PDF Workflow

[ripit]

Not knowing much about other workflow systems (Agfa, Prinergy etc..) and how they work as a PDF workflow I would like to know if I can create (or if anyone is using) a PDF WF using Nexus RIP, Import and Processor. My intent is to create a high res (normalize??) PDF to use as a proof for my first round out to the client and then if they OK it rip,trap and make a color proof. My concern would be that the PDF proof and hard copy proof (fuji proof) need to match exactly. I hope that this is clear and any information is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

 

[jameslwilson]

I know that Nexus will integrate with Backstage - I haven't used it myself, but I have contacts who are very happy with it.

Esko's page on it is here: Nexus RIP - EskoArtwork

 

[PrepressDan]

2 easy solutions

EskoArtworks Odystar as a front end to your nexus, or the Nexus PDF solution. Turns your nexus into a completely native PDF workflow.

 

[CHM]

And why would you wanna make an high res normalized pdf?

 

[Al Ferrari]

Why make him repeat what he already stated in his original post?

Now, if you think he is going about it wrong, just explain what you think he should do.

Al

 

[CHM]

What i mean is that a normalized pdf is like a device depened pdf, somthing like a postcript, dat is used to be imported in Esko software like Backstage, Plato, ...
So my question was more like why dont you use a normal 1.5 pdf instead of a Normlized one.

 

[Lukas Engqvist]

I would just ask is the RIP in both the same…Â*on 99% of thejobs it may be identical but having a different RIP on both is important.
Also If you are talking 1.5 pdf I'd be very catious because it allows transparency and that is where RIPs tend to differ. If you are intending to do as you say I would go with a low level PDF as PDFx1a. it is a standard that can be verified. Contains only CMYK and SPOT (note spots ans transparency can look very different on a proofer and print if there is conversion or remapping of spot colurs)
Having two competing vendors is also tricky when they don't match. Your customer signs the proof and you go to print…Â*if there is a difference who's fault (wich is incorrectly rendered) is it FUJI or Nexus?

 

[CHM]

Do you have Nexus RIP or is it Nexus Total RIP?
And What Lukas says makes sense, so when every body in the flow has uptodate Rips transparanties is the best way to go, if not you wil have to flatten your work B4 you go to an other sytem or Rip.

 

[Wim-Esko]

EskoArtwork and PDFs

EskoArtwork and PDFs

What i mean is that a normalized pdf is like a device depened pdf, somthing like a postcript, dat is used to be imported in Esko software like Backstage, Plato, ...

Normalized PDF in Esko is as device independant as a 'native' PDF! Comparing it to PS is even illegal I think ;-). The Normalization that Esko does is like a pre-flight : it avoids non-printable PDFs. it also adds extra smart XMP meta-data ; that's all. In BackStage, PackEdge, Plato and FlexRip, Esko uses licensed Adobe Acrobat technology, not a home-interpreter like in the old years. So this 'normalized' PDF is as legal as any other coming out of Acrobat.

I needed to correct this as there are too many un-truths out here.

Now, a note on the initial question:
If you want your Nexus to become a (native) PDF processor, then contact Esko and ask about the Nexus PDF processor...
This is actually the native PDF processing brain from Odystar enabled on your Nexus. If - on TOP of that- you ask for Job-order management, QC tools, extra communication tools, THEN check BackStage as a 'brain' on top of that Nexus (see < Integration with BackStage - EskoArtwork > )

best regards - Wim

 

[ripit]

Sorry for all the confusion as I may not be using the proper terminology. Let me start this again
Current WF
Nexus Rip, import and processor
I rip my pages and create a High res (ct/lw) and a low res (eps) file.
I can run the eps file back through Nexus to a proofer or plates and it switches the low res file with the high res file. This is a very secure WF meaning what i get on the proof will match the plate.
Can i get the same security from a PDF WF? Is a normalized PDF the same as the scenerio above?
What you see will proof and plate exactly the same way?
I would like to show my clients a PDF proof first and then if OK submit it to a WF that would create a proof and plate.
I hope this is a better explanation.

 

[David Motheral]

Not knowing much about other workflow systems (Agfa, Prinergy etc..) and how they work as a PDF workflow I would like to know if I can create (or if anyone is using) a PDF WF using Nexus RIP, Import and Processor. My intent is to create a high res (normalize??) PDF to use as a proof for my first round out to the client and then if they OK it rip,trap and make a color proof. My concern would be that the PDF proof and hard copy proof (fuji proof) need to match exactly. I hope that this is clear and any information is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

The PDF workflows take your files and create a PDF to email out to the client. He then opens the email and views the file. In these workflows, the client can comment, mark up etc. and return to sender just like an email. The clients markings are kept in a log as documentation for future reference. You can collaborate in real time with the client and create our own layer of recordable comments.

Unfortunately, without color accurate color calibration available in Kodak InSite and a certified monitor you wont be able to get match color from screen to proof. You may go to Centripetalmedia.com and sign up for a free trial of Kodak's InSite Creative Workflow. It is now being offered as a software as a service at a very reasonable price.

 

[dub]

Ripit:

I think I understand your question and hopefully I can give you what my 2 cents would be. We also use Nexus and currently have the Nexus Import, Processor and Rip modules. For most of our jobs we also use a Raster, Trap, Link workflow that produces CT/LW and the associated EPS link file that can be used as you said for proofs, plates, etc. or as most people refer to as a ROOM (rip once output many) workflow. While this works great and you can view the results of the ripped file using Insight, when you talk about a Normalized PDF workflow it gets a little different.

Not sure if you use Artpro or not but we do for any job that has complex transparencies etc; using Artpro is sort of like a Normalized PDF workflow in that once you import your files into Artpro, trap them etc etc. you can view them in Artpro and once you are happy, you still have to send them thru the rip for output to proof, plate etc. While your final output should be the same and is 98 to 99% of the time, it is sort of a leap of faith in that what you are looking at in Artpro will look the same once it goes thru the rip to make the OPPO and link file.

A normalized PDF workflow would be similar in that you would process whatever art you get in ( Indesign, Quark, AI etc.) and convert into a PDF. You could then take that PDF and run it thru the AWS Total Rip and it will normalize it, and you can even run it thru their PDF trapper (similar to 4-stage vector as in Processor Module)
and once it is processed it would spit out the normalized PDF that would include traps etc. if they were applied. You could then take this PdF and send it to customers or approval (given it was small enough to email or post to FTP etc.) or you would run back thru the Total PDF rip for plates, proofs etc. and the output should be the same as you viewed the normalized PdF in say Acrobat or Neo etc.

Now when it comes to imposition it is a little different, where with your current WF you are taking the EPS link that was created and placing it into Preps, Dynastrip or even Powerlayout or Powerstepper and then writing PS and feeding back thru the Nexus rip to do the swap and then ouptput to plate, proof etc.

Using a Normalized PDF workflow you would actually place that normalized PDF into your impo program and then you would export out JDF and run that back thru your Nexus Total Rip (can you say no more page paths!!) and the rip would then do all the work of using the Normalized PdF and converting to 1bit Tiff or DCS etc. for output. This is where that leap of faith comes in again, as your final output should look the same and probably will 98 to 99% of the time.

Hope this helps out a little, a normalized PdF workflow is definitely the way of the future and has lots of benefits.

-Dub

 

[PrepressDan]

Simple answer is that you want the Nexus PDF Processor upgrade. Its the same mentality as what you already have with Import/processor but instead of working in a CT/LW mentality with eps links, you work in a PDF format. This allows you to produce a file to send to customers and then release that file to plate or proof. With the PDF upgrade comes the RIP upgrade, it upgrades the legacy PS rip with a PDF rip.

 

[pwydler]

Buy the elec roc easy and fast or a brisque

 

[GinSu]

Imposing the actual normalized PDFs is dangerous in that your imposing program has to process all that high res data, which is one reason (among others) why we haven't made the leap to a PDF workflow.

At a seminar last fall, Esko indicated that they can make screen res raster PDFs of the normalized PDF for imposing that works like the raster/link workflow we're familiar with, the low res links to a PDF instead of CT/LW.

 

[ripit]

Thanks for all the replies. Dub when you say it will be the same 98-99% of the time, what issues are there when you compare the PDF to a plate? It seems to me that this is a step backwards because right now I do not have any problems (outside of making a PDF from raster data) with my proof and plate not matching

 

[dub]

Ripit,

While I can't actually speak from experience when it comes to the PDF rip side since we have not upgraded ours yet, talking with the guys at Esko they say it is similar in respect to Artpro in that you what you see on the normalized PDF should be the same on the plates.. but there is always that 1/2% chance a small crack or banding can occur just like in the CT/LW workflow. So I guess saying 98 to 99% of the time is not fair but more like it will be fine 99.5% of the time based upon the way that Artpro behaves and assuming a normalized PDF would behave the same way in the Total PDF rip.

However as long as you proof your files before output probably as you do now, you will always catch that once in a while strange line or crack that can occur in any rip. Now if you say you have never had this happen to you ever, then all I can say is good for you and just wait because it will someday.

-Dub

 

[pitor]

How can I do, make a PDF like PLATO

How can I do, make a PDF like PLATO

I havent license for plato, How can I do , one PDF forn only visualitation without lines and images, like a plato, I want to do a step and repet Manual on Packedge... what options I have to take? .PLEASE HELP ME

 

[T]

PDF 1.7, non flattened to Nexus total RIP.
Run the Nexus Processed (trap...) PDF through the Nexus screening for plate WF and plot the resulting .tiff files on the fuji.
This is what we do.