Version 3.6 has "come on leaps and bounds" according to technical director Alan Dixon, who has been testing the software for the past two months.

The main upgrade is the introduction of N-Up Binding, according to Dixon, which is aimed at printers with large format presses. It allows the production of smaller format products simultaneously, with printing and trimming at the same time.

"Its a stonking feature," said Dixon.

Metrix 3.6 also includes automatic trim and bleed rule ups which are often a manual task, according to Dixon, as well as the ability to clone bound products, making creating multilingual editions easier.

It also now supports variable text marks and zoomed views of up to 400%.

Dixon said that although Metrix doesn't replace MIS software, customers have saved £400 in a single job as the intelligent software not only helps efficiently produce work, but in the high-end version also works out the most economic means of production by assessing which press is most suitable.

According to Ivor Dixon, managing director of Positive Focus, which distributes Metrix in the UK and Ireland, the software is "one of the best kept secrets in pre-press".

The software is a free upgrade for users of 3.x versions. It is available in X-8, Commercial and Max versions and prices for new or legacy customers start from £1,725 for B2 presses.