Variable data setup using common prepress software
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In life, you often receive bills of water, electricity, electricity, or bills of electricity, or product sales from certain companies. These things have one thing in common. Their contents are different or different for different people. It can be called variable data printing. Variable data printing (also known as personalized printing), English name Variable Data Printing, referred to as VDP, generally means that the text and pictures in each print can be arbitrarily changed, and the number of prints can be more or less, that is, the content is variable. The quantity is variable, and the print quality is no different from traditional prints, even beyond the traditional print quality. Variable data printing is a new type of printing technology. To achieve this type of printing, a digital printing machine and corresponding variable data printing software are required. As a professional variable data printing, common commonly used software are Atlas software Printshop mail, Creo's Darwin VI authoring tool, Pageflex's Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite. However, in actual production, these professional software are too expensive for ordinary users or small companies. In order to save costs, we can directly implement it with some commonly used prepress software. Common prepress software that can do this includes CorelDraw and Indesign.
First, use CorelDraw to set variable data
To set variable data in CorelDraw, you need to use the built-in merge print wizard function. This command can implement simple variable data settings. The specific settings are as follows:
1. Set the size of the page
The size of the setting page can be set according to specific requirements. If it is an invitation, the page is set to the same size as it is, and if it is a label, multiple labels can be set on one page. If we make a series of invitations, we can set them as follows: "Layout" → "Page Settings" → "Size"
2. Create / load merge fields
Creating/loading merge fields is actually creating or importing data files. Data files can be created directly or imported from existing external data source files.
2.1 Create a data file directly.
If the data itself is not much, you can directly create the corresponding data file directly in CorelDraw. Check "Create from scratch", then click "Next" to start creating. Create the corresponding domain name and the specific content corresponding to each domain name. The domain can be a text field or a numeric field, and the specific content behind it must be consistent with the definition of the domain itself.
After defining all the data contents of the domain, select "Next", and then set the data as needed to complete the creation of the data.
2.2 Created from an existing file.
Create from an existing file, just create it, select "Select from existing file", and then click "Next", select the corresponding data file, the input format of the data file is as follows:
The "2" in the first line indicates that there are two projects. In general, there are several projects to enter a few; the second row is the name of the domain, the domain is separated from the domain by "\", and then down, each row Is a complete definition project.
3. Insert the domain
After defining the data file, we will put the corresponding variable into the page. For this operation, we will call it "insert field", select the corresponding field, click the "Insert merge field" command, and put the field on the page. The right place.
4. Merged to a new file
When all the effects are defined, we can preview the effect. Select "Merge to new file" and get the final result based on each set of data.
Second, use Indesign to set variable data
The variable data setting in Indesign needs to be implemented using the data merge panel. The principle is the same as the CorelDraw merge data. Specific steps are as follows:
1. Create a data file
First you need to create a data file, which can be created with excel or with a text file. If you are creating with excel, you need to save the file as a csv or txt file format. If you create with a text file, the first line of the text file is required to be defined as the name of the domain, separated by TAB keys. Enter the corresponding content for each field in the following line. If you want to bring in a picture, you need to add "@" before the domain name to define the link picture.
2. Define the file template
Once the data file is defined, you can set up the file template in Indesign. The location of each domain is defined in these templates.
3. Define variable data
Select "Window" → "Automatic" → "Data Merge", open the data merge panel, and then select "Data Source". Load the defined data file and place the loaded field in the appropriate location.
4. Application data
Once the domain location is defined, you can view the effect by "Preview". If the effect is met, select the "Create Merge Document" command to apply the data.
As can be seen from the above, simple variable data definition can be done with CorelDraw or Indesign, but it should be noted that the variable data defined in CorelDraw can only be a text field or a data field, and cannot be brought into the picture; In addition to text or numeric variables, you can also define image variables. In actual use, you can select the appropriate software to implement simple variable data settings.