2x2 Step & Repeat with Enfocus PitStop
In a LinkedIn Group dedicated to Enfocus PitStop Pro and Server users, an user was trying to achieve a simple 2x2 Step & Repeat. He simply wanted to multiply pages boxes by 2 and duplicate contents in a 2x2 grid. However, he couldn't get the expected result and we are offering here a possible solution.
Here is the PDF file we want to lay out in a 2x2 Step&Repeat Process. The first thing is to find a way to generically expand the PDF boxes by a factor 2. This is handy because an action does exactly that : Scale Page Boxes.
All we have to do is enter a 200% factor. Next is about to duplicate contents. Without surprise, we will use "Copy Objects to clipboard" to keep a reference to the objects being currently in the document.
However, if we do so right now, we will probably have alignment issues because objects don't necessarily occupy the whole space. So we need to create a dummy object first that will use the media box surface and ease the duplicated objects positioning.
And we apply a stroke with a specific spot color of ours (dummyColor). That way we can later remove those objects based on their stroke colors.
Now we can use "Scale Page Boxes" safely. Then we copy the page contents and reference it with a proper name like "mySel" or "PageContent" or whatever suits you.
We are now about to do the Step & repeat operation asking to paste the copied content in a 2x2 grid. Only issue is that, as we have already some content in place, we will overlay page contents which is not good. We could have a more subtil approach but I just chose here to actually…remove the existing content.
Now that this is done, we can set the paste action. We would need to take care of the stroke width here for distance between objects in order to ensure a proper alignment.
Of course, we need now to remove the dummy objects based on their stroke.
Let's run the action :
Et voilà ! Maybe, you would have approached a different way. If so, feel free to share it in the comments. Also, there are better solutions when it comes to imposition. But if you are looking at a quick way of doing 2x2x S&R inside PitStop, well you may have now a solution.
If you want to use the action, why don't you send me an email at www.ozalto.com !