Not sure this is possible using SmartStream, but one of our internal "geniuses" has promised a set of 1000 calendars to be produced where say Company A gets 12 calendars, and for every piece, the month's main pic is randomly assigned from a pool of images supplied. So all 12 calendars may use the same images, just placed differently within each month's spread.

And of course, the back page will need the 12 thumbnails to match that same random order. My head hurts.
I did a few Data Sets, here are the first 2, but when I output the 2nd data set, it doesn't follow the Rules (screenshot) and only uses the first "ImageName" pic - for ALL the image placeholders.

Placeholder	ImageName
Image1	TestImage1.jpg
Image2	TestImage2.jpg
Image3	TestImage3.jpg
Image4	TestImage4.jpg
Image5	TestImage5.jpg
Image6	TestImage6.jpg
Image7	TestImage7.jpg
Image8	TestImage8.jpg
Image9	TestImage9.jpg
Image10	TestImage10.jpg
Image11	TestImage11.jpg
Image12	TestImage12.jpg

  

Placeholder	ImageName
Image1	TestImage2.jpg
Image2	TestImage5.jpg
Image3	TestImage7.jpg
Image4	TestImage9.jpg
Image5	TestImage6.jpg
Image6	TestImage11.jpg
Image7	TestImage10.jpg
Image8	TestImage8.jpg
Image9	TestImage12.jpg
Image10	TestImage3.jpg
Image11	TestImage1.jpg
Image12	TestImage4.jpg

Saw today on a basic job, that the 100% black in a vector logo was printing light, but the 100% text in the address ran as expected. I did see in one of the Job Options that there are Settings for both Text & Art to print "Black as Black" and also to convert to various rich builds. Ours are set to the default.

Also odd, using the eyedropper in the iQueue software, when a black measures 100% black on screen, it's being 4c built on the output. I fully accept the software is crap, but is it really THIS bad??

New "feature" plaguing me - whenever I open the Output Preview my PDF will zoom in like 800% regardless of whether I've turned a color on/off. Doesn't seem to matter if I have a Pitstop tool selected or not, and it's happening with every PDF also.

Acrobat 2023.001.20177
Processor is the M1, on Ventura 13.4.1

Screengrab: https://imgur.com/a/Mqhij38

Anybody in the greater Kentucky area have a good tech for Epsons? One of our "partner" shops asked who we use, I've got a guy locally, but I don't think he'll travel that far.

Strange one, trying to Soft proof a PDF out and client is complaining of an "odd item" above a letter in the Proof. Can't see it in Acrobat but it definitely shows in Preview or Spacebar-Quicklook in the Finder OS. (I know, I know - neither one is the right way to check a PDF, but I can see what they mean at least. I assume they're viewing on mobile.)

Attaching the Preview & the wireframe from Pitstop to show there's NOTHING there. I ran an Epson to assure them it's not going to print, just not sure wtf it is in the first place! Leftover "ghost" object from Illustrator maybe?

Our XMF Server is 6+ years old, and the OS of course is also that old. Wondering for the sake of security (mostly our IT folks pushing that line) and stability/longevity has anybody put together a new RIP?

I suppose I should reach out to XMF Support, now that we're legit again, and get specs for what we'd need. When we bought it, of course they supplied the hardware but there's no reason I can think of why I couldn't order a pre-built machine & reinstall the RIP ourselves.

Not really a cry for help but this is amusing.

We're finally updating our Switch Server to the latest release, with the help of a consulting company & also rebuilding the Flows to generally make it useful if all goes well. So we backed up everything & did the updates on Thursday. Friday I come in to a warning from the Outlook Admin:

"User SWITCH_NOTIFICATIONS@YOURSITE.COM has sent messages to 10000 recipients in the last 24 hours"



Note sure what it did, I assume maybe some logfiles that should've been getting cleared, weren't, and after the update it grabbed ALL of those old jobs & tried to re-process them. At least that email only goes out to me, and I don't believe it blacklisted the rest of our email service like would have happened if it was sending them to external email recipients. Good times.

Our Color Calibration guy left me a VM a few weeks back saying that we'd likely start getting ink carts without the dreaded Chip & we need to update our Firmware. Has anybody heard of/seen these yet?

I assume that the proofer will still see the other carts we already have on-hand with the chip, but I'm hesitant to flash the thing just yet.

Haven't seen this one before, a co-worker's version of SmartStream (loaded through inDesign 2022) just isn't imposing all of a sudden. We did a batch of BCs, set it to Fill Sheet and it literally did ONE card Top Left & facing Top Right as a Duplex.

Same thing with a basic 48pg saddle-stitch on a tabloid sheet. Even using their pre-loaded template it only placed a single page on each spread.

Un-installed using their app, re-installed and same results. I didn't want to remove InDesign completely, but I also don't think there are any other Preferences hidden anywhere besides the Plug-in Folder. We've got a call in to HP Support, just though in the mean time I'd throw it against the wall here too.

Somebody mentioned (yet another) online design tool coming down the pike from our favorite M$ so I went ahead and applied for the Wait List. Better to know how clients are going to potentially ruin our days now than to wait, right? 

Before I wade into the sheer disaster of their Support, anybody use Extensis Connect latest version, and have it corrupt your font vault? At least, that's what the FMCore Error I'm getting implies. I've tried doing what their FAQ suggests, removed it from my ~Local Library but the App isn't rebuilding the Vault.

I also tried copying it from another good user's Mac here, still get the FMCore Error. So I can't load ANY fonts unless I go back to the old way, and we have too many people sync'd in Extensis to make that reliable.

Of course, client needs banners TODAY and all they gave us was this low-res image of MLK. This is an iconic shot, but can't find anything that will scale up well (to about 8ft) without all of the background clippings.

Is there a repository for shot like this?

New territory for me, we just had a Summa F1612 Flatbed Cutter delivered and for some reason they don't include the PC/Workstation to run it. The "entry" specs are abysmally low, so the sales dude just said "as powerful as you can afford" which really doesn't help either.

I'm tempted to get a slightly beefed up off-the-shelf HP or something, 32GB of RAM, a couple TB drives and a decent mid-range processor. Don't need a dedicated GPU, as it's really not doing any rendering or heavy graphics lifting, right? I know it will use Onyx, but not sure what other software is involved or how intensive those files will be. Am I missing the mark on any of this?

Any other time, I'd tackle this but I'm short my only other co-worker & I've got a New Hire starting Monday who I'll be training full time. Soooooo....

I got sent a crappy raster image for a pretty basic corrugated box. The dieline has to go to a local vendor to make 'em, and I just don't have the time/patience to recreate the thing. Anybody wanna take a stab? I can send the image provided, at least it has measurements all of the measurement & pics of the sample I received as well.

Open to estimates~
Take pity on me!!!! 

Not sure what I'm after honestly, but I'm on track to move into a position handling how our MIS interacts with Enfocus Switch & also our current Web-2-Print interface. Since I'll be bouncing around a lot between the softwares & dealing with external vendors & consultants, I gotta find something to keep track of all the moving parts.

I used Basecamp years ago, it was cumbersome at best, dunno if it's gotten any better. Anybody use something currently?

I noticed a "new" cutter on the floor this week, a Perfecta 92, and the operator says "Yeah, I'm told you computer guys are going to send the cutting info to it so we don't have to even think any more!"



Briefly looked at the machine, can't even find a network connection & I recall from previous places that the cutter needs an actual PC attached to it, correct? Also, is there an add'l module for XMF (and HP since the digital work is all Indigo) to supply the JDF info?

I believe there's a Perfecta tech coming in this week to train the Ops, I'll see what they know about the software side but I'm skeptical since it's usually a whole different person handling that side.

Splitting off from the original thread since it appears the divorce is final.

So, in addition to trying to guide clients - what are we supposed to buy?
I mean, will the Free plugin do what we need for every day operations, or do we have to move to the Individual/Business (Teams) that looks like $89 PER User which is insane.

This is odd, I can't see any marks (Crops, Color bars, Slugs etc.) when I'm editing a template. Even in the Preview Pane while the job is open, can't see any of those marks.
Once the file is done, I can View Plates so it's not a server issue.
Trash local Prefs? Where the heck ARE they??

Looks like a printhead in our P7000 has gone up, so they're talking about just replacing it with a P6000 model. Any real differences?

The other one's at least 6 years old, I suppose it's time to let her go & I've heard a single printhead can be $2000+ anyway.

Seems that all of my InDesign Scripts that rely on importing/exporting files are failing.

Example 1: The Multipage Importer won't see any PDFs in nested Folder within Downloads/Documents - they're just greyed out. But it will access a PDF that's just sitting inside the Downloads or Documents Folder.

Example 2: The batch_convert Script fails completely, no matter where I direct the output. Returns an error "Cannot find the Folder "/Volumes/Users/name/Documents/And so On/"