Summa 1620 Flatbed-Which Rip Software?

[garyroy]

We've reached the decision of getting the Summa 1612 Flatbed cutter.
May I ask users of that cutter what their preference of RIP software is, especially when putting out the bar codes for GoProduce Pro Pack?
The vendor says Onyx Thrive ($5000). Are any others using Flexi Cloud ($800/year+-). Am I missing one that would be better to use?

I am fairly proficient with software, been using Corel for over 20 years. This seems like next level stuff.
The output will come off Roland roll printers, and in a few steps will make it's way onto the cutter.
Either laminate then cut, or mount to substrate then cut. It's putting out that barcode, also some variable data printing that's throwing me a bit.
Till now VeraWorks handles everything pretty well but it lacks the ability to put out a cut file with registration marks and/or bar codes for flatbed cutters.

Any suggestions? Thanks for your input.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We use onyx with our summa 1624, it works very well, there are a few minor hiccups we have found along the way, but for the most part it works great. Now we were using onyx before we got the summa, if I was starting fresh I would download a trial of each and see which I liked best.

There is also the option of continuing to use versaworks and adding the crop marks in corel or Illustrator with a plug in that summa offers, you won't be able to take advantage of the barcodes but I know a few shops that do it.

Good luck with the machine! Ours has been awesome and has allowed us to take on much larger and more profitable jobs with ease. We just had a job printing 10 full rolls of vinyl that had to be cut into various size prints, the summa accomplished in an hour what an employee with a knife and ruler would do in a 8 hour day, and with a lot less complaining and blood lol.

 

[balstestrat]

You do understand that you need to manually create all the color profiles for your printers?
Versaworks profiles won't work on any other RIP. So you also need a spectrophotometer if you don't have one.

 

[richsweeney]

Flexi?

 

[White Haus]

We use Onyx Thrive and print to several printers and cut on our Summa F1612.

Works well once you get the hang of it!

Also use the Summa marks sometimes when I need to print out of Versaworks to match existing colors etc. Takes a couple extra steps but does give you some flexibility.

 

[ProColorGraphics]

I love Caldera. But I have also switched over to the full version of OptiScout to run my F1612.

 

[White Haus]

I love Caldera. But I have also switched over to the full version of OptiScout to run my F1612.

Does OptiScout replace Caldera AND GoProduce? If so, are there any benefits over GoProduce?

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Hi Gary,

Any of the RIP options you listed would work but I would say that Onyx is the most commonly used of the options listed and it has a nice clean workflow with the Summa. If you end up going with Onyx, and would like to use the barcode workflow, just keep in mind that you would need to also purchase the GoProduce Pro Pack to enable the barcode workflow on the Summa.

Let me know if you would like to pick my brain on the different options and I would be happy to go over everything more detail to ensure you will have what you need.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Airmark Corporation
(800)527-7778, ext. 112
philj@airmark.com

 

[ProColorGraphics]

Does OptiScout replace Caldera AND GoProduce? If so, are there any benefits over GoProduce?

Optiscout would replace GoProduce. It just had a lot of features I had been waiting for GoProduce to add. I started using SummaFlex with my SummaF, which is based off of Optiscout, so I was already familiar with it.
The really cool part is if there was something in the driver I needed tweaked, the tech would update it that day or the next!