EnFocus is the main driving force behind the PDF Ghent Group, the industry group which started the Certified PDF workflow, and which maintains and manages the CertifiedPDF profiles network. EnFocus, located in Ghent, Belgium, develops its own PDF workflow applications. One of those --their basic PDF workflow, editing and preflight package is PitStop Professional. PitStop Professional 08 is the company’s first new version since it has been acquired by EskoArtworks in 2008. PitStop Professional 08 has a number of improvements that will make it more appealing to those who are not directly interested in Certified PDF workflow.

With PitStop Professional 08, Enfocus wants to streamline the product’s interface, make it more generally accepted as a preflight tool, and enable more automated corrections. PitStop Professional 08 can automatically locate trim marks if a document contains them, and use them to set a proper trim box for the page. It can also automatically fix objects without proper bleed --in most cases, at least. It allows you to deviate from colour management settings and use different colour settings, such as when you’re evaluating values, using device links, etc.

Preflighting depends on workflow environment

In a desktop publishing workflow, creating the PDF is often regarded as the end phase of the creative process. If a production house is close to the printing press --as in full-service printers-- PitStop Professional may not be used only to preflight, but also to iron out some PDF-specific problems that might cause problems with the printing press.

In publishing environments where PDFs have to be created from layout files of unknown origin, it depends on the workflow setup if PitStop Professional will be used or some other preflight application such as FlightCheck. In such environments, even if the workflow is PDF-based, it may save time to preflight these files using FlightCheck. Any other solution would entail the creation of a PDF long before the file is final, and creating a PDF costs time --more than a FlightCheck check would cost.

However, in completely PDF-based workflows, PitStop Professional 08 and its automation sibling, PitStop Server, have distinct advantages.

While I couldn’t find dramatic improvements in PitStop Professional 08’s PDF tool chest, it does add some features that may make it more of a mainstream program, rather than an application which is regarded as a prepress tool only. For example, the preflight report can now combine report information with the processed document. These can be exported from the PDF, allowing an inspection of the report without needing PitStop Professional on the inspector’s system.

None of the features of PitStop Professional come easy. You will have to thoroughly read through the manual, especially so when you’re not used to working in a prepress environment. On the other hand, PitStop Professional 08 gets rid of an Inspector that was always too obtrusive in earlier versions, covering much of your PDF document. The Inspector can now even be collapsed.

PitStop Professional 08 tools enhanced

By setting up View and File Settings you can check whether features that influence the way you see the document (as in colour management and overprint) are configured correctly. Through this same feature it is now possible to check file specifics such as file size and naming convention. The View and File Settings can be saved as a setting and distributed to ensure operators on different workstations are viewing their jobs under the same conditions as you are.

Using the “Place PDF” feature you can now integrate, crop, scale and position partial page advertisements on an existing page. The Enfocus Cropping Tool allows you to define page box templates that can be used and reused to crop pages to the size you need.

Guides can be created and edited for consistent use throughout different documents. In Global Change or through Actions Lists you can now retrieve fonts and outline them.

Users can sign off on existing errors, meaning they can override specific errors, whereas in earlier versions PitStop Professional wouldn’t let you.

With this option, the target group of PitStop Professional 08 is somewhat larger than the prepress department because in theory it would allow PDFs for web-based use to pass through, and still have a PDF that is correct for printing in specific environments. I’m just guessing, but this could also mean that you can provide users with a PDF that will print on most printing presses, something that may spark new online, on-demand content markets --where documents are offered via the web that need printing on a digital press, for example.

Graphic designers and desktop publishers will probably opt for a preflighting application that integrates with QuarkXPress or InDesign, which leads us to FlightCheck, or InPreflight.