Smart Template Editors compared
CHILI GraFx is the platform to enable multichannel creative automation.
Our vision is to provide you with 1 smart template editor for animated digital, static digital and print output.
GraFx Publisher has been around for a while and is the editor for smart templates intended for static digital and (variable-data) PDF output.
GraFx Studio is the next generation smart template editor. Our goal is to provide you with all the tools for animated, static digital and print output, for the self-service use-case and for any automated workflow.
Therefore we redesigned the editor, SDK and API from scratch.
Today, the feature set for print in GraFx Publisher is still more extensive. But day by day, print-related features are added.
When you want to have both channels combined, please have a look at the feature comparison below. This will help you decide where to start.
| Feature | GraFx Studio | GraFx Publisher | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| ❇️ Being developped | |||
| Documents | |||
| Support for custom document sizes | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Support for multipage documents | ✅ | ||
| Bleed | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Slug | ✅ | ||
| Spine | ✅ | ||
| Baseline grids | ✅ | ||
| Support for layers | ✅ | ||
| Support for bookmarks | ✅ | ||
| Support for annotations | ✅ | ||
| Support for document rotation | ✅ | ||
| Configurable Asset directories | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Frames | |||
| Advanced border and fill settings | ✅ | ||
| Transparency | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Different blend modes | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Overprint | ✅ | ||
| Shape Support | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Drop shadows | ✅ | ||
| Frame Positioning: mm | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Frame Positioning: inch | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Frame Positioning: pt | ✅ | ||
| Frame Positioning: pixels (px) | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Scaling | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Skewing | ✅ | ||
| Rotating | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Text Editing | |||
| Edit text inline | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio: only for Template Designers |
| Edit text story mode (with or without formatting) | ✅ | ||
| Variable-based text editing through forms | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Paste text copied from clipboard | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Edit text in non-orthogonal frame | ✅ | ||
| Edit text along path | ✅ | ||
| Change the text color | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Character styles | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Paragraph styles | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Bullets | ✅ | ||
| Text wrapping around other objects | ✅ | ||
| Text wrapping around non orthogonal shapes | ✅ | ||
| Support for TrueType fonts | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Support for OpenType Fonts | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Tracking | ✅ | ||
| Kerning | ✅ | ||
| Non-Latin alphabets (Multibyte support) | ✅ | ||
| Right to left support | ✅ | ||
| Hyphenation | ✅ | ||
| Add strokes to text | ✅ | ||
| Images | |||
| Support for common image formats | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Manual Image cropping | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Automatic Image fitting | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Different image selection methods | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Upload images from local client | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Basic image repository | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Link to external image repositories | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Support for external URL (xml feed) | ❇️ | ✅ | Replaced by connector framework in GraFx Studio |
| Support for image transformations | ✅ | ||
| Support for image Conversion Profiles | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Support for dynamic asset providers | ❇️ | ✅ | Replaced by connector framework in GraFx Studio |
| Automatic Cropping | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Animation | |||
| Enable animated output | ✅ | ||
| Define the length of the animation | ✅ | ||
| Animate individual frames | ✅ | ||
| Define intro animation | ✅ | ||
| Define emphasis animation | ✅ | ||
| Define outro animation | ✅ | ||
| Define ease type | ✅ | ||
| Define rotation | ✅ | ||
| Define scaling | ✅ | ||
| Maintain animation across layouts | ✅ | ||
| Color | |||
| Support for CMYK colors | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Support for spot colors | ✅ | ||
| Support for RGB | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Support for Lab colors | ✅ | ||
| Support for mixed ink colors (CMYK + Spot Colors) | ✅ | ||
| Support for gradients | ✅ | ||
| Custom color swatches | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Barcodes | |||
| Pre-defined barcode setup in backoffice | ✅ | ||
| Support for datamatrix | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Support for UPC | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Support for EAN13 | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Support for QR | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Support for ISBN | ✅ | ||
| GS1-128 | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| GS1-Datamatrix | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| PDF417 | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Pharmacode 1-bar | ✅ | ||
| Real-time preflight reports | |||
| Configurable preflight warnings and errors, including text overflow and resolution | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Constraints | |||
| Selectively lock, unlock or allow specific edits on frames | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Document constraints | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Page constraints | ✅ | ||
| Layer constraints | ✅ | ||
| Frame constraints | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Frame content constraints | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Pre-defined constraints (apply to multiple documents) | ✅ | ||
| Limit styles for specific frames | ✅ | ||
| Limit font usage per document | ✅ | ||
| Limit font usage per text frame | ✅ | ||
| Move region | ✅ | ||
| Granular constraints (frame, layer, document) | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Variables | |||
| Use variables to insert content into templates | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Type: Short text | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Type: Long text | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Type: Formatted Text | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Type: Structured Text | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Type: Calculated Field | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio: Combination of hidden fields and Actions |
| Type: Image | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Type: Number | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Type: Checkbox / Boolean | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Type: Date | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Type: List | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Type: Color | ✅ | ||
| Type: Coordinate | ✅ | ||
| Type: Divider | ✅ | ||
| Type: Button Bar | ✅ | ||
| Use variables in text frames | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Use variables in image frames | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Use variables in barcodes | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Use variables in action editor | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Use variables in color definitions | ✅ | ||
| Use variables on layers | ✅ | ||
| Add scripting intelligence to variables | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Create variables in document | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Template Intelligence | |||
| Make templates smart so they can react to changes in content | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Automate Artwork Production | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Autogrow of Text frames | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Copyfitting of text in variables | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Copyfitting of non-variable text | ✅ | ||
| Copyfitting across multiple frames | ✅ | ||
| Apply copyfitting on individual frames | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Anchoring | ✅ | ✅ | In GraFx Studio through Actions |
| Layouts | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio supports inheritance in layouts |
| Support for multiple output dimensions | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Snippets (Documents in documents) | ✅ | ||
| Action editor (allow scripting in your document) | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio supports JavaScript based Actions |
| Event based scripting triggers | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Variable data-based scripting triggers | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Dynamic Layouts | |||
| Multiple reference points | ✅ | ||
| Relative positioning of the frames | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio through Actions |
| Frame positioning, resizing and rotation based on variables | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio through Actions |
| Flexible Document Sizes based on variables | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio through Actions |
| Advanced Anchoring | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio through Actions |
| External Assets | |||
| Use images and other assets from your DAM or asset repositories | ✅ | ✅ | Through connector framework in GraFx Studio |
| Data Sources | |||
| Connect Smart Templates to single-source-of-truth data sets and eliminate content errors. | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Import databases, merge data | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Support for structured files (csv, excel, xml) | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Output | |||
| Text overflow preflight warning | ✅ | ||
| PDF Standards | ❇️ | ✅ | |
| Output to PDF | ✅ | ✅ | GraFx Studio: no presets yet |
| Output to PDF with crop and/or bleed marks | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Output to PDF with variable data | ❇️ | ✅ | GraFx Studio: via API |
| Output to JPG | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Output to PNG | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Output to GIF | ✅ | ||
| Output to MP4 | ✅ | ||
| Output to HTML | ✅ | ||
| Output to Adobe InDesign (IDML) | ✅ | ||
| Integration | |||
| API-First | ✅ | ✅ | |
| SDK Available | ✅ | ||
| Open file format | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Custom Interfaces | ✅ | ✅ |