Digital Printing

First PDF 2.0 products
with Harlequin 12 RIPs

Global Graphics reports first products based on Harlequin 12 RIPs with PDF 2.0 support..

In April Global Graphics had announced Harlequin 12, the first PDF 2.0 RIP.

The first products featuring Harlequin 12 are Xitron’s Navigator RIP Version 12 and HP Production Pro for Indigo Labels and Packaging Version 7.1.

Martin Bailey, CTO and head of product management at Global Graphics Software, says “If your Digital Front End or workflow is not compliant with this new standard it will silently ignore the new features available with unexpected results in output, or may even error when processing PDF 2.0 files.  Upgrading your DFE and continuing to consume PDF 1.7 files is safe; not upgrading and trying to consume PDF 2.0 files is not.  We strongly recommend that print service providers and converters should start planning upgrades to support PDF 2.0 for all applications consuming PDF, starting with the end of the workflow, with their Digital Front Ends and working upstream. We all know that just saying “don’t send me PDF 2.0 files” does not prevent customers from doing so. Upgrading to support PDF 2.0 ensures that you can confidently accept their files and spend your valuable time concentrating on areas that can differentiate your business!”

Harlequin 12: First RIP with PDF 2.0

In the new version of their Harlequin 12 RIP Global Graphics supports PDF 2.0. It is the first major PDF RIP for production printing to offer compatibility with the PDF 2.0 standard, which was published in 2017 by the International Standards Organization (ISO 32000-2) and is billed as the first “post-Adobe” standard.

Harlequin Host Renderer 12 supports all of the features of the new PDF 2.0 standard that are relevant for production printing. If your Digital Front End is not compliant with this new standard it will silently ignore the new features available with unexpected results in output. Upgrading your DFE and continuing to consume PDF 1.7 files is safe; not upgrading, and trying to consume PDF 2.0 files may not be. Martin Bailey, the CTO of Global Graphics Software, has authored a White Paper The impact of PDF 2.0 on print production which is available for download.

Technology Partnership:
GMG and Global Graphics

GMG and Global Graphics Software announce a technology partnership that will overcome the color management and quality issues often found in digital packaging and label production.

The partnership will make GMG’s award-winning technology OpenColor available within Fundamentals, Global Graphics Software’s toolkit for building a digital front-end for inkjet presses. Fundamentals is a software and engineering services package that helps inkjet press manufacturers get to market quicker.

Screening technology to avoid the orange peel

Martin Bailey, CTO of Global Graphics (Harlequin-RIPs), talks in his blog about tests to avoid the orange peel effekt for inkjet presses using special screening methodes.

When inkjet presses print on non-absorbent, poorly wettable media such as flexible plastics or metal, prints are characterized by a mottle effect that looks a bit like orange peel. This effect seems to be triggered by ink shrinkage during cure. This can be corrected with a halftone with specially designed characteristics.

In order to avoid these artifacts Global Graphics will soon introduce a new screen technology.

It’s interesting that the topic of screening becomes important again for the new printing technologies…

eciCMYK (FOGRA53) as new
CMYK exchange color space

ECI has released the ICC color profile eciCMYK.icc. It’s based on the printing condition FOGRA53 defined by Fogra. The goal is a large gamut exchange space which covers all printing technologies (offset, gravure, digital). The eciCMYK profile can be download for free.

Since the gamut of eciCMYK is larger than any real printing gamut and the profile allows a high total ink coverage (TAC), this profile is not suitable for printing.

Read more…eciCMYK (FOGRA53) as new
CMYK exchange color space