The definitive tool for creating mechanicals
Artists use Mechanical Cubed to track preflighting and workflow information using slugs, add crop and fold marks to direct mail and collateral work, and build out-of-home and in-store work to scale.
Testimonials
Retail and Corporate
"Mechanical Cubed has been a life changer for Showtime. With thousands of mechanical’s created yearly, we can easily track the job number, studio artist, project manager and most importantly who has signed off on the mechanical as it goes through the life cycle of a project."
Michael F.
"I was introduced to Mechanical Cubed back in 2012 and have never looked back. It is a must-have and always my first software request in any new creative role. I can't imagine designing without it."
Melody T.
Advertising
"After one week we realized what a time saver we had on our hands and couldn't imagine how we worked all these years without it. Production artists were able to cut 5-10 minutes of setup time for each job that they worked on."
"Using the job ticket integration, the studio never has to worry about filling in any slug data or mistyping a measurement. The mechanical shell is created in seconds and the Studio can concentrate on content and layout."
Mechanical Cubed provides a single, comprehensive place to efficiently configure everything about your mechanical.
Choose mechanical features
Quickly select the marks and slug(s) that are appropriate to the mechanical you are building
Enter live, trim and bleed intuitively
Enter the live, trim, and bleed using relative or absolute measurements, and see the opposite measurement calculated for you.
Enter workflow related information
Enter workflow related information for the slug. Commonly used values auto-fill as you type.
Mechanical Cubed maintains slugs that display workflow and preflighting information.
Preflighting information updates automatically
The slug automatically updates with preflighting information like the inks, links, and fonts used in the document, as well as the document name, print scale, and more.
Slug displays workflow information
The slug displays workflow related information like Round #, Client, Job #, and team members, as well as document sizing information.
Layout your slug in InDesign
You can layout your slug in InDesign, so that it looks exactly the way you want it to. It can contain custom fields that are specific to your workflow. You send us the layout, and we convert it into a slug that works in Mechanical Cubed.
Mechanical Cubed lets you modify anything about the document, then updates the document, slug, and crops and slug area for you.
Use Mechanical Setup to change anything
Similar to the Document Setup dialog, the Mechanical Setup dialog lets you modify anything about your mechanical -- sizing, workflow related information, marks, and more. When you click Finish, everything updates -- the document, slug, and marks -- so that you know everything is always consistent.
Sizing information in the slug updates automatically
Mechanical Cubed maintains sizing information in the slug like the live, trim and bleed for you, so that you never have to worry that it is out of date.
Sizing information in the marks updates automatically
Mechanical Cubed maintains the marks and the sizing information they contain, so that you never need to worry that they are out of date.
Slug area wraps around marks automatically
Mechanical Cubed automatically wraps the InDesign slug area around your marks, even after you move or resize the slug, so that you never need to worry about maintaining it.
Mechanical Cubed makes it easy to build out-of-home and in-store ads to scale.
Build mechanicals to scale
When you enter a scale ratio, Mechanical Cubed will convert between the scaled and actual document size, you can enter either one. You can also enter a viewing rectangle.
Display scaled and actual size in the slug
Your OOH slug can display the scale ratio, scaled size, actual size, built at, or output at percentages. Anytime you alter the size or scale, all the sizing information in the slug updates correctly.
Easily maintain a sign or corner number
Many of our retail customers use Mechanical Cubed to display a small 'sign number' or 'corner number' in the corner of their mechanicals. You can enter the information once, and have it appear in both your main slug and the corner number slug.
Mechanical Cubed makes it easy to build direct mail and collateral.
Select pre-defined fold types
Mechanical Cubed will calculate the fold mark positions for you.
Specify fold positions directly
You can modify the pre-calculated fold positions, for example making one panel of a C-fold slightly smaller so it folds in cleanly.
Fold positions reverse on second spread
The fold mark positions automatically reverse on the second spread, yielding the correct layout for the back of the piece.
Slug displays fold information
The slug automatically displays information like the fold positions, gutter, and folded size.
Mechanical Cubed can pre-fill information in the new Mechanical dialog using data in a PDF form, Excel spreadsheet, database, or Workfront.
Use a PDF Form
Mechanical Cubed can extract information from a PDF form and use it to populate the New Mechanical dialog.
Use an Excel spreadsheet
Mechanical Cubed can extract information from an Excel spreadsheet and use it to populate the New Mechanical dialog.
Use a relational database
Mechanical Cubed can extract information from a relational database like MySQL and use it to populate the New Mechanical dialog.
Use Workfront
Mechanical Cubed can extract information from a Workfront issue or task and use it to populate the New Mechanical dialog. This functionality requires a small additional purchase.
Pricing
Start with a free trial
Most customers have the software fully deployed before they purchase. We provide ongoing help with slug design, product questions, and job ticket integrations both during the trial and as part of our maintenance program.
Free Trial
$0
- Free help with slug design
- Free help with job ticket integration
- Lasts about one month
Mechanical Cubed License
$385 / user
- Free help with slug design
- Free help with job ticket integration
- Upgrades and support for one year
- Volume discounts start at 5 users