Nexus versus Prinergy EVO

Originally Posted by knvb

you might get a call back in an hour with Creo, Agfa etc. but its the product/workflow and functionality that counts, For packaging, Creo has only a shell to offer...limited editing tools and a Pandoras list of components that have been peiced together over the years...AWS support gets back with me by the end of day...with an answer...Creo does not have the tools to give answers...

Were not a packaging company, but we have had just about every thing under the sun.
We still have creo and nexus. I can make a call about something and everytime with in 1hour I get my call back from somebody on creo that is up to speed on the problem at hand. Getting a call back by the end of the day will does not work for us, and this is what I get from Artworks on around 70% of calls, about 20% with in 4hours and the other 10% well after 24hours. Rampage is nice, make a call and speek too the tech right then and their.

Devin

[knvb]

Yes the "problem at hand" that's the key, you will wait a year for the "problem at hand" to be resolved for the next release...the important point here is not reasonable call back time..its having a solution...and BTW most of our offset commercial work that does not go through Prinergy has to be repaired in ArtPro....

[beermonster]

been reading this with great interest.

we are packaging here, and have reached the point where we need a pdf workflow that is capable of handling the things packaging needs.

so - after lots of research i've narrowed it to Prinergy Evo or ArtPro <not nexus but AWS none-the less.>.

any calls to service need to be addressed asap, and you know what - i've heard good and bad for both CreoDak and AWS.

interesting comment that creo doesnt have the tools for packaging since when i saw prinergy demoed it was superb - from pdf in to imposed 20 up work and turn cartons in 6 colours. but there will be things it isnt so good at too.

i guess what each system does is very important - but just as important is what they WONT do. Artpro seems to make big files sometimes and take an age to handle stuff on occasion - and i'm sure there's tons more!

dcs, psd, transparency, spot colours, trapping - these are the kind of things needing to be shoved through each to see what it does well - and what it doesnt do well.

alas, even after all of that budget will become a factor. Evo comes in cheaper with 5 licenses as opposed to artpro being more expensive with one license. so for me, i think artpro would be the better solution - but i feel prinergy coming due to budget - regardless of each systems strengths and weaknesses.

just adding in a budget to the debate.....

we are packaging offset and flexo and flexo packaging is the most difficult prepress work.

Don't be fooled by their slick demos, the only jobs that run through prinergy here are the yellow brick road jobs.


PDF:
Our current version of Prinergy is aPDF 1. wf and if you have to work in pistop all day it can become very painful. Secondly there is flattening stage that occurs which ruins your editability chances. This is because Creo doesn't own any editing tools, they OEM pitstop.
AWS has a true pdf 1.5x workflow called Odystar and ArtPro maintains transparency for full editability...this is key, for cmyk raster people you might not care but this is key in a spot color vector world.

Nexus handles massive files, psd, dcs multi channel tiffs, etc,. etc. In our shop we have to take ill files containing dcs into artpro and then make pdfs for Prinergy...creo has a painful workaround for dcs.


Budget:
Support for creo is around 20 grand for us and 5 grand for AWS...you will also have to buy a second rip soon because Prinergy can't write to disk, it is slave to the processesor at all times. Your 5 liscences contain 1/8th of the tools in ArtPro or Nexus ....MacDevo should know this....

Prinergy can handle any type of file - just save it in Illustrator CS2

[jimbroski]

The reason why there is so much complaint with Nexus is because they surely do not have it together. I know if I have invested thousands of dollars in nexus I expect to get tech support within an hour. majority of users that are content with Nexus is because they have had experience with Hi-end Ripping systems like Rampage, Prinergy etc...

[macdevin]

I haven given up on contacting support. I find that I can reslove or find a workaround faster then getting them on the phone.

The Staff that I know and have talked with are very smart and very nice, but thats where it stops. Artworks is poorly ran as a whole. From what I know and have seen, upper mangment is to blame. They have know idea what is truly going on. I remember one day talking with our sales guy and one of the VP about how quick I wanted support. There look was like your crazy in thinking one hour, how about 4hrs. There were days that 4 hrs were like 48hrs. But hey they allways had a reason why it took so long

We had Rampage for about 6 months before getting Nexus, and that was sweet, Pick up the phone and get support, no giving your information and you should recive a call back soon.

Every other vendor we have, we get a call back in less then one hour. This goes for Creo/Kodak, Fuji


So if your a company that can not afford the downtime or does not have the know how in the prepress dept to find workarounds fast, then DO NOT get anything from Artworks.

[jminrod]

as of right now I am using prinergy but will be moving to a shop that I believe only has nexus rip. It seems that there are several people using both creo and art works system. I was wandering If there is a mojor learning curve.

[madmac]

I didn't think Prinergy was PDF 1.6 complaint ( meaning it flattens any transparencies from Adobe products)

Where as Artpro and Nexus can handle these PDF features and Nexus Total Rip can separate them straight to tif with out flattening.

As from the support side which is what you all seem to be knocking. from what I have read it all seems to be about support in the US in the UK we don't seem to have these issues.

[macdevin]

Originally Posted by madmac

I didn't think Prinergy was PDF 1.6 complaint ( meaning it flattens any transparencies from Adobe products)

Where as Artpro and Nexus can handle these PDF features and Nexus Total Rip can separate them straight to tif with out flattening.

As from the support side which is what you all seem to be knocking. from what I have read it all seems to be about support in the US in the UK we don't seem to have these issues.

PDF 1.5 is needed for transparencies not 1.6.

Your local support must be better, but the bad updates and slow respones comes from HQ. The Boys on the phone here are over taxed, and managment seems like they care, but can resolve nothing. They Blame HQ. I blame HQ, If HQ knew of the issue either with them or with the US staff it should have been fixed.

Devin