Digital Printing

First specification for digital printing
from Ghent Workgroup

The Ghent Workgroup (GWG) has published their first specification for digital print on cut sheet. The new  specification is based on the GWG specifications 2015 for offset printing. Some requirements have been relaxed (e.g. overprinting) or lowered (e.g. minimal image resolutions). There is only one variant available for PDF/X-4 CMYK+RGB (images with ICC profiles allowed). So far there are no preflight profiles officially available for this specification.

PDFX-ready has already released a preflight profile for toner based digital printing in 2015. This is mostly identical to the new GWG specification.

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…