Software

HumanEyes and EFI today announce their collaboration to provide customers with new and unique lenticular 3D printing capabilities using HumanEyes’s latest Producer3D technology. With the implementation of HumanEyes Producer3D software, the EFI Rastek T660™ now produces resolution enhancements that translate into superior quality lenticular.
The combined offering is being featured at PRINT 09 in EFI exhibit #2500.

“HumanEyes’s Producer3D technology gives EFI customers more flexibility and versatility to create unique package prototyping/short-run packaging, ad specialty items, display and exhibition graphics and indoor and outdoor signage,” says Darrell Etter, Director of Product Marketing at EFI.

“EFI and HumanEyes both strive to offer customers cutting edge technology at an affordable price point,” says Duby Hodd, CEO, HumanEyes Technologies. “Our latest HumanEyes Producer3D product allows EFI Rastek sites to offer their clients an expanded portfolio of options” .

HumanEyes Producer3D and EFI Rastek T660 Yield Powerful Results
With HumanEyes Producer3D it is now easy to create and print easily amazing lenticular printed projects with special effects: 3D, Flip, Zoom and Motion.

HumanEyes Producer3D maximizes printers’ productivity with an impressive array of new lenticular tools and industry first pre-press features that simplify the lenticular pre-print process, greatly improve productivity and provide superior print quality.

The EFI Rastek T660 is an economical and high-quality UV flatbed printer that provides production and print environments customer satisfaction and profitability through quick service, high image quality and a smaller footprint.

The EFI Rastek T660 generates photographic image quality with four- or four-color plus white, up to 1200 x 900 dpi and up to 300 ft²/hour (27.87 m²/hour). The Rastek T660 by EFI produces exceptional image quality, saturated colors and smooth gradations with gray scale print heads that utilize eight size drops ranging from six Pico-liter drops for fine detail to 42 Pico-liter drops.

Océ Arizona® Series UV flatbed printer customers continue to expand their repertoire of print offerings to include Lenticular and 3D special effects with HumanEyes Producer3D, the complete, end-to-end lenticular workflow solution. The Océ Arizona 250 GT and Océ Arizona 350 XT printers have been certified for use with HumanEyes lenticular technology. Demonstrations of the Océ Arizona 350 XT printer for producing lenticular applications can be seen at PRINT 09 at the Océ booth 1863.

According to Dante DiPasquale, Senior Director Business Development for Océ Display Graphics Systems, “The Océ Arizona 250 GT and Océ Arizona 350 XT printers offer extremely high print quality and the ability to print on a range of rigid materials. When combined with HumanEyes Producer3D, print shops can promote lenticular printing as a point of differentiation. We are very pleased to be demonstrating the Océ Arizona 350 XT printer’s capability to produce lenticular images at PRINT 09.”

HumanEyes Producer3D
HumanEyes Producer3D is an end-to-end solution that covers the entire workflow of lenticular image production, from lenticular content creation to interlace and pre-press. With HumanEyes Producer3D, it is now easy to create and print amazing lenticular printed projects with special effects: 3D, Flip, Zoom and Motion.

It maximizes printers’ productivity and changes the face of lenticular printing with an impressive array of lenticular tools and industry-first prepress features that simplify the lenticular preprint process, greatly improve productivity and provide superior print quality.

Océ customers worldwide have installed HumanEyes Producer3D to run on Océ Arizona flatbed printers, finding the solutions to offer natural and strong synergy.

The combined solutions expand printers’ portfolios with wide-format signage, POP applications, environmental design and more.

Océ Customers Speak:
Chris Clews, Managing Director of DE Group in New Zealand says, “Lenticular printing has been on our roadmap for several years and we purchased an Océ Arizona flatbed printer knowing that it was one of the leading options for creating large format Lenticular printing direct to lenticular lenses. The fact that we can also print HumanEyes Lens FreeTM and do short runs on to low cost Litho lenticular is all an added bonus. The sales team are already getting some amazing enquiries from both existing, and new customers.”

HumanEyes LensFree is an additional module within the HumanEyes Producer3D solution that allows users to create stunning backlit applications – totally lens free.

DE GROUP recently collaborated on a project commissioned by DDB on behalf of McDonald’s Australia for a stand-out advertising solution for bus shelters in order to promote its new ‘’McDonald’s 24 hour store’’ concept. The project imagined by DDB featured a flip effect based on 2 images: passers-by could see a young man yawning and then eating a hamburger.

Seven backlit billboards - 1,88*1,10 m - were produced on an Océ Arizona printer using 15 LPI lenses (particularly suitable for a flip effect) and were placed in main centers throughout NZ for about two months.

Victor Kalmakoff of United Graphics Inc. Canada says that HumanEyes Software came highly recommended by Océ. After testing and comparing to another solution, United Graphics selected HumanEyes software because it proved to work well with the Océ Arizona printer and was very user friendly. Today Kalmakoff is actively presenting United Graphics’ lenticular capabilities, saying, “We think lenticular will eventually take-off; particularly for direct mail and point-of-purchase applications. We’ve presented to a number of potential customers who are interested in incorporating 3D and motion printed pieces as part of their marketing campaigns. The combination of the Océ Arizona printer and HumanEyes software makes an ideal solution for producing smaller lenticular pieces in shorter-runs as well as eye-catching POP display applications.”

“Over the years we’ve had many customer requests for lenticular. As a result of HumanEyes Producer3D, we are pleased to now be able to offer these capabilities to our customers; becoming the first lenticular printer in Switzerland.” says Reynald Krähenbühl, SWISS GRAFIK SA. “I also recommend the two-day training supplied by HumanEyes, which was very comprehensive with follow-up that is truly noteworthy.’’

Krähenbüh explains that he purchased his Océ Arizona printer at DRUPA where he also discovered HumanEyes. Within two weeks, he acquired HumanEyes Producer3D software. At the beginning, the intention was to use the solutions to produce lenticular faces for watches. However,, ultimately he decided to specialize in producing lenticular postcards and interior decorations for offices and trade show booths. To date, SWISS GRAFIK’s most popular lenticular projects have featured flip designs.

Océ Arizona Series UV Flatbed Printers Offer Unique Benefits for Lenticular Printing
When the Océ Arizona Series printer’s unique technology is harnessed for lenticular printing, the result is superb print quality, crisp and accurate lenticular effects, and smooth printing.

The system also allows for the use of relatively thin stock, which costs significantly less than thicker lenses traditionally used for lenticular.

The new Océ Arizona 350 XT printer boasts an extremely large flatbed table that can produce prints up to 2.5 by 3.05 m (98.4” x 120”). The extra width allows the system to be used in a continuous imaging mode for rigid materials up to 4’ x 8’ in size.

Lastly, the Océ Arizona 350 XT printer expands lenticular productivity through its new white ink option, which enables under-printing for non-white media or objects, over-printing for backlit applications on transparent media, and/or printing white as a spot color. This eliminates the need to laminate the lens.

GMG, supplier of high-end color management and proofing solutions, is showing version 4.6 of both GMG ColorServer and GMG InkOptimizer for the first time at Print 09 in Chicago from September 11-16. Version 4.6 represents a major upgrade of these two highly successful and popular products of GMG's portfolio. GMG ColorServer color management software provides fully automatic color space transformations while GMG InkOptimizer allows fully automatic ink reduction.

The new versions of both products will be demonstrated on GMG's booth and will be available within the next 60 days. In addition to providing the tried-and-tested functions of the previous GMG ColorServer and GMG InkOptimizer, the major new features of version 4.6 focus on maximum production reliability and increased productivity.

INTEGRATION OF THE ADOBE® PDF LIBRARY
Today, nearly every application can create PDF files, resulting in a wide variety of PDFs with different versions and color spaces being delivered to print houses, repro and prepress businesses, advertising agencies and publishers. Checking and normalizing these files manually is a very time-consuming process. The processing of PDFs is now based on the Adobe® PDF Library, guaranteeing the correct handling of PDF files and therefore full productivity. PDF files can now be flattened, and transparent and overprinting elements yield identical results as in the Adobe Acrobat® reference software. PDF levels with language versions, varnish or die-cutting formes can be specifically excluded from processing.

CONVERSION OF SPOT COLORS TO CMYK
Many designers use spot colors with no thought as to how they are to be realized on the press. Spot colors can now be converted automatically to the CMYK values of the respective output color space, which is a great advantage in terms of time. GMG ColorServer replaces every spot color with the best possible match in the CMYK color space. Conversion is performed using the GMG SpotColor database, exploiting the maximum gamut of the selected color space.

PROFILEEDITOR WITH IMPROVED GAMUT MAPPING FUNCTION New Gamut Mapping algorithms ensure that colors are optimally converted between different color spaces, e.g. when color needs to be converted from a wide color space to a smaller one. Manual retouching of files is reduced dramatically.

NO EXPERT KNOWLEDGE NEEDED FOR SETUP
Besides the intuitive, clearly structured, new user interface, GMG ColorServer 4.6 is shipped with preconfigured hot folders for standard printing conditions. Configurations for all leading printing standards can be imported immediately after installation, meaning GMG ColorServer 4.6 is instantly up and running. The GMG-tested hot folders guarantee every user the best possible color conversions, avoiding errors from the outset and therefore benefiting production reliability.

NORMALIZING TO A COLOR SPACE AND INK REDUCTION IN ONE STEP In version 4.6, GMG ColorServer and GMG InkOptimizer can be seamlessly integrated and configured together in one hot folder. For customers who work both with GMG ColorServer and with GMG InkOptimizer, this means increased productivity, because normalizing and processing in GMG InkOptimizer can take place in a single process step. This reduces the configuration effort, facilitates integration and boosts the processing speed.

SIGNIFICANT TIME SAVINGS
Compared to the previous version, the processing speed has been increased drastically. For example, the speed of PDF conversions is doubled and PDF files are color-managed and ink-optimized within seconds.

"GMG ColorServer and GMG InkOptimizer 4.6 implement features urgently required by the graphic arts industry. The new version enables users to keep color under control, regardless of the printing conditions or media that need to be considered for the creation of printing data," explains Paul Willems, CEO of GMG GmbH & Co. KG. "We are convinced that, in these uncertain economic times, GMG ColorServer and GMG InkOptimizer perfectly fit the needs of the whole industry sector regarding time and cost savings, maximum production reliability and productivity."

GMG, the world's leading color management solutions provider, and BARBIERI electronic, leading manufacturer of color measuring solutions (densitometers and spectrophotometers) for the large format, flatbed and industrial printing markets, announced today a new strategic partnership, with the intent to provide exceptional color management solutions for the large format printing sector. According to the agreement, GMG will offer a special sales bundle including GMG ColorServer 4.6, the latest version of GMG's well-known color management solution for fully automatic color space transformations, available end of October 2009, and BARBIERI's popular spectrophotometer, the Spectro LFP RT.

With the assistance of a new, easy to use, profiling system to calibrate a wide range of print devices, GMG ColorServer and the BARBIERI Spectro LFP RT can be used to achieve perfect color quality. This is especially true for mixed environments with various front-end RIPs for different print systems. All output devices in use at the end user's production site can be harmonized to a dedicated color standard. This is also applicable in so called 'hybrid' production environments melding different printing, such as offset, digital and large format printing.

The Spectro LFP RT is suited for every application where accurate color in digital printing is required. Together with GMG ColorServer, this is the ideal color management solution to meet the demands of industrial digital printing and inkjet printing on every media, including special ones such as cardboard, banners, backlit film, fabrics, silk, plastic plates, wood, stone, and ceramic plates.

The most important features of the spectrophotometer are:

- Automatic transmissive and reflective measurements in one device
- Switchable measuring aperture (2 and 6mm) - 2mm for high resolution prints on media with high quality surface, 6mm for low resolution prints or structured/textured surfaces
- Special optics for UV printer requirements to get most accurate measurements, as UV prints have a unique surface

"The new partnership between GMG and BARBIERI is a great opportunity for both companies to establish high quality color management solutions for the large format production market. As expectations on color accuracy and repeatability are increasing in the digital and large-format printing sectors, we, together with BARBIERI, are delighted to provide customers the benefits of our common outstanding color management and measuring know-how," says Paul Willems, CEO of GMG GmbH & Co. KG.

Wolfgang Passler, International Sales and Marketing Manager of BARBIERI electronic snc, states, "Within this partnership, the outstanding color management knowledge of GMG and the excellent color measuring technology of BARBIERI electronic are combined to create a synergistic force. This results in a new solution that delivers a high level of color accuracy, while the entire color management and printing workflow is simplified."

For an International list of official Barbieri distributors click here. Barbieri devices are distributed in the UK by IGS UK Ltd, www.igsuk.net

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.

The latest version of the online job submission, remote proofing and approval solution for Trueflow SE gives users a raft of new features and improvements

Screen Europe has announced version 4.02 of Riteapprove SE, its online job submission, remote proofing and approval solution for the Trueflow SE workflow. The new version gives even greater integration with Trueflow than ever before.

Its improved job automation eliminates the need for manual intervention at key check points, allowing smoother transition of files through the workflow. Approval takes place at page level to make it easier for the user and there is a visual indication in Trueflow when a page is approved. The thumbnails of the pages now display the proofing status.

A comment feature has been added with a range of drawing tools that can be used to mark corrections. To complete the proofing process, an email notification alerts the user if the preflight check fails. There is a host of other improvements in v4.02, from extending the area image view to multi-language support.

Riteapprove SE is ideal for Trueflow users who want to add online job submission, proofing and approval to their web-to-print operations. It automates the overall production cycle, shortens the time from prepress to press and improves customer satisfaction. The system enables collaborative working, last-minute correcting and final approval of production files before they are imaged on to the plate or output to a digital press.

Unlike the conventional FTP upload method, the Riteapprove SE transfer client automatically monitors and corrects transmission errors, ensuring proper file delivery. The customer can drop files into the file transfer GUI, connect to the Riteapprove SE server, select the job, fill out a custom online form and upload. The process is very simple.

A prepress operator can easily send a request for approval with just a few clicks of the mouse from a web browser. All participants in the approval process can view the output online, add comments and approve or reject the document. This automated process frees up the production operator to work on other jobs while waiting for final approval. Riteapprove SE automatically sends approval status to Trueflow SE.