CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • November 12, 2009 at 9:24 am #53643
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi All,

    Thought I'd start it off by asking the scripts, plugins, techniques used for imposition.

    Personally, I'm looking for something that can impose letterheads, compliment slips and business cards. I sometimes use the business card script, but find it a bit quirky.

    Thanks

    Graeme

  • November 12, 2009 at 10:25 am #53646
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I find it easier to create a b/c or letterhead in InDesign as a stand alone design. Then I make a new document and draw a grid based on my page size to allow for bleed etc. where necessary. The I place the ID document into the grid I've laid out and print it off.

    Most printers offer an imposition service and is part of the quote for printed material, so it's best to send a single file with 1 version of the artwork. This is because a lot of printers have different press sizes and sheet sizes, so if you send them artwork already imposed that doesn't fit their sheet or press they have to strip out your work and redo it, which takes more time, all chargeable to you.

    I know of very few imposition plugins or scripts for InDesign that are any use. But you can get some for Acrobat which are quite good, Quite Imposing is used quite a lot. https://www.quite.com/imposing/

    Best of luck,

    Hank

  • November 14, 2009 at 5:34 pm #53731
    jools

    Member

    I can concur with Hank. The printer will often want to manage it themselves to suit their workflow and even my local repro-shop prefers to do the imposing themselves. If you want to impose for your own purposes, exporting normally from InDesign and then imposing using an acrobat plugin or similar tool works just fine workflow wise.

    Professional imposition solutions tend to be on the expensive side but there may be few alternatives if you have very demanding or specific needs. I've used Quite Imposing before when I worked for an agency but for the odd occasion that I need it myself, it is prohibitively expensive. One tip if you happen to work on a mac: a much more affordable program that has covered all my imposition requirements up to now is PDF Clerk Pro which has a special imposition module (and a polite and responsive developer) and works with PDFs and has saveable imposition schemes. Other options you may want to investigate are Indesign Imposition plugin (website seems to be down but still visible via google's cache) and Croptima Inplate, both of which say they are for PC and Mac (I have no knowledge of either). It's worth trying them out and putting them through their paces with an actual scenario (ideally a couple of different typical cases) before buying.

    (sorry about all the editing, links keep on being ruined after editing)

  • November 14, 2009 at 10:59 pm #53734
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Yeh well if you really want to impose I recommend PREPS, I've used it in prepress and it's sensational imposition software. But it's expensive too… very expensive.

  • November 16, 2009 at 1:04 am #53736
    nick lamme

    Member

    Well, I have an absolute need for imposition and it has been a real challenge. I work in-house and wear many hats. I have found Croptima to be a viable solution. But what I have relied upon most is the plugin from overnighty (see the link above from jools) at https://www.impositionsoftware.com. It has its limitations and the instructions that go with it are not that great. BUT, I manage 4-up impositions without too much trouble. Recently, I was even able to perform a 6-up imposition for a wider press. I had to do a little work-around to get it to work, but the script is really a marvell. Adobe doesn't seem to want to improve its Print Booklet function, which is really beyond my ability to understand why. So, Print Booklet is rather useless unless you only want a basic 2-up imposition. But, who's going to waste plates on that? Print Booklet only seems useful to me if you are going to do a 4-up imposition manually. But, I am really talking about imposing a book. There are some simple step and repeat scripts that should do basic layout of business cards, etc. And the above mentioned script form overnighty will repeat on a page as many times as you like. It's quite flexible. On a final note, unless you're doing really complicated impositions, I wouldn't spend too much money. Overnighty and Croptima will do just about anything you need and they are both very affordable.

  • November 16, 2009 at 2:39 pm #53743
    swen2

    Member

    I agree, the imposition plug-in from overnighty is great. We use its cut and stack to run postcards 8 up on 11×17 after we produce a file from data merge with sorted addresses, as data merge has no cut and stack function to keep the order of the mailing. It's great for books, business cards, and other step & repeat functions and it is very inexpensive. The documentation is a little confusing, but I was able to get help from the author quite quickly.

  • February 26, 2010 at 12:18 am #55017
    albastru22

    Participant

    I don't like preps just because it's too expensive, and because I dont need another app to make another file. And if I have to fix something in the original to repeat the preps thing again. I like the Indesign ability to import its pages into another indesign file – it gives me all the freedom I want, to put any color bar or registration mark I want. I want to learn scripting to be able to create a script that imports pages for me – it isn't that hard.

    In the meantime I wanted to try the data merge thing – and it would work great if I would know how to write the txt file to import a specific page. I tried with “filename.indd:4” to import the fourth page from filename.indd (like it says in the links panel after I import it manually) but it doesn't work. Anybody knows how my text file should point to specific pages from an indesign doc?

  • February 26, 2010 at 6:30 pm #55026
    Colin Flashman

    Member

    My work uses solutions outside of Adobe InDesign and lets the RIP handle it. Our RIP is AGFA Apogee and it is bundled with the imposing software called Preps, which handles most impositions.

    If imposing artwork for a printer, don't bother. The printer has imposition software but more importantly, knows how the artwork needs to be imposed for the specific sheet size and grain direction of the paper which is being printed on. Leave this to the pros.

    One of my pet hates is receiving artwork for several business cards which are all ganged somewhere on an A4 page, because it means i have to break down that ganged artwork into single pages so it can be reimposed properly.

  • February 27, 2010 at 12:00 am #55029
    albastru22

    Participant

    I agree with you, Colin, imposition should be a job for the printer. And my question still stands… because I'm supposed to be the one to impose jobs as I work for a printer that can't afford expensive solutions…

    As I said, Indesign as a imposition tool gives me total freedom: If I need a little resize, or a special registration mark in the middle of the sheet (if it's on the bleed part of an imposition it can be helpful and it will be cut off anyway).

    So, anybody knows how should my data merge txt file look like if I want to import a certain page from an ID file? If I find out this… imposition in ID will be a snap… with the help of excel.

  • August 19, 2012 at 11:44 pm #62930
    MrTiff

    Member

    For those who must do their own impositions of InDesign docs, and are still looking for a powerful yet reasonably priced InDesign-doc-to-Indesign-doc solution, please give IDImposer a try. I wrote it after being frustrated with the limitations of InDesign's Print Booklet feature. Supports saddle stitch, perfect bound, consecutive n up, cut stack, and step and repeat jobs. The ability to do impositions of impositions gives additional flexibility. It is a Creative Suite Extension, which is a Flex/AIR application — somewhat similar to a script, but faster and more powerful. Mac and Windows, CS 5 or newer. 15-day fully functional trial.

    https://idimposer.com

    Regards,

    Stephen

    gprovan said:

    Hi All,

    Thought I'd start it off by asking the scripts, plugins, techniques used for imposition.

    Personally, I'm looking for something that can impose letterheads, compliment slips and business cards. I sometimes use the business card script, but find it a bit quirky.

    Thanks

    Graeme

    ---

• Author
  Posts