Take off bars

[digital@sig-1.com]

This thread is posted specifically for the Kodak employee lurkers:

In Preps 6 (or future) releases, will it get any easier to add custom take-off bars to a project? I hear from Metrix users that it's extremely simple, but as for Preps, it's a bit of a struggle at times.

Using Rampage, I preview in TrapIT and place guides. Then, based on those measurements, I mathmatically calculate and place the appropriate bars. Is it possible to devise an application that can read color via fpo (or pdf) and apply the bars automatically?

Also, the pdf only placement of files in the run list for Preps 6 seems to alienate all users other than those on the Prinergy platform. Is there any discussion on bringing back eps/fpo placement for other RIPs? I am not happy about having to trap an impo'd pdf rather than impoing pre-trapped files. Trapping pdf is not an option for us. We are leaning towards going to Metrix for these reasons. JDF is not a viable option for us, based on the style of work we run in our shop.
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[Lhaase]

We use the Smart Mark feature in Preps 5.x and have multiple take off bars for various color combinations. Works very trouble free.

[jamie.stotz]

Are you talking about take-off bars or ghost bars? Using the terminology I'm familiar with, which could certainly be different than yours:

A take-off bar is a solid area of color about 1/4 inch deep that runs the width of the sheet. It is used in colors that have little or no coverage in the actual work to make sure that those units are at least printing something. I believe the term comes from the fact that they take excess ink off the ink rollers, ink that would otherwise build up because it is not being used by the page content.

A ghost bar is used to even out ink coverage between different parts of the sheet. It is most necessary when you have areas of heavy coverage immediately adjacent to areas of low coverage, with an abrupt change between them. The most common example of this is a rectangular frame around a page. The sides that run around the cylinder (vertical) use a lot of ink compared to the sides that run across the cylinder (horizontal). This causes a sharp decrease in ink density (ghosting) at the ends of the horizontal sides where they join the vertical sides.

Typically ghost bars are put in line with the areas of light ink usage to try to make up for the difference. They need to line up exactly with the page content and be as deep as space permits in order to be effective.