-Position. Advanced Users Guide for I-Position version 5.1. The Smarter Alternative Imposing PDF & Postscript

Transcription

1 Advanced Users Guide for I-Position version 5.1 The Smarter Alternative Imposing PDF & Postscript -Position Impositioning for the ictp PlateWriter Series TM

2 I-Position Advanced Users Guide, part no. G&J_51506 rev. 0D Ultimate Technographics Inc Ultimate Technographics Inc., All rights reserved. This manual was written by Ultimate Technographics on behalf of Glunz & Jensen A/S to support the I-Position software, which is powered by the Ultimate Technographics Imposition engine. The manual is proprietary in nature; it may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without express written consent of Ultimate Technographics Inc and Glunz & Jensen A/S. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by either Ultimate Technographics Inc or Glunz & Jensen A/S. Neither Ultimate Technographics Inc, or Glunz & Jensen A/S assumes responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this manual and both companies assume no responsibility or liability for loss or damage incurred during or as a result of using Glunz & Jensen branded software or products. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademark or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications subject to change without notice. ictp, PlateWriter, iplate and i-position are trademarks of Glunz & Jensen A/S., Denmark

3 Table of contents How to upgrade your dongle to Full 8 About 8 Dongle Registration 8 Mail 9 Register 9 Copy Challenge 9 Paste Response 9 Job Manager 10 Imposing a Job 11 Final Output 11 Finishing Method 11 Binding 12 Trim Page Size 13 Press Paper Size 13 Sheet Size 14 Master Layout 14 HP.IMP 14 Job Options 15 Page Adjustments 15 Excess Image Control (Bleed Control) 16 Comments on Signature ID 16 Page Scale 17 Margin Alignment 17 Document List 17 Add...> 18 Use document pages 18 Two pages per PS page 18 Pages are in reverse order 19 Folio 19 Use PDF MediaBox Over TrimBox 19 Use PDF CropBox before Others 20 Replace...> 20 Insert...> 20

4 Table of contents Blank Pages 20 Change 21 Options 21 Landscape Correction 21 Print 22 Sheets 22 Colors 22 Printer 23 Copies 23 Resolution 23 Print to 24 Sides 24 Output 24 Normal 24 Mock-up 24 PDF Output 25 Scale to fit Print to printer 25 JDF 25 Printer Options 25 Mirror Output 26 Negative Output 26 Scaling 26 Marks 26 Use existing marks on layout 26 Folding Marks 26 Other Marks 26 Folding Marks 26 Collating Marks 27 With Spine ID 27 Top Color Bar 27 Bottom Color Bar 27 Side Guides 27 Cut Marks 28

5 Table of contents Double Cut Marks 28 1/4 in Length 28 Layout ID 28 Draw trim page Outline 28 Registration Marks 28 Press Sheet Marks 28 Side EPS Marks 28 Requirements 28 Side EPS Procedure 29 Applying the Mark 29 Position of EPS Side Mark 30 Output with no marks selected 31 Output with some marks selected 32 Output with some other marks selected 33 Printer Setup 34 RIP 34 Level 2 Device 34 Media 35 Resolution 35 Default 35 Fast Scan 35 Slow Scan 35 PPD Printer Settings 35 Manual Feed 35 Input Slots 35 Output Bin 36 Duplex 36 OPI 36 Standard or Automatic 36 Print Output Option 36 Plate/File 36 Sig/File 36 Job/File 36

6 Table of contents Margins 37 Left Margin 37 Bottom Margin 37 Cutting Gap 37 I-Position Preview 37 Preview Procedures 37 Preview Status 38 Viewing the Preview 38 Layouts and Templates 39 Job Status Area 40 Job Control Window 40 Signature Layout Setup 40 Signature Type 41 Normal: 41 Step and Repeat: 41 Stacked: 41 Document trim page size 41 Press paper size: 41 Layout Geometry 41 Tool Description 42 Origami 43 Customizing I-Position 45 I-Position Preferences 45 Default units of measure 45 Folding Marks 45 Custom paper sizes 46 Use PDF Trimbox as Page Size 46 Use PDF Cropbox as Page Size 46 Use PDF Mediabox as Page Size 46 JDF Settings 46 CIP4 JDF Output Marks Layer 46 CIP4 JDF Output Marks Layer in PDF 46 CIP4 Uses Possible Relative Pathing 46

7 Table of contents Move files to CIP4 JDF related path 46 CIP4 JDF Placeholders are Reservations 47 CIP4 JDF includes Color Information 47 JDF Output as Combined MIME Type (.mjd) 47 Output file temporary folder first 47 No RIP Phase Feedback 47 Built-in Marks on Black Layer Only 47 Outputting group of signatures 47 Auto-Position page to top-left corner (PDF Hot folder mode only) 48 Document pages in reversed order 48 Gutters for Step & Repat and Cut & Stack 48 Default units of measure 48 Folding Marks 48 Custom paper sizes 48 Spine ID and Collating Marks 48 In Sig ID 48 On-Spine 48 Point Size 49 X and Y Offset 49 Setting Preferences for layouts 49 Index 50

8 How to upgrade from Lite to Full version The i-position trial version will run for 30 days after it has been first installed. To upgrade your sofware from LIte to Full, please contact your Glunz and Jensen representative. After having the authorization, do the following: 1. In Job Manager, select About 2. Select Dongle Registration 8

9 How to upgrade from Lite to Full version 3. Click on Mail. This will automatically the Challenge Code to Ultimate. You will then receive a Response Code that you will paste in the Response field. Copy Challenge : This will copy the challenge code to paste into other applications. Register: To activate the dongle Paste Response: Click to paste the response previously copied from your application. KEEP THE SOFTWARE OPEN UNTIL THE RESPONSE CODE IS PASTE IN THE RESPONSE FIELD. 9

10 Job Manager At the top of the window you will find the Jobs waiting for imposition: section. In this window the Job Name and the number of Pages are detailed. To continue processing the job for output select Impose to delete the job from the job queue select Remove Immediately below the Jobs waiting for imposition: section is the Preprocessing incoming job: section. This section details the name of the incoming Job, its Phase of processing and the Progress of processing. Incoming jobs can be cancelled by clicking on Abort during Preprocessing. The last section displays processing details and status of the job The next section in I-Position Job Manager window allows the user to Edit or create new: Layout and Template. In this section new layouts to be used for imposing documents can be created or existing layouts can be modified. Editing or creating new templates refers to the ability to create predefined Imposition Templates where the parameters for imposing documents can be predefined and saved as a template. The I-Position Job Manager is the central control point of I-Position and appears automatically when I-Position is launched. This window is available only on the station when the software is launched. The I-Position Job Manager remains on the screen for as long I-Position is active and not minimized. 10

11 Imposing a Job Highlighting a job and selecting the Impose button in the I-Position Job Manager will display the I-Position Job window similar to the one at the left. This will display the pre-defined parameters of the Job including: The number of Pages in the job Whether the output will be Simplex or Duplex. The Binding method The Trim Page Size The Press Paper Size The Master Layout Final Output I-Position needs to know whether the job is single or double sided. If you wish to print on one side of the paper only, select Simplex. If you are going to be printing on both sides of the paper, select Duplex, in which case I-Position will generate both front and back plates for each layout or signature. Finishing Method There are three ways a publication can be assembled in I-Position - stacked, inserted or, a combination of inserted booklets that are stacked on top of each other. Stacked, or perfect bound as it is also commonly referred, implies that each signature will be placed on top of another and bound at the finishing stage. 11 NB: these options are grayed out when Simplex is selected as the Final Output format.

12 In order to ensure that signatures are in the correct order before binding, the bindery operators will look at the collating marks printed on the spine before finishing. Collating marks are automatically applied in I-Position whenever stacked has been selected as the finishing method. These marks are 1/4 high by 3/8 wide, center in the appropriate gutter, and are in 7 point Helvetica type. Binding Allows the user to choose between a Perfect Bound (stacked), Saddle Stitched (inserted), Step & Repeat (repetitions) and Cut & Stacked (cutted, stacked and then assamble) collating method. Also if either Perfect Bound or Saddle Stitched has been chosen, it is at this point where Right Side Binding or Repeating booklets (a mix of Saddle Stitch with Perfect bound jobs) can be specified. Perfect Bound binding: each layout is placed on top of another before being bound. Saddle Stitched binding: each layout is inserted inside each another. Step & Repeat binding: one or more pages are Stepped & Repeated either automatically or a predetermined number of times. When working with Step and Repeat, Best Fit Layouts are generated on the fly based on the number of pages, Press Paper Size and Step and Repeat Gutters (if any have been specified) 12

13 Cut and Stacked: a method whereby half of a job can be printed on half a press sheet and the other half on of the job on the other half of the press sheet. Then the finished output can be cut in half and stacked, one half on top of the other completing the finished work. (e.g. a 100 page book with a trim size of 5.5 x 8.5 is printed on a sheet of 11 x 8.5. Pages 1-50 will print on the left half of the sheet and pages on the right half. When finished printing the output is cut exactly in half and assembled with the left half on top of the right half completing the job.) Right Side Binding is used when working with impositions that need to be finished with the spine on the right side. This can only be chosen when either Perfect Bound or Saddle Stitch has been chosen as a binding method. Repeating Booklets allows a user to specify number of pages that is divisible into the total number of pages in the job and will follow the layout to repeat the same imposition sequence. The number of times the booklets will be repeated depends on the number of pages in the job and the number of pages in the booklet. This can only be chosen when either Perfect Bound or Saddle Stitch has been chosen as a binding method. Trim page size Defines the final, trimmed size of the publication. This does not include excess image (bleed) or gutters. Users can either select one of the pre-defined sizes from the drop down list, or manually enter the width and height for a custom size. When entering a new custom size, I-Position adds it to the list for your convenience. The number of Custom Paper Sizes displayed in the drop down list can be controlled in the preferences. The Dynamic checkbox allows the use of a master template regardless of the trim size of the source files in Hot Folder mode only. (See Tutorial 4). Press paper size This displays the size of the paper upon which the job will be printed. To allow for cut and folding marks, the press paper size should be 30 Adobe Points (10mm) margin. Note: In I-Position, a unit of measurement can be typed directly into the text-entry box, or you can select one by clicking the right mouse button, or by typing ctrl+a, when the cursor is in a Dimension entry box. 13

14 When manually entering one of the Inches and ths or of an Inch values, the fraction must be separated from the integer either by a space or by the inch symbol (a straight quotation mark) in order for I-Position to understand the entry. (Example: 2 2/16 or 2 2/16). In fact, many variations, including using in or inch will be recognized by I-Position. When entering a value in the same unit of measurement as the existing value, there is no need to retype the symbol of the unit of measurement, I-Position will default the value to the current units. For example, if the text entry box currently displays 210mm, and you wish to enter 297mm, you need only to type 297. If you use the right mouse button or ctrl-a to display the menu of available units, I-Position will automatically convert the existing displayed value to the equivalent value in the new unit of measure as you select from the list. Sheet Size Select the size of the sheet on which the job will be printed. If the job is to be outputted to a film recorder, the film size may be entered instead. NB: Although the maximum sheet size is approximately 30 x 30 the limitation is based on area. In addition to the default sizes, the Sheet Size pop-up list will also list the last ten custom sizes used. Master Layout The rest of the I-Position window is used to display the current Layout for the job on which you are working. The layout will have been pre-selected when creating the Job Template, however the user can create a new Layout or modify the existing Layout by selecting either the New or Edit buttons in the Master Layout section. This will bring the user to the Layout Editing Screen which is the interface providing all the tools necessary to create a Layout for use with I-Position. Selecting Library opens a dialog, which allows you to select a previously created, user-defined Layouts. Selecting View allows the user to provide I-Position with criteria for displaying Layouts that have been found in the Library. All layouts in folder displays all the layouts in the I-Position Layout folder. HP IMP exports job template in HP s IMP format 14

15 Suitable layouts for job refers to layouts that may fit. Best fit layouts: The selection is based on the current Job specifications. In other words, the correct job settings need to be entered before you select Best Fit. I-Position chooses from amongst the Layouts saved in the Library. Best-Fit templates can include user-defined templates. Job Options Selecting the Options button opens the Job Options window. These options allow you to make changes to the position and handling of Post- Script and PDF pages for the entire job. With the exception of Margin Alignment, each of these options can also be set and/or modified on a per-page or per-file basis in the Layout Editing Screen. Page Adjustments Refers to the process by which the contents of the PostScript and PDF pages are moved into the correct position in each page allocated space. 15 Normally, this is done automatically as long as the size of the PostScript or PDF pages match that entered into the Job Setup dialog and I-Position can correctly identify (index) the PostScript or PDF pages and determine the position of crop marks if they

16 are present and use these for position, otherwise Page Adjustment is accomplished by aligning the lower left corner of the trim page with the lower left corner of its allotted space in the imposition layout. To manually set adjustments for all (both odd and even) pages of the job de-select Auto Adjust and manually enter the values required. I-Position Page Adjustments always move the image within the trim page area, clipping off any portion of the page that would be placed beyond the limits of the page image area. Positive values move the image up and to the right, while negative values move the image down and to the left. The pictogram will change to show the results of the adjustments. To apply page adjustments independently to even or odd numbered pages, select the appropriate box. Note: Page Adjustments entered in the Document Options dialog override any setting made here. Page Adjustments made to a single page using the Page Adjustment tool from the Tool Palette, however, are cumulative. Excess Image Control I-Position allows the user to control how much bleed or excess image will be displayed around a page. By default, I-Position is set To Fold meaning the image of the page and bleed may extend to the midway point between two pages (i.e. the fold). If that page is positioned along the edge of a layout, then the bleed may extend all the way to the edge of the sheet. Note: I-Position cannot artificially create excess image. The bleed area must be included in the original PostScript data. If only one eighth of an inch bleed was designed with a page then I-Position will only image the page with 1/8 bleed regardless of the fact that there may be more than 1/8 space between the edge of a page and the fold. As with Page Adjustments, Excess Image Control can be applied independently to even and odd numbered pages of a layout. It can also be applied to specific files within the document list or on specific pages using the bleed control tool from the tool palette. Comment on Signature ID for all signatures in the job Allows the user to enter text that will be appended to I-Position s Signature ID. This is a Slug line that is optionally printed at the bottom left corner of every plate im- 16

17 age. Users may enter up to 100 characters in the slug line. Details about what will appear in I-Position s Signature I.D. can be found under the Configuration menu in Sig ID and Spine Mark Settings Page Scale Page Scale in the Job Options dialog will enlarge or reduce all of the pages in a job. To change the page scale, click on the Page Scale check box and enter the scaling percentages in the horizontal and/or vertical text boxes. The pictogram will scale according to the value entered. I-Position allows anamorphic page scaling. Note: When pages are scaled, manual Page Adjustments may be necessary. Margin Alignment For Saddle Stitched publications, I-Position features automatic margin alignment based on the thickness of the stock being used. As a result of inserting signatures inside one another, those inserted last are also the furthest away from the center of the publication. Subsequently, when the publication is trimmed down to its final size, the text and image areas of the outside margins on the inside sections may appear much closer to the outside edge of the page. For simplicity I-Position allows the user to choose from three different stock thickness: Thin, Medium, and Thick. Document List Next to the Options button in the I-Position Job window is the Documents button, which will bring the user to the Document List. This is where the user can view pages and documents that have been included in the Job and modify them if required. The Document List is where you tell I-Position what PostScript pages you wish printed in the Signatures. The pages must have been printed to disk by the application that created them, as PostScript files, PDF files or EPSF s. I-Position can process Post- Script files created in this way from over 150 different applications. 17

18 The Document List dialog is divided into several parts. The list of files that have been specified for the job is shown in the window on the right-hand side of the dialog under Document list: The windows on the left of the dialog are used to browse and select the files form your hard disks and network drives. I-Position will only display the file types specified in the List files of type drop down box. Display path: if this option is included, the full path name of every file in the document list will be displayed, otherwise only the file name will be shown. To add files to the Document List, users can select individual files, either by highlighting them and clicking on the Add button or simple double-clicking on the file name. Users may also select groups of files by either holding down the Shift key and selecting consecutive files, or by using the Control key and selecting non-consecutive files. Selecting the folder and clicking on the Add button may add the entire contents of a folder. At the bottom of the window the Selected document area displays information about the page or pages selected and directly below the Document List section a running count of the number of pages currently in the Document List is displayed. Add >> The Add Document Dialog allows you to customize the way the files will be processed by I-Position. Use document pages Allows users to select a range of pages to use from a file. Once the file has been added and indexed, the range displayed to the left of the file name in the Document List. Note that the values entered here are relative to the total number of pages in the selected file. You cannot specify, for example, a desired range of pages from a file containing less than 35 pages. 18

19 Miscellaneous Two pages per PS page: Should be selected only if the document files have been created such that two printed trim pages exist in each PostScript page of the document (double page Spreads). Occasionally, a client will create such a PostScript. This will allow pages to be entered twice in the list. You will need to perform a large leftward adjustment to the right-hand page in these files (the even pages) in order to get them to appear properly (see the Document Options Dialog). Pages are in reverse order: Allows the user to reverse the order of the pages in the PostScript file(s) being added. This is useful when printing books that read with the binding on the right (as with the Japanese language) or when compensating for an error in the PostScript creation. Folio: The numbers that appear on the printed page are referred to as folio numbers. Folio numbers differ from page sequence numbers in that the latter represent the placement location of the individual pages, independent of their actual folio numbers. Documents placed in the Document List are distributed in physical order (i.e. the first page of the first file is placed as page sequence number one, regardless of the folio number which may actually appear on the printed page). I-Position allows the user to assign folio numbers to the pages of a file as it is imported into the Document List. Traditionally, planning and estimation departments prefer to work with folio numbers and not sequence numbers. Although folio numbers cannot be seen on screen, they can be printed out for proofing in a mock-up to a laser printer. There are two other ways you can add documents to the Document List. Use PDF MediaBox Over TrimBox This option works only when using PDF files. By default, I-Position centers PDF file using the PDF Trimbox. It tags the lower left corner of the TrimBox over the lower left corner of the Imposition bounding box in the layout. These options change the behavior and forces Impostrip to center the page using the MediaBox of the PDF. In this case, Impostrip calculates the center point of the PDF page and tags it on the center point of the Imposition bounding box in the layout. From there, it images the page in all directions. 19

20 Use PDF CropBox before Others This option works only when using PDF files. It forces Imposition to use and center the PDF CropBox instead of the MediaBox or TrimBox. Note: the last two options, when used in the document list, are applied to the documents that are being added, inserted or changed in the document list. Subsequent PDF files are not affected. If you need to set one of these options as the default for all files, used the same options under the program Preferences. Replace button (for Last Minute corrections) After the document list has been specified, there are occasions when a correction for one or more pages is received from your client in separate files. The Replace feature allows you to easily replace existing pages in the document list with pages from these new files. To look at this feature now simply select any single file in the file list (in the left side of the Window), and clicking on the Replace button. The Replace Document List pages dialog that is now displayed is very similar to the Add Document dialog, except that you must specify the page or range of pages in the document list that should be replaced by the page or range or pages in the new file. This will cause the existing document list to be automatically adjusted to remove the replaced pages and add the new page. Insert >> If there are already pages in the Document list, this option will insert pages in a given position within the list. Select a file in the File List and the insert option will be available. Select the position in the document list where pages should be inserted and click on Insert. 20 Blank Pages Many jobs require blank pages to fill out jobs to a particular number of pages, to hold the place of an advertisement or other hand-stripped page, or to ensure a chapter begins on a right-hand page.

21 Blank pages can be added anywhere in the Document List or click on the white space following the Document List to indicate you want to add pages to the end of the list, and click the Blank button again. Change To change the Document Options of a file already placed in the Document List, highlight the file and click on the Change button or double-click on the file name. Selecting the Options button from the ADD or Change Document dialog opens the Document Options dialog. Options The options here are almost the same as the Job Options discussed before. Except that any adjustments done here applies only to the pages or range of pages of the documents that are being added, inserted or changed. Landscape Correction Landscape Correction is present to correct a common mistake made by those creating PostScript files of landscape documents. Normal printing procedure for such documents dictates that the Landscape orientation be selected in the Page Setup dialog box of the application that is printing. This orients the landscape image correctly on the paper. Unfortunately, with a PostScript file, this merely enters a rotation command, which can severely confuse matters when working with imposition software. Landscape documents should be created on Portrait-Oriented paper (in the Page Setup dialog box of the creating application). Naturally, this would require selecting a paper size that had a width that could accommodate the width of the Landscape Trim Page plus all marks. 21 The Landscape correction feature allows you to Rotate those Landscape Trim Pages that were created on Landscape PostScript Pages. Click on the icon that represents the direction in which the PostScript page needs to be rotated. Impostrip will compensate for the incorrect orientation and prevent the file from having to be recreated.

22 Print The print dialog is started by clicking on the Print button in the I-Position Job window, or by selecting Print (Ctrl+P) from the File menu. From this Window, there are other features that can be selected trough the use of Setup and Options. Let s see at each individual option.. Sheets Lists all the sides in the job, i.e. the fronts and back, or tops and bottoms, or each sheet. You may select individual entries from this list or use the standard Windows modifier keys (Shift and Command) to select multiple Sheets to be printed. Colors The Colors List reports all the colors detected in the job during Indexing. You may select individual entries from this list or use the standard Windows modifier keys (Shift and Command) to select multiple colors. If your files are composite (PDF or PS) the list reports All colors as the color. That means that separations will be done at the RIP, if need be. If your files are separated, then a list of all color will be given and individual colors can be selected and printed. 22

23 Printer The Printer List shows all the PPDs or printers I-Position is currently configured to use. You scroll through this pull-down list to choose the PPD that better adapt to your printing needs or choose what is called the Final Output Device this is the device upon which the job will ultimately be printed. If at first you do not see the device you want to use, scroll down the pull-down list and select Others... Selecting Others... will take you to the Printer Selection dialog box, where you will find a long list of built-in printers and PPD drivers. Choose printers by keeping the Control key pressed while making the selection. Copies In the Copies text-entry box, you may choose to print more than one copy of a selected sheet by entering the number of copies in the Copies text-entry box. Resolution Depending on the device selected, you can also specify an output resolution. Because the commands required to alter the resolution are provided by the manufacturer of the device (in the PPD), not all devices will have resolution settings available. It is however useless to enter resolution when exporting to PDF. 23

24 Print to This option lists the actual output devices than can be used to print to. It lists the local and shared network printers available to the station where I-Position is installed. Notice that you can select a folder to print to disk (click on Disk to browse a hard drive), so that the output will be saved in a form of a PS or PDF file. Sides In the Sides List, you may select the All Fronts and/or All Backs option to print all the Front and/or Back plates in the list. Also available is Manual Duplexing for nonduplex printers, this option will print all Front signatures in ascending order and the Back signature in descending order. Last to first will output signature in ascending order, but the backs will be printer before the fronts. Back to First sends the sheets in descending order. Output This option controls the format and type of the output file send to the printer used. Normal Normal will print the PostScript or PDF pages with all information included. The output format is PostScript if PDF Output is not selected. JDF export CIP4 JDF to compatible workflows. Mock-up In order to get a proof of the imposition pattern and the placement of marks before imaging film or plates, I-Position features the ability to output Mockups. A mock-up will contain an indication of the head orientation of a particular page, the page sequence number, as well as any specific page variables such as bleed and page adjustments and applied marks as well as margin and distance measurements and information on pages. With Mock-up selected, none of the PostScript pages are printed. 24

25 Select Normal if a job is ready for final imaging. PDF Output This will export an imposed PDF file. If normal is selected, then the PDF will contain the pages in the imposition. To print a PDF in Normal Mode, imposed pages have to be PDF files. If Mock-up is selected, it will print a PDF file with a mock-up of the imposition (mockup mode described above) Scale to fit Print to printer Scale to Fit causes all output to be scaled down so that it will fit on the Actual Output Device when the Actual Output Device is smaller than that required to print the job. Note: This feature is not applicable to PDF output. The required percentage reduction is added to the end of the Signature ID line. JDF This feature exports JDF file (Job Definition Format). Printer Options Using the Options button Print Dialog box, a new Widows pop-up with more options. The options selected here are saved in an internal file, based on the Printer (PPD) that is selected in the main Print Window. Since the options are saved, they will be selected the next time that the same PPD is used. This is what we called the Print Style. This Window is divided into 3 groups of options: Options, Scaling and Marks. 25 Options Mirror and Negative are available if the device (PPD) chosen in the Printer List supports control of these options from within a PostScript file.

26 Mirror Output This option causes the output to be mirrored on the X-axis Negative Output It output as a negative image. Scaling I-Position features the ability to distort the output anamorphically. Scaling can be used to apply distortion or to reduces, with more precision than the Scale to fit option. Enter the scaling percentage needed. It can be applied in either directions or axis (Horizontal and Vertical) or in both at the same time. Marks This is the area where marks to be printed as part of the layouts, should be chosen. These marks will appear on all sheets. Some of the options will be grayed-out, depending upon the Binding style that has been chosen as well as the Output type that has been selected. Use existing marks on layout Using marks on the layout will output the marks that have been manually added when editing the layout. Two options are available: Folding Marks Print Folding marks that were added manually to the layout. Other Marks. Print all other marks that were added manually to the layout. The following marks are added to the sheet by the program, at printing time. No need to add the marks manually to the layout. Folding Marks These marks are used to setup and calibrate folding equipment or as a guide to fold the sheet. 26 When making custom layouts, I-Position automatically places fold marks in the appropriate locations (i.e. cross hairs between four adjoining pages; horizontal lines between vertically adjacent pages; and vertical lines between horizontally adjacent pages)

27 By default, each segment of the mark (e.g. a cross hair is made up of four intersecting line segments) is 3/8 long and 0.25 Adobe Points thick. These are hairs, T marks, L marks or simple lines. The length and thickness of the fold mark can be customized in the Preferences dialog, which can be found under the Configuration menu. Collating Marks This option places a Collating Mark in the spine of the printed Signatures to ensure that sections are in the correct order before binding. They are a set of small rectangular boxes. Before finishing, the bindery operators will look at the Collating Marks printed on the spines of the stacked, folded Signatures. When gathered in the correct order, the effect resembles a staircase. * Please Note: The Collating Marks and Spine ID options are ONLY available when you select Perfect Bound as the Collating method. The length and thickness of the fold mark can be customized in the Layout ID and Spine Mark settings option, which can be found under the Configuration menu. With Spine ID Places in the Spine a numerical identifier (1 for Signature 1, etc) Strips consisting of multiple colored square boxes placed along an edge of the layout are referred to as Color Bars and are generally used to check the distribution of ink on a printing press. I-Position features industry standard GATF (Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) Color Bars, in both composite and separated form. Top Color Bar Prints a color bar on top of the Sheet. Bottom Color Bar Prints a color bar at the bottom of the Sheet. Side Guides Place sides guides along the press sheet to help offset pressmen to check the press alignment. Can be placed in four (4) positions. 27

28 Cut marks Consists of line segments at each corner of every page. They are 0.25 Adobe Points thick. They start 5 Adobe Points from the edge of the page and extend to the edge of the sheet. They will only appear if there is enough space between adjacent pages or the edge of the sheet and a page. Double Cut Marks Also known as Bleed mark. It is the same as the cut mark but with double lines. 1/4 Inch Length Place 1/4 inch crop marks Layout ID This places a text string or slug line at the lower left hand corner of the layout. It contains the name of the job, the layout number, whether it is the front or the back plate, the color it represents, and the scale factor. Draw trim page Outline This option prints a dashed line around the Trim area of the page in the layout. For proofing purposes. Registration marks Color Registration Marks are commonly used for aligning color plates. Although not displayed on screen, color registration marks are applied to all layouts containing multiple colors. Color Registration Marks are applied to the entire layout in four groups of two marks positioned along the edges Press sheet marks It prints line segments at each corner of every Sheet, to delimit the size of the printed sheet. Side EPS Mark To import PostScript or PDF custom marks. Requirements Accepted format for custom marks: EPS and PDF For PDF output, custom marks applied must be in PDF format. EPS files must be saved as ASCII format and with no preview. 28

29 Procedure Copy the custom mark into the Side EPS Marks folder of I-Position Launch the program Applying the mark 1. Click on the Side EPS Marks Button found in the Print Option window 2. From the list of available imported marks, select the one to tag to Signatures. 3. Select the position where the mark must image from the Side EPS Marks window The Front and the Back of a layout are independent for placement of the mark. To add a mark to both sides, it is necessary to make both selections in the window. Use the following explanation to tag a mark

30 Position of EPS Side Mark Front Left Front Right Top Top Center Center Bottom Bottom - Front refers to the Front side of a Signature. - Back refers to the Back side of a Signature (in a double sided layout). - The anchor points refer to the area of the Layout where the custom mark should be applied. - Top refers to the top of the layout - Center refers to the middle area of the layout, from top to bottom - Bottom refers to the bottom of the layout. Apply the EPS/PDF color bar into any of the anchor points, depending on where the mark must be imaged. 30

31 Output with no marks selected Note: All the marks displayed are the marks that are part of the source file. 31

32 Output with some marks selected Output with marks selected above

33 Output with some other marks selected Output with marks selected above

34 Printer Setup Using the Setup button from the Print Dialog box, a new Widows pop-up with more options. The options selected here are saved in an internal file, based on the Printer (PPD) that is selected in the main Print Window. Since the options are saved, they will be selected the next time that the same PPD is used. This is what we called the Print Style. All the options found here alter the way the program outputs normally. This Window is divided into 6 groups of options: 1. RIP (Orientation) 2. Media 3. PPD Printer Settings 4. OPI Print Output Option 6. Margins RIP (Orientation) Level 2 Device. If you have a level 2 or 3 RIP connected to your output device, you must select this item. In some devices, this setting allows to rotate the images (not individual pages in the layout, but the whole sheet). Only available when Level 2 Device is selected. If is not selected, the sheets output in the normal orientation. Some RIPs are configured to automatically rotate all incoming files. The value applied here will be added to whatever orientation is selected at the RIP 34

35 2. Media Resolution If the printer or output device you are outputting to, allows you to control the resolution at which it plots, you will be able to select one of its available resolutions in this list. Default. When selected, the program uses the maximum media size of the device of the chosen PPD. Deselecting default allows editing the media size, in the next two settings, and lets you specify both the maximum length and width of the installed media for a particular device. Fast Scan Normally, this value represents the media Width. Note: if the device used is a Drum recorder (imagesetter with a drum), the fast scan represents the length Slow Scan Normally, this value represents the media Length. Note: if the device used is a Drum recorder (imagesetter with a drum), the slow scan represents the width 3. PPD Printer Settings These settings allow manipulating part of the behavior of the output device. It is not available for all devices. It depends on the PPD used. Manual Feed When selected, it disables the automatic paper feed of the output device. Input Slots It allows choosing the paper bin to use. 35

36 Output bin It allows selecting in which of the output bins to put the printed output. Duplex It activates the duplex option of a printing device (if available) so that the front and the back are printed automatically. If your output device has the ability to print on both sides of the paper, you can select Duplex to activate this feature from within the program. 4. OPI If your workflow includes OPI comments, which substitutes low resolution images for high-resolution images during output, specify whether it is of the Standard or Automatic type. Normally, Standard should be selected but under some circumstances, depending on the OPI system you are using, it may be necessary to choose the Automatic selection to ensure that image substitution is done by your OPI system. If used, I-Position will know what are the handling requirements that are inserted into the output file during printing so that the OPI comments are respected. 5. Print Output Option If printing to file, these settings allows to specify how many output files will be printed to disk. 1 Plate/File will create a file for each plate or color in each sheet. 1 Signature/File will give you 1 file containing all plates or colors, for each individual sheet Job/File results in one output file holding all of the plates or color and all sheets in the job.

37 6. Margins In some cases you may wish to insert a Margin to prevent image clipping to compensate for inaccurately loaded material (or for other reasons). Adding a margin will increase the size of the sheet provided the material used has room for it. Left Margin adds a margin to the left of the sheet. Bottom Margin adds a margin to the Bottom of the sheet. Cutting Gap If printing on a continuous piece of material (roll of paper or film). Cutting Gap refers to the amount of space that occurs between images to facilitate cutting them into separate layouts with a knife or scissors (this should be left at zero for Drum recorders). I-Position Preview I-Position has the ability to generate a preview of the Imposition. The preview generated is a PDF file that opens with the version of Acrobat installed in the same computer as I-Position. Marks in the template are also viewable in the preview, as well as the marks under Printer Option Procedure. 1. Under Print option Once the imposition is done (template and Documents already linked to the job), go to the Print Dialog Box. The Preview option is found under the Print Dialog Box. 1 37

38 It is possible to generate a preview of only some signatures in the job by selecting the signatures to preview. Use the control key to select more than one signature. Click on Preview. Note: There is no need to configure an output device or destination folder. 2. Preview Status. The Preview Status appears, showing the progress of the Preview Generation. 3. Viewing the Preview When the Preview is generated, it is automatically opened with Acrobat. Each Side (Front & Back) of the Signature appears as a Page. If your Job contains many Signatures, it is recommended to use Layout ID Option, under the Print Options, to identify each Signature with its proper side. Note: After approval of the preview it is necessary to print the normal way. The preview cannot be used as an output file to be sent to a device. 38

39 Layouts and Templates Clicking on the Layout button in the I-Position Job Manager window will bring the user to the Layout Editing Screen. The Toolbar buttons give you easy access to the most commonly used functions in I-Position, but if you want to have more screen space available to display your Layouts, their display can be switched off, and on again, by using the View Toolbar item in the View menu. Whenever you point at a Toolbar button with the mouse cursor, a ToolTip appears after a short delay to identify the function of that button. Try this now, put the mouse cursor on the left mouse button in the Toolbar and wait until the ToolTip appears. Now move the cursor to each button in turn to have the description of each displayed. Buttons are made inactive, or grayed, whenever the corresponding function is inappropriate or not required. Whenever a button is temporarily inactive, the ToolTip contains a line shaded in red, which describes why the button is inactive. 39

40 The Job Status Area The Job Status Area is used to display information and status about the current job and the current selected Signature. It is normally displayed immediately below the Menu/Toolbar Area, but can be moved to the very bottom of the screen, or switched off, by using the View Status at Top and View Status at Bottom items in the View menu. Any changes made to the specification of a job are reflected in the Status Area as soon as you close the dialog in which the changes are made, by clicking on OK. Job Control Window In order to correctly select and number a layout, I-Position needs to know some basic information about the jobæjust like the information a manual or traditional stripper needs to know a little about the job before selecting an appropriate grid or rule-out for the light table on which to align individual pages. Signature Layout Setup From the File menu choose New Layout (Ctrl+N) or click on the first button which the ToolTip shows as Create New Template. 40

41 Signature Type: The Signature Type pull-down list allows you to choose from three Signature Types. Normal: indicates that the numbers you assign to the pages will be treated as sequence numbers, which will automatically be renumbered correctly in sequence as you add and insert Signature Templates to the job. The Origami tool can be used to automatically number and orient the pages, or you can number and orient them manually in the Signature edit screen. Step and Repeat: Making multiples of a single page by assembling the page into a flat and exposing it repeatedly in different places on the printing media. Stacked: A grouping of similar items dealt with from the top-down. Document trim page size: is used to enter the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the final trim page. Press paper size: is used to enter the horizontal and vertical dimensions of your press sheet. For reference, the gripper is always at the bottom of the screen. This size optionally may or may not include the non-printing gripper area. The dimensions entered here determine how the sheet will appear in the Template Edit Window. You may choose from the preset Document Trim Page and Press Paper Sizes, or your may enter your own. The default sizes are taken from the sizes last used in a job. 41 Layout Geometry: Allows you to select the Page orientation, i.e. the orientation of the I-Position trim pages on the paper, the number of columns per side, and the number of rows per side. I-Position will take the Trim Page Size, the Press Paper Size, and the orientation you specify, and will calculate the maximum number of pages that can fit on the sheet. These are the values that appear by default in Rows per side and Columns per side. They can, of course, be overridden by simply entering your own desired values. In I-Position, Rows are horizontal and Columns are vertical.

42 This is also where it is determined whether a job will print on only one side of the press sheet (single sided) or will print on both sides (double sided). On the left hand side of the layout is a column of buttons. These buttons can be used to affect single pages or multiple pages in the layout. The last three buttons provide the same functionality as can be found in the Job Options or Document Options but are applied on a page by page basis. The second button will activate Origami Ultimate s virtual folding tool which will quickly and easily create the correct folding and therefore the correct sequence and orientation for the pages in the Layout. will return the User back to the Signature Layout Setup is to use the Origami Tool used to manually number the pages in the layout is used to center the layout vertically is used to center the layout horizontally is used to orient the page(s) left is used to orient the page(s) up is used to orient the page(s) bottom is used to orient the page(s) right Left click: Adjust page images, Right Click: Set adjustment amount Left click: Change bleed of pages, Right click: Set bleed amount Left click: Change scale of pages, Right click: Set scaling amount 42

43 The Origami Window The automatic Numbering and Orientation of Pages. If you know how the printed sheet is going to be folded, you can use the Origami feature to automatically set orientation and sequence numbers instead of manually using the Tool palette. By duplicating the folding sequence on the screen, you can create a virtual foldingdummy just as you would manually by folding a piece of paper and numbering the individual pages. Clicking the Origami button on the Tool Palette will open the animated folding screen and display the entire press sheet divided into sections representing the individual pages. To fold the sheet, click on the spine along which the sheet will be folded. Position the cursor in the appropriate location, (i.e. above or below the selected spine for vertical folds; left or right of the selected spine for horizontal folds), and click the mouse button. Folding can be done either to the front or to the back, depending on which folding key is being held when the mouse button is clicked. To fold to the back, select a spine and hold down the Shift key. Click the mouse button to fold. To fold to the front, select a spine and hold down the Ctrl key. Click the mouse button to fold. 43

44 As you fold the sheet, the left position of the screen keeps a record of the selected spine and direction of each fold. If you wish to go back to a previous fold, simply click on the desired thumbnail from the scrolling visual list. Because Origami uses 3-D animation, folding can be done either toward you or away from you, depending on the location of the cursor when the mouse button is clicked. To fold away from you, select a spine, move the cursor to the desired spine, press the Shift key and then click the mouse. To fold toward you, select a spine, move the cursor to the desired spine, press the Control key and then click the mouse. To de-select a spine, simply move the cursor to the gray background area next to the selected spine, wait for the cursor to return to its normal arrow shape, and click the mouse button Origami also features a unique folding history. As you fold the sheet, the left portion of the screen keeps a visual record of the selected spine and direction of each fold. If you wish to go back to a previous fold, simply click on the desired thumbnail from the scrolling visual list. 44

45 Customizing I-Position Users can customize parts of I-Position to suit their own taste by selecting the Preferences from the configuration menu. I-Position has a configuration menu in the I-Position Job window as well as in the Layout Editing Screen. In the I-Position Job window there are two choices for customizing the I-Position environment Preferences and Sig ID & Spine Mark settings I-Position Preferences Default units of measure Allow the user to select either Imperial units (inches) or Metric (mm). Folding marks Allows the user to specify a length and thickness for folding marks used in the layouts and Sheets. 45

46 Custom paper sizes Allows the user to specify how many custom sizes the Press Paper and Trim Page drop down list may contain. For PDF Document Use PDF Trimbox as Page Size By default, I-Position centers PDF file using the PDF Trimbox. It tags the lower left corner of the TrimBox over the lower left corner of the Imposition bounding box in the layout. These options change the behavior and forces Impostrip to center the page using the MediaBox of the PDF. In this case, Impostrip calculates the center point of the PDF page and tags it on the center point of the Imposition bounding box in the layout. From there, it images the page in all directions. Use PDF Cropbox as Page Size Same as above but uses the CropBox of the PDF for centering. Use PDF Mediabox as Page Size Same as above but uses the MediaBox of the PDF for centering. Note: these options are also available in a job-by-job basis in the Document list. JDF Settings CIP4 JDF Output Marks Layer When selected a separate PS mark layer is outputted. CIP4 JDF Output Marks Layer in PDF When selected, marks layer is in PDF format CIP4 JDF Uses Possible Relative Pathing When selected the source files are referenced into the JDF. Move files to CIP4 JDF relative path Populated JDF files are copied to a folder - Use Single Directory: Files are copied in the same directory. 46

47 CIP4 JDF Placeholders are Reservations. For workflow that requires this information in JDF CIP4 JDF includes Color Information To convey color information in the JDF JDF Output as Combined MIME Type (.mjd) Source Documents and marks are included in the JDF File. Other Preferences features Output file to temporary folder first Write the output file to a temporary folder. No RIP Phase Feedback This option does not send any activity information to the RIP, so the RIP process files faster. By default, I-Position sends information of every step of the printing process, like Signature being printed, page being printed etc. Output Group of Signature in One File This option gives the ability to print groups of Sgnatures at a given moment for one job. When printing, a job can be send to the printer by groups of signatures. Useful option when printing large imposition, like in the case of imposing variable data. For instance a 50 signature job can be sent by group of 10 signatures each, so the RIP can start processing the first 10 signatures while I-Position prepares the next 10 signatures, repeating this cycle until the whole job is sent. Note: The last group may contain fewer Signatures then all the other groups, depending of the number of Signatures defined and the number of Signatures in the job. Built-in Marks on Black Layer Only This option enable printing of Built-in marks (Cut, Folding and Page Outline marks) on the Black Plate only. 47

48 Auto-position page to left-top corner (PDF hotfolder mode only) When using automation (automatic impositions) and PDF pages, centering of pages can be changed in the Preferences so that the program uses the left top corner of the PDF page as the reference point. By default, I-Position uses the lower left corner to center the PDF page. Document pages in reversed order (hot folder mode only) Import source file in reverse order. Gutters for Step & Repeat and Cut & Stack When used it overrrides the gutter information in each template used in every job, with the values defined in this preference. By default, Use Settings in Layout File is active, so I-Position will respect the gutter information in the original Layout File. Spine ID and Collating Marks Printing sheets are short of use when if some kind of information that helps identify it is missing. Information as the name of job, sheet side, etc. is needed when printing sheets. This is the area where the variables of information to appear are set. The Sig ID & Spine Mark settings will display the Sig ID and Spine Configuration window. Used to select what information is printed on either the Signature ID or on the Spine as well as defining or modifying the size and position of the Collating Marks. In Sig ID. This is a line of text printed at the bottom of the layout (horizontal line). The type of information included in that line depends on the options selected here. On-Spine Same as Sig ID but printed vertically, on the spine. The type of information included in that line depends on the options selected here. 48