Software - RIP Software

Caldera has extended its partnership with Adobe and announced the integration of the Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) into its RIP solutions. The association of the two technologies will guarantee for production printing fast and reliable reproduction of files in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), including complex images and transparencies.

Caldera has built the technology into its new generation of RIP solutions and will be available with Caldera's V8 software edition which will be released at the end of 2009.

The Adobe PDF Print Engine enables integrated, end-to-end PDF workflows for printing graphically rich content, including variable content for personalized publishing. The Caldera print solutions powered by Adobe PDF Print Engine allow PDF files to be rendered natively, without conversion to PostScript, helping to ensure that complex designs and effects, even variable print elements with transparency, are efficiently and reliably reproduced.

"With the Adobe PDF Print Engine, the Caldera RIPing speed is not only increased for all PDF files, but the output is much more consistent with the design and editing products of the Adobe Creative Suite. Adobe PDF Print Engine eliminates the need for flattening transparency, maintaining content in a device-independent state right up until final rendering," said Guillaume Muller, R&D director.

With this new Adobe PDF Print Engine, Caldera simplifies upstream PDF workflows and unifies prepress production. It empowers designers to create leading-edge content with confidence, knowing that it will be reproduced as expected by print producers.

Leading RIP manufacturer EFI and Surrey based Canon, large format printer distributor, Velmex announced today their newly formed relationship to distribute the prepress and production range of EFI products supported by their newly acquired  EFI- Fogra certification.


Velmex Distribution based in Mitcham Surrey, announced today their strategic relationship with EFI to boost their product offerings into the large format channel.   EFI’s prepress and production products provide an end to end solution when used with the recently Fogra certified Canon iPF5100 or iPF6100 products.  Velmex, the leading Canon UK large format distributor now have a Fogra certified engineer who can calibrate and install a Colorproof XF system that produces an “EFI-Fogra.cert” compliant proof.  By passing this certification Velmex are now able to offer a full chain of Fogra compliant products. The importance of this solution means Velmex are now able to distribute the total printing package to the reseller channel, and offer their customers a full EFI – Fogra certification on their printing systems once calibrated.  Daniel Judge, Technical Manager for Velmex distribution said, “It gives us the opportunity to provide a further value added service to our resellers, allowing them to sell our solutions with the knowledge we can provide the qualification to back it up”

Whilst EFI’s product range is vast the concentration for Velmex is around three products, EFI’s Colorproof –XF, Colorproof – Express and for production environments the EFI Fiery XF. “Our aim was to provide quality products that gave our customers a good range to choose from, whatever their requirement” says  Judge,  “These products provide the perfect balance to our portfolio, and our EFI Fogra Certification means we can now provide a full end to end solution or any element within that.”    EFI, a company with a pedigree in rip production since 1989, are based in Foster City in the Silicon Valley, they have 23 offices worldwide and are leaders in the digital print industry.  EFI together with Tecco and Fogra set up the “EFI Fogra cert” initiative for compliant proofs to guarantee high quality and reliably printing, it means that resellers, consultants, printing houses and prepress business and their customers can understand what the standardisation means and receive all the benefits from it. As an EFI Fogra certified engineer Judge can go onto a customers site and using the approved EFI Colorproof XF and Canon iPF5100 or iPF6100 printer produce a proof card to be submitted to Fogra so the customer can receive Fogra certification on their printing system.  “This opens up sales avenues for our channel” says Judge, “the feedback we’ve had from our resellers is excellent and we have all products and upgrades now in stock and we’re looking forward to a long term relationship with EFI to help take us further into the proofing market”

ONYX Graphics, Inc. today announced the release of ONYX® PrepEdgeTM Pro software Version 2.1 and ONYX PrepEdge software, a new entry-level job preparation tool designed specifically for wide format printing.

"More than 70% of wide format shops say prepress job preparation is their biggest workflow bottleneck," explains Dean Derhak, ONYX Director of Product Management." Shops have embraced ONYX PrepEdge Pro software because it addresses their main workflow bottlenecks and increases overall shop productivity. The prepress operators using the product gave us suggestions on how we could improve the toolset for this release."


New Entry-Level Version

ONYX PrepEdge software is a simpler, lower-cost version of the ONYX PrepEdge Pro software. It was developed specifically for shops without access – or with limited access – to a professional designer to prepare print jobs. This package offers a complete set of easy, wide format job preparation tools without the more complex design and PDF Editing capabilities. The new ONYX PrepEdge software can reduce labor costs in the prepress and production stages because it can be used by non-designer prepress operators." The return-on-investment is very compelling for these shops because, with a small investment in ONYX PrepEdge software, they can prepare jobs more quickly while reducing production costs," said Dean Derhak.


Enhancements to ONYX PrepEdge Pro Software

Based on prepress operator’s requests, ONYX PrepEdge Pro software version 2.1 includes enhancements to the tiling and contour cutting tools to further reduce prepress operator time. Customers also suggested an improved look to the white ink tool to make each option visually intuitive. The result is a powerful tool that quickly lets prepress operators set up white ink jobs. The enhancements support the white ink workflows of Océ Arizona® series UV curable flatbed printers and Roland® VersaWorks® RIP software.


What People Are Saying

"Hems and grommets are easy now with ONYX PrepEdge Pro software; we love how it handles all of our banner set-up. Plus we use it all the time to prep files and make cut paths. ONYX PrepEdge Pro software really takes care of our file preparation needs and saves us a lot of time!" said Maureen Promboof, DigiGraphics, Warrenville, IL.

"We are so satisfied with ONYX PrepEdge Pro software that we use it all the time. Our team puts it to work on PDF files when we need to change orientation, add bleeds and marks or compensate for missing fonts. It helps our team get files ready to print quicker and tackles our general pre-flight tasks with ease," said Kelli Jarzombek of 1st Source Digital, Selma, TX.

"Our team is able to seamlessly utilize ONYX PrepEdge Pro software on our Macintosh® systems and submit jobs to Caldera or ONYX software; this improves our workflow and allows us to complete tasks quicker," commented Doug Seney of Light Visions Ltd., Winnipeg, MB.


RIP-independent and platform-friendly

ONYX PrepEdge software works with all wide format software RIPs. It is the only job preparation software that can run on Mac® OS® X 10.4 or higher, Windows® XP or Windows Vista®. ONYX PrepEdge software offers capabilities specific to the wide format printing workflow, works well with design applications, and goes beyond the PDF editing tools that are currently available.


Availability & Pricing

ONYX PrepEdge software is now available in two versions: ONYX PrepEdge and ONYX PrepEdge Pro packages. Both packages include wide format tools for sizing and cropping, tiling and tiling templates, printing job tickets, grommeting, contour cutting, color management, image place holding and white ink workflow. ONYX PrepEdge Pro software adds a full PostScript®/PDF editor, vector image object editing tools, color correction tools, a color library matcher, spot color replacement and a text editor. To view an online demonstration of ONYX PrepEdge Pro software, visit www.onyxprepedge.com.

Caldera will be launching its new product, SnapRIP+, a complete printing solution for digital imaging professionals.

SnapRIP+ is Caldera's printing software for PHOTO professionals looking for a productive RASTER printing solution for their Epson, Canon, and HP printers. It packs the same power and features as Caldera's RIP solutions for printing wide-format jobs with eye catching colors and contrast.

It includes Layout with Compose; a feature which lets you layout multiple file elements to create a single project page or JOB. Merge, nest, rotate and combine different file formats, with manual or numeric positioning. It also includes Step & Repeat and Nest-o-Matik features for optimizing media usage.

SnapRIP+ is upgradable to our productive printing solution VisualRIP+, with a Postscript/PDF engine for producing posters, kakemonos, advertisements, POS and other applications. VisualRip+ is Caldera's software solution for professional large-format Print and Print-to-Cut workflow and includes Tiling+, a feature enabling users to split up prints into various panels (with bleed, trim marks and grommet placement..) for bigger format jobs.

Caldera Graphics, the French software editor leader in large format imaging and production workflow has announced a strategic partnership with KIP Europe for the supplying of production RIPs with the wide format KIP Color KC80 color laser printer for imaging applications.

With this printer, KIP has the ambition to revolutionize wide format color printing in large quantities, a domain where inkjet technology is a slower and more expensive solution. The KIP Color KC80 and its 4 color laser technology are unique on the market, and targeting not only blue-black poster applications or posters in ppc or glossy coated. Many substrates are being validated which will increase of the range of possible applications of this printer.

“It was important for KIP to rely on a professional RIP like Caldera for better targeting the graphic art potential of the KIP Color 80. This innovative product will revolutionize wide format printing on problems such as client print delays (210m/hour) and printing costs (4 to 5 times less than ink jet)” says Patrick Gomez, Sales and Marketing manager KIP Europe.

The GrandRIP+ software solution from Caldera ensures application oriented added value to Kip Europe clients, which rests on the strong experience of the French editor in the domain of imaging: color management, tiling, layout, spooler management, task automation…. This enables the printer to offer its clients an extended panel of features.

According to Valery De March, OEM Director of Caldera Graphics, “We not only address clients who want to print maps and blueprints, but rather those that want to do color imaging in large quantities. To respond to the technical specifics of the KIP Color KC80and its laser technology, we have developed a specific screening for this machine. The output results and feedback from clients are excellent.”

The Caldera GrandRIP+ - KC80 solution has already been set-up with success at many European digital printers, such as Pixart in Italy, who were searching for a solution which would enable them with one single RIP to manage their production on various types of machines, including solvent and UV technologies, as well as the new KIP Color KC80.

Print software manufacturer Wasatch has announced an unprecedented discount on upgrades for its premium RIP software package, SoftRIP. Users are now able to upgrade from limited versions of its powerful RIP software, with some versions upgradeable to full SoftRIP for as little as £99, and further huge potential savings available right across the board, on software packages with a value of up to £2450.

Restricted, standalone editions of the software are already supplied as standard by several printer manufacturers. The full SoftRIP package features a number of tools to improve productivity and ensure exceptionally loyal colour matching, while being able to control up to four printers simultaneously. Amongst its array of powerful workflow options are real-time queue monitoring, a tiled view for over-sized or overlapping jobs, and the ability to archive printed files complete with colour settings. The cost estimator also gives a realistic end-to-end picture of how much money is spent on each job.

Wasatch, which is one of the largest RIP versions in circulation, engineered its Precision Stochastic Screens (PSS) halftoning specifically for the software to give it a 16-bit deep rendering pipeline that produces perfectly even gradations and greys without stairstepping. This method also increases throughput speeds by up to 30% for variable-dot printers and more than 100% for fixed-dot printers.

Wasatch’s Phil Pirie claims that one of the primary reasons for upgrading is to take advantage of the quality benefits available from the latest generation printing systems. “Upgrading from feature restricted or printer specific Wasatch versions can really release the potential of the latest print hardware, with drivers now available for all current devices, including the recently launched HP Designjet latex printers. In terms of colour quality, with its 16-bit rendering, we firmly believe that SoftRIP now sets the benchmark that all other RIP software will have to be judged against.”

Phil is also enthusiastic about the high value benefits of this upgrade program - specifically its accompanying service agreement. "When users purchase a Wasatch upgrade they’re not only buying a comprehensive product with astounding colour capability but also one of the best support packages on the market,” he explains. “The contract means that leading industry technicians will advise individual users by phone, fax or e-mail, using their experience to walk them through use of the software, device setup, network and computer connectivity, colour management and other printing issues. This deal also includes eligibility for free downloads of SoftRIP updates released during the six month service contract.”

With printers needing to promote a wider range of services than ever before, SoftRIP allows them to broaden their portfolio to incorporate personalisation and versioning via variable data (VDP) simply. Lines of text and individual graphic elements can be added to a background image without slowing down the production process. Data can be incorporated from standard mail merge formats, comma separated values (CSV) and Microsoft Excel. The VDP option makes the manipulation of images and text easy, putting automatic resizing and sequential numbering at the user's fingertips.

Rotating, resizing and mirroring are readily manipulable, and for textile printing, which has become incrementally more popular in the sign and display market, continuous patterns can be engineered with utter simplicity. The user creates a single pattern shape which SoftRIP then multiplies and aligns exactly. Installation of the software is equally painless, with only the printer, profile and connection types needing specification before the RIP is ready to use.

Contour cutting is also made accessible with the Wasatch SoftRIP. Paths can be used from popular design applications, such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw, and complex shapes can be nested and duplicated simply within the RIP. The software excels in environments where a separate printer and cutter is used, and can track register marks between multiple devices. Free 30-day trials of the premium Wasatch add-on products are available for users who want to try out a number of advanced modules, including variable data printing, contour cutting, separations printing, and seamless textile repeats.

Wasatch SoftRIP is available in the UK and Europe from Tech8