Suggestions on automating preflighting customer supplied art files

[Faids1982]

Hi all, my company currently has an Web2Print solution that allows customers to upload finished art directly to the website and create an order. We currently manage all pre-flight checking manually in our Art Department. We do the normal checks for CMYK, bleed, inside margin, outline text and make sure the art is 300dpi. We have both Callas PDF Toolbox and Pitstop Pro that we could use, just not sure which is better or if there is another solution. The ultimate goal is to integrate our pre-flighting with Enfocus Switch to really go automated. Thanks in advance!

[loicaigon]

Hi,

Looks to me that you should have a look at the PitStop Library Container that brings preflight to the Cloud.

The PLC (in short) is a Docker Container that you can host on the Cloud to run preflight and Action Lists as soon as the customers upload a file.

Have a look at our latest webinar on that topic:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/record ... 4949467906

Loic

[waderatke]

Hi,

Looks to me that you should have a look at the PitStop Library Container that brings preflight to the Cloud.

The PLC (in short) is a Docker Container that you can host on the Cloud to run preflight and Action Lists as soon as the customers upload a file.

Have a look at our latest webinar on that topic:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/record ... 4949467906

Loic

This is occurring to me as well. I am at a loss as to how to improve it. It was through your site that I found it.

[taxmidsummer]

This is occurring to me as well. I am at a lost as to how to enhance it. It was through your blog that I found it.

[nyeapparent]

Hi,

Looks to me that you should have a look at the PitStop Library Container that brings preflight to the Cloud.

The PLC (in short) is a Docker Container that you can host on the Cloud to run preflight and Action Lists as soon as the customers upload a file.

Have a look at our latest webinar on that topic:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/record ... 4949467906Slope 2

Loic

I’ve heard of the PitStop Library Container but haven’t actually tried deploying it myself yet. From what I understand, it’s basically the cloud‑friendly way to run PitStop preflight and Action Lists without having to maintain a full server setup, so it might be exactly what some workflows need.

[plutinolabs]

Hi all, my company currently has an Web2Print solution that allows customers to upload finished art directly to the website and create an order. We currently manage all pre-flight checking manually in our Art Department. We do the normal checks for CMYK, bleed, inside margin, outline text and make sure the art is 300dpi. We have both Callas PDF Toolbox and Pitstop Pro that we could use, just not sure which is better or if there is another solution. The ultimate goal is to integrate our pre-flighting with Enfocus Switch to really go automated. Thanks in advance!

Hi Faids1982

I think a lot of this centres around what web2print system you are using (custom or off the shelf, can you do extra development/integration on it) and at what point you want perform the preflight (before order submission in the browser or after order submission on premises).

If you want the preflight to happen before order submission in the browser, solutions like PitStop Library Container or PdfToolbox Server/CLI (may also need development of an api in front of it) are both great solutions. But both require upfront investment in licensing and infrastructure, plus a large investment in development time to make integrations into your web2print system. There is also another cloud service called Atomyx Prepare (https://www.atomyx.io/en/atomyx-prepare), that is a premade cloud service infront of PDFToolbox CLI that takes care of the API and infrastructure issue for a monthly fee - you just need to do the development for the integration to the web2print system. Atomyx seems to have a lower barrier to entry.

If you want to do preflight after the order submission, you might be able to use your current software. If your web2print system has an api, you could use Switch to collect new jobs, use either Pitstop Server or PDFToolbox Server to process the files, then get Switch to update any order statuses back into your system. With this solution you can use whatever Switch workflows you need (not just preflight). I'm currently using this method for a site I just launched for preflighting and proof creation.