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Imposition Software => Dynagram => Topic started by: Grimace on July 30, 2010, 10:52:30 AM

Title: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on July 30, 2010, 10:52:30 AM
So, I'm looking for an impo system and came across impO2.
I didn't realize that the same company made Dynastrip that most seem familiar with.

For my needs, inpO2 should work fine, we don't do a lot of jobs a day, or very complicated ones either.
We have basically a dozen or so "standard" layouts. Has anyone used inpO2? I downloaded the demo, and while I was pretty confused at first, I got a handle on it and was able to run through a Wizard setup and get the results I wanted. I've been at a whole 4 hours :wink:, but can't seem to figure out how to save a layout for use with the Wizard presets. Any Ideas?

I like this impo for it's price ($850 for basic) and visual proof ability. I checked out some of the other Acrobat plugins like Quite Imposing (ridiculous/worthless website BTW) and didn't care for that type of interface.

Or  would I be better off with Dynastrip?
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Joe on July 30, 2010, 10:55:53 AM
Quote from: Grimace on July 30, 2010, 10:52:30 AMSo, I'm looking for an impo system and came across impO2.
I didn't realize that the same company made Dynastrip that most seem familiar with.

For my needs, inpO2 should work fine, we don't do a lot of jobs a day, or very complicated ones either.
We have basically a dozen or so "standard" layouts. Has anyone used inpO2? I downloaded the demo, and while I was pretty confused at first, I got a handle on it and was able to run through a Wizard setup and get the results I wanted. I've been at a whole 4 hours :wink:, but can't seem to figure out how to save a layout for use with the Wizard presets. Any Ideas?

I like this impo for it's price ($850 for basic) and visual proof ability. I checked out some of the other Acrobat plugins like Quite Imposing (ridiculous/worthless website BTW) and didn't care for that type of interface.

Or  would I be better off with Dynastrip?

I demo'd it and liked it a lot. Can't answer that specific question as it's been awhile.

If you don't mind doing all of your imposing within Acrobat Inp02 is a great choice.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on July 30, 2010, 12:25:08 PM
I do imposing now in Acrobat with PDF Snake. Some of the smaller sheet sizes will impose on the imagesetter RIP, but that imposition sucks.
InpO2 would be a big step up for me. It would be nice to have something that was able to share layout profiles between workstations though.
I don't want to have to create everything twice; for each machine license.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: frailer on July 30, 2010, 03:27:56 PM
It would depend on how much off-beat/serious imposing you do. Am not sure what imPO2's features extend to, beyond basic booklet and flat work. Hopefully someone who actually uses it will show up.
We had Dynastrip, but no longer use it. It was out of date, and incompatible with APPE rendering. Their latest is OK, am sure, but you will pay big bikkies. But aren't you looking at XMF? Providing you get the in-built impo, you will not need anything else, period/full-stop.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: mattbeals on July 30, 2010, 04:24:53 PM
Why not Quite Imposing Plus?
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: frailer on July 31, 2010, 04:48:50 AM
Quote from: mattbeals on July 30, 2010, 04:24:53 PMWhy not Quite Imposing Plus?
Good idea. I hear positive things about it. There may be a trial version you can run. Don't be put off by their website. It's a bit whacky/basic, but they are a great bunch; very responsive with support. Am guessing it would be cheaper than the Dynagram product, but you can check that out.

Sorry, just had a vision of the day at Quite Software. 0600 hrs: Matins. 0630: Porridge...more prayers. 0830: commence code cutting. 1200: Pause for porridge, plus whatever 1st Class protein is in the larder from yesterday. Prep haggis for supper. 1400 hrs: Cut more code.... etc...you get my drift. Somewhat fanciful.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on July 31, 2010, 11:02:52 AM
Quote from: mattbeals on July 30, 2010, 04:24:53 PMWhy not Quite Imposing Plus?

You know, I originally thought it (Quite impo) was too expensive, I could swear that the last time I checked their goofy site the price was a thousand pounds.
I just looked, and it is half that, weird.
I haven't looked into quite imposing plus, but had downloaded the base version, seemed like I had to still do a lot of my own calculating and the impositions were specific to number of pages. Meaning I couldn't apply the same layout to different sheet sizes or page counts. I can use Illustrator if I want to do that. I can give it another trial, but really the site puts me off "quite" a bit. Nice to hear that they have good support, because the documentation that was included was pretty poor.


Frailer I was hip on XMF. The owners not at all. Too expensive.
I will try to convince them once again, but I'm pretty sure the cost of XMF kept him from allowing the purchase of the Platesetter. ( not knowing that the two are separate) - Partially my fault, I tried to sell him XMF as being necessary to run a new platesetter so as to get as much as I could.
I will have to come back with two separate price points with imposition and platesetter vs XMF. It's a stupid dance.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: frailer on July 31, 2010, 06:51:32 PM
Not sure what you would be sending to a platesetter in the absence of XMF. Your old postscript RIP? I know from experience it's hard to paint the productivity picture of setter/APPE RIP (with bundled impo). All I know is, in our shop, we have gone from 2 to 1 op (me, jack-of-all), just by bringing it in. Our part-time casual is pretty much sickness/holiday insurance. Joe and others, on different systems, will testify to this scenario. It's getting it to sink in to management, is the problem.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on August 02, 2010, 06:59:20 AM
That is the kind of scenario I would be getting too. The gal the works with me is half out the door mentally, she has been wanting to retire since before I started.
She has tons of vacation time every year and just took a month off for foot surgery, which slowed her down a bit. As much as my pride says I can handle the load myself, having two people is necessary.
But........having a platesetter would go a long way to alleviate the load.


AS far as impO2, the system is APPE impostition. It works as a plug in for Acrobat.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: frailer on August 02, 2010, 01:54:38 PM
That sounds like fun.   :sarcasm:  By APPE imposition, I mean more integrated with a workflow, like XMF's, or PREPS' integration with Prinergy, (however they do it).
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on August 02, 2010, 04:32:46 PM
well, I've been going through the trial version of inpO2, and my head hurts.

Not very intuitive, no real idea of how to approach a "from scratch" job.
So I went to the Quite Imposing site, to read their manual and get a better idea of the Quite Imposing plus. Sorry fellas, no way I can recommend that my boss spend $900 on imposition software that has such a silly website.
Maybe it's me, but when i want to see a price to show my supervisor, I shouldn't have to go through 8 different screens to finally reach a currency converter, which was the only thing that indicated any kind of price. I figured their website was going to a preview of the software, and I was right.
No way I'm gonna try that goofy product.

As a side note, PDF Snake was only $250 and does everything that Quite Plus does. The only (big) drawback is that it is PC only.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: frailer on August 02, 2010, 04:35:14 PM
Och laddie! I think ya bein' a bit picky.   :laugh:      But I'll say a wee prayer for ye...   :grin:
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Joe on August 02, 2010, 07:43:56 PM
Quote from: Grimace on August 02, 2010, 04:32:46 PMwell, I've been going through the trial version of inpO2, and my head hurts.

Not very intuitive, no real idea of how to approach a "from scratch" job.
So I went to the Quite Imposing site, to read their manual and get a better idea of the Quite Imposing plus. Sorry fellas, no way I can recommend that my boss spend $900 on imposition software that has such a silly website.
Maybe it's me, but when i want to see a price to show my supervisor, I shouldn't have to go through 8 different screens to finally reach a currency converter, which was the only thing that indicated any kind of price. I figured their website was going to a preview of the software, and I was right.
No way I'm gonna try that goofy product.

As a side note, PDF Snake was only $250 and does everything that Quite Plus does. The only (big) drawback is that it is PC only.

They've got some pretty decent videos on the inp02 web site and if you contact them I am sure they would be happy to do a webinar. I can put the man in charge in touch with you if you would like. I did a webinar with him. Very informative and the guy knows his stuff.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: mattbeals on August 02, 2010, 07:49:40 PM
Maybe the Quite Software website is a bit simplistic but the software is incredibly powerful. There's not a lot that you can't do with it. Guys at Kodak sell Quite Imposing, and they own Preps. You're doing yourself a real disservice if you dismiss Quite Imposing based on the website. Spend more money for a flashy website if you want.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: frailer on August 02, 2010, 09:24:32 PM
Quote from: mattbeals on August 02, 2010, 07:49:40 PMMaybe the Quite Software website is a bit simplistic but the software is incredibly powerful. There's not a lot that you can't do with it. Guys at Kodak sell Quite Imposing, and they own Preps. You're doing yourself a real disservice if you dismiss Quite Imposing based on the website. Spend more money for a flashy website if you want.

Amen, Brother Matt.      :cheesy:

...they are Scots, after all.  Squeezing a lot out of 'frugal' code.     :laugh:
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on August 03, 2010, 08:39:53 AM
Quote from: mattbeals on August 02, 2010, 07:49:40 PMMaybe the Quite Software website is a bit simplistic but the software is incredibly powerful. There's not a lot that you can't do with it. Guys at Kodak sell Quite Imposing, and they own Preps. You're doing yourself a real disservice if you dismiss Quite Imposing based on the website. Spend more money for a flashy website if you want.

Well, the reason I went to the site was to give it a second chance, I downloaded the manual and spent about an hour reading through the features.
I had previously tried the free trial of Quite (not plus) and found it very, very similar to what I was already using.

I'll concede my prejudice of the website, I can forgive a cheesy joke or two, but the heart of the website should be easily navigable. Theirs is not.
So, if they can't write the code for a simple site, especially these days with all the tools available, how are their software writing skills? How intuitive will that software be?

By the way, the cost of inpO2 is the same as Quite Plus. I'm not championing inpO2 over anything, but it doesn't seem their website incurs a surcharge.
Although I guess the site isn't all that flashy.



Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: mattbeals on August 03, 2010, 09:59:08 AM
It's arguably the most user friendly imposition tool. There's a reason the software sells as much and as widely as it does; it's effective and efficient. There are over 60,000 seats deployed around the world. Hard to say that it doesn't work well or is "hoaky" when it is the most widely used imposition tool around. Their code is as solid as any other, if not more so. They don't come out with patches constantly because they do it right the first time. Can't say that about most developers in any field. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. It's up to you if you want to overlook the usefulness of the tool in favor of something "shiny and sparkly". If Inpo2 is in the same price range then you should give both a fair chance.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on August 03, 2010, 11:14:22 AM
Quote from: mattbeals on August 03, 2010, 09:59:08 AMIt's arguably the most user friendly imposition tool. There's a reason the software sells as much and as widely as it does; it's effective and efficient. There are over 60,000 seats deployed around the world. Hard to say that it doesn't work well or is "hoaky" when it is the most widely used imposition tool around. Their code is as solid as any other, if not more so. They don't come out with patches constantly because they do it right the first time. Can't say that about most developers in any field. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. It's up to you if you want to overlook the usefulness of the tool in favor of something "shiny and sparkly". If Inpo2 is in the same price range then you should give both a fair chance.

And there is millions more Chevys than BMW's. Guess what I'd rather drive.
More isn't better, just to be clear.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: mattbeals on August 03, 2010, 11:36:51 AM
More may be better. You'd have to try it to find out. A higher price doesn't mean it's a better produt. You're money though. It's just awfully narrow minded that's all.
Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: Grimace on August 03, 2010, 01:55:14 PM
Quote from: mattbeals on August 03, 2010, 11:36:51 AMMore may be better. You'd have to try it to find out. A higher price doesn't mean it's a better produt. You're money though. It's just awfully narrow minded that's all.

My analogy may have been a bad one.
As far as impo systems, the two I've mentioned are the same price.
If I choose in this range inpO2 is the better of the two. It is a bit frustrating to learn, but I can see already that it can do some things Quite won't.
One thing that stands out is having to tell Quite how to shuffle and rotate pages for pagination by typing in the string of page numbers in the order I need them, where as inpO2 has presets for most common folding/signatures and automatically places the pages in the correct place and position. I can also modify those setting anyway I need (although, this is where I'm getting a bit stuck) and can apply those settings to other jobs regardless of page count.

Quite has instructions telling me to make folding dummies to find my page order?!? I thought that was an imposition programs job.
But, then again, I'm awfully narrow minded.



Title: Re: inpO2 vs Dynastrip
Post by: mattbeals on August 03, 2010, 02:03:00 PM
No, now you're not being narrow minded. Now you are pointing out a practical difference that is impacting your user experience. You can rotate pages and shuffle in Quite, it's just not the same as impo2. The way Quite does it apparently is not the way you prefer to work. Which is just fine. But now we are working with real information.

If you want to see if there is an easier way to use Quite to do what you want I suggest you email Charles James at Quite Software (sales@quite.com) and he will help you. Give it a shot, you might be surprised. Maybe you won't. But at least you will be making a decision from a position of product knowledge.

I may be as mad as a hatter, but there is a method to my madness.