SPECTRUM 2003Tucson, Arizona

Notes prepared by Glenn Andrews

Applied Graphics Technologies

IntroductionEvery conference, graphic arts related or otherwise, begins with a theme and ends with amessage.

The theme is meant to raise the interest of attendees, and to give them some idea what toexpect from the event. The real test of the success of any conference, though, is not theopening theme, but the overall message, developed over days of exhibitions, salespitches, case histories and panels.

The generic-sounding theme of Spectrum 2003-“Passport to the Graphic Arts” -may havebeen a reflection of the fact that this was not a year of “Killer Apps” or technologicalbreakthroughs.

Neil O’Callahan’s keynote address stressed that this would be a year of incrementalimprovement on many levels, yet as the conference continued over the following days thepresenters developed the message that even without a breakaway technology, we arewithin reach of quantum advances in productivity .

Technical innovations of the past moved the industry forward piece by piece, makingindividual sectors to work more efficiently without ever breaking away from ourtraditional crafts-based approach.

The message of Spectrum 2003 is that the biggest gains of all will come when thesesegments are joined together in an efficient production process that reduces interventionwhile retaining the flexibility of the past.

Introduction (cont.)

In nearly every presentation, standards, specifications and best practices emerged as thevital links in unifying the graphic arts process to allow greater advances than werepreviously possible with any single technology.

The complexity of technology in the graphic arts have made it impossible for anyindividual to fully understand the entire process-much less to connect all the partstogether. But by using standards, specifications and best practices (Let’s call themSS&BP), a graphic arts technician can concentrate on his or her specialty knowing that itwill connect with the other parts of the chain.

On a large scale, use of SS&BP makes it possible to automate an entire productionprocess from start to finish. On a small scale, use of SS&BP allows a photographer toproof a digital image, knowing that his inkjet output will closely match both his monitorand the output from a web press a thousand miles away.

Standards, specifications and best practices can seem like a confusing alphabet soup; butthey enable us to open up the production process in a way that would otherwise beimpossible, 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 AddressNeil 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 DevelopmentGray 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 SessionKin 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.orgTwo 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 KennedyNan Gelhard/Summit RacingDavid 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 ticketsAutomated 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.equipmentInformation on JDF available at www.cip4.orgInformation on PDF available at www.pdf-x.com and www.ddap.orgInformation on Prinergy and Synapse available at www.creo.com/global/products/software_solutions/ss_workflow/synapse/default.htm

Selling the ConceptClient 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 MoreLinda 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 softwarePreflight software helped, but DDAP helped more by specifying uniform PDF settings (PDFX)

PDFX Flavors

PDF/X1-A: CMYK + Spot colorsPDF/X3: CMYK + Spot colors +profilesPDS/X2: CMYK + Spot colors +profiles+ OPI-like workflowsEuropeans 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.htmlKensington suits Tests systems for proper handling of PDFX

DDAPDDAP: 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 AutomationCIP4: 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 ScreeningKen 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 ScreeningIst 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 ultra-small 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 ProofingDan 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 IDEAlliancehttp://www.printtalk.org/ Best practices for print managementhttp://www.ddap.org/ Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publication http://www.swop.org/ Specifications for Web Offset Printinghttp://www.gracol.org/ General Requirements for Applications in Offset

Lithography http://www.pdf-x.com/ Everything about PDF/Xhttp://www.cip4.org/ System integration in Graphic Artshttp://www.color.org/ International Color Consortiumhttp://www.ipa.org/ Association of Graphic Solutions Providers

http://www.npes.org Standards-Home of CGATShttp://www.disc-info.org/ Digital Image Submission Criteria http://www.isixsigma.com Statistical Process Controlhttp://www.iso.org/ THE International Standards Organization