DirectSmile with FusionPro 6.1

[pmhapp]

Just installed FusionPro Desktop 6.1 for it's integration with DirectSmile.

Just purchased and installed DirectSmile.

 

User Guide says:

If you are composing locally, you will need to fill in the Local Web Service URL with the path to the web service you installed locally. This is described in the installation guide for DirectSmile in your FusionPro Direct and Server manual.

 

What? I don't have FP Direct or Server. It doesn't integrate with Desktop?

[mhilger]

Hello,

 

FusionPro Desktop 6.1 can be used to include DirectSmile image sets within your FusionPro templates. But at the moment, FusionPro Direct, Server, or MarcomCentral is required for full composed FusionPro output that contains these images.

 

We certainly did look at how we might bring the DirectSmile integration fully into the Desktop product without needing Direct, Server, or MarcomCentral. There were a couple of challenges in that offering however:

 

1) DirectSmile is a Windows program. FusionPro Desktop is a Mac and Windows program (with quite a large Mac user-base at that). We need a solution that works for all of our customers, not just a subset if them.

 

2) DirectSmile image generation process can be quite intensive - especially for complex sets, sets with multiple areas of personalization, and those with large high-res imagery. When considering both a FusionPro composition and DirectSmile image generation process occurring at the same time on the same computer, the experience on the typical desktop hardware could be far less than ideal.

 

So for now, DirectSmile image generation in conjunction with a FusionPro composition requires a workflow where design is done in Desktop but output is done in FusionPro Direct, Server, or MarcomCentral as these solutions address these two challenges. We will be working with our customers using this setup and will continue looking at solutions to these challenges for a possible Desktop-only solution in the future.

[MartyrSyx]

You would also need to purchase the FP Connector. I was excited to try to use this new functionality within FP Direct. But as I found out when talking to a Sales Rep at Printable, you still need to plop down an extra few thousand dollars beyond having FP Desktop, FP Direct, and DirectSmile. They call it FP Connector.

[mhilger]

Thanks for mentioning this, Brad. The "DirectSmile Integration Module" (the "Connector") is also required for the DirectSmile-FusionPro integration. So the base offline composition package requires the following components:

 

 

• FusionPro Desktop 6.1
  
• FusionPro Direct 6.1 (2-instance version) or FusionPro Server
  
• DirectSmile Integration Module (a Printable supplied component)
  
• DirectSmile software
  
  • (either CreatorPro, Generator, Production Edition, or DirectSmile online)
    

Since we released the DirectSmile integration, we've actually tweaked the pricing of these components a bit. Please contact our sales team for the latest pricing.