Prinergy

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Prinergy is a prepress workflow system created by Creo in 1999 and maintained and sold through Kodak. [1] It is a client/server system that integrates PDF creation, job proofing, imposition, and a raster image processor (RIP) into one unified workflow.

Contents

History

Creo was the leading manufacturer of computer-to-plate technology in the 1990s, using thermal laser technology to capture a significant market share of the offset prepress industry. Because computer to plate technology allowed printers to image large numbers of plates at great speed, there arose a corresponding need to engineer a workflow that could process large amounts of data to feed the platemakers and ultimately the offset presses.

Prinergy was code-named Araxi (a restaurant in Whistler, British Columbia) when it was conceived of in 1995, on a train trip returning from Düsseldorf after Drupa 1995. The Prinergy product name was chosen a few months before the product was launched. The name was created by namebase, based on a fusion of "Print" and "Energy."

In 1997 Creo and Heidelberg formed a joint venture to cooperate in the sales of computer to plate (CTP) systems. The software groups aligned to bring their previous workflow products together under a common development, and included components including color management and trapping derived from the DaVinci product line. The joint venture was dissolved in 2000.

Prinergy 1.0 was introduced at Seybold in 1999. Prinergy 3.1 released in 2006, Prinergy 4. was released in 2009, Prinergy 5.1 was released in 2011, Prinergy 5.3 was released in 2012, Prinergy 6.0 was demonstrated at Drupa 2012 and released in 2013, Version 7.0 was released at 2015, Version 7.5 was released in 2016, Version 8.3 in Q4 2018 and Versions 8.4.0 in Q4 2019. . [2]

Function

The Prinergy system was designed from the ground up to automatically perform all functions on the data that are necessary to take a digital file through a series of workflow steps to produce a master plate, any one of offset, gravure, or flexo. The pages for a job are first processed (normalized) with sanity checks to ensure it will not cause the RIP to fail at later stages. Then it is color-managed, meaning that the necessary color management and ICC profiles are attached to images and text. Then it is "trapped"; where colors join in a document, a slight overlap is created so that white space does not show on printing due to minute registration errors.

After the Postscript or PDF is processed (refined) into the system, the operator has the option of a number of choices including sending single pages out to a proofer or impose the pages into a signature for platemaking.

Virtually all Flexographic, offset and digital packaging, and offset commercial printers of the world (e.g. R.R.Donnelley, Quebecor, Mohn Media, Quad Graphics) use Prinergy as their central workflow management system, as well as thousands of smaller sheetfed offset printers.

All job information and file metadata are stored in an Oracle database, while content is stored as Adobe PDF or PDF/X, and production control is stored as Adobe Portable Job Ticket Format, or Job Definition Format (JDF). Prinergy also has archival and retrieval capabilities.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printing</span> Process for reproducing text and images

Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The earliest known form of printing as applied to paper was woodblock printing, which appeared in China before 220 AD for cloth printing. However, it would not be applied to paper until the seventh century. Later developments in printing technology include the movable type invented by Bi Sheng around 1040 AD and the printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century. The technology of printing played a key role in the development of the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.

Job Definition Format (JDF) is a technical standard being developed by the graphic arts industry to facilitate cross-vendor workflow implementations of the application domain. It is an XML format about job ticket, message description, and message interchange. JDF is managed by CIP4, the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress Organization. JDF was initiated by Adobe Systems, Agfa, Heidelberg and MAN Roland in 1999 but handed over to CIP3 at Drupa 2000. CIP3 then renamed itself CIP4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital printing</span> Method of printing

Digital printing is a method of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers.

Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing. The prepress process includes the preparation of artwork for press, media selection, proofing, quality control checks and the production of printing plates if required. The artwork is often provided by the customer as a print-ready PDF file created in desktop publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Offset printing</span> Printing technique

Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier. Ink rollers transfer ink to the image areas of the image carrier, while a water roller applies a water-based film to the non-image areas.

Creo, now part of Eastman Kodak Company, was a Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada-based company, involved in imaging and software technology for computer to plate and digital printing. The name derives from the Latin creo, "I create."

An Iris printer is a large-format color inkjet printer designed for prepress proofing. It was introduced in 1985 by Iris Graphics, originally of Stoneham, Massachusetts, and is currently manufactured by the Graphic Communications Group of Eastman Kodak. It is also used in the fine art reproduction market as a final output digital printing press, as in Giclée.

In printing, Preflight is the process of confirming that the digital files required for the printing process are all present, valid, correctly formatted, and of the desired type. The basic idea is to prepare the files to make them feasible for the correct process such as offset printing and eliminate costly errors and facilitate a smooth production. It is a standard prepress procedure in the printing industry. The term originates from the preflight checklists used by pilots. The term was first used in a presentation at the Color Connections conference in 1990 by consultant Chuck Weger, and Professor Ron Bertolina was a pioneer for solutions to preflighting in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer to film</span> Printing process

Computer to film (CTF) is a print workflow involving printing of a design file from a computer straight to a film through an imagesetter. Designs are typically created in Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, however they can also be produced in AutoCAD, Inkscape and many other vector based CAD, design and desktop publishing software packages. An imagesetter is an ultra-high resolution large-format computer output device for CTF.

Web-to-print, also known as Web2Print, remote publishing or print e-commerce is commercial printing using web sites. Companies and software solutions that deal in web-to-print use standard e-commerce and online services like hosting, website design, and cross-media marketing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterless printing</span> Lithographic printing process that uses silicone plates instead of water to control ink placement

Waterless printing is an offset lithographic printing process that eliminates the use of water or the dampening system used in conventional printing. Unlike traditional printing presses, waterless offset presses do not use a dampening solution to clear the press of ink. Proponents of the technology claim efficiency and ecological benefits.

In color management, an ICC profile is a set of data that characterizes a color input or output device, or a color space, according to standards promulgated by the International Color Consortium (ICC). Profiles describe the color attributes of a particular device or viewing requirement by defining a mapping between the device source or target color space and a profile connection space (PCS). This PCS is either CIELAB (L*a*b*) or CIEXYZ. Mappings may be specified using tables, to which interpolation is applied, or through a series of parameters for transformations.

PPML is an XML-based industry standard printer language for variable data printing defined by PODi. The industry-wide consortium of 13 companies was initially formed to create PPML, and now has more than 400 member companies.

A contract proof usually serves as an agreement between customer and printer and as a color reference guide for adjusting the press before the final press run. Most contract proofs are a prepress proof.

The Veris printer is a medium format 1500 DPI color inkjet printer manufactured by the Graphic Communications Group of Eastman Kodak, which is used for digital Prepress proofing. A refinement of the Iris printer, the Veris also uses a continuous flow ink system to produce continuous-tone output on specially designed media. Unlike most inkjet printers which fire drops only when needed, the Veris uses eight 10 micrometer glass jets that operate continuously under high pressure, vibrated by a piezoelectric crystal to produce drops at a 1 MHz rate, or 8 million drops per second in total. Drops that are not needed to form the image are deflected electrostatically into a waste collection system, and individual drops can be directed to a specific position on the media. The Veris prints with the same quality of the Iris, only faster because of the larger number of jets.

Kodak Proofing Software is an application from Eastman Kodak for managing and controlling the process of Prepress proofing. It supports the Veris printer, Kodak Approval and various inkjet printers from Epson and Hewlett Packard.

Within the printing industry, the Approval proofer, also known as the Approval Digital Imaging System or Kodak Approval System, was designed for use in Prepress proofing, especially for the highest quality contract proofs.

"Harlequin (software)" is a raster image processor first released in 1990 under the name ScriptWorks running as a command-line application to render PostScript language files under Unix. It was developed by Harlequin, a software company based in Cambridge, England.

The European Color Initiative (ECI) is an expert group that is concerned with media-neutral reproduction of color data in digital publication systems. It was formed in June 1996 by German publishers Bauer, Burda, Gruner + Jahr and Springer in Hamburg.

References

  1. Nias, Simon (26 April 2007). "Fujifilm XMF". PrintWeek. Archived from the original on 16 June 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  2. Cox, Barney (24 April 2008). "Star product – Kodak Prinergy 5.0". PrintWeek. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.