Color variable data print standard and its significance
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The printing industry is well aware of the benefits of using standardized variable data languages to drive production. Regarding the two standards developed by PPML and VDX for the production of color variable data prints, the differences between them are controversial. This article will focus on some of the standards-related content so that we know why they are so important, and then look at the advantages and disadvantages of using one or both of them.
Let us get a higher profit
Variable Data Printing (VDP) differs from other printing in many important ways. The printed products are high-quality full-color prints that are very similar to four-color offset printing, and their printing process, binding and finishing processes are the same. But each page of a print can contain different content, whether it's a unique combination of images, personalized text, pie charts, or other content.
Since EdMcMahon first proposed "You are already a winner!", there are a variety of ways to print personalized content. These very tangible methods usually divide production into two parts—a colored background shell and a black and white personalized imprint, which is mostly text, sometimes a simple graphic.
These methods are highly efficient and create significant benefits for consumable manufacturing companies and the printing companies that make them. They are the integration of data and almost always separate the printing process from the data processing part, ie often the casing is made by one company, while the programming and data printing work is done by another company.
Thanks to the color VDP, we can achieve a blank piece of paper into the press and get the printed product. That is to say, a single operation must be notified to both the data processing part of the print and the job. Despite this, it is a small profit, but the company doing VDP still has to do more work than before.
Huge leap
It's easy to think of a color variable data print job as a general print project, like a QuarkXPress job where everyone receives a unique version of the file. The software automatically inserts the value into the Quark file, which can then be printed in the normal way.
Let's imagine a personalized Termimator3 movie poster with the words of Schwarzenegger, "Bao Smith, I want to see you in the movie!" This is a 12x18-inch poster with a whole picture. A full-color image and a text with a separate line of different content. Printing it is equivalent to taking a 250MB (megabyte) file to RIP in 60 seconds. If you print 1000 copies of such a poster on a modern press, create a 250GB (gigabyte) file and use 16 hours to RIP. This simple but inconvenient figure illustrates why we need VDP technology rather than consistent PostScript printing.
OPI for variable data
Many people in commercial printing are familiar with the advantages of 0penPressInterface (OPI: Open Printer Interface) in color prepress workflows, which enable a high resolution image to be included in a printed document by means of an image link instead of It is included in the printed document. After the file is RIPed, the image is taken out and inserted. In addition to not inserting images into PostScript and re-routing it, almost every VDP language is applied in such a way that images are stored in a preprinted format via RIP, which is included in the print stream instead of Further RIP.
The basis for each of the variable data print formats that have been created is the ability to print multiple times with only one RIP component. Each of these languages has its advantages and disadvantages, and the presses made for them also have their own production "best points." HpIndigo presses have long supported spot color printing.
The Xerox 2000 system is an inexpensive machine that requires little operator intervention. The web Xeikon press is the main force of production.
Cache process
A key part of every variable data language and printing system is the post-RIP cache, where RIP components are stored and merged into various combinations. The variable data generation tool divides the job into separate components, and the separated components are RIP and stored in the cache. The metadata for each page content is transmitted through a variable data language to achieve a digital front end system on the press that merges the components together into a page that is ultimately ready for printing.
Different systems have completely different caching schemes and vary greatly in capacity. Some can store thousands of images indefinitely and merge them at the engine's speed, while others store a single background image in the cache and delete those images at the end of the job.
interoperability
In the early days of VDP, each digital front end and press system had a dedicated software tool. AgfaChromapress uses PersonalizerX to carry QuarkXPress to generate Intellicache files. Xeikon uses Private-I, a privately-owned version of PnintShopMail that drives early presses, while DataMergeQuarkXTension is used in later presses. Xerox uses the DarwinDesktop to carry QuarkXPress. Indigo has YoursTrulyXTension. All of these packages run on the press designed for them. This lack of interoperability is inconvenient for printers, who must choose a printer, a software package, and a workflow solution before they can build a digital printing or data business.
There are several printing companies that have discovered the market for their services, but cannot form a business because the system they choose cannot match the job required. Replacing a printing system requires a different workflow and software package to redeploy all operations that have already been commissioned. If you diversify your company's business by adding another output system, you are required to have two complete workflows, including software and highly trained employees. What is more troublesome for these multi-system locations is that each job has to be designated as a dedicated device and it is always run on that system. If the job increases, it is required to change. If the machine is reduced or the company is to remove one of the systems, all operations must be redesigned to run on the other system.
Printing companies with some combination of color offset printing equipment and black and white digital equipment must also use different software to drive them. All of these systems work, but there is no uniform workflow or software tools to drive all the devices.
Variable data standard
The Digital Printing Industry Association PODi is the origin of the Print-on-Demand Initiative. It organized a technical team to develop a variable data printing language specification that is compatible with all of its vendor's printing systems. This produces PPML (thePersonalized PrintMarkupLanguage), a personalized printed markup language. XML-based PPML provides a framework through which different vendors' systems communicate. This is a huge step in the right direction of development. It is quite different from the existing variable data language developed by PODi member companies. Creating a separate workflow that drives all of the printing systems creates a "victor" whose system makes the best use of standards and unsuccessful areas of development.
PPML is broadly defined as suitable for a wide variety of software technologies and cache systems. The early implementation of PPML applied the standard language, but extended it, (remember the x letter in XML) to include the special functionality that makes the system work efficiently. However, this means that PPML used on one press may not be used on another press. That is to say, there is standardization but no interoperability.
PPML/VDX
The standards developed by the CGATS team are a way for developers and producers to exchange variable data print jobs without the need for extensive agreement between the two. This creates conditions for interoperability, as anyone who creates a PPML/VDX file can confirm that the file can run on any output system that is compliant with PPML/VDX. In fact, the CGATS standard is based on existing definitions of PDF for image content and PPML for variable data structures.
The PDX/X-1 format is used in a strict subset of imaging and PPML according to the strict consistency level specification, with which all the requirements required for the job are included in a single file. Other criteria that are not strictly consistent are identified and used as an agreement between the file producer and the user. PPML/VDX is an ongoing work. As far as its current embodiment is concerned, it is not suitable for storing images in a cache between two jobs. For example, Amould's image requires RIP each time the part is reprinted.
Unified workflow
Of course, the real goal is to achieve: a single workflow can drive any device so that the user can decide which machine or device will work in the final moment. In a unified workflow, a job starts with a full digital job on a particular machine and can be passed to prepress/print/or other color devices as production volumes change.
As mentioned earlier, all digital printing systems use the same technique to decompose jobs into discrete elements for RIP and then reassemble them from the cache using a variable data language. As an example of this approach, GATF and Think121 have developed VaribleDataBenchmak (variable data benchmark) with which a single job can be processed into a composite variable data language to run on each digital color printing system. . Benchmark reference files can be obtained from the GATF for a negligible small fee. These files allow users to compare the performance and production characteristics of various systems or to support more than one variable data language for printing systems. The software used to generate benchmark files is widely used in printers that benefit the world. It supports devices from many manufacturers (in alphabetical order): Barco, Canon, EFI, Heidelberg, HP, IBM, NexPress, Oce, Xeikon, Xerox.
in conclusion
Variable data standards are important to our industry, but far less important than building effective workflows to make a company profitable. In evaluating these technologies, purchase decisions can be made for currently achievable technologies, as well as future unrealizable situations or exaggerated use of a pun: cache is a must.