MediaPlanner? Paginator

Introduction

This explains the output from MediaPlanner to a RIP using the Fip PostScript Paginator.

Contacts

FingerPost 020-7404-0107 After Hours 020-7723-1594 Email dot@fingerpost.co.uk (emergency mobiles - look at www.fingerpost.co.uk)

User Interface

A simple user interface ‘ip’ (which is’sffui’ renamed) which allows a user to check status, start and stop programs and look at the log.

To start, type ‘ip’ at the unix prompt. You should be ‘root’ or whatever logon was used to start the programs originally ( if in ‘root’ go into the ‘csh’ first)

Allowable commands are :

s show status

s all to display all settings

a activate

a xmp start 'xmp'

a all start all processes

k kill

k all kill all

k set kill the setter

k ftp kill the ftp program

l list log

l list the last 32 items from the log

l 05s list the last 32 entries containing '05s'

l x list program errors

m more log

m more the log from midnight

m 99p more the log for entries containing '99p'

y look at yesterday's and previous logs

y 1 more yesterday's log

y 2 ftp more the log from 2 days ago for 'ftp' entries

e show error codes

e 2 show one line description of a Unix error code 2

w show contents of main queues

w short list of number of entries in main queues

w all list of all files in the queues

i look at the files in the 'info' queue

i list help files

i mdpfip.help more file called mdfip.help

d show current date

v show version number of this program

q quit

Copy Flow

Stage Program Directory Parameter files in tables

1. Input MediaPlanner (NFS/Samba drive) - none on Fip -

MediaPlanner outputs a file to the shared directory

2. Data Checker IPXMP - same- setup/MEDIAPLANNER (unix)

setup/MEDIAPLANNER.FIP (nt)

customer/folios/DEF-DEF-L.fip

customer/folios/DEF-DEF-R.fip

customer/furniture/GRID

Program ‘ipxmp’ reads the file from shared directory and creates (at least) two files :

- spool/2set/(filename)

containing the actual markup

- tables/form/xmp/SETPAGE.(uniquename)

containing bounding box and filename information

All ads are checked that they exist. If they are NOT PostScript files, the type is checked against a conversion list defined in the parameter file. If possible they are converted to PostScript using the associated script. These converted files are left in spool/epsf and have uniquenames.

At the end ‘ipxmp’ deletes the input file or optionally moves it to a done queue.

Optional ROUTING can be defined to add page furniture, folios, route to different proofers/opis etc

COLOUR files normally will have extra PostScript comments added so the RIP or OPI will handle it correctly.

An input file containing a range of pages will be split into individual pages,. or page-pairs or backing pairs depending on the options chosen.

TextLines? and Folios are in the Fip Setter markup.

3. PostScript IPSETTER spool/2set form/SETPAGE.(uniquename)

form/SETTER

form/postscript/PSHDR and TLR

form/fonts/*.afm

‘ipsetter’ generates a single file containing all elements per page.

The output file is left in spool/setit.

The SETTER parameter file is a list of font widths to use or a list of fonts with afm files. The afm files are generated previously using the program Fontographer (not part of this package)

4 Proofing and Sending to Editorial using :

4.a FTP IPFTP spool/setit ftp/FORMAT

4.b Printing IPPRINT spool/setit print/TOPIC.fip

for sending to Mono and Colour Proofer and the Platemaker

4.c FileMapping? IPEDSYS spool/2editorial edsys/EDITORIAL.fip

for sending part pages to editorial

Maintenance

Script local/zapfiplog (on 2000, fipmaint.cmd) is run at 6am by crontab to :

- delete all converted files in spool/epsf (if any)

- delete all old proofed PostScript files in spool/printtmp

- delete all old raw MediaPlanner adlist files in spool/xmpdone

- age the log/ALL file

- delete any FTP log files

- delete any unique SETPAGE file. in tables/form/xmp

On NT, use the Scheduler, AT to run the perl script - You will need to download PERL from http://www.perl.com and start the Scheduler service in controlPanel/Services.

Startup

On Solaris/AIX/Linux :

/etc/rc3.d/S99fip (a copy of local/S99fip) calls local/rc.fip which starts mdpfip (sffui) which starts the 3 programs. Note the ‘-l fip’ as it runs under the ‘fip/fip’ logon.

On Windows 2000 :

The service 'Fip Comms Mgr' (IPNTSVCE) should be installed and running

Fip Directories

All Fip files - programs, scripts, internal data files, parameter files etc - are kept under /fip (which may be a link). Please note that all Fip diretories are Lowercase and Standing or Parameter filenames Uppercase. The individual directory are :

Installation

0. Beforehand./Pre-requisites

0.1 Your need to decide where to put the folder that the MediaPlanner PC drops the output files for ‘IPXMP’ to pickup.

The issues/considerations are that

The Folder MUST be visible to both PC and the Server – usually NFS is used for Sparcs.

The Logons used by ALL the MediaPlanner PCs MUST be either the same

OR in the same group as that used by Fip on the Server.

Otherwise Fip may not be able to delete files which will fill up your disk!

0.2 Where to put the Fip system ?

All FIP runs under the top folder of /fip.

On a Sparc, use ‘df’ to check which partition is best.

If not under ‘/’, link the new folder to /fip

umask 0

mkdir /home/fip

ln -s /home/fip /fip

On a NT decide which Drive is best.

0.3 What logon to use ?

Either use ‘forum’ as a logon

Or use ‘root’ – that is the easiest as there are never any problems with permissions

Or build a new ‘fip/fip’ logon IN THE SAME GROUP AS PRODUCTION LOGONS

If you do not use ‘fip’, also change the rc.fip startup script (see below)

Setting up a Basic running System on Solaris/Linux/AIX :

1.Loading the Fip system from the ‘tar-ball’ (go get me a tar-ball, son)

cd /fip

tar xvf (tar file name)

2. Setup Startup

cd /fip/local

cp S99fip /etc/rc3.d

(rcp S99fip to rc3.d on the backup machine too)

3. Setup Maintenance with crontab

setenv EDITOR vi

crontab -e

add the line :

0 6 * * * /fip/local/zapfiplog

change the time from 6am to whenever a good time is

* Possibly also zap spool/epsf more often for systems without massive disk space

4. mkdir the output/Fip-input folder

If using NFS, remember to SHARE it.

It is recommended (strongly) that this queue on the Fip Server and is NOT on another networked drive.

Eg mkdir /home/ds/interfaces/mdp2fip

Setting up a Basic running System on Windows 2000 :

1. Create folder /fip on your chosen drive

2. unzip the Fip Binaries and Fip Tables zip files.

3. Run \fip\bin\ipmgr -install

4. Get a Temporary Licence from the Fip website www.fingerpost.co.uk

5. Install IPNTSVCE as per http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipnt.html

6. Use Scheduled Tasks to start /fip/local/fipmaint.cmd for the nightly maintenance

7. Make the default helper for files ending with a ‘.fip’ extension either Notepad or Wordpad. If creating files with Word or Wordpad ALWAYS specify DOS text – no unicode, word, rtf please.

Program Documentation

Please see Fip web site for up-to-date doc.

ipxmp http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipxmp.html

ipsetter http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipsetter.html

ipftp http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipftp.html

ipprint http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipprint.html

ipedsys http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipedsys.html

ip http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipnt.html

Tuning……..

The main files to tune are :

/fip/tables/setup/MEDIAPLANNER (or MEDIAPLANNER.FIP for NT)

for most of the MediaPlanner stuff

/fip/tables/ftp/FORMAT

for the FTP connection to the Rip(s) and/or OPI

Other files that may need to be amended are

/fip/tables/form/SETTER

/fip/tables/form/fonts/(AFM files)

Other documentation you will probably need

Where to find about Fip Markup ? http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/progs/ipsetter.html

Doc on PostScript http://www.adobe.com or the Red Guide

What information is available in the FipHdr? fields ?

Actual fields used for Page Number, Pub Code, Section, Dates and times etc

are in the ‘Program Documentation on the last section of this note

For those people mad enough to want to go more, pls look at :

http://www.fingerpost.co.uk/info/fipseq.html

Note that we ignore case for the name of the route BUT, if running on Unix, the path/filename is case-sensitive.

NOTE that if you make a change to MEDIAPLANNER or SETTER parameter files you will need to stop and restart the ‘ipxmp’ or ‘ipsetter’ program respectivily using ‘ip’

ip

ip-mp: k ipxmp

ip-mp: a ipxmp

ip-mp: q

1. Routes through Fip to specific Proofers, OPI, Rips and other Output devices.

MediaPlanner has an ‘Output Device’ drop down list in the FingerPost output option.

Each one of these outputs needs to be mapped

1.1 define defaults

The default ROUTE - Amend/add the ‘default-route:’ line in the MEDIAPLANNER file

If NOT overidden, should folios be added ? default-folio:YES or NO

If NOT overidden, should furniture be added ? default-furniture:YES or NO

1.2 for each route ….

1.2.1 Do we need to add page furniture ? route-add-furniture:(routename)

or if the default is to ADD route-no-furniture:(routename)

1.2.2 Do we need to add folios ? route-add-folios:(routename)

or if the default is to ADD route-no-folios:(routename)

1.2.3 Do we need to add a Label line or some other Fip Markup at the top of each page ?

For example, it is nice to have Page Number/!PubCode/Section/!PubDate on the top of a proof so you know what the page is !

route-top:(routename) (Fip Markup)

Eg route-top:typhoon \nPage \PN Publication \PP Section \PS Edition \ZD-\ZT-\ZZ at \$d-\$m-\$e\$y \$H:\$n

1.2.4 Do we need to add more FipHdr? fields for use by ‘ipsetter’ or ‘ipftp’ – such as the Hostname or delivery folder

route-fiphdr:typhoon #JQ:TyphoonA3#FAC1:TYPHOON.A3

1.2.5 Do you want to blank out the area of the Ad before placing the ad ? Use this where you have a Grid for page furniture and, as PostScript is normally transparent, want to white out the grid lines

route-blank-ads:(routename)

1.2.6 Do you want to flag missing ads as a box with the ad number in – useful for proofing and checking for errors.

route-show-missing-ads:(routename)

2. Page Furniture

A page furniture file – crop marks and colour bars for example – can be laid down before any ads are placed. This can be a EPSF generated by Quark for example. There is a different furniture file for mono/spot/4colour.

pp-page-furniture:(fullpathname for the mono and default grid)

pp-page-furniture-spot:(fullpathname for the spot colour grid)

pp-page-furniture-4col:(fullpathname for the 4colour grid)

If the pages are being output in pairs the grid should be double truck.

The x/y coordinates can be modified from 0,0 dependeing on whether the Left page has a page number higher or lower than the Right.

pp-page-x-high: (99)

pp-page-y-high: (99)

pp-page-x-low: (99)

pp-page-y-low: (99)

3. Folios

None, one or two folio files may imposed after any page furniture but before any ads are placed.

The two files are found in /fip/customer/folios and are

(PubCode)-(Section)-L.fip Fip Markup file for LEFT hand pages

(PubCode)-(Section)-L.eps EPSF file for LEFT hand pages

(PubCode)-(Section)-R.fip Fip Markup file for RIGHT hand pages

(PubCode)-(Section)-R.eps EPSF file for RIGHT hand pages

The Pubcode and Section codes both default to DEF.

So if no other folio files are specified, the defaults for ALL publications are DEF-DEF-X.yyy where X is L or R and yyy is fip or eps. (note the case is ALL uppercase except for the extension which is lower)

If you are using a Super-!PubCode – like DM-NAT – then the secondary default is DM-DEF-DEF-X.yyy for that Publication.

The reason for two types of files is that the EPS file is normally for fixed items and grafix. While the FIP file is for variable data such as PageNumber? , Dates etc

Before adding the Fip files, you will need to get the client to specify, for each publication/section/folio

Font

PointSize?

Offset x,y

If the Font is not in the /fip/tables/form/SETTER file, use Fontographer or some other Mac/PC tool to generate AFM files for each font used and place these in /fip/tables/form/fonts. Then add the names to /fip/tables/form/SETTER in the style of

font:FrankyTheBook:FranklinGothic-Book

scale:1000

afminclude:FranklinGothic-Book.afm

4. Page Pairing

Specify pp-gutter: Gutter width in points default: 30.0 pts

5. PostScript comments

Where a Proofer requires funny page device setups. These can be added as separate files in

/fip/tables/form/postscript

and called with

route-fiphdr:xerox_340 #FAC1:(name of file)

eg to make a Xerox 340 use the A3 tray and do NOT print a Job sheet :

/fip/tables/form/postscript/XEROX.340.A3 contains

%%XRXbegin

%%OID_ATT_START_SHEET OID_VAL_JOB_SHEET_NONE;

%%XRXend

% sets A3 for the Xerox DC340 Printer

<</PageSize [842 1191]>> setpagedevice

Then call it for route ‘Xerox_340’ in the MEDIAPLANNER file.

Route-fiphdr:Xerox_340 #FAC1:XEROX.340.A3

(see the doc for ‘ipsetter’ for FAC1; see the relevant Xerox doc for the OID and setpagedevice)

6. Creep

Where needed, we can alter the gutter between two page paired.

IPXMP will calculate the fraction of this number as a ratio of the two folio numbers

(taking into account pp-max-book-size) where Page 1 (or start of book) will

have the maximum added and two folios with consequetive numbers will have zero added.

pp-max-creep: Maximum creep to add to gutter default: 0 pts

pp-max-book-size: Where publications are output in 16/32/64 page sections or books and this affects the creep, this defines the number of pages in such a book.

default is the sum of the two folios minus 1.

7. FTP issues - How to FTP to different devices

Doc at Ipftp

Note that NT boxes are VERY sensitive to non-NT chrs in the filename, so if the destination is an NT, ALWAYS specify ‘formatname:nt’ so ‘ipftp’ will crunch the name correctly.

If you need to add an extension on the filename :

newname:\SN.eps

7.1 Round robin

just add –R to the ipftp line in /fip/sfftables/SFFSYSTEM

and the hostname/logon/password for each device in /fip/ftp/FORMAT

7.2 Different Folders on the same device

Use a FipHdr? field to specify which one in the /fip/tables/setup/MEDIAPLANNER file

Route-fiphdr:RIP1 #JQ:rip1folder

Route-fiphdr:RIP2 #JQ:rip2folder

In the /fip/tables/ftp/FORMAT file specify a default as rip1folder incase you forgot it.

Combie:QQ JQ,rip1folder

Ftpbefore:cwd /opi_spool/\QQ

The ftpbefore will be /opi_spool/rip1folder for route RIP1 or if nothing at all is specified.

7.3 Different Hosts

The FipHdr? field DF is used by ‘ipftp’ to state which parameter file to use – which defaults to FORMAT. So setting this to somethingelse in the MEDIAPLANNER file can be used to specify a completely different remote FTP host.

Route-fiphdr:first_opi #DF:firstopi

Route-fiphdr:second_opi #DF:secondopi

Route-fiphdr:proof #DF:proof

Here there should be three different files in /fip/tables/ftp called (uppercase pls) FIRSTOPI, SECONDOPI and PROOF each with different hosts/delivery paths etc