We recently had a project that required merging a large amount of files for printing. The problem we faced was that we didn’t know how to get all of the files merged together in an organized manner so that they could be efficiently printed. What we didn’t know was that we needed something called imposition software and one that was easy to use.
What is Imposition Software?
Imposition is a core step in the pre-press process of printing and it basically means joining files together in a manner that is efficient for printing. For example, if you were going to print some 6×4” photos on your home printer that uses standard letter pages that are 8.5”x11”. You wouldn’t print one photo on each page, that would be a waste of space. You would impose two photos on each page because there is enough space to fit two on a page. That’s a basic example of imposition.
How Hard Is It To Use Imposition Software?
Once we discovered what we needed we ran across about a half dozen programs that do imposition but they all seemed overly technical and complicated. I’m sure those programs have their place but we needed something simple. A bit more searching and we discovered File Splice. We tested out a couple of their demo pages and then signed up because it seemed like it would be the simplest solution for our needs. There was no software to download and the UI and instructions were simple and straightforward.
It turned out it was exactly what we needed. The process to build a template, (basically the output of what we needed) was easy. It took maybe a minute. We then uploaded our files and merged them together. The whole process took less than 5 minutes from start to finish and that was being a total newbie.
Additional Imposition Software Features
Along with the imposition functionality there is a collate tool. This is a simple tool where you can upload files and place them in a specific order. The system allows PDF, JPG and PNG files.
Upload your files and then click, drag and drop them in the order you want them to be. Once you have the order set, click the collate button and the system will create a new multi page PDF in the order you placed your files. It’s very handy if you need to merge PNGs, JPGS or PDFs.
If you have a project that requires imposition or collation of files check out File Splice. It may be the simple solution to your problem.
