Die/cutter PDF

frailer · October 09, 2011, 11:29:37 PM

Joe's EAL takes, roughly, 3.7847 seconds. And leaves trims in.

mattbeals · October 10, 2011, 12:09:41 AM

Mine takes a second or two too and makes the stroke overprint in addition to being on a new layer.

frailer · October 10, 2011, 12:49:37 AM

Cheers Matt. At home right now, but testing tomorrow. Looks like a Big Iron on each hip. :cool:

Have hardly investigated layers in PDFs; how to check, see them, use them etc...

Joe · October 10, 2011, 08:26:07 AM

Quote from: frailer on October 09, 2011, 11:29:37 PM

Joe's EAL takes, roughly, 3.7847 seconds. And leaves trims in.

I wasn't sure about the trims. The file I tested it with didn't have any trim marks.

The action list I posted works in Pitstop 7 through 10. I tried Matts on 7 but it tells me it was created with a more recent version and can't run so it appears you need Pitstop 10 to run it. I will take a look at it from work when I get back there.

David · October 10, 2011, 08:31:16 AM

Quote from: mattbeals on October 10, 2011, 12:09:41 AMMine takes a second or two too and makes the stroke overprint in addition to being on a new layer.

Works like a champ In Acro x with PSP X u2.
Didn't notice the "assign to layer" in the list when I was trying it the other day.
Thanks Matt!

t-pat · October 10, 2011, 10:17:27 AM

Quote from: mattbeals on October 10, 2011, 12:09:41 AMMine takes a second or two too and makes the stroke overprint in addition to being on a new layer.

unnecessary with Prinergy, if you have the color name set up to set the opacity as "Dieline" but won't hurt.

frailer · October 10, 2011, 04:17:51 PM

We need to huddle on Layers in PDFs, and what you can and can't do in PitStop.

mattbeals · October 10, 2011, 09:58:40 PM

Not a lot. More so in callas pdfToolbox. But both can do it.

jack · October 11, 2011, 01:34:59 AM

Quote from: t-pat on October 10, 2011, 10:17:27 AM
Quote from: mattbeals on October 10, 2011, 12:09:41 AMMine takes a second or two too and makes the stroke overprint in addition to being on a new layer.

unnecessary with Prinergy, if you have the color name set up to set the opacity as "Dieline" but won't hurt.

We create our dieline pdf's through Prinergy, but it always leaves a heap of hidden residual info, that bulks up the file, & when opened on a pc, you can see the residual art. So we have to still open them in Illy, select dieline, copy to a new layer, and delete the original layer :sad:

mattbeals · October 11, 2011, 02:10:38 AM

Well, Joe's action will work then. Or, depending on how things are set up you can use my action and turn off the base layer. Then hopefully the RIP is smart enough to ignore hidden layers. Same thing with the dieline, turn it off and RIP away. Just don't open in Illustrator. It's a clusterfuck...

Farabomb · October 11, 2011, 08:26:29 AM

Hell, I'm just happy when I get a file with a die and it's actually a spot color.

t-pat · October 11, 2011, 08:41:31 AM

Quote from: jack on October 11, 2011, 01:34:59 AM
Quote from: t-pat on October 10, 2011, 10:17:27 AM
Quote from: mattbeals on October 10, 2011, 12:09:41 AMMine takes a second or two too and makes the stroke overprint in addition to being on a new layer.

unnecessary with Prinergy, if you have the color name set up to set the opacity as "Dieline" but won't hurt.

We create our dieline pdf's through Prinergy, but it always leaves a heap of hidden residual info, that bulks up the file, & when opened on a pc, you can see the residual art. So we have to still open them in Illy, select dieline, copy to a new layer, and delete the original layer :sad:

I don't create it through prinergy, I have the color "Die" in the color library, set as opacity "Dieline" - very much a different animal.

Not to oversimplify things but what's so wrong with extracting (and potentially cleaning up) the die using Illustrator? Been doing it this way for years, trouble free. Nice to be able to make EALs and all this stuff but really, when the rubber hits the road I want the die as a separate element, especially if I don't have native artwork.

Again, I just rip the die out and save it as an Illustrator file, placed on a top layer in an indesign file with whatever crap the client supplied underneath it, as untouched as possible. Selecting and coloring their supplied die in their original supplied pdf to no stroke or fill with pitstop after placing my die on top of it and lining stuff up. Then give the converter the clean, separate dieline in whatever format they want. Also infinitely handy when said client says they want to print something else with that dieline.

mattbeals · October 11, 2011, 09:30:52 AM

Sounds like a lot of extra work for something that is relatively straight forward. Especially when you can have the art and dieline in one PDF where you can turn on and off the layers in InDesign/Acrobat be sure that the art and die are always aligned. But hey, it's your time not mine.

Farabomb · October 11, 2011, 09:53:07 AM

Wish I could do that but a lot of my die guys either don't have the proper software or are just clueless.

David · October 11, 2011, 10:03:45 AM

I've got die people here that have no software other than an old version of Adobe Reader. They are a pain to deal with.

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Die/cutter PDF