Summa + Manual barcodes

[ikarasu]

Can you not change your barcode macro to do the rotation correctly? Or am I missing something here.

I could, but then the PDF would be sideways... and loading it into onyx would also be sideways unless I made a quickset to rotate it in onyx. It's not that the PDF is the incorrect rotation, its that the summa software is opening it sideways when it pulls it up via barcode for some reason.

Personally I'd rather rotate it in summas action set, since I plan on making an action set for this anyways - I need an action set that pulls just the kiss cut data, and then an action set that pulls the perf data... so in theory its best if I just do it on summas software. I guess theoretically I could have it regular in the original pdf, then just edit the barcode.pdf file to be rotated. That or I manually generate the sgpjs and use those - But Something about rotating my PDF's sideways irks me.... I feel like I'd do that, then next update Summa would fix the problem...and I'd have to go into 80+ files and un rotate them all. Where as if I do it in Summas action set... If they do fix it, I could just delete the rotate command.

 

[balstestrat]

I could, but then the PDF would be sideways... and loading it into onyx would also be sideways unless I made a quickset to rotate it in onyx. It's not that the PDF is the incorrect rotation, its that the summa software is opening it sideways when it pulls it up via barcode for some reason.

Personally I'd rather rotate it in summas action set, since I plan on making an action set for this anyways - I need an action set that pulls just the kiss cut data, and then an action set that pulls the perf data... so in theory its best if I just do it on summas software. I guess theoretically I could have it regular in the original pdf, then just edit the barcode.pdf file to be rotated. That or I manually generate the sgpjs and use those - But Something about rotating my PDF's sideways irks me.... I feel like I'd do that, then next update Summa would fix the problem...and I'd have to go into 80+ files and un rotate them all. Where as if I do it in Summas action set... If they do fix it, I could just delete the rotate command.

Sorry I mean rotate it in Goproduce barcode macro. That's how they want you to do it.

 

[ikarasu]

99% sure I'm done... knock on wood. Only thing I'm not sure about is if the barcode that ends in 0 or the 5 goes on the top of the artboard... or if it even matters. Got it generating the 11 digits, plus 12th BS checksum digit.


So it does a few things -

Step 1 - Generate the barcodes
Step 2 - Resize artboard by .6" on sides, and 1.25" on top / bottom, places the barcodes there
Step 3 - Generates circular fiducials every 12"... With the fiducials at the bottom of the page usually having the last one within 12", That way you can tell which way is up/down if you're just hand scanning the barcodes in.
Step 4- It'll find all "Perf, cutcontour, kiss, etc" swatches and throw them onto their appropriate summa designated layer.

Once I finish testing, I'll upload multiple versions -

Version 1 - Just generates the barcodes and you can use the summa software to generate your fiducials... That way all the roll cutter people can still use it.

Version 2 - As is where it does everything.


Version 3 - I'd like to make it a fully fledged "addon" Kind of like the suma go produce software... where a drop down exists, and you can select what you want it to do. That I'll do during christmas break though....

 

[ikarasu]

Sorry I mean rotate it in Goproduce barcode macro. That's how they want you to do it.

Ahh.

I feel like it's a glitch? Why do they want you to rotate it? Unless I'm missing something... Lets use a map as an example. Top of the artboard is N... Right side is E... Bottom is S, Left is W.

When you import the PDF into summas software... That stays the same. however When it reads a barcode and imports it... all of a sudden it imports it rotated, so N is on the East side instead of "true north". I think using the Summa action set to rotate it would fix the issue (Though I'm not sure if it'll rotate it correctly no matter which barcode side you read, IE front and back) It makes no sense in why theyd want you to have to rotate it when it's the right direction in the first place. It'd be like opening the photos app on your phone, and every photo is in portrait even though you're holding it in landscape... and they want you to click rotate every time rather than just opening it the proper way.

I'm probably missing something though, maybe theres a reason for it... My brains fried from dealing with postnet. Would be nice if it just read it the way it was given... Loaded it up with N on top, then if it read the bottom barcode it would rotate it 180 degrees... I dont see the point in having to rotate it 90 degrees to get it the right direction.

But I'm going to bed! Will finally have a proper printed file tomorrow to play with and I can test it more tomorrow and figure out the best way to get it to work. If adding a rotate in the action set works, I can do that - if it doesnt... If I have to manually import and save as a non pdf, I dont mind doing it that way. So long as theres a way to get it to work and all of this wasn't for nothing

 

[jerry369]

When you import the PDF into summas software... That stays the same. however When it reads a barcode and imports it... all of a sudden it imports it rotated, so N is on the East side instead of "true north".

PDF has the origin at top left corner, while GoSign/GoProduce has it in the bottom right corner, and the axes reversed. This is why to correctly import a PDF file with the "Import Document" action it must contain commands to perform a 270° rotation ( three 90° rotations or a single 270° rotation with GoProduce 3 ).
If your Import Document action works different from the Barcode Workflow action probably one of the two does not have the right rotations, you can edit the action to add the rotations

we reported this in Summa so that they can automatically rotate the PDF documents ...without success. This is why you cannot have files of different formats (PDF with others) in the same barcode flow

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Can you not change your barcode macro to do the rotation correctly? Or am I missing something here.

It's not the macro, it's the goSign software broke the handling of PDFs

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

99% sure I'm done... knock on wood. Only thing I'm not sure about is if the barcode that ends in 0 or the 5 goes on the top of the artboard... or if it even matters. Got it generating the 11 digits, plus 12th BS checksum digit.


So it does a few things -

Step 1 - Generate the barcodes
Step 2 - Resize artboard by .6" on sides, and 1.25" on top / bottom, places the barcodes there
Step 3 - Generates circular fiducials every 12"... With the fiducials at the bottom of the page usually having the last one within 12", That way you can tell which way is up/down if you're just hand scanning the barcodes in.
Step 4- It'll find all "Perf, cutcontour, kiss, etc" swatches and throw them onto their appropriate summa designated layer.

Once I finish testing, I'll upload multiple versions -

Version 1 - Just generates the barcodes and you can use the summa software to generate your fiducials... That way all the roll cutter people can still use it.

Version 2 - As is where it does everything.


Version 3 - I'd like to make it a fully fledged "addon" Kind of like the suma go produce software... where a drop down exists, and you can select what you want it to do. That I'll do during christmas break though....

I'd love to play with your code to see if I could add to it and help.

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

PDF has the origin at top left corner, while GoSign/GoProduce has it in the bottom right corner, and the axes reversed. This is why to correctly import a PDF file with the "Import Document" action it must contain commands to perform a 270° rotation ( three 90° rotations or a single 270° rotation with GoProduce 3 ).
If your Import Document action works different from the Barcode Workflow action probably one of the two does not have the right rotations, you can edit the action to add the rotations

we reported this in Summa so that they can automatically rotate the PDF documents ...without success. This is why you cannot have files of different formats (PDF with others) in the same barcode flow

Hmm, I'm going to test this... there is a way to alter pdf home location so maybe it can be done in the pdf code data.

 

[ikarasu]

Finally had a bit of time. Rotating 270 worked. It'll read the barcode and pull the data from the pdf just fine!

I tested both front and back... And it reads it perfectly and cuts it out.


I did discover even If it reads the barcodes it heads to home for the fiducial... So if you have some 48" and some 53" and they're centered on a sheet, it may not read the 48 fiducials automatically. Would be nice if it read the barcode, and knew the fiducials were 10mm or whatever it is away from the barcode. Could be something I'm doing wrong or just the way it Is, I know graphtec is the same.... Was hoping the long barcode bar was so the summa could find it no matter where it is.

I'll upload the script when I'm back home tonight!

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Finally had a bit of time. Rotating 270 worked. It'll read the barcode and pull the data from the pdf just fine!

I tested both front and back... And it reads it perfectly and cuts it out.


I did discover even If it reads the barcodes it heads to home for the fiducial... So if you have some 48" and some 53" and they're centered on a sheet, it may not read the 48 fiducials automatically. Would be nice if it read the barcode, and knew the fiducials were 10mm or whatever it is away from the barcode. Could be something I'm doing wrong or just the way it Is, I know graphtec is the same.... Was hoping the long barcode bar was so the summa could find it no matter where it is.

I'll upload the script when I'm back home tonight!

Unfortunately that's how it is with the Summa, it has to go to the home reset position.

 

[ikarasu]

Unfortunately that's how it is with the Summa, it has to go to the home reset position.

That's too bad, I thought the long bar was a nice addition as it could read it from the mid, then it'll know where to go once it reads the barcode. Currently plan on kiss cutting a full roll, then relosding the roll and then perf cutting - so even if I print left justified, once rotated if the sheets are a different size, it won't align with the home anymore.


But I can easily just set it up to always produce barcodes and fiducials at the 53.5" width and center the art.... That way it'll always be at home even if I rotate it. Not a big deal, but just seems like an overlooked feature summa could easily add and bring it 1 more step above the graphtec.


Happy to finally get it working, I was thinking I'd have to save a pdf with just the kiss in one folder and just the perf in another.... But summa allows you to ignore layers, so 1 pdf and then 2 action sets and it's all setup and working perfect.


Now to re-setup and barcode 50ish diff sheets... Tomorrow should be fun!

 

[balstestrat]

Are you sure you don't have some origin reset or something on the output macro? I could almost swear that it goes to the first mark automatically no matter what origin, but I can't try now.

 

[ikarasu]

Heres the scripts I made... incase anyone finds it usefull.

Suma-Fiducials - This one will increase artboard size by .6" left/right, and 1.25" up/down, add circular fiducials, and then add the barcode.


Summa-Barcode - This one will just add the barcode. It wont resize the artboard... it'll just add it to the bottom and top, So you need to make your artboard roughly 1" bigger top and bottom, and .6" bigger left and right. Or add your fiducials like normally, delete the middle ones on top/bottom then use this script.


Both are very basic / dumb! During X-mas break I'll modify them more and try to make it a app with checks / balances, etc. Unless someone does it before me And saves me the headache

 

[ikarasu]

Are you sure you don't have some origin reset or something on the output macro? I could almost swear that it goes to the first mark automatically no matter what origin, but I can't try now.

I don't think so, I just cloned the Barcode workflow on roll action, changed the directory and told it to ignore certain layers in the PDF.

I just remoted in and origin reset isn't ticked off.

I do feel like it goes to the first mark automatically with Onyx.... if printing a 20" item on a 54" roll, onyx will only do a 20" Barcode...and I dont remember ever having to manually select it. So maybe its another pitfall of pdf? Not too sure... I havent had much time to play with it, Been a busy week. I'll do some more tests tomorrow and I'll output it to sgpj and see if it does the same thing, or if it just goes to the mark.

I did just check and it looks like it did a whole roll of labels with the take up Wont know if it did them correctly or not until tomorrow though. The first roll we tried the table stopped working, but it kept cutting.... so all the cuts ended up off. We only did like 15 FT... Turned out the breaker for the vacuum tripped somehow. Decided to just yolo it and let it run overnight.... just remoted in and checked the camera view and it got to the end of the roll. So lets hope the suction didn't die again! Would be nice if the machine stopped cutting and threw an error if it did rather than keep on cutting.... but again, minor things!