad designers probably wouldn't be smart enough to use it.

I know the industry is pushing this type of technology, promising printers PDF files that fly through without the need for human intervention. But how is going to catch wrong dates, pages created at the wrong size, pages not positioned correctly, pages numbers on the wrong side of the page, words misspelled, items missing, etc...? You still need a human for most of that stuff and I've still yet to see a product correctly handle B&W rgb images and convert them to B&W. Yes it will catch some of them but even with Prinergy we still find lots of gray RGB that come out 4 color instead of it converting them to grayscale which is the number one selling point that a salesman will tell you. Oh sure, it will convert them to grayscale based on the amount of RGB in the file. Yeah, it will. Sometimes. What happens when it doesn't? A human being intervenes to fix it.

I do think it works well. I just can't figure out where it might be useful.

Hey Joe,

Thanks for sending some files over. The target market is small publishers and printers who do not have the expertise inhouse to handle PDFs or budgets to purchase expensive in-house prepress systems. While this forum has many technically savvy prepress professionals, I think we can all agree it's not a representation of the entire printing and publishing industry. Some shops still haven't embraced PDF because of tools or knowledge to handle them (i.e. Pitstop is only as good as the operator using it and you may run into problems if you're running a few versions back).

I did some pro bono design work the other day and created a 4C 8.5x11 tri-fold brochure. I contacted the printer I was told to send it to and asked what specs they wanted (What flavor of PDF/X, ICC profile, etc.). They told me all they needed was the native source docs. I told them I could provide the native docs but I prefer they use the PDF/X I would be supplying. The proof they sent back to me was made from my native doc (I could tell because I used a spot build in my InDesign doc which I specifically converted to process in my PDF. The proof they sent back showed a 5th color. The proof made no sense for a 4C digital job). For me, this is an ideal candidate. I've already spoken to them about testing and they're interested.

As with any preflight tool, I absolutely agree you need to check your output and proof it. There are certain things software simply can't fix or check. Sometimes it's possible if you get consistent jobs from a particular customer and you know what you're getting but most of the time it's a total crapshoot. One job could be a nice PDF from InDesign, the next job could be print shop pro from a self-taught graphic designer.

Thanks again for testing. Feel free to send more files if you're bored. I'll drop you an PM which explains how our software handles RGB gray images. It might be helpful.

Greg

[gnubler]

it's a total crapshoot. Almost no jobs are a nice PDF from InDesign, most jobs are print shop pro from a self-taught graphic desinger.

Fixed. lol

Nice to read that Greg knows about the realities of prepress.

[Greg_Firestone]

it's a total crapshoot. Almost no jobs are a nice PDF from InDesign, most jobs are print shop pro from a self-taught graphic desinger.

Fixed. lol

Nice to read that Greg knows about the realities of prepress.

LOL@ your fix. It's nice to no know I'm no longer Satan reincarnated on here.

With the brochure I previously mentioned, I was asked if I could help out to make sure it would print well. I asked to see the PDF which would be sent to the printer. The self-taught designer printed out his Microsoft Publisher file to his inkjet printer and scanned the output using his scanner software to create the PDF. I almost died. I redesigned the whole thing from scratch.

Greg

[Farabomb]

I'm sorry if you felt that way but I don't think you're satan, you seem to know your shit. You might have hit a sore spot with some of the members but we are all a little cranky around here but the bark is worse then the bite. Hope you stick around here.

[gnubler]

The self-taught designer printed out his Microsoft Publisher file to his inkjet printer and scanned the output using his scanner software to create the PDF.

They are geniuses, aren't they? Prolly learned that in art school.

[rickself]

It could have been worse - they could have sent you the Publisher file!