Automata 1.5 plug-in offers PSD output and rules-based field entry.Zumedia Software has released its Automata 1.5 plug-in, which brings variable data publishing capability to users of Adobe Illustrator CS.
With this version, Zumedia has added compatibility with Illustrator CS, printing as an output option, Photoshop (PSD) format output capabilities and rules-based field entry. Automata 1.0 was released last July.
The update also includes a tutorial that uses both Illustrator and Automata as its "stage" and walks the user through an interactive process where they build an actual product, according to Rick Ralston, president of Farmington, Ga., company.
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"Automata frees users from the brain-glazing repetitive production work of building multiple files based upon a template," said Ralston. "They can user Automata for almost any kind of project that they can now build in Illustrator. They are no longer dependent on programmers and IT people to produce a VDP project."
Touting Automata's ability to speed up design and print jobs, Ralston said, "Take a business card project for a company of 50 to 100 people. Previously the graphic designer would design the template and send it off to for approval. After getting it back, they would invariably key in the data one card at a time by hand, saving and/or printing each one. Now that same designer can take data saved out of the company database, select the fields they need, and with Automata automatically plug the data into the Illustrator template and, with the click of a button, build each file, save and/or print it."
Automata 1.5 requires Adobe Illustrator CS and Mac OS X 10.3. The release is available at www.zumedia.com and is priced at $135 for a single pack, with a free upgrade for Version 1.0 owners.
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