GRAPH EXPO & CONVERTING EXPO 2004 DIGITAL PRINTING -- Solution
Product introductions at Graph Expo 2004 and other developments show indications of shift in focus to empowering designers and marketing professionals to take charge of variable data projects. This includes giving them tools to directly execute a program.
In Chicago, Adobe Systems launched the VDP Resource Center (www.adobe.com/vdp). It is billed as an educational resource for creative professionals, marketing departments and print service providers that aims to kick-start the adoption and implementation of variable data publishing (VDP) solutions.
The resource center will showcase technologies and products that assist creative professionals and print providers in building VDP campaigns. Visitors can download free trial software and purchase VDP plug-in solutions from Adobe ISV partners.
XMPie announced one such product, called uDirect, at the show. This desktop variable data printing solution for Mac or PC integrates into InDesign as a plug-in and is compatible with XMPie's high-end PersonalEffect VDP system. Point-and-click functionality links document elements to variable data sources, and supported output formats include Creo VPS, Xerox VIPP and PPML/VDX.
Creo Inc. previewed a new version of its Darwin VI (variable information) authoring tool that will also work as a plug-in to InDesign CS. It is slated to be available in early 2005, running on Mac OSX. In addition, Creo demonstrated Darwin 6.1.1 software for QuarkXPress 6.1 users.
Meanwhile, Quark Inc. was previewing the forthcoming release of its QuarkXPress 6.5 update, which features the previously announced QuarkXClusive variable data publishing XTension. The utility was developed in conjunction with HP to enable production of customized, database-driven documents output on HP Indigo digital presses.
