PDF software with Colour Separation

[000]

Hey guys,

just wanted to let you know that www.qoppa.com is running a 50% discount for their PDF Studio software.

I have not tried it myself (trial is currently installing), but the release notes say something abour colour separation.

[RM f/g]

Bought it some months ago.

Current version (2022) has colour separation preview. Its worth a try.

[loukash]

3 hours ago, RM f/g said:

Current version (2022) has colour separation preview

Is that new?
I just downloaded the 2021 demo because I may need MacOS El Capitan compatibility, but there's no separation in the demo, only preview.
Also, I don't see any PDF/X-4 preflight options. That would be a dealbreaker.

[ashf]

46 minutes ago, loukash said:

Is that new?
I just downloaded the 2021 demo because I may need MacOS El Capitan compatibility, but there's no separation in the demo, only preview.
Also, I don't see any PDF/X-4 preflight options. That would be a dealbreaker.

Did you install the Pro version?
https://kbpdfstudio.qoppa.com/video-output-preview-and-color-separation/

[loukash]

Thanks, yeah, I've seen the video.
There are no separate "pro" versions available as trial: 
qoppa.com/pdfstudio/versions

The trial has a bunch of buttons marked in red as "PRO".

Well, it's not necessarily an issue anyway. I still got my Acrobat Pro X on El Capitan. 
Later I'll check out the new 2022 trial on Catalina if there's a difference.

[ashf]

dealbreaker of Qoppa for me is lack of PDF/X-1a:2001 support...
 

[ashf]

FYI
It seems that Qoppa does not recognize the spot colors on the color separation preview.

[loukash]

18 hours ago, loukash said:

Later I'll check out the new 2022 trial on Catalina if there's a difference.

Alright, so the v2022 trial has the separation preview, unlike v2021.
Aaand it has PDF/X-4 preflight.

But…

14 hours ago, ashf said:

Qoppa does not recognize the spot colors on the color separation preview

Yep, it reads spot as CMYK.

So… close but no cigar.
Back to my Automator Service plugin to run Ghostscript. (Note to self: I should finally fix the bugs, finalize it and release it…)

Let's see if spot color separation will be added as a "big new feature" for v2023…?  

[ashf]

Although the color separation is not perfect yet, I feel Qoppa is becoming good enough as the replacement of popular PDF apps such as Foxit/Nitro/PDF-Xchange.

[dcr]

I wonder if it would help to send feedback to them with requests for better color separation.  Maybe the more customers they hear from, the more likely it is they might listen?