UGN articles UGN articles
Printing and Imposition for magazines, newsletters, long text files can be tedious, but BookLightning makes it easier
Most designers and desktop publishers like to design and produce the mechanicals for multi-page publications with the software set to page view, or view spreads. This allows the designer to see what the spreads will look like in the finished publication. And, that is as it should be. This marks one of the differences between professional page layout programs such as Quark XPress, PageMaker and InDesign and non publishing such as Microsoft Word, AppleWorks and others.
But when it comes time to print the proofing, you print page by page and manually mock up the publication. With some of the newer duplexing printers, you could print the final publication with all pages in position. (Duplexing means it prints both sides of the paper -- in some cases in a single pass.)
Imposition is the printing industry's term for rearranging the pages of a publication into the arrangement required for correct binding. In other words, for instance, in an 8-page newsletter the front cover and back cover print together and the sheet flips to print the inside front and inside back covers. Then page 1 is positioned on the right of the press sheet with page 6 on the left -- page 2 left, page 5 right and so forth. This is very different from what the designer saw, and confusing at best to author the publication in imposition.
Many times before departing for a long flight I would print material to take along for reading -- like the entire month's posts from the Photoshop list, or all of the message posts from a favorite online forum. This can be a considerable amount of text, sometimes hundreds of posts. I have a Quark file set up specifically for imposition of a 5.5 x 8.5 booklet. With Quark's "AutoPage" feature it automatically imports long text files, generating new pages on the fly. A set of stile sheets based on specific repeating strings of text automates styling of each entry so that within just a few clicks the book -- no matter how many pages -- is ready to print. With correct imposition, I simply say "Print" then when complete, turn the stack over and return it to the paper tray. The second print command backs up all the pages. The stack is folded, then stapled with a deep-throat saddle stapler and presto, instant book. It takes actually less time then it takes to read this article. But now there's a simpler way to do this.
If you regularly print proofs of publications, or even wish to print short-run finished magazines, newsletters or booklets directly from your printer you'll want to take a look at BookLightning.
This product from Metaobject is a lightweight imposition program for booklets and simple magazines. Version 1.2 features support for most encrypted files using an updated EGOS engine, as well as direct print and better compatibility with some PDF files. It retains the lightning fast processing times introduced with the 1.1 version. BookLightning is a fully native Cocoa application and requires a duplex printer for full direct print support.
For more information, downloads and purchasing, visit metaobject at:
http://www.metaobject.com/
With offices in near Berlin's Olympic Stadium and London's Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, metaobject creates publishing software solutions and technologies that help you perform like a champion. The PressObjects toolbox, which includes Postscript and PDF interpreters as well as a wide variety of user-extensible processing tools, is the basis for tools such as PdfCompress, the widely copied PDF and Postscript viewer PostView or the TextLightning PDF to RTF text extractor. The MetaAd(tm) content adaptation system captures and models design IDeAs for effective brand- and design-management over intra- and extranets.
Return to: the top of this page, or the INDEX for this department
Exit to: The User Group Network front page
Contact: The Editor, Webmaster or Membership Director