Philadelphia, PA, On Demand Conference and Exhibition -- Pageflex, a division of Bitstream Inc. and a leading developer of enterprise variable data publishing and web-to-print solutions, today announced the release of Pageflex Chart. This new product enables customers to enhance personalized documents with graphically-rich variable charts and graphs that contain data specific to the recipient. Pageflex Chart supports seven common chart formats—including line, column, pie, and spline—and works in conjunction with Pageflex variable data publishing applications.
 
Pageflex Chart users can produce high-resolution charts that complement the design of the document in which they will appear. Within each 2D or 3D chart format, users can select from a wide array of color, font, notation, and style options. Chart designs can be saved and easily re-used in future projects. Pageflex Chart provides a WYSIWYG editor for designing the charts, and the ability to preview charts with test data prior to receiving the live data. The data can come from the same data source as other variable elements in a document, or from a secondary data source.
 
Charting is often an area of compromise in VDP campaigns. Either simplistic or low-resolution charts are produced on-the-fly as part of the variable data production process or more graphically-rich charts are produced off-line and then matched up with the personalized documents. Pageflex Chart resolves these issues by providing a robust charting engine for generating thousands of graphically-rich, high-resolution charts quickly and reliably. As an add-on to Pageflex products, Pageflex Chart generates each chart as an integral part of the production of each variable page; there is no time-consuming pre-generation and match-up process that could result in error.
 
Eric Leslie, Manager of Information Systems at Metzgers Printing + Mailing in Toledo, Ohio commented on his experience using the new technology. Says Eric, “Prior to using Pageflex Chart, our designers created the charts and placed the artwork after the order was placed. Now our customer can enter the data online in Pageflex Storefront and preview the chart immediately. The order can now continue on our streamlined order process and workflow, and go directly to our digital press without stopping at the designer’s desk.”
 
 “I am delighted that we have been able to respond to our customers’ desires for charting capabilities with an application that provides such a wide variety of 2D and 3D chart formats and an intuitive interface for designing the look and feel of the charts,” comments Anna Chagnon, Bitstream President and CEO. “For some of our customers Pageflex Chart will simplify the process of publishing personalized charts, while for others it will open new business opportunities.”
 
Pageflex Chart is currently in general release.