PDF Print Engine

The Adobe PDF Print Engine is the biggest step forward for Adobe print production workflows arguably since the introduction of Adobe PostScript RIP. Subsequent RIP technologies released since then have addressed some of the productivity and compatibility issues, but the PDF Print Engine takes workflow to a whole new level. It is the print production platform for the 21st century.

For the first time a PDF file does not have to be converted into PostScript before being Ripped. This alone will dramatically reduce problems of proof and final output not quite matching. It will enable wider production networks because there will be little danger that a job Ripped in one location on one set of equipment will appear differently to the same job produced elsewhere. And, perhaps most significantly, the PDF Print Engine will be the platform to automate the print industry through its use of the Job Definition Format.

The industry’s leading workflow suppliers have committed themselves to working with the PDF Print Engine. Fuji, Kodak, Agfa, Heidelberg and others are expected to release products during the course of 2007. All are expected to migrate their customers towards products based on the PDF Print Engine over coming software releases. Fujifilm stands apart, having developed its XMF workflow from the ground up to exploit the features and functionality within the PDF Print Engine. This was released in Q2 07 having been previewed at recent industry events.

The key innovation is to separate the content of a job, carried in the PDF file, and the instructions for how to treat the job, carried in a JDF job ticket. This means that the integrity of the PDF file is retained while the job ticket provides the instruction sheet for the RIP on how to handle the job for the selected printing press, colour space and so on. It will allow a late change to be made to any job, to switch between a four page imposition and eight page imposition for example without having to retrace several time consuming production steps. This is because only minor changes need be made to the job ticket, there is no need to change the content.

An advantage that this way of working brings is that a whole range of options is opened up. It is no longer a problem switching a job between a litho press and a digital press, making hybrid workflows much easier or breathing life into reprints by making it easy to run off a handful extra on a digital press. Fuji has demonstrated a novel proofing tool, allowing a customer to proof in 3D, showing a simulation of a brochure on screen to show that the pages fall in the correct place and to indicate the impact of light falling on the pages from different angles.

The separation of content and intent also reduces the problems associated with designs using transparency effects. In previous workflows problems can arise when the file is flattened too early in the process, because it is an output specific action. Flattening can now be left to the last moments before imaging, so keeping production decisions back to the last minute.

Or as has been stated by Adobe: “Printers have had to develop complicated workflows to compensate for the limitation of the printing system. As projects become more complex, existing workflows cannot fully compensate, resulting in unmet needs and unsatisfactory results.” A workflow based on the PDF Print Engine does not have these problems. The complicated calculations are carried out within the RIP. This paves the way for fully automated workflows. In turn the potential for greater interconnection between different parts of the printing process thanks to the JDF protocol, means that more data is being passed through the system for more accurate pricing and scheduling and management meeting the needs of 21st century printers.