With a number of new product releases, OneVision now has an offering that is designed to encompass the entire premedia publishing workflow.

Picture the publishing scenario: photos are sent from all over the world into a file logistic and management system, which routes them in real-time through an instant image optimization process sraight through to the editorial system. Meanwhile, advertising files are sent through a premier normalization process which also optimizes the CMYK composition to save ink and improve print quality; in fact complete pages are optimized in the same way, and the processes can be managed centrally yet monitored remotely and from mobile devices. 

The scenario doesn’t end quite there however: while the publication is printed the files are converted to low resolution and prepared for use online. Video and audio links, URLs, contact forms and many more features are added to ensure online readers have a fully interactive experience that delivers greater value for advertisers as well.

It all sounds very good, but is it realistic? In fact it is, and OneVision believes it is ideally placed to deliver such streamlined methods of production for clients right now, following the launch of several new software tools that will be shown for the first time in the UK at Publishing Expo in February 2009, having been first shown at drupa 2008.

OneVision is already well known through its stellar file correction and optimization software tool Asura, which enjoys widespread use in the UK and many other markets. It hopes that new names will become as recognisable, such as Amendo for automated image enhancement, Contenio for preflighting of online advertising, Mirado for publishing online, and Voyager, which provides automated online file submission and approval.

Already in the UK, The Daily Telegraph and sister paper The Sunday Telegraph are using Amendo image enhancing software, and were beta test sites for the tool. The driver for this happening was the move by the newspapers to full colour production. The in-house team of print and online specialists were faced with a difficult situation: full colour on every page would mean a vast upsurge in the volumes of colour images that the team would have to work on. A solution was required that would allow the team to meet that challenge quickly, with little training being required. Assistant production director Paul Shorey picks up the story:

“Producing colour images can take up to five times longer than black and white, so there was clearly going to be a huge hike in man-hours – calculated to be up to 250% more – required to produce a full colour paper. We simply can’t hire 250% more imaging specialists, so we looked at technology to provide the solution.”

The team was already familiar with OneVision, since the newspaper has used Asura Pro since 2005 to streamline and automate file control, correction and optimization processes in print production. The software is well regarded at The Telegraph, with Shorey stating that Asura Pro “gives us rock-solid PDFs that will go through 99.99% of the time”. So the newspaper looked at a demo of Amendo which soon led to a beta test. The software works by automatically adjusting elements such as brightness and contrasts, shadows, highlights and colours. OneVision says the software analyses colour values of elements such as vegetation, sky and skin and modifies the colours according to “human viewing patterns”; for example the human eye expects grass to be green, and clear skies to be blue, as well as expecting textures also.

Amendo also has a browser based front end that allows comprehensive monitoring, control and process automation, with access to logistical features such as image history, thumbnail before and after previews, and resizing and cropping of images.

Shorey says that Amendo worked “out-of-the-box with some minor amendments”. It now delivers processed CMYK files to a network folder. The file is already in the correct format and staff can take the image, open it in Photoshop if a cut-out is required, and proof it. The newspaper is exploring other ways of automating production processes using Amendo, which might include integration with third party editorial and publishing solutions, since the software is fully compatible for future changes in technology, according to OneVision.

It has been a success at The Daily Telegraph, where the transition to full colour has been made without requiring extra staff in image processing. Shorey concludes: “Without Amendo, we wouldn’t be where we are with the number of people that we have, or have achieved this level of automation.”

The point of Amendo and all of OneVision’s software products is to make receiving, tracking and co-ordinating production files through the workflow as simple and effortless as possible. There have been pain points in the switch from print pages to online, and in the transfer of high resolution files between locations. Hence, the new products seek to alleviate some of this pain.

Mirado for example is a simple and intuitive tool that provides an efficient transition between the offline and online publishing worlds, while maximising the impact of the printed page online. Publishers themselves or their print suppliers can use the software, which is built to handle the latest in web-based technology. Most importantly for publishers, Mirado can boost advertising potential, OneVision claims.

“Advertisers are demanding more ways to reach and connect with customers, and online publications provide innovative ways to communicate with readers,” says Barry Tweddell, OneVision UK’s national sales director. “This software features a variety of tools to allow readers to interact with advertisers in real time.”

Users can browse an entire print edition of a newspaper or magazine and zoom into areas of specific interest. Tweddell asks: “Why create an additional online version, when the print version can become an interactive tool? This software enables publishers to fully utilize their current asset – the printed page – and easily repurpose it online. The online version of the print file is created automatically and simultaneously, thereby saving internal labour costs or costs for sending original pages to third party conversion companies.”

Online advertising is the big growth area for publishers and when ads are delivered for online publications, OneVision’s Contenio is able to step in and ensure that staff need no longer spend time checking every ad. Online ads can be preflighted to defined specifications, and a report is produced outlining the conformity of an ad file along with any problems identified and modifications that must be made. Staff can then work with customers to get the files right, and with such guidance the customers themselves become better at creating ads that match the publisher’s requirements in the first place. In addition, Contenio recognises and warns if Malware is hidden in the online files.

Even before that stage, publishers, printers and advertisers have to send large files around the supply chain, and at times this is still done by email or even more traditional methods such as CD sent by courier. This inevitably builds delay into the workflow, as the receiving party waits, while the sending party cannot be sure that a file has arrived.

Voyager has been developoed by OneVision to prevent such delay. It gives staff and customers immediate, automatic responses about a file’s status, and can direct files to the next stage of an integrated workflow for further processing. The most attractive aspects for publishers are that Voyager can hook into ad booking/tracking/production systems where booking data such as unique reference number, ad size, and colour requirement, is maintained throughout the complete workflow; and it has ad approval facility – so once an advertiser clicks the ‘approved’ box , there should be no refunds required.

Voyager can be used either as a simple browser-based application or as a Rich Internet Application (RIA)-based tool, providing users with further functionality. It also benefits from OneVision Workspace, a back end that allows users to remotely monitor every job in the prepress production cycle.

Alongside its existing products for publishers and print suppliers, OneVision believes the new software tools provide a perfect blend of tradition and technology for 21st Century publishing requirements. These advance the company from being a prepress solutions provider to one that exists in the overall premedia sphere – and Publishing Expo will be the first place to see that in action.