Marks and Margins. Esko 16

)

• Inks (see the

)

• Advanced (see the

)

•

)

•

Output

135.1 Output

Note: Parameters that have been specified in the Dispatcher Queue Settings are enforced in this ticket. Some are preceded by an icon of a Dispatcher: .

268

•

Configuration Set

• Name: Select a configuration file. These files contain specific behavior of the output device.

• Plate Size: The plate size of the above selected configuration set is shown.

•

Output File

• Path: Leave this empty to use the path as defined in the Dispatcher (EskoLink queue -

Output tab). If the EskoLink queue has no value for this path, you can define it here.

• Name: Leave this empty to get output file names based on the input file. The default output file name is [File]_[PageNrOfMultiPageFile]_[ShortInkName].

When changing this, be aware that only plain letters and numbers are allowed. Any unsupported characters (symbols) will be replaced by an _ .

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135

• Resolution of the output file:

• Perimeter: When a configuration set is chosen, this field is grayed out and shows the CDI's 'perimeter' that was set in the device queue (in

the Configure tool

). When no configuration is chosen, you can edit this field.

• Pixelclock: Choose the appropriate Pixelclock of your CDI. This field will most probably be fixed as it does read what CDI type your device queue was based on (in

the Configure tool

Note: CDIs with ‘VariablePLL’ will not show the Pixelclock field nor the Perimeter field.

• Actual resolution: This field shows the actual resolution that will be used by the RIP.

This is the combination of the requested resolution and the effect of the perimeter on that requested resolution.

Note: The FlexRip rounds off any non-integer number (see the task's log file).

• Compression: Choose the compression method for the output files.

The LZW compression is most commonly used. CCIT group compressions are more effective but take longer to generate (and to decompress on the receiving side).

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136. RIP to Screened and Unscreened DCS

File

Select a Device that was configured in

the Configure tool

This task has five tabs:

• General (see the

The ticket to RIP to an unscreened DCS file does not show the screening options.

•

Inks

• Advanced (see the

•

•

Output

Note: Parameters that have been specified in the Dispatcher Queue Settings are enforced in this ticket. Some are preceded by an icon of a Dispatcher: .

136.1 Output

Note: Parameters that have been specified in the Dispatcher Queue Settings are enforced in this ticket. Some are preceded by an icon of a Dispatcher: .

270

•

Configuration Set

•

Name: Select a configuration file. These files contain specific behavior of the output device.

• Plate Size: The plate size of the above selected configuration set is shown.

•

Output File

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136

• Path: Leave this empty to use the path as defined in the Dispatcher (EskoLink queue -

Output tab). If the EskoLink queue has no value for this path, you can define it here.

• Name: Leave this empty to get output file names based on the input file. The default output file name is [File]_[PageNrOfMultiPageFile]_[ShortInkName].

When changing this, be aware that only plain letters and numbers are allowed. Any unsupported characters (symbols) will be replaced by an _ .

• Select a Resolution for the output files.

Single File DCS: When selected, all separations are first RIP'ed to separate files and then included in a final single DCS file (in the end only one file is created). When not selected, a

DCS master file is created that refers to plate files, one for each separation.

• Compression: Choose the compression for the output TIFF files: Flate, LZW or CCITT Group.

The LZW compression is most commonly used. CCIT group compressions are more effective but take longer to generate (and to decompress on the receiving side).

• Preview: Define the type and resolution of the preview files:

• For Placement Only: To use in a DTP application.

• Proofable Preview: For composite printing from a DTP application.

136.2 Inks

• All inks: Deselect ‘All Inks’ to open the Inks list where you can select specific inks.

Attention: In FlexProof tickets, when you want a composite (proofing) output, be aware that de-selecting the 'All Inks' option will then output (proof) each selected ink separately.

• In the column ' Merge Ink with', you can manually decide which inks should be merged in the output file. This is common when you use different rulings of a same ink.

Alternatively, click ' Merge Similar Inks' to let the task propose such combinations automatically for inks with a same name but with a different ruling or angle. Click

Reset

Merge to reset these settings and force the proofing of each ink separately.

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• Use technical inks in output. Select this to include the inks with Ink Type 'Technical'.

• Keep similar inks in their original separations:

• Keep inks separated: When 'All inks' is selected, select this to avoid merged inks.

• Select ' Highlight modified values' to have all modified values highlighted and marked with an asterisk.

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137

137. RIP to Screened and Unscreened PDF

File

Select a Device that was configured in

the Configure tool

This task has five tabs:

• General (see the

). The ticket to RIP to unscreened PDF does not show the screening options.

• Inks (see the

)

• Advanced (see the

)

•

)

•

Output

Note: The fields in gray are the presets that are defined in the Dispatcher Queue settings.

137.1 Output

Note: Parameters that have been specified in the Dispatcher Queue Settings are enforced in this ticket. Some are preceded by an icon of a Dispatcher: .

•

Configuration Set

• Name: Select a configuration file. These files contain specific behavior of the output device.

• Plate Size: The plate size of the above selected configuration set is shown.

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•

Output File

• Path: Leave this empty to use the path as defined in the Dispatcher (EskoLink queue -

Output tab). If the EskoLink queue has no value for this path, you can define it here.

• Name: Leave this empty to get output file names based on the input file. The default output file name is [File]_[PageNrOfMultiPageFile]_[ShortInkName].

When changing this, be aware that only plain letters and numbers are allowed. Any unsupported characters (symbols) will be replaced by an _ .

• Select a Resolution for the output files.

• Anti-Aliasing (option appears when RIP'ing to unscreened files): Anti-Aliasing smoothens the staircase effect you get in the image data generated from line-art objects that need preprocessing.

• PDF Version: Choose a version:

• PDF for Illustrator: Select this version if the PDF 1.4 file will be opened in Adobe

Illustrator CS2 or higher. Because Adobe Illustrator only supports an undocumented subset of PDF 1.4 features, some objects and/or color-spaces must be split up, transformed and/or pre-RIP'ed in order to correctly represent them in Illustrator.

•

PDF/X-1 a:2001 (ISO 15930-1)

•

PDF/X-3 - (ISO/DIS 15930-2)

• PDF 1.4 - Acrobat 5.0.

•

Single / Multi File

When selecting 'single file' output, all separations are first RIP'ed to separate files first and then included in the final PDF / PS file. When this option is not selected, the task creates a

Master file and also plate files that it refers to (one per separation).

•

Softproofing

When selected, the task writes a composite PDF file that combines the different separations in a single PDF page. This PDF file can be used for colored viewing in Acrobat.

The combination of 'Single file' with 'Softproofing', can lead to four situations:

• No soft-proofing, multi file: All separations are written in a different page, and all pages are written in a separate output file.

• No soft-proofing, single file: All separations are written in a different page, and all pages are combined in a single file.

• Soft-proofing, multi file: Separations are kept together per page, and all pages are written in a separate output file.

• Soft-proofing, single file: Separations are kept together per page, and all pages are combined in a single file.

• Compression: Choose a compression method.

•

Encoding

• Binary: The image data is represented as binary data. This results in compact files. Such files are not editable in a common ASCII editor. Nor can these files be transferred using a communication protocol that relies on control characters in the data stream itself.

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• Hex: This forces the output to remain editable with an ASCII editor. It can then also can be transferred using whatever communication protocol is available. The drawback is that hexadecimal image data can take up to twice as much size as binary data.

• ASCII 85: Encodes binary data in an ASCII base-85 representation. This encoding uses nearly all of the printable ASCII characters. The resulting expansion factor is 4:5, making this encoding more efficient than hexadecimal.

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138. RIP to Screened and Unscreened

PostScript File

Select a Device that was configured in

the Configure tool

This task has five tabs

• General (see the

). The ticket for unscreened output does not show any screening options.

• Inks (see the

)

• Advanced (see the

)

•

Bleed Overlap Priority Decided by ArtiosCAD Artwork Panels

)

•

Output

138.1 Output

Note: Parameters that have been specified in the Dispatcher Queue Settings are enforced in this ticket. Some are preceded by an icon of a Dispatcher: .

276

•

Configuration Set

• Name: Select a configuration file. These files contain specific behavior of the output device.

• Plate Size: The plate size of the above selected configuration set is shown.

•

Output File

• Path: Leave this empty to use the path as defined in the Dispatcher (EskoLink queue -

Output tab). If the EskoLink queue has no value for this path, you can define it here.

• Name: Leave this empty to get output file names based on the input file. The default output file name is [File]_[PageNrOfMultiPageFile]_[ShortInkName].

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138

When changing this, be aware that only plain letters and numbers are allowed. Any unsupported characters (symbols) will be replaced by an _ .

• Select a Resolution for the output files.

•

Single / Multi File

When selecting 'single file' output, all separations are first RIP'ed to separate files first and then included in the final PDF / PS file. When this option is not selected, the task creates a

Master file and also plate files that it refers to (one per separation).

• Compression: Choose a compression method.

•

Encoding

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139. RIP to Screened and Unscreened Tiff

File

Select a Device that was configured in

the Configure tool

Note: Options that are grayed out are values that were already defined in the Dispatcher queue settings.

139.1 General

278

•

Transformations

• Scale V / H: Enter a percentage to scale the design vertically and/or horizontally (the V-H orientation is the one that you see when the file is opened in an editor or viewer).

• Rotate: Choose a rotation (counterclockwise).

• Shrink: Use values from file: When the input file is a Plato file that has shrink values defined inside the PDFPLA file, it will show these values here. Deselect this option to edit and overrule those values.

Attention: If you use both scaling and shrink (distortion) options, then both these scaling values will be executed! For example: If your ticket requests a shrink

V 98% but also a Scale V 95%, then the output-size for V will be 98% of 95% (which is 93.1 %). So the file is first scaled and then distorted.

•

: Choose if you want a positive or negative output file.

•

: Choose if you want mirroring or not.

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139

• Original Size (incl. Margins): The ticket shows the original size of the input file, margins included.

• Output Size (incl. Margins): The size shown here is the real output size, which is the original size influenced by the scaling factors, distortions and the rotation.

• Marks: If you want you can add SmartMarks to your file. SmartMarks sets are created in an Esko editor.

• Screening (in tickets for screened output):

• Type: Choose the type of screening.

• Dotshape: Choose a dot shape. When dot shapes were defined in your input file, you can use those by choosing ' JOB → (Dotshape(s) as defined in File)'. This option will display in orange when the input file does not have any predefined dots (in its ink menu).

Attention: When a dot shape is displayed in orange, you can select it but the

RIP's default dot shape will be used instead.

•

Dot Gain Compensation

• Single Curve: Select a Dot Gain Compensation Curve (*.dgc).

• Automatic: Select a screen based Dot Gain Curve (*.scrdgc or *.icpro).

• Platemaking DGC: This displays the platemaking DGC (if any) defined in the FlexRip

Configurator tool.

Tip: The compensations are also applied to the SmartMarks. To prevent this, consider using specific inks or rulings for the inks used in your SmartMark objects.

139.2 Inks

• Inks on separate TIFF files: This option only appears when you're outputting to a merging device (as defined in the Configure tool). Select it to make sure that different inks end up on different films.

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• All inks: Deselect ‘All Inks’ to open the Inks list where you can select specific inks.

Attention: In FlexProof tickets, when you want a composite (proofing) output, be aware that de-selecting the 'All Inks' option will then output (proof) each selected ink separately.

• In the column ' Merge Ink with', you can manually decide which inks should be merged in the output file. This is common when you use different rulings of a same ink.

Alternatively, click ' Merge Similar Inks' to let the task propose such combinations automatically for inks with a same name but with a different ruling or angle. Click

Reset

Merge to reset these settings and force the proofing of each ink separately.

• Use technical inks in output. Select this to include the inks with Ink Type 'Technical'.

•

Keep similar inks in their original separations

•

Keep inks separated: When 'All inks' is selected, select this to avoid merged inks.

• Select ' Highlight modified values' to have all modified values highlighted and marked with an asterisk.

139.3 Advanced

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139

• Hold In RIP Queue: Select this to hold the task in the RIP-queue until someone manually releases this task.

• Yellow Ruling:

• Don't change Y ruling: The ruling of the yellow ink is not adapted.

• Change Y ruling: Choose from: -15%, -7%, 0% (no change), + 7% and +15%.

• Change Y ruling stochastic: Same as above but the dot shapes are also adapted to the

Monet dot.

•

CT Resampling:

• Don’t resample: No re-sampling is done. This avoids most pixel shifts.

• Resample to highest CT resolution from job: Select this to fix the remaining pixel shift problems, with the least up-scaling possible without data loss.

• Resample to automatic chosen resolution: Select this to reduce broken dot problems, by interpolating images to at least 1.000 ppi.

• Resample to output resolution: This is the slowest option, re-sampling all CT's to the output resolution.

139.4 Merge Queue

This tab appears when the configuration of the selected Device has the "Merge' function on

' Yes' (see its setting in the

Configure tool

Note: 'Merging' here means making an optimized layout of separations next to each other.

• Merge with other jobs: Select this to merge the separations that this ticket creates with separations from other files that were also RIP'ed for this FlexRip device.

• Hold in Merge Queue: This will ‘hold’ the separations in the merger database. This means they are ‘not to be considered for merging’. Use the tool "

Merger Monitor

" to see this database and to manually release entries that were put on hold.

• Force after: Separations that were put on hold can automatically be released again after a chosen time. This prevents having to wait too long before the ‘ Minimum Fill %’ has been reached. Learn more in

FlexRip - Screened Output

•

Priority: Define the priority that entries will have in the merger database. Entries with a high priority will be chosen sooner for merging with other entries.

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• Restriction: The separations will only merge with other separations of files that have received the same restriction value from this field. This value can be anything, whatever makes sense for your workflow. Some examples:

• fruit: The word 'fruit' could be used to make sure that these separations will only be merged with other separations that were also sent with that word 'fruit'. The goal could be that you wish to merge the separations of the 'banana', 'cherry' and 'apple' jobs all on the same film.

• Bob. The word 'Bob' could be operator Bob's restriction to only get films with separations of 'his own jobs'.

139.5 Pre-RIP

282

These are the special objects in a Normalized PDF that require such pre-processing:

• ‘Edge vignettes’: vignettes with alpha channels effects on the edge of the object.

• Barco Blends: blend objects in the legacy 'GRO' format.

• Warped CTs: warping done on external CTs.

Pre-RIP'ing creates an image (CT) of these special objects because the RIP can not interpret them.

• Specify the CT Resolution for these new images.

• Custom: This default choice of 304.8 ppi guarantees the behavior of previous Esko applications. This option is independent of the output resolution.

• Anti-aliasing: Anti-aliasing smoothens the staircase effect that you get when an image is created of lineart objects.

• Vignette Noise: Some vignettes or parts of vignettes will be converted to CTs. This happens when they overlap other objects with translucency or overprint. To reduce the banding

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139 effect, noise is applied on the CT, also known as 'grain'. The amount of noise can be specified here.

• Blend to CT: Select this to convert legacy Barco Graphics blend objects into a CT.

• Smooth Blend: Select this to set the amount steps in the blend objects to 255. When

• Resolve Transparency: Doing this as a pre-RIP stage can speed up the RIP'ing. Only select this when needed.

• Convert Strokes: Select this if your output device requires you to do so.

139.6 Output

Note: Parameters that have been specified in the Dispatcher Queue Settings are enforced in this ticket. Some are preceded by an icon of a Dispatcher: .

•

Configuration Set

• Name: Select a configuration file. These files contain specific behavior of the output device.

• Plate Size: The plate size of the above selected configuration set is shown.

•

Output File

• Path: Leave this empty to use the path as defined in the Dispatcher (EskoLink queue -

Output tab). If the EskoLink queue has no value for this path, you can define it here.

• Name: Leave this empty to get output file names based on the input file. The default output file name is [File]_[PageNrOfMultiPageFile]_[ShortInkName].

When changing this, be aware that only plain letters and numbers are allowed. Any unsupported characters (symbols) will be replaced by an _ .

• Select a Resolution for the output files.

• Compression : Choose the compression for the output TIFF file. Which compression to use depends on the device you are creating the TIFF files for.

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The LZW compression is most commonly used. CCIT group compressions are more effective but take longer to generate (and to decompress on the receiving side).

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140

140. Router

This Workflow Control is documented in the chapter

"Workflows"

. Learn more in

Router

285

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141. Run ArtiosCAD Standard

This task creates an ArtiosCAD ARD design based on an existing standard.

This task is set up by an Esko Solution Architect.

To learn more, search for online articles on this topic in the

Esko Knowledge Base

286

142. Run Script

This task is documented in the chapter

Using Scripts

. See

The Run Script Task

Automation Engine

142

287

143

Automation Engine

143. Select File

This Workflow Control is documented in the chapter

"Workflows"

. Learn more in

Select File

288

Automation Engine

144

144. Select Mark File

This Workflow Control is documented in the chapter

Workflows

. See

Mark File and Select Marked

File

289

145

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145. Select Job

The Select Job workflow control is documented in the chapter

Workflows

. Find a direct link

here

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Automation Engine

146

146. Select Product

The Select Product workflow control is documented in the chapter

Workflows

. Find a direct link

here

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147

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147. Select Referenced File

This Workflow Control is documented in the chapter "Workflows". See

Select Referenced File

292

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148

148. Send E-mail

This task uses your E-mail server to send E-mails.

Your mail server must first be correctly configured in the

E-mail item in the Configure tool

The E-mail can contain:

• Custom text, typed in this ticket

• Any information that Automation Engine has, by using SmartNames,

• The task's input files.

1. Enter the E-mail address(es) you want the E-mail to be sent To.

When you work in a Job context that has customer information filled in, check if you can here use any of the customer E-mail addresses as a SmartName (category

Job

Information).

You can also use SmartNames to add the E-mail address of the Task Owner (category

Task

information). Learn more about SmartNames in

this chapter

Note:

• Multiple addresses in one field need to be separated by a semicolon " ; ".

• When you here use SmartNames, make sure they resolve to a valid E-mail address.

2. If you want, add extra E-mail address(es) in the Cc field (copy).

3. If you want, add extra E-mail address(es) in Bcc (blind copy). The recipients' E-mail address will not be displayed to the receiver.

4. Enter an E-mail Subject.

There are many SmartNames that can summarize the context of this message. An example:

Please check the attached file for job " [Job Name] ". Please mind its due date: [Job Due Date] - [Job Due Time] .

5. If you want, you can change the sender of the E-mail in From. By default the E-mail address of the Task Owner will be used.

Attention: This field requires a valid E-mail address, not just a name, alias or user name.

Note: This ability to send E-mails on behalf of the task owner (or whoever you here filled in) is subject to the configuration on your mail server. When in doubt, please consult your IT administrator.

6. Enter your Message.

Combine custom text with SmartNames to add a lot of variable information.

7. About text encoding: By default, this task uses the system's local encoding. If you notice unreadable characters when reading an Automation Engine E-mail in your E-mail program

(for example Asian characters), you best change the encoding to UTF-8.

This table shows how to enforce specific encodings:

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Automation Engine

Add this to the Message field: to...

#set ($SubjectCharSet="utf-8")

#set ($ContentType="text/ plain;charset=utf-8")

set the encoding of the set the encoding of the and use plain text.

Subject to UTF-8.

Message to UTF-8

#set ($ContentType="text/ html;charset=utf-8")

set the encoding of the and use HTML.

Message to UTF-8

#set ($AttachmentsCharSet="utf-8") set the encoding of the file name of the

attachments to UTF-8.

8. If you want to include the task input files, select Attach input files.

Mind the size limits that your mail server has on attachments.

9. Select Ignore unresolved smart addressees if you want the task to continue when E-mail addresses created via SmartNames are not valid.

10.In the ticket's menu item 'Advanced', you can set public parameters if you want users to be able to fill in E-mail settings when they submit files from

Shuttle

Learn more in

Using Public Parameters in Workflows

11.Save your ticket. When you used many SmartNames, it will be valid for many situations and workflows.

Attention: Self-closing tags are not supported. For example <br/> or <address/

>. When setting up HTML E-mails, you have to use a separate opening tag and closing tag (example <address> </address>), or the empty variant (example: <br>).

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149. Send PostScript File to Device

This task sends a PostScript file to a PostScript device that was configured on the computer of the Automation Engine server.

Use the drop-down list to select the PostScript device you want to output to.

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150. Send To Nexus

This task is documented in the section on

Integrating with Nexus

. Find a direct link

here

296

Automation Engine

151

151. Set Priority

This Workflow Control is documented in the chapter

"Workflows"

. See

Set Priority

297

152

152. Sort

This Workflow Control is documented in the chapter

"Workflows"

. See

Sort

Automation Engine

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153

153. Split Pages

This task splits multi page PDFs into single page PDFs or PDFs with a specific range of pages.

The task also generates a RunList that contains references to all output PDFs.

• Output in: Select where you want to output the generated PDFs and the RunList.

• File Name: Enter the name of the generated RunList. By default, this is [File].jdf.

• Split Mode: Choose how you want to split the pages of the input file.

• Split Pages: This mode splits the PDF into individual single page files.

• Split In Groups: This mode splits the PDF into several files having the same number of pages. Enter this number in the field Group Size.

Note: If the task cannot output files having the same number of pages, the last output file will have less pages. For example if you ask a PDF with 10 pages to split into files of 4 pages, the task will create 2 PDFs with 4 pages and 1 PDF with only 2 pages.

• Extract Pages: This mode extracts only the pages that you specify in the field Page

Ranges. You can specify either single page numbers or page ranges with a hyphen, for example 1-3 to extract pages 1 to 3. You can add multiple numbers and ranges when you separate them by a comma, for 1-3,7,14-22.

• Output as one multi page document: Select this if you want to output all of the page ranges as one document.

• Output remaining pages: Select this if you also want to output the pages that you did not include in the field Page Ranges as one multi page PDF.

• Remaining Pages File Name: This is where you define the name of those remaining pages.

• Pages File name: Define the name of the output files here. You can use some SmartNames that are specific for this field: [Page Label] and [Page Number]. By default the

SmartName [Padded Page Number] is proposed.

Note: Padded page numbers help sorting files in alphabetical order. For example: a standard page number is 1 as in mango_1.pdf. Asking a padded page number results in mango_01.pdf. And when there are more than 99 pages, the padded page number result will be mango_001.pdf.

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• Copy XMP data: Enable this option to copy the XMP data of the input file into the output files.

300

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154

154. Split XML

This task is documented in the chapter

Integrating with External Systems

. Find a direct link

here

301

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155. Step & Repeat CAD based

This uses a CAD layout file as input file and places graphic files on the different designs in that

CAD layout.

This task supports MFG files (Artios Manufacturing files) and CFF2 files.

155.1 General

302

•

Output Format

• PDFPLA: In this format, the placed stations are referenced files, they are not embedded into the layout file. This keeps the layout file small but limits its use to applications that support such references: Esko editors, Esko RIPs or any next workflows steps in

Automation Engine that make use of this smart referencing.

Attention: If the input file of this task was a native PDF, this output mode will make the task end in error because a "PDFPLA can only contain references to normalized PDF".

• Normalized PDF (embed all): In this format, because all data is embedded, the PDF can be used to exchange this layout file to remote sites that also use tools that read this Esko

Normalized data. For example: off-site printers that also use an Esko RIP.

This file format is larger in Mb, however it is important to know that the technique of "PDF forms" is used: each station is only embedded once into the output file. For example if it contains 5 banana labels and 5 lemon labels, the size of the PDF will only be slightly larger than the size of 1 banana PDF plus 1 lemon PDF file.

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155

• PDF: This native PDF will have all data embedded and will also use "PDF forms" to optimize its size (as explained here above). Choose this output type PDF when you need to send this data to a non-Esko environment or device.

Attention: This output is only advised when the task input file is one or more native PDF(s). The advantage is then that there is no 'on the fly' normalization done on these native PDF stations ; they are untouched and are only placed into the layout native PDF.

This PDF has in its XMP also a description of the contents of its grids, their station names and amounts. Any distortion factor (here named "Shrink") will be calculated/executed in the PDF.

Note: Choosing this output type disables the options 'Screen Registration' and

' Include CAD info for Digital Flexo Suite'.

• Location Stations. Define the folder where the task can find the station files.

•

When CAD data of station and substituted file do not match, set the task status to:

• Provide info

• Generate a warning (the task will continue)

• Generate an error (the task will stop).

• Add SmartMarks by selecting a SmartMark set from the drop-down list. Or use a

SmartName to select it.

Select ' Load Mark Set in bottom layer' if you want to make sure the marks are positioned in the bottom layer, to make them appear 'behind' the graphics.

• Select ' Limit Bleed' to limit any bleed to a specific distance. The bleed mask is created by spreading the die shape.

Note: Learn more about what happens when bleed from panels overlaps in

Bleed and overlap

on page 55 and in

on page

56.

155.2 Plate Setup

The sheet size is automatically extracted from the CAD template but neither

Artios MFG nor

CFF2 have a notion of 'plate'. As a result, the plate size and the position of the sheet on the plate have to be specified in the

Plate Setup tab.

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Automation Engine

•

Use Sheet Size from Template: When not using the size from the template, enter own sizes (the unit is defined below).

• Fit Plate to Sheet: When the plate size needs to be different than the sheet size, deselect this option and manually enter the plate's size and its offset versus the sheet.

• Choose the matching icon for the origin of the plate.

• Define the Sheet Position on Plate by clicking or drag & dropping the red square (the sheet) to the right position on the blue square (the plate).

• If you want, enter horizontal and/or vertical Shrink values (in percentage). Learn more about when and how they are applied in

this page

• Screen Registration: This is only relevant when you RIP this file on an Esko FlexRip (if you use Esko Imaging Engine, check if your version already supports this). When selected, the origin of the screening will be reset for each station on the layout. This guarantees that the exact same screening will be applied for each station. This is for example required when printing stamps. When not selected, screening will be done continuously throughout the complete layout.

Attention: This feature is ignored when you choose the output format (native) PDF.

155.3 CAD Options

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Both Mapping and CAD Style are options you can define in the Esko Editors.

• Mapping: When the CAD file is a CFF2 or DXF file, you here select the set of mapping rules.

These rules map line styles (cut, crease, bleed), layer names and color numbers onto

ArtiosCAD line types. These sets of mapping rules can be created in Esko PackEdge or Plato.

Learn more in the user documentation of these editors, more specifically in their section on placing files (PackEdge) or on importing CAD data (Plato).

• The CAD Style changes the appearance of the (imported) ArtiosCAD type lines. The styles you can select here were also created in PackEdge or Plato. Learn more in the their user documentation, more specifically in the section on placing ArtiosCAD files, and the option for "CAD Style".

• Include CAD info for Digital Flexo Suite:

If you are using the Esko

Digital Flexo Suite

(DFS), select this option to add the technical inks data into the header of the output file (this is usually the cut and crease lines). This data is then visible in the Esko Bitmap Viewer and also embedded in the LEN files created by an

Esko RIP.

The DFS can export this information into ACM files for an Esko Kongsberg cutting table. In

Esko PlatePatcher workflows, this information can be used to print onto the plastic sheet where the pieces of flexo plate are re-assembled. These technical lines can also represent text that is then added onto the (back of the) flexo plates, using a pen on the Kongsberg table.

Attention: This feature is ignored when you choose the output format (native) PDF.

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156. Step & Repeat Tabular

This task creates a step & repeat layout where the stations (one-ups) do not overlap ; their bounding boxes do not intersect.

In this ticket, data can be entered

• manually, entering numeric values.

• using SmartNames. These can be

• Formulas. For example [VPLATE]. The names of these formulas are similar to those used in Esko Plato.

• any other types of SmartNames. These can get their values from (job) parameters within

Automation Engine or they could retrieve these values from external databases, by doing

SQL queries. See an example in

here

. Learn more in

Database Query SmartNames

Note: Some ticket fields only accept SmartNames of the category 'Step and Repeat' whereas others also allow 'Global' SmartNames. Learn more in

SmartName Categories

Comparing this task to the 'Dynamic' version

Another tabular S&R task was created later than this one, mainly to serve workflows to digital presses. Here 's a summary comparing their unique features:

• This Step & Repeat Tabular task:

• The marks you can add need to be SmartMarks (created in PackEdge or Plato)

• Offers formulas to specify the layout

• Outputs various output formats.

• The

Step & Repeat Tabular (Dynamic)

task:

• The marks you can add need to be Dynamic Marks (created in the

Adobe Illustrator Plugin 'Dynamic Marks'

)

• Does not offer formulas to specify the layout

• Tailored for digital presses and/or VDP workflows

• Outputs Native PDF.

156.1 General

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•

Output Format

Automation Engine that make use of this smart referencing.

Attention: If the input file of this task was a native PDF, this output mode will make the task end in error because a "PDFPLA can only contain references to normalized PDF".

• Normalized PDF (embed all): In this format, because all data is embedded, the PDF can be used to exchange this layout file to remote sites that also use tools that read this Esko

Normalized data. For example: off-site printers that also use an Esko RIP.

This PDF has in its XMP also a description of the contents of its grids, their station names and amounts. Any distortion factor (here named "Shrink") will be calculated/executed in the PDF.

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Note: Choosing this output type disables the options 'Screen Registration' and

' Include CAD info for Digital Flexo Suite'.

• Origin: Define the point of origin from which the step & repeat is to be built.

(top left), (top right), (bottom left), (bottom right).

• Unit: Select a unit (mm or inch) to be used for all numeric fields in this task.

• SmartMarks: If you want to add marks to the step & repeat, select a SmartMarks set from the drop-down list or use a SmartName. Select ' Load Mark Set in bottom layer' if you want to make sure the marks are positioned in a newly created bottom layer, so that they appear 'behind' the graphics.

Attention: This feature is ignored when you choose the output format (native) PDF.

• Include CAD info for Digital Flexo Suite:

If you are using the Esko

Digital Flexo Suite

Esko RIP.

The DFS can export this information into ACM files for an Esko Kongsberg cutting table. In

Attention: This feature is ignored when you choose the output format (native) PDF.

•

Plate

Note: In the entry fields of this and the next tabs, click to open the SmartNames dialog.

Alternatively, right-click the field and directly choose a SmartName or formula from the offered lists.

• Size: Enter the horizontal and vertical plate size value, formula or SmartName. Learn more in

Formulas

• Shrink: If you want, enter a shrink value, formula or SmartName. Learn more about when and how shrink is applied

here

•

Sheet

• Size: Enter the horizontal and vertical sheet size value, formula or SmartName. Learn more in

Formulas

• Offset: Enter a value, formula or SmartName.

• Sheet Position on Plate: Position the sheet on plate by moving the sheet (inner) rectangle versus the plate (outer) rectangle.

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156.2 Grids

A tabular layout can be composed of one or multiple grids. When the layout contains two different graphics, there will be minimally two grids already. One graphic on its own can also be placed in multiple grids: for example one grid where its stations are not rotated and another grid where the stations are rotated 180 degrees.

Grid Columns

Tip: Right-click a table cell to discover several editing options.

The columns from left to right:

1. Grid number: Click the number to select the grid that you want to remove or edit.

2. File Name: The name of the one-up graphic repeated in this in this grid.

Die Shape: You here define a die shape around each one-up in that grid. This will mask out any objects outside that shape. Click the field to choose between ' None' or

' Borders' (Trim Box).

Note: 'None' also means that these graphics will be excluded from the

SmartFlapping process

Bleed : The value you type in here spreads the Die Shape with a bleed of this distance.

The die shape is spread but die shapes will not overlap.

Vertical offset to sheet : To define the top or bottom shift of the grid in relation to the sheet, depending on the setup of the

Origin

Horizontal offset to sheet : To define the left or right shift of the grid in relation to the sheet, depending on the setup of the

Origin

Vertical step: To define the vertical distance between two steps of the grid. The distance is calculated from the center point of the one-up to the center point of the next one-up.

Horizontal step: To define the horizontal distance between two steps of the grid. The distance is calculated from the center point of the one-up to the center point of the next one-up.

9. Vertical count: To define the number of times you want to repeat the one-up vertically.

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10. Horizontal count: To define the number of times you want to repeat the one-up horizontally.

11. Angle: To define the angle to rotate the one-up when repeated.

12.Head Turn / Stagger: This column shows icons that illustrate the head turn or stagger that you defined for this grid (for example

or ). Learn more in

Grid Settings

on page 310.

Managing Grids

• Click Add Grid to add an extra grid at the bottom of the list.

Note: When this task has multiple input files, it automatically adds enough grids to have one for each input file (the ticket is automatically updated).

• To remove a grid, select it and click Remove Grid. There is no undo function.

• Select a grid and click Edit Grid to define advanced grid settings (staggering, head turns...).

Learn more in

Grid Settings

on page 310.

Other Options

• Click Insert SmartNames... to choose and add SmartNames or formulas in the selected field.

•

Allow Multiple Inputs

Attention: This option is only available when you open a ticket from the

Tickets view

To use this option on your files, save your task ticket as a custom ticket first.

This option decides what the task should do when you launch it on multiple files.

• Select this option to generate one step & repeat file containing all of the input files. Each input file will be assigned to a different grid.

• Deselect this option to treat each input file separately. The task then generates a different step & repeat file for each input file.

156.2.1 Grid Settings

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• Station: These options are the same as defined in the main ticket dialog. You can choose where to define them.

• Geometry: These options are the same as defined in the main ticket dialog. You can choose where to define them.

•

HeadTurn/Stagger

• Head Turn: Choose if and how you want to rotate certain stations on this grid by 180 degrees.

•

Choose

(default).

(first button) to keep all stations as they are, without rotating them

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•

Choose (second button) to rotate stations in alternating rows by 180°.

•

Choose (third button) to rotate stations in alternating columns by 180°.

•

Choose (fourth button) to rotate stations both in alternating columns and in alternating rows by 180°.

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• Stagger: Choose if and how you want to stagger (move) certain stations on this grid horizontally or vertically.

•

Choose

(default).

(first button) to keep all stations as they are, without staggering them

•

Choose (second button) to define a vertical stagger for this grid.

•

Choose (third button) to define an horizontal stagger for this grid.

To define a horizontal or a vertical stagger:

Choose or .

2. In , enter a stagger value. Choose a unit or define a percentage of the width or height of the station.

See this example of a 4 x 6 Step & Repeat with a 50% vertical stagger:

3. Restart after x Columns: You can choose to restart the staggering after a certain number of rows or columns. This means that:

• For vertical staggering: the top station of that column is positioned at the same height as the top station of the first column (it has the same vertical offset from the top of the sheet).

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See this example where the staggering restarts after 3 columns:

• For horizontal staggering: the first (left most) station of that row is positioned at the same horizontal offset as the first station of the first row.

• Select Continuous if you want to add extra stations to fill the blank space.

The example below is a 4 x 6 Step and Repeat (with staggering restarting after 3 columns), but the Continuous option added some stations vertically:

• Use Up & Down together with Restart after to go back in the other direction gradually instead of at once.

See this example where the staggering restarts after 3 columns, with the

Up &

Down option selected:

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156.3 Rules

You can modify the task's end status by setting up one or multiple smart rules.

We use an example to illustrate the options. Follow these steps to add a rule that prevents the creation of step & repeat files with more than 6 inks:

1. In the tab 'Rules', click 'Add' to open the 'Add Rule' dialog:

2. Define the 'Condition':

• What: Enter the parameter you want to check (a SmartName).

• Choose an 'expression' from the list.

• Enter the value for the parameter.

3. In Action, define what needs to happen when the Condition is met. Choose from:

• The

task finishes with a warning

• The task finishes with a warning (there's no output).

4. Click OK to confirm. The resulting rule shows up like this:

5. Add more rules if you want to. Their list will be checked from top to bottom.

Tip: You can choose to save tickets in which you switch off some rules and keep others active.

156.4 Formulas

Some of the fields work with formulas, a special set of parameters unique to this task.

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There are two kinds of formulas: Global formulas that define the whole step & repeat and Grid specific formulas that define individual grids.

Note: When a step & repeat contains two different graphics, there will be at least two grids.

Each grid has its own number.

Global formulas:

• VPLATEFIT: Vertical plate size that fits around a step & repeat sheet and SmartMarks.

• HPLATEFIT: Horizontal plate size that fits around a step & repeat sheet and SmartMarks.

• VPLATE: Vertical plate size.

• HPLATE: Horizontal plate size.

• VSHEETOFFSET: Vertical offset of the sheet relative to the Plate.

• HSHEETOFFSET: Horizontal offset of the sheet relative to the Plate.

• VSHEETFIT: Vertical sheet size that fits around the step & repeat.

• HSHEETFIT: Horizontal sheet size that fits around the step & repeat.

• VSHEET: Vertical sheet size.

• HSHEET: Horizontal sheet size.

• SHEETTOP: Top position of the sheet relative to the Plate.

• SHEETLEFT: Left position of the sheet relative to the Plate.

• SHEETBOTTOM: Bottom position of the sheet relative to the Plate.

• SHEETRIGHT: Right position of the sheet relative to the Plate.

• NROFINKS: Number of non-technical inks (Technical inks will not be printed).

• NROFGRIDS: Number of grids.

Grid specific formulas (x = the grid number):

• VLABELx: Vertical size of non-rotated station.

•

HLABELx: Horizontal size of non-rotated station.

• VSTEPx: Vertical step size, from center point to center point.

• HSTEPx: Horizontal step size, from center point to center point.

• VSIZEx: Vertical size of bounding box of rotated station.

• HSIZEx: Horizontal size of bounding box of rotated station.

• VCOUNTx: Number of vertical step & repeats in grid x.

• HCOUNTx: Number of horizontal step & repeats in grid x.

• ANGLE: Angle of the rotation.

• GRIDVSIZEx: Vertical size of the grid (top-bottom).

• GRIDHSIZEx: Horizontal size of the grid (left-right).

• TOPx: Top position of the grid relative to the sheet.

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• LEFTx: Left position of the grid relative to the sheet.

• BOTTOMx: Bottom position of the grid relative to the sheet.

• RIGHTx: Right position of the grid relative to the sheet.

• BLEEDx: Distance to spread the grid die shape with.

Example of a Grid defining an Automatic Fill

1. First we need to define a absolute size for sheet/plate:

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2. Now you can enter these grid settings:

Clarification of the formulas:

a. First you define the vertical (and horizontal ) count of the grid: the vertical count is the vertical size of the sheet divided by vertical size of the station: VSHEET / VLABEL1. For the horizontal count, use HSHEET / HLABEL1 .

b. Then you are able to define the vertical (and horizontal ) step: vertical step is the vertical sheet size divided by the vertical count: VSHEET / VCOUNT1. For the horizontal step, use HSHEET / HCOUNT1 .

c. Now for the vertical (and horizontal ) offset: you want to center the step & repeat on the sheet. You can do that by defining the vertical offset as half the vertical step minus the vertical size of the station: (VSTEP1-VLABEL1)/2. For the horizontal offset, use (HSTEP1-HLABEL1)/2 .

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156.5 Using Database Queries: an Example

Many fields in this task can be defined by SmartNames. And SmartNames can get their values by doing SQL queries to non-Esko databases. This means that your tabular Step & Repeat ticket can automatically get (some of) its values directly from this external source ; no need for an

Esko user to type them in again.

We use this simple example of a database describing your dies:

First we need to create these SmartNames, then we add them into the task ticket.

1. See this (old) example of how an SQL query SmartName is created to retrieve the value for vertical gap.

Attention: This page only summarizes how to do this. Learn more details in the chapter '

SmartNames

', specifically in '

Database Query SmartNames

318

In this example, we created these SmartNames:

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• DB_DrumH: Retrieves the value for the horizontal size of the drum.

• DB_DrumV: Retrieves the value for the vertical size of the drum.

• DB_GapH: Retrieves the value of the gap's horizontal size.

• DB_GapV: Retrieves the value of the gap's vertical size.

• DB_Teeth: Retrieves the number of cylinder teeth.

• DB_StepH: Retrieves the value of the die's horizontal step.

• DB_StepV: Retrieves the value of the die's vertical step.

2. Now use those SmartNames in a ticket of the Step & Repeat Tabular task. Use the Insert

SmartNames... button, or right-click, browse and select it.

The General tab can look like this:

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The Grids tab can look like this:

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157. Step & Repeat Tabular (Dynamic)

This dynamic version of the Step & Repeat Tabular task allows you full interactive control over the positioning of files, much like if you would do this in

PowerLayout

(an Esko plug-in for Adobe

Illustrator).

Attention: The Marks you add to this layout need to be 'Dynamic' marks. You can not add SmartMarks here (marks created in PackEdge or Plato).

Use this task when you do not use a template that was created with PowerLayout. If you do

want to use such a template, then use the task

Step & Repeat Template based (Dynamic)

on page

334.

The task outputs a native PDF file.

Caution: Make sure you define a specific name for the output file, this to avoid overwriting the (first) input file.

Task Options

Selecting one of the items in this list displays their available settings on the right. Almost all of these are identical to those in 'PowerLayout' (learn more in the

documentation of PowerLayout

As usual, many of these options can be set by using SmartNames.

• Job: Click these links to learn more about your options for the complete layout:

•

Split Output (incl. Blocks)

•

Sheet and Plate

•

Filling Order

•

Marks

•

Grid specific Options

• Grid selection: Use

to Add or Remove grids.

Note: Grids are numbered sequentially. When there are 3 grids and you remove 'Grid 2', then ' Grid 3' will automatically be renamed to 'Grid 2'.

• Preview: The preview shows the position of all grids. The selected grid is highlighted in orange. Any others are displayed in blue.

157.1 Assignment of Input Files

How this task assigns the incoming files to a grid depends on the type of input:

• A single PDF file with only a single page: This triggers an automatic Grid Filling, i.e. every cell of the grid will be filled with the one-up input file.

• A single PDF file with multiple pages: The task creates only one grid with each page placed once, in a single cell, not repeated.

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Tip: Use an XML input file to also repeat these pages. For example: a PDF has 3 pages, each page contains a design variant / flavor of the design. The XML can then specify that it needs

1.000 bananas (page 1), 500 apples (page 2), etc. Learn more below

below

• Multiple PDF files: By default, the ticket automatically creates a grid for each PDF: the 1st input file will be placed in the first grid, etc.

Tip: Use the '

Sort

' workflow control to change this sequence of input files before entering this task.

Attention: There is an exception that is valid in a dynamic VDP workflow (where each input file only needs to be output once): When the input files follow the naming convention <SameFileName-Number>, they will be grouped together in a same grid.

For example, banana-001.pdf, banana-002.pdf , banana-003.pdf will be placed in a same grid.

•

An XML file for each grid. Learn more in the dedicated page

Specification of RunList XML in

Dynamic Step & Repeat

on page 328.

157.2 Splitting Output, Blocks and Gaps

To limit the size of the output PDF file, this task also uses the technique of "PDF forms": Each input PDF file is only embedded once into the output file.

When used in a VDP context, where each station can contain a different graphic, this size can become huge and easily reach the computer’s processing power limit. Tasks handling such files require a lot of system memory and read/write operations, and this impacts the processing speed. Some RIPs also have problems processing huge PDFs.

This is why you can choose to split this output. The task then creates a set of smaller PDFs instead of a single large one.

Choose how you want to split the output file:

• No (Single File).

• Automatically. The task then calculates the number of sheets per file so that the output file sizes stay within reasonable limits.

• On Number of Sheets. This way, each output file except the first and last one contains the

Number of Sheets (pages) specified.

• On Block Size of Grid 1 (only valid for output to digital presses):

Note: Learn about the concept of Blocks and Gaps

below

A block with an optional gap must fit completely on sheets. This can be expressed by a formula: (block_rows + gap_rows) mod grid_rows = 0. The task will fail when this is not the case for the first grid.

Note: In formulas, 'mod' stands for the 'modulo' operation: the remainder (leftover) after division. For example "9 mod 3" results in 0, but "5 mod 2" results in 1. Learn more about

'mod' on

this wiki page

Use this mode when there is only one grid or if that condition is met for all grids. This feature assumes that if the user took care to enter specific values for rows and gaps, that he then likely will want to use those same numbers for splitting.

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When defining this choice via SmartNames, the resulting value must match one of these: OFF,

AUTO, SHEETS, BLOCK.

Blocks and Gaps: Concept and Examples

Note: Some example use cases:

• You need to print 10.000 labels and deliver them on reels of 500 labels. You then define a block of 500 a add a gap between those blocks (empty one-ups).

• You want those gaps to cover the complete circumference of the reel, to cover the labels underneath and so protect them from any damage. In case of VDP each label might even be unique.

Blocks are used to split jobs into fixed length segments and to control the filling order. They are defined per grid. Each grid can have different block settings:

• Block Length is a number of rows.

• Gap Length is a number of rows ("zero" = no gap).

• Grid Height is the number of rows in a grid.

A gap works as a separator. It is represented by one or more empty rows inserted between two blocks.

• If block length + gap length = grid height, then a gap will appear on each sheet on the same place.

• If block length + gap length mod grid height > 0, then the gap will be floating ; it will appear on different positions.

• If block length + gap length > grid height and block length + gap length mod grid height = 0, then a gap will appear on the same position on the sheet but not on each sheet.

Here are 3 examples of the above mentioned 3 cases:

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157.3 Sheet and Plate Options

The Sheet Size is the area where your one-up grids will be positioned within the Plate.

You can define:

• Plate Size: Define its horizontal and vertical size.

Note: The plate size will correspond to the Media Box of the generated step and repeat

PDF.

Caution: Take the printer's size limits into account when defining these values.

• Shrink: Shrink is used to compensate for plate distortion, later in the output process. Learn more about when and how shrink is applied

here

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• Sheet Size: This is the printable area on your plate.

Note: The sheet size will correspond to the Trim Box of the generated step and repeat PDF.

• Position on Plate: The blue square in the image represents the position of the sheet on the plate. You can click or drag this blue square to match the desired alignment.

• Offset: Use this to fine-tune the position. The values are calculated versus the light gray lines.

157.4 Filling Order

Note: We here refer to the one-up print items as 'items'.

These Filling Order options define how the items should be distributed over the grid. You can specify:

• a starting point

• whether the grid should be filled by row or by column

• gaps (empty stations on the grid).

Options:

• Scope Settings:

• Same Settings for all Grids: This applies all the settings in this tab to each grid in the layout. This automatically disables setting a filling order on grid level.

• Individual Settings for Each Grid: Select this to set the (different) filling order on grid level.

• Start Content Filling: Choose where the first print item is printed (the next options then decide how the other items will follow):

•

: Top left. When using a SmartName, its value should be TL .

•

: Top right. When using a SmartName, its value should be TR .

•

: Bottom left. When using a SmartName, its value should be BL .

•

: Bottom right. When using a SmartName, its value should be BR .

• Also specify whether the grid is to be filled 'by row' or 'by column' .

See the preview of your selected options on the right hand side.

• The

Printing direction marked with an arrow indicates the direction that the paper/ substrate flows through the press.

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• In that preview, a black dot shows the first record.

• Some examples:

• The distribution starts on top left, with vertical flow:

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• The distribution starts top right, with vertical flow:

• The distribution starts top left, with horizontal flow:

• Fill over: Choose if you want to distribute the items over the Complete Job or over Blocks.

Learn about the concept of blocks

here

• If you choose Blocks, the flow of variable data (the one-up variants) will run over blocks of a specified size, then run over the next block when the previous one is complete.

The preview also shows the blocks:

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Block Size: You can define their size as the complete 'Job' or an amount of Sheets or

Rows.

• When, in ' Fill over', you selected 'Complete Job', then the Block Size will be 1 Job by default.

You can set it to another unit if you still want to print in blocks, but without having the flow of (variable data) items respect the block. This is useful if you want to add gaps (see below).

• Gap between Blocks: This option is available if you have chosen to Fill over Blocks, or to fill over the Complete Job but still have blocks (as explained above).

This option adds white space in between the blocks.

Gap Size: Define the size of this gap.

157.5 Adding Marks

Use this tab to add Dynamic Marks to your layout.

Learn more about Dynamic Marks in the description of the task "

Add Dynamic Marks

on page

12".

157.6 Setting specific Grid Options

• Specify the Cell Width and Cell Height for the one-up item ("cell").

• Set the grid Orientation and Clip Bleed.

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defines the initial Orientation of the one-ups in this grid. Their orientation within the layout can be changed further by the option Head Turn.

' Clip Bleed' creates a clipping mask around the one-up, to clip any bleed to the desired distance.

Note: Deselecting 'Clip Bleed' can cause one-ups to overlap. This can be useful in some special layouts.

Note: Learn more about what happens when bleed from panels overlaps in

Bleed and overlap

on page 55 and in

Bleed Overlap Priority Decided by ArtiosCAD Artwork Panels

on page

56.

Note: Learn more about bleed

in the manual of PowerLayout Standalone

•

Repeat

Define how many times you want to repeat the one-up (V & H) and define the gap between these repeats (V & H).

• If wanted, specify a Head Turn and /or Stagger.

Learn more about these options

here

• Specify the Position of this grid using the positioning tool and Offset distances.

Define the positioning reference for this grid: Attach to the Sheet or the Plate area.

In below example, the top center of the (bounding box of the) layout will be placed on the left bottom corner of the (bounding box of the) reference (that you defined in 'Attach to').

In ' Offset', you can still move the layout based on the above defined position. The direction of the offset (up, down, left or right) depends on the positioning, and is indicated by the arrows.

157.7 Specification of RunList XML in Dynamic Step &

Repeat

Dynamic Step & Repeat tasks can use XML files to specify their input files (one-ups) and how they should be placed on the layout. Such files typically come from external systems where production planning was decided. This page describes the format that such a "RunList" XML file needs to have.

Structure

The XML file may contain only an XML header and a single root element RunList. UTF-8 coding is needed to support non-ASCII characters in file paths.

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Note: While XML-files support UTF-8 encoding, all file names must follow the URL-encoding.

This means that all characters other than basic ASCII letters and numbers (A-Z, a-z, 0-9) and a few punctuation marks ('-', '_', '.' and '~'), must be percent-encoded (for example a space is noted as "%20"). Learn more about percent encoding in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentencoding)

<RunList>

The RunList element can be used only at the root level and the current file format supports only one RunList element per file.

This element is used as a container that holds together one or more nodes of

RunListItem

(which describe one-ups for a specific grid).

It also contains an attribute Version, specifying the version of the RunList format. At this moment only version 1.0 is supported.

Attention: Each grid in the Step & Repeat must have an own RunList item and because only one is allowed per file, this means that each grid must have its own XML file.

<RunListItem>

This element is used to contain a reference to the one-up file. It contains following mandatory elements:

Table: RunListItem for Step & Repeat Dynamic tasks

Element Format Description

FileName URL

File specification of one-up file. It must be a valid URL (absolute path).

Note: Special characters must be properly coded (see common XML rules).

FirstPage integer Index of the first physical page from the used page range. The first page in

PDF has index 1.

LastPage integer Index of the last physical page. Also this index starts from 1.

Example: Page range 1..1 means single page with index 1. Page range 1..2 means pages 1 and 2.

Repeats

integer Number of page range repetitions (value must be greater than 0).

Note: Page range 1..3 is repeated in this way: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3,...

Under these conditions a reserved value -1 is allowed:

• Only one RunListItem in RunList

• FirstPage must be same as LastPage.

In this case the task will calculate the number of repeats automatically to fill the complete grid.

Note: Note: This feature is intended for 'static' jobs (not Variable Data jobs).

Example

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This example shows a RunList with two one-ups to be used in a grid:

• The first one-up is presented by a range of three pages (1-3) from the file A.pdf and needs to be repeated two times.

• The second one-up is presented by a single page (1) from file B.pdf and needs to be repeated five times.

The final order of pages used as one-ups will be: A1, A2, A3, A1, A2, A3, B1, B1, B1, B1, B1

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<FileName>file://server/JobContainer/Item1/A.pdf</FileName>

</RunListItem>

<FileName>file://server/JobContainer/Item1/B.pdf</FileName>

</RunListItem>

</RunList>

Grid Filling with an XML RunList

If the task input file consists of a single XML file,

• with only one <RunListItem>,

• where both the <FirstPage> and the <LastPage> are the same,

• and where the number of repeats is set to "-1", then a special behavior is triggered, called Grid Filling. This means that every cell of the grid will be filled with the specified static one-up.

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158. Step & Repeat Template based

Concept

This task creates a step & repeat file based on an template layout that was made earlier. This mode makes it useful for all packaging print segments: labels, boxes, flexibles, etc. It is typically used to make an identical layout but now for variant graphics with a same size as those placed in the template.

Note: About the name of the output Step & Repeat file:

• When no name is specified, the output file name will be the name of the first task input file.

SmartNames based on this output file name will also follow that rule.

• When you choose the Output Format "PDF" and not "PDFPLA" (learn more below), the system will avoid that you ever overwrite your input file PDF name ; it will, in the output file name, automatically attach a suffix *_rep* to the name of your first input file.

• When you type in a specific output file name yourself, it will be honored, even when it then overwrites a file.

Tab 'General'

•

Output Format

Automation Engine that make use of this smart referencing.

Attention: If the input file of this task was a native PDF, this output mode will make the task end in error because a "PDFPLA can only contain references to normalized PDF".

• Normalized PDF (embed all): In this format, because all data is embedded, the PDF can be used to exchange this layout file to remote sites that also use tools that read this Esko

Normalized data. For example: off-site printers that also use an Esko RIP.

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This PDF has in its XMP also a description of the contents of its grids, their station names and amounts. Any distortion factor (here named "Shrink") will be calculated/executed in the PDF.

Note: Choosing this output type disables the options 'Screen Registration' and

' Include CAD info for Digital Flexo Suite'.

• Template: This can be:

• A PDFPLA file (any earlier made step & repeat file)

• A normalized PDF file that contains external references (representing the stations)

• A JDF file that contains "packaging stripping" info.

Note: When you define a template by using a SmartName, the below column "In

template" will only mention "All Stations in Template". This disables the possibility in this ticket to set custom station replacements. In case your workflow needs that, then consider using the

Create CAD Sheet

task instead.

• Stations: This is where you decide which files will replace the template stations in the output file.

Before you can define the new station in this ticket, you first need to select an input file before opening the ticket. Then select the template (click the browse button and select it).

• The ticket reads the template and presents its stations (referenced files) in the column

template. The task input files are listed in the column Replace by.

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Changing or defining the "Replace by" stations: Click on any name of a file in the column ' Replace by' and you will see a list with these options:

• <do not substitute>: Select this to not replace it. See the below described option

Delete station(s) ... to decide what happens then.

• To replace it with the first task input file

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• To replace it with the second task input file

• Etc.

• Select.... After selecting a station in the Replace by column, this button allows you to browse to another file (that was not already an input file for this ticket). Alternatively, use

SmartNames.

• When the borders of a station file and substituted file do not fit, you can define how this affects the task status:

• Provide info. The task will end in status 'OK'. The task details and log file will mention which stations did not have the same borders.

• Generate a warning. Same info is given but the task ends in status 'Warning'.

• Generate an error. Same info is given but the task ends in status 'Error'. There is no output file.

• Delete station(s) in template file which have not been substituted.

• When this option is selected, the not-replaced stations will, in the output file, be empty

("delete").

• When this option is not selected, the not-replaced stations will, in the output file, be those from the template ("keep").

• You can add SmartMarks.

Attention: If you use a template that contains macros from the old Esko application

QuickStep, these macros will be lost. You need to replace these macros with

SmartMarks.

Tab 'Plate Setup'

The options are identical as described in

this page

of the Step & Repeat CAD based task.

Tab 'CAD Options'

The options are identical as described in

this page

of the Step & Repeat CAD based task.

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159. Step & Repeat Template based

(Dynamic)

Concept

Use this task to place one-ups (print items) into grids based on a PDF template.

In this task, the template containing the grids needs to be created in PowerLayout, an Esko plug-in for Adobe Illustrator. Learn more in the

manual of PowerLayout standalone

Selecting the template

In Task Options, in the item 'Job', select the desired Template that describes the grid(s).

When a template is selected, all other information in this task is automatically filled in with information from the template. You will be unable to change any of the information in the task.

Learn more about these options in

this page about the S&R Tabular (Dynamic) task

Attention: Filling Order is not applied globally. Therefore, when you specify the filling order for each grid separately, ensure that the number of grids in this ticket matches the number of grids in the template file.

Input Files

The order of the input files is especially important when you work with templates.

Tip: Use the '

Sort

' workflow control to change this sequence of input files before entering this task.

Learn more in

this page valid for both S&R Dynamic tasks

Split Output options

Learn more in

this page about the S&R Tabular (Dynamic) task

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160. Submit to CDI

This task is documented in the chapter

CDI Platemaking Workflow

. Find a direct link

here

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161. Submit to Gang Run

This task is documented in the chapter

Gang Run Printing for Sign & Display

. Find a direct link

here

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162. Submit to Kongsberg Table

This task is documented in the chapter

Kongsberg Production Workflow

. Find a direct link

here

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163. Submit to Plate Merger

This task is documented in the chapter

CDI Platemaking Workflow

. Find a direct link

here

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164. Submit XML to Gang Run

This task is documented in the chapter

Gang Run Printing for Sign & Display

. Find a direct link

here

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165. Synchronize ArtiosCAD Boards

This task synchronizes the boards in the ArtiosCAD database with those in the database of an external system.

This task is set up by an Esko Solution Architect.

For more information, search for online articles on this topic in the

Esko Knowledge Base

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166. Synchronize ArtiosCAD Companies

This task synchronizes the companies in the ArtiosCAD database with those in the database of an external system.

This task is set up by an Esko Solution Architect.

For more information, search for online articles on this topic in the

Esko Knowledge Base

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167. Track Edit Session

Automation Engine can track and log interactive editing actions in Esko editors. Define

in the

Configure tool

for which editors you want this automatic tracking.

When you open a file that resides in an active Job (folder) in an Esko editor, this task will automatically start logging many important editing actions. The task automatically stops when

someone closes the file in the editor.

This editing information can so also automatically

• be stored in the Task History.

• be made available by using Notifications, for example as an XML file to report to another system. You could also save all notifications locally in the Job folder or centrally and you can

do this in one or several files. Learn more

here

Note: This task cannot be launched interactively. It will start appearing when you

configured it

Keep in mind that the editor needs to be restarted to activate this setting.

Note: When editing files in ArtPro, the task only records the timings of opening and closing the file.

167.1 Viewing the Edit Session Information in the Pilot

In the Pilot, the task's Details already show what is logged. An example:

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Note: Notice in above screenshot how, when at the end the operator saved the file as *_BCK, that the tracking task closed and immediately started a new one, now for the file with that other name.

167.2 Storing the Editing Information System-Wide

How can these edit logs be stored automatically?

• Make sure the task is automatically archived into the tool

Task History

• Alternatively, use the

Notification tool

to create a rule specific for this task:

• Either you save all these XML logs inside the Job folder. The SmartNames you use in the output location allow you to choose if you want one (XML/TXT) log for each file or one per day or etc.

• Alternatively, you save all these XML logs per customer or even system-wide. In that case you just indicate an output path somewhere outside the Job folder.

Follow these steps to create such a rule:

1. Go to Configure > Notification > Rules

2. In the Tasks tab, select the task Track Edit Session.

3. Click Add. The Notification Rule Editor opens.

4. To get an XML, select the Action 'Create XML File in folder' .

5. Define the folder's Location and click OK.

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167.3 Which Edit Actions are Logged?

These types of edits are logged:

• Which user opens which file from which workstation?

• Start and stop time of this editing session

• Was the file saved or closed? When and with what name?

• All loading, saving, placing, exporting functions

• All changes to inks, layers, pages, page sizes

• All changes to (Esko) barcodes

• HIFI color conversions

• All trapping actions, PSFix actions, InkWizard actions

• Creating and replacing of external references

• Die object edits: adding, turning, flipping, rotating

• Writing of task notifications (when closing the edit session)

• Any loss of connection with the server.

An example:

*** Start interactive PackEdge 7.0 ***

Time 13/01/06 17:19

User wde@aeserver01

Automation Engine server AESERVER01

Loading file file://aeserver01/52355/

Prod/52355_YummieBeer_back.pdf

Remove layer OMBRE

Trap with local ticket Default

"Modified ink angle for C from 22 to 7 degrees"

"Created ink PANTONE 123 C (100 lpi, 7 degrees, dot ?, type

Normal)"

"Created ink C (170 lpi, 75 degrees, dot ?, type Normal)"

"Created ink ROUGE (170 lpi, 45 degrees, dot ?, type Normal)"

Placing file file://aeserver01/52355/

Prod/52355_YummieBeer_collar.pdf

Changed page margins to top 3.998, bottom 9.998, left 4.001,

right 66.001 mm

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Changed page size to width 110.0024 mm and height 73.99 mm

PS-Fix: modified 2 contour(s)

Applied Job inkmapping

"Modified ink angle for C from 7 to 75 degrees"

"Removed ink M (170 lpi, 15 degrees, dot ?, type Normal)"

Changed page margins to top 7.25, bottom 7.25, left 7.25, right

8.36 mm

Exporting file file://aeserver01/52355/

Prod/52355_YummieBeer_back.tif

Saving file file://aeserver01/52355/

Prod/52355_YummieBeer_back2.pdf

*** End interactive PackEdge 7.0 ***

Time 13/01/07 17:22

Notification:Wrote XML file:E:\wdedata\52355\Prod\Edits

\52355_YummieBeer_back.

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168. Trap with PowerTrapper

Learn about the concept of trapping in

What is Trapping?

on page 346.

This task uses the Esko technology "PowerTrapper". Its input file needs to be a native or normalized PDF.

The resulting trapping objects are created in a dedicated (new) layer.

The output of this task is a Normalized PDF file.

The task's many settings are spread over these tabs:

•

Distance & Direction

on page 347

•

Color & Shape

on page 349

•

Processing

on page 351

•

Rules

on page 352

•

Output

on page 353

168.1 What is Trapping?

The trapping process is a safeguard against possible fluctuations in the printing process.

Minor discrepancies in registration and slight paper shifting can cause inks to misregister.

When two adjoining colored objects do not touch exactly, the printed result can show a white gap, as well as areas with a dark overlap:

'Trapping' these objects causes the objects to slightly overlap each other:

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In general, trapping is necessary when two adjoining color areas don’t share a common ink.

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Adding a fine area where they join, made of a color that contains components of both adjoining colors, can effectively 'trap' such areas.

168.2 Distance & Direction

1. Trapping: Choose between two modes:

• Normal Trapping: This selects adjoining color pairs, which are likely to cause registration problems like ugly light gaps, and unwanted halo effects. Lighter colors are generally trapped into darker colors to minimize the visual effect of the trap.

• Reverse Trapping: This mode avoids overprinting of inks. It prevents overprint of adjoining color areas by trapping these color pairs with a white knockout (erasing) trap.

The white knockout trap is put on top of the lighter of the two colors. This is useful to prepare a file for "Dry Offset" printing (example: printing on metal cans).

2. Trapping Distance: Enter the width of the traps. The default width is 0.2 mm (or its equivalent in

your chosen unit

Below, you can define specific distances when trapping Into black, Into spot color, Into

image or adding a Pull Back (see below).

3. Minimum Ink Difference

Trapping is applied to two adjoining colors, when either:

• The two colors each consist of at least one ink but they have no common inks.

• The two colors have common inks but there is a difference of at least the

Minimum Ink

Difference percentage for two or more inks making up these colors.

These differences in ink percentages must be in opposite directions.

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Note: An example: With the default minimum ink difference percentage of 10%, the following two colors are trapped:

• 1st color: C 5%, M 10%, Y 50%, K 15%

• 2nd color: C 5%, M 10%, Y 85%, K 5%

• => These colors have 2 inks that differ 10% or more: K is 10% different, Y is 35% different.

Increase the Minimum Ink Difference to trap colors that differ more ; lower it to trap colors that are similar.

4. Image Trapping

• Automatic: This determines the most suitable trap direction automatically. It compares the average lightness of the image with the lightness of the adjoining area, and then traps the lighter color into the darker one.

• Always Towards Image: This always traps line art under adjoining images.

• Always Towards Line Art: This always traps images under adjoining line art.

Select ' Trap images to images' if you want images to be trapped with each other.

5. Pull Back

When a color area is composed of multiple inks bordering to a very light background, you can ' pull back' ink to keep away all ink except the darkest ink. This prevents individual inks from that composed color to become visible in the background, typically due to registration errors during printing.

• Automatic: This creates pull backs on rich black or rich spot colors, when the color left in the pull back area is not very different from the composed color.

• Only Pull Back Rich Black: This only creates pull backs on rich black.

• Do Not Pull Back: This never creates any pull back.

There will be automatic pull back for the darkest color. Select ' Also pull back light inks' to create pull backs even when the pull back ink (i.e. the ink remaining in the pull back area) is visibly different from the composed color. Select ' Pull back images and gradients' to create pull backs on images and gradients.

6. Trap Decision

• Use Lightness: This uses the color luminance to define the trapping direction, except for opaque inks, where it uses the inks order.

• Trap direction: from brightest to darkest.

• Treat Spot Colors as Opaque: Color luminance is used only for CMYK. For opaque and spot inks, the trap direction is determined by the ink sequence.

• Trap direction for spot colors only: towards the separation that is listed the lowest in list of inks.

• Trap direction goes from the process to the spot color if the spot color is below the process color in the list of inks.

• Trap direction if the spot color is above the process color: from brightest to darkest.

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• Use Separation Order: The trapping direction is determined by the ink sequence for all inks, including CMYK.

• Trap direction: towards the separation listed the lowest in the list of inks.

• Use Reverse Separation Order: As above, but using the reverse ink sequence.

• Trap direction: towards the separation listed the highest in the list of inks.

7. Overshoot Mode: See some visual examples in the

PackEdge user manual

( Menu > Trapper

> PowerTrapper ).

• Automatic: The centerline behavior is according the rules determined in the color pair list.

• Never on Dark Areas: The centerline is forced not to get beyond the center of dark areas.

• Never: The centerline is forced not to get beyond the center of any area.

168.3 Color & Shape

• Trap Color Intensity: By default, the task uses the full color of the object to spread in the trap area (100% trap color intensity). You can create a trap of a lighter color by reducing this percentage.

• Image Trap Color: Choose how to trap your images:

•

Use Original Image Data: When the image is clipped, the task uses the underlying image data to create the trap. When there is no underlying image data (when the image is not clipped), an empty trap is created.

•

Extend Image Data: The task automatically extrapolates the image along its four edges to ensure that the trap looks as expected, even if there is no clipped image data outside the visible image.

•

Use an Approximate Flat Color: Instead of using existing or extrapolated image data in the trap, the task uses a solid color. A suitable color is determined by averaging the image's colors along its boundary with the object to trap.

•

Truncate Traps: Truncating the trap object avoids that it sticks out on another color.

Choose a mode:

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• On Center: When a portion of a trap comes too close to the contour of another object, it is limited to half the distance between the trapped object and the other object.

• On Edge: When a portion of a trap comes too close to the contour of another object, it is truncated on the other object's edge.

• End Caps: Choose the shape of the ends of an open trap:

• Square: The trap ends at a right angle to the adjoining object.

• Round: This rounds the ends of the trap. This is typically only used in combination with white knockout (' Reverse Trapping').

Note: We recommend that you do not to use 'Round End Caps' together with 'Truncate

Traps On Center', as this can generate some artefacts (the round caps are truncated).

• Object Dependent: The trap is a logical continuation of the contour of the spread object.

• Trap Corners: Choose how sharp corners should be handled:

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• Round: Corners end in a round cap.

• Beveled: Sharp corners are cut off.

• Mitered: If the distance from the base of the trap to the corner point is larger than the Miter Ratio multiplied by the trap distance, then the corner will be beveled, otherwise it will remain sharp.

The default miter ratio is 4. This means that if the length of the sharp corner is more than 4 times the Trapping Distance, the corner is cut off (beveled). If it is less than 4 times the Trapping Distance, the corner is left as it is.

• Truncate Traps: If you want to truncate traps into black differently, select Into black and choose the truncation mode ( On Center or On Edge).

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168.4 Processing

• Color Pairs:

Before creating trap objects, PowerTrapper scans the file for color pairs where this will be needed. A color pair can occur only once or it can occur many times. The task can trap all hits (occurrences) of a color pair in the same way or it can recalculate the trap direction for different hits.

• Each hit can have its own decision: This recalculates the trap direction for each hit of a color pair.

• Use the same decision for all hits: This traps all hits of the same color pair in the same direction.

• Use the same decision for objects smaller than: This uses the same trap direction for hits of a color pair belonging to small objects, and recalculates the trap direction for hits belonging to bigger objects.

Use the input field next to determine the maximum size of small objects.

• Objects:

To speed up the trapping, the task can safely ignore certain object types.

•

Only selected objects

•

Respect existing traps: If the file has already been trapped, select this option to keep the existing trap layer out of the trapping process.

• Ignore bitmaps: Select this to keep bitmap pixel data from being trapped. Bitmap data is contourized before trapping which may slow down trapping. Bitmaps with lots of small isolated islands typically take a longer time to trap.

Note: When you indicate an object type to ignore, it is ignored completely as if it did not exist in the file. Also, the ignored objects do not truncate trapping areas resulting from other objects below them.

• Small Gaps:

Some files contain very small unintentional gaps between neighboring objects. These gaps prevent trapping of these objects. Although it is better to clean up such files before trapping, PowerTrapper can ignore these gaps automatically.

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To use this option, select Close when smaller than and enter the maximum size small gaps can have.

Note: If you set a big gap size, trapping may become slower and some small parts may be ignored.

168.5 Rules

This tab allows to add rules that define custom trapping settings for specific trapping pairs.

PowerTrapper first traps the trapping pairs that match such a rule (according to that rule) and then traps the rest of the file according to the main trapping settings.

When to use Rules?

In most cases the general trapping settings entered in ' Distance &Direction' give you excellent results. You can refine them using rules.

Settings defined in rules overrule settings in the other tabs.

Note: This is an advanced feature. We recommend it for experienced users.

Some example cases to custom rules:

• To set a different trap distance for a specific spot ink. Sometimes you need a larger trap distance for spot inks if there is no other ink to help cover leaks on the press.

• To prevent trapping or ink pull back in specific cases. Depending on the type of the adjoining colors, trapping and/or pull back may be undesirable.

• To force a specific trap direction. When adjoining colors have a similar lightness level,

PowerTrapper selects an arbitrary direction. You can use a rule to make it always use a particular direction for a color pair.

• To specify a different shape and/or truncation mode for certain color pairs. For example, you can choose to use ' On Center' truncation when trapping under a 100% black line and

' On Edge' truncation on all other color pairs.

Creating a rule

1. Click Add.

2. In the dialog, use the 'From' and 'To' lists to specify trapping pair that you want to apply this rule to. Choose between '

Any Color, a particular ink (Process, Spot or Opaque), a particular object (

Image, Gradient or Empty Background) or the Registration Color.

Note: When trapping a particular ink, you can also define its 'Minimum Density' and if the

Color must be pure (no other separation in the color object).

3. Choose the contents of the rule.

Most options are described in the previous pages. Here are some specific settings within these rules:

• Direction Mode: Select 'Into Both Colors' to use bidirectional trapping. In that case, the trap goes half the trapping distance in each direction.

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• Horizontal/Vertical Distortion: Set the percentage of the trapping distance to be used in V/H direction.

See an example where the trap was generated with no vertical distortion (so 100%, i.e.

using the entered trap distance) and horizontal distortion set to 50% (i.e. half the trap

distance).

You can use the + or - buttons to add or remove criteria to your rule.

4. Click Add to confirm and add the rule.

5. After defining the rules, click OK to confirm this list of rules.

168.6 Output

• Trap layer only: Select this to output a PDF containing only the trap layer.

• Load trap color pairs if present: Select this to make the task use a TCP file that was created during a previous trapping action. The TCP file needs to have the same name as the input file and needs to be present next to the input file.

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169. Unzip

You can use this task to extract files from a zipped archive.

Automation Engine

Note: Many applications can create zip files, also the

Zip task

in Automation Engine.

• Define what needs to happen If the files already exist at the destination location:

• Fail. The task will not unzip and will end in an error status.

• Overwrite the files and give a warning.

• Overwrite the files.

• Character Set:

When a zip file was generated with non-standard encoding, unzipping such a file with this

Unzip task can fail. The task's log file then mentions a ‘MALFORMED’ exception. You can solve this by specifying the character set that was used to create the file.

For the list of character sets and the correct naming to be used in this task ticket, we refer to

this page of the online java documentation

. When specifying a character set in this ticket, use the name as is listed on that page, in the column “Canonical Name for java.nio API”.

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170. Upload via FTP

This task is documented in the chapter

Integrating with External Systems

. Find a direct link

here

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171. Upload via SFTP

This task is documented in the chapter

Integrating with External Systems

. Find a direct link

here

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172. Upload To Cloud Storage

This task is documented in the chapter

Integrating with External Systems

. Find a direct link

here

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173. Verify Certification

This task is documented in the chapter

Quality Control tools

. Find a direct link

here

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174. Version PDF

When working with various versions of a single PDF, such as multiple language versions or versions containing minor differences, you can use this task to save on output material by:

• Combining a base file with multiple version files.

• Extracting separations or layers from the base file and replacing them by variants.

Combine Base with Version Files

By combining a base file (the input file) with a number of version files, you can create various flavours of the same file and save on output material.

For example: Your base file contains graphics and only the CMY separations. Your version files contain text in different languages in the black (K) separation. By combining the graphics in your base file with the various language versions, you only need to make the plates containing the separations for the graphics once.

Follow these steps:

1. In the Version Files table, click Add.

2. In the External File dialog, specify:

• The location of the Version Folder, which contains the version files.

• The name(s) of the Version File(s), including their file extension.

• The name of the Output File, which is a combination of the base file and a version file.

3. Choose what you want to do with the Version Input File (base file or input file):

• If you want it to remain in the same place, choose Leave.

• If you want it to be deleted, choose Delete.

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• If you want it to be moved to another folder, choose Move to and use the button to define the new location.

4. Select the desired Reference Page Box. Selecting the correct media box here can prevent errors, such as double time stamps in the text of a page mark.

5. Determine the Order of the Base File and the Version file.

6. Separation Isolation: Select 'Isolated' to use the PDF construct "Form Isolation" to combine the files, which will reduce the interaction between the content of the files. This is helpful when the files contain information for different separations, rather than artwork to be placed on top.

Note: You can use SmartNames and wild cards to specify folders or files.

Note: You cannot combine Normalized PDF files with other PDF files.

Extract Separations from Input file

This Action allows to extract a separation from the input file and map it to another separation.

This is done to limit the total number of separations for output.

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For example: Map a 'black' Pantone color that is used for text to 'K' (typically black in CMYK).

Extract Layers from Input file

This Action allows to extract layers from the input file and split the input file into a fixed master and a variant part. The variable ink is often black.

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You can also work with layers to extract the language layer from the input file and replace it with the corresponding translation(s).

Note: Work with wild cards to optimize your workflow: For example to only extract the language layer, use 'lang_*' if you know that all language versions follow this name rule. This will allow for the lang_EN, lang_FR and lang_ES layers to be automatically extracted from the base file.

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175. Wait

This task is documented in the chapter

Workflows

, in the section

Inserting Wait Points

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176. Wait for Action (Checkpoint)

This task is documented in the chapter

Workflows

, in the section

Building Workflows → Inserting

Wait Points

Find a direct link

here

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177. Wait for Files

This task is documented in the chapter

Workflows

, in the section

Inserting Wait Points

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178. Wait for Files (via JDF)

Use this task when you are working with a JDF RunList, and when the files referenced in the

RunList are not ready yet.

Send the JDF RunList to this task, and it will check at a regular interval if the files are already present. When it finds all the files, it ends in OK and passes them on to the next workflow task.

Example Workflow

1. The MIS system creates jobs via JDF, and sends the JDF RunList to your Automation Engine workflow.

2. The Wait for Files (via JDF) task checks if all the files referenced in the RunList are where they are supposed to be.

3. When the files are ready, the task finds them and passes them on to the next workflow task.

4. The rest of the workflow starts on the files.

Parameters

•

Look in Folder

By default, the tasks looks for the files at the location defined in the RunList. However, you can here define a custom location where the task should look for them.

Tip: For example, use the SmartName [URL of Folder of Input] if you know the files will be end up in the same folder as the RunList.

•

Stop waiting when time exceeds ...

Select this if you want the task to finish if the files referenced in the RunList haven't been found after a specified time.

If you don't select this parameter, the task will wait indefinitely (or until it finds the files).

•

Task ends in error when not all files were found

Select this if you want the task to finish with an Error state:

• When the time you set in the ' Stop waiting when time exceeds' parameter has passed,

• and when the task hasn't found the files referenced in the RunList at that specified time.

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179. Wait for Product Status

This task allows to hold a workflow until one or more Products have reached a certain status.

This task is documented in the chapter on

Products

. Find a direct link

here

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180. Zip

This task creates a zip file from the selected input file(s) or folder.

Choose the task's behavior in case the zip file already exists:

•

Generate an error

• Replace the zip file.

Learn more in

the Unzip Task

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181. Outdated and Soon Outdated Tasks

181.1 Concept of (Soon) Outdated Tasks

Concept

Some task technology in Automation Engine can become outdated after many years. There are two possible reasons for this:

• the functionality is now available via a new and improved technology. For example a task based on a new trapping engine replaces the old ones.

• the functionality is no longer used in today's prepress environment. For example a task to normalize EPF files, an Esko file format that is not created any more.

Such tasks are first declared “ Soon Outdated” and later become “Outdated”.

Note: Before version 14.1, the term Deprecated was used for Soon Outdated tasks and the term Obsolete was used for Outdated tasks.

Soon Outdated

A task is named Soon Outdated as a warning that it will no longer be available in the next major version of the Automation Engine.

This gives you at least one year

• to replace this task by an alternative. This could be a newer task equivalent or a slightly different workflow. The alternative is mentioned in this documentation.

• to contact Esko support in case the proposed alternative is not valid for you.

Outdated

A Soon Outdated task becomes Outdated in the next major version: it is then no longer available in that software version.

• Customers who never used that task type will not see any tickets.

• Customers who had already created custom tickets of that task type will still see those tickets but notice that they no longer work.

A Gradual Process with Many Visual Reminders

This two step process gives you the time to switch from using the old technology to the new version or method.

The Pilot shows you in many places which task types are (to be Soon) Outdated.

• In the Tickets list:

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Also workflow tickets that contain outdated tasks will show a warning:

• In the task ticket itself, a colored top bar is added. A Soon Outdated task shows an orange bar and the link for

More Info brings you to the online help page that describes the

proposed alternative:

An Outdated task shows a red color bar and also a link with More Info:

• In the

Workflow Editor. Colored text indicates (soon) outdated workflow steps:

Transitions that depend on an outdated step are shown in grey. That part of the workflow

also does not work any more:

These (soon) outdated steps are also mentioned in the Validate Workflow dialog. When you there select such a warning, the corresponding step will also be highlighted in the workflow editor with an arrow.

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181.2 Expand Variable Data to PPML File (Soon

Outdated)

The Expand Variable Data to PPML File task will soon be outdated. Learn more about

outdated and soon outdated tasks in

Note: Learn about the alternative for this task in the above page

on page 368.

This task was used in VDP workflows and used an older technology (the PPML file format).

Find a link below to its old documentation.

Alternative

Digital printing is a fast-evolving field, and the industry as whole is moving towards the PDF/VT file standard as a replacement for the older PPML standard. Esko is supporting this trend.

Esko recommends you to migrate to the Dynamic VDP workflow.

The Dynamic VDP workflow is based on PDF/VT and includes a DeskPack plug-in for authoring as well as an Automation Engine ticket for expansion.

181.2.1 Expand Variable Data to PPML File (Soon Outdated) - old documentation page

Expand Variable Data to PPML

File (Soon Outdated)

on page 370.

The old documentation can still be found in older manuals of Automation Engine. To find it, go to

•

http://help.esko.com/products/Automation%20Engine

• then, in "Version", select a version older than version 14

• click on the link to the

Reference Guide

• go to The Tasks: an Overview > Deprecated and Obsolete Tasks > Expand Variable

Data to PPML File (Deprecated) .

181.3 Expand Variable Data to PPML File (DeskPack

Only) (Soon Outdated)

The Expand Variable Data to PPML File (DeskPack Only) task will soon be outdated. Learn

more about outdated and soon outdated tasks in

Expand Variable Data to PPML File (Soon Outdated) - old documentation page

on page

368.

This task was used in VDP workflows started from Adobe Illustrator and used an older technology (the PPML file format).

This task was documented in the page describing the non-DeskPack version: Find a link in

on page 370.

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Alternative

As mentioned in

Expand Variable Data to PPML File (Soon Outdated)

, the alternative here is also to use the Dynamic workflow tools. This Dynamic workflow is based on PDF/VT and includes a

DeskPack plug-in for authoring as well as an Automation Engine ticket for expansion.

181.3.1 Expand Variable Data to PPML File (DeskPack only) (Soon

Outdated) - old documentation page

This task is the version of

Expand variable Data to PPML file

that can be started from DeskPack.

181.4 Preflight via External Application (Soon Outdated)

In Automation Engine 16, this task was declared "soon outdated".

Learn more about (soon) outdated tasks in

When you use another preflight product than PitStop you can use the

on page 368.

Alternative

To preflight, please use the

Preflight with PitStop task

Integrate via External Hot

Folder task

181.4.1 Preflight via External Application (Soon Outdated) - old documentation page

As mentioned in

the page above

, this task will soon be outdated.

Its documentation can still be found in older manuals of Automation Engine. Follow these steps to find it:

• Go to

http://www.esko.com/en/Support/Product?id=Automation%20Engine

• In "Version", select the version 14.1.

• Click on the link to the Complete Manual.

• Go to Reference Guide > The Tasks and Workflow Controls > Preflight via External

Application .

181.5 Print on Digital Press (PPML) (Soon Outdated)

This task will soon be outdated. Learn more about outdated and soon outdated tasks in

Note: Learn about the alternative for this task in the above page

on page 368.

The Print on Digital Press (PPML) task was used to create variable print jobs on the DFE server using the format PPML.

Find a link below to its old documentation.

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Alternative

Digital printing is a fast-evolving field, and the industry as whole is moving towards the PDF/VT file standard as a replacement for the older PPML standard. Esko is supporting this trend.

Esko recommends you to migrate to the Dynamic VDP workflow.

The Dynamic VDP workflow is based on PDF/VT and includes a DeskPack plug-in for authoring as well as an Automation Engine ticket for expansion.

181.5.1 Print on Digital Press (PPML) (Soon Outdated) - old documentation page

Print on Digital Press (PPML)

(Soon Outdated)

on page 371.

The old documentation can still be found in older manuals of Automation Engine. To find it, go to

•

http://help.esko.com/products/Automation%20Engine

• then, in "Version", select a version older than version 14

• click on the link to the

Reference Guide

• go to The Tasks: an Overview > Print on Digital Press (PPML) .

181.6 Process Remote Proofs (Soon Outdated)

In Automation Engine v16, this task was labeled 'Soon Outdated'.

Learn more about (soon) outdated tasks in

on page 368.

Alternative

For remote proofing, we recommend to create a self-contained PDF of the job and send it to the remote site. Automation Engine offers many methods of transfer (network copy, E-mail attachment,

Access Points

, ...).

Also, Automation Engine can transfer the file to Esko WebCenter which was designed to manage online approval cycles.

Also, Esko Pack Proof can be installed at the remote site(s) and configured with any necessary color information such as ink books and color strategies. Adding to that, an Automation Engine workflow can be configured at the remote site to automatically output the proof file when it arrives.

181.6.1 Process Remote Proofs (Soon Outdated) - old documentation page

As mentioned in

the page above

, this task will soon be outdated.

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Its documentation can still be found in the 14.1 manual of Automation Engine. Follow these steps to find it:

• Go to

http://www.esko.com/en/Support/Product?id=Automation%20Engine

• In "Version", select the version 14.1.

• Click on the link to the Complete Manual.

• Go to Reference Guide > The Tasks and Workflow Controls > Process Remote Proofs .

181.7 Rip to WS4000 Series (Soon Outdated)

The Rip to WS4000 Series task will soon be outdated. Learn more about outdated and soon

outdated tasks in

Your alternative is to use the more recent

on page 368.

This task was a used to generate JLYT output for a HP Indigo WS4000 press.

Find a link below to its old documentation.

Alternative

Print on Digital Press

on page 226 task. This task links to the DFE that you configured in

Digital Press

181.7.1 Rip to WS4000 Series (Soon Outdated) - old documentation page

Note: Learn about the alternative for this task in the above page

Rip to WS4000 Series (Soon

Outdated)

on page 373.

The old documentation can still be found in older manuals of Automation Engine. To find it, go to

•

http://help.esko.com/products/Automation%20Engine

• then, in "Version", select a version older than version 14

• click on the link to the

Reference Guide

• In the search field, type WS4000. The result will show a link to the task's old documentation.

181.8 Send to Odystar (soon outdated)

Because all Odystar functionality is by now available within Automation Engine, the

Send to

Odystar task

will soon be outdated.

Learn more about (soon) outdated tasks in