Welcome Koen Van de Poel Chairman Origination&Prepress CIP4 Technology Agfa Tutorial Portland Prepress for digital printing

Agenda Quick introduction Trad. Grayboxes Trad. Printing Shops organization Prepress workflow versus digital Vector versus Raster exchange DigitalPrintingPreparation Gray Box Capability retrieval JDF job details Demo capability retrieval

Traditional Flows/Gray boxes

Production prepress Controlled environment –nearly fixed processing times –few operator interventions/errors if well prepared –scheduling possible for plate making Includes Imposition Proof –often needed before starting plate making –internal or external (takes extra time) approval

Parts Brochure BodyCover Black&White Color 16 pp 2x 8 pp Product Process Prepress

Building a Workflow

Gray Boxes Easy way to let MIS define what prepress should do –PrePressPreparation, ImpositionPrepreparation –PlateMaking, xxProofing MIS provides –input : available job info, more or less detailed –output: detailed info (sheet structure, plates, components) Prepress operator (or defaults) will fill in remaining details

Drawing

Workflow PrePressPreparation Gray box ImpositionPreparation Gray box Plate Making Gray box

PrePressPreparation Gray Box

In/Out PrePressPreparation In –indication of nr of pages can be different from what prepress needs Out –populated RunList

ImpositionPreparation Gray Box

In/Out ImpositionPreparation In –Stripping resources –If not available, operator intervention Out –Completed Layout –References to Marks

Stripping High-level imposition related information from MIS to Prepress avoids redoing imposition 3 times: –Estimating –Production planning –Prepress allows bi-directional communication: prepress updating imposition info

Sample: Stripping Sheet Pages / Cells BinderySignature

FoldCatalog Describes how the sheet will be folded Needed for Pagination CIP4 spec has Fold Catalog list

Stripping details Depending on MIS and prepress capa. –Rich Stripping info All gutters/margins specified Gripper / color bar / no image area specified –Shallow Stripping info FoldCatalog / NumberUp ‘Cut’ boxes or just nr of boxes

PlateMaking Gray Box

In/Out Platemaking GB

In/Out Platemaking In –Media (plate) –Device –Colors –RunLists document (content) marks –Layout Out –Ink key setting preview (PPF or PNG) –ExposedMedia (plate)

Involved ICS documents PRECP ICS MISPRE ICS MIS Press Prepress

Comparing Trad.<>Digital flow

Traditional Estimating Production Planning Production Controller Prepress Controller Press Controller TrappingImageSetting ProoferA PlateSetterB MIS SW Device Controller HW Device Legend

Pure digital Web2Print Dig Press production SW Device Controller HW Device Legend Dig Press as ‘proof’ dfe RIP Scheduler?

The Prepress Process (Offset) The Prepress Process (Digital ) Input PDF Processing ImpositionRenderOutput InputPDF ProcessingImpositionRenderOutput The same process!

Separated worlds Prepress

Potential differences Hybrid shop<>Pure digital TraditionalPure Digital ContentMore complicated higher resolution more time designer Maybe Manual FixMaybe (if paid)Not ImpositionTraditional (2xA4 on A3)Cut & stack … MediaSimple (offset paper?)Insert sheet, precut tab FinishingOften offline Less details  dfe operator Often inline Full details

Trad. Imposition for digital Usually ‘traditional’ imposition 1. Independent of number of pages –Template based –Stripping templates future? 2. Specific: describe each sheet –Stripping: high-level but simple 2x A4 on SRA3 –Layout: low-level: accurate positions

RIPing in Traditional Often APPE based Focussing on overprint, transparency handling Less optimized for speed more on ‘matching’ paper with Acrobat

Using hotfolders or JDF? Hot foldersJDF Job settingsVirtual PrintersJDF Specific detailsYesNo FlexibleNoYes CostsNoneMaybe SetupNoneMaybe complex dfe update?NoneSometimes

Vector versus Raster (standard) VectorRaster Match with Conventional Maybe: overprint, transparency OK: Same RIP SizeSmallLarge Often 2-4 GB limit in dfe SpeedFastSlower PDF Pages1 PDF with all1 PDF per side Transportmime/httphttp/file CMMIn dfe Prepress tags objects Prepress Needs to known profiles Rich Black issue Specific Image Enhancement Object type knowndfe gets only rasterimage RIPing once in dfeOnce in prepress Rerender in dfe

DigitalPrintingPreparation Graybox Allows to supply either rough or detailed information Gray box can resolve what it can: –Imposition –ColorMatching –Rendering And send the remaining parts to the dfe MISPRE ICS Section 6.1

DP Prep gray box: does all DPP Graybox Render Impose PDF Imposition Def Color Profile Color Corr Media Dig Print Workflow Imposed ColorCorrected Raster PDF

DP Prep: only Impose DPP Graybox Impose PDF Impose Def Color Profile Media Dig Print Workflow Imposed PDF

JDF Creation by Prepress Using only a subset of JDF Acceptable that dfe/engine operator still makes changes (paper/finishing) Imposition already executed

Capabilities

Updating Prepress with dfe Prepress needs some setup info –Paper Media –Profiles matching that media –dfe/RIP capabilities –Engine capabilities –Finishing capabilities KnownDevices (dfe+press): for capabilities Resource Query: paper media

Dev. caps What if multiple presses? –Paper having different IDs –Controller reporting maximal or minimal subset? Hiding UI elements Populating popups Not for combinations/interactions –Is booklet defined using Folding process Or by specifying output bin

Demo Device Capabilities

Thanks for Listening