wo updates are coming: a free update now for PitStop and PitStop Server, and a more substantial one this spring around DRUPA.Enfocus parent company EskoArtwork says that two updates to its flagship PitStop line of PDF production applications are coming, the first since Esko Graphics and Artwork Systems announced a merger earlier this year.
The first round of updates will be available in the coming weeks--possibly even this month for the first PitStop Professional 7.5--and are free to registered users. A more substantial PitStop Pro upgrade (likely to be numbered 8.0) will coincide with the international print show DRUPA in May 2008, says Erik Cullins, Enfocus North America director of sales and marketing.
PitStop Pro adds more color management
PitStop Pro 7.5 adds a number of new features and support, including more choices for text display in wireframe mode--which increases rendering efficiency. It also adds support for font remapping. Updating its color management handling, PitStop now supports Adobe CMS as well as open-source "little CMS" in addition to keeping the previous OS-specific CMS options.
It also adds support for PDF/X-4, a production standard that handles layers and transparency.
"I'm a standards geek and I think it's about time," Cullins says. "More and more of the [printing hardware] RIPs can support layers and transparency...[which] isn't the bugaboo it used to be. I'm really excited to see that vendors are stepping up to the plate and supporting PDF/X-4, and of course we are on that team."
PitStop Server: New interface
PitStop Server 4.1 (update slated for January) gets a big facelift. Before, it was more of a "hot-folder" version of PitStop accessible over the network; in the new rev, Enfocus adds server-specific functions such as reports and logs (pictured), which can be output to XML for tracking in other apps.
"The interface is completely brand-new," Cullins says. "Before, the history log was whatever was displayed on screen and it was never saved in any log, anywhere. Probably not the best for a server."
It also can be set up to run as a Windows service. Furthermore, Cullins says, PitStop Server 4.1 adds customer requests such as more detailed and exportable hot-folder setups that make backups easier as well as tasks such as file renaming and flattening.
Both apps—as well as a new 1.2 update to PDF-editing print production app Enfocus Neo likely coming in January—support multicore/multi-processor machines. Neo 1.2 also syncs up compatibility issues with PitStop.
The upgrades around DRUPA will be more substantial and carry a price tag to be announced closer to the show.
