Transcript Spectrum 2003 summary

SPECTRUM 2003
Tucson, Arizona
Notes prepared by Glenn Andrews
Applied Graphics Technologies
Introduction
Every conference, graphic art s related or otherwise, begins with a theme and ends with a
message.
The theme is meant to raise the interest of at tendees, and to give them some idea what to
expect from the event. T he real test of the success of any conference, though, is not t he
opening t heme, but the overall message, developed over days of exhibit ions, sales
pitches, case hist ories and panels.
The generic-sounding theme of Spectrum 2003-ÒPassport t o the Graphic ArtsÓ-may have
been a reflect ion of the fact that this was not a year of ÒKiller AppsÓ ortechnological
breakthroughs.
Neil OÕCallahanÕs keynote address st ressed that this would be a year of increment al
improvement on many levels, yet as the conference cont inued over the following days t he
present ers developed the message that even without a breakaway technology, we are
within reach of quantum advances in productivity .
Technical innovations of t he past moved the industry forward piece by piece, making
individual sectors t o work more efficient ly without ever breaking away from our
t raditional crafts-based approach.
The message of Spect rum 2003 is that the bigges t gains of all will come when these
segments are joined t ogether in an efficient product ion process that reduces intervent ion
while ret aining the flexibility of the past .
Introduction (cont.)
In nearly every presentation, standards, specificat ions and best pract ices emerged as the
vital links in unifying the graphic art s process to allow greater advances than were
previously possible with any single technology.
The complexity of technology in the graphic arts have made it impossible for any
individual to fully understand the ent ire process-much less to connect all the part s
together. But by using standards, specificat ions and best pract ices (Let Õs call t hem
SS& BP), a graphic art s technician can concentrate on his or her specialt y knowing that it
will connect with the other part s of the chain.
On a large scale, use of SS&BP makes it possible to automate an ent ire product ion
process from start to finish. On a small scale, use of SS& BP allows a photographer to
proof a digital image, knowing that his inkjet output will closely match both his monitor
and the output from a web press a thousand miles away.
Standards, specificat ions and best pract ices can seem like a confusing alphabet soup; but
they enable us t o open up the production process in a way that would otherwise be
impossible, and to cross technical borders previously closed to us.
In the end the message matches the theme-standards are a passport to the graphic arts.
Table of Contents:
5. Keynote Address
4. Gray Knowlton-Standards and Open Code
14. Digital photography session
18. Start-to-Finish Workflow Automation: Two Case
studies
25. PDFX/DDAP/CIP4 and More
30. Pressroom Technology and Alternative Screening
34. Monitor/Soft/Remote Proofing
35. Links
Keynote Address
Neil O’Callahan
No breakthrough applications this year.
Emphasis is on incremental changes.
Automated process control can leverage benefits of
individual advances for quantum gains
Standards and best practices are the essential tools of
communication that will make significant gains possible
Standards, Open Code, Software Development
Gray Knowlton
Customer input vital to development of software but is
very difficult to collect.
It is hard to get a grip on workflow: Who uses the
product? Where do they use it? How many people use
it? What training is provided?
Adobe spends a lot of time interviewing users but this is
not always enough.
Standards help in development of
solutions
Standards are consensus driven solutions to
customer problems.
Advantages:
Participants do all the information gathering.
Conclusions are unbiased.
Standards remove the barrier of one vendor
solutions.
Standards let the industry solve its own problems.
PDF/X-1A came from the standards community
Standards and open source
software
Parallels can be drawn between standards and
open source software.
Open Source Software:
Uses common technology.
Uses common source code.
Reduces dependence on single vendor solutions.
Fosters innovation but not at the expense of
interoperability.
De Facto Standards in the
Industry
Some widely used applications, such as Microsoft Word,
become de facto standards.
There are problems with de facto standards:
Development is limited to single vendor.
Applications may not include universal output format.
Users who prefer to use a different application have no
alternative.
Adobe Open Office: an open
source application
Looks and feels like Microsoft office.
Open source code
Lets developers build their own solutions
No problem with patents.
Downloads and information available at:
OpenOffice.org
Why do standards lag behind
practices?
Too many standards
Small groups
Low membership
Not enough awareness throughout industry
More companies need to participate in standards and best
practices groups.
Communicate with software
developers
Describe in context as business problems to make them
relevant to software developers.
Tell developers how processes are changing.
Describe problems as problems.
Describe workflow by defining people involved, and
describing their roles.
Digital Photo Session
Kin Lam,Dennis Dunbar,Michael Grecco, Nadar Anvari
Digital is developing very quickly, creating a great deal of
temporary confusion.
Poor consensus on file formats, file size, color spaces,
proof appearance, workflow,calibration methods.
Poor connection between photographers and pre-press.
Loss of transparency as “master image” a cultural shock.
What replaces it?
Digital Photo Color Management
General agreement on Adobe RGB 1998 as color space.
Agreement on embedding RGB profiles-less agreement on
embedding CMYK files due to fears of misunderstandings
and accidental conversions.
No agreement on CMYK color space. SWOP? GRACOL?
A new color space which would reflect a traditional
photographic gamut? Something else?
Digital Image Submission
Criteria
D.I.S.C. is a working group of IDEAlliance focused on
quality specifications for printable image submission and
development of best practices.
www.disc-info.org
Two parts:
Image specifications calibrated to reproduction quality-end
product determines needs.
Proper metadata entry-recommended minimum data set of
who, date, subject, etc. Extended data set for job number,
DAM, etc.
Will include data on color management in future.
Originals and Proofs
With “master” trans gone, the “look” of an image is less defined. What
replaces it? Monitor? Photo Print? Other Proof? What CMYK space?
Photographers currently experience vastly different “looks” on
different monitors, proofers, and printers.
There is awareness that ICC color management can pull things
together but implementation is still poor and inconsistent.
Still no agreement on what a digital image “looks” like.
Need a way to demonstrate that a proof is accurate-a SWOP style
certification process or an on-site colorimetric method.
Other Digital Photo issues:
ERI-Extended Range Imaging and ERI-JPEG. Will allow
image to be restored to original condition after doing color
changes, thus protecting the integrity of the original image
data.
Sacci&Sacci very interested in digital, but some high end
photographers still skeptical. Many are working with
companies who have expertise in digital.
Metadata editing, transmission, distribution, licensing.
Start-to-Finish Workflow Automation:
Two Case Studies
Moderator: Dianne Kennedy
Nan Gelhard/Summit Racing
David Motheral/Motheral Printing
Integrated Information at Summit
Racing
Nan Gelhard produces catalogues for racing equipment and parts.
Searching for items and images is a challenge, both to buyers
searching the on-line catalogue and to those who prepare the print
catalogue.
Finding an efficient method to search for images and match them to
specific text or page is a big issue in the graphics arts world.
Much of the time spent searching for pick-up images from previous
print jobs could be eliminated if integrated information systems were
used in production and pre-press .
Integrated Information
Can’t build whole systems at once but can be assembled in
pieces joined by standards.
Standards make information accessible, add flexibility.
Context-structure important parts of information set.
Use of restrictive vocabulary improves search.
Turns copywriters into information architects by
specifying vocabulary.
Automated Workflow at
Motheral Printing
David Motheral has increased productivity and reduced
costs dramatically by automating the process from
beginning to end.
Key components include:
Six Sigma Program for statistical process control.
100% PDF workflow.
Use of Job Description Format job tickets
Automated plate changing and closed loop color control.
Benefits of Automation
Prep department has gone from 30 to 2 employees as
volume increases by 100%.
No preflighting.
Rip, Trap and Output at 1.27 seconds per page.
Prep is bigger profit center than press.
Spoilage has dropped from 8% to 0.27%
Time to change plates and start new press run has dropped
from 1.5 hours to 6 minutes.
Prep costs so low they are no longer tracked.
How is it Done?
100% PDFX/1-A file format.
Prinergy by Creo used to automate workflow.
Clients are given Synapse Prepare by Creo to prepare their PDFX/1-a
files, and taught how to use it by Motheral.
ADA scripting allows flexible automation without errors.
Uses Job Description Format-Will not buy any non-JDF compliant
equipment.equipment
Information on JDF available at www.cip4.org
Information on PDF available at www.pdf-x.com and www.ddap.org
Information on Prinergy and Synapse available at
www.creo.com/global/products/software_solutions/ss_workflow/synapse/default.htm
Selling the Concept
Client must buy in to take advantage of automated
workflow potential.
Can’t be sold at traditional sales level-must be demo’d as
part of whole workflow.
Go to buyer and production person.
Easier to sell economics to top person.
Salesman not best to pitch value of technology-include
technical people for backup.
Make it hard for clients to disengage
PDFX, DDAP,CIP4 and More
Linda Manes Goodwin, Johnny Sutton,
PDFX:
Agreed: PDF workflows work; but clients and providers have to work
together and know what they are doing.
PDF better than .ps (No reflow, no font changes, hard to accidentally
change file).
Overprint still a challenge.
Hard part is matching settings when PDF files are produced using
different software
Preflight software helped, but DDAP helped more by specifying
uniform PDF settings (PDFX)
PDFX Flavors
PDF/X1-A: CMYK + Spot colors
PDF/X3: CMYK + Spot colors +profiles
PDS/X2: CMYK + Spot colors +profiles+
OPI-like workflows
Europeans use more PDF/X3 because
CMYK output color spaces are less
standardized than in the US.
Test files for PDF
Global Graphics Test strip. Tests systems for
proper handling of overprints. Download at
www.globalgraphics.com
Altona Suite. Tests systems for proper handling of
PDFX/3. Download at
http://www.eci.org/eng/index_e.html
Kensington suits Tests systems for proper
handling of PDFX
DDAP
DDAP: Mission is universal file exchange.
Past and current projects:
tiff/it
PDF/X.
JDF
CIP4
Kensington Suite
Universal Digital Ad specification
“Application Data Sheets” for PDF/X1-A creation
JDF CIP4 and Automation
CIP4: A standards group focused on integration of graphic
arts processes and the specification of standards.
JDF: Job Definition Format. Not a product but an XML
based format/proposed standard for end to end job ticket
specification.
Graphic arts industry under pressure to go faster,cheaper.
Automation best way to improve process, but hot folders
too static, error-prone.
JDF Intelligent automation directed by job ticket retains
flexibility.
Process control is a must in order for automation to work
Pressroom Technology/FM Screening
Ken Petersen, Gordon Pritchard, Steve Musselman, Linda
Enright, Lacey Tuttle
Pressmen must transition from being craftsman to being
technicians.
Closed loop color control depends on uniform proof
appearance-TR001, TR004.
With or without CLC, gray balance is #1 control point.
CLC means not only press but entire process.
FM screening less variable than AM. Need better match
between press and proof
FM Screening
FM screening being used on all substrates: #1
coated to newsprint.
Use is growing.
Advantages increased gamut in quarter to mid
tone, freedom from morie’ and improved detail.
Disadvantages include graininess, short run
length, high TVI
FM Screening
Ist order FM Screening: Random dots. Noisy
appearance caused by clumping in mid tones.
2nd order FM screening uses “worms” to reduce
clumping in midtones.
Hybrid uses high (300dpi) screen ruling with
traditional angles in mid tones, and reduces
frequency in highlights to avoid need for ultrasmall dots.
FM Screening: Pressroom
Considerations
FM is like running 300 dpi: you need very high levels of pressroom control to
do it.
#1 cause of problems in FM in inconsistency throughout the run.
Ink piling can be a concern, especially on heatset presses, or with high tack
inks.This tends to happen at 20 micron dot size. 25 micron dot size less prone
to piling, is the smallest practical size.
Creo has a service available to tune-in presses for stochastic printing.
FM printing is a good match to inkjet proofing, since both avoid visible dots
and both work best with a standardized appearance model.
Process control on the press is absolutely necessary to to run FM successfully.
A new approach based on measurement and consistency is key to success in
this area.
Monitor/Soft/Remote Proofing
Dan Caldwell, Brad Mintz, Jim Smiddy, Cheryl Peters Lacey
Tuttle
Terms are being used inexactly.
Remote proofing refers to any proofing device being used at a remote location.
Soft proofing means using a monitor to OK content only proofs.
Monitor proofing means simulating the look of a printed sheet on a color
monitor.
Some users see monitor proofing replacing traditional proofs others don’t
accept them at all. Little consensus yet but eventual acceptance seems
inevitable.
Concept of remote press OK demonstrated by ICS. Main difficulty is lack of
urgency: Art directors hundreds of miles away can forget that the presses are
running!
Links (just a few)
http://www.idealliance.org
http://www.printtalk.org/
http://www.ddap.org/
http://www.swop.org/
http://www.gracol.org/
http://www.pdf-x.com/
http://www.cip4.org/
http://www.color.org/
http://www.ipa.org/
http://www.npes.org
http://www.disc-info.org/
http://www.isixsigma.com
http://www.iso.org/
IDEAlliance
Best practices for print management
Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publication
Specifications for Web Offset Printing
General Requirements for Applications in Offset Lithography
Everything about PDF/X
System integration in Graphic Arts
International Color Consortium
Association of Graphic Solutions Providers
Standards-Home of CGATS
Digital Image Submission Criteria
Statistical Process Control
THE International Standards Organization