Canto Cumulus

New features in version 7.6 include: built-in rendering of PDF thumbnails and previews for files; generation of PowerPoint presentations from cataloged presentations, slides and images — without PowerPoint and even over a Web browser; and watermarking of files. 

Pricing is based on the size and complexity of the solution, and Canto offers a free WebEx live product demonstration.

In addition, you can add or remove objects such as registration marks, color bars, or any page item. You can add smaller PDFs to larger PDF pages, record Action Lists for batch processing many PDFs at once, create templates, convert text to outlines, check for ink coverage, view objects that overprint, and much more.

If you find a problem, it will take you to it and helps you fix it.

Version 8 adds the ability to convert colors using the Adobe CMS, Little CMS, or the default CMS on your operating system. Version 8 also supports PDF/X-4, converts font formats, checks for missing glyphs, allows custom PDF profiles, and more. Upgrades cost $199–$299.

Goe has 2,058 colors — almost double the number of colors in the PMS system, with many new blues, greens and neutrals. The colors are arranged chromatically in a logical new numbering system, making it easier to find similar colors.

The Goe system includes the GoeGuide, a fan-style guide that displays every Goe color; GoeSticks, adhesive-backed color chips that can be either permanently attached to a Palette Card that you can give to clients or printers, or temporarily stuck to a specially coated Palette Playground for color experimentation and chip reuse.

The Goe system also includes impressive myPantone Palette Software for building color palettes based on colors in images, for generating complementary colors, and for blending any two colors into up to 64 individual gradient steps. These palettes can be emailed to a client, or manually entered into design applications by using sRGB values displayed next to every swatch. The Goe system costs $499.

For much more info, see Pantone’s (very colorful) “white paper”

And now, along with QuarkXPress 7.31, QuarkXPress 7.31 Updater: Certified for Windows Vista & Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, it’s compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Version 1.02 brings full compatibility with Leopard, but no new features. (Version 1.01 is the latest version for Windows, and it has the same functionality as version 1.02 for Mac.)

If you haven’t yet looked at Quark Interactive Designer, you’re missing out. Here’s how Quark describes it:

“…it allows for the creation of Flash layouts without writing code, and it also enables users to repurpose print work for the Web and offers innovative design functionality. …create rich, interactive tours, online advertisements and design-driven presentations using QuarkXPress 7. The software features interactive buttons, animations and dozens of predefined actions for transitioning pages, playing sounds, sliding objects and creating interactive menus.”

X-Ray magazine has an excellent introduction to using it here. www.xraymag.com/articles/xray_v5n2_quid_1.html

• Spell checking is up to 500% faster.
• Files save up to 75% faster on local hard drives.
• Text can be navigated up to 50% faster.
• Collect For Output is up to 40% faster.
• Some projects save as much smaller files.
• Several new PDF Output Styles are included.

If you haven’t gotten it yet, there’s no reason to wait. The update is available as a 325MB download (requires registration).
QuarkXPress 7.3 Update

Quark’s website has a full list of Resolved Issues and Known Issues

Among our favorite bug fixes are:

• You can now save a project on a WebDAV server.
• Soft hyphens no longer affect normal hyphenation.
• Windows can be enlarged to any size on any display.
• Pasted text now always maintains its original formatting.
• Kerning values next to Drop Caps from QuarkXPress 6 are now maintained.
• Overlapping picture boxes with borders now output correctly.
• First-line indents now behave as they should.
• Images now overprint as expected.
• Some PSD image output issues are fixed.

But some problems still remain, including:

• Duotones from Photoshop in EPS or PSD format don’t work properly.
• Image pixels may shift when images overlap.
• Profiles in RGB images may not display properly.
• PSD files from Photoshop CS3 may not output spot or alpha channels.
• Importing PDFs from InDesign or Illustrator that use transparency or drop shadows on text may cause QuarkXPress to quit.

I applaud Quark for finally releasing standard PDF Output Styles (presets) that don’t disappear during a restart, even if it took 14 months to do so. (QuarkXPress 7 was released in late May 2006, without these basic PDF Output Styles.)

On the other hand, QuarkXPress’s kinda-sorta support for native Photoshop files makes it difficult to sell that feature. Nobody wants to remember a list of “can’t do” behaviors when designing a page — I thought we learned that when Adobe introduced their disastrous transparency features.

And how can a magazine publisher live with a limitation on what kind of effects its customers can apply within the ads they submit? No transparency or drop shadows on text in PDFs from InDesign or Illustrator? From the number of incredibly ugly ads I’ve seen recently, it seems that both of these effects are very popular with Creative Suite users.

I know that Quark has historically chosen which bugs to fix according to how many complaints they receive about each one, so maybe I’m over-reacting and these are actually rare and relatively obscure issues. I welcome someone from Quark to correct me.

The update increases QuarkXPress’s performance and stability when:

• Working with text-heavy and long documents
• Saving documents locally and on network drives
• Outputting documents that contain drop shadows
• Outputting multiple copies or specific ranges of pages
• Checking spelling

Version 7.3 also fixes a problem that caused text to reflow when opening documents created in previous versions.

Version 7.3 installs the following new PDF Output Styles, available whenever exporting a Layout to PDF. (In these Style names, “Quality/Resolution” refers to the images saved within the PDF: “Quality” = on-screen Preview Quality; “Resolution = Output Resolution):

• Press – High Quality/High Resolution
• Print – Medium Quality/Medium Resolution
• Screen – Medium Quality/Low Resolution
• Screen – Low Quality/Low Resolution
• PDF/X-1a:2001
• PDF/X-3:2002

The Passport version of QuarkXPress 7.3 gains localized user interfaces for European Portuguese, Russian, Finnish, Croatian, and Hungarian. Also, hyphenation and spelling support has been added for Ukrainian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Latvian, Estonian, Icelandic, and Slovak.

Quark’s website has a full list of Resolved Issues and Known Issues.

The update is available as a 325MB download (requires registration).

www.quark.com/products/xpress/73update.html