31 Jan 2024

Caldera Releases Version 8 of its RIP Software

 

Caldera Graphics has launched its new V8 software version optimised for X-Rite iPrism and the Adobe PDF Print Engine.

The new Version 8.0 includes:

The Adobe PDF Print Engine option enables integrated, end-to-end PDF workflows for printing graphically rich content, including variable content for personalised 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 transparency effects.

i1Prism, the new X-Rite Color Management engine, contains a new ICC Profile generator that enhances Color separation and Color matching in the Caldera print workflow. With this option, users will benefit from the last state-of-the-art algorithms to print colors that were not reachable with previous profilers with a higher accuracy than before. Smoother and larger gamuts will provide an extended and better color matching. The deep collaboration between X-Rite and Caldera developers has allowed a complete adequation between the needs of Caldera end-users and the power of i1Prism. The new version of Easymedia will bring end-users an incredible color experience.

EasyMedia (Caldera's profile creating software) has two new tools for evaluating the quality of a profile and comparing profiles. The Gamut Viewer is a 2D view of the gamut of a profile in the "ab" subspace (of Lab), with a slider for modifying L in real-time. The gamut viewer can also display measurement data (LAB values measured on the ICC target) as single isolated points. This is an interesting feature allowing one to check if the profile has missed some colors. The Color Analyzer tool displays statistics about how the profile renders different colors, each grouped into different (predefined) color sets. For each set, you can visualize the average LAB deltaE, meaning the expected color difference and the percentage of in-gamut colors. For example, there is a "Pantone set" containing all Pantone solid coated colors, so one can immediately know how many Pantone colors are in-gamut.

The Caldera Image Bar now manages multiple "Tabs", allowing one to organize his work much more efficiently. The Image Bar Tabs are folders containing a certain number of images, either opened in Fileman, created with Compose, Tiling+, etc... It is possible to create new tabs, rename tabs, delete tabs, etc... But also to move/copy files very quickly from one tab to another by simple drag-and-drop or by using the corresponding entries in the menu.

Caldera is now full UTF-8. This means that the standard universal encoding (already used on Windows and Mac) is now implemented in place of the obsolete ISO-8859 system (or KOI-R in the case of Russian). This will solve problems of accentuated characters in file names, which are usually displayed as strange hieroglyphs in Caldera. This will also permit Caldera to support any language in the future, including multi-byte ones (Chinese, Korean, Japanese).

The automatic printer detection feature allows the printer drivers to broadcast over the network (or parse the USB ports in the case of an USB printer) to automatically find the IP address and port number of the printer. All newly installed drivers will have, by default; the "Auto-Connect" flag set.

 

Quark Offers Printers Free QuarkXPress 8 and Priority Technical Support

 

Quark has announced special offers that allow eligible printers to join Quark output provider programs at no cost. Adobe Service Network (ASN) members, current QuarkAlliance members, and printers interested in Quark Promote are invited to take advantage of complimentary QuarkAlliance and Quark Promote memberships. Membership benefits can include priority technical support, a free copy of QuarkXPress 8, increased market visibility, and potential revenue opportunities.

"At a time when some in our industry are moving away from print, Quark is aggressively maintaining its investment in this community," said Cyndie Shaffstall, director of QuarkAlliance. "There is a significant opportunity for printers to take advantage of the booming Web-to-print industry, as well as traditional revenue streams. I invite output providers to join one of our programs right now at no cost."

There are a variety of ways output providers can participate in the special program enrollment offers:

 

  • Existing ASN members that register now will receive a complimentary one-year enrollment to both the QuarkAlliance Output Provider Program as an Authorized Partner and the Quark Promote Output Provider Program (US-only) as an Authorized Partner (at the provider's discretion).
  • Current members of the QuarkAlliance Output Provider Program are eligible for a complimentary one-year membership renewal that now also includes enrollment in the Quark Promote Output Provider Program.
  • All output providers are eligible for complimentary enrollment in the Quark Promote Output Provider Program.

 

 

Wasatch Releases Support for the HP Designjet L25500

 

Wasatch Computer Technology has released support for the new HP Designjet L25500 printer. Drivers for this new latex printer are included in the January 4th release of Wasatch SoftRIP and the Wasatch SoftRIP HP Exclusive Edition.

In addition to providing support for the HP Designjet L25500, the full-featured SoftRIP HP Exclusive Edition now includes support for all the older HP solvent printers at no extra charge. With a suggested list price of just $1,495, it is a powerful and cost effective way for SoftRIP users to manage all their HP Designjet printers with a single RIP. Click here to learn more about the HP Exclusive Edition.

With its 16-bit color rendering pipeline, Precision Stochastic Screens halftone method, and powerful print controls, SoftRIP helps HP users achieve excellent color and high quality output. SoftRIP also includes features for sophisticated color management, intuitive direct-to-layout workflows, and automated Smart Nesting, making it the perfect solution for any production environment.

The following drivers are also included in the January 4th release of Wasatch SoftRIP:

 

  • Océ Arizona 250 GT driver (special registration code required)
  • Vinyl Express Qe60+ cutting driver (Contour Cutting code required)
  • Updated Konica Minolta Nassenger 6 driver to fix a problem with the Interleave control in certain resolutions
  • Updated Infiniti America drivers to add an option to launch the manufacturer's controls from the printer properties page
  • Updated Graphtec FC-8000 driver to add the cross-cutting feature
  • Updated Graphtec FC-7000, Graphtec FC-8000, and Vinyl Express Q-Series drivers to address an issue with manual registration
  • Updated Dilli NeoTitan 1606ws and NeoTitan 1606vs to include the "auto-generate White from traced areas" option

Wasatch SoftRIP is available in the UK and Europe from Tech8

 

 

Software specialist ColorGATE provides for greater productivity in latex printing with two special editions

On the topic of latex printing, industry experts are currently just as enthusiastic about the new HP Designjet L25500 as about the universal Productionserver 6 software RIP from ColorGATE, which was just recently the world’s first RIP solution to score full points in all the categories in the Hewlett Packard certification process. And it’s no wonder: after all, no other RIP software supports the functions and application range of the innovative printer series for indoors and out better and more extensively than the ColorGATE solution. Productionserver 6 is already able to optimally accommodate even the latest HP concepts, such as concatenating (the automatic sorting and grouping of jobs according to the printing mode) or Professional Pantone Emulation (HP PPE) for superior reproduction results.

And with two new special editions, ColorGATE makes software investment decisions even easier than ever before for all types of users – because the PS6 HP L25500 Best Price Edition as well as the HP L25500 Producer Edition offer such great value for money that they are very hard to beat.

Excellent value for money

Both packages include the newest generation of the universal production RIP Productionserver, which now allows four times the productivity in printing data generation thanks to the automated allocation of available RIP processes with the unique Integrated Parallel Process Manager and, of course, the printer driver that has been specially customized for the HP DesignJet L25500.

And even the Best Price Edition already includes such ColorGATE high-performance modules as the Container for the versatile creation of collective jobs; the Producer Edition, which has been specially designed to meet the needs of cost-conscious power users, is able to boast, among other things, a module to drive the integrated spectrophotometer of the L25500 to facilitate the creation of high-quality ICC profiles and the sensational Ink Saver, a new ColorGATE development that reduces ink costs by up to 30 percent and offers significantly improved grey balance.

Users of earlier versions of Productionserver also have good reason to smile: ColorGATE has tied up an equally attractively priced PS6 HP L25500 Special Upgrade bundle expressly for them. Detailed information on the editions can be found at www.colorgate.com

 

Wasatch SoftRIP TX Provides Seamless Solution for Italian Fine Fabric Manufacturer

Robustelli Monna Lisa

Wasatch SoftRIP TX has been instrumental in helping Canepa Tessitura Serica, a fabric manufacturer in Como, Italy, produce fine fabrics for clothing, accessories, furniture, and more. Since they began digital textile printing, they've been using SoftRIP TX because of its overall quality, advanced color management tools, and powerful features for textile printing.

Equipped with eight Konica Minolta Nassenger and four Robustelli Monna Lisa printers, the Canepa inkjet department works around the clock producing fine fabrics. "The 16-bit color rendering pipeline gives us perfect gradients, even when we're working with large pieces of fabric," said Egidio Pigozzi, inkjet department manager. "The powerful tools in SoftRIP TX, as well as the excellent technical support we receive, help us produce the fine fabrics we're known for."

"We've used Wasatch since we began digital textile printing," said Egidio. "Because of its overall quality and the ability to control ink drop size for lower ink consumption, SoftRIP TX was the obvious choice for us."

Staying on the cutting edge of design and technology has helped Canepa Tessitura Serica become one of the strongest silk companies in Italy. The powerful textile printing features in SoftRIP TX, such as specialized re-sampling and halftoning that eliminates seams between repeats, the ability to RIP a single pattern and efficiently repeat it in the software, and robust color management tools for maximum quality control, help Canepa stay ahead of their competition.

Wasatch SoftRIP is available in the UK and Europe from Tech8

 

Repro India Implements Suite of EFI Solutions to Manage Growing Print Business and Scale with Future Needs

EFI logo

EFI today announced that Repro India, Ltd. of Mumbai is implementing a full suite of EFI solutions, including EFI Monarch, EFI Digital StoreFront and EFI PrintFlow, to provide an integrated management system that will keep pace with their current growth and meet future needs. Repro India offers design and prepress services, sheetfed and web offset printing, digital printing, postpress and last-mile logistics, with an annual turnover of US$60 million with more than 600 employees. Repro India produces annual reports, IT manuals, catalogues, and magazines and is one of India's largest producers of educational books for the global market.

"In order to be competitive in today's market, print service providers need to have a real-time, end-to-end, 360-degree view of their business. Our home-grown management solution had reached its limitations. We needed a modern solution and a proactive MIS partner to ensure future success, so we selected EFI," said Baiju Gujarathi, senior vice president of Repro India.

Repro India selected the EFI Monarch print MIS solution to manage its multi-plant, multi-technology business. In addition to EFI Monarch's solid reputation in the marketplace, Repro India was especially attracted by the wide range of additional integrated modules available for Monarch (such as scheduling, direct machine interface and Web storefronts) as well as the ability of the software to address international business requirements such as currency, language and taxes. The company also needed to be able to manage both digital and offset print production from a single interface, so Monarch's support of industry standards such as JDF was a critical decision factor as well.

Comments Gujarathi, "EFI Monarch is a proven, integrated solution that offers an industry best-practices framework and a wide array of add-on modules that can expand the scope of our automation over time and scale with the business. EFI also has a large scale engineering team in India, so we know any requests will be handled very responsively."

Repro India has installed EFI Monarch in both of its plants, including the shop floor data collection capability. This has given the company better control over its production operation, more flexibility in planning, and the scalability that will ensure that its systems are positioned for future growth. "We can already see improvements in productivity, and we also have job costing control in place to monitor job profitability, an extremely important capability for us," said Gujarathi.

In addition to Monarch, Repro India is piloting the Digital Storefront web-to-print platform, with two customer profiles created and beta use started. The company is also piloting the adoption of planning and scheduling practices using EFI's PrintFlow dynamic scheduling module. Next up is Auto-Count®, which will accurately track actual production with a direct machine interface to the shop floor. Repro India is also using PrinterSite® Internal to make it easier for its sales representatives around the globe to process requests for customer estimates from the field. And with PrinterSite Fulfilment, the firm will be able to integrate its fulfilment operation into the overall customer offering.

"Our promise to our customers is to manage their content using a zero inventory approach whether they require one or one million copies of books or other printed materials, whenever or wherever they are needed," concludes Baiju. "The capabilities of EFI Monarch are vital to our ability to deliver on this promise. It is improving our efficiency across the organisation, but more importantly, has been a critical factor in shifting our corporate culture to a focus on solving customer business problems which almost incidentally includes the production of print. EFI is a trusted partner we expect to work with over the long haul to ensure a comprehensive and service-oriented offering in a dynamically changing global business scenario."