There was a time when lay flat photo books where reserved for professional photographers producing high-end looks. This product was uncommon on the market since very few printers where able to offer a flat two page photo book with no gutter and a 180 degree spread. The rareness of lay flat photo books made them a very expensive product for regular customers searching for professional looking photo albums at a reasonable price. Today is a different day, as many Print Service Providers now allow customers to easily assemble their favorite pictures together, pass through an order with just a few clicks and get it printed at a reasonable price. They get to choose the cover, the size, the size of each picture, the emplacement, the overall design of each page and much more making each job order completely different and making PSPs jobs much more complicated.
“Another time factor is output. That is, getting your work out of the computer and onto paper and having it satisfy you. It can be time consuming and expensive.”
Without the right tools to accomplish such a growing demand, printers struggle to deliver the merchandise on time. Like Buffy Sainte-Marie once said, “Another time factor is output. That is, getting your work out of the computer and onto paper and having it satisfy you. It can be time consuming and expensive.” Thanks to a combination of a digital press with powerful imposition software and a great online album creator, companies can now offer lay flat photo books while automating this production in order to make it cost effective.
Three main components should be considered when producing lay flat books, hardware, software and process. Once you have the right equipment to print, bind, cut and fold, the question next is, can I automate the prepress production through powerful imposition and how can I put in place an automated process to do so? With the right software solution to automate and produce this high-end lay flat photo book, PSPs can save a lot of time consuming preparation which would traditionally drive the cost per unit up. Ultimate TechnoGraphics offers lay flat imposition capability in Impostrip Automation®. This solution will optimize every aspect of your prepress imposition workflow by eliminating manual setup and by reducing make ready and turnaround time. Impostrip Automation® is Ultimate’s imposition software that presents the most flexibility with its multiple features, making it the perfect product for lay flat photo books and for any other short run jobs. Here is a little overview of what Impostrip Automation® can do:
- Dynamic barcode is designed to ensure quality control, track jobs and finishing automation.
- Automatically control your page position and marks with the Marks Profile.
- Gang press and optimize paper by grouping different jobs with AutoFlow Ganging.
- Connect to your streamline orders from your store-front with the XML Director Module.
- Use the Origami virtual paper foldingfor easy template making.
- The Dynamic Templatesallows user to keep the same hot folder for multiple jobs.
- Automate imposition of various size booklets in the same job with the Booklet Configurator module.
•Integrate your solution with the Autoflow Estimator module to calculates the best possible imposition plan and cost without any hands-on job entries
If you want to learn more on Impostrip Automation’s other features, visit http://ultimate-tech.com/en-us/Impostrip-Automation. You can also request a free demo to find out by your own how Impostrip automation® will make printing lay flat photo book that much easier