Imposition

• Last updated on December 29, 2023
• •
• 1 minute to read

Tip

Consider utilizing the new task populate-psd-template, which adds support for vector masks and renders not only placeholders but also other design elements, addressing limitations of produce-imposition. During migration, change the task name and replace parameters starting with "interpolation..." with those beginning with "output...".

This example describes how you can render the personalized design with imposition, i.e. copying an artwork multiple times on a larger sheet.

To produce imposition, it is necessary to prepare a template in Adobe Photoshop, where smart objects will be placeholders for inserting graphics. For more details about creating such templates, refer to the Template-based imposition topic.

First, let's split our goal into simple operations from getting a design from the project to cleaning up the pipeline and updating the project.

flowchart TB t1(Getting a design from order) t2(Rendering the design) t3(Adding crop marks) t4(Producing imposition) t5(Finalizing) t1-->t2 t2-->t3 t3-->t4 t4-->t5

These operations are performed using the following tasks:

• extract-project-design
• render-vdp-hires
• draw-crop-marks
• produce-imposition
• finalize

Artifacts are conveyed between these tasks as follows:

In this example, it is assumed that you have placed a bc-8up-letter.psd template in the Images > imposition folder. For reference, you can download and unzip this template.

{
    "tasks": [
        {
            "description": "Extract design from project",
            "name": "extract",
            "type": "extract-project-design",
            "parameters": {},
            "outputArtifacts": [
                "design"
            ]
        },
        {
            "description": "Render design",
            "name": "render-vdp-hires",
            "maxAutoRetryCount": 0,
            "type": "render-vdp-hires",
            "inputArtifacts": [
                "design"
            ],
            "parameters": {
                "hiResOutputDpi": 300,
                "hiResOutputFileFormat": "pdf",
                "hiResOutputColorSpace": "cmyk",
                "hiResOutputRgbColorProfileName": "",
                "hiResOutputCmykColorProfileName": "Coated FOGRA39 (ISO 12647-2:2004)",
                "hiResOutputGrayscaleColorProfileName": "",
                "hiResOutputToSeparateFiles": false,
                "hiResOutputChannelContainersToSeparateFiles": false,
                "hiResOutputChannelContainersRenderEmptyPage": true,
                "hiResOutputCompression": "Jpeg",
                "hiResOutputJpegCompressionQuality": 80,
                "hiResOutputFlipMode": "0",
                "hiResOutputPdfAuthor": "",
                "hiResOutputPdfCreator": "",
                "hiResOutputPdfKeywords": "",
                "hiResOutputPdfSubject": "",
                "hiResOutputPdfTitle": "",
                "hiResOutputInStringPlaceholderHintsEnabled": false
            },
            "outputArtifacts": [
                "hires-design"
            ]
        },
        {
            "description": "Draw crop marks",
            "name": "draw-crop-marks",
            "type": "draw-crop-marks",
            "inputArtifacts": [
                "hires-design"
            ],
            "parameters": {
                "drawCropMarkCropSizeHorizontal": 20,
                "drawCropMarkCropSizeVertical": 20,
                "drawCropMarkBlackCropLineWidth": 1,
                "drawCropMarkText": " "
            },
            "outputArtifacts": [
                "design-with-crop-marks"
            ]
        },
        {
            "description": "Imposition",
            "name": "produce-imposition",
            "type": "produce-imposition",
            "inputArtifacts": [
                "design-with-crop-marks"
            ],
            "parameters": {
                "impositionRenderDpi": 300,
                "impositionTemplateFolder": "/imposition",
                "impositionTemplateName": "bc-8up-letter.psd",
                "impositionRenderFormat": "Pdf",
                "impositionRenderSeparateFiles": false,
                "impositionRenderJpegCompressionQuality": 90
            },
            "outputArtifacts": [
                "imposed-design*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "description": "Finalize",
            "name": "finalize",
            "type": "finalize",
            "finalArtifacts": [
                "imposed-design*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

For more details, refer to the tutorial How to create pipelines.