Frequently Asked Questions

1. Q: What is Metrix?

A: Metrix is job planning software which automatically calculates optimal press sheet layouts for bound products, flat work, and even complex gang run projects. Metrix can gang up to 160 different products on a single press sheet, considering such details as grain direction and bleeds. Metrix creates detailed printed production reports with dimensioned scale diagrams, and exports industry standard digital files for integration with prepress workflows and finishing equipment.

2. Q: What kind of printing companies use Metrix?

A: Metrix is excellent for all commercial sheetfed printers who wish to benefit from simply and dynamically creating accurate layouts considering the many job and production factors. Metrix is also used by screen printers and wide format inkjet printers who need gang layouts dynamically calculated.

3. Q: I heard that Metrix was only useful for gang printing.

A: The first versions of Metrix were indeed created to specifically solve the difficult problem of creating accurate, quick, and economical gang run layouts. In fact LithoTechnics received an award for this ability. Metrix 2.0 (released November, 2006) expanded the capabilities to fulfill all the needs of a commercial sheetfed printer by introducing the ability to quickly plan bound products - both saddle and perfect bound.

4. Q: Why should my company use Metrix?

A: Metrix will quickly pay for itself and continue to save a company money in several ways:

•  Planning custom sized jobs requires the undivided attention of a skilled planner, and complex layouts can take considerable effort to manually calculate. Metrix automatically calculates layouts in seconds, saving potentially thousands of dollars in highly skilled labor costs every month.
  
  
•  Most companies know theoretically that money can be saved by ganging different jobs together when they share common stock and inks, and when artwork availability and proof approval allow. These variables alone are difficult enough for most commercial printers to manage, but the skill and effort required to devise efficient layouts is often prohibitive. Metrix makes these theoretical profits a practical reality. While it can't help with getting proofs approved on time, Metrix takes all the guesswork and complexity out of ganged layouts, empowering even the least skilled user to create perfect layouts in seconds.
  
  
•  Metrix can initiate the job planning process from incoming JDF data generated by an MIS system. This data can either be manually imported, or Metrix can be fed this data from a hot folder. Alternatively, Metrix also supports a much simpler XML-based data format called Metrix XML, or MXML. This enables integration with even home-grown MIS or estimating systems.
  
  
•  Metrix can send fully imposed JDF information with PDF content to output completely imposed plates from your JDF-enabled prepress system or RIP, bypassing the need for desktop imposition software and the labor associated with this otherwise necessary stage. Alternately Metrix can generate fully imposed PDF impositions which can be sent to nearly any RIP or output device.
  
  
•  If your company uses Preps® templates with Preps or as part of a workflow (such as Creo Prinergy®, Creo Brisque®, or Agfa Apogee®), building Preps templates can be a time consuming process, especially for complex ganging layouts with many independent pages. Metrix will save your prepress operators considerable time and effort by instantly exporting Preps templates at the click of a button.
  
  
•  If your company has cutters or folders that can read CIP3 data, or some stitcher-trimmers that can read JDF data, Metrix can instantly export the data required for these devices to automatically makeready, saving significant time for every job.
  
  
•  The patent pending layout calculator considers all product bleeds when calculating the optimal layout. Optimizing for bleeds means Metrix can find ways to place anywhere up to 50% more product on a sheet when the product bleeds only three edges, not four. This equates to saving 50% of the stock, a significant portion of the cost of an average job!
  

5. Q: What editions of Metrix are available?

A: Metrix 3.0 is available in four editions:

Metrix Max is for commercial sheetfed printers looking for a competitive advantage. The new Auto Plan function calculates the most cost effective way to produce multiple products across multiple press sheets. It handles bound work with ease and can accommodate up to 160 unique flat and folded products per sheet in various ganged configurations.

Metrix Commercial is for commercial sheetfed printers who produce bound work and will also plan projects with up to 16 unique flat and folded products in various ganged configurations.

Metrix X-80 is for commercial printers with digital or offset presses who produce bound work and will also plan projects with up to 80 unique flat and folded products per sheet in various ganged configurations. The new Auto Plan function will calculate the most cost effective way to produce multiple products across multiple press sheets. It is limited to press sheets up to 30" x 30" and can only export impositions as PDF, not JDF.

Metrix X-8 is for commercial printers with digital or offset presses who produce bound work and may also plan projects with up to 8 unique flat and folded products per sheet. It is limited to press sheets up to 30" x 30" and can only export impositions as PDF, not JDF.

6. Q. Is it possible for companies to license more than one edition?

A: Yes. It may be cost-effective for a company to have, for example, a 5 concurrent user license of Metrix Commercial that satisfies the majority of their work, and a single copy of Metrix Max for those occasional projects that would exceed the ganging capabilities of Metrix Commercial.

7. Q: How much training does Metrix require?

A: Metrix requires very little or no training because its patent pending layout engine completely automates the most complex parts of the layout process. The user interface is very discoverable and easy to understand. Ease of use for the operator is the foundation Metrix was built upon. Metrix also allows the user to undo and redo every action within the program up to twenty levels deep. This means that a new user has nothing to fear when experimenting with unfamiliar features.

Training is certainly available and can be easily accomplished via the internet with a typical training session lasting 4 hours.

8. Q: Where can I buy Metrix?

A: Metrix is available directly from LithoTechnics (contact us), or through one of our partners.

9. Q: Can I try Metrix before deciding to purchase?

A: Yes. Evaluation licenses are available for a small fee that is refunded against the purchase price if you purchase within 60 days. To order an evaluation license contact us, or contact one of our partners.

10. Q: How does Metrix compare to Kodak's production planning product UpFront®?

A: A simple description of how UpFront works is that the user builds a database library of layout templates that can be used to plan jobs. All jobs must find matching layouts in the database before the job can be completed. Any changes to a job require the operator to either edit an existing layout or start over creating a new one, depending on the significance of the change. In contrast Metrix can dynamically create layouts without any need for one to exist in the database.

In our opinion the UpFront approach has merit if the user predominately plans jobs that match previously created, standardized layouts. In this case the time required to build each layout may be justified because each layout will be used frequently. Metrix also has the ability to save standard layouts for re-use, but has the significant advantage that the original standard layout can be created automatically and can easily be altered within the same user-interface, that is, without changing to a different program to make changes.

Metrix also enables layouts to be used as a "one-off", without having to be saved into the database. The most obvious example of the strength of this approach is most gang run layouts, where no layout will ever be used twice. There is absolutely no advantage to most gang run layouts being stored as a database template.

For commercial printers whose work mix is diverse and customized we believe Metrix's dynamic layout calculator is a much better solution. For example, we have spoken to UpFront users who after years of using UpFront are still frequently building new layouts into the database, some requiring considerable effort. Metrix on the other hand, instantly calculates the optimal layout for each new job considering all that job's unique product specifications - finished size, bleeds, grain direction, required quantity, etc.

We have other opinions about the ease of use of Metrix compared to UpFront, the flexibility of each (try doing even a simple gang run layout in UpFront), and the overall cost of ownership of Metrix compared to UpFront. We strongly suggest interested customers get a demonstration of both products. We have a web page suggesting some questions customers should ask when comparing Metrix to UpFront, or indeed when comparing Metrix to desktop imposition products too.

11. Q: Can I program Metrix with my company's press specifications?

A: Yes. The documentation that comes with Metrix takes the user through the steps to add any number of presses to the database, each with their particular specifications.

12. Q: Can we add our own folds to the Metrix database?

A: Yes. By default the Metrix database contains more than 80 folding schemes from the JDF fold catalogue. If a user requires a custom fold they can easily add it to the database using the New Fold Wizard which guides them step-by-step through creating the new fold.

13. Q: Can our operators modify the layouts that Metrix calculates?

A: Yes. Metrix 3.0 has all the manual layout editing capabilities you would expect - drag-n-drop, step and repeat, center across sheet, aligning and butting selected product instances, etc. The user interface is intuitive and very simple to learn.

Furthermore, the Status view area of the Metrix user interface displays the status of all the rules that the layout engine adheres to, such as ensuring a product's bleed area remains inside the imageable area of the press. Every time the user edits a layout these rules are automatically double checked and the user is instantly notified of any errors. In this way, users can manually edit layouts quickly and easily, assured that their project will work on the press and in the bindery.

14. Q: Does Metrix also handle diecut shapes?

A: Metrix treats all products as rectangles and automatically calculates layouts on this basis. However, Metrix does allow users to manually overlap or nest product instances however they wish. To help manually position nested non-rectangular products Metrix allows users to specify a low resolution graphic file (jpeg, gif, or png) to be displayed within a product page, and also allows the image's background color to be rendered transparently so users can see through overlapping areas.

15. Q: Does Metrix calculate layouts for web press signatures?

A: No, not at this time. Metrix can accommodate most of the requirements of web press work, but does not yet consider more than one ribbon per layout. Metrix also does not enforce or consider the web cutoff variable. In light of this even though Metrix would probably satisfy some web printers we hesitate to claim its suitability for this environment as a whole.

16. Q: Can Metrix be licensed for multiple users?

A: Yes. Metrix can be licensed for either standalone or a multi-user configuration. The multi-user version ships with a minimal administration SQL database server for sharing data. Metrix may also have it's licensing managed by the Metrix License Server. With the Metrix License Server a company can install Metrix on any number of PC's within a site and the License Server controls the number of concurrent copies of Metrix running at any one time. This is a very cost effective way of running Metrix when multiple users need access to it but not all simultaneously.

17. Q: Does Metrix employ open standards such as JDF?

A: Yes, LithoTechnics has a full member of the CIP4 Organization for several years and imports and exports data in standard JDF and CIP3 PPF formats.

18. Q: Can Metrix integrate with my management information system?

A: LithoTechnics is a full member of the CIP4 Organization, and all editions of Metrix can import product descriptions from supporting MIS systems in the open JDF format. Alternately Metrix can accept job data in our own XML-based format called Metrix XML, or MXML. This is a very targeted, simplified format that is more realistic to implement in the context of a company's in-house-developed estimation software. Metrix 3.0 can also import job descriptions for flat products in comma separated (CSV) format from applications such as Microsoft Excel®.

19. Q: Does Metrix integrate with any of my prepress systems?

A: Metrix Commercial and Max editions export both populated or unpopulated (with our without PDF content) JDF Imposition tickets for prepress. This data allows Metrix to integrate with a wide range of prepress workflows, saving prepress operators considerable time building complex imposition templates, and reducing the risk of data entry errors. Metrix is designed so that once the operator has created the job plan with Metrix, the desktop imposition stage is un-necessary. The JDF data from Metrix goes straight into the prepress workflow, regardless of whether it's a fully managed workflow, or a simple RIP and output workflow.

Even if the system cannot accept JDF, Metrix can create fully imposed PDF impositions that can be sent to nearly any RIP or output device. The two Metrix X editions are limited to exporting projects as PDF impositions only.

JDF imposition files with PDF content exported by Metrix have been successfully tested with the following prepress systems and RIPs:

•  Agfa – :ApogeeX 2.5
  
  
•  Artwork Systems – Odystar 2.0.3
  
  
•  DALiM – MiSTRAL 2.1
  
  
•  EskoGraphics – Backstage 3.0
  
  
•  FujiFilm – Celebrant 6.03
  
  
•  FujiFilm – XMF
  
  
•  Global Graphics – Harlequin Genesis RIP (with JDF Enabler)
  
  
•  Heidelberg – Printready 2.1 SP3
  
  
•  Kodak/Creo – Prinergy 3.0 & 4.0
  
  
•  Kodak/Creo – Evo 3.1
  
  
•  OneVision JDF Impose – 1.0
  
  
•  Rampage
  
  
•  Screen – TrueFlow 3.10 TF020
  
  
•  Xitron – Xenith 4PDF
  
  
•  Xitron – Xenith Extreme 6.03

20. Q: Does Metrix integrate with any of my postpress systems?

A: Metrix can export CIP3 PPF and JDF data for cutters and folders. Metrix can also export JDF data specific for Horizon stitching equipment. This data eliminates manual equipment setup, saving bindery operators' valuable time and reducing errors.

21. Q: Does the ability to import or export JDF and CIP3 data cost extra?

A: No. These features are included in the cost of Metrix for the editions capable of these exports.

22. Q: Can Metrix integrate with my existing Microsoft SQL Server database for storing projects and settings?

A: Metrix ships with its own database, but can also connect to a Microsoft SQL Server database.

23. Q: What platforms does Metrix run on?

A: Metrix runs on the following platforms: Microsoft® Windows XP® Professional, Microsoft® Windows 2003 Server (R1), Microsoft® Windows Vista®, Citrix® MetaFrame®, Mac OS X 10.4, or Mac OS X 10.5. If your company is interested in running Metrix on another platform please contact LithoTechnics.

24. Q: What hardware does Metrix require?

A: For Microsoft® Windows, Metrix requires an Intel® compatible PC with at least a 1 GHz processor, and a minimum of 512Mb of RAM for Metrix (plus whatever is required for the operating system and any other concurrent applications).

For Mac OS X, Metrix requires an Intel® Core 2 Duo processor, or a fast PowerPC processor, and a minimum of 512Mb of RAM for Metrix (plus whatever is required for the operating system and any other concurrent applications).

The security dongle requires a USB port.

25. Q: What languages is Metrix available in?

A: Metrix 3.0 is available in English, German, Spanish, and French. If your company is interested in using Metrix with another language please contact LithoTechnics.