Rant Nesting Contours in Production Manager

[bannertime]

So, as some know, I do like my Flexi. We've been using it since Flexi 6. Lot of stuff I think it does really well. However, this just ticks me off like nothing else before.

Nesting Contour Jobs
Nesting Contour Jobs is useful with virtual hybrid setups, files created in 3rd party applications, or files that already include contour cut lines. Nest contour jobs in Production Manager for the most efficient use of your device and media.

This feature is currently only available for 3rd party files.

I typically setup a nested job before sending it, because of the True Nest feature, or it doesn't need it because it's just one file, repeated. A few days ago, I had a job that was 1700 square cut graphics, but 5 of one, 25 of another, 44 of that one kind of thing. Okay, I'll just send them from Flexi and set the quantities in Production Manager, nest, and print/cut. You can't do that with Flexi art. (It may be possible, but you have to export each graphic as whatever and include contour cut path, then pull all the files into PM) After 6 hours of trying to figure out why Production Manager couldn't nest contour graphics sent from Flexi. (Okay, it wasn't 6 straight hours, it was in between other jobs) I decided to check the help section and found that lovely quote above. So I had to redo half the job in Illustrator. Fortunately I'm familiar with Actions and it only took about 20 minutes to setup, run about 150 graphics through a batch, set the quantities, and start the print. Seems like it'd be easiest to do it with it's native files. Guess not. Turns out it was easier to do it from Illy anyways. Pretty disappointing.

 

[Josiah Alden]

I would reccomend setting copies in Arrange>Step & repeat, then sending them from the editor through Rip&Print - this allows you to trueshape nest as many as you would like. Production Manager only has Basic nesting function.

 

[bannertime]

I would reccomend setting copies in Arrange>Step & repeat, then sending them from the editor through Rip&Print - this allows you to trueshape nest as many as you would like. Production Manager only has Basic nesting function.

That's what I had been doing. This works for well for when you don't have to repeat that same steps 150 times with different numbers. Since mine were squares and didn't need any margin, it was easier to set all the quantities in PM, especially since I didn't need the True Nest. It's just that Flexi can't import an integrated print/cut file. It sends a print file and a cut file. So to do what I needed, I had to pull all the art into Illustrator, batch edit a cut line, and then import that whole folder into PM. I only like to cut in 8-10ft sheets, so in Flexi, I'd have to spend some time setting up those sheets. In PM it does it for you.