Practical tools around the production line.
Build masks, inspect PDFs, deliver files securely, name jobs from printed marks, prepare Duplo cutter XML, nest die-cut pieces, rescue low-resolution images, generate barcode data, lift objects onto finish layers and translate JDF—all without crowding the main production applications.
Maskwork
Build the spot UV or foil plate that registers to the printed sheet, then preview how the finish will react to light.
- Paint, erase, auto-detect, or import mask regions
- Sample ink coverage and find repeated VDP records
- Export registered PDF or TIFF plates at the required resolution
- Review the finish in a 3D preview and export PNG or GIF
ImposeIQ Preflight
Check incoming PDFs before they reach imposition. Preflight reports problems; use Preflight PRO when the file needs correction.
- Inspect MediaBox, TrimBox, CropBox, page geometry, and real bleed
- Identify fonts that are not embedded
- Catch issues the production workflow would otherwise need to work around
- Preserve the original PDF for comparison and repair
SecureBridge
Move finished work between computers without exposing an SMB file share or relying on emailed attachments.
- SFTP over SSH with Ed25519 key authentication
- Automatic delivery from an outbox folder
- Inbox watching on the receiving computer
- The same utility can run at both ends of the connection
Tagger
Read marks and codes printed on a PDF, then build a consistent filename from what is actually on the job.
- Read configured marks and values from the page
- Create filenames from patterns and delimiters
- Process dropped files or watch an incoming folder
- Apply marks and review recent activity
DC Series XML Converter
Convert supported cutter job data into the DuploDCJobTemplate XML used by the DC-series PC Controller.
- Prepare compatible job data for PC Controller import
- Produce the same XML family exported by ImposeIQ Imposition
- Support a common downstream watch-folder path
- Run as a focused portable companion utility
ImposeIQ Digital Die Cut
Give it one die shape and a sheet up to B2, and it finds the layout that cuts the most pieces — nesting by the real outline, not the bounding box — then writes the imposed art, the cut file and a DXF.
- Row, interlocked (180°) and true-shape nesting compared side by side, with up count and yield
- Cut, crease and perforation lines found by colour in the die PDF
- DSM-1000 B2 margins, digital knife and laser cutters with locator marks
- Imposed art PDF, cut file with CutContour / Crease / Perf spots, DXF and a printed report
Image Rescue
Decide before the job goes on press whether a customer’s picture will print — then do whatever is worth doing about it. Most “low resolution” files are fine and only tagged wrong; Image Rescue tells those apart from the ones nothing can save.
- Effective dpi at the size the image is actually placed, with a plain verdict
- Lossless re-tagging when only the dpi tag is wrong
- Enlarging within what the content can carry, plus an optional Topaz / Real-ESRGAN hook
- Works on PDFs too: extracts the images, improves them and saves them back into the PDF
Barcode Data Generator
Add check-digit-correct barcode data to a spreadsheet, ready for ImposeIQ VDP or a barcode font — so a mailing or a warehouse run is scannable the first time.
- USPS Intelligent Mail (IMb) as 31 digits, or as the 65 letters an IMb barcode font needs
- GS1 SSCC-18 pallet and shipping container codes
- GS1-128 with Application Identifiers taken from your columns
- Custom templates for Code 128, Code 39, QR and Data Matrix
- Sample postal and warehouse lists to try every standard
Spot Layers
For a customer file that arrives with no finish layers. Click the type, shapes, logos and pictures that should be coated or foiled, and a copy of each goes onto a Spot UV or Foil layer — as the object itself, still vector, in a spot ink.
- Click an object to put it on the active layer, click again to take it off
- Double-click text for its whole line, drag a box for everything inside it
- Alt-click to reach the object underneath
- All text or all pictures on a page in one click
- Foil and Spot UV on the same object for raised varnish over foil
- Unlike Maskwork, it only copies what is printed — and keeps it as vectors
JDF Bridge
Translates between JDF — the CIP4 job ticket MIS and prepress systems speak — and the DC job XML the Duplo PC Controller reads. Drop a file in and the direction is taken from it.
- A JDF becomes a DC job; a DC job becomes JDF 1.5
- Takes tickets from Prinect, Apogee, Avanti, EFI Pace or a web-to-print front end
- Cut blocks, creases and perforations mapped attribute for attribute
- Hands a DC job you already built back to the MIS so it can be tracked
Die Line Reader
A customer sends a die-line PDF: the finished shape drawn as coloured rules over the artwork. The Die Line Reader works out what the machine is being asked to do — drop the PDF in, check what it found, and export the DC job XML.
- Reads cuts, slits, creases and perforations from the line colours
- Tells a designer’s customer die line from a Duplo DC template on its own, and lets you overrule it
- Positions measured from the page, not retyped by hand
- Exports the DC job XML for the PC Controller
Metadata Tagger
Writes the same mark codes and job ticket as the File Name Tagger, but into the PDF’s metadata — so the tag survives renaming, re-filing and being pulled into a job folder under a new name.
- Writes the XMP packet and the Info dictionary, and leaves the file name alone
- Visible in Acrobat’s Document Properties, pdfinfo, a RIP or an MIS
- The same tokens as the File Name Tagger, so either tool reads the other’s tags
- Inspect any PDF to see what it carries
DB-300 Glue Yield
Work out how much hot-melt glue a perfect-bound run needs on the Duplo DB-300, and what it costs per book with EVA or Planamelt Pro.
- Books per pound and cost per book for both glues
- Total glue and cost for the run
- Spine width and book length checked against the DB-300 limits
- Your own box sizes and prices