What is the Right Prepress Workflow for You? By Christian Lemoine Published by
The Nagging Questions A lot of medium to small printers with limited budgets are faced with nagging questions regarding their prepress workflow. Do we have the right workflow for our business? Should we invest in an expensive fullfeatured workflow? When is the right time to upgrade? These questions come at a time when most printers are facing increasing costs, diminishing margins, shorter press runs and more and more migration of traditional print work to digital and web publishing. These economic and market trends are also compounded by traditional attitudes that profits come from the pressroom and that prepress costs (investment) should always be minimized. It s almost always easier to justify investing in the pressroom rather than in prepress, because the presses make money.
Penny Wise... This attitude often leads printers to "save" on workflows by not purchasing "options" that would bring them an immediate ROI (Return On Investment), such as ink saving, ink key presetting (CIP3/4), optimization of process color and advanced screening: Penny-wise and pound-foolish. Spend a little to save much more and improve quality!
Focus on Quality Often, small and medium print shop owners do not have a sufficient grasp of the huge technological changes that have radically transformed prepress in the last 25 years and that are continuing to drive our industry through the increasing use of computerized automated processes. Although some of these innovations have lowered the quality standards in some print market areas, they have also increased them in others. Are you locking yourself out of some markets because of a lack of quality in prepress? Some owners are technology shy and rely on their in-house guru to make recommendations, and often, purchasing decisions are made without thorough review and analysis. The flip side is that there are no One-Size-Fits-All solutions and that print and prepress operations should be understood in their specificity. Let s try to flush out some of these considerations:
Lets Take a Closer Look What are the specific needs of your operation? 1. What kind of different printing methods do you have or want to support: sheet-fed, web or digital; short-run or long run; single color, multi-color or 4 color process? 2. How closely do these have to match? How important is quality? 3. How important is consistency? 4. How important is color accuracy? 5. What is your throughput? 6. How important is speed? 7. What kind of files do you get from your clients and how do you get them? 8. Can you get your clients to cooperate with you? 9. How do you want to interact with your clients from a prepress standpoint (proofs or no proofs)? 10. How important and/or feasible is automation? 11. Do you need or want to have web-based submission and approval of jobs? 12. How do you want to bill for your prepress work and how do you want to integrate this with your billing process?
Lets Take an Even Closer Look What are the limitations of the current workflow? 1. What are the hidden costs resulting from these limitations? For example, is the current workflow too slow? 2. Are there discrepancies between proofs and press sheets that are causing jobs to reprint? 3. Does the pressroom have long make-readies because jobs don t fit or color cannot be matched? 4. Are there problems of consistency, reliability or quality that originate from the prepress area? 5. Are there problems with impositions? 6. Is there a lot of finger pointing between the prepress and the pressroom? 7. Are correction cycles unreliable or do they take too long? 8. Are there problems handling transparencies and new PDF formats? 9. Do certain files abort or crash your RIP? 10. How well are you competing in your market in terms of speed, accuracy, quality and profitability in factors that are attributable to your prepress? 11. What parts of your current workflow are up-to-date and what other parts need upgrading? 12. What imposition or proofing software have you already invested in and how would those integrate in a new workflow? How much can you save in labor costs with a more efficient workflow?
The Right Investment For new and existing small and medium printers, the answers to these questions can help you define what your prepress workflow needs are and what budget resources you should allocate to resolving them. Most importantly, you need to consider your investment from a business standpoint. What will be your ROI in quantifiable terms (reduced labor costs, less press downtime, reduced make-readies ) and less-quantifiable terms (improved quality, better customer satisfaction and improved customer retention )? It is important to realize that, from a business standpoint, the right investment in prepress can be as important and as profitable as an investment in the pressroom. Current workflows can be broken down into several broad steps that you can use to assess and compare feature sets of different workflows:
Current Workflows 1. Job planning, submission and preflighting of files: Web Portal submission, Hot Folder submission, preflight engine, correction engine, input approval process, job planning 2. File optimization: (PDF) Optimization, separation control, color transformation and ink optimization, (PDF) editing, trapping and trap editing 3. Imposition: ganging, folded impositions (books, brochures ), flat work, packaging (nested impositions) 4. Proofing: stochastic and/or dot-based, color matching engine to specific targets, (your press or industry standards like SWOP, GRACoL G7, FOGRA ), color matching software, imposition proofing, single sided vs. double sided, content proofing, contract color proofs, soft proofing, internet accessible soft proofs, page animated flip through proofs 5. Approval and correction process: page based, imposition based, or document based 6. PDF Rasterization, screening for final output: PostScript/PDF interpreter (RIP engine, Adobe Print Engine), screening technologies (stochastic, conventional, hybrid screening), line screens, dot shapes, and screen angle sets 7. Interface to output device (CTF or CTP): generic 1-Bit tiff or proprietary shooter 8. Interface to press devices: CIP3/4 ink key presetting 9. Interface to finishing devices: JDF 10. Interface to Production control, MIS, Costing, Billing, Accounting 11. Archiving and Backup and retrieval of jobs and system 12. Upgrade and updating process: is the workflow hardware dependent? Are updates prompt and adequate to fix bugs? What is the cost of an upgrade? Do upgrades involve new hardware? Do updates or upgrades require a complete re-install? (See Annex for brief descriptions of some of these terms)
Comprehensive Solutions There are several comprehensive solutions being marketed, some by the big consumable, hardware and software companies (Kodak Prinergy, Agfa Apogee, Fuji XMF) and others by independent companies (Rampage, DALIM, Artwork Systems ). These are all relatively proven but costly solutions, typically starting well into the tens of thousands of dollars for base systems with configurable options that significantly increase their cost. Adding to the cost of these systems, upgrades are typically quite costly, and some like Prinergy, Apogee and Rampage require you to purchase hardware from them at a premium and tend to lock you into their costly solutions for any added features or expansions to your workflow. An advantage of most of these solutions is that their latest releases often incorporate the latest Adobe Print Engine in their RIP cores, giving them reliable outputs and transparency handling. Generally, most experienced prepress professionals, though not all, use Prinergy Connect as a reference in terms of workflow functionality. Features like Prinergy InSite Web Portal and Rules Based Automation provide a comprehensive feature set, even though the actual GUI is not very user friendly to configure. Often, major workflow purchases or upgrades are bundled or financed through deals involving consumable (plate) contracts. For a lot of small and medium printers, this option is often less applicable, but it s an avenue that deserves to be investigated.
Comprehensive Solutions At the other end of the spectrum, there are several workflows that have been built around the Harlequin RIP core. Harlequin RIPs have the advantage of being one of the most affordable and widely distributed RIPs in the industry, with proven speed, reliability and accuracy. However, a limitation of these workflows is that the Harlequin RIP is only a raster engine, and thus only fits in towards the back end of PDF based workflows, just prior to output. Solutions like Xitron Navigator Elite and Compose Express Workflow provide a Mac or PC client-server interface with features like client controlled preflighting, ink remapping and imposition and solutions like Polkadots, Fusion DigiPage and Brainnew can impose and proof individual rasterized pages, providing page level correction cycles. However, a lot of Harlequin workflows are a collection of different software for different steps, tied together by a java GUI. Preflighting, PDF editing, spot color control, imposition are often performed in Acrobat through plugins, while proofing and trapping are most often handled through Harlequin plugins (I-Trap, Trap Pro ) and options or dedicated color servers (CGS-Oris, GMG color, Alwan color, Bodoni Systems ). Web portal solutions can also feed into these solutions through the configuration of Hot Folders.
Comprehensive Solutions Workflows like these can also be assembled generically from various software solutions that provide functionality for each of the many steps, most often involving Acrobat plugins (PitStop, Imp02, Callas pdftoolbox ), imposition and ganging software (Preps, Dynastrip, Impostrip, Metrix, QuickFit4Print ), proofing and trapping plugins for Harlequin There are many plugins available for Harlequin RIPs that extend the functionality of this platform. One drawback to this collection of software is the lack of a unifying GUI, but automation of the workflow can often be achieved through the use of Hot Folders. Automation tools such as Enfocus Switch can also be used to link different applications and achieve complex workflow configurations. However, it is often the case that all these separate elements (hardware and $30,000 + software) add up to over thirty thousand dollars, and there are often unpredictable limitations in functionality and compatibility between files generated by different software at different steps of the workflow. Although it is possible to pick out best of class components to configure a highly functional workflow, a disparate upgrading, updating and bug resolution process further complicates this. It often requires a high level of expertise to configure and maintain.
Comprehensive Solutions In the middle of the spectrum, comprehensive, open-format PDF/JDF workflow solutions like Founder ElecRoc (Apogee like), Xitron Xenith Sierra (XMF like) and PuzzleFlow (DALIM like) can provide reliable and less expensive alternatives to proprietary solutions like Prinergy, Apogee and Rampage. While these workflows may or may not have all the options of a full-fledged Prinergy Connect workflow, they provide all the common standard functionality of a well-integrated workflow at a very cost-competitive level. For example, a basic Founder ElecRoc workflow comes with 5 seats of a built-in imposition module (Preps like), worth more than the total cost of the workflow (when compared to the cost of 5 seats of Preps), and is often available on a 3-month trial basis. PuzzleFlow offers over 40 configurable processing modules, its own imposition solution, an automated page and web-pairer for newspaper and web production (completed impositions are automatically released to the workflow), and an online web trial.
Open-Format Solutions While all the above may seem a bit complicated, the fact is that there is a wide range of workflow solutions available today. This document does not attempt to provide a comprehensive list and analysis of available workflows. This document only tries to outline a framework for you to analyze your specific needs and match them to available solutions. It pays to consider these carefully and to buy into the features that match your current and anticipated needs. Always consider your level of expertise, the advice of knowledgeable users who are experienced in several workflows, the availability of real-life demos, free trials and the level of support you will receive to train your operators, configure, and calibrate your workflow. Consider the cost of future upgrades and their availability; will you be able to scale up your workflow as your business expands? How expensive is it to build in redundancy and continuity of operation safeguards? Does that double the cost of the workflow? How fast is the bug resolution process? Often smaller software companies have closer and more direct ties with their customers and provide faster bug resolution than the big guys. The availability of in-house training and customization of the workflow can also be crucial factors, particularly in specialty print operations and will certainly help you get started and hit the ground running. How will you train new operators in the future? Will it cost more to "fingerprint" your press or is that an included feature in your workflow purchase?
Open-Format Solutions Is G7 calibration and qualification available? How much will it cost? Do you have special customization requirements (like specialized presses for CD and DVD printing)? The best technology is only as good as the people who make it work for you: your administrative skills, your operators and the support they receive from your prepress vendors. Think of your ROI: how is this investment going to generate revenue in terms of new sales opportunities, faster throughput, reduced make-readies, ink savings, less press downtime and improved quality? Above all, do not be "penny-wise and pound-foolish" and don t get fooled into purchasing glitzy options that do not fit your business model.
The Printing Revolution A note about Transparencies, PDF vs. PostScript, EPS, TIFF, PDF levels, RIPs (Raster Image Processors) ROOM workflows (RIP Once, Output Many), JDF, GRACoL Starting in 1985, the desktop printing revolution radically transformed digital prepress workflows through the use of PostScript, a platform and device independent programming and page description language that became the de facto standard in the printing industry and made proprietary million dollar prepress systems obsolete by moving the computing platform to relatively affordable Mac and PC desktop workstations. PostScript evolved through several iterations (level 1, 2 and 3) to provide better support for more complex page layout features (faster rendering, support for composite fonts, better spot color handling and support for smoother gradients ) in 1997. A key design feature missing in PostScript is its lack of transparency support. PostScript files must flatten translucent elements and combine them with underlying objects as rendered images, at a specific resolution, inherently limiting the detail and quality of the flattening process to what can be rendered at that particular resolution. Transparencies are always flattened anytime a file is generated by printing, saving as PostScript, or saving as EPS.
The Printing Revolution An EPS file is simply a PostScript file with a defined Bounding Box (the smallest rectangle) within which all the page elements are contained. People often confuse EPS graphics with vector graphics, which are often EPS files. Vector EPS files have geometric outlined descriptions for all their graphic elements, making them scalable without loss of quality (depending on the quality of the vector outline) as opposed to raster based images described by a fixed number of pixels at a defined resolution, which can also be present in raster EPS files. A raster image is an image made up of pixels, (picture elements), or tiny tiles with discrete color values. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a common prepress raster file format. 1-Bit TIFFs can accurately represent a printing plate, because the 1 bit per pixel (0 or 1) mimics ink or no ink values of areas on a printing plate. High-resolution 1-Bit TIFF files used for plate making are often compressed into much smaller files, using lossless CITTG4 compression. 8-Bits per pixel TIFFs are commonly used to represent continuous tone images because the 8 digital bits allow for up to 256 shades per channel (separation, color or plate ).
PostScript vs. PDF PostScript has been superseded by PDF (Portable Document Format, itself based on PostScript) as the page and document level standard file format of the printing industry. In addition to all the features supported by PostScript, the PDF format supports platform independent screen viewing and printing applications (like Acrobat, Preview ) and new features, particularly layers, transparencies, encryption, forms, commenting and password enabled selective restrictions to viewing, printing and editing. Support for transparencies was introduced into the PDF format starting with PDF version 1.4 (Acrobat 5), in 2001. Layers became supported with PDF 1.5 in 2003 (Acrobat 6), and OpenType with PDF 1.6 in 2004 (Acrobat 7). PDF Level 1.7 (Acrobat 8) was introduced starting in 2006 to provide improved support for multimedia and 3D content and has been extended through several revision levels.
PostScript vs. PDF Originally owned and published by Adobe in 1993, the PDF format specification is now governed by the ISO (International Standards Organization). The ISO is currently overseeing a new PDF level, PDF 2.0, which is still undergoing revision and will address extended support for XML (Extensible Markup Language, a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable). Most of the features that affect printing have been addressed up to and including PDF 1.6, although compatibility with newer versions of PDF is still important for workflows to be able to process ( understand ) files generated by newer releases of desktop applications, particularly Adobe Creative Suite and Quark.
RIP (Raster Image Processor At the core of any workflow is a RIP (Raster Image Processor) that converts all input file formats to an output resolution separated raster image compatible with the final output device. In most CTP workflows, the output resolution is 2400 or 2540 dpi and the RIPs generate 1-Bit TIFF files (one per separation, each being an image of a plate) that the CTP uses to expose the plates. Similar or equivalent operations are performed whether the output device is a computer monitor, an inkjet printer, a laser printer, or a digital press. Whether the input file format is a PostScript or PDF file, the RIP must rasterize the image of the plate using standardized processes that guarantee similar outputs on any device (device independence). The programming that drives those processes is often referred to as a RIP engine. There are many different RIP engines in the industry. Adobe licenses its Adobe Print Engine as an SDK (Software Development Kit) that developers can incorporate into their RIPs to ensure that complex designs and effects, even variable print elements with transparency, are efficiently and reliably reproduced. Adobe claims to have the most stable and up to date rendering engine. Most high-end workflows have licensed the Adobe PostScript Interpreter and the Adobe Print Engine and they update their workflows periodically to incorporate Adobe s revisions to its Print Engine. Other companies have developed their own RIP engines, like Jaws (the Harlequin RIP core), and they are faced with a similar updating process to keep up with changing input file formats, changing PDF levels. Transparency handling has been a particularly tricky issue, because of the complexity of accurately rendering complex translucent objects in a standardized and consistent manner. Problems with transparency handling are one of the most frequent reasons cited by print shop owners for upgrading their RIPs.
RIP (Raster Image Processor) ROOM (Rip Once Output Many) workflows were popularized by companies like Scitex with its Brisque workflow. Pages were rasterized to an intermediate unscreened raster format that could be output at page level or imposed in layouts with Preps imposition software. The ability to screen and calibrate at the final output step provided the workflow with true ROOM flexibility. The same intermediate raster format pages could be used to output Reader Spread proofs for publication work and final imposed plates for CTP at various screen angles and line screens. However, that intermediate raster format could not adequately render pages with complex transparencies and blends and these workflows were eventually phased out. Nowadays, with PDF workflows, ROOM workflows more often refer to normalizing input PDFs and using the same RIP engine to drive the proofing process and the rasterizer for plates. Most PDF workflows only rasterize at the final output step. Some workflows (Fusion Digipage, Polkadots, Founder ElecRoc ) can impose individual screened pages, providing for more predictable correction cycles and flexible proofing (reader spread proofs vs. final press layouts), but those workflows have lost the flexibility of changing screening and calibration at the final output step.
JDF (Job Definition Format) JDF (Job Definition Format) is promulgated by the prepress industry association CIP4 (the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress Organization, the successor of CIP3) as an open standard manner to accurately describe different steps throughout the print production process, from job planning to binding and finishing, so that different steps of the entire process can talk to each other. Through adherence to JDF standards, almost any step of the print production process can be specified in these terms and interpreted accurately independently of specific software. The most common use of JDF definitions is with impositions, ink key presetting (CIP3/4), and some finishing operations like cutting and folding. It has been more often successfully implemented in bigger printing plants to facilitate the production process, for example by programming the cutter from the JDF description of the imposition (at some plants reducing set up time from an average of 25 minutes to less than a minute). JDF compliance can also generate useful data for some MIS, job costing and tracking systems.
JDF (Job Definition Format) At first, it was thought that JDF would immediately revolutionize the print industry, but widespread adoption by manufacturers and implementation by users, although slow, has been steadily increasing. It is a key technology that printers should use to gain efficiency and profits.
G7 Certification GRACoL (General Requirements for Applications in Commercial Offset Lithography) is a color reproduction specification for sheetfed offset lithography promulgated by the GRACoL committee of the IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance, founded in 1966). Its aim is to provide general guidelines and recommendations that can be used as a reference source across the industry for quality color printing. GRACoL 7 is the current version of the GRACoL Publication. G7, the IDEAlliance proof-to-print process, is based on principles of digital imaging, spectrophotometry, and computer-to-plate (CtP) technologies. Its goal is to specify a simple calibration process that will help the printers reliably achieve a close visual match from proof to press, G7 breaks from tradition by focusing on colorimetric data for gray balance in the mid-tones rather than on densitometric aims, i.e. dot gain, for each color. G7 is named for its gray scale calibration technique and the 7 ISO ink colors it requires. G7 is a trademark of IDEAlliance.
G7 Certification Although G7 was developed by the efforts of the GRACoL Committee, it should not be confused with GRACoL or with GRACoL 7. The G7 calibration and qualification process relies on a constant monitoring process of the measured color (rather than density) of the solid CMYK inks, their primary overprints (C, M, Y, K, CM, MY, CY; = 7), and gray balance to achieve standardized, reproducible visual color matches in print and proofing. G7 (~ Gray 7) has gained wide adoption in the US print industry and is currently being used in a wide variety of CMYK print applications, including sheetfed and web offset, flexo and screen-printing. SWOP (Specifications for Web Offset Publications) and GRACoL are both working groups of the IDEAlliance that develop, maintain and publish printing guidelines for offset lithography (in 2005, SWOP merged with IDEAlliance). These groups provide direction of the G7 Technology, Print Tolerance Committee, G7 Master Printer and G7 Expert Consultant programs.
About the Author Christian Lemoine is a workflow specialist and prepress consultant with EZ Hi Tech International. Education: Bachelor of Arts in Biology, technical training in various areas of prepress. 35 years of experience in printing, from operator to management positions in sheetfed and web offset printing plants, including the transition from conventional lithographic prepress to digital prepress, have forged a broad background of skills and experience supporting his work as a trainer and prepress consultant. Learn how a PDF/JDF workflow will improve your quality and ROI.