Software - Prepress & Design

Markzware, the leading developer of file conversion technology for Adobe InDesign, today announced an upgrade to its popular Adobe Plugin, Q2ID (Quark to InDesign). This latest version of the Adobe plugin runs under InDesign CS5.5 to convert Quark up through QuarkXPress 9 files. Q2ID is also available with Quark 9 support for InDesign CS4 and InDesign CS5.5 and is available on both the Mac and Windows platforms.
 
Markzware Q2ID InDesign plugin converts Quark documents and instantly recreates them to an InDesign CS4, CS5 and now CS5.5. It is often a daunting task to manually convert Quark files. Today, Q2ID v5.5 provides a quick, easy and affordable method to convert content from Quark to InDesign. This Quark conversion is as easy as opening up any Quark document into a new InDesign document. Q2ID is very accurate, providing special attention to the intricate details of the Quark content when converting Quark to InDesign.

Shelley White of Running With Scissors Graphic Design explains how she benefited from this Adobe plugin for Quark to InDesign, “I have been working in Adobe InDesign for a couple of years, so when faced with revising two catalogues created in QuarkXPress, I knew I had to find a way to painlessly convert them to InDesign.”
 
White continues, “After a bit of research, I found the Markzware Q2ID software. Reviews were solid and the price was reasonable, so I purchased the software and took it to task. I was thrilled and amazed at the results. Sure, there were a few little oddball remnants left after the translation, but there was very, very little cleanup work involved. It would have taken me untold hours of my own manual work to do what Q2ID did in a flash.”
 
The software upgrade of the Q2ID v5.5 for Quark conversion is available immediately at the Q2ID Store.  

EFI has teamed with Xerox Corporation to provide customers with the EFI Digital StoreFront (DSF) Web-to-Print solution, giving print providers a new front door to their businesses. 

DSF is one of the leading Web-to-Print products for the printing industry with more than 3,000 printing sites worldwide.  The solution eases print job specification and file handling for the customer while automating workflow at the printer. With DSF, printers can provide proactive job status via the Web and customers are given better visibility into the production process via online job tracking. With integration with XMPie, a Xerox Company, customers have a powerful variable data printing and cross-media personalisation tool available as an optional module.
 
"We recognise the market demand for robust and user-friendly Web-to-Print offerings," said Elizabeth Fox, vice president, Solutions Business Unit, Xerox Corporation. "Paired with Xerox's digital printing expertise, DSF brings the benefits of Web-to-Print to users who, in turn, can quickly respond and address their customers' needs."
 
The Southwest Region of Pepsi Beverages Company recently upgraded their production centre with a new Fiery-driven Xerox DC5000™ Digital Press and Digital StoreFront, relying on the expertise of Arizona Office Technologies (AOT), a full-service document technology provider. More than 1,500 sales people utilise the Pepsi production centre for Point-of-Sale (POS) pieces of various sizes and shapes.
 
"Before DSF, sales people were sending job requests in via email, 'post it' notes, and the like, and swamping the print shop operator with calls," said Peter Tunkey, customer marketing manager at Pepsi Beverages Company. "Now with DSF, each sales person can log-on and see the various POS jobs relating to their accounts, as well as a list of other standardised printing projects, and they can quickly submit orders and track them online. This has eliminated multiple errors and significantly improved quality and workflow efficiency. Our turnaround has dropped from an average of 10 business days to three, enabling us to double our production of items."
 
"In today's highly competitive marketplace, print service providers need to rely on automation to keep costs down and margins high. EFI Digital StoreFront enables this automation to begin at the customer's desktop, allowing providers to successfully extend their services to the Web while streamlining their production workflow," said Marc Olin, senior vice president and general manager of APPS, EFI. "With the powerful sales and channel network of Xerox now offering DSF, together with Fiery digital print servers, more print service providers than ever before will benefit from this critical business solution."
 
A simple interface allows print customers to submit digital files from their PC or Macintosh computers, view PDF proofs of their documents for immediate review and approval, and easily enter their own job specifications for production and finishing. Once that information is entered, DSF creates a production job ticket and the file is automatically submitted into the print centre's workflow, billing systems, print servers and output devices.
 
DSF provides integration with EFI's Fiery and MIS solutions - the system creates an "end-to-end" content and commerce workflow from the desktop of the printer's customer directly to Monarch, Pace, Radius and PrintSmith print management systems, to Fiery controllers for digital page production, and to VUTEk, Rastek and Jetrion printers with Fiery XF RIPs for digital inkjet production.
 

Quark announced today the availability of QuarkXPress 9.0.1, a free update of QuarkXPress 9 that is available to all current version 9 users. As the first maintenance release of QuarkXPress 9, version 9.0.1 resolves issues identified in QuarkXPress 9.0. The update can be downloaded from www.Quark.com.

To download the update to QuarkXPress 9.0.1 visit: http://www.quark.com/Support/Downloads/

To read more about the known and resolved issues in QuarkXPress 9.0.1 visit: http://support.quark.com/documentation/QuarkXPress/known_issues.html

QuarkXPress 9
QuarkXPress 9 is the newest release of Quark's page-layout and design software that is built to help designers create content that can be published to digital devices - e-readers, smartphones, and tablets - with one tool, and without coding. Whether a designer needs to publish from QuarkXPress to the iPad, create content for an e-book, or reach an expansive audience through the Blio eReader, QuarkXPress 9 can help.

QuarkXPress 9 also includes new features that automate the design process. The features are instrumental in increasing productivity and alleviating many manual, time-consuming design tasks. For a complete list of new features visit http://www.quark.com/Products/QuarkXPress/Whats_New.aspx.

System Support
QuarkXPress 9.0.1 supports Mac OS 10.5.8 (Leopard), Mac OS 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard), Microsoft Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or 3), Windows Vista 1.0, and Windows 7. The next update to QuarkXPress 9, due in late August, will be certified to support Mac OS 10.7 (Lion).

30-Day Test Drive
Quark is offering a free, fully functional, 30-day Test Drive of QuarkXPress 9 to users interested in experiencing the new features for digital publishing and design-driven automation. To download the QuarkXPress 9 30-day Test Drive visit http://www.quark.com/products/quarkxpress/test_drive.aspx.

ONYX Graphics, Inc. has released its ONYX SmartApps Sign&Banner Plug-in tool for Adobe Illustrator software that simplifies and accelerates set-up of wide format signs and banners. This plug-in is the first in the new ONYX SmartApps RIP-independent product line that helps print providers, sign makers and designers quickly and easily prepare files for wide format print production.

Key Features

With the unique Sign&Banner Plug-in tool, anyone designing or producing signs and banners can dramatically reduce their preparation time and reduce mistakes in finishing. With the plug-in, shops can prepare all aspects of a sign or banner – including grommet marks, bleeds and folds – right in Adobe Illustrator software in less than a few minutes.

Grommets:  manually measuring grommets for a banner requires additional time and effort that can lead to higher production cost per banner. Some shops use RIP software to add grommet marks, but involving printer operators in banner setup slows production time. The Sign&Banner Plug-in enables placement of grommet data at the design stage and from within Adobe Illustrator software, saving production time and potentially costly job re-runs.

Print bleeds:  adding print bleed data (overprinting the media area) manually for banners is time-consuming. Complicated bleeds – such as duplicate or mirror bleeds – can take time to add to an image, particularly after the design is finished. With the Sign&Banner Plug-in, designers and print providers can prepare print bleeds automatically and overcome Illustrator’s bleed limitations.

This plug-in also offers the ability to “design-to-scale” so jobs are print-ready at the correct size.

What Customers Are Saying

"I tried the plug-in with both my vector and jpeg job files. Wow, it just saved me hours of work this week. It's very fast, efficient and intuitive. Thanks for this very useful new product." - Joël Doutrelepont, iMedias

"Adding bleed for our banners is something we have to do every day and it used to be time-consuming. Now with the Sign&Banner Plug-in, it's nice to be able to save our bleed settings so it's only a couple clicks and we're done. It's a great time saver." - Scott M, Rainbow Sign & Banner

"For the 3x8 foot banners we do, 5 grommets top and bottom (every 2 feet) we have to fold the banner, mark it, then fold again and mark - on each side. This takes us 5 minutes per banner. Now with the SmartApps Sign&Banner plug-in we do this in a few seconds. It's literally click on the plug-in in Illustrator and hit OK. So for every banner we do we now easily save 5 minutes of labour. That's huge saving for us over the course of a year and we get each job out quicker." - Lee M, Signs Now

Video and Free Trial Available Now

A one minute video showcasing the Sign&Banner Plug-In, as well as a full-version 15-day free trial are available now at www.smartappsplugins.com

In response to feedback from key customers and partners, SA International (SAi), the leading provider of solutions for the professional sign making, digital printing and CAD/CAM for CNC machining industries, has announced the latest release for Flexi and PhotoPRINT - version 10.0.3.

Free to anyone with Flexi and PhotoPRINT 10, highlights of the update include enhanced Fotoba support, certified drivers and profiles for the HP HPZ6200 Series, support for Roland VS, LEC, and LEJ, RGB 8bit profiling, easy weeding around groups, cut overlapping lines once, and many new printer and cutter drivers.  For a full list of updates, visit http://www.saintl.biz/files/SAi%20ProductionSuite%20Readme.pdf.

The new release is available for instant download from www.FlexiSIGN10.com or www.PhotoPRINT10.com. An installation disk containing the updates will begin shipping with all Flexi and PhotoPRINT packages for Microsoft Windows within the next two weeks.

"SAi is pleased to offer this update to our customers and resellers as a free service" says Don Feagan, President and COO. "After months of compiling a list of requests and reported issues, our team's efforts have culminated in this robust free update."

The Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) has confirmed that :Apogee Preflight, the preflight module that is a standard function of :Apogee Prepress v7.1, is compliant with their 1v4 specifications.

The GWG 1v4 specifications describe what PDF files should contain so that they can reliably be exchanged and processed by graphic arts companies and workflows. There are specifications for various market segments such as advertising, commercial and newspaper printing as well as large format and digital printing. GWG 1v4 compliant files are based on the industry standard PDF/X-1a file format. They have, however, passed a number of additional quality checks to avoid issues with low resolution images, white text overprinting, high total ink coverage, etc.

:Apogee Preflight v7.1 will ship with the 13 profiles of the GWG 1v4 standard. They allow users to check if incoming PDF files were made according to the GWG specifications. This assures that these files will be properly processed and it guarantees good output quality. It saves valuable operator time, manual corrections will be unnecessary and document revisions can be avoided. The profiles also enable :Apogee users to create high quality GWG 1v4 compliant files for archiving or exchange with other GWG 1v4 compliant RIPs or workflow solutions. The result will be identical on the different systems.

The Ghent PDF Workgroup is an international organisation made up of graphic arts users, associations & developers building best practices for publishing workflows. The resulting recommendations and specifications are making it easy for increasing numbers of professionals around the world to successfully create, process, and exchange graphic arts files for numerous applications.

More information regarding the GWG can be found at www.gwg.org