Focus on Digital Front Ends

A digital front end, Jahn emphasizes, simply RIPs a PDF into some TIFF-like file format so it will efficiently mark the paper, film or plate it is marking with a laser. "That is one of the reasons Agfa likes PDF. It can retain the art as a 'digital master' and predictably render it for the specific device as that device requires, whether that device is paper, film or plate, as well as a Web site or a CD-ROM."