The package, which is available from UK distributor Positive Focus and is also available on PC platforms, has an entry price of £1,468 for small-format presses, and costs £6,762 for the maximum-capacity version.

It allows job planners, estimators, and pre-press operators to dynamically calculate layouts for all kinds of commercial print jobs, using print industry-specific algorithms and a user-definable database to turn print jobs into precise, production-quality layouts.

Alan Dixon, technical director at Positive Focus, said the ganging engine that had been in Metrix since its introduction would now be available to Mac users for the first time.

"Mac users are an important part of the pre-press community, and they need an efficient tool like Metrix to take away some of the laborious work they now have to endure when imposing complex jobs," Dixon said.

"Metrix 3 handles ganging of flat and folded work, a wide selection of bound work for sheetfed presses and step and repeat, and is intelligent and highly automated."

The software now runs in both Mac and PC environments in both single-user form and in the multi-user concurrent site licences, which can cater for mixed computer environments.

Dixon added that, in addition to JDF and Metrix XML, it was now possible to import job details directly from a comma separated file, a feature requested by users in the point-of-sale market and by greetings card printers, who often don't have a conventional MIS.

The tool can also now include basic production costs with the layout, indicating not only the best physical fit for a combination of jobs run together, but also the 'least cost' production route.