Possible new Sub-Forum

[Sparky's]

To those at the helm, I have been browsing MacForums for some time before I finally became a member. I have thoroughly enjoyed the site and have found it extremely useful as far as general MAC stuff is concerned. One thing I don't see enough of is a specific group (and I know you're out there) of Graphics professionals who have concerns, questions, problems, and even Panic attacks because of production coming to a halt, jobs not printing, apps freezing, etc. There are a lot of us out here who don't need 90% of the "frivolous" stuff that has become OS X. We work in a professional environment and (in most cases) aren't even allowed to listen to music let alone download stuff, or make movies and such.
What I'm asking is maybe a place that could be directed to those of us that USE Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Quark, Acrobat 6 Pro, Postscript printers and RIPs (yes and still PageMaker) in the commercial printing arena and need help with those apps. I search over all the forums but rarely see that much about the professional aspects of my trade being "Threaded"
Maybe the lack of is my answer, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Sparky
Manager Digital Pre-press (for commercial printer in up-state New York)

 

[Mudbug]

I can feel your pain - however - there's a software & hardware help forum set up for specific questions that arise, and soon there should be a "creative" forum set up for sharing of creative works by members. And for the really toughies... ask me Prepress/IT manager used to be my title too.

 

[Sparky's]

new sub Thread

MudBug, thanks for the reply, I look forward to the "Creative" forum I feel what I'm looking for will end up there.
On a curious note, where did you do your Desktop Managing? (if you don't mind the question)
I have been in commercial printing for over 35 years (started in High School) and started my "Desktop" experience on a Scitex Pixet work station in the early '80s and went on to MACs in the Late '80s and never looked back.
Sparky

 

[Mudbug]

MudBug, thanks for the reply, I look forward to the "Creative" forum I feel what I'm looking for will end up there.
On a curious note, where did you do your Desktop Managing? (if you don't mind the question)
I have been in commercial printing for over 35 years (started in High School) and started my "Desktop" experience on a Scitex Pixet work station in the early '80s and went on to MACs in the Late '80s and never looked back.
Sparky

whoa - well, then you've got a few more years under your belt than me, but I had the benefit (?) of having to learn it all on the job, and worked in the midst of moving from camera to imagesetter to dtp. I started fresh out of college with a BA in psychology/art minor and began working for Mid-South Press in Shreveport, LA (now named Graphic Industries). I had ZERO experience there, but sat down and learned quark/pagemaker/photoshop/freehand/illustrator on the fly, as well as drum scanning/color correction in Photoshop v3. We had 2 12" agfa capstan imagesetters which worked intermittently (I'm sure you can understand). One had an onboard RIP, one with the external tallbox. The company moved into a more structured server environment from there, going to a ColorCentral workflow, and adding a 22" Screen capstan with an onboard developer tank. I stayed with that for a few years, but then got the design bug and got a job with my current agency.

HOWEVER -
I had what I refer to as my "momentary lapse of reason" and left 6 months after changing jobs to be the prepress manager at Casaic silkscreen and offset, at a time that wouldn't have been healthy for ANYONE to go there. The previous person in my position (if there really was one) had left things in an utter shambles, the network was horrible, and to add to the fun, the IT manager blamed it all on the macs, and wouldn't let me get into the guts of the thing. While I was there, however, we added a Creo-Scitex 36" drum imagesetter, which would also go dtp if required, and could image proofs onto the correct stock (although we never got that far while I was there). So to make a long story short (too late...) I quit that position after only a few months. The 18 hours a day 6 days a week was getting to me. Who woulda figured.

Turns out the girl who was hired to replace me at the agency was absolutely horrible, and all worked out well for everyone. I got my agency job back, she was let go, and I effectively walked away from the prepress manager position, and haven't looked back since. I now have to stay on top of things, since I'm the only person here. I don't have a "digital support staff" to hold my hands when things go wrong, which thankfully, isn't often.

That, in a nutshell, is my professional life for the last 8-10 years.
Oh, and I just bagged a gold addy at this years' competition. go me.

and the quick answer - on a mac (quadra 860 av), but I had everything since a IIE before then at home, and before that, a TRS-80.

 

[Sparky's]

OK now we're going off topic, but its nice to know I wasn't the only one who was pointed at the equipment and told to "learn". I cut my teeth in trade shops (yesterdays pre-press) on the left coast, cutting roll film, tray developing shooting HTs on cameras with wooden rails (at least they were equiped with real Nikor lenses) taught the old Kodak silvermask separation method and pretty much learned "on the fly also". The company that put me on the Scitex was Graphic Arts Systems in Burbank, CA now out of business but what a company for 25 years. I earned the reputation as "King of the Silver Bullet List" fired 4 times quit 3 times, and each time came back for more money. All my experience in modern (MAC) desktop was self taught, I have a stack of "Bibles" about 7' high, you know the IDG books "Photoshop 3 Bible", etc. and have read everyone cover to cover. Now I am the lone person in my dept. keeping 3 MACs and 3 PCs all hooked together and runnng every app anyone can throw at us.
"See you at the Forum"

PS if you haven't heard of us check out www.IAPHC.org
I was President of the Adirondack Club 2001-2002

 

[GETOFDZNTZ]

graphics arts system

hey sparky, was that the company owned by gene alkazian and whose son steve also worked there?