Pageflex, a division of Bitstream (http://www.bitstream.com) has released Studio ID 2.0, a desktop variable data publishing (VDP) plug-in for Adobe InDesign. This new release adds support for Adobe Creative Suite 5 (CS5) on both the Mac and Windows platforms and the patented flex technology that enables design templates to react to variable content in a more sophisticated manner than any other VDP software solution on the market.
Using variable data lets marketers achieve a sophisticated level of personal communication with their audiences, according to Anna Magliocco-Chagnon, president and CEO, Bitstream. But creating the templates used to develop these types of communication can be a time consuming and complex process. Other technologies require graphic designers to create a range of template versions that will look graphically pleasing when different amounts of variable content are used.
Magliocco-Chagnon says flex technology automates this process, letting designers create just one template with design layout containers that dynamically stretch, shrink, and reposition themselves in reaction to the quantity and size of the variable text or images poured into them. With flex, companies are able to reap the benefits of variable data publishing without having to manage a lot of templates, Magliocco-Chagnon adds.
Pageflex Studio ID 2.0 enables users to design, setup, and run variable data projects directly in InDesign CS4 or CS5. No conversion to a Pageflex format is necessary.
The InDesign application becomes project central for VDP campaigns, giving users access in one project file to all related templates and assets. Users can create one set of variables and variable business rules and then apply them to any template in the project. Pageflex Studio ID includes a point-n-click business rule editor for creating if-then-else rules, and support for Adobe ExtendScript when a project requires more complex rules.
Pageflex Studio ID also provides a migration path for those customers who want to make their VDP projects available in a web-to-print storefront now or in the future. Using Pageflex Studio ID, users can prepare variable data templates and projects for use in Pageflex Storefront, a web-to-print solution, as well as Pageflex Server, the load-balancing document processor that can be integrated into existing enterprise document portals.
After being uploaded to an InDesign Server-equipped Pageflex Storefront or Server, the files remain in the native Adobe InDesign format throughout the document customization and ordering workflow. The templates can come from either the Mac or Windows version of Pageflex Studio ID.
Pageflex Studio ID 2.0 costs US$695. This includes output drivers for PostScript, PDF, and PPML, as well as one year of email support and access to online Pageflex user forums.
