Do you prepare your PDF/X file first or you just let XMF do its thing without any intermediary PDF/X finished conversion?

I do not use PDF/X in XMF. Just a modified Press Quality PDF and let XMF take care of it.

Quote from: Ear on February 09, 2015, 01:46:13 PMI do not use PDF/X in XMF. Just a modified Press Quality PDF and let XMF take care of it.

Didn't you ever had a transparency problems with XMF? Almost a year now with XMF, but I am still not comfortable with the PDF engine, thus I am still in PDF/X.

I did in the early 3.x versions but have not had a single transparency problem since upgrading past v4.

That said, I do have a fairly robust Enfocus Preflight. I leave transparency in-tact until the final render. (This is for industry standard PDFs, out of InDesign... I do flatten shit PDFs that come out of things like Publisher and other kinder-programs.)

I use the X4 pdfs

Quote from: Lyzan on February 09, 2015, 01:57:18 PM

Quote from: Ear on February 09, 2015, 01:46:13 PMI do not use PDF/X in XMF. Just a modified Press Quality PDF and let XMF take care of it.

Didn't you ever had a transparency problems with XMF? Almost a year now with XMF, but I am still not comfortable with the PDF engine, thus I am still in PDF/X.

PDF/X-1 flattens. PDF/X-4 does not flatten. In this day and age almost everyone with a modern workflow should be using PDF/X-4.

I have a modern workflow but I'm a savage in a modern age... I don't flatten but I have no standard either.

Earlier I tried to use the Finished PDF/X in XMF. My intention is to create a level 2 PDF/X finished to ensure printing reliability. Unfortunately, XMF is not able to create the intended Finished PDF/X level 2. 

I have no choice but to disable Finished PDF/X level 2 and Enfocus prefighting, but put 2 Enfocus actions -outline fonts and convert spot to CMYK. XMF rendered the job perfectly. I guess I can trust now the PDF engine. :-)

I've extremely rare issues with the PDF engine. Most of them stemmed from designers not setting up the file correct (one instance was one page portrait, one landscape and rotating it screwed up transparency) but 99% of the files haven't been an issue.

Maybe the question should be a little more detailed?

There are multiple versions of the PDF/X family.

PDF/X-1a
PDF/X-3
PDF/X -4
PDF/X-5

Which one do you mean?

Quote from: abc on February 11, 2015, 12:53:46 PMMaybe the question should be a little more detailed?

There are multiple versions of the PDF/X family.

PDF/X-1a
PDF/X-3
PDF/X -4
PDF/X-5

Which one do you mean?

All of the above. :-)

Just let the XMF do its job - of course this means setting up appropriate parameters but not any settings related to creating PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-4 and preflighting.

//Lyzan

A modern workflow like XMF should have no problem with an X-4 PDF. There is really no reason to use the X-1 PDF unless you are sending it through some RIP like a Fiery that still doesn't handle transparency well. Of course if your customers are using something like Publisher, Word, or some other oddball program where X-4 isn't possible you should still be able to get a useable PDF through it though it may require some Pitstop magic before sending it into XMF. Plus you can use Pitstop Preflight and actions in your XMF preflight so it may not even be necessary to open them in Acrobat before sending into XMF.

How does XMF check PDF/X-4? I wonder why there is no PDF/X-4 check in Preflight and Action list job settings but there are checks for PDF/x-1a and PDF/X-3. Is there a need to import a PDF/X-4 checks?

Quote from: Lyzan on February 16, 2015, 11:23:25 PM

Quote from: abc on February 11, 2015, 12:53:46 PMMaybe the question should be a little more detailed?

There are multiple versions of the PDF/X family.

PDF/X-1a
PDF/X-3
PDF/X -4
PDF/X-5

Which one do you mean?

All of the above. :-)

Just let the XMF do its job - of course this means setting up appropriate parameters but not any settings related to creating PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-4 and preflighting.

//Lyzan

Actually this is not really true. The PDF/X specs are different in many ways.
OCG's (layers), Color Management, Transparency etc.
If you want to work with a standard you should know what standard. (btw no known application can create a PDF/X-5 yet!)

Quote from: Lyzan on February 17, 2015, 01:21:25 AMHow does XMF check PDF/X-4? I wonder why there is no PDF/X-4 check in Preflight and Action list job settings but there are checks for PDF/x-1a and PDF/X-3. Is there a need to import a PDF/X-4 checks?

Here is some info about PDF Standards

If you use Pitstop preflights in XMF and have the latest version of Pitstop you should have an X-4 preflight available.