Software

ONYX Graphics, Inc. has joined forces with industry leaders to define open Job Definition Format (JDF) standards for the wide format printing market. JDF is a technical interface standard developed for and by the graphic arts industry to facilitate cross-vendor print workflows.

"Today, our customers maximise productivity and quality using ONYX® Quickset automation and software tools available in every ONYX RIP product," said Danielle Mattiussi, Director of Product Portfolio and Business Development at ONYX Graphics. "JDF further enhances our automation capabilities by extending our connectivity to other JDF-enabled products. This digital job ticket can now be shared between systems automatically, reducing the manual intervention that is required to move a job through the shop. It minimises the expense associated with errors, increasing reliability and ultimately leading to higher quality. We are excited to be a part of the JDF initiative as it gains momentum in the wide format market."

This initiative, under the guidance of the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) is chaired by HP, which introduced a new certification program that enables alliance partners' workflow products – including those from ONYX Graphics – to be "HP Certified for Wide Format Printing JDF Exchange." The initiative is designed to resolve interoperability shortfalls between web-to-print tools, production devices, raster image processors and digital front ends so that they work together to streamline wide format printing workflows for increased productivity. ONYX Graphics is among the first alliance partners to achieve certification through the program. This enables wide format print providers using ONYX Graphics production software products to take advantage of automation tools that reduce costs and differentiate their service offerings.

ONYX Graphics has also joined the CIP4 workgroup and will release certified JDF workflow interfaces for its various production workflow products, starting with an update to ONYX ProductionHouse™ software Version X10 early next year.

ONYX Graphics has worked closely with other JDF alliance partners including Cyrious Software, a leading provider of estimating and business management software, to increase automation of job submission and business information. "Cyrious is very pleased to be working with ONYX Graphics, HP and the other certified JDF partners in what is a natural next step for increasing productivity and profitability," said Cyrious co-CEO Charlie Carter. "Being able to exchange information between Cyrious Control, ONYX RIPs and the other JDF certified equipment and systems will sharpen the accuracy of estimating profitability, increase the visibility and manageability of work-in-process in production, and reduce costly errors."

EFI announced two new print MIS customers at Graph Expo 2010 in Chicago - ANRO Inc. of West Chester, Pa. (USA), purchased EFI Monarch, and The DATA Group of Companies of Canada selected EFI Pace™.

GMG, a leading developer and supplier of high-end colour management software solutions, is showing version 5.2 of GMG ColorProof for the first time at Graph Expo in Chicago from October 3-6. Version 5.2 incorporates major innovations such as the integration of the new Adobe® PDF Print Engine 2.5 and support of the new Epson Stylus Pro 4900, 7890 and 9890 printers. The packaging market will benefit from a number of improvements to the SpotColor Editor.

GMG ColorProof 5.2 is compatible with the completely new GMG ProofControl Inline module, supporting the recently launched Epson 4900, 7890, 9890 proof printers as well as the 7900 and 9900 printers with an integrated measuring device. It provides time-saving, automated verification of contone proofs. Furthermore, the interaction of ProofControl Inline and the GMG AutoCalibrationWizard helps to keep these printers automatically calibrated.

Version 5.2 will be available for purchase at the end of the year.

Integration of the Adobe® PDF Print Engine 2.5
The Adobe® PDF Print Engine 2.5 supports the latest PDF technologies and specifications providing, among others, exceptional reliability when proofing graphically complex effects created by any application. The most accurate compatibility with Adobe® Creative Suite 5 is guaranteed.

Improved SpotColor Editor
GMG ColorProof 5.2 incorporates new, advanced tools for expert handling of spot colours,  increasing efficiency by saving time and minimising errors. It is now possible to create a spot colour database with normalised paper tints. Based on GMG MX-profiles, an accurate paper tint can be applied during the process of proofing. A new feature is the ability to export a report showing spot colours, listing the spot colour name, CMYK values, the target and current values, and even out of gamut colours according to current value estimates and delta E.

Support for the Epson Stylus Pro 4900, 7890 and 9890 printers
With the help of the GMG AutoCalibrationWizard and an internal measuring device, Epson Stylus Pro 4900 (17''), 7890 (24'') and 9890 (44'') printers can be calibrated automatically without requiring any user intervention. The 4900 printer features a super-wide colour gamut for the simulation of saturated spot colours and is very suitable for colour-accurate remote proofing applications. The unique combination of the GMG printer driver, AutoCalibrationWizard and the GMG ProofStandard technology deliver remote proofing with the highest possible reliability and efficiency.

Compared to previous-generation printers, Epson Stylus Pro 4900, 7890 and 9890 printers will certainly impress the proofing market with faster print speeds and, therefore, increased productivity.

GMG ProofControl Inline for fully automated proofing
GMG ProofControl Inline is an additonal module for GMG ColorProof 5.2, allowing fully automated proofing and fast, error-free verification of contone proofs on Epson Stylus Pro printers with an integrated measuring device.

GMG ProofControl Inline automates selection of the correct target values and manual printing of proof labels within the Epson printer, making this "seal of quality" forgery-proof. Verification results can be seen within ColorProof, while measurement results of several GMG ColorProof 5.2 installations can be stored in one central database. If proof verification fails, the printer is automatically re-calibrated.

GMG ProofControl Inline is initially available for Epson Stylus Pro 4900, 7900, 9900, 7890 or 9890 printers with an integrated measuring device. Because user intervention is limited, the proof system can be successfully installed at sites where people are less skilled or who have little knowledge of digital proofing - for example, at advertising agencies, publishing offices or marketing departments.

GMG ProofControl, the company's well-known quality control software for digital proofs, is still the proof system of choice, consisting of GMG ColorProof 5.2 and proof printers that do not have an integrated measuring device. In facilities with different types of proof printers, GMG ProofControl Inline can be used along with version 1.5 - or more recent versions - of GMG ProofControl.

According to Paul Willems, CEO of GMG GmbH & Co. KG, the implementation of the latest features in GMG ColorProof 5.2, "fits the users' growing needs for more automated proofing workflows, very easy use of any software, and continually higher demands on productivity - as time and cost savings are more and more becoming crucial factors of company success. We are therefore convinced that our new version 5.2 represents a milestone in this direction while delivering GMG's renowned, highest possible contract proofing quality and production reliabilty according to our stringent quality standards."

GMG, a leading developer and supplier of high-end colour management software solutions, and Mimaki, a leading manufacturer of wide-format inkjet printers and cutting machines for the sign/graphics, textile/apparel and industrial markets today announced that the GMG ColorProof proofing solution will be available shortly for the Mimaki UJF-706 inkjet printer. This new joint solution from GMG and Mimaki, enabling high-quality contone and halftone proofing applications, is being demonstrated for the first time from October 5-8 on the booth of Mimaki 5i-21 at Tokyo Pack 2010.

The strategic partnership of both companies provides highly innovative solutions for high value packaging applications. The latest combination of the Mimaki UV UJF-706 inkjet printers, supported by the GMG ColorProof contone and GMG FlexoProof/DotProof halftone proofing solutions, allow for best quality packaging proofing on original substrates, creation of colour-accurate mockups and label prototypes as well as personalised short run production. White and varnish are also supported. The costs per proof or mockup produced digitally in this way are much lower than produced with analogue proofing systems.

Due to the unrivaled GMG colour management technology, GMG ColorProof, FlexoProof and DotProof are able to achieve perfect colour match, optimum spot and process colour reproduction as well as the highest repeatability and consistency. GMG FlexoProof is highly suitable for the digital production of mockups where the visualisation of final print characteristics such as substrate structures or register fluctuation is required. GMG FlexoProof and DotProof process not only industry standard data formats, but also the original 1-bit data of the imagesetter RIP. These data are colour-profiled, retaining the original screen information, and output on inkjet printers in contract-proof quality.

The Mimaki UJF-706, designed for industrial digital printing applications, prints directly on flexible and rigid substrates up to 15cm thickness such as metal, tin, acrylics, glass, styrene, PET, polycarbonate, shrink film and PLA, as well as coated and uncoated papers. With the roll-to-roll option on UJF-706, it is possible to print on thin packaging film (minimum 0.025 mm) with the highest precision currently in the market.

"The close integration between the Mimaki UJF-706 printer and GMG colour management technology represents a great leap forward with regard to our partnership and joint customers," says Paul Willems, CEO of GMG GmbH & Co. KG. "The new solution will enable users to implement highly demanding packaging applications for high-end proof and mockup production based on any original substrate. The further strengthening of our technological collaboration helps both companies to meet the steadily growing challenges in packaging printing such as very short product life cycles and therefore great pressure in time during design and approval processes."

Mikio Noguchi, Executive Vice President of Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd. adds: "Compared to very expensive and time consuming press proofs or analogue proofing, we are very pleased to offer the offset, gravure and flexo packaging industry a new time and cost saving complete solution for digital proofing and short run production. Due to the advanced GMG colour management we are able to guarantee maximum colour accuracy, repeatability and reliability in daily production."

Color-Logic has announced that the naming conventions in their Process Metallic Color System have been adopted by EFI for use in the popular EFI Fiery XF RIP.  Commenting on the matter, Color-Logic Director of Sales and Marketing Mark Geeves said: "Use of the Color-Logic nomenclature clearly establishes Color-Logic as the standard for metallic printing and special effects.  We are particularly gratified that EFI adopted our naming convention for both silver plus CMYK and white plus CMYK separations.  Widespread use of Color-Logic nomenclature means that graphic designers and printers using a wide variety of processes-including offset, flexo, toner-based digital, and inkjet-can be assured that their designs will be executed properly, particularly on the most modern digital output devices.

"We believe that special-effect applications such as metallic ink printing present huge growth potential," said Stefan Spiegel, general manager of EFI's inkjet applications group. "Our Fiery XF RIP is widely used in innovative applications everywhere, and by adopting Color Logic's nomenclature, we are helping our customers deliver predictable, high-quality output irrespective of the printing system used."

X-Rite, Incorporated, the world leader in colour management, measurement and communication technologies, today announced XRGA, a new metrology standard for the Graphic Arts industry. Designed to take advantage of advances in colour science and new international standards, XGRA provides a way to reduce measurement discrepancies between legacy instruments previously developed by X-Rite and GretagMacbeth. The new XRGA standard will improve inter-model agreement so that users can enjoy high-quality data exchange between sites that use different instrumentation, regardless of their legacy affiliation.

“The former X-Rite and the former GretagMacbeth each had, for historical reasons, different calibration standards for graphic arts instrumentation.  While it was important to ensure both standards were maintained to guarantee continuity for both companies’ customers, our goal with XGRA is to eliminate systematic discrepancies between instruments so that all measurements taken for the same colour sample should be the same, regardless of the system used,” explains Francis Lamy, X-Rite’s Chief Technology Officer.

X-Rite has conducted a detailed study designed to quantify the systematic differences between measurements obtained using instruments from both former companies, to ultimately arrive at the definition of a new corporate X-Rite standard for its graphic arts instrumentation.  Based on the results, the XRGA was developed and now achieves the following goals:

• Is applicable to all 0/45 and 45/0 instruments
• Incorporates improved methods for calibration
• Maintains traceability to the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
• Offers best implementation with respect to existing international ISO standards Improves inter-model agreement for existing instruments
• Preserves good agreement among former X-Rite instruments and former GretagMacbeth instruments
• Provides a single standard for all future graphic arts instruments to be delivered by X-Rite
• Improves data exchange

In addition to developing an improved single calibration processes internally for XRGA standard instruments, X-Rite has developed a set of proprietary matrix transforms to enable measurements taken by either a former X-Rite or a former GretagMacbeth instrument to be easily expressed in the new XRGA standard.

A number of X-Rite graphic arts products already conform to XRGA, notably ColorMunki Photo, ColorMunki Design and EasyTrax.  All future graphic arts instruments and software delivered by X-Rite will also conform to XRGA.  Because former X-Rite instruments are already very close to the new X-Rite standard, the switch to XRGA results in very small differences in measurement values, so many customers will not need to make any changes.  For customers who have experienced greater differences in measurement values between former X-Rite and former GretagMacbeth instruments, X-Rite will provide seamless means to move existing databases to the new XRGA standard.

Over the next several months, new orders of legacy GretagMacbeth and legacy X-Rite products, which are still available for sale, will begin to be manufactured to the new XRGA standard at the factory. Existing customers wishing to upgrade their current instruments can do by following the procedure for the instrument in question outlined at xrite.com/xrga/support.

Additional information and Frequently Asked Questions can be found at: www.xrite.com/xrga