Meeting Notes Archive

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Joe Shankar from Triple Triangle demonstrated four of their plug-ins for InDesign®. We saw a quick demonstration back in May that left us stunned at what could be done, so we had them back for more. Joe showed Slug Cubed, a file control automation system, first and then two specification plug-ins called Spec Cubed and Color Spec Cubed, and finished up with Raster Write, which autogenerates images of InDesign layouts. Let's take a look at each.

Slug Cubed generates and maintains information about an InDesign document. The plug-in runs in two modes: admin and user. The admin mode lets you build slugs and customize the content and appearance of the slug information. You can build a variety of slug designs (almost like library items) for other non-admin users to apply to a document. The admin designer can also dictate that particular slugs are automatically built into new documents and that the slug requests specific information about the document when the file is created. A user can apply slugs to a page and change some data in the slug. Some slugs will prompt for information when the file is printed or saved as well.

Color Spec Cubed and Spec Cubed are related but subtly different plug-ins. Color Spec creates visual callouts or style guides for a spread or document. It focuses on information about colors and basic text and graphic information. Spec is a much more powerful tool that can also be customized to create callouts from over 150 pieces of information about the content of a document. When you run either of these plug-ins, you get arrows pointing to objects and color boxes with information about the object. Some callouts might detail when text changes from bold to book, or from black to a PMS color. Other callouts might hold information about a placed graphic’s resolution, size, and scale. It all depends on which of the plug-ins you’re using and how you’ve customized Spec Cubed.

Raster Write was the fourth plug-in Joe shared. Ever have a client who wants an up-to-the-minute snap shot of what you’re design looks like? This plug-in will make TIFF, JPG, or GIF images of your pages with controls over resolution and scale. You can even automate Raster Write to create these files when you save a file.

Triple Triangle Demo versions of all these plug-ins are available on their website. http://www.tripletriangle.com

InDesign and XML
Joe Shankar then presented information regarding XML. He started by explaining what XML is and how it might be used. He explained how InDesign can work, generate, or read XML. He then showed some practical examples of how XML could be used in press releases and when you would want to use XML.

Prizes
We had some great books and training go to new homes — and even a software package.

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