Imposition lays your artwork out on sheets or a roll so you print and cut as little as possible. You add the pieces you need, pick how they will be cut, press Run, and compare the layouts it finds. The layout you pick gives you an imposed PDF for the printer and cut files for the cutter.
The flow#
- Create a job. A job holds the media (a sheet size or a roll width), margins and spacing, and the artwork to impose. See Jobs and artwork.
- Add artwork. Upload PDFs or images, or bring in a proof your customer signed off. Set each artwork's quantity, rotation and bleed.
- Set up the media and equipment on the Production tab: sheet or roll, the cutter and the printer. See Sheets, rolls, margins and equipment.
- Choose a method and a run type in the run bar above the layout. The method decides how pieces may be cut apart; the run type decides how the job is printed. See Methods: Auto, True shape, N-up, Strips and Run types: Digital and Offset.
- Run. The run looks for layouts for as long as you allow, and lists them as it finds them.
- Compare the layouts on the Report tab: sheets, utilisation, cut and print time, and cost. See Comparing layouts in the Report.
- Check the selected layout on the Production tab: forms, knife steps, strips or plates. See The Production tab.
- Export the imposed PDF, the cut file and the method's own sheets. See Exports.
Words used on these pages#
- Item (artwork)
- One piece you want printed, with its ordered quantity. A job can hold many different items.
- Sheet
- One sheet of stock that goes through the press. On a roll, the layout is one long strip instead.
- Form
- One distinct layout of pieces on a sheet. A digital run can print the same form many times: the layout shows it as a form × copies, such as "Form 2 × 84".
- Plate
- On an offset run, a form that gets its own plate set and is printed a run length, such as "Plate 1 · run 1,835". The offset settings call these plates today.
- Copies and run length
- How many times a form or plate is printed.
More terms are in the Glossary.
Four methods, two run types#
| Method | Pieces | Media | Cut on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto | any | sheets or roll | picks N-up for all-rectangle jobs on sheets, otherwise True shape |
| True shape | any outline | sheets or roll | a digital cutter (knife or laser) |
| N-up (guillotine) | rectangles | sheets | a guillotine, with a knife program |
| Strips | any (mixed strips: rectangles) | sheets or roll | a slitter or trimmer between strips |
Each method runs as Digital (exact quantities, fewest sheets) or Offset (plates and run lengths within overrun caps, lowest cost). Offset runs need sheets.
Every layout is checked#
Before a layout reaches the list it is checked: no two pieces overlap, the spacing between pieces is kept, and every piece is inside the printable area of its sheet. A layout that fails is dropped, never shown. When you move pieces by hand in Edit mode, the same checks mark any problems (see Viewing and editing a layout).
Runs keep going when you leave#
A run works in the background. You can close the page and come back: the run bar shows its progress and the layouts found so far. Stop ends the run early and keeps what it found. See Troubleshooting runs when a run fails or finds nothing, and Nesting for what a nest checks.