We do. 2 of those are not RIP's, just design software. Flexi has the simplest print/cut workflow (no need to add cut lines in your design software, no other plug-ins, or other programs needed). That being said, we do not use Flexi as a "design" program for 95% of things. Only basic text only quickie jobs. I have found and over the past 10+ years I have looked at and/or tried demo's of just about every RIP. They also still offer a full purchase option (I'd be quite unhappy if they go to a subscription only). We do no save our Illustrator or Photoshop shop files as anything special, native Illustrator ai and psd file and Flexi opens them just fine. Sure there are certain highly complex Illustrator files with certain transparency effects that can explode when opened (but Illustrator warns when saving files with certain effects that they might not render correctly in almost any other application) which sometimes have to be dealt with. They do not charge to add another printer, full profiling is built in (no some extra cost add on), true APPE (Adobe PDF Print Engine - the actual RIP). Not in any way saying I've been 100% thrilled with Flexi over the years. Just saying in my own experience I've found it much more useable (not much wanting to run a browser based RIP) in the long run and if properly configured it works great for us. This new finishing tool is the first feature I have run into from Flexi that will have an extra cost to us. And it is an extra cost to us simply because we are one of those who choose to pay thousands of dollars at once to have a full perpetual license. These new finishing tools are completely free to those who use the subscription route. I find that pretty disappointing and almost insulting, especially considering if your Flexi install is current, those tools are there, just if you are a perpetual license user they have you locked out of them. A couple of clicks on a keyboard to update your license is all it takes for them to be unlocked so you can access them.
As far as this new finishing plugin. I do like it but with one caveat that I feel strongly about. Sure we can easily enough add grommet marks in Illustrator or just hand mark them on the finished banner. This does very much simplify adding grommet marks along with a bleed or fold line very very rapidly and with spot on accurate placement. However, this more of a design end tool in my opinion and should be a tab on the design ends "rip and print" dialogs, not on the Production Manager end. In our example we have a dedicated machine that strictly runs Production Manager and the design computers connect to that over the network to send jobs to the machines. 99% of the time the person sending the job has already loaded the particular machine with the media, and then sends the job from designer as "send now". The only time one of us actually interacts with Production Manager is to send a cut job from a print/cut that had to sit to outgas or be laminated before cutting. Also the monitor on the RIP computer is small and basic (does not need anything big), while on the design computers - those all have big 27" screens and one can expand the "rip and print" screen to get a much closer view of what they are doing in a toll like the finishing add on.
