Imposition--Rotating the Pages

The latest digital imposition tools are object-independent, page rotating, PDF imposing signature refiners—automating even further the territory once governed by the meticulous manual stripper.

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO

Manual stripping. One day—perhaps today—the task of manual stripping will seem as foreign a concept to the seasoned graphic arts professional as does the nearly lost art of photo engraving.

Current imposition tools perform a flexible and varied set of clever tasks:

• Digitally imposing signatures that can be output on a variety of PostScript-compatible devices, from the digital press to a platesetter to an imagesetter;
• Rotating and viewing any object on any signature;
• Creating complete, precise impositions in minutes—seconds—for a variety of layouts and configurations.

Feel bad for the manual stripper?

Today's latest array of software tools for electronic imposition are bringing home, even louder, the message Throw Your Flats Away, as a variety of new solutions featuring PDF-friendly plug-ins promise to make electronic imposition faster, more efficient and, yes, easier.

One such tool is OneVision's new add-on module that creates a job's imposition in predefined flats with pages in place. PlugIMPOSEin, for use with OneVision's workflow management and optimization software systems, Asura and Solvero, lets the user create customized impositions to satisfy a variety of print applications, from two-page and 32-page to tabloid work. The software tool lets users import and rearrange entire documents. Flats can be sent to soft proofing devices or film or CTP output units, depending on the user's needs.

Dynagram Software's latest automated enhancement to its electronic imposition product, DynaStrip, is a new component for page pairing in DynaStrip's Windows 95/98 NT version. DynaStrip's new page pairing feature—designed for printing applications such as newspapers and magazines, where document files arrive in any order and at different times—requires a set of templates and one hot folder, where indexing, page-pairing and output actions are automatically initiated.

A tool such as DynaStrip's new page pairing function eliminates the downtime spent waiting for all document files to arrive, which, in turn, necessitates manual intervention with sheet templates prior to output.

However, the biggest shake-up to hit the world of imposition software recently is, without a doubt, the not-totally-unexpected Imation Publishing Software by Preps creator, ScenicSoft.

ScenicSoft Acquisition
Announced in July, ScenicSoft's acquisition of Imation's imposition product, PressWise (and related content manipulation tools, including TrapWise), put ScenicSoft in the unique position of providing a fully integrated family of prepress software products.

Preps electronically imposes PostScript, PDF, EPS and TIFF files into signatures. Imposed signatures can be output on any PostScript-compatible device, such as a digital press, imagesetter, platesetter or on-demand printer. Preps Pro 3.6, for instance, offers support for multiple devices on a single press form—an advantage to users who work with split-web or large-format presses, and users with standard-size presses who want to optimize the length of a press run by combining deliveries. All versions are provided on a standard CD-ROM in English, German, French and Spanish for the Macintosh and Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT operating systems.

PressWise, formerly an Imation product, also accepts PostScript language and PDF files from leading applications for compatibility with existing workflows. For added precision, PressWise allows the user to view entire imposition layouts on-screen in either a keyline view or with page elements visible. Although ScenicSoft plans to continue servicing existing PressWise customers, the imposition focus for ScenicSoft will be Preps, effective immediately.

On the Market
And then there is IPTech's imposition solution, ImpozeIt—a PDF-based Windows NT client/server program. Application-independent, ImpozeIt harnesses the power of Adobe's PDF to increase workstation throughput and boost end-user productivity. Instant on-screen viewing of pages and signatures, load balancing by partial output and partial impositioning, and job monitoring at a glance using ImpozeIt's powerful client and message monitoring system are key features of the program. An intuitive graphical user interface and a unique wizard for creating signatures give the imposition program an ease-of-use not typically found in other imposition applications.

Run as a server, ImpozeIt automatically converts Postscript files to PDF for impositioning, using a customer-supplied Acrobat 4.0 distiller, which enables users to easily assemble files of mixed origin.

ImpozeIt can also automatically convert PDF files back to Postscript for Postscript Level 1 or 2 RIPs. ImpozeIt's Wizard helps users create complicated imposition templates within minutes, directing the users step by step through the process. Jobs are sent to an end-user-specified output device on a flat-by-flat basis, as completed. The actual imposition is done in the background, freeing workstations to perform other operations. Files sent from client machines or the Windows NT server are easily output to a file or a networked imagesetter. Last minute corrections can be done on the arrived pages, and the same page can be resent to different output devices, if necessary.

ImpozeIt optimizes control over each signature. End-users can choose from an array of industry standard templates, modify existing templates, or create their own custom signatures. Dialog boxes enable users to easily customize printer's boxes and place them accurately.

At PrePRESS Solutions, Panther PageImposer software assembles individual pages into digital flats after they have been RIPed, solving several problems associated with PostScript-based imposition.

Panther PageImposer stores imposition instructions as job files that are completely separate from the content of pages in a publication—watching as each page is individually RIPed—and when all component pages for a plate are ready, it automatically assembles them for plate production.

At present, more imposition tools can be spotted—and exploited—in digital prepress workflows, including Signastation 5.0 NT from Heidelberg Prepress, as well as Creo and Heidelberg's PDF-based workflow, Prinergy.

As imposition software continues to mature and be incorporated into all-digital prepress workflows, output devices such as BARCO's effective IMPRESS full-format imposed proofer, will be icing on the cake for printers perfecting signatures.