Digital proofing development process and technological process

Proofing is an indispensable and important part of printing. In many cases, the key to the resolution of print order disputes is proofing. Whether the enterprise fulfills the needs of the customer and whether the customer needs to fulfill the obligation of payment depends on whether the printed matter matches the sample. If the printed materials and proofs are within the tolerance range, the customer must pay the fee; on the contrary, the company has not fulfilled its commitments, in addition to not requiring the customer to pay, it is likely to compensate the customer for the loss. It can be seen that proofing is an indispensable link and an important means to protect the interests of enterprises and customers.

Nowadays, the proofing methods in the printing field can be generally divided into two categories, traditional proofing and digital proofing. The traditional proofing is to obtain the printing plate according to the steps from the original to the film to the printing plate, and then obtain the simulated printing proofs through the simulated printing method of the proofing machine. Digital proofing includes digital proofing and screen proofing. It is based on a digital publishing and printing system. In the process of publishing and printing, the graphic information of the page is processed according to the publishing printing production standards and specifications. The data information is used to directly output the sample of simulated printing.


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Traditional proofing is a kind of proofing method that simulates the printing operation process. It is very close to the printing environment to a certain extent. From this perspective, traditional proofing has unique advantages. However, according to the current development trend, it is imperative that digital proofing replaces traditional proofing, because the benefits that digital proofing brings to enterprises are visible:

1. Cost reduction. The cost is divided into fixed cost and variable cost. The fixed cost of proofing is proofing equipment, occupied plant space and consumable costs. The variable cost of proofing is of course the salary of the proofing operator.

· Equipment cost. The imported single-color machines of traditional proofing machines are all above 1 million yuan, and the domestic-made ones also need about 300,000 yuan. In digital proofing, the digital proofing machine plus color management software and measurement equipment required for digital proofing is about 130,000; the display plus color management software and measurement equipment required for screen proofing is only about 90,000.

· Plant space cost. The placement of the traditional proofing light proofing machine requires about 50 square meters. Digital proofing Whether it is digital proofing or screen proofing, a room of 10 square meters is enough.

· Consumables costs. Traditional proofing requires the output of film and printing plate for each proofing. If the color manuscript is output in four colors, there is the cost of ink and paper when proofing. The requirements for digital proofing consumables in digital proofing are relatively high. Special inks and special papers are used, but there is no more consumption. Overall, it is still less expensive than traditional proofing. In addition, screen proofing in digital proofing is a The soft proofing method has no specific proofs and no specific loss, so the cost of consumables is almost zero.

· Operator salary. In addition to requiring a traditional master for traditional proofing, traditional proofing also requires high requirements for film output and plate output personnel. Whether it is digital proofing or screen proofing in digital proofing, because the current operating software is perfect and very intelligent, as long as simple training is completed, many people can complete the operation. Generally speaking, the more professional the salary is, the higher the salary of the operator is for traditional proofing.

Cost is the key to an enterprise's profit and loss. No matter which enterprise, cost is their lifeline. For companies that have been using traditional proofing and production can proceed smoothly, investing in digital proofing is an unknown new attempt for them, but from a long-term profitability perspective, many companies are still confident in this new proofing method.

2. Speed ​​up. With the acceleration of people's work and life rhythm, the production cycle of printing is also continuously shortened. The speed of proofing is a key factor. The sample can be found earlier, the problem can be discovered earlier, and the printing can be achieved earlier.

·Preparation time. Traditional proofing can be carried out, first of all, there must be processed manuscripts, then the film is output, and then the printing plate is obtained, and finally the traditional proofing machine can be used for proofing. If the process is smooth, it must be calculated in hours. Or one day. Digital proofing only requires processed originals, and then you can directly go to the digital proofing machine for digital proofing, or directly on the display for screen proofing.

·Proofing time. Traditional proofing requires an equipment commissioning period. Since traditional proofing is implemented by analog printing, it is similar to printing. Traditional proofing machines also need to run for a period of time to achieve a stable state when they are on the machine. Digital proofing generally does not have this debugging period or this time is very short, which greatly saves time. Generally speaking, the current digital proofing is about 14 minutes to print a folio photo paper at 1440dpi × 720dpi resolution, and the screen proofing time is shorter, as long as the screen is in normal operation, ICC files can be loaded at any time to show the printing effect .

Undoubtedly, the speed of digital proofing is definitely far greater than that of traditional proofing, and problems are found in time without wasting film plates. Especially in today's popular CTP (computertoplate) process, digital proofing meets the needs of the process well.

3. Simulate the printing effect well.

· Content simulation. The traditional proofing is to use the printed printing plate for proofing, which is a mechanical operation. There is no loss of data. The text and graphics images are guaranteed to be consistent with the printed matter. Although digital proofing does not use printed printing plates to obtain proofs like traditional proofing, due to the development of modern technology and the improvement of the process, there will generally be no errors in the content, and the preview function can be performed before digital proofing, and the screen proofing can be repeated. There is no loss, which further guarantees the accuracy of the content.

· Color simulation. The reason why the traditional proofing has not been abandoned by the company is because it simulates the printing environment very realistically, and the printing plate, paper, ink, and even the mechanical running conditions can simulate the printing conditions, so the color simulation is very real and very close. Although digital proofing is not as real proofing environment as traditional proofing, due to the color management tool, the factors that affect the color from pre-press to printing and even post-press are considered, and standardized management can be carried out to ensure digital proofing Simulate the accuracy of printing colors. And because of the digital management of many processes, the entire production line is more standardized and the predictability of production is higher.

So far, digital proofing has been able to meet the needs of users in terms of analog printing. As with traditional proofing, the digital proofing simulation printing effect can already be accepted by users and used as a basis for signing proofs. [next]

The development of printing proofing to digital proofing is an irreversible trend. Many printing equipment suppliers have seized this opportunity to continuously introduce a new generation of digital proofing technology to the market:

1. Hardware

· Digital printer. For digital proofing, digital printers are the most important hardware equipment, and the market requirements for digital printers are: fast, accurate and precise. Fast is the speed of printing. An important reason why companies choose digital proofing is that digital proofing is fast, but this requirement is not over. Especially for high-efficiency enterprises such as newspapers, speed is an important factor for survival. Accuracy is the accuracy of colors. Printing can be summarized as a process of copying colors. For current printing, the main improvement direction is how to achieve the consistency of the colors from the original to the printed matter, so the accurate copy of the color of the digital printer is A factor that must be emphasized. Precision is the degree of accuracy, which means that the resolution is higher. The resolution determines the clarity of the proofs, which is also the key factor for customers to judge the signing.

In response to the current market requirements for digital printing presses, well-known brands such as Epson, HP, and Canon have launched a new generation of digital printers. Epson launched the EpsonStylusPRO7800 / 9800 eight-color printer specifically for digital proofing, which has greatly improved speed, ink and even media on the basis of the original four series printers. Hewlett-Packard has launched a new concept of DesignjetZ2100 / Z3100. In addition to the 12-color ink large color gamut technology, it also innovatively embeds a spectrophotometer measurement device using Greenland i1 technology to improve color management efficiency. Canon launched imagePROGRAF5000 / 9000. Canon's most prominent feature is the use of twelve-color ink large color gamut technology, and the use of up to 30720 nozzles to achieve high-precision printing.

In order to seize the digital proofing market, equipment merchants are working hard to improve technology and reduce costs, so that the threshold for printing companies to enter digital proofing is reduced, and the improvement of digital proofing technology has well promoted the further development of digital proofing.


·monitor. Screen proofing operations are required, and the performance of the display cannot be ignored at all. For screen proofing, the most important thing for a monitor is wide color gamut and high stability. So far, the two most frequently used screen proofing monitors are Apple and EIZO. On the one hand, they chose the two major merchants because their monitors did achieve a large color gamut and high stability, and on the other hand, because of this A series of monitors from two merchants have passed the authoritative SWOP certification, which means that this monitor is approved for screen proofing, which also gives customers and companies a basis for evaluation. Apple ’s recommended monitors for screen soft proofing are APPLE20 ”CINEMADISPLAY, APPLE23” CINEMADISPLAY and APPLE30 ”CINEMADISPLAY. These monitors are all high-definition, no jitter, wide viewing angle, fast response, full digital connection, and perfect integration with PowerMacG4, etc. The outstanding feature is Apple's new and improved technology to meet the needs of soft proofing on the screen. EIZOCOLOREDGECG220, EIZOCOLOREDGECG210 and EIZOCOLOREDGECG21, the CG series of monitors launched by EIZO, are mainly aimed at art reproduction, high-end printing and soft proofing of the screen. Therefore, different models in the series It is no problem to cooperate with the display to do screen proofing. In addition, there are also some big brand merchants such as Sony that have also entered the screen soft proofing market.

·measuring equipment. The key to the success or failure of a digital proofing system is whether the color management is done well, the color management is accurate and the bit color is restored accurately, and the proofing simulation printing effect is good. If the color management is not done enough, despite the high performance of the digital printer or display , How beautiful the sample is, but still can't match the printing. The importance of color management is unquestionable, and the accuracy of the measurement equipment affects the effect of color management. Therefore, the measurement equipment has also become another important object to be improved by merchants.

The measurement equipment currently in use is X-Rite (Grinda was originally, but it is now acquired by X-Rite). Commonly used measurement equipment are Eye-One spectrophotometer (with different versions), DTP70, The 500 series spectrodensitometers also have the newly launched Eye-OneIsis. In addition to greatly improving the accuracy of these devices, they also made a series of improvements in principle in terms of color difference formulas, color space, etc., making the measurement effect more accurate and the data used in a wider range.

Although the hardware update has not changed much in the core, it has been improved in many aspects and has largely adapted to the development of digital proofing.

2. Software

The software configuration as a digital proofing system refers to color management software. Currently the most popular color management software is EFI (acquired Best, extended Best's core), GMG, BM, StarProof and Founder photo. Each of these software has its own core technology and has its own set of operating methods, but the purpose is the same, that is to establish the color correspondence between the original and the printed matter. No matter which software is used, it is already very powerful as a color management function, and it also fulfills the need for color reproduction.

Whether it is international or domestic, digital proofing has penetrated into many companies as a new technology. No matter how long it takes, digital proofing can always completely replace traditional proofing and lead printing proofing to a more advanced. era.

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