I am talking about the one ups & imposed files. We have had to create hot folders within Trueflow which we drop our stepped up PDFs in to get ripped. Trueflow dont seem to like artpro at all so this is how we have gotten it to work so far. The shit thing is that we have had to setup different hot folders for different plate sizes and even more for when we need film played out, so we are ending up with quite a few hot folders. We have even had to forgo the powerlock feature (which our bossman was not happy about) as Trueflow would not accept the custom screening coming from artpro. At the end of the day we have got it working in a way that suits us with the software we have.

There are a few more things that I know there must be an easier way of doing that we are trying to figure out, ie. the adding of custom marks to the imposed sheet/plate... G_town - you have already been more of a help in getting us stepping within artpro than the trainer from belgium so I will give you a break for now before you tell me to F#$% off for good... I feel bad now... so dont you have any artpro questions?

If I understand this correctly.. When you do a straight extract into a new document it is creating a new document and sort of copying and pasting the pages into a new document which is created in the version of acrobat (so as yours is changing the version to PDF 1.6 you are probably using Acrobat 7).

When you delete all other pages (even through the extract command) and save it will leave the PDF version as is because it is not creating a new document.

Sorry for the late reply... work has been hectic.

I think we have our problem sorted. If we do a Save as then close the file and then reopen the file it works and we cant get it to recreate the problem we were having.

Basically we are linking our cad data to our 1 up Artpro files. We would then Export a PDF out of Artpro as apposed to printing. Do you think this was causing problems? According to our trainer from belgium exporting is the way to go, so it will be interesting to hear if this is the way other people are creating PDFs out of Artpro.

Nested cad data linked to artpro file. We can do 10 exports in a row without changing any of the export settings and of those 10 stepped up PDFs three were missing the varnish, die drawing and even parts of the artwork (in no particular order). The weird thing is that the PDF had the spot colour listed under the separations when viewed in acrobat. It seems to be a random thing that happens to 1 out of 20 jobs that we step through artpro/powestepper.

I guess we lucky that what it decides to leave off is seriously noticeable, will be more concerned once it starts leaving out smaller things though.

Does anybody know if this is a new feature in Version.9? Never worked on any earlier versions so am wondering if they are as good at making PDFs as V.9.

Incase youre interested.. you can download ArtPrinter off the esko website http://www.esko.com/web/site.aspx?p=138 which comes with the ViewX window....

You have to give customers tours... that kinda sucks.. The general name would be 'dot proofing systems' (in South Africa anyways).

Ver. 9 - I believe the viewX window was added in this version. Gives quick access to total ink coverage, plate views, separations, registration errors and some other things I hope ill never need to use.

I have just discovered the most awesome 'hidden' feature in Artpro... guess it will only work with artpro beginners though...

On the viewX/registration error window change the registration error to a small amount, close window and wait for unsuspecting operator to come along  :evil:

  Yea! We have just printed out our first stepped up inkjet for checking and it is looking good so far (though had to make a plan with the colour bars by drawing little boxes, still have to get my head around the adding of marks etc.)..  Again a huge thank you!

Thanks G_Town and beck for the help so far! Can I bug you guys some more?

Below are some sizes to use as an example.
Plate size: 730 x 600
Paper size : 600 x 300
Trim size of cad data: 550 x 200

Now would the media box in the nested artpro file be set to the plate size, the crop box set to the paper size, the trim box set to the size of the stepped cad data and the bleed box set to the size of the stepped cad data + 4mm bleed.

Have I got this all totally confused?

QuoteWhen we ave old layouts, out Structure guys re-save them as a CF2 file from their Artios

well that just sucks :sad:

we have about 5000 dies to go through to save as .cf2 files and no artios... so beck, where do you want me to email the files to so that your structure guys can do this for us  :laugh: :rolleyes:

Not sure of the cost, but we recently had to replace the clamps on our screen platesetter. The error message had come up a few months prior to the clamps actually failing at which point they were replaced... so you should at least get a month or two use out of the clamps if the error message has only come up now.

Cheers! We've seen how easy it is with artpro & power stepper, especially after having to work with flatworker... The problem we are having (at the moment anyway) is with our old cad data, which are .DXF and .ai files. Our die maker can batch convert .DXF to .cf2, but they do not work as they are missing external sub-routines.

So the question is how do we go about converting illustrator files into .cf2 files that work?

Yep, for a .cff2 cad file to work it needs to have external sub-root routines within the code controlling the step & repeat, which means that there is only a 1up die drawing within the code and instructions on how it is stepped. With other cad formats (and possibly .cff2) the cad data is all stepped up already within the code, and so without the S&R info powerstepper wont read it. The plugins you get for Illy cant do the external sub-routine thingees and so are mostly useless for us.

G_Town, another question for you.. Can you use ARD cad files to step artwork to? If not, whats the point of them? Also, do you have an address I can send one of our current cad files to?

When we do get everything working we are planning on placing artpro files into powerstepper, though we are still trying to work our workflow out so this could change to PDF. Any suggestions?

Thanks again for the advice! You are the Induna!

Thanks for the quick reply! We did have a trainer here from Belgium for a week, though we still had to keep production going so the training was under constant interruption and so did not get through everything as thoroughly as needed. So now between all of us that got the training we can produce a print ready file with all the trapping etc. done and would also be able to step it to a .cf2 cad file. But thats where the problem is.

The place I work for has been around for about a thousand years and has built up a collection of thousands of die's, most of which are hand drawn ones which when needed get sent out to get drawn and sent back to us as .ai files which we would export as .DXF for flatworker. Our die makers probably get this accurate enough to use about 40% of the time, so work is usually needed on the stepped up .ai files they send through. They can send .cf2 files but chances are it would be wrong if coming straight from our die makers.

Ideally we would have the cad data in Illustrator and be able to take that over into artpro. From what ive seen so far it looks as though we would need to get a plug-in for Illustrator to export .cf2 files (the bossman has just spent close on a million rand getting in the new macs and software so dont think he would be too happy if we need to buy more software :angry:). Any ideas on how to do this?

I have had a quick look at how you explained setting the grip, adding colour bars etc. and it is starting to make more sense how it works, still f&^*ing confusing but finally feels like we getting somewhere... just wish everyone would leave me alone so I can spend some time figuring this out...