Archived V.I.P. Content
2008
InPreflight vs. FlightCheck Test — Buying advice
To see how well InPreflight and FlightCheck Professional 6.x actually are, I ran a test on one InDesign file. As InPreflight is not available for QuarkXPress, the application’s value for QuarkXPress workflows could not be determined.
The file I tested contained a trapping error, several font errors, colour space errors and several linked images that were no longer available. I exported this file to a Certifed PDF (PDF/x-1a:2001). Then, as a reference, I ran this PDF file through PitStop Professional 08.
When do you need a Font Server?
Market size: Font servers can be useful for workgroups as small as 5 people, but in such small workgroups individual, desktop-based font management may suffice. The decision to implement a font server will depend on the workgroup’s workflow.
Matching atomic content structures to a system
The AP report of June 2008 starts from the axiom that you already have an online presence that is well-established, which probably also means you will have a system in place that you can manage your content and design with. Since making sure the content becomes more palatable and attractive entails both design and content, the first thing to do is to examine whether your system is up to the challenge.
With many small to medium-sized publishers using a custom-developed system that bolts the layout and editing application to the online Content Management System (CMS), chances are most of these publishers will have to re-think their technology strategy because a loosely integrated system may not be flexible enough to accommodate for the new model.
Five rules to migrate a printed publication to an online one
Rule #1: You can simply migrate your printed publication-wide architecture and structure but you shouldn’t do that with the in-depth structure.
What this means is that you can use your main sections the way they are presented in the printed magazine --e.g. “News”, “Editorial"-- but you should seriously think over the use of vertical sections. Vertical sections are what bloggers call “categories”, and categories --or a taxonomy of topics if you will-- are very important to organise and manage atomic topics.
For example, you could have a “Lifestyle” section in your printed publication where you start with news on its first page, intermingled with an opinion piece and a start of a background article. On the web, you can re-use this visual structure, but your news item should be a category with background information on the new item created and stored in a separate category that the news story can relate to.
How Medium-sized Publishers See Publishing Evolve
Cross-media and dynamic publishing are two growth markets identified by Frost & Sullivan as well as other analysts. Many large companies and publishers are already turning towards technologies which support cross-media and dynamic publishing. They are buying or are planning to buy systems that integrate the complete workflow from concept over authoring to output into different channels.
Archived Public Content
2006
MAPublisher 6.2 Review
Avenza Systems’ MAPublisher 6.2 is a GIS environment that works as a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator CS2 (and other vector drawing applications like Freehand). MAPublisher focuses on the map graphics first with the right GIS data management tools to facilitate the map rpoduction process.
MAPublisher’s approach is in direct contrast with most GIS software that are designed and written for the analysis of data, with desktop publishing of map data coming second. This means that as powerful as most GIS systems are for analysis, they were not designed for cartographic or publication quality mapping. Cartographers on the other hand, need tools such as Bezier curves and CMYk colour separation for publication quality output. MAPublisher provides just that.
HP at IPEX
HP unveiled further plans for its IPEX 2006 stand (4-A01) where it will demonstrate its comprehensive range of end-to-end digital printing solutions. Under the unifying theme of “Your Digital Difference,” eight different application areas will demonstrate HP’s solutions which will help commercial printers and other print service providers to formulate strategies for their own digital printing futures.
Vue 5 Infinite used by ILM
e-on software and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), announced that Vue 5 Infinite, e-on software’s natural 3D environment solution is currently being used by ILM for the production of some of the special effects in upcoming movie projects.
Kodak Profile Wizard Color Management
The latest version of KODAK PROFILE WIZARD Mio colour management software makes it easier than ever for creative and prepress professionals to achieve accurate and consistent colour at every step in the print production process.
Large Format Printers: An Overview
The wide format colour inkjet printer market is in full expansion. HP acquired Scitex Vision and is releasing new eco-solvent based wide format printers. DuPont released its new B2 capable inkjet proofer, the Cromalin Blue, in December of last year. Kodak (Encad) has added the 1200i in May of last year. Kodak stresses the health issues of solvent-based inks and claims the results are not better than with its own dye-based inks.
Epson and HP do what they have been doing for the past few years: trying to blow each other out of the water by introducing ever more capable low-end large format colour inkjet printers that really are photo printers but can do double duty as colour proofers. And Canon is quietly introducing a whole new range of high-end and low-end products, including a Docutech-killer and an A3+ Canon photo printer with eight dye-based inks.
Photosmart Pro B9180: Fine Art and Photo Paper
HP’s new photo inkjet printer, the Photosmart Pro B9180, will print on a variety of new media, including thicker paper, art paper and specialty media like canvas. While HP recommends its own paper, the Photosmart Pro B9180 will support a plethora of non-HP manufactured or re-branded media as well.
Even better news is that this new inkjet printer will support thick media: up to 385 g/sq.m at 1.5 mm thickness --that’s identical to the Epson Stylus Pro 4000, a machine costing around 2,000 Euros. Admittedly, the Epson is capable of A2 printing, but the Photosmart B9180’s paper type capabilities are identical at a fraction of the cost of the Epson.
Geert Van Kesteren: Photographer of Daily Life in Traumatised Areas
He has seen the horror in postwar Iraq from close by. He dedicated a book and a web site to it, containing a number of the many photographs he took there. “He” is Geert van Kesteren, a Dutch Magnum Photographer, a photo journalist who won the Visa d’Or at the Festival Visa in Perpignan.
IT-Enquirer interviewed Geert van Kesteren and asked about his digital camera, his computer equipment, his preferred workflow, and the photo editing software tools he uses. And of course we asked him what makes a good photograph.
HP Photosmart Pro B9180 photo printer
Designed for photographers who need fast, durable printing up to A3+ and a large variety of media types, the HP Photosmart Pro B9180 promises to be HP’s best photo printer ever. The Photosmart Pro B9180 uses eight large cartridges of specially developed Vivera pigment-based inks, four print heads with over 1800 nozzles per head, a HP densitometric closed loop calibration system, and a drop detection print head management system.
The Photosmart Pro B9180 photo inkjet comes with a special Photoshop plug-in, called the HP ProPrint plug-in for Photoshop, and a software suite called the HP Colour Centre, which will guide users through colour management and printing tasks. The Photosmart B9180 will be compatible with a new version of EFI Best Designer.
Lenticular 3D Application for HP Indigo s2000
HP announced the availability of the HP Indigo Lenticular 3-D Application in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) market. Available through an agreement with HumanEyes Technologies Ltd (HET), the lenticular kit enables HP Indigo press s2000 owners to produce the full range of lenticular effects for specialty printing applications.
New HP Indigo press w3250
HP will be presenting its broadest portfolio of commercial and industrial digital printing solutions ever at IPEX 2006, 4–11 April, in Birmingham, UK, stand 4-B25. HP IPG Worldwide Director, Vyomesh Joshi will be setting the digital print agenda for 2006 in his keynote speech on Thursday 6th April.
K4 version 5.6 announced
SoftCare announced that K4 Publishing System version 5.6 has been released. The editoral system for Adobe InDesign and Adobe InCopy has become even faster thanks to the integration of Adobe InDesign Server.
HP announces Photosmart Pro B9180 Professional Photo Printer
HP has expanded its portfolio of products for professional and advanced amateur photographers with a new professional photo printer and an exclusively formulated line of HP Vivera pigment inks.
Ghent Output Suite announced
The Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) announces availability of the Ghent Output Suite, designed to help professionals determine whether PDF files are behaving as expected in graphic arts workflows.
Digital Asset Management Review
The important Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions allow you to publish your images to a web server. Some of them even support dynamic serving of images. We took a look at Portfolio 8, iView Media Pro 3, Apple Aperture 1.0.1, and Adobe Bridge. From these four, only powerhouse Portfolio 8 is capable of serving semi-dynamic image catalogues, and fully dynamic catalogues if you have the server edition installed.
Publishing to a server is child’s play with all digital asset management applications we discuss in this article, but still there are differences. Portfolio 8 is the most powerful of all, but if you are going to publish using NetPublish and a dynamically served catalogue with the database on a remote machine, there is more to it than just clicking some fields and selecting some templates. Adobe Bridge is the least powerful of all, and the least user-friendly. iView Media Pro isn’t bad, but the interface lacks some refinement. Aperture is Aperture: a lickable interface, a smooth user experience… but no dynamism at all.
Enfocus previews PitStop Professional 7
With this new version of PitStop Professional 7, the company has finalised the process of ensuring that all Enfocus applications are available within its own core PDF library, a robust technology platform bringing customers greater stability, consistency and speed.
Adobe Illustrator Tutorial: Creating a button with a Mesh Gradient
In Adobe Illustrator, you have the mesh gradient tool. This tool can be very powerful, for example to create web buttons that don’t look “perfect”. Plastic buttons rarely look perfect. They are often somewhat bumpy with asymmetric reflections when looked at from different angles.
The mesh gradient tool enables you to re-create that natural look better than what you can do with ordinary gradients and embossing. Here’s how it is done.
Nik Software to collaborate with Nikon
Nik Software announces that it has reached a worldwide agreement with Nikon Corporation that enables technological collaboration between the two companies to develop and distribute digital photographic software and imaging technologies.
nik Multimedia becomes NIK Software
Nik Multimedia has changed its name to Nik Software, Inc. and has unveiled its new corporate identity to better represent the company’s focus on software development for the digital imaging market. Additionally, the company’s wholly owned German subsidiary Nik Multimedia GmbH will become Nik Software GmbH.
PDF Workflow Best Practices
Julie Shaffer is Director of the Center for Imaging Excellence. She presented the “Meet the Perfect PDF” presentation at “Momentum in Print”. Shaffer started with explaining what a “perfect” PDF is. The perfect PDF is one made with the final output in mind. That implies there are as many perfect PDFs as there are usages for them: office print, high-end lithography, display, soft-proof, multimedia, web-ready form…
One idea that Shaffer launched is that poor quality original content will always result in poor quality PDF, but good quality content files can also result in poor quality PDFs if they aren’t created properly with the intended output in mind.
Transparency in DTP, a Practicum by Claudia McCue
There are many sources of transparency: Photoshop native files, and Illustrator native files can have opacity and blending modes generating transparency. But InDesign pages can also have transparency in placed artwork, or even by setting different opacity and belnding modes in page elements. Finally, PDFs can have transparent elements set by original applications.
The question now is how to print those transparent elements without problems on a typesetter or digital printing press. Claudia McCue gives the answers.
Graphics Design and DTP Workflow
Adobe held the Momentum in Print 2006 event in January. Gary Cosimini, Adobe Development Director, took the occasion to talk about the future of the Graphics Communication Workflow. But the word “workflow” can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Cosimini therefore started his presentation by offering an overview of who is connected by workflow.
He started by pointing out that everyone is connected in the graphics workflow: editorial and layout, photography and video, advertising creative and production, prepress, multimedia and web (and mobile), DAM and archiving, and finally design and writing freelances. A workflow is a chain of events, or an organisation of steps one takes to arrive at a desired result.
