Performing Quality Control on Screens with Advanced Screening Effects. Esko 16

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Imaging Engine

For more information about advanced screening effects and how to use them, please see the

HD Flexo and/or ScreenManager documentation.

Performing Quality Control on Screens with Advanced Screening Effects

While screening effects improve print quality, screens with those effects do not look like your printed sheets.

For example, the holes in the solids that you see in your screened file will not be there on your print, and tone readings in LEN files will not match printed tones.

This makes it difficult to perform quality control on such screens.

Imaging Engine offers a solution for this problem: when you are making your screened files for production, you can create print simulation files at the same time.

These print simulation files look like your production files, but with the advanced screening effects removed, so you can open them in the Bitmap Viewer and check exactly how your output will look like.

For example (you can see the screens with advanced effects on the left, and the print simulations on the right):

PerfectHighlights screen at 2.5% (with support dots), and print simulation (with support dots removed)

Groovy screen at 100% (with grooves), and print simulation (with grooves removed)

Note: This also applies to predefined groovy screens

(GVY1 to GVY5).

Imaging Engine

Platecell screen at 100% (with platecell pattern), and print simulation (with pattern removed)

Microcell screen at 57% (with microcell holes), and print simulation (with microcell holes removed)

P+ Microcell screen at 100% (with pixel pattern), and print simulation (with pattern removed)

Concentric screen at 27% (with ring-shaped holes), and print simulation (with rings removed)

Attention:

Measuring the print simulation version of a concentric screen in the Bitmap Viewer will give slightly higher percentages than on the final print.

This is because unlike surface screening effects (groovy, platecell, microcell...), the main effect of concentric screening is not to improve ink lay-down but to print with a thinner ink layer.

Imaging Engine

4.4 Dot Gain Compensation

4.4.1 What is Dot Gain?

When printing a job, the dots tend to print larger on the press than on the plate, which makes the output darker than the original file.

Original job

Digital film

This is due to different factors:

• the type of ink: the more fluid the ink is, the more it will spread under pressure of the press.

• the type of substrate: paper with a rougher and more porous surface (like uncoated paper) reflects less light, making the printed area look darker.

• the type of press:

• offset presses typically print at a 67% density for a 50% dot,

• flexo presses have an even higher dot gain as they put more pressure on the substrate,

Imaging Engine

• gravure presses have a dot gain similar to offset presses for small dot sizes (up to about

30%) and a sharply increasing dot gain for higher percentages (70% prints as solid).

4.4.2 What is Dot Gain Compensation?

To compensate for dot gain and have the printed output look like the original file, you use dot

gain compensation (DGC). This consists in making the dots on the plate smaller, so that with dot gain they print to the correct density.

Dot on plate Dot on press

Without DGC

With DGC

4.4.3 Dot Gain Compensation Curves

You apply dot gain compensation by using a dot gain compensation curve, which defines which percentage to use on plate for each desired percentage on press.

In the example below, you see how a press prints without any dot gain compensation in the

dot gain curve at left: a 20% density on the plate prints to 57% on press. 57% on the plate would print to almost 90% on press.

At right, you see the dot gain compensation curve used to make the press print to the densities expected in the job: to print a 57% density on press, a 20% density will be used on the plate. To print a 20% density on press, you would need a density of about 5% on the plate.

plate

Imaging Engine

4 press

Dot gain curve plate

Dot gain compensation curve press

Creating a Dot Gain Compensation Curve

You can create dot gain compensation curves in Curve Pilot (see the Curve Pilot documentation for more information).

Dot gain compensation curve files have the .dgc extension.

Using a Dot Gain Compensation Curve

You can apply a dot gain compensation curve on all or some separations of your job in the

Image to Screened Separations

and

Image to Unscreened Separations

tasks in Imaging Engine.

4.4.4 DGC Curve Strategies

Different Dot Gains within a Job

When using a single dot gain compensation curve , the same dot gain compensation is applied to

the complete job, without making any compensation difference in the screening parameters, the inks or the type of content (continuous tone images or line work).

However, dot gain is influenced by those factors.

Screening parameters

The following parameters influence dot gain:

• The dot shape: for example square, round and elliptic dots have slightly different dot gain characteristics.

Stochastic screens produce more dot gain in the mid-tones than conventional screens.

See

Types of Screens Supported on page 23 for more information about dot shapes and

screens.

• The screen ruling: dot gain only happens on the perimeter of the printing dots, which means that higher rulings always result in higher dot gain.

For example, a double ruling means double dot gain.

Inks

Imaging Engine

Dot gain compensation on a Yellow separation is often less important and less needed than dot gain compensation on a Cyan separation.

The viscosity of the ink also has a big influence.

Continuous tone images or line work

Sometimes, images have been pre-compensated for dot gain in an image editing program, so they need less dot gain compensation than linework.

Dot Gain Compensation Curve Strategies

A dot gain compensation curve strategy contains several dot gain compensation curves, and defines when to apply which curve (it can have different curves per separation, dot shape, ruling, for continuous tone images or line work...).

Creating a Dot Gain Compensation Curve Strategy

You can create dot gain compensation curve strategies in Curve Pilot (see the Curve Pilot documentation for more information).

Dot gain compensation curve files have the .icpro extension.

Using a Dot Gain Compensation Curve Strategy

You can apply a dot gain compensation curve strategy in the

Image to Screened Separations and

Image to Unscreened Separations tasks in Imaging Engine.

Each job separation or object is automatically compensated with the appropriate dot gain compensation curve.

Note: You can also use legacy screen-based DGC files (.scrdgc) as dot gain compensation curve strategies in Imaging Engine.

4.4.5 PressSync Curves

PressSync curves are predefined compensation curves that can cover the dot gain compensation needs of most presses, while significantly reducing the complexity of dot gain compensation in workflows.

Slope and Mid-tone Compensation

Curves are defined by a letter and a number.

• The letter (A to H) describes how the press behaves in the highlights and shadows (the slope): an A curve makes the press print darker in the highlights and lighter in the shadows

(for presses who have the opposite problem), while an H curve, on the contrary, makes the press print lighter in the highlights and darker in the shadows.

Imaging Engine

An E curve is halfway in between and has a straight slope: it corrects the output the same way throughout the range. Use it for presses whose output is consistent in the highlights, mid-tones and shadows.

• The number indicates how much the 50% dot (mid-tone) prints to: an E20 curve compensates the 50% dot to 20%, while an E70 curve compensates 50% to 70%.

Creating a PressSync Curve

You cannot create PressSync curves, they are predefined. There are 400 different PressSync curves, to match most dot gain compensation needs.

If you wish, you can see each PressSync curve on a graph in PressSync Pilot (see the PressSync

Pilot documentation for more information).

Imaging Engine

Using a PressSync Curve

You can apply a PressSync curve as press curve on all or some separations of your job in the

Image to Screened Separations

and

Image to Unscreened Separations

tasks in Imaging Engine (you just need to enter the letter and number of the PressSync curve).

4.4.6 PressSync Curve Sets

A PressSync curve set contains several PressSync curves, each assigned to an ink (a process ink or any spot color defined in Esko's CMS database).

Creating a PressSync Curve Set

You can create PressSync curve sets in PressSync Pilot (see the PressSync Pilot documentation for more information).

PressSync curve sets files have the .prsync extension.

Using a PressSync Curve Set

You can apply a PressSync curve set as press curve in the

Image to Screened Separations

and

Image to Unscreened Separations tasks in Imaging Engine.

Each job separation is automatically compensated with the appropriate PressSync curve.

4.4.7 The Curves Database

All your

dot gain curves ,

dgc curve strategies ,

PressSync curves

and

PressSync curve sets

are stored in a curves database (also called "DGC database").

You install this curves database when installing Automation Engine. You can install it on your

Automation Engine server or on another server (the server you install your curves, screens and

color management databases on is called the "resources server").

After this, the dot gain curves, curve strategies, PressSync curves and curve sets in your curves

database are automatically available in the Imaging Engine tasks

4.5 File Formats

Imaging Engine can output to the following formats:

For Proofing

• TIFF, a bitmap file format widely supported by image-processing, publishing, DTP and other applications.

Imaging Engine can generate

composite

TIFF proofs (with the Image to Unscreened Proof

task).

• PDF, a multifunctional file format, supported by most graphics-related applications.

Imaging Engine can generate composite PDF proofs (with the Image to Unscreened Proof

task).

Imaging Engine

•

JPEG, an image file format widely used for photographs and preview images (with the Image to Content Proof (RGB) task).

• Imaging Engine can also generate proofs directly into your proofer's format for immediate proofing (with the

Proof for Content Approval

task).

For RIP'ing

• TIFF, a bitmap file format widely supported by image-processing, publishing, DTP and other applications.

You can output to screened or unscreened TIFF (with the

Image to Screened Separations or

Image to Unscreened Separations

tasks).

• PDF, a multifunctional file format, supported by most graphics-related applications.

You can output to screened or unscreened PDF (with the Image to Screened Separations

Image to Unscreened Separations

tasks).

• LEN, a bitmap file format developed for Esko's Cyrel Digital Imager

, or "CDI" (with the Image to Screened Separations task).

LEN files have high resolutions of 2100 ppi and more. They are always screened. You can send these files to the Grapholas software, which will use them to expose flexo plates on the CDI drum.

4.5.1 Composite and Separated Files

With Imagine Engine, you can generate either composite or separated files.

Composite Files

Composite files are files that contain several separations.

Imaging Engine can generate composite

PDF and composite TIFF files (from the Image to

Unscreened Separations

and

Image to Unscreened Proof tasks).

JPEG output from the Image to

Content Proof (RGB)

is always composite.

When generating composite output from:

• a single page input file, you get a single page output file containing all of the separations you choose to output (after excluding technical inks for example).

• a multi-page input file, you get one output file per page of the input file, containing all of the separations you choose to output from that input file page.

In the example below, the input file has 2 pages, containing respectively Magenta and

Yellow, and Yellow and Cyan. When outputting to composite files, you get 2 one-page files, each containing the separations of the corresponding page in the input file.

Imaging Engine

Separated Files

Separated files are files that only contain one separation each. Imaging Engine can generate separated PDF, TIFF and LEN files.

You can generate separated output using the

Image to Unscreened Separations

and the

Image to

Screened Separations tasks.

When generating separated output from:

• a single page input file, you get one output file per separation of the input file that you choose to output (after excluding technical inks for example).

In the example below, the input file has one page with a Magenta and a Yellow vignette.

After RIP'ing, you get 2 files (one for each separation), each containing a single channel bitmap.

Unscreened separated output

Imaging Engine

Screened

separated output

• a multi-page input file, you get one output file per page of the input file and per separation that you choose to output.

In the example below, the input file has 2 pages, each containing a Magenta and a Yellow vignette. After RIP'ing, you get 4 files (one for the 1st separation of the 1st page, one for the

2nd separation of the 1st page, etc.), each containing a single channel bitmap.

Unscreened separated output

Imaging Engine

Screened separated output

4.6 Calculating Ink Distribution

If you print with an offset press, there is an extra quality step you can perform once your files have been proofed and RIP'ed and are production ready.

With Imaging Engine, you can generate CIP3 files, which are technical files containing information about the ink distribution in your production ready files.

When you send those CIP3 files to the press, the press software knows the amount of ink needed for each separation of your RIP'ed files, and where in the file it is needed.

It can then automatically calculate how to distribute the ink among the different print heads, without needing manual adjustments from the press operator.

This is faster and more accurate, and helps keep your prints "clean".

You can create CIP3 files using the Calculate Ink Key Settings (CIP3)

task.

Imaging Engine

5. Imaging Engine Installation and

Configuration

5.1 Licensing

To use the Imaging Engine functionality in Automation Engine, you need an Imaging Engine license (in the form of a product key file).

If you don't have this license, you will not be able to configure Imaging Engine in the Automation

Engine Pilot , or see

the Imaging Engine tasks

Depending on the license you have, you will be able to output to some or all of the supported

output formats (TIFF, PDF and LEN), and you may be limited to a certain output file size or not

(for LEN files).

For more information about the available licenses and which would fit your production best, please talk to your Esko sales representative.

5.2 Installation

5.2.1 Installation Overview

To use Imaging Engine, you will need:

• Automation Engine,

• the Esko Proof Server (if you are planning to proof using Imaging Engine and the Esko Proof

Server),

• Imaging Engine.

You can either install these applications on the same server, or on two or three different servers. For details, see:

• the Automation Engine system requirements

• the Esko Proof Server system requirements

• the Imaging Engine system requirements

Note: You should have already installed Automation Engine before starting to install the Esko

Proof Server and Imaging Engine. See the Automation Engine installation documentation for details if needed.

1. Make sure you have the relevant DVDs.

• To install the Esko Proof Server, you need the Suite 16 Esko Proof Server Installation DVD.

Imaging Engine

• To install Imaging Engine, you need the Suite 16 Imaging Engine Software Installation

DVD.

Note: If you downloaded the software from MySoftware.esko.com

, you will need to mount the corresponding .iso files as virtual DVDs, or unpack the .iso files first.

2. Make sure you have the relevant licenses.

You need a product key file for Imaging Engine 16.0.2 (which includes all necessary licenses).

If you do not have a product key file yet, contact Esko Customer Support .

3. On all servers on which you want to install Esko software, prepare for the installation .

4. On your license server (which can be either your Automation Engine server or a central license server),

activate your licenses .

5. If you want to install the Esko Proof Server, perform the steps listed in Installing the Proof

Server

on the server on which you want to install it.

6. On the server on which you want to install Imaging Engine, perform the steps listed in

Installing Imaging Engine .

5.2.2 Preparing for the Installation

Before you install Imaging Engine 16.0.2 on your system, check the following:

• You need to have Administrator privileges.

• You need Internet access.

• Your computer must meet the minimum requirements for the installation, as described on www.esko.com/en/SystemRequirements/ .

•

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) must not block the installation. See How to Change the

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) Settings

on page 54.

• The Password Policy must not block the installation. See

How to Change the Password Policy

on page 55.

• You must make sure your anti-virus software is not blocking the installation or configuration.

How to Change the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) Settings

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature that helps prevent damage from viruses and other security threats by monitoring your programs to make sure they use the computer's memory safely. Before installing Imaging Engine, make sure that DEP does not block the installation.

1. In Control Panel, click System > Advanced System Settings .

2. Click the Advanced tab.

3. Under Performance, click Settings.

4. Click the Data Execution Prevention tab.

5. Select Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only.

6. Click OK.

7. Restart the computer.

Imaging Engine

How to Change the Password Policy

A password policy is a set of rules designed to enhance computer security by encouraging users to employ strong passwords and use them properly. Before installing Imaging Engine, make sure that the password policy on your system does not block the installation.

1. In Control Panel, click Administrative Tools.

2. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Local Security Policy.

3. In the Local Security Policy window, double-click Account Policies > Password Policy .

4. In the right pane, double-click Password must meet complexity requirements.

5. Select Disabled.

6. Click OK.

5.2.3 Activating the Licenses

Imaging Engine 16.0.2 is protected with licenses. These licenses are distributed as a product key file (in .html).

You need to activate the product keys in the product key file using the Network License

Manager application, on the server that you are using as a license server (this can be either your Automation Engine server or a central license server).

You should have installed the Network License Manager as part of your Automation Engine installation. See the Automation Engine installation guide if needed.

You need:

• A product key file for Imaging Engine 16.0.2. If you do not have a product key file yet, contact Esko Customer Support .

• Internet access on the server that you are using as a license server.

• An Esko ID in order to activate the licenses. Get one at http://www.esko.com/licensing/

CreateAccount .

On the server that you are using as a license server:

1. Open the Network License Manager by going to Start > All Programs > Esko > Network

License Manager > Network License Manager .

2. In the Esko Network License Manager, do one of the following:

• click in the Click to activate your Product Key File area,

• drag your product key file in the area marked or drag your Product Key File here,

• click the Activate button.

3. Follow the instructions of the Activate License Wizard.

4. When asked about the product keys, choose I have received an HTML file containing my

Product Keys.

5. Click Browse to select the product key file.

6. When asked, fill in your Esko ID and Password.

7. Click Finish.

The licensed products you can use are now visible in the Network License Manager.

Imaging Engine

5.2.4 Installing the Proof Server

If you are planning to proof using Imaging Engine and the Esko Proof Server, you now need to install the Esko Proof Server.

You need the Suite 16 Esko Proof Server Installation DVD for the installation. Use the following procedure to install the Esko Proof Server:

1. Open the Suite 16 Esko Proof Server Installation window:

• If you insert the Suite 16 Esko Proof Server Installation DVD into the DVD drive, or mount the corresponding .iso file, the window appears automatically.

• If you unpacked a downloaded .iso file, or if the window doesn't open automatically, double-click setup.exe in the root folder.

2. Select the installation language.

3. Click Proceed to the installation.

4. On the Esko Proof Server 14.1 Installer page: a) If you are installing the Esko Proof Server on a separate server (not your Automation

Engine server), connect to your license server.

See How to Connect to the License Server

on page 56 for details.

b) Run the system readiness check.

See How to Perform the System Readiness Check on page 57.

c) Proceed with the software installation.

See How to Install the Proof Server on page 57.

d) If you are installing the Esko Proof Server on a separate server, make sure that

Automation Engine can send files to the Proof Server share.

See Giving Automation Engine Access to the Proof Server Share

on page 57 for details.

How to Connect to the License Server

1. On the Esko Proof Server 14.1 Installer page, click on Install, update or repair the License

Server (Network License Manager component).

2. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard.

3. Open the Network License Manager by going to Start > All Programs > Esko > Network

License Manager > Network License Manager .

4. In the Esko Network License Manager, go to Tools > License Client Configuration .

5. In the License Client Configuration dialog: a) Enter the name of the server that you are using as a

license server

b) Click Apply.

c) Click Exit.

6. Close the Network License Manager to go back to the Esko Proof Server 14.1 Installer page.

Imaging Engine

How to Perform the System Readiness Check

Before you install the Esko Proof Server, a System Readiness Check is required. This checks whether the operating system is suited for installing and running the Esko Proof Server.

1. On the Esko Proof Server 14.1 Installer page, click on Run the Esko Proof Server 14.1

System Readiness Check.

2. At the end of the Readiness Check, read the resulting messages carefully.

3. If the Readiness Check resulted in a problem with:

Options Description

The password policy

Change the password policy .

The Data Execution Prevention (DEP)

4. Click Exit.

Change the DEP Settings

How to Install the Proof Server

1. On the Esko Proof Server 14.1 Installer page, under Installation or upgrade the Proof

Server component, click Install or upgrade the Proof Server and Profiles components.

2. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard.

3. During the installation of Esko Profiles, when asked to select the setup type, choose

Custom.

Complete will install all features, which is not recommended. Only select Complete when you are not sure which printer devices you own.

4. Select the desired printer devices from the list if you have chosen Custom.

5. At the end of the Esko Profiles installation, click Finish.

6. During the installation of the Esko Proof Server, select Server and Client as the features you want to install.

7. At the end of the Esko Proof Server installation, click Finish, and restart your computer as directed by the installer.

Giving Automation Engine Access to the Proof Server Share

If you installed the Proof Server on a separate server (that has no other Esko software), you need to make sure that Automation Engine can send files to the Proof Server share.

Note: If you installed the Proof Server on the server where Automation Engine is installed, this is done automatically.

Do the following:

1. On the Automation Engine server, check under which user Automation Engine is running.

Automation Engine runs as a service under either a local user or a Windows domain user.

You can see which user that is:

• in Automation Engine's Server Admin, under System Account (see the Automation

Engine documentation for more details).

Imaging Engine

• in your Automation Engine server's Task Manager (in Processes, select Show processes

for all users, and check which user the bgmd.exe process runs under).

Tip: By default (if you haven't changed it when/after installing Automation Engine), this is the local user BGSYSTEM, with the default password BGSYSTEM.

2. On the server where you installed the Proof Server, locate the ProofFolder share in which

Automation Engine will send files to be printed by the Proof Server.

If you used the default installation location (C:\Esko), this is C:\Esko\ProofFolder.

3. Give the Automation Engine user Full Control on this share.

• If the Automation Engine user is a local user:

1. Make sure the same user exists on the Proof Server computer (with the same password).

2. Open the ProofFolder's sharing properties (right-click it, select Properties and go to the Sharing tab).

3. Add the user to the share with full rights (click Share..., type the user name and click

Add, select Read/Write as Permission Level and click Share to confirm).

• If the Automation Engine user is a Windows domain user:

1. Open the ProofFolder's sharing properties (right-click it, select Properties and go to the Sharing tab).

2. Add the user to the share with full rights (click Share..., type the user name and click

Add, select Read/Write as Permission Level and click Share to confirm).

5.2.5 Installing Imaging Engine

You need the Suite 16 Imaging Engine Software Installation DVD for the installation. Use the following procedure to install Imaging Engine 16.0.2:

1. Open the Suite 16 Imaging Engine Software Installation window:

• If you insert the Suite 16 Imaging Engine Software Installation DVD into the DVD drive, or mount the corresponding .iso file, the window appears automatically.

• If you unpacked a downloaded .iso file, or if the window doesn't open automatically, double-click setup.exe in the root folder.

2. Select the installation language.

3. Click Proceed to the installation.

4. Under Imaging Engine/Pack Proof 16.0 installation, including related tools (Color

Engine Pilot, Curve Pilot, HD Flexo Screens and ScreenManager), click Install.

5. On the Imaging Engine 16.0.2 Installer page: a) Install the License Server Components and activate the licenses. Read more in

How to

Connect to the License Server

on page 59.

b) Check and install the prerequisites. Read more in

How to Install the Imaging Engine

Prerequisites

on page 59.

c) Proceed with the software installation. Read more in

How to Install Imaging Engine

on page 60.

Imaging Engine

d) Install the Bitmap Viewer. Read more in How to Install the Bitmap Viewer on page 61.

How to Connect to the License Server

1. On the Imaging Engine 16.0.2 Installer page, click on Install the Network License

Manager 16.

2. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard.

3. Open the Network License Manager by going to Start > All Programs > Esko > Network

License Manager > Network License Manager .

4. In the Esko Network License Manager, go to Tools > License Client Configuration .

5. In the License Client Configuration dialog: a) Enter the name of the server that you are using as a

license server

If your license server is also the server you are installing Imaging Engine on, you can enter localhost here.

b) Click Apply.

c) Click Exit.

6. Close the Network License Manager to go back to the Imaging Engine 16.0.2 Installer page.

How to Install the Imaging Engine Prerequisites

Before you install Imaging Engine, you need to install the Imaging Engine prerequisites. These are currently the Microsoft Visual Studio Redistributables.

1. On the Imagine Engine Installer page, click on Check and install the Imaging Engine/Pack

Proof System prerequisites.

This checks whether the operating system is suited for installing and running Imaging

Engine, and starts the Imaging Engine prerequisites installation.

2. Installation will abort if your operating system is not suited for running the application.

Consult the System Requirements and install Imaging Engine on a suitable operating system.

3. On a suitable operating system, the following system message pops-up:

Ready to install the prerequisite components for the Imaging Engine software. Do you want to start the installation?

Click Yes to continue.

4. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard. If you are prompted to reboot your computer, do so and restart this installation procedure as required.

5. If the installer cannot find a running Automation Engine server on the local machine, you will see the Enter Server name window, prompting you to enter the name of the server running your Automation Engine.

Imaging Engine

Note:

• You should be able to access this server from your Imaging Engine machine.

• You can still use the local machine as Automation Engine server (if Automation Engine is installed on it); start up Automation Engine, and leave the field in the Enter Server name window blank.

The installer then checks if the server you entered has a running Automation Engine server.

If you get the following error: then:

ERROR - Imaging Engine requires

Automation Engine 16.0.2

The provided master server does not have

Automation Engine 16.0.2 running

Checked server: [yourservername]

Automation Engine 16.0.2 is not running on the server you entered.

1. Check that you entered the server name correctly.

2. Make sure Automation Engine 16.0.2 is running on it.

3. Restart the Imaging Engine 16.0.2

prerequisites installation.

ERROR - Imaging Engine requires

Automation Engine 16.0.2

The provided master server does not have

Automation Engine 16.0.2 installed

Checked server: [yourservername] (version

[yourserverversion])

Automation Engine 16.0.2 is not installed on the server you entered.

1. Check that you entered the server name correctly.

2. Install Automation Engine 16.0.2 on it.

3. Restart the Imaging Engine 16.0.2

prerequisites installation.

6. Click Exit.

How to Install Imaging Engine

1. On the Imaging Engine 16.0.2 Installer page, click Install the Imaging Engine/Pack Proof

16.0.2 products.

2. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard.

3. Read the End user license agreement carefully and select Yes, I accept the license

agreement.

4. When asked to select the products to install on this system, select Imaging Engine and the desired related products (ScreenManager, Curve Pilot, Color Engine Pilot...).

• The products' Common Components that are used by several products (for example

DGC Data and Color Management System) will only be installed once (each product's installer will check if the necessary components are present, and update them if necessary).

Imaging Engine

• You should already have installed the screens during your Automation Engine installation (as part of the Automation Engine Common Components), either on your

Automation Engine server or on a central resources server.

See the Automation Engine installation guide if needed.

• The System Components group cannot be deselected and will be installed on all systems.

5. Select a Destination Folder for the chosen products or accept the defaults.

6. If you are not installing as the default Automation Engine system user (username

BGSYSTEM, password Drupa2000), you will be prompted to enter your current login credentials (username and password). These will be stored and remembered during subsequent updates / upgrades of the software.

7. At the end of the installation, click Finish.

How to Install the Bitmap Viewer

1. On the installation page, click Install the Bitmap Viewer 14 software.

2. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard.

3. Select the Destination Directory or accept the default.

4. Select the file types which you want to associate with the Bitmap Viewer or accept the defaults.

5. Select the language to use or leave Automatic selected to use the computer's language.

6. Click Install.

7. When all components have been installed, close the installation window and eject the DVD.

5.3 Configuration in the Automation Engine Pilot

After installing all the software components required for Imaging Engine, you need to launch the Automation Engine Pilot and perform some configuration:

1. Connect your Automation Engine server to your Imaging Device and perform general

Imaging Engine configuration.

See Imaging Engine Configuration

on page 62.

2. If you are planning to proof using Imaging Engine and the Esko Proof Server, you also need to connect those two components.

Imaging Engine

See Connecting Imaging Engine to the Proof Server on page 64.

5.3.1 Imaging Engine Configuration

Note:

• You need to perform this configuration before you can use Imaging Engine.

• If you have already configured Imaging Engine, you can only edit the configuration while it is not processing files (if it is processing files while you try to change the configuration, you will see a warning, and will have to wait until the processing is done).

To connect your Automation Engine server to your Imaging Device:

1. In the Automation Engine Pilot, go to Tools > Configure .

2. Select Imaging Engines in the left pane.

3. Go to File > New or press the Insert key (on PC).

This creates an Imaging1 entry under Imaging Engines and shows settings in the right pane.

4. In the right pane's General tab: a) In Host Name, enter the name of the server running your Imaging Engine and press

Enter or Tab (or click the Connect button next to Imaging Engine).

b) Check that you see a green dot with the message Imaging Engine is up and running.

If you see...

a grey dot with the message

Imaging Engine is starting up on host a red dot with the message No license for Imaging Engine on host it means that...

you need to wait a few minutes before you can use Imaging Engine.

a red dot with the message No

Imaging Engine available on host your Imaging Engine license is missing.

Please check your licenses.

the server you have entered doesn't have Imaging Engine or even

Automation Engine installed.

Please check if you have entered the server name wrong.

You may see other error messages in some cases, but you will always get some advice as to what you need to do (for example with the Missing resource for Imaging Engine

on host message, you will get advised to Please reinstall the Imaging Engine).

Note: You can Stop and Start Imaging Engine from here for troubleshooting purposes, but this is generally not necessary, as Imaging Engine starts automatically, and will restart automatically in case of a crash or after being force quitted.

Imaging Engine c) Set the Number of Workers. This is the number of parallel processes used to work on multiple pages of a file, or multiple files at the same time.

Note:

The maximum number of workers you can set depends on your license and on the number of cores on your server.

Please see the system requirements page for details.

5. In the Settings tab: a) Select what kind of

Rosettes

you want to use in the

Image to Screened Separations task :

• Clear Centered rosettes are generally considered to be more stable. This is the default.

• Dot Centered rosettes can give a more saturated result.

You can see which imaging device and which kind of rosettes have been used for each file in that file's log.

b) Enable (check) Minimum Ruling if you want to enforce a minimum ruling, and optionally edit the minimum ruling value. The default value in an Imaging Engine device is 65 lpi.

You can enter a minimum ruling as low as 1 lpi.

Note: The minimum ruling value has no effect unless Minimum Ruling is enabled

(checked).

c) Enable (check) Maximum Ruling if you want to enforce a maximum ruling, and optionally edit the maximum ruling value. The default value in an Imaging Engine device is 300 lpi.

Note: The maximum ruling value has no effect unless Maximum Ruling is enabled

(checked).

Note: When both Minimum Ruling and Maximum Ruling are enabled (checked), the minimum ruling value cannot be higher than the current maximum ruling value. In case

Minimum Ruling is enabled last, the minimum ruling value is decreased automatically to the current maximum ruling value; in case Maximum Ruling is enabled last, the maximum ruling value is increased automatically to the current minimum ruling value.

d) Check that Jump to nearest ruling is selected under the Exact Ruling not

Available list. This is the default setting, ensuring that the closest available ruling value will be used when the exact requested ruling value is not implemented. In case using the exact requested ruling value is a hard constraint, select Task fails under the Exact

Ruling not Available list.

e) If you use Jump to nearest ruling, you can additionally enable (check) Maximum

Ruling Difference to edit the maximum ruling difference value that you can tolerate.

The default maximum ruling difference in an Imaging Engine device is 10 lpi.

To clarify the usage of these parameters and their inter-workings, a few representative examples are shown below. In all the examples, available rulings are assumed to be 65, 70,

80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 135, and 140 lpi.

Example 1: The requested ruling is 75 lpi. Minimum Ruling is disabled (unchecked); the actual minimum ruling value does not matter. Jump to nearest ruling is selected with

Imaging Engine a maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi. The nearest available rulings to 75 lpi observing the maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi are 70 and 80 lpi. The lower value of 70 lpi will be used.

The task will succeed.

Example 2: The requested ruling is 60 lpi. Minimum Ruling is enabled (checked); the actual minimum ruling value is 68 lpi. Jump to nearest ruling is selected with a maximum ruling difference of 5 lpi. The nearest available ruling to 60 lpi observing the maximum ruling difference of 5 lpi is 65 lpi. This value cannot be used because it is lower than the minimum ruling of 68 lpi. The task will fail.

Example 3: The requested ruling is 60 lpi. Minimum Ruling is enabled (checked); the actual minimum ruling value is 68 lpi. Jump to nearest ruling is selected with a maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi. The nearest available rulings to 60 lpi observing the maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi are 65 and 70 lpi. The value of 65 lpi cannot be used because it is lower than the minimum ruling of 68 lpi. The value of 70 lpi is higher than the minimum rulung and can be used. The task will succeed.

Example 4: The requested ruling is 145 lpi. Maximum Ruling is disabled (unchecked); the actual maximum ruling value does not matter. Jump to nearest ruling is selected with a maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi. The nearest available ruling to 145 lpi observing the maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi is 140 lpi. This value will be used. The task will succeed.

Example 5: The requested ruling is 145 lpi. Maximum Ruling is enabled (checked); the actual maximum ruling value is 138 lpi. Jump to nearest ruling is selected with a maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi. The nearest available rulings to 145 lpi observing the maximum ruling difference of 10 lpi are 140 and 135 lpi. The value of 140 lpi is higher than the maximum ruling and cannot be used. The value of 135 lpi is lower than the maximum ruling and can be used. The task will succeed.

6. In the Queue tab, enter a name for your Imaging Engine Queue.

7. In the left pane, select the Imaging1 entry, go to File > Rename and give it a meaningful name.

You can also select it and press F2 (on PC).

8. Go to File > Save or use Ctrl+S (on PC) to save your configuration.

5.3.2 Connecting Imaging Engine to the Proof Server

This configuration will connect your Automation Engine server (and Imaging Engine) to your

Esko Proof Server, so that Imaging Engine can send files to the Proof Server, for proofing on your device.

For more flexibility, you can connect to several Proof Servers, and have access to all the workflows configured on these Proof Servers. When sending files through Imaging Engine's

Proof for Content Approval task, you can then select which workflow of which Proof Server you want to use.

Important: You need to perform this configuration before you can use the Proof for Content

Approval task.

1. In the Automation Engine Pilot, go to Tools > Configure .

2. Select Proof Servers in the left pane.

3. For each Proof Server that you want to connect to:

Imaging Engine a) Click Add at the bottom of the right pane.

b) In the New Proof Server pop-up, enter the name of the server on which your Proof

Server is running, and click Add.

Note:

If you get an error message like The shared folder "ProofFolder" on the host is not writable for the user BGSYSTEM, it means that Automation Engine cannot access the Proof Server share (where it needs to send files to proof).

In this case, follow the steps in Giving Automation Engine Access to the Proof Server Share

on page 57.

c) In the Status column, check that your Proof Server is Running.

You also can Remove the connection to a Proof Server if needed.

4. Go to File > Save or use Ctrl+S (on PC) to save your configuration.

Imaging Engine

6. The Imaging Engine Tasks

Imagine Engine consists of:

• three proofing tasks: Proof for Content Approval ,

Image to Content Proof (RGB) and

Image to

Unscreened Proof ,

• two RIP'ing tasks:

Image to Screened Separations and

Image to Unscreened Separations

• a task to help the press calculate the ink needed to print the RIP'ed files:

Calculate Ink Key

Settings (CIP3)

For a general introduction to each task's purpose, see

Using Imaging Engine for Proofing and

RIP'ing

Using SmartNames and Public Parameters in the Imaging Engine Tasks

Use the Imaging Engine tasks as you would use other Automation Engine tasks. For most of the settings, you can also use public parameters (so an operator can define them through Shuttle) and/or SmartNames.

You can use SmartNames everywhere you see the SmartName icon , and you can use

SmartNames in public parameters even for settings without that icon (for example if the setting is a button).

Important: SmartNames values must resolve to a value that is valid for that setting at the moment the task runs. Any invalid SmartName value will make the task end in error.

Tip:

• SmartNames are case insensitive (for example it doesn't matter whether your SmartName resolves to AngleAndRuling or angleandruling).

• To know what value a SmartName must resolve to for a specific setting:

1. select the setting value you want (for example Scale : Fit to page size),

2. right-click that value (Fit to page size) and select Copy Parameter Value,

3. paste the value in a text editor (in this example it is FitSize).

For more information about SmartNames and public parameters, see the SmartNames and

Using Public Parameters sections of the Automation Engine manual.

6.1 Proof for Content Approval

You can use the Proof for Content Approval task for generating a content proof and sending it automatically to your proofer. You typically make a content proof to check whether the contents of your file (layout, text, barcodes...) are correct.

At that stage, you are typically not checking the color accuracy of your proof yet, so the Proof

for Content Approval task only performs some default color management, based on the

ISO standard, in the background (for example to convert RGB objects to CMYK so they are printable).

Imaging Engine

When you are satisfied with the content proof and want to make a contract proof with color management, you can use the

Image to Unscreened Proof task.

Proofing with the Proof for Content Approval Task

The Proof for Content Approval task sends the ready-to-proof files to the workflow of

your choice on the Esko Proof Server , who then proofs it automatically on the proofer connected to that workflow. This proofer can be one of many types of proofing devices supported by the Esko Proof Server.

Note:

To use this task, you need to have created a Proof Server workflow in the Esko Proof Client, and that workflow must:

• be connected to the Admin user,

• be connected to a physical CMYK proofer (you cannot use the predefined "Esko

Linearization" workflow for example).

Tip:

To make sure your Proof Server workflow is connected to a CMYK proofer:

1. Open the Proof Client.

2. In the System Manager view, select your workflow's Output Device.

3. Go to the Media tab at right, and expand the Print Configuration settings.

4. In Calibration Set, select an EPL (linearization file) made for your device's CMYK ink set.

To be sure that your selected EPL is made for CMYK, check that you see Color mode:

CMYK under the Calibration Set list.

5. Save your output device settings.

See the Esko Proof Client documentation if needed.

For information about creating a Proof Server workflow, please see the Esko Proof Client documentation .

Attention:

You can use several Proof Servers, but in this case, make sure that every workflow has a unique name, even across Proof Servers.

If there are workflows with the same name on several Proof Servers, you will not be able to send files to those workflows through the Proof for Content Approval task.

Imaging Engine

Task Parameters

In the

Device field, select the imaging device that you configured .

Then use the tabs at left to show more settings to fill in. See:

•

General on page 68,

•

Proofer

on page 70,

•

Transformations on page 72,

•

PDF Objects

on page 74,

•

Document Inks

on page 75,

•

Output on page 80,

•

Summary on page 86.

Using the Proof Server Workflow Parameters

If you are using a Proof Server workflow that already has proofing parameters defined (for example the number of copies to print, or the rotation or scaling to apply to your file), those parameters will be filled in by default in the Proof for Content Approval task, so that you don't have to go check them in the Proof Server workflow and copy them into the task.

Note: This is not the case if you are using a SmartName or a public parameter to select your

Proof Server workflow.

You can of course change those parameters as desired in the Proof for Content Approval task.

6.1.1 General

1. Define what Page Box of the input PDF you want to proof.

You can either select Media Box, Trim Box, or insert a SmartName that must resolve to either media or trim.

After selecting your file's page box you will see its dimensions under the Page Box option.

2. If your input file is a multi-page PDF, select which Pages you want to proof: a) First select All pages, Odd pages only or Even pages only in the Pages option.

You can also insert a SmartName resolving to either All, Even or Odd.

b) Then you can refine your selection by entering page numbers or a Page Range.

You can separate page numbers by a comma, or use a dash to indicate a page range (for example 3,6-9). You can also use a SmartName resolving to page numbers and/or page ranges using this same format.

Imaging Engine

Note:

• Page numbers are always physical pages. If your document starts with page 5, you should not use 5 but 1 to get the first page.

• If you enter page numbers that are not part of your document, they will be excluded from the output (all the other valid pages will be proofed).

• If you enter the same page(s) more than once (for example 1,1-2), it/they will only be output once.

• Pages are proofed in the order of the document (entering 5-1 will be automatically changed to 1-5).

3. If you want to invert your output so it is compatible with the output device or software system that will process it, click .

You can also click or Edit... to insert a SmartName that must resolve to 1 or true (to invert the output), or to 0 or false (to leave the output as it is).

Tip: If that setting is already defined in your Proof Server workflow , it will be filled in by

default. You can of course change it as desired.

4. If you want to mirror your output so it is compatible with the output device or software system that will process it, click .

You can also click or Edit... to insert a SmartName that must resolve to 1 or true (to mirror the output), or to 0 or false (to leave the output as it is).

If that setting is already defined in your Proof Server workflow, it will be filled in by default.

You can of course change it as desired.

5. If you want to add a SmartMark to your output file(s), select it in the SmartMark list, or use a SmartName that will resolve to the SmartMark name.

A SmartMark is a mark whose content is variable, so you can make it display information about that specific job. For example, you can include some of the parameters used during

RIP'ing in your output file(s) by using a SmartMark.

You need to: a) First create the SmartMark you want to use in PackEdge (see the SmartMarks section in the PackEdge manual for details).

You can create either:

• a SmartMark with proof-specific parameters,

Use this SmartMark parameter in

PackEdge:

Device

Image to display this value from the Imaging

Engine parameters: the

imaging device

whether you

you used

inverted your output

Imaging Engine

Use this SmartMark parameter in

PackEdge:

Emulsion

V Scale

H Scale

Color Strategy

Source Profile

Destination Profile to display this value from the Imaging

Engine parameters: whether you

mirrored

your output the

vertical scaling

you applied to your output file(s) the

horizontal scaling you applied to your

output file(s) this will show Custom as the Proof for

Content Approval task doesn't perform full color management (it only applies a default source and destination profile) the default source profile applied to your input file(s)

(ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc) the default destination profile of your output file(s)

(ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc) the

resolution of your output file(s)

Resolution

• another type of SmartMark (for example a corner mark).

If your PackEdge application is linked to your Automation Engine server, your SmartMark will automatically be saved in the correct location and will be available in Imaging Engine.

b) Then select that SmartMark in your Imaging Engine task.

The SmartMark will be added to each proof generated from your input file.

6.1.2 Proofer

This is where you select the Esko Proof Server workflow to which the task sends your RIP'ed

output.

• In the Proof Server Workflow list, you can see all of the valid workflows found on the Proof

Server(s)

you are connected to .

Imaging Engine

Note:

To be valid, your Proof Server workflow must:

• be connected to the Admin user,

• be connected to a physical CMYK proofer (you cannot use the predefined "Esko

Linearization" workflow for example).

Tip:

To make sure your Proof Server workflow is connected to a CMYK proofer:

1. Open the Proof Client.

2. In the System Manager view, select your workflow's Output Device.

3. Go to the Media tab at right, and expand the Print Configuration settings.

4. In Calibration Set, select an EPL (linearization file) made for your device's CMYK ink set.

To be sure that your selected EPL is made for CMYK, check that you see Color mode:

CMYK under the Calibration Set list.

5. Save your output device settings.

See the Esko Proof Client documentation if needed.

For information about creating a Proof Server workflow, please see the Esko Proof Client documentation .

Imaging Engine checks whether the Proof Server and the selected workflow are available when defining ticket settings and when (re-)launching the task.

The task will end in error if it can't access the Proof Server workflow or if the workflow is invalid.

Attention:

If you are connected to several Proof Servers, make sure that every workflow has a unique name, even across Proof Servers.

If there are workflows with the same name on several Proof Servers, you will not be able to select any of those workflows here (the name will be greyed out).

You can:

• select a workflow from the list,

• use SmartNames (that must resolve to the name of a valid Proof Server workflow),

• set the workflow using public parameters.

Imaging Engine

Tip:

When you select a workflow from the list, its proofing parameters (number of copies to print, rotation or scaling to apply to your file...), will be filled in by default in the Proof

for Content Approval task, so that you don't have to go check them in the Proof Server workflow and copy them into the task.

You can of course change those parameters as desired in the Proof for Content Approval task.

6.1.3 Transformations

Use the Transformations settings to scale or rotate your output relative to your input file.

Tip:

If you are using a

Proof Server workflow

that already has scaling and/or rotation parameters defined, those parameters will be filled in by default, so that you don't have to go check them in the Proof Server workflow and copy them into the task.

You can of course change those parameters as desired.

1. If you want to Scale your input file's contents, select either:

• Scale by percent and enter the vertical and horizontal scaling percentages to use (they must be between 10% and 1000%).

Note:

By default, you enter the vertical scaling percentage and the horizontal one is calculated automatically to keep the proportions.

If you want to enter the horizontal scaling percentage manually, click to unlink it from the vertical one first.

However, if you do this then link the percentages again, the last percentage you entered will be kept, and the other one will be recalculated automatically to keep the proportions.

• Fit to page size to fit your output to the substrate defined in your

Proof Server workflow

, while keeping the proportions (this will fit it to either the width or the height of the substrate, while making sure everything is on the substrate).

• Fit to page width to fit it to the width of the substrate defined in your Proof Server workflow, while keeping the proportions.

If you added SmartMarks to your output, they will be taken into account when fitting the

proof to the substrate's width or size.

Imaging Engine

Note:

If you have chosen to print borderless in your Proof Server workflow, the task will take this into account when fitting your output to the substrate, and make your output slightly larger to cover the whole substrate width or height.

You can only print borderless if your proofing device supports it. Please check the Esko Proof

Client documentation and your proofing device documentation for more information about borderless printing.

If you don't want to scale your file's contents, leave Do not scale selected.

You can use SmartNames resolving to not (Do not scale), ByPercent (Scale by percent),

FitSize (Fit to page size) or FitWidth (Fit to page width).

When entering SmartNames for vertical and horizontal scaling percentages, they must resolve to the numerical value (without the % sign).

2. If you want to rotate your file, select the Rotation you want to apply here.

You can choose to either:

• use a fixed rotation (this can be 0°, 90° Counter Clockwise, 90° Clockwise or 180°; any other value will give an error),

• rotate your file if necessary to fit, or fit better, on the substrate (select Minimal Media

Consumption). This can be useful when using narrow rolls of substrate for example.

If it did fit on the substrate already, this option makes sure that the largest dimension of the file will be placed in the substrate width, to use less substrate material when cutting.

Imaging Engine

Note:

• If you have chosen to print borderless in your Proof Server workflow, the task will take the extra space into account when rotating your file to fit (or fit better) on the substrate.

• You can use a SmartName that resolves to 0, 90 (for 90° Counter Clockwise), 180, 270

(for 90° Clockwise), or minimal.

• When using a fixed rotation, you need to use a numerical value (ninety will not work).

• This is a public parameter, that you can fill in when submitting files through Shuttle.

6.1.4 PDF Objects

• If you experience issues with a font that doesn't look smooth enough at your selected resolution, your font may have font hinting errors.

Font hinting is the rendering of the outline (vectorized) font to pixels. For certain fonts, this rendering sometimes doesn't give a visually pleasing result, especially at low resolutions. In the image below, the top font has font hinting errors, the bottom font doesn't.

Choose how to handle files containing font hinting errors:

• Leave Generate an error if the job contains font hinting errors selected if you want the task to end in error when encountering font hinting errors. You can also use a

SmartName resolving to true.

• Deselect Generate an error if the job contains font hinting errors if you want to output your file anyway, whether it has font hinting errors or not (your task will end with a warning). You can also use a SmartName resolving to false.

Imaging Engine

This may lead to reduced quality rendering of the text, but it will not generate incorrect characters in your output file.

6.1.5 Document Inks

Selecting Which Separations to Proof

Use the Document Inks settings to select which separations of the input file(s) you want to proof.

For example, you can use these settings to exclude technical and/or varnish inks from your output.

You can choose to proof either:

• All separations.

• A number of separations you select Manually.

• A number of separations you select by using selection criteria.

Selection criteria are rules that you define to select separations automatically for you when the task is launched on a file.

Tip: You can make the ink selection parameters public so that an operator can set them through Shuttle as needed for each job.

Selecting separations manually is the easiest option, but you can only do it on a file by file basis

(when you launch the task on a single input file).

Using selection criteria is more advanced but also more powerful than selecting separations manually, and you can do it anytime (when launching the task on one or more input files, when using the task in a workflow, when defining ticket settings...).

Therefore, we recommend that you first try selecting separations manually when running the task on individual files, then switch to using selection criteria to automate your workflow further.

Tip:

To get used to working with selection criteria, try the following on a few of your files:

1. select the separations you want to output manually,

2. then change Select Inks to by using selection criteria and see which rules have been created based on your manual selection.

For more information, see Selecting Inks Manually

on page 76 and Selecting Inks Using

Selection Criteria

on page 77.

Proofing Files with Unregistered Inks

Unregistered inks are inks that are not present in your

color management database , so there is

no information about these inks apart from their RGB values in the input file.

If your input file contains PantoneLIVE inks and you don't have a PantoneLIVE license, those inks

are also considered to be unregistered inks.

Imaging Engine

When

content proofing with the

Proof for Content Approval task, unregistered inks (and unlicensed PantoneLIVE inks) are output without making the task error, but their color on the proof may be inaccurate.

However, when you want to make a color managed proof with the Image to Unscreened Proof

on page 97 task, we recommend you replace all unregistered inks in your input file by inks from your color database before proofing.

Selecting Inks Manually

Note: You can only select inks manually when you are launching the task on a (single) file, not when you are defining a generic ticket without an input file.

When choosing to Select Inks Manually, you will see a table containing all of your document's inks, showing each ink's:

Ink Name

Ink Book

Ink Index

If an ink book is not present in your color database, it will show here as

<unregistered "">.

The Ink index is the order in which the file's inks will be printed (the ink with ink index 1 is at the bottom of the document and will be printed first).

To find the ink index of a file:

1. select the file in the Automation Engine Pilot's Files view,

click ,

3. in the Info dialog that opens, select Inks in the left panel.

The order of the inks at right is the ink index (the topmost ink has an index of 1, the second of 2, etc.).

Note that if you reorder the inks by one of the columns (for example by

Ink name), they won't be ordered by ink index anymore. You will need to close that dialog and reopen it to see the ink index order again.

Spot Ink Index

Ink Type

The Spot Ink index is the order in which a spot ink will be printed (when counting only spot inks and not process inks).

For example, if the first 4 inks of the document are CMYK, the first spot ink will have 5 as Ink Index but 1 as Spot Ink Index.

This can be for example Normal, Technical, Varnish...

Printing Method If you have set a Printing Method for an ink it will be shown here (this can be for example Offset, Gravure, Flexo... or any custom printing method you configured).

See the Automation Engine documentation for more information about printing methods.

Select the ink(s) you want to proof, or select the toggle in the table header to select/deselect all inks.

Imaging Engine

Selecting Inks Using Selection Criteria

If you don't want to select inks manually every time, you can define some rules to automatically

select certain inks in your input file(s).

You can do this:

• either when running the task on one or more files, or when creating a task ticket to use later,

• by choosing to Select Inks by using selection criteria in the Document Inks settings.

How Does it Work?

You select the inks to be output by checking a combination of criteria:

1. You define what to check. You can check any of the following ink characteristics in your criteria:

Ink name

Ink book

Ink index

Spot ink index

Ink type

Printing method

The Ink index is the order in which the file's inks will be printed (the ink with ink index 1 is at the bottom of the document and will be printed first).

To find the ink index of a file:

1. select the file in the Automation Engine Pilot's Files view,

click ,

3. in the Info dialog that opens, select Inks in the left panel.

The order of the inks at right is the ink index (the topmost ink has an index of 1, the second of 2, etc.).

Note that if you reorder the inks by one of the columns (for example by Ink name), they won't be ordered by ink index anymore. You will need to close that dialog and reopen it to see the ink index order again.

The Spot ink index is the order in which a spot ink will be printed

(when counting only spot inks and not process inks).

For example, if the first 4 inks of the document are CMYK, the first spot ink will have 5 as Ink index but 1 as Spot ink index.

This can be for example Normal, Technical, Varnish...

If you have set a Printing method for an ink it will be shown here

(this can be for example Offset, Gravure, Flexo... or any custom printing method you configured).

See the Automation Engine documentation for more information about printing methods.

For example, you can check whether the Ink book is process, whether the Ink name is yellow...

Imaging Engine

You can use as many criteria as you want.

2. You define how to combine your criteria into a rule. For example:

• If you want to output only process yellow, you should check for inks that match both of the criteria:

Ink book is process

Ink name is yellow

• If you want to output both all process inks and all yellow inks, you should check for inks that match either of the criteria:

Ink book is process

Ink name is yellow

• If you don't want to output any process inks or any yellow inks, you should check for inks that match neither of the criteria:

Ink book is process

Ink name is yellow

How Do I Build Rules?

Build your rules the following way:

1. Choose how to combine the criteria in your rule:

• Select All of the following are true if you want to only select the inks that match all of the criteria you define.

• Select Any of the following are true if you want to select all the inks that match at least

one of the criteria you define.

• Select None of the following are true if you want to only select the inks that match

none of the criteria you define.

2. Define your first selection criterion.

You can select an ink based on its:

• Ink name: you can define if it contains/begins with/ends with/is a piece of text

(alphanumerical characters), or if it is empty.

• Ink book: you can define if it contains/begins with/ends with/is a piece of text

(alphanumerical characters), or if it is empty.

• Ink index: you can define if it equals/is less than/is greater than the number you enter, or is is between the two numbers you enter (in this case the ink indexes you enter as boundaries are also selected).

• Spot ink index: you can define if it equals/is less than/is greater than the number you enter, or is is between the two numbers you enter (in this case the spot ink indexes you enter as boundaries are also selected).

• Ink type: you can define if it is a piece of text (alphanumerical characters).

• Printing method: you can define if it is a piece of text (alphanumerical characters).

Imaging Engine

For example, you could use:

All of the following are true

Ink book is designer

None of the following are true

Ink name is crease

None of the following are true

Ink type is Technical

Ink type is Varnish to: select all inks from the "designer" ink book exclude an ink called "crease" exclude all technical and all varnish inks

Tip:

• You can enter several values to check for: just use a semicolon (;) between them.

For example, to check for both inks called Cyan and inks called Magenta, choose Ink

name is and enter Cyan;Magenta.

• When launching the task on a file, you can also click to select one or more of the Ink

names/Ink books/Ink types/Printing methods used in your input file(s).

A criterion will automatically be created based on your selection.

3. Click + to add more criteria and define them.

To remove a criterion, click - next to it.

Tip: If you are launching the task on a single input file, you will see a table listing the Selected

document inks, and another table with the Document inks that are not selected under the rules you defined.

Attention: If no ink is selected, you cannot launch the task.

Switching How You Select Inks

You can switch between the two methods of selecting inks ( manually

and

using selection criteria ), and this will keep the same inks selected.

Switching from Selecting Inks Manually to Selecting Inks Using Selection

Criteria

When switching from selecting inks manually to selecting inks using selection criteria, the task will translate your manual ink selection into rules, so that the same inks are selected (you can see them in the Selected document inks table).

The rules you get are based on the characteristics of the inks you selected.

For example, if you selected all the process colors but no spot color in your file, for an offset job, you will get the following rule:

All of the following are true

Imaging Engine

Ink name is Cyan;Magenta;Yellow;Black

Ink book is process

Ink type is Normal

Printing method is Offset

Note:

If you...

• first selected inks using selection criteria,

• then switched to manual selection without changing the selection,

• then switched back to selection criteria,

... then your rules will be kept.

If you did change the selection in manual mode, the task will automatically generate new rules.

Switching from Selecting Inks Using Selection Criteria to Selecting Inks

Manually

When switching from selecting inks using selection criteria to selecting inks manually, all the inks selected by the rules you defined (the inks in the Selected document inks table) become selected manually.

Note: You can only switch to selecting inks manually when you are launching the task on a

(single) file.

6.1.6 Output

Use the Output settings to define how many copies of your proof you want, and how to handle images that have a different resolution than the output resolution.

Note:

Imaging Engine uses the output resolution defined in your

Proof Server workflow

, where you need to decide whether quality or speed is more important to you.

• If you have chosen High Quality in your Proof Server workflow, Imaging Engine will output your file(s) at the maximum resolution supported by your proofing device (you can check this resolution in the Proof Client).

You would typically use this for your final output, where quality is much more important than speed.

• If you have chosen Standard in your Proof Server workflow, Imaging Engine will output your file(s) at 50% of the maximum resolution supported by your proofing device.

• If you have chosen Fast, Imaging Engine will output your file(s) at 25% of the maximum resolution supported by your proofing device.

You would typically use this for drafts, where you don't need high quality yet but want a fast result.

For more information, please see the Esko Proof Client documentation .

1. If you experience problems with jagged edges, for example in small text, you can set an

Anti-aliasing factor to smooth those edges.

Imaging Engine

In the example below, you can see the difference between output without anti-aliasing (on the left), and with anti-aliasing applied (on the right).

You can adjust the amount of anti-aliasing applied by choosing a factor of either 2, 3 or 4

(note that using a higher anti-aliasing factor may slow down processing).

You can also set this with a SmartName resolving to None (if you don't need anti-aliasing), or to the anti-aliasing factor you want (for example 2).

Attention: Because anti-aliasing changes the output sampling to smooth the jagged edges, you cannot resample your images (with the Image Resampling option) if you use anti-aliasing.

2. If your input file contains images, the images' pixels may not map exactly to output pixels because:

• the images' resolution is different from the output resolution you chose,

• scaling and rotation effects change the size and placement of the images' pixels.

You then need to resample these images to be able to output them at the same resolution as the rest of the file.

In the Image Resampling option, choose the resampling method you want to use (you will have to make a trade-off between processing time and image quality).

• Choose From File to use the resampling method defined in the input PDF (this is the default option). This method can be either:

• the "nearest neighbor" algorithm, which keeps the image very sharp but can make it look jagged (pixellated but sharp). This is mostly recommended if you have small images with sharp lines/sudden differences in intensity, and/or you do not want your images to be fuzzy at all.

Imaging Engine

This resampling method is very fast.

• the "PDF interpolation" algorithm, that smooths the image while resampling (see below).

Note: Most PDF files don't specify a preferred resampling method, so the default

("nearest neighbor" algorithm) is used. If you want to make sure that the "PDF interpolation" algorithm is used, choose PDF Interpolation instead of From File in the

Image Resampling option.

You can also use a SmartName resolving to FromPDF.

• Choose PDF Interpolation to smooth the image while resampling.

With this method, you get images that are pixellated and fuzzy, so it is only recommended if you have small images with gradual differences in intensity, like photographs of nature.

Imaging Engine

This is slightly less fast.

You can also use a SmartName resolving to PDFInterpolate.

• Choose Auto Resampling to upsample the images to an automatically calculated resolution (generally half or a third of the output resolution) before smoothing it.

When using this, images are a lot less pixellated and fuzzy.

Imaging Engine

This method is quite slow but gives images of a good quality, so it is recommended in most cases (unless you want an extra sharp image, in which case you should choose

From File).

You can also use a SmartName resolving to ResampleAuto.

• Choose Full Resampling to upsample the images to the full output resolution.

This is the slowest method but gives the highest quality images (not pixellated and only slightly fuzzy).

Imaging Engine

Use this if Auto Resampling doesn't give you the results you want.

Attention:

Resampling to full resolution can require significant amounts of memory when the output resolution is high (especially from 4000 dpi).

If you want to do this, we recommend that you have at least 8GB of RAM available for each worker (see the installation documentation).

You can also use a SmartName resolving to ResampleFull.

3. Enter the number of Copies you want to print (at least 1).

You can use SmartNames and/or public parameters.

Tip:

If the number of copies to print is already defined in your Proof Server workflow , that

number will be filled in by default.

You can of course change it as desired.

4. Select Keep job files for relaunch purposes if you want to be able to proof jobs a second time without having to RIP them again.

In this case, the files created for proofing will not be automatically cleaned up. When you don't need to keep them anymore, you will have to delete them manually from the \\[Esko

Proof Server]\ProofFolder share.

You can set this option with a SmartName resolving to true to keep the files, or false to discard them.

Imaging Engine

Note:

To re-proof files that you have kept using this option, do the following:

1. Double-click the Send to Proof Server sub-task that was run on the job you want to reuse.

2. This reopens the ticket with a limited number of settings. Change your desired setting as necessary (for example the number of Copies).

3. Click Launch.

If you didn't select the Keep job files for relaunch purposes, you will see The job cannot be reprinted as the files from the job were not kept when reopening the ticket.

6.1.7 Summary

This shows a summary of all the settings you defined in the ticket.

• To show the settings from a tab, click + (on PC) or (on Mac) beside the tab name in the right pane.

Click Expand All to show the settings from all tabs.

• To hide the settings from a tab, click - (on PC) or (on Mac) beside the tab name in the right pane.

Click Collapse All to hide the settings from all tabs.

6.2 Image to Content Proof (RGB)

Use the Image to Content Proof (RGB) task if you need a high-resolution preview file.

You can use this for digital content proofing, to check whether the contents of your file

(layout, text, barcodes...) are correct. This is particularly useful in cases where a physical content proof would not be practical (for example if the customer is far away).

At that stage, you are typically not checking the color accuracy of your proof yet, so the

Image to Content Proof (RGB) task only performs some default color management in the background (for preview purposes).

When you are satisfied with the content proof and want to make a contract proof with color management, you can use the

Image to Unscreened Proof task.

Task Output

The Image to Content Proof (RGB) task generates a high-resolution RGB preview file, in the

JPEG format.

Task Parameters

In the

Device field, select the imaging device that you configured .

Then use the tabs at left to show more settings to fill in. See:

Imaging Engine

•

General on page 87,

•

Transformations on page 88,

•

PDF Objects

on page 89,

•

Document Inks

on page 89,

•

Output on page 95,

•

Summary on page 97.

6.2.1 General