New software under $5,000 to change your graphic communications business

Print Action, Jan 2005

Creo Preps Plus

With version 5.0 currently available, Creo plans to release Version 5.1 in February 2005 and at that time the company expects to have installed more than 25,000 copies of the Preps digital imposition software, worldwide. Preps is the cornerstone of Creo's prepress workflow offering, and it is used with solutions like Brisque, Prinergy, Apogee, and Rampage. The application supports both Mac OS X and the latest Windows operating systems, and is compatible with Adobe Acrobat 6 and QuarkXPress 6.5. Preps Plus, priced at $4905, is tailored to meet the needs of the commercial offset printers and supports standard features like SmartMarks, Mark Groups and Press Marks. SmartMarks are marks (e.g. colour bars, crop marks, fold marks) that dynamically reposition and resize themselves according to user-defined rules. Collections of SmartMarks can be saved in a mark group, allowing an operator to place entire sets of intelligent SmartMarks on a press sheet with a single action. Creo's Preps XL configuration, priced at $3,680, is designed for on-demand printers using Xerox workflows and devices. It supports standard Supports Preps features, but also processes Xerox RDO PDF, which supports DocuTech tickets and Signature Booklet Maker. Preps XL is said to also enable simple positioning of tabs and slip sheets and supports cut-and-stack work.

XMPie uDirect $3,067

XMPie has recently launched a new variable-data-printing application, called uDirect software, which integrates into Adobe InDesign CS so that a user can venture into personalization production without having to learn any new software. A 60-day free trial of the software can be downloaded from the Adobe VDP Resource Center (www.adobe.com/vdp). uDirect is said to be the first standalone desktop solution for Mac or PC that is completely integrated into InDesign as a plug-in and is fully compatible with XMPie's PersonalEffect system. By connecting with PersonalEffect, the application allows for functionality like cross-media communications, multiple database connections, web2print deployment and high-volume printing. The application also features automatic definition of business rules, extraction of field headers from data source and population of "content objects," as well as point-and-click functionality to link elements with variable data. A designer-friendly "rule editor" is able to build advanced rules and to add conditional rules, logical operators, arithmetic operations and number/date formatting. There is also live linking to a local data source (.txt, .csv, .mdb, .dbf). WYSIWYG preview of dynamic design allows for real-time previews of variations in dynamic design objects throughout the design process. Output formats include Creo VPS, Adobe PDF and PostScript, Xerox VIPP, PPML/VDX.

Master Colors HVC Color Composer

A plug-in that runs on Adobe Photoshop CS and Mac OSX, the HVC Color Composer is the first colour selection software of its kind, according to Master Colors. Rather than using static palettes in which the colours have no relation to each other, this plug-in quickly pulls up mathematically coherent, dynamic palettes based on the user's own colour choices and the needs of the artwork. The user simply opens the plug-in into Photoshop and eye-drops colours into the work in progress. Users can quickly create dozens of colour compositions based on simple, classical notions of harmonic organization, according to Master Colors. The software does the math and the user just picks the colours that fulfill the needs of the work. The software can generate millions of different dynamic palettes depending on the requirements of the user and its plug-in also coordinates its HVC chart to the Pantone Matching System. In the 2005, the HVC Color Composer features a Proportional Medley function, which means one palette does all. This function brings up a palette that provides an array of proportionally coherent relationships.

Enfocus PDF Workflow Suite

Released in October 2004, the Enfocus PDF Workflow Suite was designed for inter-company PDF quality management. By combining Instant PDF, PitStop Professional, PitStop Server and a CertifiedPDF.net license, Enfocus believes this package provides all the tools needed to set-up, communicate and implement PDF quality specifications (expressed as PDF Queues). PitStop Professional is for interactive editing and correction, and also enables the creation of the PDF Profiles and Action Lists to be used in Enfocus PDF Queues for preflight and auto-correction. Instant PDF 3.0 creates and then publishes PDF Queues to CertifiedPDF.net, thereby easily communicating their PDF specifications to any number of partners and suppliers also using Instant PDF. CertifiedPDF.net is used to communicate PDF output requirements, via Enfocus PDF Queues, to designers and content creators. PDF Queues can be based on included specifications for industry standards such as PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and Ghent PDF Workgroup. CertifiedPDF.net can also now be part of any website through new integration that allows users to set up their websites as single, interactive one-stop sources of information about their companies and production processes. Document creators subscribe to, and import, the PDF Queues posted on CertifiedPDF.net from within Instant PDF 3.0. A new synchronization mechanism updates any changes to the PDF Queue, ensuring that the most recent specification is always available for use by the designer. PitStop Server automates checking and correction of incoming PDFs. Certified PDFs created with Instant PDF are immediately identified and move faster through production. Using Instant PDF 3.0, designers can then create perfect Certified PDFs that comply with the specific quality standards as defined by the specifications in the PDF Queue. This results in error-free print production, according to the company. PitStop Server automates checking and correction of incoming PDFs. Certified PDFs created with Instant PDF are immediately identified and move faster through production. Non-Certified PDFs are preflighted, automatically corrected and move through production with little or no direct interaction.