Which Imposition Software should we buy?

Started by james, February 07, 2011, 07:47:19 AM

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james

Hello.
Basically I need some help.
I want a decent Imposition software for a Mac that can send complicated impositions, output separations and must be able to do colour bars to our Imagesetter
And I would like the SAME piece of software to be able to send files to our Indigo Press as a PS file and this must be able to do variable data.

At the moment we are using Dynagram's INposition extension in Quark 6 and
HP's Yours Truly Designer also an extension in Quark 6.

But we want to upgrade to Quark 8 and I was hoping that 1 piece of stand alone software can do the lot
(A piece of software that doesn't need Quark running to impose jobs)

HP want £1500+ for Yours Truly Designer which is alot

I have being told about
Design Merge
Fusion Pro
Kodak Preps

Any feed back appreciated. Thanks

mattbeals

Use Quite Imposing or Dynagram's Inpo2 and output the seps from Acrobat. You can do color bars with both. But I don't know how well they will handle variable data or how you are handling it. Couldn't an N-up or cut stack imposition accomplish some of what you need? How "complicated" the impositions are is relative. If you mean "complicated" then you might just have to buy Preps or Yours Truly.
Matt Beals

Everything I say is my own personal opinion and has nothing to do with my employer or their views.

james

Thanks for the reply.

Do you know how much Kodak Preps is? I don't want to contact Kodak just yet. I have also downloaded a 30day demo version. I just need to put it on a suitable Mac and have a play with it.

tapdn

If you really need to output postscript files- don't have a PDF workflow, youmight want to look at getting a copy of Preps 5 instead.
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james

Its a few times this Kodak Preps has being mentioned.

I take it its popular and a powerful piece of kit then?

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Quote from: pspdfppdfx on December 06, 2012, 05:03:51 PM
So,  :drunk3: i send the job to the rip with live transparecy (v 1.7 or whatever) and it craps out with a memory error.

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Joe

Quote from: james on February 07, 2011, 09:42:56 AMIts a few times this Kodak Preps has being mentioned.

I take it its popular and a powerful piece of kit then?

Yes, and I believe the price is substantial too. I know when we got it about 5 years ago it was around US $3000 per copy. As tapdn mentioned, Preps 5 might be a better option if you need PS but I'm not sure Kodak will sell you the older version. I've tried Inpo2 from Dynagram as Matt mentioned. It's a great impo tool but it is a plugin for Acrobat as is Quite Imposing so you would need to make PDF's and not use PS. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. For a stand alone app, Kodak Preps and Dynagram Dynastrip are the main two I believe. Both are about equal. Dynastrip might be a little cheaper. Not sure on that.
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DCurry

I'll bet you can pick up a used copy of Preps 5. I'm not really sure how you would efficiently run variable data jobs with it, though.

As someone else asked, what exactly do you mean by "complicated" layouts? FusionPro's Imposer module won't do real complicated layouts. HP's SmartStream (used to be YoursTruly) can do a little more than FusionPro as far as impo goes.

Quark 8? Really? Have fun with that! If you do get SmartStream, know that HP is dedicating more programming resources to developing the plugin for InDesign than future versions of Quark.
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Farabomb

Seriously, run far and fast from quark. This is from a former quark fan, indy has it beat dead to rights.

Preps has be able to do whatever I asked. Some times I had to plead but it always got it done. As stated above Preps 5 will suit you much better than 6 if you are running a non-PDF workflow.

Welcome to the forums BTW. We can be a bit crude but most here know what they are talking about.
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Quote from: Ear on April 06, 2016, 11:54:16 AM
Quote from: Farabomb on April 06, 2016, 11:39:41 AMIt's more like grip, grip, grip, noise, then spin and 2 feet in and feel shame.
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tapdn

I was thinking a "used" version/ dongle for Preps 5 would be much cheaper. A quick search brought up this for $1200.
http://www.colorprintingforum.com/prepress-equipment-for-sale/kodak-preps-plus-5-x-dongle-for-sale-4322.html

usually fried mate - sometimes pickled - often scrambled - never beaten
~ Sir B. Monsteaure
No, he's well within his rights to diss cake. Pie, on the other hand, is waaaayyyy off limits.
~Youston
I'm just a stupid printer WTF do I know
~Farabomb

Farabomb

P.S. if you do choose to go the used route you shouldn't worry about support. Lots of preps users here and we should be able to figure it out for ya, much quicker than Kodak most of the time.
Speed doesn't kill, rapidly becoming stationary is the problem

I'd rather have stories told than be telling stories of what I could have done.

Quote from: Ear on April 06, 2016, 11:54:16 AM
Quote from: Farabomb on April 06, 2016, 11:39:41 AMIt's more like grip, grip, grip, noise, then spin and 2 feet in and feel shame.
I once knew a plus-sized girl and this pretty much describes teh secks. :rotf:
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
         —Benjamin Franklin

My other job

mattbeals

Matt Beals

Everything I say is my own personal opinion and has nothing to do with my employer or their views.

Farabomb

Think that's what I started on. Might be old but Matt knows his stuff. Don't think he would sell you something that wouldn't work for you.
Speed doesn't kill, rapidly becoming stationary is the problem

I'd rather have stories told than be telling stories of what I could have done.

Quote from: Ear on April 06, 2016, 11:54:16 AM
Quote from: Farabomb on April 06, 2016, 11:39:41 AMIt's more like grip, grip, grip, noise, then spin and 2 feet in and feel shame.
I once knew a plus-sized girl and this pretty much describes teh secks. :rotf:
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
         —Benjamin Franklin

My other job

frailer

I have a PREPS 5 dongle and disks, and would go cheaper than that.   :laugh:     Gotta love online Dutch auctions.   :cheesy:

But your variable data requirements may be a fly in the ointment. Sitting that next to your PostScript requirements; looks a little messy.
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mattbeals

Thanks!

Any of the tools will work. The trick will be how do you currently work, can you adapt how you work, how adaptable are the tools. If you can output the black plate only (or not) you could simply fill a sheet with N-up. If you need to keep them in order you can do cut stacks. If you run as a plug-in for Acrobat you have a wealth of tools available for output as PDF or composite plus any additional features you can use from other plug-ins.

There are several ways of handling "variable data" depending on how you work, how adaptable you are and how adaptable the tools are.
Matt Beals

Everything I say is my own personal opinion and has nothing to do with my employer or their views.