Creo CIP3 wins workflow

Scan input, display, and Iris digital output are calibrated to match the fine corporate data and generate ICC profile files; Iris digital proofs are sent for printing and use as a sample; Clio wins explain high Resolution images are output by pre-punched film or plate output by Dolev Imager or Lotem platesetter; low-resolution images interpreted by Creo Barco generate Inkpro ink data files by ink channel partition and transmitted to the Mac Through the network, floppy disk, Smart card or manual input to the printer; Postpress data generated by Creo Bisheng sent to paper cutting machines, folding machines and other post-press equipment. The work efficiency is very high and the product quality is very good, but it is really difficult to promote and apply it in actual production. The main problems are: the lack of funds for the enterprise; the lack of a virtuous circle of the entire information system; the lack of senior managers with comprehensive capabilities The fonts are not uniform. The Chinese processing system must strengthen the development and unification of Chinese character fonts.

At present, long-distance and short-distance digital workflows are blooming at the same time. The digital workflow based on CTP has been widely applied in some enterprises such as Beijing and Shenzhen. The effect is obvious. The production plays a huge role, and the printing quality and production efficiency have greatly improved compared with the traditional process. The CTP and digital workflow covers the process of processing and exchanging data from scan input, file processing, digital proofing, direct plate making, and upper machine printing. A complete CTP system is not only a platemaking machine, but the most critical thing is to establish an ideal digital workflow that matches it. The plate-making machine and digital proofing machine are just output devices. Digital work flow is needed to determine how it works. The digital workflow is equivalent to human brain and plays a command role in a CTP system.

CTP and digital workflows have multiple solutions. PDF-based workflows are currently the most popular workflow. Postscript data or other data formats in PDF workflows are converted to PDF format. PDF avoids the unpredictability of the PS page description language. Uniformity guarantees the reliability of production. PDF is device-independent and has a very high compression capability, guaranteeing a flexible and compact data format. Practice has proved that CTP and digital work flow have matured, analyzed from the practicality of production, and the use of convenience, accuracy, reliability, compatibility and system integration are mature signs.

Well-known manufacturers at home and abroad have provided many successful solutions, such as Agfa's Apex, Clio's Prinergy, Heidelberg's Gypsophila, Screen's Huizhi, and Founder's Flow, etc. The work process represented by Apex is very characteristic. Its digital film (1-bit TIFF) and RIP post-imposition and a RIP, multiple output solutions are good.

(1) Digital film. The digital film is actually a 1-bit TIFF file. The information of the entire printing plate is recorded in the 1-but TIFF file. The content is the same as the film or plate, so it is called a digital film. The biggest advantage of digital film is that no matter what kind of output device, what time output, the resulting plate will not have any changes.

In Agfa's Epson digital workflow, there is the Print Drive module, which handles digital film, and has the same functionality in the Print Drive module as the traditional plate-making shop handles the film on the imposition stage. Such as digital film imposition, revision, overprinting, continuous drying, etc., to complete all operations on the film on the traditional imposition stage, so the Print Drive can also be called digital imposition. Digital film plays the role of traditional film and plays an important role in CTP production.

(2) Large version after RIP. That is, with the completion of the screened dot matrix data imposition, in the work process represented by Agfa's Aipu, the first work of the traditional RIP, that is, the interpretation of the PS file, is completed by the PDF generation software. It is a PDF file that describes the page in a list of items, and the screen part of the page is completed by RIP to generate digital film. The layout is not an intermediate-format PDF file but a digital film file.

(3) RIP multiple output at a time. A true RIP multiple output should be a multiple output of digital film. In Agfa's Epson workflow, Print Drive can control multiple output devices at the same time, such as direct platesetters, imagesetters, and digital proofers. The Print Drive can send digital films to these devices at the same time to output plate, film, or digital proofs. This process is a true RIP, multiple output, the biggest advantage of this process is that each output device does not deal with digital film.