GMG has released ColorProof 5.6, the latest version of the company’s proofing software, which has increased proofing accuracy for brightened media.
‘With the popular adoption of optically brightened papers, a problem arose. The papers improved image appearance and tended to be cost-effective to purchase. However, they were out of conformance with proofing standards. Users will find that GMG has conducted a lot of research and testing into helping customers who print with optically brightened media to achieve colour consistency,’ explained Birgit Plautz, director business unit, Graphic Arts. ‘We have also added features to connect and work even better with prepress-workflows, and operate more efficiently with RIPs and printers. For example, print facilities with existing systems in place will find that they can use a new hotfolder interface system (API) to easily plug GMG ColorProof 5.6 into their workflows.’
Until recently, measuring devices and the light in viewing booths had not been subject to any standards regarding how they measured or illuminated print media that contains optical brightening agents (OBAs) to increase the ‘whiteness’.
With the recent revisions of those ISO norms and eventually the updated ISO 12647-2:2013 several changes have been made to address the colour matching problems caused by OBA enhanced media. Welcoming and reflecting these changes, ColorProof 5.6 provides new proof standards, full support of the new M0/M1/M2 measuring conditions, and the new enhanced proof paper GMG ProofPaper semimatte 250 OBA to achieve highest quality and a good proof-to-print match.
The new software also includes new features to make it work more efficiently with workflows and in multiple-site operations. For example, GMG has created new smart hotfolders and job ticket hotfolders with an XML interface that allows operators to use one hotfolder for multiple printing standards and provide an easy connection to external workflow systems.
In addition, the company has made it easier to operate centralised colour management that oversees multiple locations or remote sites. These companies must organise and distribute their colour profiles to many facilities. Usually, there is one main site, where a production or colour manager creates all colour critical assets and is responsible for their usage on all locations. To reduce the manual effort, GMG designed a file distribution system that can connect to multiple installations and download new or altered colour management files automatically, or on-demand-from a source location to one or more target locations.
To accelerate the ripping process, PDF files can be ripped in parallel. While the software license includes one RIP, users can purchase additional RIP instances according to their hardware configuration: depending on the amount of cores, printers, etc. This reduces the delay between ripping and printing jobs, resulting in faster speeds and greater production.
The new release can also re-assign jobs to different printers for continuous productivity. The new option has been integrated to automatically move pending jobs from one printer to another compatible printer in case the current printer cannot print.
