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Plato User Manual - Product Documentation

1. New Layout j Ga Open Layout Ctra Close Ey Save Layout Ctrl 5 Save Layout as Ctrl Alk 5 Launch Wiorkhlow Save and Select in Esko Automation Engine Pilot ShiFE 5 Save Red Selection and Select in Esko Qutomation Engine Pilot Import CAD Data Export Layout Ctrl Alk E Digital converting Export Layout Setup Ctrl 4lk 0 Document Info MMP Property Info Print Ctrl F More Exit Ctri Q 2 9 EI Esko m e New Layout offers you the possibility to create a Grid based Layout a CAD Layout or a SmartLayout You can also set up a new layout with the help of the Layout Assistant e Open Layout allows you to open an existing layout e Close closes the job you are currently working on e Save Layout saves the layout you are currently working on e Save Layout as saves the layout under another name e Save and Select in Automation Engine Pilot automatically selects the open file in the Automation Engine Pilot When the document has been changed you will be prompted to save the changes Note The Automation Engine Pilot needs to be running e Save Red Selection and Select in Automation Engine Pilot saves the red selection and automatically selects the open file in the Automation Engine Pilot When the document has been changed you will be prompted to save the changes e mport CAD Data allows you to import a CAD layout e Export Layout allows you to export a
2. Wo Distribute fe 2 aos I Automatic Gaps Example 2 Type Distribute Gaps between Stations no Gap no Stagger Example 3 126 Plato Plato Type Distribute Gaps no Gap no Stagger it oe ete t w BLAIRON ites i Restart after 2 howe Continuous IY Distribute E AUE cs i a ape IY Automatic Gaps AS BLAIRON S P T a wa ae a iF a r Example 4 Type Continuous Around no Gap no Stagger A P aT foe BLAIROH i e cH 250 eee ae es tree l ie Restart after E OWE F Continuous Pe BEE I T T g aLainow re W Distribute fe Ed Edi E3 Eel ie oo oo oo oo I Automatic Gaps Example 5 Type Continuous Across no Gap no Stagger Ha Plato Bestar after 3 ows F Continuous W Distribute E oo oo oo oo He a Wo Automatic Gaps rato i HE i oc 1 T 7 Example 6 Type Continuous Across and Around no Gap no Stagger oo OE et ee ee g BLAIRO 5 ae kpa ipei p EE BLAIRON Stagger ep go cn 250 Restart after E TOWS Continuous 4 J TEN ho T BLAIRON E i Pale i tates A Distribute Lay A Se ai A aay AS EJ M Automatic Gape ij BLAIRON ee Example 7 Type Continuous Around no Gap Stagger Columns 50 128 Plato Cia 50 0 Restart after E columns I Continuous I Distribute E E oo oo oo oO I Au
3. Document Profile crom offs Description crom atts O Show Formulas 10 5 2 Plate and Sheet The Plate and Sheet tab allows you to specify the dimensions of your plate and sheet 322 Plato Layout Setup xX Plate amp Sheet Plate Hame Custom o Plate Height fosso SO Fi Plate width 1520 0 a 3 Sheet Height JVPLATE Fi Sheet width HPLATE Fi Bs 5 Gripper Edge fo i E Top Margin jo an Marcin 10 ke Sheet Position on Plate attom Margin Lett Margin jo Right Margin jo A Available Area oO Height 106 000 mm Vertical Offset fo fE width 1520 000 mm Horizontal Offset 0 fe M Show Formulas o Cancel 4 To facilitate this procedure you have a number of formulas at your disposal which you can activate by clicking the fx symbol to the right of each entry field When you click fx the Calculator pops up Right clicking in the entry field will make the calculator pop us as well Note You can toggle Show Formulas to either work with formulas or with numeric values Plate Size Enter the height and width of the plate in the Size fields You can create a plate with any dimensions the plate can be wider than it is tall taller than it is wide or Square Sheet Size Enter the height and width of the sheet in the Size fields You can create a sheet with any dimensions the sheet can be wider than it is tall taller than it is wide or squar
4. ET Esko m 202 Note You can also apply both single curve and automatic DGC simultaneously resulting in a cumulation of both effects INKS The inks are listed you can de select them by clicking the print icon z E Check the box to use technical inks in the output job Note The inks tab becomes available when esporting to a separated file The separation tabsheet becomes available when exporting to CMKY and Composite The Separation tab offers the possibility to put multiple inks on the same separation plate Dutput Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced W Use technical inks in output Inks Total 8 e E E Match Gold gt E MB PANTONE 7532C e gt E tios Cut e 2 E Attios Crease Color Management The Color Management tab is identical to the Color Management tab of the PostScript Export dialog box Plato wo a mamao om o a em o a Absolute Background 7 D Embed the Document prone as FWP Wutput intent erom othe Rasterize The Rasterize tab is identical to the Rasterize tab of the PostScript Export dialog box Em Compression Encoding 263 Be Esko m 264 e Binary The image data is represented as binary data This results in compact files that are not editable in a common ASCII editor however Nor can these files be sent over a communication line using a communication protocol that relies on control characters in the data stream itsel
5. m rat ee s OO EX pie shape fed C1 A E Bihon Front Fil TimBowt mood 200 a 4 18 000mm 0000mm O pekea O O T T T SCT T CCC GC Settings Grid 1 a Station Station Mame Ja Blairon Front Final pdf o Die Shape Trim Box Geometry Be Be oer HA fio oo0 mm i Co fo 000 mm E 20 000 mr Restart after 2 rows P Continuous T Distribute mjin Oo jeje Oo Automatic Gaps Gap HE fi 5 000 mrm o o00 mm The dialog box positions the station prior to repeating The station is repeated in a 3X4 grid The grid has a 15 mm gap between rows no gap between columns No head turn is used T22 Plato Example Four e Position center at 90 120 e Gap No gap between rows 15 mm gap between columns e Direction Up and Right e Head Turn Head turn on row e Number of rows 3 e Number of Columns 4 Select the Station and click the Info button The Grid Settings dialog box appears 123 ESKO Plato Settings Grid 1 q x Station Station Mame a 4 Blairon Front Final pdf o Die Shape Trim Box Geometry Stagger Be Ge oer st 30 000 mm ial 0 000 mm E 120 000 mm Restart after 2 fevers Continuous Distribute jaye Oo jeje Oo Automatic Gaps Gaps ae 0 000 mrm rae 15 000 mm The dialog box positions the station prior to repeatin
6. F OK Cancel Plato 4 1 5 Saving a station To save a station click Save Station on the Station menu Note that saving a station is only needed if the station needs to be used in another Esko Plato file Station definitions are embedded inside the files To save a station file 1 On the Station menu click Save Station The Save dialog box appears x O E Save in oS Plato 6 grid j E My Recent Documents Desktop My Documents File name GaelicGhost Final Prnt odfsta Save as lype PDF 5TA File Cancel Job Search Profiles defaults Setup ti 2 Type a name for your station file Locate the directory where you would like to save the file 4 Click Save to save the contents of your file Clicking Cancel will close the Save dialog box without saving your file oO 4 2 Using a CAD file to create a station A CAD file can be used to create the die shape for your station There are different ways to import CAD designs 1 Up When importing a CAD layout in the Sheet View empty stations are created which will have the 1 up CAD design as die shape Also when creating a new station when clicking the Add Station button in the Grids or Stations dialog box and selecting a CAD design an empty station will be created which will have the CAD design as die shape The design can also be imported from a CAD file from within the Station View e CAD designs automa
7. In this case it is not that the distribution has positioned the copies in the wrong place but that in the 2D document window the different copies are overlapping one another This can happen whenever the graphic that you want to distribute is rather large We will need to make clipping masks in this case using the standard tools lf we do this for every distributed copies and then refresh the Studio window we will get the correct result You only need to make the clipping masks once Assume you would like to move the frog a little then simply move one copy and click Update Copies The other copies will also be updated and they will keep their position under their clipping masks 455 im ESKOS Pato 456 How can distribute around a corner In this version of Studio Designer distributing is only possible to other coplanar panels Sometimes a distribution appears to go around the corner but this only works if a panel that is attached to the panel around the corner is coplanar with the selected panel This is not the case with the box in the next example Plato In this version of the software we are not capable of doing this with the automatic distribute We have limited the distribution functionality to panels that are coplanar A face in the Studio window can be made up of different panels coming together A beautiful example is the bottom of the box in the picture below 14 653 Double click a panel to dis
8. Number Stations Station Numbers Strip Humbers Numbering Format 1 2 40 Custom Order Unda Po Start with fi e k Reset Order Custom wf Please pick 1 D Restart numbering even column Restart numbering every Grid 5 When you have numbered all the stations click OK You must click all stations to complete the custom numbering The Number Stations dialog box indicates which number you need to pick next Number Stations tips e When using Number Stations the document display is set to cross view to make it easier to see the numbers When you exit the Number Stations dialog box your original display mode is restored e The Number Stations tool is disabled when there are less than two stations on the plate 63 ESKOS m e Stations can be numbered even if they do not contain a station number If you add a station number to the station in the Station View mode later the numbers will appear automatically e You can use the zoom pan and display mode tools to get a better view of the plate However using other tools or commands will cancel the Number Stations tool automatically 4 8 Using PDF files as stations When you place a PDF file directly in Plato you are not using a station file STA Because PDF files contain less information than PDFSTA files some of Plato s commands work differently than they do with station files e Die and Mask of a PDF file on page 84 e Adjust
9. See Importing a PostScript file for complete descriptions of the import options 104 Plato 5 Importing an Illustrator file The Options for importing an Illustrator file contain some but not all the same features as the PostScript Options window In particular the Pages and the Page Size tabs do not appear See mporting a PostScript file for complete descriptions of the import options 5 8 Importing an EPF Tile The Esko Prep File or EPF is designed to improve the connection between the designer Adobe Illustrator and the prepress department The Import dialog box has three tabs e Images e Other e EPF 5 8 1 Images Images Other EFF Embed all images a B bit and Native images with uncompressed image data size smaller than 640 kE will be embedded I Link external images OPI DCS Helios I Fail if not found lw Search for preconverted files Optimize OCS LineWwork Images Reconvert Use Masks Joined External and PS Mask Search directories Add Remove Path Translation File Translation Image creation path Ti i IM Place External al Embed all imagesSelect this toggle if you want to embed 8 bit and native images Link External Images OPI DCS Helios Force the system to look for referenced images 105 ESKOS M 106 Fail if not FoundActivate this option if you do NOT want the system to continue opening your PostScript file when it can
10. When a Esko native file is exported to PostScript certain elements in the job which cannot be translated into PostScript will be resolved in order to get an exact result The same happens when exporting to PDF PDF files however have several destinations and don t always need the high quality resolving because they may only serve as soft proof If you want to obtain even smaller files than what you can get with the PDF for RGB CMYK proofing settings then this workaround option might help When we resolve objects splines are converted to vectors e g line mask The spline only has a 2 points but you need a lot of vector points to describe a curve The resolver default deviation is 0 002 mm but you can reduce the amount of vector points by raising the deviation value and thus reducing the size of the PDF Which values When comparing the default 0 002 1360 kb PDF with 0 02 826 kb PDF you will end up with an acceptable result but it is clear that high values will alter the PDF too much Keep in mind that this option will only modify resolved vector curves it will not straighten any other objects while exporting 8 2 4 Export to an MFG File Exporting to MFG will export the die shape of each station to ARD format and place all these designs into a layout MFG file Similar exports are Export to layout CFF2 file and Export to layout DDEs3 file In these cases the die shapes are exported to CFF2 DDDES3 file 8 2 5 Exporting to a CFF2 File
11. e Output a number of pages Enter page numbers or page ranges separated by commas e g 1 3 5 8 ScaleDefine the scale in percentages You might want to scale your job to make it easier to softproof via e mail Select SmartMarks from the drop down list Put marks with ink coverage on a hardcopy proof or view it in Acrobat Account for job margins To select the margins of the job as the true boundary Normally the borders of the job are taken as the true boundary of the job Sometimes however you may also want to convert everything that is situated within the margins too Output range e Output All pages e Output a number of pages Enter pagenumbers or page ranges separated by commas e g 1 3 5 8 Device Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Dot Gain Compensation Single curve lt None gt Automatic lt None gt Dot Gain CompensationYou can select Dot Gain Compensation DGC curves made with IntelliCurve or IntelliCurvePro e Single curve Allows you to select one DGC curve dgc file that will be applied to all your data e Automatic Allows you to select a Screen Based DGC table scrdgc file or a DGC Strategy icpro file The former allows you to apply dot gain compensation selectively depending on the dot shape screen ruling angles and even Contone or Linework properties The latter does the same but also offers ink based dot gain compensation 261
12. 266 CFF2 is short for the Common File Format version 2 CFF2 Export allows to export one or more separations to a CAD system This can be used to export varnish or embossing shapes to a CAD system CFF2 Export x Select M Ink Selection Vv Ink LineT ype Mode Customized Settings Plato Ee Use the drop down list to select whether you want to export the whole job the red selection or the current layer You can also de select which ink you do not want to output by clicking the tick Define the CFF2 LineType Setting the CFF2 linetype allows the CAD operator to distinguish between objects in different separations Common CFF2 linetypes 1 normally used for cutlines 2 for crease lines Determine the Mode e Output as Contours Two objects filled with Cyan will be outputted as two squares Two objects Cyan will be outputted as one region 8 2 6 Export to a Normalized PDF File e Output as Regions Note This option is only available in case of a PDF Job 20r Be Esko M 208 Normalized PDF Export x External References f Reconver if recently updated Use previous conversion Always reconvert Put External References into Output Folder Relative Always Never Put External Images into Output Folder C f Relative Always Never Display image Preview amp Thumbnail Composed text Export to Scope 3 0 compatib
13. 3 3 Importing a different CAD layout You can only have one CAD layout on a plate at a time If you have a CAD layout in your plate the Import CAD Data command is disabled If you want to replace it with different CAD layout you need to delete the current one in the plate 3 3 8 Releasing a CAD layout Ina CAD Layout Workflow the stations that are assigned to the imported CAD layout are tied together The stations cannot be moved away from their positions in the CAD layout or one another However there may be times when you need to make adjustments to the locations of the stations with respect to one another The Release CAD Layout command provides this feature You can remove the CAD layout and free the stations by selecting Release CAD Layout on the Tools menu This command will delete the imported CAD layout but keep the stations in their current positions In reality you are changing your workflow from the CAD Layout Workflow to the Manual Layout Workflow It is a good idea to use this command only after you have most of your layout done For example if you don t have the right position for the layout and need to move it after this command you ll have to select all the stations to keep them together Release CAD Layout tips e You should use this command only if you really need to After deleting the CAD layout the stations can be freely moved with respect to one another So it s possible for mistakes to occur that make
14. Select the parameter you want to modify from the Name input box Modify the parameter formula in the Formula input box oF ORN Caution The standard predefined parameters that come with Esko Plato cannot be altered 6 Modify the type by accessing the Type drop down list 7 Click Modify The modified parameter is now checked for definition errors and the parameter will become available in the parameter list Remove a parameter 1 Right click any formula enabled input box in the Layout Setup or Grids dialog box The Calculator appears 2 Select the category Custom from the left hand column Click Remove The Remove dialog box appears 4 Select the name of the parameter you want to remove from the Name input box The parameter appears in the Name input box and its formula in the Formula input box oO 25 ESKOS ae Note You can only remove parameters you have previously defined and which are not longer used in the current repetition Caution If a parameter is still in use in the current repetition the Remove dialog does not allow you to select it 5 Click Remove The parameter is removed from the Calculator parameter list for this repetition 2 3 8 Shuttle Shuttle allows to connect to an EskoArtwork server Automation Engine 10 Nexus or Odystar It allows to submit the current job to a workflow queue and to monitor jobs running on the server All Shuttle functionality can be fou
15. You also need to specify the View Angle from which the package should be rendered You can either inherit the angle from the Studio window or specify it manually by entering the angles numerically or by clicking and dragging the mouse inside the little preview square You can also change the Perspective A high value has the effect of a camera with a wide angle lens close to the object A low value has the effect of a camera with a zoom lens further away from the object Contrary to the situation in the Studio Window the object will always fit completely inside the exported image Check the first box if you like to Include Graphics in the TIFF file The Transparent Background option allows you to set the background transparent instead of the color chosen in Appearance Tip If you want to use Photoshop to add some more realism to the 3D renderings you can output two TIFFs one with only shading and one with only graphics all other settings identical You can then combine them as two layers in Multiply mode and fine tune the shading layer Export to a 3D PDF File In Adobe Reader or Acrobat Professional version 8 0 1 or later you can view rotate 3D objects in PDF files Studio Designer can write such PDF files that can be used to view a package in 3D on a computer that does not have Illustrator or Studio installed Choose Export from Studio s fly out menu Choose PDF File with 3D Design as file type 448 Plato You can d
16. You can define if anti aliasing should be applied 10 13 Select Die Shape Select Die Shape allows you to create a new die shape contour based on specific settings Note This option will only be enabled in the Station View e Custom size creates a rectangular die shape with an adjustable size e Graphic s Trim Box Borders creates a die shape that matches the trim size of the graphic e Objects marked with annotation Die will use the contours that have the Esko PackEdge annotation Die e Objects using ink will use the contours that are placed in a specific separation in the graphic e Outline of all objects is perfect for creating a die shape around objects that have no die shape in the original file The new die shape will be created around the union of all objects in that particular file The Grids dialog box will indicate this die shape by indicating Manual in the column Die Shape The ink and stroke width that will be used to indicate the new die shape are the ones that are selected in the Show Manual Cut Lines option of the Preferences View tab All choices except Objects using ink will copy the stroked contours from the graphic into the station and assign them the Plato Cut ink Objects using ink will simply copy the contours from the graphic into the station but keep the original separation Select Die Shape Die Shape Use Graphic s Trim Box Borders Ink E FANTONE 115C ii 148 00
17. e Define in what folder the file must be saved either by entering the path or by clicking the Select Folder button and browse to it e Click the Export Settings to set extra PDF options Note In the Settings you can choose to output as a multipage PDF This will result in one PDF file containing one page for every layout needed instead of one PDF for every layout This option is only available if all layouts have the same dimensions Export Cutting File e Select the File Type i Cut file HPGL file PDF file MFG file or ACM file e Set the File Name e Define in what folder the file must be saved either by entering the path or by clicking the Select Folder button and browse to it Note When exporting to i cut HPGL or ACM common line removal is applied avoiding double lines in the output Depending on the selected cutting file type you can add information in the third column of the Inks list e If the Cutting File type is set to i Cut file or PDF file you can enter or change the name of the layer the ink will be placed in e If the Cutting File type is set to HPGL you can define the HPGL line type to be used cae Be Esko 7 ATG e MFG is the native ArtiosCAD file type If the Cutting File type is set to MFG you can select the ArtiosCad line types If an ArtiosCAD file was imported for the cut shape the complete ARD file will be put in the MFG file e ACM is the native language of a Kongsberg table
18. 10 Plato Preferences Files Shortcuts Servern Resources Licenses Offcuts General Defaults View Calor Editing oe These default settings will be used initially when creating a new layout Changes will become effective when creating a new layout Units Origin i PORS i Adiust Masks Manually z Formulas Use Localized Parameters Default Die Ink Enter one or more ink names separated by commas Use the wildcard to enter only a part of an ink name For example die cut Default Bleed OF Reset Cancel Units Specify whether you want your measurements and calculations displayed in millimeters or inches Origin Choose the orientation of the axes in your document Your preference will be stored inside the file Opening the file later will set the orientation in the same situation as in which the file was created Caution It is not possible to change the units or orientation while working at the job New preference settings will only be applied when creating a new job Adjust Masks is used to adjust overlapping stations The command searches the plate for overlapping stations and presents each overlap to you as an overlap record You choose how these overlap areas should be adjusted manually or quick Manual masks allow you to make a decision on the priority of overlapping flaps and panels per case Quick masks always split overlapping masks halfway between the two selec
19. Device Configuration Emulsion Image Inserts the resolution Inserts the used color strategy Inserts the source profile in case it is used in the marks set that is applied during proofer output Inserts the destination profile in case it is used in the marks set that is applied during proofer output Inserts the used color strategy Inserts the DGC settings Inserts the dotshape used in the job Inserts the used vertical horizontal distortion settings used Inserts the used vertical horizontal scale settings used Inserts the device name Inserts the color strategy used Inserts the emulsion settings Inserts the used image settings CAD data Plato CAD data SmartMarks allow you to add CAD related design customer or board information Design Customer Board XMP data Artwork Bar codes External References Fonts Inks Layers Job INKS Inserts data from the CAD design if available Description Name Length Width Depth Inserts customer information if available Name Adress1 Adress2 City Inserts data from the CAD database if available Code Description Flute Caliper Inserts Artwork information choose from the drop down list Inserts bar code xmp information toggle the ones you need type code bar width reduction device compensation magnification magnification in percentage X dimension ratio Inserts all external references choose what information you want File Na
20. Excluding from the above mentioned contour are the areas defined in the CAD layout as varnish free areas Artios MFG files only Note The Load Varnish Free Areas for CAD becomes available only when the file contains varnish information Note The From Graphics option becomes available only when the CAD file contains varnish or rather coating free areas When this option is selected no real varnish area will be created as the varnish info is already part of the graphics Only the varnish free areas from the CAD file are used to selectively knock out areas in the varnish separation You can define an offset Note The offset direction depends on whether you create a varnish based on sheet offset to the inside a negative offset or based on die shape to the outside a positive offset 38S 10 ESKO Plato 10 36 Manage Plates Manage Plates allows you to set up a collection of pre defined plate sizes The list of plate sizes will be available in the Layout Setup manroland manrolands Rename Delete Close 5 Plates 10 37 SmartMarks 384 Note While marks are common to Esko PackEdge and Esko Plato a certain number of SmartMarks are specific for Esko Plato and are not supported in Esko PackEdge the Position Marks and the complete range of QuickStep regmarks The QuickStep regmarks are only available if the QuickStep license is active Th
21. Me skos M Contents T CODY INE NOICE ea E AE 10 2 Getting Started with ESKO PlatO siiin niaaa E iene aA tne anemia 12 ZN VVC ICONIC to ESKO FO suciis ean r E EET EE EE eens ate w ENEC TTET 12 22 anng ESKO Plat atirina Aaaa eiaei ai TEER ATEA E eN 12 2 3 Concepts and ideas in Esko PlatO ccc cccceecscssesscecsssesscsressssececssesssscssesesessssesesressiessetenes 13 2 3 1 Stations and LAYOUTS ceisencacwisicne soars sdens vin unsapna acenticns oldeinbi stipone wetapa de cdlesuine oyapsient elena ope nocGyonsaalandetniediennnlstviey oe eee 13 23 NVIOW 89 21 lt gt nesae een nee ee eee 14 Ao S V1 672 WOKOWS a ee en eee ne ene ee ee er ee ee ee ee re 15 2 3 4 DOCUMENT window CIEIMCMIS wiseersecsscscressacsnscsvedscauaics seeioenseaeetnendehnedcavatgenhian sian tadeanapiteneedeeniatianieleieuewatnenat 16 eee EMEN Orna Sg Renee cee ener erent mee rer teen E ern ere ae are nee one ee 19 PON OM md 401 E oc eee te ete EE ne eee eee ne eee ee 20 2 3 7 Calculator and Parameter FOrMullas ccccccccccccceecscsseetecssssssscsssssssecscsssesscssessessssresrenesens 20 Do UN acelin teense ccc ect A ceed eae ede rp tea Ae etched EE 26 2 3 9 SUMO speaacaresetatnscapnpn sn seamstress iene essoisanae os enna eaoaaes eastside diet mateenacreconae 26 2 3 10 COMMON data FESOUICES cccccccccsscscscscscsssesesssssssssetscscsrsvssssessssssssecssscssssesesesessesscsrsvsvesesesesseeeneesees 26 3 Working with Plate FICS sisicsiiiscuncinastesini
22. No part of this document may be reproduced stored in a data base or retrieval system or published in any form or in any way electronically mechanically by print photoprint microfilm or any other means without prior written permission from Esko Software BVBA This document supersedes all previous dated versions PANTONE PantoneLIVE and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners Pantone is a wholly owned subsidiary of X Rite Incorporated Pantone LLC 2014 All rights reserved This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group Portions of this software are copyright 1996 2002 The FreeType Project www freetype org Alll rights reserved Portions of this software are copyright 2006 Feeling Software copyright 2005 2006 Autodesk Media Entertainment Portions of this software are copyright 1998 2003 Daniel Veillard All rights reserved Portions of this software are copyright 1999 2006 The Botan Project All rights reserved Part of the software embedded in this product is gSOAP software Portions created by gSOAP are Copyright 2001 2004 Robert A van Engelen Genivia inc All rights reserved Portions of this software are copyright 1998 2008 The OpenSSL Project and 1995 1998 Eric Young eay cryptsoft com All rights reserved This product includes software developed by the Apache Sof
23. SmartMark Options Gallus l x The gallus marks can be put in two directions On the left you see that the gallus mark starts with a square box and on the right with a triangle If you click the white marks they turn black indicating they have now become active Tip Enter negative values if you want the gallus marks to appear inside the borders 7 3 9 Gradation Strip The Gradation Strip allows you to create a strip for all the inks in the job Tip H The Gradation Strip can be moved in your job by simply using the Move roo il in the Tools toolbar 199 ESKO 200 SmartMark Options Gradation Strip Gradation Numbers Position Inks Length Ft d Extra jccomm Gradations 3 25 50 75 98 99100 0000 E tE fomm Stroke fo1comm I Add Gradation Numbers The Gradation Strip dialog box has four tabs e Gradation e Numbers e Position e Inks Gradation The size of the boxes can be specified as well as the gradations for each ink The different gradations have to be separated by a comma Gradation Mumbers Position Inks Length Ft Extra joc0mn s S Gradations 3 25 50 75 98 99100 pa tH 0000mm A foom O Stroke fomm ttst lt CS s I Add Gradation Numbers LengthChoose the length of your mark from the drop down list e Specific define the specific length of the strip e Fit the strip fits in your job You can add an extra length e Single copy puts the stri
24. The Shrink values are relevant only to particular printing processes such as flexography in which case the plate tends to expand as it is wrapped around the press cylinder Screen registration is relevant only to Esko FlexRip users When activated the origin of the screening will be reset for each station In doing so it is garanteed that exactly the same screening will be applied for each station When deactivated screening will be done continuously throughout the complete job 3 The Plate amp Sheet tab allows you to specify the dimensions of your plate and sheet Plato Layout Setup El General Flate amp Sheet Plate Hame Custom T Plate Height 1036 0 fe Fit Plate width 1520 0 fe Sheet Height vPLATE Fit BA Sheet width HPLATE Fe Fit 5 Gripper Edge jo i E Top Margin G Bottom Margin Lett Margin 9 Right Margin E Available Area 1 Height 1036 000 mm Vertical Offset fo J width 1520 000 mm Horizontal Offset 0 fe M Show Formulas x Cancel 4 Sheet Position on Plate To facilitate this procedure you have a number of formulas at your disposal which you can activate by clicking the fx symbol to the right of each entry field When you click fx the Calculator pops up 4 Assoon as you have entered all relevant values or formulas the SmartLayout dialog box appears It serves as the central dialog box for all further actions Find Optirial Layout
25. Your new plate is shown in the document window The white area is the plate the blue line shows the sheet and its position on the plate 29 ESKOS Tip Plato Configure the CTRL N shortcut to your favorite layout workflow Edit menu gt Preferences gt Shortcuts 3 1 2 Saving a layout Once you have created a plate you need to save it When you save a plate and you haven t yet specified a name for the layout in the Layout Setup dialog box you left it to untitled you will be prompted to enter a file name and the location where you would like to save it It is good practice to save your work at frequent intervals Thus you know that the file is up to date and that your work has been saved To save a plate file 1 On the File menu click Save Layout The Save dialog box appears 2x Save in E Blairon e c FE My peer Documents A SaelicShost_Final_Print pdfpla Desktop My Documents Pr hy Computer io My Network File name Blairon Back pdfpla Places Save as lype PDFPLA File Cancel Job Search Frofiles defaults z Setup ti 2 Enter a name for your plate file 3 Indicate in which directory you would like to save the file 4 Click Save to save the contents of your file Clicking Cancel will close the Save dialog box without saving your file SO Plato Now that your new file is saved with the name that you gave it you can save it at any tim
26. e Custom Ink allows to pick any number of inks either by name or by position in the inks list e Custom Color allows you to pick a color based on the ink name ink number or color name Overprint e Opaque e Darken e Postscript e Add e Reverse Knocks out the selected ink in the underlying separation If you select for instance Magenta it will be knocked out in the Magenta separation Ignore Similar Inks This option becomes available when you selected Registration ink Tip This is useful when you have similar inks in your job e g two cyans with a different angle and you want to step all the inks but you only want to have one cyan Ignore Technical Inks Technical inks will not be used in the SmartMark This option becomes available when you selected Registration ink 190 Plato Ignore Varnish Inks Varnish inks will not be used in the SmartMark 7 3 5 Corner Mark A corner mark places marks at the 4 corners of the anchor point plate sheet visible objects Position Mark The Corner Mark dialog box has two tabs e Mark e Inks SmartMark Options Corner Mark x Mark Inks Attach to Sheet Object Hame O g t 10 000mm fl0000nm Offset 0 000mm i 000mm Mark There are five kinds of Corner Marks ro Corner mark 1 on page 191 2s Corner mark 2 on page 192 1 1 j _ Corner mark 3 on page 193 h F yk Corner mark 4 on page 194 Al Ir e From file Cor
27. 1 Click New CAD Styles x A CAD Style changes the appearance of the imported CAD lines Preview CAD Styles designer mad Modify Plato cut crease Delete PERHE 2 The New CAD style dialog box pops up a default configuration is displayed You can edit this configuration to fit your needs New CAD Style f 5 CAD Style Name untitled Line Styles WB aArtios Cut Arias C i E Artios Crease Modify Remove 3 Enter a name Click New AQ ESKOS New CAD Style j CAD Style Name rew CAD style example WB aArtios Cut B Artios Crease 4 The New Line Style dialog box pops up Choose a Line type from the drop down list Choose an ink for this line type Define a line width Mew Line Style E x Dashed Line Dashes Line Type Cut Ink m Artios Generic perf in cl Other Line Width D O0 mm OK Cancel You can also decide to make it a dashed line by clicking the toggle Press Enter to add the Line Style to the CAD style 5 The new Line Style is added You can edit existing Line Styles by selecting them and clicking Modify Click OK to add the new CAD style to the CAD Style dialog box 50 New CAD Style S CAD Style Name rew CAD style example WB aArtios Cut 0 10 mm B Artios Crease 0 10 mm Attios Generic perf in ch 0 10 mm Hedi Remove Plato You can use Other Structural as a wildcard o
28. As a result you will only see C on the cyan film Y on the yellow film etc Be sure that your text is positioned on the bearer bar which has to have a 100 gradation Use the Customized Name Input box to give a customized name to the Barcotext mark Enter the customized name click Apply and the new mark name appears in the list of marks Example Enter the new name for the Barcotext Mark name e g Mytext When the dialog box closes the original name in the list of marks has changed to Mytext barcotext 7 3 30 GRQ Cellnumbering You can use the GRQ Cellnumbering mark to add a number to each stepped element SmartMark Options Barcocellnumbering x Position fe ep gt a o 000 0 000 Onentation Ja ei v Order Ai ft Bis gt k m2m Number Image Name Character style e Ocr 861 Ocr B Machin Prefix Weight oman Suffix Style Upright Start f Size fi2pt Step Inks Wo Continuous f a f Allon Top Vertical f 000 Horizontal foo Paint Mode f WNomal Erase Barcocellmumbering Apply Position Puts the top of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Puts the center of the mark on the vertical origin of the repetition LJ Puts the bottom of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Use the Vertical offset input box to define the vertical offset distance from the borders of the repetition 241 ESKO
29. Create backup file bak in same folder before saving 7 0 Update external files when they are modified i Place PDF files without normalization i POFPLA files with references to non normalized PDF files can not be processed on a Esko Suite 7 Back Stage server Back Stage I Check Job Parameters after opening a document M Check Job Parameters before saving a document OF Reset Cancel Temporary Files The default temporary files directory is the temp folder on your home folder Click the Browse icon to choose another directory Select a directory on the fastest hard disk of the workstation Show file options in file selector dialog Checking this checkbox will open the File Options dialog box every time you open or import a file Show thumbnail preview in file selector dialog The file selector shows File Info Check the checkbox to turn the preview on or off 331 10 ESKO Plato Create backup file bak in same folder Creates a backup file in the same folder Indicate whether you want to create a backup file before saving or before loading You need to change the bak into pla in order to be able to read the file into the editor Update external files when they are modified checks whether the referenced files were changed since the file has been loaded Only happens when the workstation is idle e g when a GRS is placed in Esko Plato but is edited in Esko PackEdge at the same time Place PDF fil
30. Direction Do you want the White Underprint to be smaller l or bigger than the original object Define the distance between the edge of the White Underprint layer and the edge of the object under which White Underprint is applied Define an ink for the white underprint area You can define an ink name in the drop down list The default ink for White Underprint is TrW Transparent White Tip Objects selected in blue will be ignored by the white Underprint tool Corners This option allows you to change the way in which sharp corners in the trap areas will be handled Plato 6 Mitered A If the distance from the base of the trap to the corner point is larger than the miter ratio multiplied by the trap distance then the corner will be beveled otherwise it will remain sharp See also miter ratio option default Round fat A round cap will be placed at all corners Beveled fa Mitered Miter Ratio 4 Mitered Miter Ratio 3 Round Beveled Miter Ratio Determines when a sharp corner is beveled If the Distance from the base of the trap to the corner point is larger than the miter ratio multiplied by the trap distance then the corner will be beveled otherwise it will remain sharp This option is only available when mitered corners are selected default value 4 Note Trapping output the trap bananas should be embedded in the station object on top of the external reference to the graphics As a consequence the graphics wil
31. Files Shortcuts Licenses Language Setting Humber of Undo Levels 10 Number of visible Decimals in Input Bowes 5 Save automatically every Omin Masimum Image Pool Memory Size eme l Show Thumbnails Thumbnail Size 16416 pixels Small Use data resources from BackStage Server Local computer Remote computer Select i Restart the application to make these changes effective JK Reset Cancel Language Setting You can change the language of the user interface by selecting one of the following languages from the list box English French German Spanish Japanese Chinese Simplified or Chinese Traditional You no longer need to install the language packs from the DVD to have a non English user interface In case you prefer to have the localized online help documentation however you still need to install the language packs Note The editor needs to be restarted before the changes will be effective Number of Undo Levels Defines the minimum number of steps the system remembers for Undo and Redo Enter a value between 0 and 1000 Tip For complex jobs it is best to keep the number low to save memory Number of visible Decimals in Input Boxes Defines the number of decimals displayed in the input boxes Enter a value between 0 and 8 Values are rounded when you enter more digits into an input box than the number defined in this Decimals input box Plato Save automa
32. For more information about truncation modes see Truncate Traps Processing Settings Color Pairs PowerTrapper can trap all hits occurrences of a color pair the same way or recalculate the trap direction for different hits Each hit can have its own decision default this recalculates the trap direction for each hit of a color pair Same decision for all hits this traps all hits of the same color pair in the same direction Same decision for objects smaller than this uses the same trap direction for hits of a color pair belonging to small objects and recalculates the trap direction for hits belonging to bigger objects Use the field next to the option to determine the maximum size of small objects The default size is 1 mm Plato Restrictions lf the Respect existing traps is enabled traps in the selection will be kept and no trapping is performed on these locations If the option is off selected traps will be removed and will be re trapped This only works for traps created by PowerTrapper or Instant Trapper Small Gaps Some input jobs contain very small unintentional gaps between neighboring objects preventing the correct trapping of these objects Although it is better to clean up such jobs before trapping PowerTrapper can ignore these gaps automatically To use this option select Close when smaller than and enter the maximum size small gaps can have The default size is 0 01 mm Attention If you s
33. Notes gt Show all Note Pop ups or select Show all Note Pop ups from the contextual menu using the Note tool Plato 11 Server and Resources To define the Automation Engine server to connect to and the Data Resources to be used by the application as you work on a job Note In case the application is connected to an Automation Engine or BackStage server the Data Resources are always used from this server You can use the emote or local Data resources if the application is not connected to an Automation Engine or BackStage server Preferences General Defaults View Calar Editing Files Shortcuts SenVvencAesources Licenses Offcuts i Connect to Automation Engine Server Server Name gend038 User Name jisno Password Connected Data Resources Select the location from where the application s data resources must be used fe As defined on the Automation Engine server Remarks 1 The application s local data resources will be used when the remote data resources are not accessible OF Reset Cancel Automation Engine Server You can set the Server Name User Name and Password to connect to Automation Engine The connection to an Automation Engine Server has an influence on the following features in the application Note Submitting to Shuttle you can only submit to the Automation Engine server the application is connected to The user name for the Track Edit Session task on t
34. Place and arrange the stations on the layout Add marks to the sheet and plate Print your layout to proofs films or plates 43 ESKOS m The manual workflow is a fairly unstructured workflow You can place as many stations as you like on the layout and arrange them to fit your production needs 3 2 6 Combining workflows Esko Plato allows you to combine workflows if you need to So you can import a CAD layout and add loose stations via Place Station There may be workflows where this is needed But remember that the final layout still might have to be pre trimmed to enable die cutting and folding 3 3 Using a CAD file for plate layout optional Esko Plato can open a CAD file to define the plate layout When you open a CAD file you are using the CAD Layout Workflow This workflow defines the number and locations of the stations that are on the plate It may also contain a sheet size and masks with bleeds for the stations If these features are in the CAD file Esko Plato will use them in your layout e Supported CAD file formats e CAD Layout or CAD 1 up e Importing a CAD layout e Using Print Item names e Flipping a CAD layout to print side e Importing a different CAD layout e Releasing a CAD layout 3 3 1 Supported CAD file formats 44 Esko Plato imports CFF2 DDES DXF and ArtiosCAD Manufacturing and Design file formats The CFF2 and DDES CAD file formats are industry standards Most CAD systems support at
35. Plato 5 8 2 Other ee hmm xl Images Other EFF Images Workaround Options Import 1 bit images as Embed Skip images 0 Disable optimizations Miscellaneous Show PS comments Virtual memory limit 128 Sy MB li Optimize Illustrator patterns into PostScript patterns Convert text to contours Use PostScript rules for color conversion Recognize ArtScreen lpi angle M Place External Images Import 1 bit images as e Embed Images become internal black and white bitmaps e Linked file Images are imported as external referenced LP files e Contours Images are contourized during import of the E PS file Miscellaneous Virtual memory limit default value for the virtual memory is 50MB The limit is set on 1 gigabyte Convert text to contours all text will be contourized Workaround Options Skip ImagesCheck this box to open the EPF file without linking to external images or converting embedded images Disable optimizationsVignettes recognition and optimization for Photoshop Multitone images are performed whenever possible when this option is not activated Sometimes after updating your DTP applications Esko can no longer perform the optimization and the conversion of the E PS file might fail Switching this option ON will allow you to import the E PS file Show PS CommentsAll PS comments present in the EPF file are displayed on screen Optimize Illustrator Patterns into PostScript pattern
36. Position The Position tab allows you to select the position of the mark by moving the red rectangle the mark in the blue rectangle the job borders Bar Code Box Inks Pasition Attach to Borders Object Hame Offset i t 0 ogg E HoE joo D Fi Orientation D Se 0 000 Attach to Plate Sheet Visible Objects Objects E Use the ffset options EE m to apply an extra offset to the chosen position using OrientationClick one of the buttons to obtain the desired orientation for your image Plato A EME Angle w allows you to specify an angle in case you selected the rotation button in the Orientation group 7 3 17 Ellipse An Ellipse mark will generate an oval shape or circle when height equals width The Ellipse dialog box has three tabs e Ellipse e Inks e Position SmartMark Options Ellipse x Ellipse Inks Position Height 10 000 mm Fit to Trim Box borders width 10 000 mm J Fit to Object Extra Height 0 000 mn Extra Length 0 000 mm Stroke iimm Tint 100 0 00 Elliose Enter the Ellipse s vertical and horizontal dimensions Ellipse Inks Position Height fomm Fit to Trim Bos Borders width 10 000 mm J Fit to Trim Box Borders Extra Height 0 000 mm Extra Length 0 000mm Stroke 0 100 mm Tint foon 3 221 ESKO Enter the height and width of the ellipse Select the Fit to Trim Box Borders toggle if you want the width and height to
37. Split Complex Paths Caution These are workarounds for typical PostScript level 1 path limitations Only use these when really necessary 200 Be Esko m 254 Use Filled and stroked paths at X points to split linework with more than x points into several smaller linework parts This option decreases the complexity of the linework A suitable value for the selected device type is calculated for this option Use Clip paths at X points to split linework masks for images with more than x points into several smaller linework parts This option decreases the complexity of the masks Workaround Ignore varnish inksVarnish inks will not be included while outputting to PostScript Resolve once identical one ups in Step amp repeat filelnstead of resolving the complete Step amp Repeat file identical one ups will be resolved only once Resolve once identical external filesinstead of resolving the complete file and all its external references identical external files will be resolved only once Resolve pure black overprintOverprints are normally resolved but default pure black is left alone if you want Rich Black to be resolved too select this toggle This toggle is only available when the Color Management options in the Color Management tab are activated Limit filename size to 31 charactersCheck this toggle if you want to make sure your imported files can be seen read from by all Apple operating systems Split separated output i
38. T Snap on or Snap can be turned on or off for grid and markup layers Click the Snap On Off icon for the layer to toggle between the two choices In the window shown above objects will not snap to the layer named Markup Grid but will snap to objects on the layers named Grid Layer Note Clicking the object name in the Layer Browser does not select the object in the document but selects the object in the list from the Layer Browser e The drag and drop functionality to move object to another position or into another group works on the objects selected in the list Clicking the remove button L will delete the objects selected in the list and not the objects that are selected in the document 407 ie ESKOS Plato Setting up several grid layers and then choosing which ones to snap to is useful when creating a complex layout See below for details about creating grid and markup grid layers 10 51 Pan Window Use the Pan Window to see an overview of your document and the current view The document is displayed as a thumbnail with a rectangle indicating the current view Pan Window ee EA You can program views that you intend to use more than once with this job The job is represented as a thumbnail over which lies a representation of the viewport rectangle If you select another job that is on the screen the dialog box will be updated Viewport rectangle selection of the thumbnail view The view
39. The Print dialog box appears 244 Printer Name Yunos monica r Status Idle Type HP Lasenet 551 551 Mies PS Where IP_150 156 4 66 Comment Customized Settings 2 Select the printer and the options you need Note Click Setup to open the Setup dialog box For more on these options please refer to the chapter Exporting to a PostScript File 3 Click Print 8 2 Exporting Esko Plato Files You can export Esko Plato files to other file formats for remote viewing proofing and printing Click Export on the File menu to choose an output format and to specify options When you export PostScript and EPS file formats the options contain many of the same options used for printing The differences between exporting and printing will be indicated in the sections below If a format uses the same options as for printing PostScript you will be referred to the appropriate section for Printing e Exporting to a PostScript File e Exporting to an EPS File e Exporting to a PDF File e Export to an MFG file e Exporting to a CFF2 File e Exporting to a Normalized PDF File e Exporting to a PLA File e Exporting to a PDFPLA File e Exporting to a GRS File e Exporting to a JDF Layout File e Exporting to a CIP3 File e Exporting to a Polar File e Exporting to a JDF Cutting file 245 ESKO Plato e Digital Converting Export on page 275 8 2 1 Exporting to a PostScript File
40. When in Cross or Dummy color mode it will snap to the bounding box of the stations The values in the Measure tool are copied to the Measure Window You can open the Measure Window to use these values in other dialog boxes or windows Densitometer Tool Use the densitometer tool to view ink percentages for locations in your document You may want to use the measured values from the densitometer tool to create other objects such as Geometry Marks You can also use the densitometer tool to check the ink values for stations and SmartMarks to make sure that the correct values are assigned to them To measure ink percentages in your document 1 Click Densitometer on the toolbar The densitometer window appears x Ruling Angle Dotshape K E M Y PAM TONE Purple C TAC 100 2 Click in the document window to display ink percentages for a specific location Densitometer tool Tips TAC Total Area Coverage is the sum of the dot percentages of the different inks that will be found on the paper after printing The display mode must be set to Medium or High for the densitometer to measure correctly If you click and then drag the densitometer the values in the densitometer dialog box will continuously update The fly out menu offers the possibility to choose between exact 92 2 and rounded 92 readings you can also set the color of the densitometer s cursor To close the densitometer dialog click the close
41. allows you to define the percentage step between two grayscale boxes Distance objects to Trim Box Border allows you to define the distance of all the objects displayed to the borders Enable Marks inside plate to put the marks inside the plate 7 3 27 GRQ Rectangle 236 The Barcorectangle dialog box is similar to the barcoimages dialog box You can specify the size of the rectangle or ellipse The Esko Plato parameters and formulas of the calculator can be used in all relevant input boxes Plato SmartMark Options Barcorectangle x Position Background Ink E S o E a a o 000 0 000 Inks t Allon Top Size All with Step t oo 1 000 et 0 000 aL 0 000 Repeat H i O00 oooly o00 Pank kiode t 0 000 i 0 000 Moma Erase Gradation fioo Barcorectangle Apply Position Puts the top of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Puts the center of the mark on the vertical origin of the repetition LJ Puts the bottom of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Use the Vertical offset input box to define the vertical offset distance from the borders of the repetition Puts the left of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition LU Puts the center of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Ll Puts the right of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Use the Horizontal offset input box to defi
42. e Esko Plato also offers you the possibility to combine workflows 2 3 4 Document window elements The different views all contain a display area and a number of toolbars see toolbars 16 Plato ato 12 0 0 ALPHA tequila test pdfpla dit wiew Arrange Station 4 cools Prodi p Window Al y Gm x ca Jame E a M ld 4 40 b Fl r eire j 1010 oO 00 400 sed Layout 317 500 mm f 482 600mm e7 0 000 s untitled punted H Masks up to date L TS 23 040 851 08 E ESKOS ae 18 1 The display area is where you do your work You can think of it as a blank printing plate on which you are assembling your layout The white area is the plate the blue rectangle indicates the borders of the sheet The size and position of these are defined when you create a new layout 2 The Jools too bar contains the interactive tools Some tools are only available in 1 view Station view or Sheet View 3 File amp Edit offers you the standard save and edit functionality View Selector Side indicator tells you which side of the sheet you are working on front or back and allows to switch from front to back and vice versa Preview Selector indicates the selected preview Zoom indicates the zoom factor Show Trim amp Media box allows you to switch the visualization of the trim and media box on or off Show values formulas adjusts the visualization of formula enabled fields You can opt to either show the
43. line mask The spline only has a 2 points but you need a lot of vector points to describe a curve The resolver default deviation is 0 002 mm but you can reduce the amount of vector points by raising the deviation value and thus reducing the size of the PDF Which values When comparing the default 0 002 1360 kb PDF with 0 02 826 kb PDF you will end up with an acceptable result but it is clear that high values will alter the PDF too much Keep in mind that this option will only modify resolved vector curves it will not straighten any other objects while exporting 8 2 2 Exporting to an EPS File You can export your station and plate files to an EPS file Output Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Version PostScript 3 Output type EPS Preview resolution f72 mi gt Resolution aoo ei gt Page number al Scale ho 5 Vertical distortion fo a Horizontal distortion f oo ES Sroarthd ark None W Account for Media Box margins 0 Hide trap layer s in output al Customized Settings The EPS Export Setup dialog box has five tabs Output Color Management Rasterize 2505 ET Esko M 256 e Compression e Advanced Output Output Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Version PostScript ss Output type EPS Z Preview resolution Pz pri Resolution joo mi gt Page number fo Scale ho p Vertical distortion 100 5 H
44. the right option to put trim marks around the stations but taking all stations into account Trim marks will be put outside the bounding box aligned to the outer edge of the stations 7 3 16 Bar code A Bar Code mark generates a bar code object Please check the barX manual on the Documentation DVD or via Help for more information on the different bar code types The Bar code dialog box has four tabs e Bar Code e Box e Inks e Position 216 Plato Bar Code Bar Code Bos Inks Position Type EAN 13 Code Bar width Reduction 0 000 Device Compensation 0 000 4 Magnification Height fo coo 4 Output Resolution 540 co I Add Characters Iv Light Margin Indicator BT TypeSelect a bar code type from the list Code lo enter the digits of the bar code Note When entering a wrong number of digits or wrong begin or end digits the system displays a warning message informing you on the required number of digits or displaying the correct code The code is corrected automatically Bar Width Reduction lo adapt the bar width of the bar code This is necessary to adapt the bar code to printing processes where the ink tends to bleed To compensate for this ink bleeding the bars have to be a little thinner The exact value will be provided by your printer or customer If the printer specifies for example that the line width will increase with 0 01mm then specify a bar w
45. this option ends the trap at right angle to the adjoining object Round l this rounds the ends of the trap This option is typically only used in combination with white knockout reverse trapping Attention We recommend not to use Round End Caps together with Truncate Traps On Center as this can generate some artefacts the round caps will be truncated oa Object Dependent with this option the trap is a logical continuation of the contour of the spread object Trap Corners This option allows you to change how the traps sharp corners will be handled 147 ET Esko N 148 Round J default a round cap will be placed at all corners Beveled this will cut sharp corners off Mitered this option works with a miter ratio The miter ratio serves to limit the length of the sharp corner the distance from the base of the trap to the corner point The default miter ratio value is 4 This means that if the length of the sharp corner is more than 4 times the Trapping Distance then the corner will be cut off beveled If it is less than 4 times the Trapping Distance the corner will be left as it is Mitered Miter Ratio 4 Mitered Miter Ratio 3 Beveled Advanced Settings Click the triangle beside Advanced Settings to show the advanced settings Truncate Traps If you want to truncate traps into black differently select Into black and choose the truncation mode On Center or On Edge
46. ts Bw am m EE Pa ee O A E T 7 PANTONE 872C PANTONE 137 C PANTONE 240 C m T fm 2 PANTONE 722C Vernis i 12 inks in job Save to File a 139 ae Esko Ns 140 The inks in your document are listed at the bottom of the window The amount of ink used is provided in the current units and as a percentage of the entire document If you make changes to the document these changes may affect the amount of ink used To update the calculations click Update in the Ink Coverage window Esko Plato will scan the document again and update the ink coverage Saving ink coverage to a file You can save the results of the Ink Coverage calculation to a file that can be used later The file that you save can be used by others to estimate and order ink for printing You save the ink coverage results in a Report To save the calculations as a report 1 Click Save To File in the Ink Coverage window The Save Report dialog box appears Save in oS DESIGN _work turn e c EJ hy Recent Documents a aa fa i Desktop GaelicShost_Final_Print pdfpla My Documents a hy Computer 1 hy N etwork File name Gaelict host_Final_Print_inkeow txt Save Places Save az type Tent Report tt Cancel Search Job A 2 Select the location where you would like to save the file Type a name in the File name field 4 Select the type of
47. 000 mm VF ith fi 00 000 mm Color Die Shape Trim Box OK Lancel Use the based on File option together with the the Select File button if you want to create an empty station based on an existing file This offers 2 possibilities a select an existing graphics file grs or normalized PDF In this case the size of the selected graphics will be used as the size of the empty station b Select a CAD file In this case the CAD data will be used to define the die shape of the empty station and the size of the station will match the bounding box of the CAD data You can change the standard color by clicking the color patch which will make the Color Picker pop up Simply click in the color area that you wish to use for your empty station 403 ie ESKOS 404 Plato Color Picker X Cancel Click the Remove Grid icon to to delete the selected grid Tip Stations that were used previously in the current layout can be recovered by clicking the little arrow in the Station Name column 4 You can view or adjust the Grid Settings in a number of ways Click the Info button ESA e Double click the grid number e Select Grid Settings from the top right fly out menu e Select Grid Settings from the fly out menu in front of the station Die Shape Bleed Advanced Settings indicate if stagger geometry or distribute settings have been changed Vertical Horizonta
48. 22 2 o 0216 0 2 L o Di Dr a O O S L Eeg 0 5l lololo lt o Oo O 2 68 O eis alo Fel al Bale OQ al eee 0 on e Q Q 3 0 O 2 gt S53 a gt S T 2 Rl a Q total number of grids Grid related formulas are followed by a grid number VLABEL LabelHeight __rerrtical size of non rotated job HLABEL LabelWidth _ horizontal size of non rotated job VSTEP StepHeight vertical step size from center point to center point HSTEP ee step size from center point to center point GRIDVSIZE GridHeight _ _ veertiical size of the grid top bottom GRIDHSIZE GridWidth _ horizontal size of the grid left right TOP T top position of the grid relative to the sheet 23 ESKOS a 24 BOTTOM Bottom bottom position of the grid relative to the sheet LEFT Left left position of the grid relative to the sheet RIGHT Right fright position of the grid relative to the sheet ANGLE Angle Jrotation angle VSIZE StationHeight vertical size of bounding box of rotated job HSIZE StationWidth horizontal size of bounding box of rotated job A parameter can represent e A value A value can be either a plain value or the result of a formula GRIDVSIZE1 is a parameter GRIDVSIZE1 could either be the plain value 25 or the formula VSTEP1 VCOUNT1 equal to 25 e A grid parameter A repetition chart may be composed
49. 6 0 File Edit View Arrange Station Inks Tools Production Trapping Windov O ce TEEL Eii GaelicGhost_Final_Print pdipla VE Soe RoS le To complete a mask click the close box of the Create Bleed Mask options window or simply click any other tool in the toolbar You can redo the mask at any time by selecting the Create Bleed Mask tool again The previous mask will be discarded and a new mask will be created e Drawing a mask e Deleting a mask e Replacing a mask Drawing a mask To mask the graphic 1 Click the Create Bleed Mask button on the toolbar 2 Enter a bleed amount 3 Click in the document window on any panels that you want to exclude from the mask 4 Click the Close button in the title bar You can use the Create Bleed Mask tool at any time even if you have not imported a graphic into your station In the example above there is no graphic in the station If you import a graphic later the mask will be applied automatically to the imported graphic Deleting a mask Because the mask is an unfilled and uncolored contour it is difficult to select and delete it in the color view modes However you can easily identify and select the mask when you set the preview mode to Cross Masks are always displayed as blue outlines in Cross and Contour modes making them easy to identify and select To delete a mask 1 Set the display mode to Cross
50. Assign Station dialog box appears 68 Plato Assign Station to Design hy Recent Documents 5 c Ee Desktop My Documents gr My Computer 2 sta_with_bechnicals sta_without_technicals fai DESIGN pdfsta fai DESIGN1a pdFsta SaelicShost_Final_Print pdfsta E My Network File name GaelicG host_Final Print pdfsta Files of type PDFS T File Cancel Job lt None gt Search Profiles defaults z Setup File info Size 510 459 bytes Date 07 04 03 Time 15 10 45 4 Select the type of file that you would like to assign 5 Select the file that you want to assign 6 Click Open The Assign Station dialog box closes The station file you selected is assigned to all locations in the CAD layout where the same 1 up CAD design is used If you want some locations to use a different station file use the Replace by command See Replacing a station 4 3 3 Placing a station The Place Station command is used to add an existing station to a plate in the Manual Layout Workflow This command will place an existing station in the lower left corner of the sheet This is the default situation The orientation can be set in Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults Once a station has been placed in the layout you can use the Transform and Align tools to create your own layout To place a station 1 Create a new layout 2 On the Station menu click Pla
51. Blairon Front Final pdf A GaelicGhost_Final_Print pdt hy Recent Documents Desktop My Documents Sr hy Computer hy emer File name Blairon Front Final pdf Files of type PDF File Cancel Job k None Search Frofiles defaults z Setup File info Size 3 521 227 bytes a Date 06 12 08 A Time 14 25 47 i This i a normalized POF Scope 3 0 file You may want to replace certain stations on your plate with a different station For example you might want to replace stations in a plate layout that you did earlier with a new version Or you may want to replace specific stations to create a combination layout Please refer to the chapter Replacing a station for additional information 10 16 Assign station to Design The Assign Station dialog box offers you the possibility to select a station and assign it to the selected CAD layout 356 Plato Assign Station to Design My Documents E commonlineremoyal_CFz config Desktop ct DESIGN work amp turn S dxf Files localfonts My Documents sta _with_technicals sta_without_bechnicals wr fai DESIGN1 pdfsta e DESIGN 1a pdfsta y Co apute ly Cenaiz SaelicShost_Final_Print pdFsta d My Network File name Gaelict host_Final Print pdfsta Files of type POFSTA File Cancel Job Mone gt ki Search Profiles f defaults ki Setup Size 510 4
52. Click on the marks to activate 207 ESKO Settings The Settings tab allows you to define size fonts distances of the Standard Marks Marks Settings General Distance to Trim Box Borders 2 000 CulBleed Marks Center Marks fio oo0 ll fio o00 0150 r o Bleed 2 000 Gradation Strip HE fio oo0 fio joiso Start fioo Es Stop fig Step ji Style Font a Swiss 721 SWAlSIBS Weight Roman Style Upright Size izp General Define the Distance to borders Cut Bleed Marks To select the size of cut bleed marks To select the thickness of the cut bleed marks Enter a Bleed value if you want to change the distance between the marks and the job borders Center Marks To change the size of the center marks Me To change the diameter of the center mark To define the thickness of the cut bleed marks Gradation Strip Ml To specify the height of your gradation box To specify the width of your gradation box Start define the percentage of the first top grayscale box The default value for the start is 100 Stop define the percentage of the last bottom grayscale box Step define the percentage step between two grayscale boxes StyleSelect the Font from the drop down list Select the weight Roman or Bold Select the font style Upright or Italic Specify the point size 7 3 13 Standard Strip 208 A Standard Str
53. Color Hame INK Numbers To define a Custom Color by means of an ink number select Ink Numbers from the dropdown list The inks that are used in the current document are displayed Activate the ink by clicking the check area in front of the ink and its value will be set to 100 You can click the value if you want to change the percentage The color patch will show you the resulting color 176 Define Color x Define Color by Ink Numbers i B PANT Color Name MM PANTONE 195C E PANTONE 115C Ink 4 unused Ink 5 unused Ink 6 unused Ink 7 unused Ink amp unused Ink 9 unused Ink 10 unused Ink 11 unused Ink 12 unused eo Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right Define Color xj Define Color by Ink Numbers Ink v B PANTONE 191C MB PANTONE 1595C E PANTONE 115C lnk 4 unused Ink 5 unused Ink 6 unused Ink 7 unused Ink 8 unused Ink 9 unused lnk 10 unused Ink 11 unused Ink 12 unused oe Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right Plato x Define Color by Ink Numbers Ke w B PANTONE 191 C MB PANTONE 195C E PANTONE 115C Ink 4 unused Ink 5 unused Define Color i Define Color by fink Numbers E v E FANTONE 191C 50 G MB PANTONE 195C E PANTONE 115C Ink 4 unused Ink 5 unused You can drag a color s
54. Dot percentage will be shown as areas with dots Plate Color The Flexo Plate preview predicts how clean your flexo plates will be Especially in very light or very dark areas you could end up with isolated dots or holes on the flexo plate and those areas are difficult to hold on the plate or the substrate You can choose the plate color Cyrel Red Blue Green or Safran Yellow or a High Contrast Blue amp White to match the type of plate you are using Flexo Print This Viewer preview mode shows the effect of highlight dot gain on the image This effect is equivalent to a curve adjustment To determine this curve the Flexo Print Preview will use the First dot and the Dot gain in highlights settings from the Press Settings see Define Press Settings on page 337 Going from light to dark e The Flexo Print Preview will display percentages below the First visible dot percentage as 0 e The First visible dot percentage will be shown using the First Dot Prints as percentage e Percentages above the First visible dot percentage will be shown darker e Towards the midtones this darkening effect will fade out until the Range value e Percentages above the Range value are displayed unchanged Registration Error The Registration Error Preview is a simulation of a design printed with registration errors of a specific press defined in the Press Settings see Define Press Settings on page 337 It can be very helpful to see if trappin
55. E a y The View Selector indicates or sets e The View in which you are working Sheet or Station View e The side of the sheet on which you are working front or back Tip Click the Show Trim and Media box button o in the Preview Selector toolbar to switch the visualization of the trim and media box on or off 315 ie ESKOS 10 Function after function 316 New Layout Open Layout Import CAD Data Export Layout Layout Setup Document Info XMP Properties Info Print Preferences Preview View Modes ViewX Select Die Shape Place Station Replace by Assign Station to Design Import CAD Design Replace by Graphics File Save Station Export Station Station XMP Info Inks Ink Mapping External File Ink Mapping Ink Coverage Create Ink Histogram Create Ink Eater Areas Fill Ink Eaters Open Ink Book Manage Ink Books Number Stations Adjust Masks Create Varnish Manage Plates SmartMarks Staggered Cutting Check Job Parameters Workspace Plato e Toolbars e Align e CAD e Calculator e Colors e Color Factory e Effects e Grids e Info Window e Layer Browser e Pan Window e SmartLayout e Search Options e Stations e Style e Transform e Color Picker e Grid Settings e Station Properties 10 1 New Layout New Layout creates a new document There are 3 subitems under the New Layout comma
56. ESKOS Plato Sort jobs for better fit if this option is disabled the order of stations from the SheetInspector will be replaced when placing stations on the sheet Gutter Height and Gutter Width define the gutter dimensions 10 54 Stations The Stations dialog gives an overview of all currently defined stations It shows the station s pseudo name the graphics used on the front side the graphics used on the back side the die shape You can select a different die shape by clicking the arrow the bleed mask The bleed field is editable the total number of copies placed on the layout Removing a station only possible if station is not used on a layout You can show and hide columns by clicking the top right arrow and selecting Select Columns from the fly out menu 1 Add stations by clicking the Add Station icon 2 Add empty stations by clicking the Add Empty Station icon L Please refer to the chapter Adding a station for more information 3 Click the Info button to view or adjust the properties of the selected station For more information about the options in the Properties dialog box please refer to the chapter Station Properties 4 You can remove a station by clicking You can only remove a station if the station has not been used on a layout ie O Back Side ananas pdt Ti Bos Borders i ie 1 O 10 55 Style The Style window allows you to set the parameters for the mark
57. Esko Plato uses a number of default ink libraries the PANTONE libraries and the Designer Book Depending on your configuration you may have additional ink libraries available Select the ink book you want to use by clicking Inks gt Open Ink Book The PANTONE libraries are designed to look like the pages of the PANTONE formula guide Each column of inks represents one page in the guide You can scroll through the inks using the scroll bar at the bottom You can also search for a particular ink by typing its number or name in the search field at the bottom Non standard designer ink books contain inks that are defined by you Designer inks can be created in two ways they may be included in an imported graphic or you may define them yourself by using a PANTONE ink If you open or import a file that contains an unknown designer ink an information window will appear In this case the file contains an ink that currently is not in any of Esko Plato s ink libraries You can add this ink to an ink book so that in the future Esko Plato will recognize this ink To add an unknown ink to an ink book 1 Choose Inks gt Open Ink Book and select the ink book to which you want to add the ink 2 Click the lock in the bottom right corner to unlock the library so that you can add a new ink 3 Click and drag the ink swatch not the name of the unknown ink from the Inks dialog box to any of the empty ink patches in the ink book 6 4 4 Using ink map
58. Extended Barcomarks dialog box which allows you to influence the settings for Centermarks Marks You can define the length of the rules of the centermarks as well as the the rule thickness You can also specify the diameter of the circle of the centermarks Click Job Name to add the Job Name to the repetition The mark turns black The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition Click Date to display the Date on your job The mark turns black The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition Use the Information Input box to add any extra information you want to display on your job Inks E m i Click the white ink strip left to display a 100 color box of all the inks used in the job Only if the strip displays color information it will be added to the repetition Plato Grayscale lima Click the white grayscale strip right to add it to your job Only if the strip dislays grayscale information it will be added to the repetitionClick the Barcomarks envelope to display the Extended Barcomarks dialog box which allows you to influence the percentages of the grayscale strip Specify the height and width of the grayscale boxes Start allows you to define the black percentage of the first top grayscale box The default value for the start is 100 Stop allows you to define the black percentage of the last bottom grayscale box The default value for the stop is 10 Step allows you to define the percentage step between
59. Ink B Registration Select Inks l Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical lnks J To Ignore Yarnish Inks E White Underprint Settings White underprint allows you to add white underprint to the mark Click the Setting button the White Underprint settings dialog box pops up White Underprint Settings x Select Ink lt none gt ETET 0 200 mm 0 200 mm 0 200 mm 0 200 mm OF Cancel 7 3 10 MFG Text replace MFG Text Replace scans an ArtiosCAD MFG file for text objects with a specific content This content will then be replaced by a station s number or by user defined SmartName enabled text string When scanning for ArtiosCAD text objects the position and rotation angle of the text is kept and will be used for the replacement text The MFG Text Replace dialog box has two tabs e Number e Inks 203 W ESKO C Plato Smarth ark Options MFG Text Replace x Number Inks Search NutzenNrs Replace by Station Number Text Smart Test Font e Swiss 7a Swaas A EE Cc Size u Orientation Number Smarth ark Options MFG Text Replace x Number Inks Search NutzenNrg Replace by Station Number Text Smart Test Fot e Swiss 7a Swaas EE Cc Size u Orientation e Set the Search string to define the MFG text that needs to be replaced e Set Replace by Station Number to replace the found
60. Line Types Creases Minimum Length 20 00000 mm Enter the settings for the crease marks e The Length and Width define the size of the crease lines e The orientation either on Rows horizontal or on columns vertical e On what stations to base the crease marks All Stations will generate crease marks for every crease line in every station By setting to Left Column Right Column Top Row or Bottom Row only the crease lines from the corresponding stations will be used e The line type Creases Cuts or Creases and Cuts e The minimum length of a crease or cut line to be taken into account Crease or cut lines below the minimum length will be disregarded INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box 196 Plato Position The Position tab is identical to the Position tab of the Image Mark dialog box 7 3 Dimension Line The Dimension Line measures and displays the horizontal and or vertical dimensions of an named object job borders and or margins SmartMark Options Dimension Line Text Inks Position Value Style Font Swiss 721 SWABS ha Weight Roman Style Upright Size izp The Dimension Line dialog box has four tabs e Text e Inks e Position e Value Text Allows you to define the font weight size style Text Inks Position Value Style Font Swiss 721 SWAlSI BS weight Roman Style Upright Size iz
61. M 294 For more information about shortcuts please refer to the chapter Shortcuts Selecting multiple objects To add an object to the current selection 1 Click Select on the toolbar and click the first object 2 Hold SHIFT and click each additional object that you would like to add Caution The Shift key is an Esko shortcut If you are using DTP shortcuts or created your own shorcuts the key could be different For more information about shortcuts please refer to the chapter Shortcuts To select all objects within an area 1 Click Select on the toolbar 2 Position the cursor outside the objects you want to select and click hold and drag the mouse to create a box around the objects Release the mouse button You must entirely enclose an object with the selection box for it to be selected Selecting all objects To select all objects in the document On the Edit menu click Select All Deselecting an object You can only deselect objects that are selected in red To deselect objects selected in green you must first change them to objects selected in red by pressing the INSERT key Caution The Insert key is an Esko shortcut If you are using DTP shortcuts or created your own shorcuts the key could be different For more information about shortcuts please refer to the chapter Shortcuts To deselect every object in the red selection 1 Click Select on the toolbar 2 Click anywhere
62. Origin f Q To change the Units or Origin go to Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults Vertical Shrink fi 00 000 a Horizontal Shrink fi 00 000 A Screen Registration C pr Continuons Reset for each external file Document Profile crom offs Description crom atts Show Formulas The General tab of the Layout Setup dialog box offers you the possiblity to determine some general settings e f Esko Plato is connected to an Esko Automation Engine server you can specify in which Automation Engine Job the new layout will be created Specifying the Job is important to e set up SmartNames e determine the default file format important when normalizing foreign file formats e It indicates the Job File Format in which your job will be created PDF or GRS e You can enter a name for your new plate in the Layout Name field If you don t enter a name Esko Plato will ask for a name when you save the file If you want to use a template file that you created previously you can click the check box next to Use Template and select one from the drop down list If you haven t created any plate templates the check box and field will be disabled as they are 321 1 O ESKO Plato in the dialog box below See Using Templates for more information about using templates If you have QuickStep templates on your system these will also show up in the list When selecting an Esko Plato template not for QuickStep templates the templat
63. Output type lo export or print your design as CMYK Composite Separated or Composite e Separated Activate this option to generate separations Multiple pages will be generated corresponding to the inks in the job e Composite this output type can only be selected for PostScript 3 devices since they support deviceN color space to produce high fidelity colors These colors are combinations of the standard CMYK process colorants and or spot colorants guaranteeing perfectly separatable PostScript code which can also be proofed on a composite PostScript 3 device The generated PostScript file will proof correctly and separate correctly Color management for spot color objects must be handled by the device Emulsion UpTo obtain Right Reading emulsion up or Wrong Reading emulsion down Image lo specify Positive or Negative print mode Note Image and Emulsion up becomes unavailable appears dimmed when CMYK Composite Output was chosen Enter the Vertical and or Horizontal distortion in percentages 260 Plato Select SmartMarks from the drop down list Account for Media Box margins Io select the margins of the job as the true boundary If you deselect this toggle the borders of the job are taken as the true boundary When you want to output everything that is placed within the margins too leave the option activated Hide trap layer s in outputTrap layers will not be included in the output Page range e Output all pages
64. Scene C Ok 4 Background Color a E Reset Floor Reflection 36x l Appearance l Cancel Madel OK oe Background Color 1 IM Show Board Thickness Fl Reflection Inside Color en ee Shadows hox Model i w Show Inside Inside Color E Type of Highlights Glossy ard Highlights Zs Appearance Shadows Scene K Background Color 3 E Reset Floor Reflection nC Cancel Model bag Shadows eee 30 zae dae A35 12 ESKO Plato Note All settings except the Floor Reflection from the Appearance dialog are used in the Export dialog 12 2 3 Working with Panels A box design and a bag design consist of a set of panels which are folded relative to each other selecting Panels In the Studio Window you can select a panel simply by clicking on it The selected panel is used by certain Studio Designer features and does not affect the selected artwork a NOIN MA 7 DN 436 STUDIO 2 yey Agii H e j A SONONE j A i Var C iN A Ne a gt 3 Double click a panel to display it in the document window Cle e m Ha 4 E Tip Show Face Outline in the fly out menu ensures that the selected panel is also shown in the your document as a blue solid line Note Sometimes a dotted line appears next to the solid one This is the case when you select a panel that is also part of a composed face About Hidden P
65. SmartMarks are included in the Ink Eater object or not Click Create to create the Ink Eater object This is an empty contour that is placed in the document and can be used by the Fill Ink Eater functionality IL mik si gt eid You can clearly see that the created Ink Eater object red selection has an offset in relation to the used Die Cut of the one ups blue The SmartMarks are excluded from this Ink Eater object You can now use the zone in this object to compensate the ink key histogram Tip When you select an contour object that already exists this contour is used as the maximum surface from which the Ink Eater Area can be created Determine the zone where you want to compensate by creating a contour object In the case below we are only going to compensate the upper part of the plate Plato i feist ane Fa Bs Ao mm nye pam rip Le heare mia a Heia ee cl Dibia eed AEE Pr E E ee l r Ee Desc hipa onan LSoCawLia ian Loe ars ih A fi gt Gorri jabr LEGOAYWLA isepewna Click Create to turn the selected object into a compensation zone The Die Shape is set as edge for the ink eater object The SmartMarks are excluded in this case Ba db ma npp pam jip hai Pehar mia i CaM SB ew e P arerp et M i am a _ a A poe dr or E Qem 1 ae Fi m j m x O Hmm u SS l i oon i eae i 4 T NE iHi E lt A Kigame i p 7 r a
66. T Keep current layout Search Options T Automatically creates layouts that minimize waste and overruns 2 Add stations by clicking the Add Station icon Please refer to the chapter Adding a station for more information 6 For each station enter the ordered quantity in the Ordered column This number is expressed in thousands K Placed indicates the number of times this station is placed in the current layout This number is read only 7 You can specify the amount of overrun for each station individually by entering a value in the Station Properties dialog box For more information please refer to the chapter Station Properties 41 ESKOS a 8 Click Search The SmartLayout tool will order the selected stations on your sheet in the best possible way in terms of ordered quantity overrun waste The amount of overrun is indicated in actual numbers and as a percentage of the ordered quantity Search creates a new layout removing all stations that were placed on the layout before activating the function A number of layouts will be suggested The one that is visualized is regarded as the most ideal one Of course you can at any time opt for another layout by using the step buttons This is an example of a possible layout AK Find Optimal Layout T Keep current layout Search lt g gt gt I Q Use the step buttons to navigate through the found layouts 9 Click the Options
67. Text if you want to use smart text Style Clicking Style opens the Text Style dialog box Text Style S x Helvetica Roman Efu hfe Juri SEES S S S iN It allows you to change the e Font e Font Weight e Leading e Size e Style e Horizontal Quadding e Vertical Quadding e Text Orientation 2l ESKO Pa When you select Advanced the Text Style dialog box expands P and Apply Fully become available Note In normal mode style changes are always applied to the complete text In Advanced mode style changes are inserted at the current cursor position except when you click Apply Fully When Apply Fully is clicked the settings are applied to the mark When you click the envelope you are presented with a number of extra formatting options Text Style x Helvetica Romans x cs u F JAuto izp Upright aa jo ad gt z z T_T T oo e S S SSe n Ni ET Apply Fully ava 3 k Superscript Ca Subscript u Underscore l H H Slant l sh Distort aval SAV sack Smart Text Smart text fields are text codes that correspond with certain attributes of the job During text lay out these text codes are replaced by their value If during editing these values should happen to change the smart text field will be recalculated Select a category from the left column and a topic from the right column The c
68. Ungroup Tips e Grouping objects will rearrange the objects automatically so that no other objects are situated in between e Grouping objects in different layers will place the grouped object in a single layer e Ungrouping objects places the individual objects in the same layer in the same order as previously in the group 6 1 4 Group into Grid Use Group into Grid to sort and analyze the red selected stations for a grid based step and repeat pattern Depending on the position of the stations one or more grid blocks see the Grid dialog box will be generated 6 1 5 Using the Transform Window 116 You can transform objects numerically with the Transform window To transform object interactively use the Transform tool The Transform window provides two features First the Transform window provides you with information about the currently selected object This information includes the location size rotation and scaling of the selected object Secondly the Transform window allows you to numerically transform an object by changing this information You numerically transform objects by selecting them choosing a current point if necessary and entering specific values in the Transform window To move an object to a specific location 1 Select the object 2 Inthe Transform window select the current point that you want to locate 3 Type a new location into the Location fields 4 Press Enter to make the change
69. a die shape from a CAD file or you can create simple dies yourself All the items that you include in a station will be repeated on your plate Although stations can be created and manipulated from the Sheet View you edit stations in the Station View The definition of a station is embedded inside the plate file Optionaly stations can be saved as separate files for re use in other plates Station objects consist of e areference to a graphics In case of an empty station this will be a rectangle with a dummy color simply for viewing 13 ESKOS ae e adie shape This is the shape on which the actual stations will be cut e a bleed mask This is a gross mask that cuts away all irrelevant graphics Most of the time the bleed mask is generated by spreading the die shape over a certain distance Advanced attributes are e station strip number definitions e SmartMarks geometry marks The definition of a station i e all attributes enumerated above is enclosed in the PLA file In case a station is used in another PLA file the definition of that station could be copied into a STA file The PLA file however will continue to use the internal definition Apart from the enumerated attributes a station can also possess a number of SmartLayout characteristics as e g ordered quantity SmartLayout characteristics are not stored inside the STA file What is a layout A layout contains a plate size a sheet size a sheet to plate offs
70. a guillotine cutting device and who wish to be able to integrate parameters related to order specificities and overrun Thanks to the SmartLayout option you can optimize the distribution of different labels on your sheet automatically and it takes but a few seconds It uses different optimizing methods depending on your workflow it offers dynamic feedback on suggested layouts and operator inter actions e g run length waste overrun 1 Go to File gt New Layout gt SmartLayout The Layout Setup dialog box will appear 39 3 AO Plato Layout Setup General Plate amp Sheet z seect Q Job File Format POF Layout H ame 53789685L 0 L aon Units bim Origin f5 T To change the Units or Origin go to Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults Vertical Shrink 100 000 Horizontal Shrink 100 000 5 Screen Registration er Continuous 2 Reset for each external file r Show Formulas i Cancel 2 The General tab of the Layout Setup dialog box offers you the possiblity to determine some general settings If your Esko Plato is connected to an Automation Engine server you can specify in which Automation Engine Job the new layout will be created It indicates the Job File Format in which your job will be created PDF or GRS It invites you to give a name to your layout Note that templates are at your disposal You can select one by toggling on Use Template and selecting one from the drop down list
71. aati fa aaah 317 TOZ Opern LAN OUI elastase orabepesttot ean Sue a a aaa eid 318 FL sd sMT UO CAD acacia ai tanec eect Cane ta sana da etc Wan ea ncn ean ncaa 318 af cep 4 oo gam rc 0 B ata ee eR AAEE E ee ne nC ee ee E ee 319 10 3 Layour o 1B emer ane ree eter eet ee eD Un em NEG ie RTT ORC CMR eT emit Be OTe Ton ni PO ORCI TTR SEN STE fey Te eee 321 BE al ASU VS Fda czech etna een dace ante esate tnt uated tesa mance sccm ines tant ean ante aan saan eae 321 10 52 Flate and SINC SL incense scatterer tac a Dh te dace A ise ee da 322 TOO Bole d cats aia alo pee emer terre tee a aren etre ect eter ame one Steet cre rye Pam Ar cnt Rare ert aren eee ore re ee ee 324 TOF AMP LODO MiO ennan E ote ences aa inset acta haus an een toa tO 324 OOF za ets nent heave at cece Pec a begs nee ieee Ea ee 325 109 PA SI TC OS octet cea cb Scene ta da staat eae ec one sa hr adn eT Sash at el Secs 325 FO Be Ce co Meee ter em eee net men trate nen ent ne re ee een ere TE te 326 NN ye ME TMM Us a a eave ca ohn tab ete ae esa tees Oat a eean A eae 327 TO D OMAN WV says erate A SN 328 TODA GON OR earn eosin tau sen N E NE cadences ta cece eae VETA 330 VO FeO CUCINA La eaneractetacatacttaanesenagitanecticnn T enna nena mauunnaaand 330 NOS Os WS ON cobs st dyer A EE S EEE E iota i EEE E E eapeei ter an ener eae maaan es 331 VFS OTE CUS taD i eee esc atest ata tens va Maen A tc Ta 332 10 9 6 Licenses TAD martina tinrnin T es 333 10 9 9 Server ANd R
72. allows you to export the station data to an external format PS PDF For more information on the different export formats please refer to the chapter Exporting Esko Plato Files Export HA 3 My REE Documents BS k to a s My Documents r k or My Computer File name Blairon Collar ps Cancel Zi Save as type Profiles defaults 10 21 Station XMP Info The XMP Info dialog box provides an overview of all XMP information that is stored inside the station file 360 Plato em x External Images Data tupe Artwork Document Color Pratile Pages 1 page FReaderspread No Trapped Unknown Vertical size 35 5607 mm Horizontal size 95 1949 mm Top Media Bos margin 0 125 mm Left Media Box margin 0 125 mm Bottom Media Bos margin 0 125 mm Right Media Bos margin 0 125 mm Vertical distortion no distortion Horizontal distortions na distortion Document mta Powered By 3 xm 3 View SOUICE Save Close 10 22 INKS Click Inks to add modify or remove inks and to display the current inks in your job with their properties See also Working with inks on page 132 Note The Inks dialog box in the Station View is purely informative 361 10 Plato E gr Process Normal E Process Normal IBY s Process l Normal 4 BK Process Normal 5 B Match Gold unregistered Normal 6 E PANTONE 7532C PANTONE Normal H Artios Cut
73. and layersCheck the box to import PDF files as in Scope 3 and lower All transparencies and layers will be flattened If not checked a normalized PDF file will be created that contains all typical PDF features like transparencies and layers 103 Plato PDF Import Flatten POF transparencies and layers Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output Page range f All Pages Range Example 1 5 7 9 11 F Split Upa MultiPage File MMaeinium Pages per File lo First Pagenumber in Output f Merge Tiled CT Files to one CT Merge separated file to composite page Optimize merged file Password See Importing a PostScript filefor complete descriptions of the import options 5 5 1 Importing multipage PDF files When importing multipage files without normalization it is now possible to specify that every other page should be treated as verso graphics Example below will create 5 stations by loading page 1 3 5 7 and 9 page 2 4 6 8 and 10 will be used as the verso graphics for these stations POF Import x Pages Range fi oi Laver J Ade D Composed Text M Place Estemeal Place Multipage File on Front Back l Customized Settings 5 6 Importing an EPS file The Options for importing an EPS file contain some but not all the same features as the PostScript Options window In particular the Pages and the Page Size tabs do not appear
74. be fitted to the trim box dimensions This will activate the Extra Height Length input boxes and will allow you to make the mark as long or wide as the anchor object borders margins Position Mark of your job You may opt to give the mark a stroke instead of a fill Select the Stroke toggle and enter a width Tint Enter a percentage If you enter 50 the mark will be shown using 50 percent of the inks INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Ellipse Inks Position Ink fs Registration ka Select Inks Overpririt ca Opaque Ignore Similar Inks PT Ignore Technical Inks T Ignore Yarnish Inks M with Step Ai 0 000 mm Interleaved with Select Ink erone IM Startwith lt none gt White Underprint Settings Position The Position tab is identical to the Position tab of the Gradation Strip Mark dialog box Ellipse Inks Position Attach to Sheet Object Hame Offset 4 0 000 Dr x HoE jeo E a Orientation E Ej AK Dpi o 000 7 3 18 Grid Mark Places marks on the vertical sides of external references Is meant mainly for repetition blocks microdots The Grid marks has three tabs e Mark e Inks e Position ae Plato Mark Select the shape of the grid mark a circle square or an image from file Enter the diameter the dimensions or the scale Mark Inks Position o D Diameter fi O00 mm INKS The Inks tab is
75. be of the correct size and have the correct content For this reason graphics are not directly editable in Plato e About importing a graphic e Replacing a graphic e Importing an ArtPro file e mporting a PostScript file e Importing a PDF file e Importing an EPS file e Importing an Illustrator file e Importing an EPF file e Positioning a graphic e Editing a graphic in Esko PackEdge 5 1 About importing a graphic S6 When you import a graphic into the Station View you can position and rotate the graphic just like you can with a piece of film However you cannot scale the graphic in the Station View Scaling a graphic violates the digital film idea and can distort certain features of the graphic like trapping Graphics are always imported as external references These external references provide the high resolution display of the graphic and contain both size and ink information Plato uses these features to build station objects Station objects use graphics in native Esko Graphics file formats Plato can also import many desktop graphic file formats which are automatically converted to an equivalent Esko Graphics native file format before being placed in the station Options windows for importing graphics files Some file formats have special features that can be accessed by their Options window The Options window for each imported graphic file type is discussed in the sections below You import a graphic into a station b
76. box to define the horizontal offset distance from the borders of the repetition OrientationThe Horizontal and Vertical option buttons allow you to position the mark horizontally or vertically Length allows you to specify the lenght of your gradation strip Expppi allows you to specify the Expose resolution Use the Customized Name Input box to give a customized name to the Barcostrip mark Enter the customized name click Apply and the new mark name appears in the list of marks Example Enter the new name for the Barcostrip name e g Mycontrolstrip When the dialog box closes the original name in the list of marks has changed to Mycontrolstrip barcostrip 7 3 29 GRQ Text The Barcotext dialog box allows you to create additional text on a specified position and a certain orientation The additional text fields will be put next to each other on the specified position Text fields can contain any additional information that you type in and will be created in the ink selected SmartMark Options barcotext x Onentationmurror A D Y at q Character style Dc 861 Ocr B Machine Positian esis e mal 0 000 0 000 Contents lt jabname gt Weight Romn kinks_lin_ang gt Style Upright P Size Ji 2pt Paint Mode Homa lnkname for additional info Erase registration black barcotext Apply Position Puts the top of the mark against the verti
77. can define the vertical size of the sheet by the formula PlateHeight 100mm In doing so the vertical size of the sheet will be 100 mm smaller than the vertical size height of the plate Formulas can be used in different input fields e Layout Setup all fields marked with fx e Grids offset count step and angle fields Fields that support formulas can be visualized in 2 modes either show the formula definition or show the corresponding value When moving the mouse over the field both the definition and the value will be shown in balloon help To visualize the parameter formulas activate Show formulas in the Layout Setup dialog box What are predefined parameters Esko Plato has a list of predefined parameters These parameters can be visualized in 2 formats either as technical parameters or as localized parameters Technical formulas correspond with the way in which formulas were visualized in QuickStep Localized formulas provide a more readable format The Formulas option in the Defaults tab of the Preferences dialog box offers you the possibility to switch between technical and localized parameters 21 Plato VSHEETOFFSET _ _ _ _ _ GRIDHSIZEx _ HLABELx SHEETLEFT x Y E a HSIZEx When label is rotated gt GRIDHSIZE1 _ lt ___ lt _________ VPLATE 2 HPLATE SSA IMH When using parameter va
78. click a panel to display it in the document window CHE fa F i He Bring Panel Forward and Send Panel Backward This functionality is only available for boxes and composed faces of which the panels are all in the same plane Overlapping panels in the same plane can occur in any file Sometimes the order of these overlapping panels is incorrect Most of the time this will happen when the panels have been folded 90 degrees on top of each other With Bring Panel Forward and Send Panel Backward you can correct this order If you wish to view another panel on top you can select the panel select Bring Panel Forward from the Studio fly out window and bring it forward 12 2 4 3D Guides AAO In Illustrator PackEdge you can create horizontal and vertical Guides to align art Studio Designer offers another type of guides 3D Guides for boxes and Collada files 3D guides appear both in the document window and in the Studio Window Note 3D guides are temporary visual aids and are NOT saved You can hide or show the 3D guides in the document window by switching the visibility of the 3D Guides layer on or off in the Layer window Select Show Hide 3D Guides from the Studio fly out menu or click the button at the bottom to hide or show the 3D guides in the Studio Window In the Studio Window the 3D guides appear like a horizontal or vertical plane that is intersecting the shape In the document a 3D Guide appears like a set of horiz
79. constrain Note that a preference setting allows you to draw a rectangle with a single click Tip Note that a preference setting allows you to draw a rectangle in a single click To draw an ellipse 1 Select the Draw Die Shape Ellipse button from the fly out toolbar 2 Click where you want the top left corner of the ellipse 3 Click hold and drag to create the ellipse You can also simply click where you would like the top left corner of the ellipse and the bottom right corner of the ellipse Holding the ALT key while dragging will draw the ellipse from the center You also use the ellipse tool to create a circle You constrain the ellipse to a circle by turning on constrain See Using constrain Note that a preference setting allows you to draw an ellipse with a single click Tip Note that a preference setting allows you to draw an ellipse in a single click To draw a polygon Plato 1 Select the Draw Die Shape Polygon button from the fly out toolbar 2 Click where you want to the first point of the polygon 3 Click to create each additional point in the polygon 4 Type 2 to close and end the contour Type 3 to end the contour without closing it Tip e Die contours can be transformed using the Transform tool on the toolbar or the Transform window e Be aware of the number and complexity of die contours that you create Since the Create Bleed Mask tool is used to create a mask from the die contours
80. converted into SmartMarks while preserving their functionality including customised QuickStep registration marks if any If the GRQ data is still using old GRR macros these are not converted and a message will be displayed Converting Quickstep object Converting grids Changing plate definition io fit around oll ohyacts Converting sheet registration marke to SmaiMarks Converting grid registration marks to SmartMarks Converting plate registration meks to Sroarhterks converting plate registration marks to sheet converting iormula WYPLATE to VSHEET converting iormula APLATES ta ASHEET 2 erica plate siza has changed 252 0 228 0 Horizontal plote size hos changed 294 0 270 0 F i The task ganersted some wamings during processing F e The plate definition is set to platefit e All marks are converted into SmartMarks e Plate parameters using formulas used in grids marks are replaced by the corresponding sheet parameters e As the plate is now fitted around all objects the plate size of the Esko Plato file no longer matches the plate size of the QuickStep file but it should match the margins 12 1 3 Inks marked as Tech QuickStep allowed to mark inks as technical but it does not completely match with the notion of technical inks in Esko Plato In Esko Plato technical inks are mainly used for die shapes and special non printing separations Technical inks are always rendered as opaque Marking inks as Tech
81. converted into stations Plate and sheet settings are copied into the Esko Plato layout setup Formulas are preserved including the user variables if any QuickStep grids are converted into Esko Plato grids Registration marks are kept ah ON 1 Converting graphicsThe QuickStep graphics are converted into stations tjat preserve the die shape and bleed settings In doing so each QuickStep grid line is converted into an Esko Plato station If the same graphics is used in multiple grid lines these will result in multiple stations refering to the same graphics When an external LC or GRS file is used as die shape the contour data is read and embedded inside the Esko Plato station resulting in a manual die shape 2 Plate and sheet settingsThere is a fundamental difference in the notion of plate between QuickStep and Esko Plato In Esko Plato the plate and sheet correspond with respectively the media box and trim box PDF terminology The QuickStep sheet was also the trim box borders of a GRQ file which is a perfect match The QuickStep sheet is translated into the Esko Plato sheet The plate definition poses a problem Inherent to the definition of media box no visible graphics can be positioned outside the media box This implies that graphics are always clipped on the plate edges This was not the case in QuickStep where you could for instance have marks outside the plate QuickStep had a notion of margins media box whic
82. cut and crease lines some might use different colors Suppliers of DXF files should be able to indicate how the DXF file is structured It is good practice to save mapping rules as customized setting for each supplier 3 3 2 CAD Layout or CAD 1 up There are two types of CAD files layout files and 1 up files Layout files often contain several stations that are repeated on a sheet or board 1 up files contain a single station without any repeat information ArtiosCAD has two separate formats for these two different types of files but CFF2 and DDES do not This difference is important you can import layout files into a plate but you cannot import 1 up files into a plate You can however import 1 up files into the Station View How do you know if your CAD file contains layout information or 1 up information You can t easily determine this but Esko Plato knows the difference If you try to import a CFF2 DXF or DDES file that only contains a 1 up into Esko Plato you will see an error message telling you that the file is not a layout file Note Layout CFF2 subroutined CFF2 Layout DXF DXF with BLOCK command Note When trying to import a CFF2 or DXF file that is seen by Esko Plato as a 1 up CAD file a message will be displayed However it is still possible to import the file In some cases for instance when common knife removal has been applied CAD files might have lost their structure which makes it impossible for Esko Plato
83. dat pit OR Esko bg_data_custom_v010 dat plt for new installations Click Setup to open the set plate template options e Saving a layout as a Plate template e Saving a layout as a PDFPLA file e Saving a layout as a PLA file saving a layout as a Plate template Save As Plate Template Display image Display image Hide technical inks Jas defined in original file Select All Inks and Colors Save unused inks and colors Save unused Stations al Customized Settings 54 Plato Display Image This option allows you to set the type of display image that will be included in the file Choices are No Display Thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or Display image preview of 72 dpi which creates a low resolution preview that can be used when the file is placed as an external file SelectYou can export your entire job or a part of it e All saves the entire job Red Selection saves objects selected in red only e Current Layer saves the currently active layer only e Current Page saves the current page Inks and Colors e Clean up unused colors automatically removes all unused inks e Clean up unused inks and colors automatically removes all colors and inks that are not used in the job e Save unused inks and colors saves unused inks and colors Composed textComposed text is non editable text It can be converted to editable text by clicking it when you are in text edit mo
84. dies and some that do not the location and size fields display values for the bounding box that encloses all the selected objects e SmartMarks can be moved either interactively or numerically However the rotation angle of SmartMarks cannot be changed with either of these methods However the orientation of most SmartMarks can be determined by means of their parameters If you need to rotate a SmartMark double Click the mark and change its parameters in the corresponding dialog Please refer to the chapter Using the Transform Window for more information on how to use the Transform options 10 57 Color Picker The Color Picker allows you to pick a color to represent a station in dummy color mode Color Picker t l X Cancel 10 58 Grid Settings The Grid Settings dialog box offers all options to create your ideal step and repeat layout You can enter numeric values but you can also opt to work with formulas Right click an edit field and the Calculator will pop up In the Grids dialog box click the Grid Settings icon Hi or double click the grid number The Grid Settings dialog box appears 417 10 ESKO 418 Plato Settings Grid 1 gy Ei Station Station Mame Ja P Jupiler pdf oe Die Shape Trim Bow Bleed 3 000 mrm Geometry EE EE ge Em nei ee ee mE EH E a 10 000 mm Boos z EH 10 000 rir Restart after 3 columns H E 7 Continuous ee fE I Up a
85. different methods You can modify the default die on the basis of the trim size of the graphic or you can use the graphics contours as the default die Select Die Shape is only available if a graphic has been imported into the station You can create a rectangular die shape by using the option Custom Size Simply specify the required height and width of the die shape Select Die Shape q x Die Shape Use Custom Size 496 999 mm 51 0 000 mm Cancel You can fit the die to the trim size of an imported graphic Esko applications like PackEdge call the trim size the Borders Desktop applications often call the trim size the Page Size or the Document Size If your graphic has the correct trim size to use for the die the Select Die Shape dialog box can create the station s die from the trim box of the graphic 60 Select Die Shape X Die Shape Use Graphic s Trim Box Borders Ink E FANTONE 115C I 148 000 mm 105 000 mm To create a die from the trim size of an imported graphic 1 On the Station menu click Select Die Shape 2 Select the Graphic s Trim Box Borders from the list 3 Click OK The station s die is modified to match the trim size of the graphic You can also choose to use specific contours in the graphic as the die You can use the other options in the list to choose the contours that you want to use Use Objects marked with label Die to use the contours th
86. et A eet eee eee ea eer 388 10 39 Check Job Parameters iricssesscisezsicnstsrtiesrenedaringchvecuscaaneind trewhaisasdasnsadlenucatnaesinsdatedviaeensssuknlinibendaiastastdeentisactasuatie 389 1040 WMG yA ate gates cease seers cece aaa cyanea sg acinomae etc et A a iaoi Ea a ote renee eee 390 TOAD 1 SAVE VVOMKS OAC E nisana S sinntiandisaaeinesiness dddeteratesinayaddedaieinseeencdineanadaaeath abate 390 10 40 2 Manage WorkSpace cccccccciessnnicinssnsieiiseisinesisieisirsieissussnsesienrsen 391 TOD TOONS ANG ce ceca eateries caer eda de ence erence A A easier td tants on ea T tee 391 gO 2282 6 g een nner ne eee ee en eR ee E ee ee ee ee 392 TAa CAD eects tree ete tute nap engineer cc tne cea ed asec aioe eee cn hase tecor EE 393 IAA Sl c Ul 6 Ge en cr ee ee et 395 gH Os COO E E EE E E E E E E E 396 1046 Color Factor oarpimsneans ani aa naaien iiaii inaen anioi i tia iai nika iniiis 397 TAr EIG a E E EE E EO eee mec EE EEE A A O 399 10 47 1 Changing the Opacity Gradient ss sssssssrsrrrirnrinrnninttnttkntt nn rnNEANEANENEENEEEEEEEEEENEENEEEEEEEEEE EENEN EErEE 400 10 47 2 Creating and Editing PDF Opacity MaSKS cect 401 poete alo ane renee E tne ree ne cere re ee E EAN ee E eee ee 402 SNM NM WOW cee atgcegnc sce E A meetin senee cae 405 1030 Layer BOWS E acre ce nee er ee eee ee ae ee ee eee ee eee ee 406 TOD PO VV IMO tiesto cca E EE ert ac ge grasa resect E E E dear A ee 408 10 52 SmartLayout OPTION al isise i i
87. file with a 72 dpi image This image can be used when the file is placed as an external file Plato Ee Composed text Composed text is non editable text It can be converted to editable text by clicking it when you are in text edit mode Export to Scope 3 Compatible file Check this box if you want your Normalized PDF file to be Scope 3 compatible 8 2 7 Exporting to a PLA File Can be used to export a PDFPLA file which can only be processed by a BackStage 7 0 or Flexrip 7 0 to a Scope 3 0 compatible file Note This option is only available in case of a PDF Job xl Display image Display imas ssi Hide technical inks Jas defined in original file Select All is Inks and Colors Cleanup unused colors Q Display ImageThis option allows you to set the type of display image that will be included in the GRS file Choices are No Display Thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or Display Image 72 dpi which creates a low resolution preview that can be used when the file is placed as an external file Hide Technical InksWhen selected technical inks will be stored in the file but will not be visible as exposable inks for the Esko FlexRip SelectYou can export your entire job or a part of it e All saves the entire job e Red Selection saves objects selected in red only e Current Layer saves the currently active layer only e Current Page saves the current page Inks and Colors e Clean up unused colors autom
88. formula definition or the corresponding value 10 The Station Selector allows you to select a station in the Station View o A oS oS Tip Click the station button to open the Station dialog box 11 Layout type indicates the selected workflow grid based CAD SmartLayout or manual Tip Click the layout button to open the appropriate Layout dialog box Grids CAD or SmartLayoult 12 Crosshair Position 13 Current Orientation Current Unit the orientation and unit can be changed in the Defaults tab of the Preferences dialog box Orientation units and server name together make up the Status Bar Note The menu bar contains commands that are available in the current module Not all commands in all menus may be available Availability depends on the options purchased and the active tool Note All the toolbars can be opened via the Window menu gt Toolbars Tip The Workspace Layout Manager allows you to make some predefined workspaces of the user interface dialog boxes and switch from one to another in one single click Plato All toolbars of the Window menu can either be used as docked tools or as proper dialog boxes Tip 2 3 5 Entering information Many of the dialog boxes expect you to enter information You usually do this by typing on the keyboard To edit a value in a dialog box click the field and enter a new value Clicking a field once selects the entire contents of the field Clicking a field twice wil
89. hide columns by clicking the top right arrow and selecting Select Columns from the fly out menu 409 10 ESKO Plato Add stations by clicking the Add Station icon 5 Add empty stations by clicking the Add Empty Station icon Lal Please refer to the chapter Adding a Station for more information Click the Info button o to view or adjust the properties of the selected station For more information about the options in the Properties dialog box please refer to the chapter Station Properties Find Optimal Layout Keep current layout Keeps the current layout but replaces the stations from the layout by taking matching stations from the list of selected stations in the SmartLayout dialog While replacing the ordered quantities are taken into account to optimize the run length Click Search The SmartLayout tool will order the selected stations on your sheet in the best possible way in terms of ordered quantity overrun waste The amount of overrun is indicated in actual numbers and as a percentage of the ordered quantity Search creates a new layout removing all stations that were placed on the layout before activating the function Esko Plato will suggest a number of layouts The one that is visualized is regarded as the most optimal one Of course you can at any time opt for another layout by using the step buttons Click the Options button to further refine your layout Click L
90. i TW W x X FEE X i N h h BN A MaN h l 5 E enio IRRA i x Py V NTN OF Cancel Apply M NE ee A F A a a a ye a D Ber Er HO t70 200 230 260 290 j A ir tm any ry f fi _ onlin 3 When you have selected the order you want for the numbers click OK 4 7 3 Numbering stations manually If one of the automatic orders is not what you need you can define your own Custom Order With Custom Order you indicate the number for each station by clicking it You continue clicking stations until all stations have been numbered While Custom Order allows you to pick any order it can be a long task to select every station in a large complex layout To number stations with a custom order 1 On the Tools menu click Number Stations 2 Enter a start number if necessary 3 Click the Custom Order button 82 Plato Number Stations l x Station Mumbers Strip Humbers Numbering Fama p3 sf Custom Order Unda z To Start with fi E k Reset Order Custom wf Please pick 1 D Restart numbering even column Restart numbering ever Grid Prefix Sut fist Type Fixed z Type Fined Prefix Sultix O OF Cancel Apply 4 Click each station to set the order You can undo the last choice by clicking Undo You can reset all the numbers and start over by clicking Reset
91. in the plate As you view each Overlap Record you can choose one of these four Mask Decisions The currently selected Mask Decision is displayed in the document window so that you can see the result of this decision This way you can view the effect of all the choices to make the right decision 7 Limit Bleed Check the Limit Bleed box and enter the maximum distance over wich one station bleeds into the adjacent station Please refer to the chapter Adjusting overlapping stations for additional information 10 35 Create Varnish Create Varnish loads a varnish layer When a CAD layout is loaded the function Create Varnish will be enabled This allows to create varnish areas based on the loaded CAD layout If the CAD layout contains coating free areas these can be taken into account 382 Plato Note The varnish ink must be defined in the ink table already Varnish Ink WYVarmish ag Varnish Outline Create arnish X A From Graphics On Sheet C Dn Die Bounding Box Dn Die Outline Offset 5 000 W Load Varnish Free Areas from CAD Cancel Create an The varnish areas can be assembled by creating a contour that defines the outer limits of the varnish This contour can be e From Graphics Present in the graphics e On Sheet Based on the boundaries of the sheet e On Die Bounding Box Based on the bounding boxes of the individual dies e On Die Outline Based on the union of all die lines
92. is used to mount the Mac OS drive on the Plato machine Example In our ArtPro file the path of an externally linked image is Intel_Mac images imagel We mount the Intel_Mac drive of the Mac OS file server on our Windows based Plato system using the G drive letter To allow Automation Engine to automatically locate the images on the Mac OS file server when exporting the ArtPro file we use the Folder Mapping feature to map Intel_Mac to G 89 ESKOS m Limitations There are some limitations when importing ArtPro files in Plato When you import an ArtPro file into Plato you will notice that the graphic visualisation of both documents is the same but the document structure is not Example Linked ArtPro files and external ArtPro CT files will be embedded and certain special objects in the ArtPro file will have been degraded to normal objects Where possible links to external images will be maintained Step and Repeat or externally linked files in ArtPro to non normalized PDFs and PostScript files cannot be imported Objects that do not have screening information in the ArtPro file get the following defaults e frequency 120 e dotshape simpledot round e angles C 15 M 75 Y 0 B 45 and any others 45 Inks from the PANTONE and Visualizer ink book are recognized All other custom inks are loaded from the ink book designer in Plato Ink attributes opaque varnish and normal are kept Ink attribute Techn
93. layer on top of the black object with the ink that you defined by default Cyan to obtain a darker black e White Underprint places a background under your design when working with transparent or metallic material The default ink is Transparent white but you can select any ink of your job 141 ae Esko m When printing Yellow on a metal can for example the result of the combination will have a goldish appearance To avoid this apply White Underprint 6 5 1 PowerTrapper 142 The Irap Dialog The Trap dialog is where you define all your trapping settings 1 Choose your trapping settings in the Distance amp Direction Color amp Shape and Processing tabs 2 If needed define trapping rules 3 Save your trapping settings as a trap preset to be able to reuse them on another document Note The Trap Preset List contains 6 default presets Distance and Direction Settings Trapping You can choose between two trapping modes e Normal Trapping This selects adjoining color pairs which are likely to cause registration problems like ugly light gaps and unwanted halo effects PowerTrapper Standalone automatically chooses the most appropriate trap direction based on the relative luminance of the adjoining colors Lighter colors are generally trapped into darker colors to minimize the visual effect of the trap e Reverse Trapping This prevents overprint of adjoining color areas by trapping these color pairs with a white k
94. layers contain evenly spaced guides that can be used to align objects You can specify the spacing of a grid layer You can also create multiple grid layers each with a different spacing You can then turn these layers on and off as you need them To create a grid layer 1 Open the Layer Browser by clicking Layer Browser on the Window menu 2 Click the Add Grid Layer button z The Grid dialog box appears Grid Layer 1 xli Step 0 000 Offset 0 000 0 000 0 000 3 Enter the spacing for the grid in the vertical and horizontal step fields For a square grid enter the same number in each step field You do not have to enter the same number in both fields entering different numbers creates a rectangular grid 4 Enter the start position of the grid in the offset fields The default start position of the grid is at the Current origin However you can enter a different start position by entering values other than 0 5 Click the close box on the Grid dialog box The grid layer is added to the Layer Browser The grid appears in the document window as grey lines on the plate Depending on the grid size and your current zoom level it may be hard to see the grid Like other layers you can change the order of grid layers in the Layer Browser If you want to work Plato 6 with the grid layer behind all your objects move the grid layer to the back If you want your grid layer to appear on top of all objects move it to
95. left corner of the rectangle and the bottom right corner of the rectangle Holding the ALT key while dragging will draw the rectangle from the center You also use the rectangle tool to create a square You constrain the rectangle to a square by turning on constrain See Using constrain Tip Note that a preference setting allows you to draw a rectangle in a single click 301 EI Esko M 302 To draw an ellipse 1 Select the Draw Ellipse button from the fly out toolbar 2 Starting where you want the top left corner of the ellipse click hold and drag to create the oval You can also simply click where you would like the top left corner of the ellipse and the bottom right corner of the ellipse Holding the ALT key while dragging will draw the ellipse from the center You also use the ellipse tool to create a circle You constrain the ellipse to a circle by turning on constrain See Using constrain Tip Note that a preference setting allows you to draw an ellipse in a single click To draw a polygon 1 Select the Draw Polygon button from the fly out toolbar 2 Click where you want the first point of the polygon 3 Click to create each additional point in the polygon 4 Type 2 to close and end the contour Type 3 to end the contour without closing it Note The Geometry Marks tool also allows you to draw splines A simple click will create a new line segment If you click hold and drag the mouse spline segments w
96. locked Lock Layers can be locked or unlocked A padlock icon indicates the layer is locked and its contents may not be selected or changed Click the box to lock or unlock the layer The padlock button at the top of the column locks or unlocks all layers Add Delete Layer E 7 Layers can be added or deleted from the document From left to right these icons are add a grid layer add a markup grid layer add an object layer and delete a layer The delete layer button can be used to delete any layer in the list Deleting a layer deletes the layer and all the objects on the layer EE Allows you to add a new Grid Layer Allows you to add a new Markup Layer Active LayerThe Active Layer is the layer to which all new objects will be added The current Active Layer is shown with a black triangle at the top right corner of the layer To make a layer the active layer click its name in the layer list There is a difference between a layer being selected and a layer being the active layer For example you can select a grid layer but it will not become the active layer because objects cannot be placed on grid layers i A little red square indicates the layer contains red selected objects A big red square indicates that all objects of a layer are selected in red A double ring indicates the object is targeted or is the current active The Style and Effects dialog boxes show the properties of the object that is targeted
97. module is a red selected open contour Typically this contour will be created using the Draw Polygon tool EXAMPLE 1 Create a step and repeat layout 2 Right click the layout gt Settings Grid 1 and enter a stagger value The layout may look like this A staggered layout will create a plate with a irregular seam which will avoid problems with the press 3 P Select the Draw Polygon tool as and draw a path If you are going to use the option Truncate on Center the path does not have to be too precise Even a roughly drawn path can be used to create the ideal seam 4 Click Create A clipping mask will be created with the exact width of the plate It will appear a a separate layer in the Layer Browser but it will always be locked The mask will be added to the blue selection and will appear in light blue 166 Plato 5 To generate a nicer path check Truncate on Center The path generated will run along the center line between the different die shapes 167 ESKO 7 Working with SmartMarks e What are SmartMarks e Using SmartMarks e Supplied SmartMarks 7 1 What are SmartMarks SmartMarks are marks used as production controls that automatically update based on changes to the sheet size the plate size and the number of inks on the plate You add SmartMarks to your plate or station using the SmartMarks tool on the Production menu You can add as many marks as you like to your job You c
98. no distortion Horizontal distortion no distortion Document info Powered By xX nm gt Viel SOUICE Save Close 10 8 Print Print allows you to proof or expose the design opened in Esko Plato Clicking Print on the File menu opens the Print dialog box Statue Idle Type HP Lasenet 4000 Series PS Where IP_150 158 4 57 Comment Customized Settings Click Setup to open the Setup dialog box For more on these options please refer to the chapter Exporting to a PostScript File 10 9 Preferences All Esko Plato modules have various preferences that you can set You set or change your preferences by clicking Preferences on the Edit menu 1 2 3 On the Edit menu click Preferences Select the tab that contains the settings that you would like to change Click OK to save your changes Selecting Cancel will discard any changes you have made since the last OK and will close the Preferences dialog box Selecting Reset will reset all settings in all tabs to the application defaults The Preferences dialog box has seven tabs ONAAARwWN 3 General Defaults View Color Editing Files Shortcuts Licenses 325 10 ESKO Plato 9 Server and Resources on page 333 10 9 1 General 326 To define general standard settings to be used by the application as you work on a job Offcuts General Defaults View Color Editing
99. not it is not possible to enter test Ic in the Name input box 233 ESKO 234 Position E Puts the top of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Puts the center of the mark on the vertical origin of the repetition L Puts the bottom of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Use the Vertical offset input box to define the vertical offset distance from the borders of the repetition Puts the left of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition LL Puts the center of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition LI Puts the right of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Use the Horizontal offset input box to define the horizontal offset distance from the borders of the repetition Scale Enter a scale factor in the corresponding input box to scale your image vertically Note 1 is equal to 100 of the image size 0 5 is equal to 50 of the image size LO Enter a scale factor in the corresponding input box to scale your image horizontally Note 1 is equal to 100 of the image size 0 5 is equal to 50 of the image size RepeatUse the Repeat options to specify the repeat count and step value for the Barcoimage The Esko Plato parameters and formulas of the calculator can be used H To specify the vertical count of your image mt To specify the vertical step distance between the stepped images CITT To specify the horizontal count of your i
100. of PostScript files in the Replace Station dialog box opens the PostScript Options window The Pages Color Management Inks Overprint e mages e Page Size e Other e Output 5 4 1 Pages Some options of the Pages tab are used by Esko Software Suite applications other than Esko Plato Some options are disabled as shown below PostScript Import x Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output Page range All Pages Range Example 1 5 7 9 11 D Split Upa MultiPage File Wanmum Pages per File fo First Pagenumber in Output f Merge Tiled CT Files to one CT Merge separated file to composite page D Optimize merged file iM Place External e Select All Pages or specify a Range of pages Split up a multipage fileTo divide the original multipage PostScript file into smaller parts You define the amount of pages to open of the specified pages or range What you need to know e Each part is stored as a separate GRS Normalized PDF file It is either stored locally or stored in the output directory e Each part is stored with the name of the imported PostScript file followed by _001 _002 _0001_001 or it gets the output name Split up a multipage fileCheck the box to divide the original multipage PostScript file into smaller parts You define the amount of pages to open of the specified pages or range What you need to know e Each p
101. of all used inks Plato Mode ayo By default a separation is displayed in color In order to see a separation as it would appear on film you can switch to Show as Film Positive By switching to Show as Film Negative the visible separation will be shown in negative Note As both Show as Film Positive and Show as Film Negative are more useful on a single separation switching to one of those will show only one separation Highlight Traps This is not available in Plato Transparency This will highlight all objects that have an opacity percentage a blend mode or an opacity mask regardless of what is underneath Overprint Highlight Overprint will highlight the areas where an overprint setting in the paint style takes effect Screening Conflict The Screening Conflict checkbox highlights areas where a screening conflict can occur They can occur if an object with transparency opacity mask opacity percentage or blend mode is overlapping on an object with another screening The PDF definition clearly states that screening is always taken from the topmost object even if that object is completely transparent in some areas In most cases this is not what you would expect In the example underneath you can see a cyan rectangle and a circle on top with an opacity mask The objects have a different screening Where the circle is on top of the cyan rectangle the cyan will take the screening of th
102. open the Press Settings window by selecting Press Settings in the fly out menu The Default Press Settings In the list of Press Settings there is always one Press Setting called Default which you can edit but not delete You can select it by clicking on Default in the Viewer dialog s fly out menu and edit it using Press Settings Creating a Press Setting To create a Press Setting in Viewer Select Press Settings in the fly out menu Click New in the Press Settings dialog Enter the name of the new press setting in the New dialog Click OK A GO N Copying a Press Setting To copy duplicate a Press Setting 1 Select it in the Press Settings dialog 2 Click the Copy button 3 Give it a new Name 337 10 338 ESKO Plato 4 Change its parameters as you wish see The Press Settings in Detail on page 338 5 Click OK Editing a Press Setting To edit a Press Setting Select it in the Press Settings dialog Click the Modify button Change its parameters as you wish see The Press Settings in Detail on page 338 Click OK A O N Deleting a Press Setting To delete a Press Setting 1 Select it in the Press Settings dialog 2 Click the Delete button 3 Confirm that you want to delete it Attention Deleting Press Settings might also affect other workstations Choosing a Press Setting e To select a Press Setting click on it in the Viewer di
103. pair s in the Color Pairs palette See The Color Pairs Palette on page 154 6 5 2 The Color Pairs Palette 154 After trapping your document the Color Pairs palette shows the trapping settings associated with each of your document s color pairs For each color pair the palette shows the number of Hits occurences of that color pair in the document CF tat cotor ll image BB the type of object in the pair empty background flat color Image E24 or gradient the type of trap performed on that color pair normal trap eJ pullback all reverse trap ial the trapping Distance used the traps Shape truncation i Caps ZI corners d the Intensity of the trap color the Pullback Ink when the trap is a pullback Viewing Traps To select all the traps of a color pair in your document click that color pair in the Color Pairs palette Note Use Shift to select several color pairs and highlight all the corresponding traps in your document If the tool is active use the arrow keys to browse through the color pairs Activate the to browse and visualize your traps one by one in your job Note Use Arrow left right to expand or collapse the trapping pair list Viewing Irap Settings You can hide trapping settings that you are not using to make the Color Pairs palette smaller To hide all color pairs that are not trapped with each other select Hide Non trapping Color Pairs in the palette s fly out menu To show them a
104. pairs Creating a Rule 1 Click the Add Rule button at the bottom of the Trap dialog 149 ae Esko ae From Any Color B To Any Color H4 Trapping Direction p Automatic Cancel J OK 2 Inthe pop up that opens choose the trapping pair to apply the rule to using the From and To lists You can create a rule to trap from to e any color e a particular ink process spot or opaque Note In this case you can choose the ink name from which Minimum Density the rule will apply and if the color must be pure no other separation in the color object to apply the rule From Spot Ink E Any Spot ink o d Minimum Density 0 Color must be pure lf Spot Ink is selected the dropdown underneath will contain all Spot Colors used in the document e A specific Printing Method e a particular object image gradient or empty background e the registration color 3 Choose the contents of the rule eee ae Trap e Automatic lets PowerTrapper calculate the trapping direction e Always Trap always spreads the From color object on the To color object 150 Plato 6 Fc e Do Not Trap never traps the From and To colors objects together Trapping Distance Use this to define a special trapping distance for the trapping pair Trap Color Intensity Use this to define a special trap color intensity for the trapping pair Pull Back e Automatic lets Power
105. report that you would like to save from the pull down list You can save the file as either a Text Report or a CSV Report Both types of files can be opened in any text editor In addition the CSV Report file can be opened in a spreadsheet application 5 Click Save amp INK Coverage in the Station View The Ink Coverage dialog box in Esko Plato calculates the ink usage for either the sheet or the plate In the Station View there is no plate or sheet instead the options in the Ink Coverage dialog box are All Inside Die bounding box and AI All Inside Die bounding box calculates ink usage inside the die only Objects placed outside the die are not considered The option All calculates ink usage for everything in the station 6 5 Trapping Note This menu will only be enabled in the Station View Trapping creates overlapping areas to compensate for possible misregistration between the different inks on the printed result It is used whenever two adjoining colors contain different inks in such a way that misregistration during printing results in a white gap or an undesirable line of a different color at the border of the two colors There are two ways of looking at trapping e Spread trapping is used to trap a lighter area into a bigger darker area The light object overprints and spreads into the darker background of the darker object e Choke trapping is used to trap the lighter into a smaller darker
106. spot colors to pre separated PostScript for systems which are limited to handling process color separations only e g Scitex Brisque Workflow This option is available when Pre Separated was selected Spot color separations can be handled only on such systems by remapping them to a specific process separation When this toggle is checked spot colors will be exported as a C Y M or K separation The mapping is done based on the Ipi and angle of the spot color Plato If the process Cyan ink has a given Ipi of 120 and angle of 15 a spot color Reflex blue may be mapped to Cyan if in the Paint menu it is given the same Ipi and angle of process Cyan Suffix for PANTONE ink namesEnter a suffix the default is C Maximum deviation of resolved curvesDuring the resolving process Bezier curves are sometimes approximated by vectors The maximum allowed deviation of the curves can be entered here Note When a Esko native file is exported to PostScript certain elements in the job which cannot be translated into PostScript will be resolved in order to get an exact result The same happens when exporting to PDF PDF files however have several destinations and don t always need the high quality resolving because they may only serve as soft proof If you want to obtain even smaller files than what you can get with the PDF for RGB CMYK proofing settings then this workaround option might help When we resolve objects splines are converted to vectors e g
107. spread default Round val When this mode is selected the trapping areas are ended with circular arcs This mode is used typically in combination with white knockout reverse trapping or ink pullback 161 Corners This option allows you to change the way sharp corners in the trap areas will be handled Mitered If the distance from the base of the trap to the corner point is larger than the miter ratio multiplied by the trap distance then the corner will be beveled otherwise it will remain sharp See also miter ratio option default Round A round cap will be placed at all corners Beveled 5 Similar to mitered but with miter cut off with straight line mitered with miter ratio 1 Mitered Miter Ratio 4 Mitered Miter Ratio 3 6 5 5 Rich Black Use the Rich Black tool to obtain a darker black by overprinting all black areas with the ink that you specify Note You can use this tool also to make other inks in your job richer 162 Rich Black 3 Add Cyan a Pullback Distance 0 200 Comers z gt iitered oF To Black Minimal Density fioo cs Lreate AddChoose an ink from the ink list define the percentage and the pullback distance the distance between the edge of the defined ink and the edge of the black object Corners This option allows you to change the way sharp corners in the trap areas will be handled Mitered A If the distance from the base of the tra
108. stepped colors Paint ModeSelect Normal to set the paint mode for the image to normal overprint Select Erase to set the paint mode for the image to erase erase knocking out white Use the Customized Name Input box to give a customized name to the Barcorectangle mark Enter the customized name click Apply and the new mark name appears in the list of marks Example Enter the new name for the Barcorectangle e g Ellipse When the dialog box closes the original name in the list of marks has changed to Ellipse barcorectangle 7 3 28 GRQ Strip 238 The Barcostrip dialog box allows you to position a predefined control strip SmartMark Options barcostrip x barcostrip E o E m a Orientation i Vertical 0 000 0 000 Horizontal Positian Length 100 000 Expppi 2540 Apply Position Puts the top of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Puts the center of the mark on the vertical origin of the repetition L Puts the bottom of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Use the Vertical offset input box to define the vertical offset distance from the borders of the repetition Puts the left of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition LL Puts the center of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Plato Ll Puts the right of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Use the Horizontal offset input
109. text by the Station s number or Replace by text to replace it by user defined text When defining the text you can use Smart Text by clicking the button e Set the Font Weight Size and Orientation for the text 204 Plato INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box 7 3 11 Rectangle A rectangle mark generates a rectangle with the specified dimenions in the required ink s SmartMark Options Rectangle g x Rectangle Inks Position Height 10 000 mm Fit to Trim Box Borders width 10 000 mm J Fit to Trim Box Borders Extra Height 0 000 mn Extra Length 0 000 mm Stroke iimm Tint foon 2 The Rectangle Mark dialog box has three tabs e Rectangle e Inks e Position Tip ai The Rectangle can be moved in your job by simply using the Move tool i in the Tools toolbar Rectangle Enter the Rectangle s vertical and horizontal dimensions Rectangle Inks Position Height fomm Fit to Trim Bos Borders width 10 000 mm J Fit to Trim Box Borders Extra Height 0 000 mm Extra Length 0 000mm Stroke 0 100 mm Tint foon 2 205 ESKO ne Enter the height and width of the ellipse Select the Fit to Trim Box Borders toggle if you want the width and height to be fitted to the trim box dimensions This will activate the Extra Height Length input boxes and will allow you to make the mark as long or wide as the anchor object borders margins Position Mar
110. the A over B or B over A options then the mask of one station is used to clip the mask of another station If the masks are simple rectangles as in the case of GRS files then one station simply cuts a rectangular hole in the other This may not be what you want for irregular shapes For these jobs you will need to make a station file that contains a complex mask in the Station Editor to get the right overlaps 4 9 3 Number Stations with GRS files The Number Stations command will work identically regardless of whether a station is a STA or GRS file However since GRS files do not contain Station Numbers no number will appear in the layout Only SIA files that contain a Station Number placeholder will display numbers in the layout If you need station numbers to appear you must create a station file STA 85 ESKOS m 5 Working with Graphics Esko Plato was designed to be a replacement for analog step and repeat machines These machines step and expose a film for each item a station onto a larger piece of film that is used later to expose the printing plates Plato uses graphics the same way that a step and repeat machine does imported graphics are assumed to be digital film ready for stepping Esko Plato is capable of doing quite some things a regular step and repeat machine cannot However like a step and repeat machine Plato assumes that the graphics files are completely ready for imaging This means that the graphic files should
111. the Arrange menu click To Front To move an object one step up within the current layer 1 Select the object s that you want to move forward 2 On the Arrange menu click Forward To move a object one step down within the current layer 1 Select the object s that you want to move backward 2 On the Arrange menu click Backward To move an object to the bottom of all other objects on the current layer 1 Select the object s that you want in the back 2 On the Arrange menu click To Back Remember that these commands move objects forward and backward in a layer If you use these commands to bring an object to the front and there still may be objects in front of it the front objects are located in a different layer 6 1 3 Using Group Ungroup You can group individual objects into groups to manipulate and modify a group as a single object You can also create a group that is composed of other groups or a group that is a combination of individual objects and groups To group objects 1 Select the objects that you want to group 2 From the Arrange menu click Group To ungroup objects 1 Select the grouped object you want to ungroup 2 From the Arrange menu click Ungroup To Group an object into a Grid 1 Select the objects that you want to group to a grid 2 From the Arrange menu click Group into Grid Esko Plato will try to detect a grid pattern in the selected stations 115 ae Esko m Group and
112. the Opacity Mask button a to apply the green selected object as an opacity mask to the targeted object s When the green selection contains more than one object a group with all individual objects selected is considered as one object the objects of the green selection will be grouped before to be applied as an opacity mask 401 10 Plato Opacity Gradient Fill Ed Release Opacity Mask E Cip Invert mask x Opacity Mask The Clip checkbox makes an opacity mask double as a clipping mask which caused the masked objects to be invisible outside the boundaries of the masking object The Invert Mask checkbox reverse the luminosity values of the masking object which reverse the opacity of the masked object For example areas that are 15 transparent become 85 transparent after inversion By using the Transform Opacity Gradient tool you are able to transform the mask object The mask object can be moved to another position relative of the masked object scaled and transformed Press a tool from the toolbar dialog to stop modifying the Opacity Mask transformation or press the spacebar to make the selection tool active Release the Opacity Mask from an object by selecting the object mask object into the red selection and clicking on the Release Opacity Mask button in the Opacity Gradient dialog The Opacity Mask object will be put into the green selection Edit the Opacity Mask by first releasing the Opacity Mask fro
113. the PDF file e gt these inks contain cutting information and thus will be included in the cutting file J these inks will be excluded from export You can change the assignment of an ink by clicking the icon Plato Ee If you only want to output the PDF file you can switch the cutting inks to exclude If you want to output only the i Cut file you can switch all printing inks to exclude When e g outputting PDFPLA to a FlexRip the PDF is not needed so all print separations can be excluded Note The third column is only available for inks assigned to the Cutting file What you can define depends on the selected cutting file type See below If the Cutting File type is set to i Cut file or PDF file you can enter or change the name of the layer the ink will be placed in If the Cutting File type is set to HPGL you can define the HPGL line type to be used If the Cutting File type is set to MFG you can select the ArtiosCad line types If an ArtiosCAD file was imported for the cut shape the complete ARD file will be put in the MFG file If the Cutting File type is set to ACM you can either select ArtiosCad line types or you can select the native line types P1 P2 P3 When selecting ArtiosCad line types the conversion from MFG to ACM will include a number of optimizations and manipulations When using P1 P2 the cut lines are dumped straight into the ACM file Export PDF File e Set the File Name
114. the dies of the station The extra space is evenly divided between the stations the dies of the outermost stations align with the edges of the sheet Gap and Stagger cannot be used OO Continuous Around Fills the sheet horizontally like Distribute Gaps but makes the around vertical repeat continuous This creates a continuous and seamless repeat in the around direction Gap can be set in the across direction stagger can be set in the around direction OO Continuous Across Fills the sheet vertically like Distribute Gaps but makes the across horizontal repeat continuous This creates a continuous and seamless repeat in the across direction Gap can be set in the around direction stagger can be set in the across direction OO Continuous Around and Across Fills the sheet so that the stations are continuous in both the across and around directions This creates a completely continuous and seamless repeat in both directions Gap cannot be used stagger can be set in either the across or around direction Check Automatic gaps and Esko Plato will automatically determine the gap 10 59 Station Properties You can check the properties of the selected station by e Clicking the info button 3 in the Grids CAD SmartLayout dialog box 421 10 ESKO Plato e Clicking right on the selected station and selecting Station Properties from the popup menu The Station Properties dialog box provides you with some el
115. the difference between a PDFPla and a PLA file A PLA file contains references to GRS files a PDFPLA file contains references to PDF files The first type of file that you place on a new plate determines the kind of files you can place after that Placing a GRS file first means that you cannot place PDF files later on placing a PDF or a normalized PDF file first means that you cannot place GRS and SIA files later on The mixing of the file types GRS and or STA with PDF and normalized PDF is not supported To create a new layout file 1 On the File menu click New Layout and select the type of layout you want to create The Layout Setup dialog box will appear Layout Setup xX General Plate amp Sheet Select Job lt None gt Select D Job File Format POF Layout Hame Gaelic _G host_Final i Use Template 4 300 1 6inx500 AV Units hr Origin f o To change the Units or Origin go to Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults Vertical Shrink fi 00 000 E Horizontal Shrink fi 00 000 ES Screen Registration C Es Continuous Reset for each external file Document Profile crom_offs Description crom_otts Show Formulas 2 Fillin the fields in the dialog box to suit your production needs Refer to the chapter Layout Setup for detailed information about each field 3 Click OK to create the new layout Clicking Cancel will close the Layout Setup dialog box without creating a new plate
116. the display image of the CT file itself or if none is available creates a display image e Low the application uses a display image only if it is available in the CT image itself If you choose this possibility the CT will not be visible in the Extended Preview mode A Caution The option Very High is introduced to try to enable real resolution views of CTs Due to the large amounts of data this involves setting the Image Display Quality to Very High will considerably slow down the visualization Consequently we would like to recommend you not to play with it and only use these possibilities when you really need them Show Manual Cut Lines defines color and width of the manual cut lines Manual Cut Lines are cut lines drawn with the Draw Die Shape tool in the Station View or created by applying Outline of all objects in the Select Die Shape dialog box All other lines follow the CAD styles Anti aliasing is relevant for the line art objects in your design that need pre processing and for which images are generated Anti aliasing smoothens the staircase effect you get in the generated images of lineart objects that need pre processing Tip This option increases the readability of small text that is pre processed to image Text Greeking defines the minimum size of the text before it is displayed as a filled box rather than readable text The boxes will turn into text again when zooming in 329 1 O ESKO Plato Sho
117. the file e Convert into Opaque Ignores any overprint of your job e Convert to Darken Esko Converts all overprint present in your PostScript job to Darken e Keep Postscript Overprint All PS overprint present in the job is imported correctly This is the default setting Plato The preferred setting is Keep PS Overprint This will result in faster conversion when outputting the job to PS EPS PDF Note Pure Blacklo set the overprint mode for objects containing 100 black only Possible Pure Black overprint modes in the drop down list e As Other Colors As it is defined in the job e Force Opaque masking Forces Opaque for objects in 100 black and knocking out all underlying inks e Force gt Postscript Overprint Forces PostScript overprint for objects in 100 black e Force Darken Esko Forces Darken for ALL objects in 100 black The black color is printed on top of other colors instead of erasing the color underneath Caution There are two problems e Sometimes ink saturation can occur 100 black text on a 100 red this is 100 magenta and 100 yellow background results in three inks printed at 100 e Black is best handled as knockout for flexo since it is better to add a small trapping region than to make the complete black region overprint Rich BlackSet the paint mode for objects containing 100 black and at least one other ink e As Other Colors As it is defined in the job e Force Opaq
118. the inks is not 0 If this is the case due to known limitations the 0 wins over the other value Please refer to the chapter Using Ink Mapping for additional information 10 24 External File Ink Mapping External file ink mapping is only active in the Station View t is used to replace the ink separations of the external graphics of a station by any ink from the Inks dialog box External File Ink Mapping Ea Select Similar Ink Map rows To map the original ink in the left column to the destination ink in the right column Name input box Instead of dragging an ink to an ink box in the right column you can also fill out the name of an ink in the name input box Select Similar Allows you to select all External Files this feature makes it easier to perform inkmapping on all externally placed files at once ie Allows you to reset 10 25 Ink Coverage The Ink Coverage dialog box gives you an estimate of the area that the inks on a particular sheet side will cover The accuracy of the result depends on the calculation procedure you choose from the drop down list Either you ll select Fast or you ll opt for an Accurate calculation If you open the Ink Coverage dialog box and there is no data in the list select the calculation procedure and click the Scan button If the ink coverage of this job has been calculated before you can ask for a more recent overview by clicking the Update button 365 10 366 E
119. the mark s lines ne Defines the distance between the mark and the object the Center Mark is attached to Plato Center mark 3 Attach to Sheet Obec fannie E 5 000 mm f SPS 10 000 mm z 0 300 mm 5 000 mm 2 000 mm OOO mm 2 000 mm Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Every aspect of this Center Mark can be defined From file If you really have specific needs you can always design your own mark and use this option to place it as a Center Mark Hame Eee Attach to Sheet Object Hame i Jeg 00am Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects e Defines the distance between the mark and the job borders INKS 189 i Plato Mark Inks Ink Be Registration ka Select Inks Overprint ca Opaque Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical Inks Ignore Yamish Inks Ink e Registration e Darkest e Black or Darkest Note Black or Darkest selects any black process pantone if it exists If they dont exist the darkest ink is taken This option ensures that a black ink is used for the marks even if the job contains a darker ink like Reflex Blue e Black Note This option will select any black process or pantone If no such ink exists process black is added to the ink table e Knock Out
120. the starting point Click the point again if you want to change the direction of the curve Nick Tool Nicks are small pieces of substrate that are not cut by the table and thus create interruptions in the die shape when exporting to cut As a result the cut design will stay attached to the substrate 307 EI cskos m 308 Nicks may be present in the design but the nick tool allows you to add or remove extra nicks that guarantee tiles to stay connected You can specify the size of the nick in the box Click the die shape and add or remove nicks as you wish When exporting the position and size of the nicks will be saved in the cut file Tip Press the Alt key to switch between the Add Nick and Remove Nick tools Create Bleed Mask Too Use the Create Bleed Mask tool to create a mask for the graphic The mask is based on the station die You can add a bleed amount to the mask If the die in your station includes panels you can also specify which panels to include in the mask to create non printing areas on the graphic Masks created with the Create Bleed Mask tool are applied to the graphic only other objects like marks are not masked by the Create Bleed Mask tool The Create Bleed Mask tool includes an option window E E a Sel Bleed fi 000 rarm The option window allows you to specify the Bleed amount that you would like on the mask The value that you enter is the amount of bleed outside the die The op
121. the system to take the mask present in the external image The PS mask is discarded If the external image has no mask no mask will be taken Plato e No Masks The PS mask and the mask of the external image are discarded e Joined External and PS Mask Forces the system to join the available PostScript mask in the PS file and the available mask in the external image Search directories lo specify a list of directories in which to look for referenced images Use the buttons Add and Remove to optimize the Search Directories list Clicking opens the directory selector You can browse to the correct directory and click OK to add the directory to the Search Directory list Path TranslationTo define an understandable link for paths from a platform to another platform The Path Translation dialog box opens it has three columns e From Platform Use the drop down list to select a platform from which the files are to be retrieved NT Macintosh Unix or VMS e From path Specify the syntax of the path s of the platform you want to retrieve files from e g Mywork PostSocript gob e To Path Define the syntax of the paths so that the destination platform understands e g My work POSES Orie J El If you were to go from Macintosh to NT the path translation could look like this If Path Translation xX From platform From path mywork postscript job workipostscriptyobyy Cancel You can do the same for files File Translatio
122. the top You can also name a grid layer If you want to work with multiple grid layers it is a good idea to name them so that you can easily identify each one Using a markup grid layer A markup grid layer is a layer with guides that you can place wherever you want The guides can be placed numerically or interactively The guides on markup grid layers are displayed in blue If you place a guide interactively Esko Plato creates a markup grid automatically If you want to create guides numerically you need to create a markup grid first and then enter the locations of the guides that you want to create To create a guide interactively 1 Click and drag a guide from either the vertical or horizontal ruler 2 Release the mouse button to create the guide If the Layer Browser is open you will see that Esko Plato has created a markup grid for this guide if there was none You can also create a markup grid numerically You use the Mark up dialog box to enter the exact location that you would like for the guide You can also use the Mark up dialog box to fine tune the position of a guide that you created interactively Finally opening the Mark up dialog box makes it possible to select move and delete guides To create a markup grid numerically 1 Open the Layer Browser by clicking Layer Browser on the Window menu 2 Click the Add Markup Grid Layer button H The Mark up dialog box appears 113 114 Plato Start at a e
123. to extract the position of the stations After loading these CAD files you will have to manually align the graphics on the CAD lines 3 3 3 Importing a CAD layout You import a CAD layout file into a plate file 1 On the File menu click Import CAD Data The Import CAD Data dialog box appears A 3 Plato ea LEFFE_FOLDING MPFts CADAMI MF CALAMI MFts CALAMI _A MFG NUFALTURING MFG MAaNUFACTURING with costing MFG My Computer My Network laces gt PETAn MANUFACTURING_with_coating MFG Files of type ArtiosCAD Cancel Profiles defaults ki Setup File info Size 23 5052 bytes Date 027 08 21 2 Select a file type 3 Locate and select the file you want to import A preview of the contents of the file appears in the File Info area of the Import CAD Data dialog box 4 Setup opens the CAD Import dialog box that allows you to do mappings select or create a certain CAD style or search for print items Esko Plato will then search for stations that match the names of the Print Items listed in the CAD file and will automatically place them in the layout 5 Click Open Clicking Cancel will close the Import CAD Data dialog box without importing the file The CAD layout is imported into your plate A lot happens when you import a CAD layout Here is an overview e The cut and crease lines that are in the CAD file are imported in the colors and line widths
124. to reduce the risk of human mistakes This will guarantee continuity towards the end process of the printing workflow making this very productive in large format offset or gravure label workflows Esko Plato for Cartons In a folding carton or corrugated workflow the die cutting tools are usually manufactured simultaneously with the pre press workflow In other words the sheet layout is determined by the converter not by the prepress department To make sure that the graphics are stepped up to the exact specifications of the converter Plato comes with a module to open Manufacturing files as generated in ArtiosCAD With the print items option Plato will even look for the corresponding graphic files thus highly automating the stepping task for a carton workflow A wide variety of additional tools to finish the sheet layout are available in Plato adding Station Numbers adding print control strips in a dynamic fashion SmartMarks adding Ink Eaters etc Final output is guaranteed consistent with the die shape and is ready for final output on proof or film 2 2 Starting Esko Plato TZ To start Plato log on to your system if necessary and then do the following 1 Click Start then point to Programs 2 Point to the Esko folder and then to PackEdge Plato 10 1 3 Click the version of Esko Plato that you have installed 4 The startup screen will appear 5 The plate document window will replace the startup screen st O
125. trap will go half the trapping distance in each direction Horizontal Vertical distortion Set the percentage of the trapping distance to be used in vertical horizontal direction In the example underneath the trap was generated with no vertical distortion so 100 i e using the entered trap distance and horizontal distortion set to 50 i e half the trap distance If necessary use the button to add contents to your rule From Spotink sd To Process Ink PANTONE Orange 021C Magenta sw Minimum Density om Minimum Density ox vi Color must be pure vi Color must be pure Trapping Direction Force Trapping from From to To Trap Color Intensity H 50 End Caps HA aa ja You can use the button to remove contents 5 When you are done defining your rule click OK You can now see your rule at the bottom of the Trap dialog Plato 6 Pure PANTONE Orange 021C to pure Magenta Se Se Se Add Rule Remove Rule Cancel Trap When trapping your document PowerTrapper will trap the trapping pairs that match rules according to those rules and the rest of your document according to the main trapping settings If necessary you can add another rule or remove a rule previously created You can also edit a rule by double clicking it in the Trap dialog Trap Presets With PowerTrapper you can save all your trapping settings as a preset to be able to reuse them
126. use Type in for inches and mm for millimeters 3 Press Enter The field s value is now displayed in the units that you typed The field will continue to use the unit of measure that you chose until you change it again Note that other fields in the same dialog box will be displayed in the previous units until you change them To change the default units used throughout the application see the Defaults tab in the Preferences dialog box 19 ESKOS ae To use the smart edit field to calculate a new value 1 Click the field twice to insert the cursor after the unit of measure If the cursor is not in the right place use the arrow keys to move it after the unit of measure 2 Type the calculation that you d like to make For example if the field currently contains 10 mm type 5 to add 5 mm to this value 3 Press Enter The new value for the field is calculated and displayed In the example above the new value will be 15 mm 10 mm 5 mm You can use these two features together too For instance if the smart edit field contains 10 mm you can add 2 inches to this value by typing 2 in The resulting value will be 60 8 mm 10 mm 50 8 mm 2 inches in millimeters 2 3 6 External Files Esko Plato uses files as external references External files are linked to the actual files located on your disk This means that the high resolution data contained in many graphics files is never included in your plate or station fi
127. use in marks Station Numbers Geometry Marks and SmartMarks ignore technical inks F Opens a new menu Pa Show Options Columns Remove Unused Inks Shife trl 1 Remove Unused Colors and Inks Shifk Ctrl c Sort Light to Dark Sort Dark to Light Change Dotshape and Ruling of All Inks Show Options displays hides the options at the bottom of the Inks dialog box Columns select the columns you want to see Remove Unused Inks removes inks that no longer are used in the document Remove Unused Colors and Inks removes inks and colors that no longer are used in the document This option will combine colors in Esko Plato s internal palette that are the same and then remove inks and colors that no longer are used Sort Light to Dark sorts the inks in the document so that the lightest is first and the darkest is last Sort Dark to Light sorts the inks in the document so that the darkest is first and the lightest is last Change Dotshape and ruling of All Inks opens a dialog box which allows you to define the ruling and dotshape for all the inks 368 1 O ESKO Plato 9 Default values when adding a new ink define the default settings for ruling angle and dotshape these settings will be used when new inks are added Note If enabled in the fly out menu you can also see and define the Printing Method See Printing Method on page 136 10 23 Ink Mapping 364 Note Ink mapping i
128. windows And you can create a layout using the Step and Repeat tools These tools are the subject of this section e Using Layers e Using To Front To Back e Using Group Ungroup e Group into Grid e Using the Transform Window e Using the Align Window 6 1 1 Using Layers 110 Esko Plato uses the concept of layers to build a file Layers can be used in stations as well as in plates You can use layers to organize the objects in your document Esko Plato automatically creates some layers for you but you can edit these layers or add your own You can also create special layers known as grid and markup layers You can turn the display of layers on and off lock layers indicate that layer must not be printed and rearrange the order of layers You can use multiple layers to keep similar objects together For example you might want to put all your marks on one layer and all stations on another The Layer Browser helps you create and organize layers Objects in a station can be placed on layers to make them easier to organize and edit Similarly objects in the plate can be placed in different layers too You can have as many layers as you want You can also name layers to help you remember what objects are on them and to make it easier for someone else to pick up where you left off You can also rearrange the order of layers e Types of layers e Adding an object layer e Deleting layers e Changing the name of a layer e Changing the or
129. without applying Distribute Double click a panel to display it in the document window Distribute is available from Studio s fly out menu First you need to select art in the document and you need to select the corresponding panel in the Studio Window The selected art is supposed to be positioned correctly on the selected panel If you choose Distribute copies will be made of the selected art for the other panels of the same composed face In the Studio Window which is automatically refreshed after a Distribute you can see how the graphics are running seamless from one panel into another 444 Normally distribute will make a copy of the selected objects for every panel in the composed face unless there is no overlap If you do not need all these copies you can simply delete the ones you do not need This is how the folded package will look when having applied Distribute Making Clipping Masks It is very likely that one or more of the copies lay partially outside of the panel they were created for Sometimes this is a desired effect having the graphics run continuously over a folding line Sometimes this is not a desired effect and you will have to create a clipping mask to contain the copy within its panel AD ay E wW lt y A _ KAA TA SSE 28 654 12 2 6 Working With Distributed Art You can update the copied distributed art for example after you have edited the or
130. you clicked 3 Click the required category of parameters in the left hand column and select the required parameter or value from the parameter list from the right hand column Either click Insert or double click the parameter 4 The value from the calculator will be transferred to the selected input field when pressing ENTER or when clicking another input field Plato Using the Calculator parameter buttons Apart from the standard parameters Esko Plato offers you the possibility to create modify or remove customized parameters e Add anew parameter e Modify a parameter e Remove a parameter Add a new parameter 1 Right click any formula enabled input box in the Layout Setup or Grids dialog box The Calculator appears Select the category Custom from the left hand column Click New The Add dialog box appears Enter the name of the new parameter in the Name input box Enter the parameter formula or parameter in the Formula input box Select the type of parameter you want to define from the Type drop down list Click Add The new parameter or parameter formula is checked for errors and is added to the parameter list of the Calculator N O 1 BP ND Modify a parameter 1 Right click any formula enabled input box from the Layout Set or Grid dialog box The Calculator appears Select the category Custom from the left hand column Click Modify The Modify dialog box appears
131. 0 rrr i 05 000 mm 353 O ESKO Plato x Die Shape Use Objects marked with label ies Lustom Size OK Cancel Select Die Shape E X Die Shape Use Objects using Ink ki Ink PANTONE 115C x M ANTONE TIBC Prep ee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeereeee eee eee eee LIF Lancel For more information please refer to the chapter Using Select Die Shape 10 14 Place Station Place Station allows you to open a graphics file and convert it into an internal station 354 Plato Place Station Look ir E Blairon t ci E metadata J jlocalfonts My Recent Blairon Back pdf Documents p Blairon Big pdf X Blairon Collar pdf Blairon Front pdf Desktop Ky Documents sr hy Computer a kiy Network File name Blairon Back pdt Files of type PDF File Cancel Job Blairon ka Search Product k Hone ka Search Frofiles defaults ki Setup Size 535 51 2 bytes Date 08 04 18 Time 13 45 06 File mfo i This i a normalized PDF file Esko 7 Depending on the selected file type clicking Setup opens a dialog box with additional file type related settings 10 15 Replace by The Replace Station dialog box offers you the possibility to select a station that will replace the selected station 355 10 Plato gt Blairon Back pdF gt Blairon Collar pdf
132. 2 Locate and select the blue mask outline 3 Press Delete Plato Replacing a mask If you have an imported CAD die in your station and then use the Draw Die Shape tool to create a new die the imported CAD die is replaced with the contours that you create with the tool This also applies if the die shape is on the trim box of the job If the die is created in another way e g by extracting contours in a specific ink this die is kept and should be deleted manually if it is no longer wanted ZOOM lool Use the Zoom tool to magnify a portion of your workspace at an increased scale To zoom in click with the left mouse button To zoom out click with the right mouse button Or you can move the mouse cursor to a corner of the area to zoom in upon hold down the mouse button and drag to the diagonally opposite corner Tip Use the Zoom In and Zoom Out commands in the View menu to zoom one zoom level at a time Pan lool Use the Pan tool to move around the document You can change your view of the current document by using the Pan tool or the Pan Window see Using the Pan Window The Pan tool is located on the Tools toolbar the Pan Window is opened from the Window menu To use the Pan tool select the tool and use the cursor to drag the document around in the document window You can also pan around the document using the window scroll bars Use the Pan Window to see an overview of your document and the current view The document i
133. 2 Quick Masks please adjust This situation occurs when masks were generated via Quick Adjust In case stations were added or moved the masks are possibly no longer up to date Yie ox m be 1 uick Masks please adjust T a563 Beralb Mim 3 Manual Masks please check This situation occurs when masks were generated via Manual Adjust In case stations were added or moved the masks are possibly no longer up to date 1 Manual Masks please check 14 356 287 527 315 To bring the masks up to date go to the Adjust Masks dialog box by clicking the icon or the underlined text in the status bar 1 Quick Masks please adjust Front or by selecting Adjust Masks on the Tools menu Remarks e Masks should be adjusted on both sides of the plate Only the status of the mask on the current plate side is shown e When the masks are not up to date and a user wants to save his work a warning will be displayed In case a plate uses the Quick Adjust way 16 Plato Masks are not up to date j Saving the plate will split overlapping masks between the dies Adjust and Save Cancel In case a plate uses the Manual Adjust way Masks may not be up to date l Are yoy sure You want to sawe the plate cave Cancel 4 5 5 Adjust Masks tips e f you click Cancel the Adjust Masks dialog box is closed and no masks are adjusted e When you use the Adjust Masks tool new masks are cr
134. 5 4 9 2 AGUS Masks WIth GRS TIES ictussatanevssecurrecabcancetse casa na a E NA Da A 85 4 9 3 Number Stations with GRS fil S 0 0 ccc ccscsccsessseecsssessescscsssssserscsseseesecssesaseerssesessesesesesaesarssssersess 85 5 WOrknNg WIA Graph S saareen ana E aN A 86 Me skos m mu ie 6 16 8 e pal elelad ale mse PN an E E E N E 86 EROP ON eh OE DNC ea ere ce scene A E are eae reenter sect teesteasnet Suceeemeae enacted enter 87 9 3 IMporning an AHNPrO lt See on ne ee ee eee er eee eee 88 5 4 Importing a PostScript THe serisinin danaa a ERE iaai 90 AT PAO E E E E EEE EE A A E E E 91 542 Color Management aeanoea A T aah etbenaacddutanteaetaabiieestioa 92 gA R e E EEA REEE EEA E EE EEE EEA EEE EE AEE OE 95 DAA NSM IN asirans EE rons ates ere a ingen eeu ANEA VOEE AEREA 96 oe Pom Wiel E ee ee ee een ee ee rn 97 oS POE ae ec ee cre ee ene ee ee eee ene eee 99 SA ONE cece terse ett Gest E ss osha E E eke cat ood dnd acento poeta ioenmnaneaeat 100 SRO D cnc E anode ear A E EA E aidan decay dota E A 102 oo mporn a dS at oe en eee ee een ere te ee ee ee ee ee 103 5 5 1 Importing multipage PDF MSS i csentsaiesrssevasetnasseiinanipieniasatiicnsicessetedtitenasd on hotssietennierneioisitlenainionuebtennene 104 LO MIE ANA EPS TNS cece cna ste evan tenon aera EA N E ete ER 104 5 Importing an MlUStrator file esris asrnane aaa Na EAEra Ea Eh RAEAN KEA ETENE NAARAS 105 ons my p4l 6 a9 q1 ies ag ol F TIE a E E E E ee ee 105 SRo E a
135. 59 bytes Date 07 04 03 Time 15 10 45 File mfo When assigning a station to a layout the station is analyzed for a die objective in a CAD structure the CAD file loaded in a STA or GRS file A dialog box is displayed indicating whether the CAD files match Please refer to the chapter Assigning a station for additional information 10 17 Import CAD Design Import CAD Design allows you to import 1 up CAD designs ARD files in the Station View Also DXF CFF2 DDES PDF and LC masks are supported 357 J ESKOS Plato Import CADDesign ci EE Look ir E Mixed Cad MFG t print gaelic ghost A amp R O My Aes Documents D BS k to a My Documents p l hy Computer E My Network File name print gaelic ghost ARD Files of type AutiosCAD Cancel Frofiles defaults Setup File info Size 40 960 bytes Date 067 12 11 Setup opens the CAD Import dialog box that allows you to do mappings select or create a certain CAD style or search for print items If the selected file turns out to be a layout file MFG file an extra dialog will pop up to enable you to select the CAD design from the layout Select CAD Design xl Select CAD Design to Import 1d95064 1d95fde 1d97 6c Select Print ltem to Import Search for Print item OF Cancel If the selected file turns out to be a PDF file an extra dialog will pop up to enable you to selec
136. ATE Fit BA Sheet width HPLATE x Fit 5 Gripper Edge lo i 6 Top Margin jo Sheet Position on Plate CF Bottom Margin 0 Lett Margin fo i Right Margin jo f Available Area 1 Height 1026 000 mm Vertical Offset fo 2 width 1520 000 mm Horizontal Offset 0 M Show Formulas x Cancel 4 To facilitate this procedure you have a number of formulas at your disposal which you can activate by clicking the fx symbol to the right of each entry field When you click fx the Calculator pops up As soon as you have entered all relevant values or formulas the Grids dialog box appears It serves as the central dialog box for all further actions Plato a Add stations by clicking the Add Station icon 5 For more information please refer to the chapter Adding a station or check the function overview in Grids 6 d Clicking the grid info button Hi will open the Grid Settings dialog box Settings Grid 1 Zj Station Station Mame Ja SI Blairon Collar pdf 0 Die Shape Trim Box Bleed Geometry oe ee ee ee EnH ea eo HA o o00 rim i CH loo mm H 10 000 mm Restart after 2 owe Continuous Stagger Distribute g Automatic Gaps Gaps reas o 50 mm ee 0 000 mm The Settings dialog box gives you the opportunity to create an even more complex l
137. Attention When you click a point it toggles between Make Corner and Corner Smooth a Delete Point To delete points from a segment or object By deleting the points you q can change the shape of the segment or object Direction Points To display all handles on the selected segment or object when you use ooo the Modify tools Handles can be displayed in red to enable you to easily move and manipulate the tension of the curve The type of handle depends upon the Digitize tool that was used to create the segment For example e If you created the segment with Add Segment anchor points and handles display e If you created the segment with Add Arc or Add Curve only points display e In frame mode extra handles appear on the frame to manipulate the tension of the curve Crosshair Tool The sixth button on the Tools toolbar activates the Move Crosshair tool Click to activate the Crosshair fly out toolbar Move al Plato When you click this button you can move the crosshair manually You can move the vertical or horizontal axis by clicking and dragging either one of them If you want to move the crosshair vertically and horizontally at once you click and drag the center If you click the left mouse button anywhere in your job the center of the crosshair jumps to that point With the right mouse button you can rotate the crosshair manually by clicking and dragging it If you click the right mouse button anywher
138. Bring Panel Forward Send Panel Backward Fold ArtiosCAD File Change Board Export Save Graphics Preview as PNG Distribute Selection Undistribute Expand Fit Panel in Document Window Show Face Outlines When Show Face Outlines is switched on the selected panel in the Studio window will be shown in the 2D View orearen L 13 You will immediately see that there is no overlap between the selected panel the blue rectangle and the selected art the star so you basically selected the wrong panel You need to select a panel that has an overlap with the selected art 453 12 454 Plato Orientation Lal k E Now you see that there definitely is an overlap between the blue rectangle and the star You will notice that Distribute Selection will work which will give you the following result Orientation Please note that you never had to specify to which target panel you had to distribute so how can you know which target panels will be taken In this version of Studio Designer the distribute functionality only works on coplanar panels The bottom face consists of four panels coming together two glue panels and two larger panels The selected panel is drawn with a solid blue line in the 2D View the other panels that are coplanar with it are drawn with dashed lines Distribution happens from the panel drawn with a solid blue line to th
139. ESOULCES ccccccccccccscsssecesscsecssseevscsecsvsesesscsesavsssesassssevsssesesstseasieevssseasseeevasiecavieesasieeann 333 US TE INL I sre eae aerate etd ated oa erecta dah ciel tenet aeea dined AT 335 gO Pia VEW ModE S rarei E Teen ere eee 336 TOTZ NN VG ON eter set etch elect TM fe teh ea else aie cca rida chen ee adh ts banat tbonteeh 336 10 12T VVCIG OME TO VIEWER 336 NO 2 2 DEINE PIESS SetINGS wontsantirtoanin iar a aia yiunanoe nema ARN 337 10 12 3 INE VIEWER WWINGOW mirrata aa a aA 340 10 124 Viewer Compare ToOl erisera sivas easiest oe tasir ease baa th nee eet dee aeeaaiv a A NO 347 TOT ASEC DIE SNAP aa re eaten Amie er oe ake rene N NT MO Te nan eee ee ee corre ee 353 DC Ae NC Ss LUCIO cir chetetcu esac T ens cuerpo a eee A r 354 10 VO RE DIAG SG DVni E oerien A E pean EO eae anaes 355 10 16 ASSON LATION to IDC SIG ssia as anata usec EE bes dst tte teahao oe aay teeaea este ned teed cutanal 356 LOCI ORG CAD DESO eanas N AN adalat naan andes 357 TOT ORG DlaCe by GrapNICS File sia ca each E N R eas ei sean ote ee eae ey ee eet ata 359 UES SAV STO asset nina rae ecard heartened oa anand E andthe RAEI 359 vii Me skos M vill TOZO EPON a 5218 9 peace mnt nee en ene ner ae or nearer rene eng rere eee Oe ee eee me eee eee 360 DB AOU QF MIMO ies pet secs tenen cones aes earn ee eset E aot seve ea E 360 yO 2225 9 lt n nee A ee ee ee ee ee eee ry ae 361 MEZZO TO POM Ch ice atest bar pceecat E E kaa ann Meee oa tt
140. File Name Jupiler Front Height EE mm Width 100 000 mm width 29 idth mm Color m Color Die Shape Trim Box Die Shape Trim Box OF Cancel Selecting a grs pdf W Based on File Mame Selecting a cff2 mfg Height l In the File selector m o The selected CAD Design will be used as Die Shape and will define Color a the size of the station 4 Die Shape Select CAD Design xX Preview CAD Designs Add Empty Sta ti x W Based on File Select File Mame E T4420 7A Height 466 571 mm Width 729 099 rari Color m Die Shape CAD Design 5T442874 CF2 OK Cancel 4 3 2 Assigning a station Most of the time you will be creating new plates and stations starting from a layout But if you have an existing station that you want to use with a new CAD layout you will need to assign the station yourself When assigning a station to a layout the station is analyzed for a die object in a CAD structure the CAD file loaded in a STA or GRS file A dialog box is displayed indicating whether the CAD files match If you have a CAD layout file in your plate and already have created a station file you assign the station to the layout To assign a station 1 Import a CAD layout file into your plate 2 Select an empty station to assign the existing station file to 3 On the Station menu click Assign Station to Design The
141. GRS file Note This option is only available in case of a GRS Job Save As GRS X Display mage Display image Hide technical inks Jas defined in original file Select Job Save unused colors l Customized Settings The options for exporting to a GRS file are Display ImageThis option allows you to set the type of display image that will be included in the GRS file Choices are No Display Thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or Display Image 72 dpi which creates a low resolution preview that can be used when the file is placed as an external file Hide Technical InksWhen selected technical inks will be stored in the file but will not be visible as exposable inks for the Esko FlexRip SelectYou can export your entire job or a part of it 211 Be Esko M e All saves the entire job e Red Selection saves objects selected in red only e Current Layer saves the currently active layer only e Current Page saves the current page Save Unused Colors saves any unused colors with the job If some colors in the file are no longer used by default they will be removed when saved To save unused colors check this option Reset he Reset button resets all the options that you may have changed to their default values Customized SettingsThe Customized Settings button allows you to save the current settings so that they can be used later or can be set as your own defaults The feature is very useful for those expo
142. If the Cutting File type is set to ACM you can either select ArtiosCad line types or you can select the native line types P1 P2 P3 When selecting ArtiosCad line types the conversion from MFG to ACM will include a number of optimizations and manipulations When using P1 P2 the cut lines are simply copied into the ACM file Presets Presets can be used if you want to store and reuse the settings you make To save a preset 1 Enter the settings folder file type settings you want to save 2 Click the Actions button and select Save Preset 3 Enter a name for the preset and click Save in the Presets dialog which can be opened by clicking Actions gt Manage Presets you can load a preset or delete an existing preset Report e Export XML report will generate an XML file describing which graphics are placed on which layout e Export JPEG thumbnail will generate an RGB JPEG image of each layout The resolution for the JPEG file can be defined Plato 9 Menus and looloars This chapters describes all toolbars and menu items e Menus e Toolbars 9 1 Menus The menu bar contains commands available in the current module Not all commands on all menus may be available availability depends on the options purchased and the active tool e File e Edit e View e Arrange e Station e Inks e Tools e Production e Trapping e Window e Help 9 1 1 File menu The File menu contains following items
143. Keep All No Designer inks will be converted to process inks e Convert All All Designer inks will be converted to process inks e Keep list All Designer inks will be converted except those listed in the Inks tab RGB RGB will always be converted to process inks during import RGB MethodSelect one from the drop down list e Source to destination profile the user needs to specify both the Source Profile RGB and the Destination Profile CMYK or Grayscale e With Link profile the user specifies a Kaleidoscope Device Link Profile this Link Profile implicitely determines the Source and Destination profiles Source Profile Link ProfileSelect one from the drop down list Objects with RGB Profile tagsThe RGB objects in a PostScript or PDF file may be tagged with a Color Profile e Convert using the RGB Profile tags The user may choose to use that Color Profile as a Source Profile overruling the Source Link Profile selected above Tip In strictly controlled workflows the embedded tags are probably accurate so this option may be preferable e Ignore tags the embedded Color Profile will be ignored the Source Link Profile defined above will be used during conversion of RGB objects CMYK and Gray The CMYK objects in a PostScript or PDF file may be tagged with a Color Profile The color percentages of untagged objects will always be preserved For tagged objects users have a choice e Ignore tags preserve percentages the Co
144. Masks with PDF files on page 84 e Number Stations with PDF files on page 84 4 8 1 Die and Mask of a PDF file When a PDF file is used as a station the Borders of the PDF file are used as the Die and the Margins of the PDF file are used as the Mask Therefore all commands that use the Die and Mask like Step and Repeat Align Transform and Adjust Masks will use these Borders and Margins 4 8 2 Adjust Masks with PDF files The Adjust Masks command deserves a special note Because the Borders and the Margins are simple rectangles the Adjust Masks command does not have a complex mask for irregularly shaped stations If your PDF file has an irregular shape like a folding carton or an odd shaped label then Adjust Masks will use the Margin rectangle as the Mask This is sufficient for those cases when you choose the Split option in Adjust Masks to split between the dies However if you select the A over B or B over A options then the mask of one station is used to clip the mask of another station If the masks are simple rectangles as in the case of PDF files then one station simply cuts a rectangular hole in the other This may not be what you want for irregular shapes For these jobs you will need to make a station file that contains a complex mask in the Station Editor to get the right overlaps 4 8 3 Number Stations with PDF files 84 The Number Stations command will work identically regardless of whether a station is a PDFSTA or
145. O ESKO Plato Note Total ink consumption on the press will be higher when using ink eaters Note In PackEdge you have to create Ink Eater Areas manually with contour objects The Create Ink Eater Area tool in Plato can automatically determine suitable areas for use as ink eater areas 10 29 Fill Ink Eater Areas wizard 1 Select a contour object or a group of contour objects in the document that can be used for the compensation Note that a group of contour objects are linked to one object when using the Fill Ink Eater Area tool 2 Choose Fill Ink Eater Areas from the Paint menu to start the wizard Fill Ink Eater Areas X Step 1 Scan Ink Coverage Scary All inside Sheet Direction Horizontal Resolution Medium Merge similar inks lt Back Next gt Cancel 3 Select the approprate options e Scan Determine the area the scan has to cover All inside Trim box will take into account all information within the trim box All inside Media Box will take into account the information inside the media box e Direction indicate the direction for the compensation Horizontal means the ink zones are vertical on the plate and the ink histogram is on the horizontal base of the document The direction of the compensation gradient in the ink eater area is horizontal e Resolution indicate the number of intermediate steps of the gradient to be used as compensation Use Very Low f
146. PDF file However since PDF files do not contain Station Numbers no number will appear in the layout Only PDFSTA files that contain a Station Number placeholder will display numbers in the layout If you need station numbers to appear you must create a station file PDFSTA Plato 4 9 Using GRS files as stations When you place a GRS file directly in Plato you are not using a station file STA Because GRS files contain less information than STA files some of Plato s commands work differently than they do with station files e Die and Mask of a GRS file e Adjust Masks with GRS files e Number Stations with GRS files 4 9 1 Die and Mask of a GRS file When a GRS file is used as a station the Borders of the GRS file are used as the Die and the Margins of the GRS file are used as the Mask Therefore all commands that use the Die and Mask like Step and Repeat Align Transform and Adjust Masks will use these Borders and Margins 4 9 2 Adjust Masks with GRS files The Adjust Masks command deserves a special note Because the Borders and the Margins are simple rectangles the Adjust Masks command does not have a complex mask for irregularly shaped stations If your GRS file has an irregular shape like a folding carton or an odd shaped label then Adjust Masks will use the Margin rectangle as the Mask This is sufficient for those cases when you choose the Split option in Adjust Masks to split between the dies However if you select
147. SKO Plato Ink Coverage x Scar Jal inside Plate Fast 0 Merge similar inks Update Calculate ink coverage on all pages Only elected objects Mo asian n5 D PANTONE 137C Mitch itech f o E Pantone722c oof o E vens ooj o i 12 inks in job Save to File fe 5 2 12320 oo o Fast Accurate Fast indicates that the calculation is faster but you only get a rough estimate of the ink coverage Accurate indicates that the calculation might take a while but you get an accurate estimate of the ink coverage Scan Update The first time the ink coverage will be scanned A message saying Calculating Ink Coverage Please wait appears The information in the Ink Coverage dialog box is now updated e All Inside Sheet Sheet View scans the area inside the sheet only Objects that are outside the sheet are not included e All Inside Plate Sheet View scans the entire plate All objects on the sheet and plate are included If you have objects that extend or are outside the plate they are not included e All Station View e All inside Die bounding box Station View Merge Similar Inks allows you to display all objects with the same ink but different ruling and dotshape Calculate Ink Coverage on all pages will scan both the front and the back of the plate The total ink coverage for both sides is then displayed in Ink Coverage Only selected objects scans only in selected o
148. Shortcuts Category Shortcut Kep Commands INO a Shift I Chl O Al LayoutSetup a Mew Li a A a a Le See Preferences i Reset All JK Reset Cancel You can however modify whichever set of shortcuts to fit your personal needs 1 Select the right set of shortcuts if it is not yet selected 2 Select the Category e g File of which you want to personalize a shortcut 3 Select the command you wish to personalize e g New 4 Now personalize your shortcut Enter a key and click Assign Plato Note If you want to remove a shortcut click Remove If you want to return to the original shortcuts click Reset All 10 9 8 Licenses tab The Licenses tab allows you to activate the licenses that you want to enable For more information please refer to the appendix License Management Preferences xj General Defaults View Color Editing Files Shortcuts Licenses Select the licenses you want to enable License Mame Description This list shows all licenses Although you can select them all some licenses may not be available since two conditions should be met 1 The license ts purchased 2 4 floating license is available i Restart the application to make these changes effective OF Reset Cancel 10 9 9 Server and Resources To define the Automation Engine server to connect to and the Data Resources to be used by the application as you work on
149. Sort Dark to Light The inks are reordered based on the option you choose Changing the screen parameters of an ink You can set the screening parameters for the inks in your document in the Inks dialog box These parameters include screen ruling screen angle and dot shape To set the screen ruling for an ink 1 Click the screen ruling field for an ink The contents of the field are highlighted 2 Enter a new screen ruling 3 Press Enter To set the screen angle for an ink 1 Click the screen angle field for an ink The contents of the field are highlighted 2 Enter a new screen angle 3 Press Enter To set the dot shape for an ink 1 Click the screen dot shape field for an ink The contents of the field are highlighted 2 Enter a new screen dot shape 3 Press Enter Cleaning up unused inks in a document Your document may contain inks that are no longer being used For example you may have replaced stations on the plate with stations that use different inks The old inks from the previous stations may still be contained in the document even though they are no longer being used To clean up unused inks 1 Open the Inks dialog box 2 On the fly out menu click Remove Unused Colors and Inks Replace Ink To replace an Ink 1 Open the Replace Ink by dialog by selecting Replace Ink in the fly out menu in the Inksdialog 133 E Esko 7 134 Replace Ink by xX Current Inks and Co
150. TION sects ceessnttt achat ess Sacco ind N A 431 1222 Studio DESIGNER BaS Snarare a T E T T A TO O 432 eee WOKNO WHER PANEIS narea A AS 436 T2 ES D AES E E AE OT 440 12 2 5 Creating Copies with the Distribute COMMANGCL cccccccccceececeecsssecessesecatsetevsesecassereteeean 442 12 2 0 Working WIth Distributed PAN ac tics cette ha ch trad a a a E shaen dinette Valeo 445 Tea il wc 46 8 g ac renee ae tee ot Ree et een nee ne en E eee tee eee ere re ers 447 e O PA Reger ET eae eet oe Mine fee A E cree Mee eee a A art Seen ev en meee 452 ESKOS M 1 Copyright Notice 10 Copyright 2014 Esko Software BVBA Gent Belgium All rights reserved This material information and instructions for use contained herein are the property of Esko Software BVBA The material information and instructions are provided on an AS IS basis without warranty of any kind There are no warranties granted or extended by this document Furthermore Esko Software BVBA does not warrant guarantee or make any representations regarding the use or the results of the use of the software or the information contained herein Esko Software BVBA shall not be liable for any direct indirect consequential or incidental damages arising out of the use or inability to use the software or the information contained herein The information contained herein is subject to change without notice Revisions may be issued from time to time to advise of such changes and or additions
151. The current point of the selected object is moved to the vertical and horizontal location that you entered To enter a specific height and or width for an object 1 Select the object 2 Type the height and or width for the object in the Size fields 3 Press Enter to make the change The selected object is scaled to the size that you entered for the height and or width To rotate an object by a certain angle 1 Select the object 2 Type an angle for the object in the Angle field 3 Press Enter to make the change The selected object is rotated to the angle that you entered By default rotations of objects occur around the center of the object If you want the object to rotate around a different point you need to move the point of origin See Moving the point of origin To scale an object as a percentage of current size Plato 6 1 Select the object 2 Type a percentage in the vertical and or horizontal Scale fields 3 Press Enter to make the change The selected object is scaled to the percentage s that you entered into the Scale fields You can scale an object proportionally by entering the same percentage in both fields You can scale an object non proportionally by entering a different value in the each field 6 1 6 Using the Align Window You use the Align window to align objects to the center of the sheet or to a single other object Two of the functions of the Align window align objects to the center of the s
152. Tiles M Add Nicks Nick Size 0 50000 mm W Cut to Edge Visualize Cutting Line Smoke verter f 00000 mrm Wiieet fo co000 mm l Blank Pixels outside Fath Create Path Shape Options define how the shape of the cutting path will be generated from the red selected contour Repeat Length specifies the circumference of the cylinder In normal situations this equals the height of the sheet which is also the default value Note that formulas can be used Basically the cutting path will contain two identical horizontal segments generated by taking the red selected input contour which will create the seam The distance between these two segments is the Repeat Length These 2 segments are connected through vertical segments which correspond with the plate edges Extend to Plate Edge will extend the selected path to the width of the Plato plate default this option is on If this option is deselected the left and right point from the red selected contour are important these will determine the width of the staggered cutting path Specify a Gap at Seam when it is wishful to make the flexo plate a bit smaller than the repeat length The distance between the two identical segments will be Repeat Length Gap Plato e Truncate on Center will modify the shape of the red selected object so it is pulled to the nearest centerline between the die shape of the stations When calculating the center line stations are virt
153. You can export your station and plate files to a PostScript file You can indicate whether the PostScript file is either a Composite or Pre Separated file PS Export Preview Output Device Separations Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Device tpe lo Esko Graphics Certin PS 3 PostScript 3 color device bctrane ppd Output type Fre separated gt Emulsion up Right reading FP Image Fostiwe Vertical distortion ho 5 Horizontal distortion fo a Smarth arks None d W Account for Media Box margins Scale amp Tile Scale fioo a Fit job on page Shrink oversized obs to paper size Overlap fa mm Tile job T Hide trap layer s in output Fage range Fage setup All f Selection Curent page ha Faper size job r Orientation None ka Pages fi Enter page numbers andor page ranges separated by commas For example 1 3 5 16 Alignment Eottom left ka Number of copies fi 4 f Paper 1800 0 x 1600 0 Mm a Applying Smarthlarks might add some new inks to the file The Ink Selection in the Inks Separation tab will be reset Job 1800 0 4 1600 0 Mim Customized Settings The PostScript Export ticket has the following tabs e Output e Device e Inks Separations e Color Management e Rasterize e Compression e Advanced Output 246 Plato Output Device Separations Color Management Rasterize Compr
154. You can only have one plate file open at a time If you already have a file open when you click Open the current file will be closed If you have any unsaved changes you will be asked if you want to save them first 3 1 5 Changing the sheet or plate size You might need to make changes to the sheet or plate size of an existing layout for a last minute change To change the sheet or plate size of an open file On the File menu click Layout Setup The Layout Setup dialog box appears Turn to the Plate amp Sheet tab to check the values of the file Edit the fields that you need to change Click OK Clicking Cancel will close the Layout Setup dialog box leaving the current plate with its previous values A ND Esko Plato will monitor the position of the stations relative to the sheet when you change size When moving the sheet to plate position the stations will remain fixed relative to the sheet edge When moving the sheet the stations will remain fixed relative to the plate edge An exception is made for grid objects As all grid objects have offsets relative to the sheet edge changing the sheet dimensions will cause these objects to move with the changed sheet size 3 2 Creating Layouts e Layout Assistant e Grid based workflow e CAD workflow e SmartLayout workflow e Manual workflow e Combining workflows 3 2 1 Layout Assistant The Layout Assistant provides some info on the different workfl
155. a A E ES A E N EEES 195 Loe Dimension LNE eeina cat ced ek we a aaa E E A A AET 197 LoS GAUS kareb A A 199 FoS radain o Daa O E E E 199 GONO MEG TEECNO 203 Tar EREC IO E E E A O A O T N 205 Te SEANIOAU GL MaK eeraa e aT E a 206 Foo oand SDren a aa aaa a a 208 TO WO IVINS eaa a a a a a ae sees 210 E N R a E A E E E A OA 216 7 GS Woah Gh Ban COGE uenon a T ANA 216 fao E EID S Gneuiaa aa ENAT A ATENO ETE EAE ONO 221 TN N cea ett A acetal nae a niece teen eet E A 222 FW Ak ANUND ANO En tea aed oertacis tesa ca esis oh E aoe dna oid Meee aa 225 gece 40s GOMEL MARK Comet tent nnn enna tener enn ere ee eee ee eee ere eee 226 Me skos m vi ToL OS OPM NIE e E E ce je O E A E E 228 Po eGR A E adeno een tuned pets ton eaten tae tavet tetas eae eeeee 229 T9228 GRA Gradation SiD cE E E 229 3 24 GRQ Grid MarKS escarnir oE n eaa E iiaa EEES E EENE EEE AE EEEO EEEE 231 Po ORG E a E A A E E EEE E E eee ree Tore 233 LOA ORO MAKS enaa a E N E ace dence 235 7 3 27 GRQ ReCtANGIE ccc ccescecscsccsecscsssesssecssscsssscsvessesesscssesssssvsvessssetssesessessvesissesesssesiessvasesieseesesenes 236 gc ys eC a Be E teenie ean enn etn erie atta ee E er an ne area ren er nee et ee 238 ecw 22 CRO mis ete E ei en ae ne eee ee eee ee eee 239 1 53 30 GRO GelNUMDBELING asasina ia aaa aaa Raai EA 241 8 Printing and Exporting s sssssssssssenrnanunututurtttnernntnn n n uku v eosin alg ae shears Nea een AR 244 8 1 Pining Esko Plato FiloSeueuna
156. a file that is ready for printing When creating a new plate or layout the central dialog for the chosen workflow will automatically be opened Chosing a particular workflow does not limit the available tools You will still be able to use grid based stepping after choosing a CAD based workflow Tip The Layout Assistant provides some info on the different workflows As a result a new layout will be created and the Setup dialog box will be opened e The CAD Workflow The CAD Workflow uses an imported CAD file as the basis of the plate layout First the imported CAD file defines the sheet size and the placement and orientation of the stations Next stations are assigned to the CAD layout The last step is to add the plate marks to the plate and sheet e The Grid based Workflow In a Grid based layout stations are stepped in blocks where both the number of repetitions in vertical and horizontal direction and the step distances can be specified numerically e The SmartLayout Workflow In a SmartLayout workflow a new layout will be calculated based on the ordered quantity and the given sheet size will be filled with a minimum of waste You are presented a range of possible sheet layouts with immediate feedback about waste and overrun based on the desired quantities of each individual one up e A manual workflow does not use an imported layout Instead you create your stations and then place and arrange them on the sheet 15 ESKOS
157. a job Note In case the application is connected to an Automation Engine or BackStage server the Data Resources are always used from this server You can use the emote or local Data resources if the application is not connected to an Automation Engine or BackStage server 333 10 Plato Preferences General Defaults View Color Editing Files Shortcuts ServernscAesources Licenses Offcuts i Connect to Automation Engine Server Server Name jgend038 User Mame jisno Passiord Connected Data Resources Select the location from where the application s data resources must be used f As defined on the Automation Engine server Remarks 1 The application s local data resources will be used when the remote data resources are not accessible OF Reset Cancel Automation Engine Server You can set the Server Name User Name and Password to connect to Automation Engine The connection to an Automation Engine Server has an influence on the following features in the application e Submitting to Shuttle you can only submit to the Automation Engine server the application is connected to e The user name for the Track Edit Session task on the Automation Engine server e The list of Jobs and Products in the File Selector dialogs e The parameters for the Check Job Parameters as available on the Automation Engine server Note If you are connected to an Automation Engine a green notification will be s
158. a layout file MFG file an extra dialog will pop up to enable you to select the CAD design from the layout Select CAD Design x Select CAD Design to Import 1095064 1d95fde 197 76 Select Print ltem to Import Search for Print item OF Cancel This dialog box lists all the 1 up designs that are contained in the CAD layout you selected The names of the designs are listed on the right You can choose the design that you want by selecting its name from the list The preview window on the left previews each of the designs as you select them 5 Click the Search for Print Item checkbox if you want Esko Plato to search for a graphic that matches the print item name in the CAD file Esko Plato will look for a graphics file GRS STA PDF PDFSTA that has the same name in the directory where the CAD file is located If no matching file is found a browser will appear to ask you to locate the missing file 6 Select the design you want and click OK The design you selected is imported into your station If any other die is currently in the station even if it is a manual die it will be replaced by the imported CAD design die The station s size is set automatically to the same size as the new die 4 2 3 Importing a different CAD design You can only have one CAD design in a station at a time If you want to replace a CAD design with a different one click Station gt Import CAD Design The existing CAD design
159. a station The Station View is a view dedicated to editing a station that you want to use on your plate You can easily switch between the Sheet View and the Station View by clicking the view icons in the View Selector The definition of a station is embedded inside the Esko Plato file So it is not needed to save your stations There is however a possibility to save a station file This is only necessary in case you want to use this station in other Esko Plato files Important to note is that the only external references that Esko Plato uses are the references to the graphics files Even if you load a SIA file in the Sheet View the contents of the STA file i e the definition will be embedded inside the Esko Plato file In other words it will keep the link to the graphics file but there is no link to the SIA file For a clear definition of a station please refer to the chapter What is a station A station file is always saved with a STA or PDFSIA in the case of Normalized PDF graphics extension So saving a file with the name 3Up will save a file on your disk with the name 3Up sta Station files always have the station file icon fia e Creating a new station e Creating a new station ina CAD workflow e Editing an existing station e Using Select Die Shape e Saving a station 4 1 1 Creating a new station 58 You can create new stations by clicking the Add station button in the Grids Station or SmartLayout dialo
160. a very accurate separation viewer with a lot of extra production tools 9 1 4 Arrange menu The Arrange menu contains following items To Front To Back Forward Backward FOJ Group into Grid Ungroup Snap Crosshair 283 EI cskos M To Front To move an object on top of all other objects within the current layer To Back To move an object underneath all other objects within the current layer Forward To move an object one step up within the current layer Backward To move an object one step down within the current layer Group To group objects selected in red Group into Grid Tries to recognize individual stations as grid blocks Ungroup To ungroup objects after they have been grouped Snap Crosshair To make the crosshair jump to the last selected point 9 1 5 Station menu 284 The Station menu contains following items Edit Graphics File Select Die Shape Place Station Replace by Assign Station to Design Import CAD Design Replace by Graphics File Save Station Export Station Station SMF Info Edit Graphics File opens the selected file in PackEdge Select Die Shape allows you to select a die shape Place Station allows you to place a station in the layout you are currently working on Replace by allows you to replace a station Assign Station to Design allows you to assign a station to a CAD design Import CAD Design allows yo
161. actual numbering of the stations takes place in Esko Plato Station numbers of 1 station all have the same number Strip numbers are continuous numbers over all stations For more information on the tool please refer to the chapter Place Station Strip Number tool e Using the Place Station Strip Number tool e Numbering stations automatically e Numbering stations manually 4 7 1 Using the Place Station Strip Number Tool The Place Station Number tool is used to set the parameters for a station number and to place the number on the station To create a station number 1 Click the Place Station Strip Number button Number dialog box on the Tools toolbar to activate the Station 19 ESKOS M xi Type Station Humber Fort HeWvetica Weight Roman Upright SIZE fz l u Ink E Registration 8 8 2 Set the parameters for the station number you want to add to your station You can also add a pre and suffix to the station number 3 Once the Place Station Number tool is selected and you move the mouse over the document I the following pointer will be shown i 4 Click the position where you want the station number to be added The cursor is changed into Q station number or 5 strip number You can add as many station numbers as you want However every number will have the same value when added to the plate 5 When you have placed all the numbers you want click a
162. ah ea non me E E E E E 364 10 24 External File INK M ppiIg c ccc cess ccsscretrcetsrestecssstsessesstssssstesissinstssisisesiieess 365 10 29 nK CO SAS cca ett et ntti eee eave esha bone ene ae ned Gpcetne daa atic 365 10 26 Create INK HiStOQraM ccccccccccccccccescecscsscsecscssssssecscssesrscsvessssesecssesessscsvesisseecsseseesstevesissetssssetesstesesieeten 367 10 27 Create Ink Eater Areas ccccccccccccsecsccesiscscsssecscsssestscssscsrisssetssssesrsstessseissesssresseissneee 369 TOS FI I cto dole ee ee eee 371 10 29 Fill Ink Eater Areas WIZANG syecccsssnstctstsetsesnaasostensasuctiadeyehsdeetsennsablaigehaebancaceps debt eo eeatanpacieaded tnetnadtdraieteidvenaataenelin 372 10 30 Compensation Details GialOg ccccccccscessssscsnscscsrsrsssssssssssscscscssssesesesssssensrsrevssesessssissssssssseseseseseess 375 Tor Opan BM TOOK orean ae ger pee anes ato cad eae at a cee one sade E weenie ested meen EN 377 10 32 Manage lnk BOOKS vssiisssisnssieasses cencyenscbadscnswsatsasiaducvensveneudsanadeaadiannuaniededsananebs uae chads ad aastnapseead aestuntidenelaneotsnantianvelee 378 10 33 N mDer SONS sonnii E a incest E E 379 10 34 Adjust M SKS earra kea aana ia atari KRS i oaia ke anaE ences acme bee Ra AEAEE KEE SE mEn 381 OE EE E E AN A ie er ease alt O Sieabceyeetigelseasapeincadss 382 TOSC Manage gt cl conn ne ern ne E E E ee 384 ST AE a recent ery epee A E A E 384 Woe rele ela eee 019i ale Remmemtemreremnr evra terreee E se wee renee
163. alll lull i at co Distance Objects to Trim Bos Border 2 Apply If you click the Barcogallus envelope the menu extends and gives you the possibility to change the values The numbered list is explained by the drawing next to it Distance objects to Trim Box Border allows you to define the distance of all the objects displayed to the borders Tip Enter negative values if you want the gallus marks to appear inside the borders 7 3 23 GRQ Gradation Strip The Barcogradationstrip allows you to create a strip for all inks in the job The size of the boxes can be specified as well as the gradations for each ink The different gradations have to be separated by a comma The Barcogradationstrip can be customized Enter your values and enter a name for it in the Customized name input box 229 ESKO 230 SmartMark Options barcogradationstrip i x Position barcogradationstrip E S o E oo a Orientation f Vertical 0 000 0 000 i Horizontal tH 5 000 Length 100 000 m 5 000 Gradations 3 25 50 75 98 99 1 oo Se W Add Gradation Numbers Gradation Humbera Text Orientation Text Position Color Paint Mode Normal Erase Character style Font e Oer 861 Ocr B Machine Read BS Weight Roman Style Upright Size E Position _ Puts the top of the mark against the vertical origin of your repetition providing the orientation is set to zero Puts the center of the mar
164. alog s fly out menu The Press Settings in Detail First Dot Specifies which minimal gray value expressed in in the file still will yield a dot on the plate provided the RIP and platemaking occur under normal conditions Note Normal conditions indicate that the DGC must have been set up completely The value does not correspond with any measurement that has been made prior or during DGC set up nor does it correspond with any densitometer measurement on plate or on print In fact this value is implicitly chosen by the person who set up the DGC and plate making Typical values range from 0 4 to 1 6 Plato uses 8 bit precision yielding 256 different possible gray values A single gray value in an image may make the difference between a dot or no dot on a flexo plate To allow for this precision Viewer uses percentages with one decimal digit 8 bit gray value in Plato Percentage 0 0 0 1 0 4 8 bit gray value in Plato Percentage 2 0 8 3 1 2 254 99 6 255 100 Note If you do not specify a first dot you will not be able to use the following Viewer view modes for this press setting e The Flexo Plate Preview e The Flexo Print Preview Dot Gain in Highlights When you have specified a First Dot job percentage you can also specify how dark it should actually print Enable Dot Gain In Highlights and specify the dot gain parameters e First Dot Prints As indicates the dot gain for the first dot Typi
165. an also add multiple copies of a mark to the same job If you have marks that you add to every job you can save the collection as a SmartMark Set A set can be added to a job to place several marks all at once Marks and setsThe SmartMark framework uses two concepts that you should understand when working with SmartMarks Marks and Sets The combination of these two concepts enable you to create production controls efficiently and accurately What is a Mark All of the SmartMarks that you add using the SmartMark tool are based on mark macros Macros are scripts that are executed to create the marks that you have specified So instead of simply drawing an object you select a script e g a rectangle mark and specify some parameter settings e g draw in center of sheet in registration ink The mark scripts are executed at certain times to make sure that they are completely up to date with the current job For example when you save or open a file containing SmartMarks the marks are executed Other actions also cause marks to be executed like adding an ink or changing an ink s definition What is a Set A set is a collection of marks that you save using the SmartMarks window A set can contain any number of SmartMark mark definitions When you save a set Esko Plato will ask you for a name for the new set In the future you can apply all the marks in that set by picking its name from a list of available sets Like the marks themselves you can creat
166. and Aligning in the Station View The Align window also works in the Station View However the 2 centering features of Align do not center objects on the sheet since a station has no sheet Instead these 2 options center an object on the current die You should also remember that Align works with all types of objects in both the Sheet and the Station View So you can use Align to align a graphic or a SmartMark with the current die 6 2 Creating a Repetition Grid based Step amp Repeat You use Esko Plato s Step and Repeat command to repeat objects on the plate You can set up the number of repeats and whether these repeats have gaps or gutters in between them You can also add head turns and staggers to the repetition to create an entire layout Step and Repeat can be used on any type of object so you can repeat stations and Geometry Marks e Repeating objects with the Grid dialog box e Steo and Repeat examples e Step and Repeat with Stagger example e Steo and Repeat with Distribute example e Two sided plates 6 2 1 Repeating objects with the Grid dialog box 118 You step and repeat an object by double clicking the grid number in the Grids dialog box and entering the parameters you want The basic Step and Repeat command is described below To see Step and Repeat examples see the next section To Step and Repeat a station 1 Click Grids on the Window menu to open the Grids dialog box 2 Create a station on an empty grid li
167. and bottom definition If the package currently only boxes is showing the wrong panel as top panel then you can use the Turn Box option See Turn Box on page 439 By moving the slider in the bottom right corner you can look at the box from a closer or further distance Plato Note When your box is facing the wrong way and when you have difficulty to turn your box upright try using Turn Box The turning around functionality has been designed in such a way that it works fine if you have selected the right bottom panel Changing the Appearance You can open the Appearance dialog by choosing Appearance from the fly out menu In the Appearance dialog you can change several appearance settings Depending on which kind of structural design file is shown in your Studio Window you can modify the Background Color and Inside Color change the Floor Reflection set the Shadows or Highlights or even change the Highlight Type of your flexible packaging substrate of a bag file When working with boxes ard files there is also the Show board thickness option with this option on not only the board thickness is shown but also the corrugated edges from the board chosen in the ard file When working with flexibles bag files the inside of the bag will be shown using the defined Inside Color As in a correctly designed bag the inside is not visible setting a bright inside color can be used to visually check your bag files Appearance
168. anels Some panels cannot be seen in the Studio Window because they are covered by another panel no matter which angle you are viewing the package from To see those panels you can choose Show Transparent Panels which is available at the bottom and from the Studio Window fly out menu In this mode the package Is drawn in a semi transparent way allowing you to see covered panels This will help you to understand how the package s 2D unfolded view and the 3D view relate to each other A3 1 2 Plato STUDIO Refresh Orientation A BE Show Transparent Panels Show Outlines Show 3D Guides Appearance Export Save Graphics Preview as PNG Distribute Selection Hide Face Outlines Double click a panel to display itin the document window CHE a D l HTa By holding the alt key and clicking a panel one or several times you can select a panel that is behind another panel ZOOMING IN on Panels in the document window If you double click a panel or if you select Fit Panel in Document Window from the Studio Window s fly out menu the document window will zoom in on the corresponding part of the graphics If your graphics are in another document then this document will become active 438 Since only one document can be open at once this will close the open document If the open document was changed you will be asked if you want to save the document first Furthermore the orientation of the document window w
169. anges made to the positions of the stations on the front will be automatically applied to the corresponding stations on the back This only applies to the station positions all other modifications SmartMarks geometry marks adjust mask on the stations will not be re applied on the back side Please make sure the front side is as complete as possible before using the turn tumble front to back commands e The marks from the front side are reapplied on the back and the ink usage and mapping is updated to reflect differences in the inks used between the two sides You may have to adjust the positioning of marks on the back side e lf you have used the Adjust Masks tool to create new masks on the front side these masks are included on the back side If you do not want the same mask adjustments on the back select the Reset Masks command and run Adjust Masks on the back side of the plate if necessary 6 3 2 Two sided stations Esko Plato can create the back of a plate layout from the front for two sided printing When Plato creates the back side of the plate the back side of each station is inserted automatically You need to create a two sided station in the Station View to create a two sided plate for printing To create a back side from the front 1 Open the Station dialog box 2 Click the Add Station icon that is located on top of the Back Side column You complete the back side the same way that you did the front by impor
170. are oval or round or a polygon You are not limited to a single die contour you can create multiple contours to create a more complex die All contours created with the Draw Die Shape tool are die cut lines Die contours can be transformed with the Transform tools to create the exact shape and size that you need e Choosing the shape of the Draw Die Shape tool e Drawing Die Shape contours 305 EI Esko M 306 Choosing the shape of the Draw Die Shape tool The seventh button on the Tools toolbar activates the Draw Die Shape fly out toolbar Squares E S OpeniClosed Rectangle E7 Polygon Ellipse Drawing Die Shape contours To add a die shape contour 1 From the toolbar click Draw Die Shape 2 Select the shape of the contour you want to create from the fly out toolbar 3 Draw the die contour 4 The way that you draw the contour depends on the shape of the contour you are creating To draw a rectangle 1 Select the Draw Die Shape Rectangle button from the fly out toolbar 2 Click where you want the top left corner of the rectangle 3 Click hold and drag to create the rectangle You can also simply click where you would like the top left corner of the rectangle and the bottom right corner of the rectangle Holding the ALT key while dragging will draw the rectangle from the center You also use the rectangle tool to create a square You constrain the rectangle to a square by turning on constrain See Using
171. area The light object overprints the darker area and chokes it Trapping can be applied both manually and automatically e With PowerTrapper the user selects in green the objects that may need trapping The system scans these selected objects indicates where trapping is needed and creates the trapping areas Here the Trapping is executed automatically See PowerTrapper on page 142 e Trap Red under Green is the manual trapping method The user defines which contours need trapping Note The trapping areas are placed in a separate Trap layer This way you can easily remove the trapping area without affecting your job This trap layer is part of the station definition and is thus embedded in the plate file Note that the external referenced graphics is not altered In case you want to reuse trapped stations in other plates you might want to save your station in a PDF SIA file which will also contain the trapping layer Another type of trapping is Keep Red Away from Green in which case the system introduces an extra distance between two adjoining colors in such a way that when printed the adjoining colors do not overlap or mix This is necessary for certain printing processes in which the nature of the inks or the printing surface cause an unwanted mixing of adjoining inks Together with the automatic trapping you can also define the settings for Rich Black and White Underprint e Rich Black creates a separate choked
172. art is stored as a separate Normalized PDF file It is either stored locally or stored in the Output Directory e Each part is stored with the name of the imported PostScript file followed by _001 _002 _0001_ 001 or it gets the Output Name Merge Tiled CT files to one CTSome ArtPro files have tiled CTs those are CTs which are actually divided into a number of little CTs tiles Some jobs are so large that there are thousands of these little CTs Select this toggle to merge the tiles into one CT to improve editability of the Esko native 91 ESKOS m file and to optimize further processing This option is default selected it doesn t matter if you import a file with no tiled CTs Note When errors occur when a PostScript file is imported e g a font is not found the Merge Tiled CTs to one CT will not be performed Merge Separated PostScript file to Composite pageMerges separated single page and multi page PostScript files to a composite file Optimize Merged PostScript File This option optimizes the merged PostScript file This is useful when you need to edit the imported PostScript file This option becomes available when Merge Separate PostScript File to Composite Page is activated Note When errors occur when a PostScript file is imported e g a font is not found the Optimize Merged PostScript File will not be performed PasswordYou can enter a password for protected PDF files 5 4 2 Color Management 92 PostS
173. arts will be repeated until the length of the strip specified in the menu is reached Enable Add Gradation Numbers to be abe to change the settings for gradation numbers Note As long as Add Gradation Numbers is not enabled all options for gradation numbers appear dimmed Gradation NumbersSelect the correct Text Orientation Text Position The buttons allow you to position your text to the left on top or to the right of the gradation boxes The distance input field allows you to specify a distance from the gradation boxes To specify the gradation numbers Color e Follow ink the number has the same percentage of the ink of the corresponding gradation box e Follow ink the number has 100 of the ink of the corresponding gradation box e Registration Black e Darkest Ink e Custom Ink an ink that is used in the file Paint ModeSelect Normal to set the paint mode for the image to normal overprint Select Erase to set the paint mode for the image to erase erase knocking out white Tip Use erase in combination with the Text Position button on top Character StyleSelect the Font from the drop down list Select the weight Roman or Bold Select the font style Upright or Italic Specify the point size 7 3 24 GRQ Grid Marks Grid marks allow you to define the display of cutting marks centermarks bleed ink squares and other job information To activate a specific mark just click i
174. as in a 2 step approach 1 Create a Position Mark using the requested formulas 2 Place the requested SmartMark relative to this Position Mark Note Position Marks will only appear in Esko Plato SmartMark Options Posit Object Name G Ete Re Size and Positiors 8 6 gt JM Untitled 2 ae Mhon Op 6 LJ Top I Left IM Barcode 10 mm Tt co Center C Center IM Trim Marks e J Right Repeat H O gt oo Grid b cb Grid gt Untitled Apply 1 Click the Add SmartMark icon M Select the Position Mark SmartMark The Position Mark dialog box will appear A default name is suggested but you are prompted to specify a meaningful name A default size is specified Define the vertical position of the Position Mark default is 0 ok O N Plato 6 Define the horizontal position of the object default is 0 7 3 22 GRQ Gallus The Barcogallus mark allows you to define the positioning of gallus strips left and right with your specific values Barcogallus marks can be applied on Sheet and Plate level The gallus marks can be put in two directions On the left you see that the gallus mark starts with a square box and on the right with a triangle If you click the white marks they turn black indicating they have now become active SmartMark Options barcogallus b E Gallus specications i on wo O M AA FS o M mn i mm DJ
175. as set in the selected CAD style file e If a sheet size is defined in the CAD layout and it does not match your current sheet size the sheet in your plate is changed to the new size e If the sheet size defined in the CAD layout is larger than the plate size in your plate the plate is enlarged so that the sheet still fits on the plate e If you chose to search for Print Items Esko Plato searches for stations or GRS files whose name is the same as those listed in the CAD file If a matching file is not found a Browse dialog box will appear to ask you to locate the missing file s e If you chose not to search for Print Items your layout file now contains a set of empty stations or stations that have no graphics You can select one of these stations by a simple click Note When importing an MFG file you can choose to import it as Reference Lines in the CAD Import setup window By doing so the MFG file will not be imported as CAD but only as reference lines in a separate CAD Reference layer Importing the MFG file will have no other influence on your open document 48 Plato If you need to make adjustments to the sheet or plate size you can use the Layout Setup dialog box to override the values from the CAD layout See Changing the sheet or plate size 3 3 4 CAD Styles A CAD Style changes the appearance of the imported CAD lines You can define new styles and edit or delete existing ones To create a new CAD style
176. at have the Esko PackEdge annotation Die Use Objects using ink to use contours that use a specific ink in the graphic These options will copy the stroked contours from the graphic into the station Select Die Shape X Die Shape Use Objects marked with label cies Custom SIze Obiects marked with label Objects using Ink LI Lancel 61 ESKOS M 62 Select Die Shape q X Die Shape Use Objects using Ink F Ink IE PANTONE 115C T PANTONE 115C WPANTONE 116C a FFE Eee eee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer eee eee eee LIF Lancel To create a die from contours marked with the Esko PackEdge Die annotation in an imported graphic 1 On the Station menu click Select Die Shape 2 Select the objects using Objects marked with annotation Die 3 Click OK lf you are using a CAD design in your station the die shape options are not available You cannot change the die size of a station with a CAD design The station s size is always set to the bounding box of the die in this workflow Select Outline of all objects to create a die shape around objects that have no die shape in the original file The new die shape will be created around the union of all objects in that particular file You can specify a particular offset which will make your die shape a little bigger and you can indicate the shape of the corners Select Die Shape X Die Shape Offset jo o00 Comers gt Mitered gt
177. atch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right A to the color sample at the top right A INK Name Plato Ink 1 unused Ink 2 unused Ink 3 unused Ink 4 unused Ink 5 unused Ink 6 unused Ink 7 unused Ink 8 unused Ink 9 unused Ink 10 unused Ink 11 unused Ink 12 unused When you select Ink Name from the dropdown list only the inks that are used in the current document are displayed Activate the ink by clicking the check area in front of the ink and its value will be set to 100 You can click the value if you want to change the percentage The color patch will show you the resulting color x Define Color by Ink Mames i MY PANTONE 191C MB PANTONE 155C E PANTONE 115C oe Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right My Color Name x x Define Color by Ink Mames Define Color by fink Names vw nk Hy wv B PANTONE 191C 100 E PANTONE 195C B PANTONE 115C oe Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right A wv QB PANTONE 191C MB PANTONE 155C E PANTONE 115C x Define Color by JInk Names E wv E PANTONE 191C s0 G E PANTONE 195C E PANTONE 115C All named colors are displayed in the list Select one of them by selecting the button in front of the color To create a new color you can simply drop a color from the Colors palette on th
178. ategories are e nk Color e Document e Date Time e Typographic e User information e ReportMaker is used when creating ReportMaker templates Esko PackEdge e SmartNames Lists all the SmartNames known on the Automation Engine server e Output Parameter Plato e Job SmartNames lists all the SmartNames which are defined in the Automation Engine job on which the editor is currently working e CAD data e XMP data Ink Color Ink name Inserts ink names you can select the inks by the ink colors All ink names Inserts the names of all the inks in your job Ink attribute Inserts attributes of inks You select the ink by the ink number Available attributes are e name the name of the ink as shown in the inks dialog box e shortname e g Reb for Reflex Blue e fullname the full ink name e angle the angle of the ink e pi lpmm Ipem the lineature of the ink e inkbook only fo rPantone Ink books returns C M or U for coated matte and uncoated inkbooks e dot the dotshape of the ink e group the group Process PANTONE to which the ink belongs e type the type of ink Normal Opaque Varnish Technical e number the number of the ink e LAB values the LAB value of the ink Attributes of all inks Inserts attributes of all the inks Ink coverage Inserts the Ink coverage Select the ink by entering the number Choose a unit percent mm cm inches Document Job name Inserts the name of the job Job V
179. atically removes all unused inks e Clean up unused inks and colors automatically removes all colors and inks that are not used in the job e Save unused inks and colors saves unused inks and colors Reset he Reset button resets all the options that you may have changed to their default values 269 Be Esko m Customized SettingsThe Customized Settings button allows you to save the current settings so that they can be used later or can be set as your own defaults The feature is very useful for those export file types that have many options that you modify each time you export to that file type 8 2 8 Exporting to a PDFPLA File Note This option is only available in case of a GRS Job Save As PDFPLA x External References Reconvert if recently updated Use previous conversion Always reconvert Put External References into Output Folder Relative Always Never Put External Images into Output Folder C f Relative Always Never Display image Preview amp Thumbnail Composed text Espot to Scope 3 0 compatible file A External References e Reconvert if recently updated only updated references will be reconverted all other conversions will be used as they were e Use previous conversion the existing conversions will be used potential updates will not be considered e Always reconvert all external references will be converted at all times Put External Ref
180. ation For roll fed devices mostly imagesetters a Media Width film width can be specified The conversion program finds the best printing orientation in order not to waste paper or file if Rotation is set to Auto The Media Width value is expressed in mm The option Extra Gap allows you to specify extra width for the film or paper feed The Extra Gap value is expressed in mm By default no Extra Gap is set For Device specific options please refer to the manual of your output device INks Separations The Inks Separations tab depends on the output type you selected in the Output tab If you choose CMYK Composite or Composite the Inks tab will be visible if you choose separated the Separations tab will be visible Inks Tab Use technical inks in outputNormally technical inks are hidden when you save a job in an Esko editor But there s a possibility to save the Technical inks as visible This toggle here makes it possible to output the visible non hidden technical inks The Inks are listed You can deselect the ones you want to exclude from export by clicking the print icon a r 249 250 Plato Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compr W Use technical inks in output Inks Total 2 7 amp EE PANTONE Hexachrome Orange E 120 0 Ipi 45 0 degrees normal Separations Tab Use technical inks in outputNormally technical inks are hidden when you save a job in an Esko editor But there s a p
181. ation of selected objects See Using the Transform Window Transforming in the Station View The Transform tool in the Station View works the same way as in the Sheet View Remember however that the measurements for position are relative to the current origin Since the borders of the station are always fit to the current die the Transform window s position measurements usually are relative to the die If the origin of the station has been moved manually the measurements in the Transform window will be relative to the new origin which may not be the die 29r EI Esko M 298 Create Layout Tool This tool is subject to a dedicated license If you do not have the full license for this tool only the first tool of the fly out toolbar will be available The distance or gutter between stations is set to zero by default You can change it before using the Create Layout tool When reversing rows or columns it is possible to specify secondary gutter values This option is only supported in CADX 7 17 or higher Alternatively you can change it while using the Layout tool by specifying different step values between the rows and columns in the edit boxes on the Status bar Click the Straight Nest tool or choose one of the other tools from the fly out toolbar shown below 133 aa 22 amp ae 22 10 000 mm Set 0 000 mm The first tool on the fly out toolbar is the Straight Nest tool which performs no rotation or alignment on t
182. automatically created These search rules will choose an PDF SIA file before choosing a PDF GRS file For example if the Print Item name is job1 and the current directory contains an STA file named job1 sta and a GRS file named job1 grs the STA file will be assigned A Station file will always be selected before a GRS file because they contain more information With these search rules your layout may have all PDF STA files assigned all PDF GRS files assigned or may have a combination of both PDF STA and PDF GRS files 3 3 6 Flipping a CAD layout to print side CAD files can show the cutting and creasing information in two orientations Die Side and Print Side Die Side displays the layout as it would look if you were looking at the cutting die itself This is a mirror image of the printed sheet Print Side shows the layout as it would look if you were looking at the printed sheet The Print Side orientation is the one you want to use for Esko Plato because it is in the same orientation as your graphics You may have CAD files that show Die Side If this is the case you will need to flip the CAD file over so that you can work with the Print Side To flip a CAD layout to print side 1 Make sure that you have a CAD layout file in your plate If you do not have a CAD file in the plate the command will be disabled 51 ESKOS m 2 On the Tools menu click Flip CAD to Print Side The CAD file is flipped over to print side
183. ayout on the sheet since you can alter geometry gaps between the various stations stagger them or distribute them in various ways You can also determine Die Shape and Bleed For more information please refer to the chapter Creating a Repetition or check the function overview in Grid Settings 3 2 3 CAD workflow The CAD Workflow uses an imported CAD file as the basis for the layout The CAD file will determine the number and placement of the stations on the plate It may also determine the sheet size and the masks that are used for the stations that the CAD file defines 35 ESKOS M 36 The CAD Workflow is a structured workflow Esko Plato considers an imported CAD file as its guide to creating the plate layout Because an imported CAD layout defines the final cutting and folding of a layout it is not editable in Esko Plato This means that you will not be allowed to scale or rotate an imported CAD layout In addition you cannot change the arrangement or number of the stations defined in the CAD layout If you need to make these types of changes you should edit the original CAD file and use the new file in Esko Plato There are some parts of an imported CAD layout that you can change These include the plate and sheet size the location of the layout on the sheet and the stations that are assigned to each location on the plate You can also adjust the mask and bleed sizes of a station to suit your company s need
184. bjects Update allows you to re calculate the ink coverage after some changes have been made in the design to update the values or another type of scan was asked for mm indicates the area that the ink will Cover indicates what percentage of the plate is covered with a particular ink Informs you about the number of inks in your job or it displays the message Database has changed Click Update to get a new estimation after the changes Plato Note If the message Database has changed is displayed you will notice that the Save To File button can be unavailable and or the separations are dimmed as well It means that either the design and or the number of inks has changed e Save To File Allows you to save the results of the calculation to a Text Report or a CSV Report which can be printed or edited The dialog box allows to select a destination directory to specify a file name and the type of file The drop down list allows to choose between Text Report or CSV Report Both types can be opened in any text editor e g Wordpad Notepad A CSV file can be opened in a spreadsheet program Please refer to the chapter Calculating Ink Usage for additional information 10 26 Create Ink Histogram By selecting Create Ink Histogram you can calculate the ink key histogram from the current document and add it as a database object in the document The ink key histogram is an important factor in setting up t
185. bjects in green under which adjoining objects selected in red are trapped e Indicate the distance e Indicate the truncation type The red objects are trapped underneath the green objects Note The trapping area is placed in a separate layer This way you can easily edit or remove the trapping area without affecting the rest of your job Ior Plato Distance Truncate End Caps Comers DistanceDefines the trapping distance Only positive values are allowed Truncate The trap area is truncated to avoid it exceeding the edge s of the color area under which is trapped There are two different truncation modes LP The trapping area is truncated on the object edge even if a larger distance has been defined This is to avoid that the trapping area of an object exceeds the edge of the object under which is trapped This is the default truncation mode default On Center E The system recalculates the trapping distance for the areas where a trapping area comes too close to the contour of an object In that case the trapping area stops halfway the object In all the other areas the complete trapping distance is applied End Caps This option specifies how the ends of an open trap area are constructed e Square 158 When this mode is selected the trapping areas are placed at right angles relative to the boundaries of the abutting color areas Object dependent When this mode is selected the tra
186. box on the dialog box or select another tool Working with tools and dialog boxes Esko Plato contains some unique tool features and icons that you may not have seen before These features are designed to provide you with just the right degree of productivity and simplicity Plato ER Some tools can be used as one shot tools A one shot tool is a tool that can be used once during other commands After this one time use the current tool is reset to the tool that you were using originally One shot tools are highlighted in red instead of blue as shown below i p Envelope Some dialog boxes contain an envelope icon The envelope is used to expand a dialog box to show more options Clicking on a closed envelope will expand the dialog box to show more options for the particular feature Clicking an open envelope will collapse a dialog box to show fewer options oS Link In some dialog boxes you will see a link You use the link to enable or disable immediate refreshing of the screen When the link is broken as shown above you can make several changes or selections in the dialog box without waiting for the document window to refresh the display after each change When the link is intact each change to the dialog box is immediately displayed Clicking the icon toggles between these two settings Tip A quick and easy way to hide or show all dialog boxes is to select Hide Show All on the Window menu 9 2 7 View Selector WY an
187. button to further refine your layout 42 Fill Direction allows you to determine in which directions the sheet should be filled Search Options X Fill Director I iM First Cut Horizontal Fill Mode Minimal Overrun asimum Wi ashe ko kA W Sort jobs for better fit Gutter Height 1 000 mm p Gutter width 1 000mm Ok Cancel First Cut determines the direction in which the first cut will be made either horizontally or vertically Fill Mode enables you to determine whether you want Minimal Overrun Minimal Waste Strips Only or Complete Strips Enter a Maximum Waste percentage Determine gutter height and width For more in depth information please refer to the chapter Search Options 3 2 5 Manual workflow A manual workflow does not use an imported layout Instead you create your stations and then place and arrange them on the sheet Esko Plato has a robust set of tools that assist you in this process You use the Step and Repeat Transform and Align tools to build the layout yourself or you can use SmartLayout to automatically build a layout Once you have designed your layout you finish the plate the same way that you do when using the CAD Layout workflow by adding marks to the sheet and plate and printing the layout The basic steps to create a layout manually are Create a new layout ah ON Create the stations that will be used on the layout
188. cal origin of the repetition Puts the center of the mark on the vertical origin of the repetition L Puts the bottom of the mark against the vertical origin of the repetition Use the Vertical offset input box to define the vertical offset distance from the borders of the repetition Puts the left of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition 209 ESKO ne 240 LL Puts the center of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition E Puts the right of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Use the Horizontal offset input box to define the horizontal offset distance from the borders of the repetition ContentsThe Contents input boxes allow you to use predefined settings or simply enter any text that you want to see displayed as additional information This information will be created in the selected ink Predefined names can be selected from the drop down list The following predefined names are available e jobname will display the name of the GRQ file in all inks e jobinfo will display the Document Info of the file as in File menu gt Document Info e inks will display all inks that are present in the job The order of the inks in the mark is based on the order of the ink palette Caution Note that technical inks will not be included in this list Tip inks can be used to put your additional text information in erase mode on a 100 bearer bar that you prev
189. cal values range from 5 to 15 depending on the substrate The value is a job percentage that will print on an ideal reference press as dark as the first dot prints on this press e Range while the previous value measured the amount of dot gain in the highlights this value expresses how far this effect penetrates into the midtones Typically plate making is configured in such a way that the mid tones print like an offset press Note If you do not specify Dot Gain In Highlights you will not be able to use the following Viewer viewing mode Flexo Print Preview Limited Total Area Coverage The Total Area Coverage is the sum of percentages of the different channels on the same location A higher total area coverage means more of the various inks is printed on top of each other If you want you can specify the Maximum Total Area Coverage to specify the maximum amount of ink that the substrate can take on the same spot on your press Note Exceeding the Maximum Total Area Coverage for the press may cause drying problems unexpected color results and other problems Registration Error Specifies the average maximum Registration Error on your press If you enable this option in the Press Settings you can use the Registration Errors preview in Viewer to check whether your trapping is sufficient to compensate for possible registration errors on the press 339 ie ESKOS Plato Moire Settings In the Moir Detection setting
190. ce Station The Place Station dialog box appears 69 4 Plato a A My Recent Documents LA Blairon Collar pd gt Blairon Front pdr Desktop My Documents er hy Computer a kiy Network File name Blairon Back pdt aces Files of type PDF File Cancel Job Blairon Search Product k Mone k Search Frofiles defaults Setup File info Size 535 512 bytes Date 08 04 18 Time 13 45 06 i This i a normalized PDF file Esko 3 Select the type of file that you would like to assign from the Files of type list Tip It is possible to make a page selection The default is to select page 1 of a PDF file as well for the front as for the back side When creating the back side Plato will automatically select the next page of the PDF file 4 Select the station file that you want to place 5 Click Open 4 3 4 Replacing a station You may want to replace certain stations on your plate with a different station For example you might want to replace stations in a plate layout that you did earlier with a new version Or you may want to replace specific stations to create a combination layout To replace a station 1 Select the station s to be replaced 2 On the Station menu click Replace by Click Replace Station to browse to an already existing station or select a station directly from the drop down list 10 Plato Stati
191. cope 3 0 file When the station is placed you can right click the station or select Station Properties from the top right pop up menu in the SmartLayout Grids or Station dialog box to view and adjust the station properties Click the Add Empty Station icon l to add an empty station An empty station is a dummy station that you can replace with an actual station later on You would do so when you are designing a layout before having received the actual graphics However in that case you would need the exact measurements of the future graphics as Esko Plato will ask for them in the Place Empty Station dialog box Place Empty Station Based on File Select File Hame Empty Station 1 Height fi 00 000 mm VF ith fi 00 000 mm Color x Die Shape Trim Box OK Cancel Use the based on File option together with the the Select File button if you want to create an empty station based on an existing file This offers 2 possibilities 1 select an existing graphics file grs or normalized PDF In this case the size of the selected graphics will be used as the size of the empty station 2 Select a CAD file In this case the CAD data will be used to define the die shape of the empty station and the size of the station will match the bounding box of the CAD data 6 4 Plato Add Empty Stati x Based on File Select File Mame Height 100 000 mm MW Based on File Select
192. cript Import x Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output RGE AGB Method Source to destination profile Destination Color Space Color Space CME r Destination Frofile crom_otfs Source profile calibrator Rendering Intent Absolute background Objects With AGB Profile Tags Ignore tag Set Document Profile Never The document will be untagged Spot Colors ChE and Gray PANTONE Inks Keep all Objects With Profile Tags Method Use destination profile ChE ignore tag preserve percentages Designer Inks Keep all Gray Ignore tag preserve percentages IM Place External Customized Settings e Destination Color Space e Spot Colors e RGB CMYK and Gray Destination Color Space Here you define what color space the opened imported document will have Color Space CMYK Grayscale Destination ProfileChoose a color profile from the drop down list Currently only CMYK and Grayscale profiles are supported you can choose between standard ICC profiles and Esko Kaleidoscope profiles The Use PDF Output intent if available toggle in some PDF files the PDF Output intent is defined e g PDF X 3 If you want to use the color space as defined in the output intent use this toggle If you selected the toggle for a file without PDF Output intent the chosen Destination Profile will be used Rendering Intent Relative N
193. ct multiple separations to apply the same compensationto J Show graph only different separations OK Cancel When there are more separations selected with conflicting settings the read out of the Compensation user interface is not defined 10 31 Open Ink Book Opens the selected ink book Note Inks in standard ink books PANTONE Toyo HKS NCS or PantoneLIVE ink books cannot be altered In custom ink books you can rename or delete inks and you can create new inks based on Lab or RGB values Tip It is advised not to create custom ink books that contain standard inks as those will not be recognized as being an ink from the custom ink book but from the standard ink book OFI ie ESKOS Plato xi Search Find Next I New Ink Page Pagee Pages Unlock Ink Book E n E Remove Empty Patches Cyan 185C C E l Magenta 354 C en Yellow 165C Black Purple C Reflex Blue C 347 C i Pages 2 Columns 1 Rows 5 The info icon provides extra information on the number of pages rows and columns of the selected ink book Empty ink patches in the book are left open which implies that the layout of the ink book appears unaltered the Ink Books dialog box You can remove empty ink patches by clicking Remove Empty Patches from the fly out menu You first have to unlock the ink book before you can do certain modifications like removing empty ink patches or renaming inks Creating a New Ink
194. d down option after reaching the number of columns the next object will be staggered in the opposite direction In the example underneath you see a vertical stagger restarting after 3 columns with the Up and down option disabled left and enabled right Distribute sets the method used to fill the sheet The Distribute option offers you the possiblity to fill a sheet in an automated way with a single station Esko Plato calculates the number of stations that will fit on the sheet on the basis of the size of the station The station size is determined by its die objects outside the die are ignored Stepping and Repeating via Distribute is based on the sheet size You can fill the sheet horizontally vertically or in both directions You can also use gap and stagger to create a seamless repeat Single Cuts Fills the sheet with as many stations as will fit with no gaps between the dies of the stations The filled repeat is centered both vertically and horizontally on the sheet The extra space around the repeat is equally divided between the top and bottom and the left and right of the sheet Gap and stagger cannot be used Plato bd Distribute Gaps between Stations Fills the sheet with as many stations as will fit with no gaps between the stations and the borders of the sheet but with equal gaps between the stations themselves OO Distribute Gaps Fills the sheet with as many stations as will fit with equal gaps between
195. de Save unused StationsCheck the box if you want to save stations that have not been used in your design By default unused stations will not be saved saving a layout as a PDFPLA file When working in PDF mode you can save your layout as a PDFPLA file Save As PDFPLA x Display image Preview amp Thumbnail Select All Inks and Colors Cleanup Unused colors Composed text Save as Scope Si campate file Save unused Stations Display ImageThis option allows you to set the type of display image that will be included in the file Choices are No Display Thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or Preview amp Thumbnail 72 dpi which creates a low resolution preview that can be used when the file is placed as an external file SelectYou can export your entire job or a part of it e All saves the entire job e Red Selection saves objects selected in red only e Current Layer saves the currently active layer only e Current Page saves the current page 59 ESKOS 56 Inks and Colors e Clean up unused colors automatically removes all unused inks Plato e Clean up unused inks and colors automatically removes all colors and inks that are not used in the job e Save unused inks and colors saves unused inks and colors Composed textComposed text is non editable text It can be converted to editable text by clicking it when you are in text edit mode Export to Scope 3 Compatible fileCheck thi
196. der of layers e Moving objects to a different layer e Using a Grid Layer e Using a markup grid layer e Automatically created layers Types of layers Esko Plato supports three types of layers object layers grid layers and markup grid layers Object layers contain objects in the plate Grid and markup grid layers contain grids and guides to help you position objects Adding an object layer Even though Esko Plato makes some layers automatically you will want to create your own layers You can create your own layers and name them To create a new object layer 1 Open the Layer Browser by clicking Layer Browser on the Window menu 2 Click the Add Layer button L A new layer appears The new layer is selected and becomes the active layer Deleting layers You may want to delete a previously created layer When you delete a layer the layer and all objects in that layer are deleted You can delete any layer with the Delete Layer button To delete a layer 1 Open the Layer Browser by clicking Layer Browser on the Window menu 2 Select the layer you want to delete 3 C Click the Delete Layer button The selected layer is deleted You cannot delete the last object layer in a document Changing the name of a layer You can change the name of layers to make their contents easy to remember To change the name of a layer 1 Select the layer that you want to change 2 Click the name of the layer The name become
197. document 1 From the View menu click Viewer The Viewer dialog box appears Viewer Preview Separations b a mama eC ee C E Yellow i Visualisation ot images is only correct using Preview Mie View Options Detautt Mode E aa Highlight Traps Transparency Overprint Sereening Conflict Dim Artwok 25 D 131 ae Esko m 2 Click the Show Hide buttons to toggle on or off individual separations Click the expand icon A to show all the separations and options Please refer to the chapter Viewer for more information on the Viewer options 6 4 2 Working with inks 182 Use the Inks window to add and edit inks in a document You can add inks delete inks set the screen ruling angle and dot shape of the inks and set the order of the inks in your document See also nks on page 361 e Adding inks e Changing the order of the inks in a document e Changing the screen parameters of an ink e Cleaning up unused inks in a document e Replace Ink on page 133 e Printing Method on page 136 Note Plato supports PantoneLIVE ink books In the Replace Inks an icon will show if an ink or inkbook is from a Color Engine Ink Book d or a PantoneLlIVE ink book T Adding inks You add and delete inks in the Inks dialog You can have any number of inks of any type in a document There are three groups of inks Process Inks PANTONE Inks and Designer Inks The way in which you add an
198. e Strict overprint behaviorCertIn the Esko input module will honor the overprint parameter 100 according to the rules mentioned in the PostScript Language Reference in case of PostScript EPS AI import and PDF Reference Manual in case of PDF This option must be set when the user wants to process test files like the Altona test suite or other test suites which verify overprint behavior correctness This toggle controls how zero percentage inks are handled when reading composite files When Strict overprint behavior is switched on all zero percentage inks of a color are kept and correspondingly affect the overprint behavior When Never strict overprint behavior is selected all zero percentage inks are removed e Never strict overprint behavior all zero percentage inks are removed e Always strict overprint behavior Certln will honor the overprint parameter 100 according to the rules mentioned in the PostScript Language Reference in case of PostScript EPS Al import and PDF Reference Manual in case of PDF e Only strict overprint behavior for PDF Certln will honor the overprint parameter 100 according to the rules mentioned in the PDF Reference Manual in case of PDF Overprinting default is non zero overprintingPrevents overprinted objects with zero CMYK values from knocking out CMYK objects beneath them PostScript Overprintlo set the overprint mode that the conversion needs to apply when importing
199. e You cannot set the sheet to be larger than the plate but the sheet and plate sizes can be equal Fit Use the fit buttons to fit the sheet size vertically and horizontally to the current red selection The Plate Fit button will fit the plate size around all current objects Note There is a big difference between using the fit buttons and using the plate and sheet fit parameters V HPlateFit and V HSheetFit The fit buttons will do a one time fit They measure the current objects and store the corresponding values as sheet or plate settings The fit parameters on the other hand will make sure that the plate or sheet settings are automatically updated whenever the station grids are updated V HSheetFit parameter or whenever the bounding box of all objects changes V HPlatefit parameter Margins allows you to indicate which zones on the 4 sides of the sheet should not be used to place stations The sheet minus these margins equals the available area available to place stations Gripper Edge allows you to specify the width of the gripper zone in sheetfed offset The value specified here will be used to define the parameter called Gripper 328 10 10 6 ESKO Plato Sheet Position on Plate allows you to indicate how the sheet should be positioned on the plate You can use the 9 point selector and or specify an offset The small blue square represents the outline of the sheet The large black square repres
200. e Number Stations command to assign station numbers to the stations in your layout You must have a station number definition in your station for the numbers to be displayed on the plate You can add a station number to a station at any time in Station View mode The actual numbering of the stations takes place in Esko Plato s Sheet View Exactly the same mechanism is used for strip numbers A strip number is defined in Station View the actual numbering is done in Sheet View The Number Stations dialog box allows to determine how the actual numbering will be executed format sequence 379 ie ESKOS 380 Plato Number Stations x Station Mumbers Strip Humbers Numbering Format 23 if Start eein Start with E mM WW fame D OO AE Restart nimeerss Restart numbering every Grid Prefix Sufix Type Fred l Type Fined Prefix Suffix Number Stations Station Numbers Strip Humbers Nurnberg OF 23 W Custom Order Format 12d pine edie sae Undo Start with 1 1 po k Heset Please pick 1 Restart rereana Restart numbering every Grid Numbering Format indicate the number format numbers or lower or upper case latin characters e Start with indicate the number or character that will be used for the first station e Order select either automatic by setting start position and direction or custom define the order of the stations by cl
201. e SmartMarks dialog box allows you to create save open and edit sets of SmartMarks Sets can be saved to disk and can be used during output SmartMarks are regenerated as soon as something in the job changes job size ink definitions SmartMarks can be attached to e the general level e asheet tt e aplate e visible objects HT e agrid D oo e Position Marks objects in your job which have an object name SmartMarks __ Visible Objects oo Grid 1 Mil Dimension Line Click the black arrow 385 ie ESKOS 386 Plato to activate the fly out menu Uptions Turm Tumble Convert to Objects Delete Clear Object Name New Set Upen Set Load Set Save Set Save as Set Options Opens the SmartMarks dialog box for the selected mark Please refer to the chapter Supplied SmartMarks for an elaborate explanation of the individual marks Turn Relocates the SmartMark using the vertical axis of your job Tumble Relocates the SmartMark using the horizontal axis of your job Convert to Objects This converts the selected SmartMarks to objects These objects will look like marks in your job but they are in fact dynamic objects and will behave like ordinary objects they can be edited rotated scaled Delete Removes the selected mark from your list Clear Object Name If the SmartMark has an object name you can clear it here New Set empties your li
202. e a default replacement font for the missing fonts for this job on your system Imageslimport 1 bit images as e Embed Images become internal black and white bitmaps e Linked file Images are imported as external referenced LP files e Contours Images are contourized during import of the E PS file CT display images Choose Yes to create a display image for the generated CT files on the fly Output file display images This option is activated when Split Up a MultiPage File was activated Select the type of display from the drop down list None Thumbnail Image Miscellaneous Device resolution xxx ppi Device resolution is the resolution used internally by Certln during the normalization Normally the produced output is not dependent of this internal resolution but in some rare cases like when converting RIP test strips or device specific tests it is important that this value is the same resolution of the final RIP device which will be used to print output Virtual Memory LimitThe default value for the virtual memory is 50MB The limit is set to 1 gigabyte Convert text to contourswill contourize all text Note Conversion might increase the file size Workaround Options Skip ImagesCheck this box to open the EPF file without linking to external images or converting embedded images Preserve Quark trappingForces the system to keep the trap strokes made by QuarkXpress 101 ESKOS M Disable optimizationsVignettes recogn
203. e and save as many sets as you like This way you can create a customized set of marks that are used for different customers different printing presses and different printing processes 2 Using smartMarks 168 SmartMarks are easy to use Click SmartMarks on the Production menu and can begin to add marks e Adding a SmartMark e Deleting a SmartMark e Editing a SmartMark e Creating and saving a set e Using a set e Replacing and editing a set e SmartMarks in the Station View e Custom Color in SmartMarks 7 2 1 Adding a SmartMark Adding a SmartMark is easy Even though each individual mark contains its own set of parameters the basic procedure for adding a mark to a job is the same To add a SmartMark 1 On the Production menu click SmartMarks The SmartMarks window will appear 2 Select the desired reference point general plate sheet visible objects Position Mark 3 Click the Add Mark button j IM The Add SmartMark dialog box appears listing the available marks add Smartmark get Center Mark Comer Mark Dimension Line Ellipse Gallus Gradation Strip Grid Mark Barcode Note The list of available SmartMarks will change according to the object you want to attach the SmartMark to 4 Click the name of the mark that you want to use The options dialog box for the mark you selected will appear 5 Set the options as required for your job 6 Click OK You can use App
204. e blended circle Therefore as shown on the right these areas will be highlighted as Screen Conflict 341 10 ESKO X Plato 342 Dim Artwork When you enable an Highlight option the document artwork is faded to the percentage you choose in Dim Artwork Color When you enable a Highlight option the objects are highlighted in the color you chose in the Color Picker Color This viewing mode shows a list of used colors WiewX O OOOO x Preview Color r alfe E e a Microwaves Mi coa i je meva vosa O O S EB biks PANTONE ms E Binks 2 PANTONE ins EE Binks 2 PANTONE ins EE sinks PANTONEinks i Visualisation of images is only correct using Ink Based View View Options Default ti Click the eye icons in front of the colors to show or hide them Click the eye button above the colors list to show or hide all colors Total Area Coverage The Total Area Coverage TAC is the sum of all separation densities at a certain point in your document TAC Limit The TAC Limit is the maximal Total Area Coverage that your document may contain This value depends on the press and the substrate your design will be printed on Your printer should provide you with the TAC Limit value to use Defining the TAC Limit The TAC limit is defined in the Press settings See Define Press Settings on page 337 By default the TAC Limit is set t
205. e by clicking the File menu and clicking Save You can also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL S to save the file as you work 3 1 3 Saving a layout with a different name To save an existing file with a new name 1 On the File menu click Save Layout as 2 Type a name and choose a location for the file 3 Click Save to save the file with the new name You can use Save As to create a copy of an existing file before you make major modifications Then you can always go back to the original version of the file if you need to 3 1 4 Opening an existing layout You often want to open an existing plate file to make changes to it or to finish a plate that you had started earlier Use Open Layout to open an existing layout file for editing or printing To open an existing plate 1 On the File menu click Open Layout The Open dialog box appears Open Layout My H 2 cent Documents E H GaeelicGhost_Final_Print pdFpla Desktop S Ky Documents sr hy Computer kiy ME File name Blairon 1 pdfpla aces Files of type PD FPLA File Cancel Job Blairon Search Product lt None gt Search Frofiles defaults Setup Size 1 077 589 bytes Date 06 12 18 Time 14 26 37 File mfo 31 ESKOS M 2 Locate the file that you would like to open and select its name 3 Click Open Clicking Cancel will close the Open dialog box without opening an existing file
206. e if the current format is PDFPLA or PLA It allows you to change the format from Esko native PLA to Normalized PDFPLA and vice versa e Polar requires a dedicated license allows you to output to Polar Compucut cutting stations e CFF2 allows you to export to CFF2 format based on separations You can either export the contour lines or the outline of a region This option is mainly intended to export data to cut varnish blankets embossing or foil stamping areas e JDF Layout exports the graphics into PDF files and links these PDF files together through a JDF layout ticket e MFG Layout CFF2 Layout DDESS3 converts die shapes into a layout CAD file of the requested format ArtiosCAD MFG CFF2 or DDES3 e CIPS exports the file to a CIPS compatible PPF file e JDF Cutting File see Exporting to a JDF Cutting file on page 275 320 Plato 10 5 Layout Setup The Layout Setup dialog box allows you to set layout settings It is the dialog box that appears when you intend to start creating a new layout For more information on creating a new layout please refer to the chapters on grid based CAD or SmartLayout workflows The Layout Setup dialog box consists of two tabs e General e Plate and Sheet Layout Setup i xX General Plate amp Sheet 10 5 1 General Select Job lt None gt Select E Job File Format PDF Layout Hame Gaelic_G host_Final l Use Template Te 300 1 Binw5O0 AY Units kim
207. e in your job the crosshair is rotated to that point You can align the crosshair on a rotated object in this case NOT on the bounding box of the rotated object To align the vertical axis you click a point on the object with the left mouse button To align the horizontal axis you click a point on the object with the right mouse button Note Even if the object is not selected there is gravity Rotate R When you click this button you can rotate the crosshair manually by clicking and dragging it When you click anywhere in your job the crosshair will be rotated to that point Note Manual crosshair manipulations such as moving and rotating are also possible whenever the Select or Transform tool is activated Tip To position or rotate the crosshair numerically use the crosshair toolbar Note The rotation angle strictly refers to the rotation of the crosshair itself and is in no way related to the distance by nor to the direction in which it was moved Click Apply to perform the Crosshair action Note Objets snap to the crosshair Please find the adjustable value in the preferences Draw Die Shape Tool In Station View mode use the Draw Die Shape tool to draw die shape contours for your station The Station View s default die is a rectangle or a square if the height and width are the same But some jobs are not this shape You can use the Draw Die Shape tool to create die contours that are rectangular or squ
208. e information on how to use the tool 10 52 SmartLayout Optional Thanks to the SmartLayout option you can optimize the distribution of different labels on your sheet automatically and it takes but a few seconds It uses different optimizing methods depending on your workflow it offers dynamic feedback on suggested layouts and operator inter actions e g run length waste overrun SmartLayout A x F rao ox 118 Sheets 6 39 2 Waste D Frontside dete Placed Over AES 4k SK 4k 2K amp B Blairon tront pat Oo K 12 0 3 Fa F Blairon Back pat KE 68 2 27 xe EE a EA SbienBised Ea Find ptimal Layout Keep current layout Search K 5 gt gt 1 1 ot 6 Ea Blairon Collar pdf T Use the step buttons to navigate through the found layouts The SmartLayout dialog box is built up of a number of columns e The Check column indicates whether or not the station is indicated in the SmartLayout search If a station is ignored it will not be taken into account when creating the optimal layout e Front Side short name e Front side graphics e Click the Ordered edit field to enter number of stations This number is expressed in thousands K e Placed indicates the number of times this station is placed in the current layout This number is read only e Overrun indicates the amount of overrun in actual numbers and in percentage of the ordered quantity You can show and
209. e panels drawn in dashed blue lines That is why Show Face Outlines is so interesting as it immediately gives you an indication whether or not distributing is at all possible and to which panels the distribution will happen If we move one of the stars and do an update you will notice that the three other stars need to move as well It is now enough to select the moved star and click Update Copies You will notice that Plato Distribute Selection is now called Update Copies There is no need anymore to select a panel in the Studio window The selected art knows that it has been distributed before An indication that you have selected distributed art is given in the info message in the Studio window The selection contains distributed art This piece of distributed art has become a smart object that knows to which panel it belongs and which other art belongs to the same distribution When clicking Update Copies the other art that belongs to the same distribution in our example the other stars will be replaced with a new updated copy of the selected distributed art In the layer browser you also have an indication which art is distributed art and hence smart The name of distributed art is always Distribution What can do if the distribution looks wrong The graphics have been distributed to the correct coplanar panels but the result of the distribution in the Studio window is still not correct
210. e patch This color will be added to the list and gets a default name Color 1 Color 2 The color name will also be displayed in the Colors palette At any time you are able to change this name in the Define Plato Color dialog box When changing the name in the Define Color dialog box the Colors palette will updated automatically x x xi Define Color by Color Name l Define Color by Color Name a Define Color by Color Name E E i Clouds O C Outline D Skir D E Clouds i Outline E TEm131 147195 100115 Color Mame Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right Color Mame O Walpaper ka 7 3 Supplied smartMarks SmartMarks are very easy to use The mark Options dialog boxes allow you to set the location and ink usage for the mark This section describes each of the marks that are supplied with Esko Plato e Setting the location of a SmartMark e Span Area e Image Mark e Center Mark e Corner Mark e Crease Mark e Dimension Line e Gallus e Gradation Strip e MFG Text replace e Rectangle e Standard Mark e Standard Strip e Text Mark e Trim Mark e Barcode e Ellipse e Grid Mark e Cell Numbering e Grommet 179 ESKO e Position Mark e GRQ Gallus e GRQ Gradation Strip e GRQ Grid Marks e GRQ Image e GRQ Marks e GRQ Rectangle e GRQ Strip e GRQ Text e GRQ Cell
211. e structural lines To bring the structural design and the graphic design together a structural design file can be placed or opened 431 12 ESKO X Plato Supported structural design file formats e ArtiosCAD or Studio Toolkit for Boxes ard files for boxes e Studio Toolkit bag files e Collada files with a printable part dae or zae files In case a Collada file is placed a check is performed to see if the Collada file has a printable part defined A printable part is an Esko extension to the Collada format Collada files with one or more printable parts can also be created in Studio Toolkit and ArtiosCAD You can also load a structural design file as an extra scene in the Studio window Each part of the scene can get its graphics from another illustrator document See Scenes and Multiple Documents Trial and Licenses Licensing for Studio Designer in PackEdge ArtPro and Plato is included in the licensing for PackEdge ArtPro and Plato For more information see the licensing chapter in the corresponding manual 12 2 2 Studio Designer Basics 432 To get started with Studio Designer you need a document with a structural design file placed into it If the current document does not contain a structural design file the Studio window will look like this The document does not have a structural design Plato Above you can see how a structural design file is show as a 2D representation Open the Studi
212. e will be searched for information like plate and sheet size and these values will be shown in the corresponding fields in the Plate amp Sheet tab e Units and Origin can be changed in the Defaults tab of the Preferences dialog box e For some printing processes like flexo printing the plate must be distorted to compensate for the expansion of the plate when it is wrapped around the cylinder of the press The Shrink fields allow you to set a distortion factor that is used when printing or exporting You can enter Shrink values between 90 and 110 The default Shrink value is 100 the plate will be printed at 100 If you enter a value other than 100 the Distortion option in the Print dialog box is disabled e Screen registration is relevant only to Esko FlexRip users When activated the origin of the screening will be reset for each station In doing so it is garanteed that exactly the same screening will be applied for each station When deactivated screening will be done continuously throughout the complete job Layout Setup l xX General Plate amp Sheet Select Job lt None gt Select E Job File Format PDF Layout Hame Gaelic_G host_ Final Use Template THI 300 1 BinwS00 Fy Units kim Origin 4 T To change the Units or Origin go to Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults Vertical Shrink fi 00 000 a Horizontal Shrink fi 00 000 eo Screen Registration o Continuous Reset for each external file
213. ease with that value Note e When Continuous is not activated a different Vertical and Horizontal step can be defined Example Put Start on 0 activate Continuous and put its value to 5 Your first stepped element gets the number 0 the second element gets 5 the third element gets 10 Use Vertical to define the Vertical Step numbering when it has to be different to the horizontal step Use Horizontal to define the Horizontal step numbering when it has to be different to the vertical step Use the Customized Name Input box to give a customized name to the Barcotext mark Enter the customized name click Apply and the new mark name appears in the list of marks Enter the a name for the Barcocellnumbering e g Mynumbering When the dialog box closes the original name in the list of marks has changed to Mybumbering Barcocellnumbering OrientationClick one of the buttons to obtain the desired orientation for the image OrderTo define the direction for the cellnumbering There are 8 available predefined directions buttons Click the corresponding button to select the requested direction If the available directions do not correspond to what you want click the question mark button T The Barcocellnumbering dialog box expands and allows you to define the complete cellnumbering for the selected grid s yourself reset DAS On the left side of the grid you can see a number This is the grid indication The grey b
214. eated for the stations on the plate The new masks are used in the plate only the original station file and its mask remains unmodified e Adjust Masks uses the die outlines and the station masks to make adjustments on the plate Therefore it is a good idea to use the mask tool in the Station View to create a mask If your station doesn t have a mask Esko Plato doesn t have this information and can only use the bounding box of the station to create the new masks e n order to see the A and B labels make sure the Show selection in preview option is switched on in the View tab of the Preferences dialog box 4 6 Nesting stations The Esko Plato toolbar boasts a Layout tool a The main purpose is to facilitate stepping and repeating one and the same station in a particular area of the sheet However this tool also enables you to create a more intricate and advanced layout whereby labels or even folding cartons can be positioned in such a way that a maximum of space is used within the given area This is called nesting Note The Layout tool takes into account the shape of a station This implies that the shape of the station is correct prior to using the Layout tool You can adjust the shape via the Properties dialog box To nest stations perform the following steps Cf ESKOS m 1 Add a station to your sheet 2 Right click the station depending on the Origin that will be in one of the corners of your sheet and go t
215. ection in Preview box is checked in Preferences Esko Plato supports two types of selection red selection and green selection Objects selected in red can be transformed and modified Objects selected in green cannot be transformed or modified Esko Plato s Align window uses green selections to align objects to one another e Selecting an object e Selecting an object in green e Selecting multiple objects e Selecting all objects e Deselecting an object Selecting an object To select individual objects 1 Click Select on the toolbar The Select button changes to a blue button showing that it is the active tool 2 Click the object you want to select The object is selected in red indicating that it can be transformed or modified Selecting an object in green Use green selection to select an object while keeping it from being transformed or modified To select an object in green 1 Click Select on the toolbar 2 Click the object that you want to select 3 Press the INSERT key to change the selection from red to green If you have some objects selected in red and some selected in green pressing the INSERT key will toggle the objects between the two selections That is objects selected in red become selected in green and objects selected in green become selected in red Caution The Insert key is an Esko shortcut If you are using DTP shortcuts or created your own shorcuts the key could be different 293 EI Esko
216. educing the trap color intensity percentage Image Trap Color Choose how to trap your images 1 Use Original Image Data default when spreading an image PowerTrapper uses the underlying image data when the image is clipped to create the trap see example 1 below Note When there is no underlying image data the image isn t clipped it will create an empty trap 2 Extend Image Data PowerTrapper will automatically extrapolate the image along its clipping path edge to ensure the trap looks as expected even if there is no clipped image data outside the visible image see example 2 below 3 Use an Approximate Flat Color Instead of using existing or extrapolated image data in the trap Power Trapper will use a solid color A suitable color is determined by averaging the image s colors along its boundary with the object to trap see example 3 below Truncate Traps PowerTrapper can truncate the trap so that it doesn t stick out on another color There are two truncation modes On Center g default when a portion of a trap comes too close to the contour of another object Power Trapper Standalone limits it to half the distance between the trapped object and the other object 146 Plato 6 On Edge i when a portion of a trap comes too close to the contour of another object it is truncated on the other object s edge End Caps This option specifies how to shape the ends of an open trap E Square default
217. eesn 58 AV Oraino anew SUAMON sitaysvvascavsnarsa eros R E daetsate el alse tae A 58 4 1 2 Creating a new station in a CAD WOSkflOW cece streetscene 59 Alko Edino fers I 1 1 ke Rec 2 L g pierre pee ee tr eer re EO ane RY eee re ee 59 4 1 4 Using Select Sai AOS des sche aiss ccentiatesn ants aattacn aba ah apenssrana dae wetted nalancgetaetei anes hcetaetiadeannuatonne 60 ATS Sin SAS ea OI eaten acres ecto en vn tet en oes drt ttc aa ea eet tear ne 63 4 2 Using a CAD file to Create a StatiOn o cccccccccecccserscetscscssecscsrsseecsssssecsrssesseecssesessscstessetensseseeecsenn 63 4 2 1 CAD designs automatically from Esko Plato ccc ccccceecceeeccscetscsrersiscstecsrereeeeen 64 422 IMO OPEN G Ar CAD SSI I sass cates adi E E N a nal aaa eaten inte 64 4 2 3 Importing a different CAD CeSIQN c ccc ceeeececscceecsreseecscsssssestsrssssessssessecsresesesrsseeerenesens 65 4S Adang stations TO ING DIAC saniran aA 65 PAIS a Adan fare are 21100 a Reta rene een er ny oe Cree Tn TES inn oe TY tne ec Peer ree ee er te he eee eer 66 A322 AASSIOMING A Stal naien a a uate aaa aaGee 68 4 33 ad 63 1119 Je Hee gt A aeaa ET E ee re erer ne eee 69 Ao REDAC aA ec Eee N i eee meen eae ene ene mmr er ne eRe ec ee en er E ee eer n 70 4 4 Working with empty Stations cccccccccessssssssessssscsssssesssssersseecssssssssssevsseesesesssscessevsscesestsseeseseesssseseesssassesesetsa 71 45 AG USUIN GOVE ADDING STATIONS ma
218. efine the Size of the PDF file Since the PDF file is only meant for on screen viewing this size is of little importance The Add Footer toggle allows you to switch on or off the footer text Instead of the default EskoArtwork text you can also personalize the footer text and include your own message Note File Type PDF File with 3D Design a Document Cancel Width 297 mm Height 210 mm W Add Footer Footer Texture Size 7 1 megapixel 3D Presentation View Angle From Studio Window HA d 39 7 S275 Perspective 45 Eil Include Graphics at 133 l ppi H C Avoid Artifacts To avoid z fighting problems in the exported PDF files you can use the Avoid Artefacts option This will make sure that whenever it is unclear which panel is on top resulting in flickering graphics a calculated choice will be made cutting out the underlying part and giving the top part carte blanche 449 12 Plato Export to a USD File U3D is a common exchange format for 3D objects For example in Acrobat Professional 8 0 1 or higher you can place USD files in PDF files Choose Export from Studio s fly out menu Choose USD File as file type 450 Plato Preview File Type U3 3D Presentation View Angle Fram Studio Window HH d 39 7 2 75 Perspective 45 M Include Graphics at 300 ppi KH Avoid Artifac
219. ementary information about the station in question e Front Back e Trimming e SmartLayout xl Front 4 Back 4 Trimming SmartLayout Type File EM Color Ea Hame B Blairon Collar pdf Height 35 580 mm Width 95 195 mm Placed 37 Overrun 2 0 27 4 10 59 1 Front Back 422 The Front and Back tab sheets provide information about the type of station either a file or an empty station its color name height and width xi Front 4 Bact 4 Trimming SmartLayout Type File BN Color p Hame E Blairon Collar pdf oe Height 25 580 mm Width 55 195 mm Placed 37 Ovenur 27 0 27 3 a F Click the Select Graphics icon B to assign a different station to the design The Assign Station to Design dialog box will appear Click the info icon T for more information about the file transformations and inks The Image Properties dialog box will appear Plato Graphics File Properties Blairon Front Final pdf E e Zj File Inks Name Blairon Front Final pdt s Type External Normalized POF Ledda SS Borders veh 80 6686 x 146 5202 mm iz nUT OUTE lt ni it Margin Top O 0 mm Margin Bottom 0 0 mm Margin Left O 0 mm Margin Right 0 0 mm Location E sDocumentationPlatoiPlato 6 046 lairontBlairon Front Final pdF 10 59 2 Trimming In the Trimming tab sheet you can determine the die shape that should be taken into accou
220. ent Knockout group Opacity amp Mask Define Knockout Shape checkbox keeps a knockout effect proportional to the masking object s opacity The knockout effect will be strong in areas of the mask that are close to 100 the Knockout effect will be weaker in areas with less opacity The Isolate Blending checkbox prevents blending modes applied to objects within a group from being applied to objects beneath the group This option is only useful when used on groups that contain at least one object with a blend mode other than Normal applied to them or when used on individual objects that have a blending mode other than Normal applied on the stroke and fill attribute of the object Check the Inherit Knockout Group from Parent checkbox if you want to group objects without interfering with the knockout behavior determined by the enclosed layer or group Clear the option and check the Knockout Group checkbox to prevent transparency from revealing underlying objects within the group To make sure that a layer or group of transparency objects will never Knock each other out clear both the Inherit Knockout Group from Parent and Knockout Group checkboxes 10 47 1 Changing the Opacity Gradient 400 The Opacity Gradient offers a wide range of opacity gradients to be applied to the object fill and or stroke attribute of an object The Opacity value lets you vary the transparency with a constant value but the Opacity Gradient tool allows you to s
221. ents the plate The parameters you enter in the vertical and horizontal offset input box are added to the position of the sheet on the plate Drag or click to position your sheet on the plate The offset value is based on the current origin See the Defaults tab in the Preferences dialog box for information about origin Document Info The Document Info dialog box can be used to write job dependent production information The info can also be used as smart text in a text mark The Document Info dialog opens after clicking Document Info on the File menu 10 7 XMP Property Into 324 XMP stands for eXtensible Metadata Platform it is a standard for metadata The editor understands and works with XMP When you create a file all general job information will be stored the moment you save the file Additionally ink information name Ipi dotshape inkcoverage bar code information fonts CADfiles etc used in the file is listed in the XMP Choosing XMP Property Info from the File menu opens the XMP Metadata Properties dialog box Um External Images Data type Artwork E Document Color Profile Blairon Collar pdf Blairon front pdf Fages 1 page FReaderspread Ho Trapped Unknown Vertical size 1600 0 mm Horizontal size 1200 0 mm Top Media Box margin O 0 mm Left Media Box margin 0 0 mm Bottom Media Box margin 0 0 mm Right Media Box margin 0 0 mm Vertical distortion
222. epeat with Stagger CxaMple uu ccccccceccscssesescsssetetssssesetsteseeetstteeeneen 124 6 2 4 Step and Repeat with Distribute CxAMPIes c cece ccseeceececessssssecesseecassecevsterasesreteen 126 63 IWo sided FFU Cb sda carers E E ae nde meet nao sonaentepeataateommine 129 6 3 1 Two sided DIALS S sacscscecch csircscsicsctenetiesionsinieostansieautesbunesumibtodteny wpe netorand alensics eesti selene eocguierh Mind on aikapddodaaaeanetos 129 6 22 TWOH SIGDEO STATIONS vs picrsisnssrasosiasinssieasiosesshcntivantinnunshinsluceasconnnsuhavnsiasannsatehasinigsaselqadta dhaioieasaccneniasbusissranaeeshannse 130 FF TAT VME MI ARS isso ete deh eythane eee E O 130 CATV e nee eee eee eee ee ee 131 64 2 ANNVOKINO WIIK S ee ene ne er ee eee E eee eee 132 64 3 USINO INK IDAE S ee eo ee eee ee eee eee 137 6 4 4 USING INK MAPPING ccc cccccscsessscsssscsssssecsssssevsssesscsssevsssesssessevsssscesesserssescesessecesessecessecesestecesessasesteases 137 Contents 6 4 5 Using external file INK MAPPING ccc ec cecersssscsrsestscsssrssstscssserssestssissstesseseisssessieseseearess 139 640 G le ulating INK AIS ACG arrenar no r ENO E E AEE eae teeta 139 EES ae re E EE NSE AA TAAN E E E A T AA N AT E E E T 141 O te IY a 21 gol 9 9 2 a E E E E er eter ey ieee 142 6 5 2 Mer GoOlor Pars Palet E ennio a a a a 154 05 9 rap REG under ae SI css cece T R oie a a a TOA 157 6 5 4 Keep Red away from GIreen cccccccccscccesccsccssscscsssscscssse
223. ere is just one rectangular area in the document that will make up this face However sometimes a face is made of several panels The panels of such a composed face are spread across the document They can even have a different orientation So for composed faces it is very difficult to create graphics that run continuous from one panel into the other Studio Designer can help you in this process with a feature called Distribute Note You can use Distribute on bag and ard files but not on Collada files Composed Faces This is an example of a box with composed faces Plato Double click a panel to display it in the document window Chel igiitl ea SB This is an example of a bag Viewing the Composed Face If you select Show Face Outlines in the Studio fly out menu and you click one panel that is part of a composed face ghost outlines will be drawn of the other panels of that face These ghost outlines can give you a good impression of the size and shape of the composed face 443 1 2 Plato Distribute If you draw some art within the boundaries of such a composed face it will only appear on one panel since the other panels are actually somewhere else in the Illustrator document However with Distribute you can create copies of the art over several panels that are perfectly aligned to make it look continuous on the folded composed face This is how the folded package will look
224. erences Images into Output Folder Referenced files in GRS mode will be converted to referenced external files in Normalized PDF mode but where will they end up There are two options e External Normalized PDF files will be written in the output folder next to the main Normalized PDF file 2 0 Plato Ee e External Normalized PDF files will be written in the original folder next to the original external GRS files e Always the converted external files will be saved next to the main file e Never the converted external files will be saved in the folder of the original files e f relative if the external GRS files were close to the main GRS file subfolder neighboring folder the converted files will be saved in the output folder If the external GRS files were not close to the main file central smartmarks logos the converted files will be saved next to the original files Display image You can save the file with no display image thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or low resolution display image To save the file with a 72 dpi image This image can be used when the file is placed as an external file Composed text Composed text is non editable text It can be converted to editable text by checking this box Export to Scope 3 Compatible file Check this box if you want your Normalized PDF file to be Scope 3 compatible 8 2 9 Exporting to a GRS File You can export your station and plate files to a
225. es e Always Towards Line Art this always traps CT images under adjoining line art Pull Back An ink pull back keeps away all but the darkest ink of a color area composed of multiple inks that borders to a very light background It prevents individual inks from the composed color to become visible on the background due to registration errors during the printing process Ink pull back is also Known as Cutbacks or Keepaways The example below shows an object with 100 dark blue and 50 magenta on an empty background 50 magenta is pulled back and a fine line of 100 dark blue remains The color that remains dark blue is the pull back ink no pullbacks On Screen Print pullbacks pullbacks e Automatic default this creates pull backs on rich black or rich colors when the color left in the pull back area is not very different from the composed color In the example below the left color is composed of 100 purple ink and 20 cyan The darkest ink purple is not very different from the composed color so using the Automatic pull back option will create a pull back The right color is composed of 100 dark red ink and 20 blue ink The darkest ink dark red is very different from the composed color so using the Automatic pull back option will not create a pull back 143 144 Plato Only Pull Back Rick Black this only creates pull backs on rich black Do Not Pull Back this never creates a
226. es without normalization It is possible to place non normalized PDF files using this preference option When placing non normalized PDF files this will result in a non rippable PDFPLA file This means that such a file will need pre processing when further operations are applied expose to FlexRIP Automation Engine operations during pre processing a normalization on the fly will happen As such this workflow is only advisable when working in a standalone PDF environment placing PDF files exporting to PDF Furthermore this option is only allowed if Plato is not connected to a Automation Engine server running in standalone mode When switching to a mode where the real data is needed for example switching to extended preview applying trapping anormalisation on the fly is done Check Job Parameters It is possible to define Job Parameters on the Automation Engine server Job Parameters are settings type of bar code inks certain RIP parameters that are predefined for a Automation Engine Job The Check Job Parameters options allows you to check your files for inconsistencies and to correct them if necessary when opening or saving a document 10 9 7 Shortcuts tab 332 There are 2 sets of shortcuts Esko shortcuts and DIP applications shortcuts You can switch between both sets by selecting the appropriate set from the Shortcut Key drop down list x General Defaults Views Color Editing Files
227. ese settings for all separations Use the Compensation Details dialog to adjust the individual separations Choose the Preset Small when you want a light compensation to softly smoothen the Ink key historgram in a local zone The dark magenta area in the E Artwork E Compensation L Room for Compensation compensation graph is the current ink histogram of the uncompensated document The white area in the graph is the area that can be used for the 373 10 ESKO Plato compensation as defined by the ink eater area s Light magenta areas have been compensated by the ink eater e Choose the Preset Medium to fill the compensation area with a gradient resulting in a smooth ink histogram Compensation Details dl b Magenta E Artwork Compensation L Room for Compensation Mac A The light magenta area indicates the zones that have been compensated The ink eater area would look as follows e Choose the Preset Very Large to fill the ink eater area with with a gradient to egalize the ink histogram as much as possible It is clear that doing this will use more ink S74 Plato Compensation Details b Magenta E Artwork E Compensation L Room for Compensation Mac A As you can see the compensation is quite strong in this example The ink eater area is filled with an ink heavy gradient 10 380 Compensation Details dialog Use the Compensation Details dialog to adjust how the in
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229. ession Advanced Device type E Esko Graphics CertinPS3 gt PostScript 3 color device bctrans1 ppd Output type Fre separated gt Ermulsion up Right reading Fp riage Positive Vertical distortion ho 5 Scale amp Tile w Scale i O0 Horizontal distortion fi ng Es er Fit job on page SmartMarks lt None El Shrink oversized obs ta paper size W Account for Media Box margins Overlap a mm Tile jab T Hide trap layer s in output Page range m Al Selection Curent page Fage setup Paper size Onentation tf Pages fi Enter page numbers andor page ranges separated by commas For example 1 35 5 16 Alignment Bottom left Number of copies i i Applying Smartharks might add some new inks to the file The Ink Selection in the Inks Separation tab will be reset Device typelo select the output device you want your design to be exported to or printed to the corresponding PPD is chosen and will be used Output type lo export or print your design as CMYK Composite Separated or Composite e CMYK Composite Activate this option to generate a composite PostScript file for proofing Note Remark that a CMYK composite PostScript file will proof correctly but separations will not be correct since all spot colors are converted to CMYK e Pre separated Activate this option to generate separations Multiple pages will be generated corresponding to t
230. et any number of stations and marks The stations contained in a layout may be multiple instances of the same station single instances of different stations or some intermediate mix a combination layout As plates can be recto verso Esko Plato can create the back of a plate layout from the front for two sided printing When Esko Plato creates the back side of the plate the position of the stations is mirrored for accurate front to back alignment The back side of the stations is automatically inserted to create the printing on the back side Esko Plato maintains a link between the front and back side of a plate moving stations on the front side will move the corresponding stations on the back side accordingly 2 3 2 View modes 14 Esko Plato has two view modes e The Sheet View shows the plate the sheet and all the stations that have been placed In this view you can switch between the front and the back of a plate e The Station View focusses on the individual station Switching between those views can be done in one single session Sheet View In the Sheet View you can assemble the layout by stepping up a number of copies of one or multiple stations How to step and repeat depends very much on your workflow In the Sheet View dedicated dialogs and tools will support different workflows Common to all workflows are the setup dialog where plate and sheet sizes are defined and the station dialog which gives an overview of all
231. et a big gap size trapping may become slower and small parts of the job may be ignored during trapping Rules Rules allow you to define custom trapping settings for specific trapping pairs When to Use Rules In most cases the general trapping settings you enter in the Trap dialog will give you excellent results but in some cases you will need to refine them using rules Rules allow you to specify exceptions to the general trapping settings for certain color pairs They are an advanced feature and should be used only by experienced users For example you can use them in the cases below e To set a different trap distance for a specific spot ink Sometimes you need a larger trap distance for spot inks if there is no other ink to help cover leaks on the press e To prevent trapping or ink pull back in specific cases Depending on the type of the adjoining colors trapping and or pull back may be undesirable e To force a specific trap direction Power Trapper determines the trap direction based on the relative lightness of the adjoining colors If the colors have a similar lightness level it selects an arbitrary direction You can use a rule to make it always use a particular direction for a color pair e To specify a different shape and or truncation mode for certain color pairs For example you can choose to use On Center truncation when trapping under a 100 black line and On Edge truncation on all other color
232. et varying levels of transparency The Opacity Gradient dialog still contains the aloha modes that were available in PackEdge 5 0 and earlier versions but make them clearly visualized by a small thumbnail preview linear linear updown conical conical updown elliptical elliptical updown elliptical eccentric elliptical updown eccentric rectangle rectangle updown rectangle eccentric rectangle updown eccentric parallellogramic parallellogramic updown parallellogramic eccentric parallellogramic updown eccentric edge softmask and CT mask Opacity Gradient Fill 10 47 2 Creating and Editing PDF Opacity Masks The Opacity Gradient dialog allows you to create and edit PDF Opacity Masks in PackEdge 6 0 Any object in a document even linked files can be used as a mask for another object The mask overlays the selected object covering entirely where the mask is solid or partially showing through based upon the shades of colors on the mask The level of opacity is based on the difference of the luminance from the colors of the mask and the object white is 100 opaque black is 100 transparent and grays colors change to grayscale on a mask have varying levels Create a PDF Opacity Mask by double clicking on the Opacity Gradient icon in the Effects dialog to open the Opacity Gradient dialog Select the opacity mask into a green selection and the object on which the opacity mask has to be applied into the red selection Press
233. ew ResolutionThe default resolution is set on 72 ppi This option can change the resolution of the RGB preview used when placing the EPS DCS file A higher value will produce a finer more detailed preview but will also increase the files size of the EPS DCS The minimum value is 72 ppi ResolutionThe default resolution is set on 16 000 ppi If you do not know where the EPS will be placed you might want to make the resolution a high one Page Number To select the page of the job you want to export Scale you can scale using percentages Plato Add SmartMarks sets by selecting one from the drop down list Account for job marginsSelects the margins of the job as the true boundary Normally the borders of the job are taken as the true boundary of the job Sometimes however you may also want to convert everything that is situated within the margins too Hide Trap Layer in output Allows you to export your file with or without the trap layer Color Management The Color Management tab is identical to the Color Management tab of the PostScript Export dialog box Output Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Convert bo CMYK Use Link Profile lt Aubomatic Source profile crom_otts ka Destination profile crom _otts k Rendering intent Absolute Background z W Map black on black W Use the document profile as Source profile if available Embed the Destination profile as an i
234. f e Hex They can be sent over a communication line using whatever communication protocol is available The drawback however is that hexadecimal image data takes up to twice as much size as binary data e Ascii 85 Encodes binary data in an ASCII base 85 representation This encoding uses nearly all of the printable ASCII character set The resulting expansion factor is 4 5 making this encoding more efficient than hexadecimal Compression Bitmaps e None e CCITT group 3 and CCITT group 4 e Run Length e LZW e LZW Diff e Flate e Flate Diff Contones e None e LZW e LZW Diff e JPEG Compressions from Limited over Standard to Low compression e Flate e Flate Diff Text and Lineart e None e LZW e Flate Downsampling The images referenced in your design are subsampled approximately to the specified value Activating this option allows you to reduce the size of the generated PDF file Select the unit for subsampling from the drop down list lpmm or ppi You can subsample both bitmaps and contones Check Crop images on clip mask to crop the image s on the clip mask All information located outside the clip mask will be lost Advanced Plato Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Fonts Workaround Contourize BG Type 1 and unprotected CID fonts Ignore varnish inks in output Embed all forits Add Ruling Angle and Dotshape information in POF Data section i A
235. f B instances Masks Overlap A over B HB A3 IY Limit Bleed to 5 000 mm Cancel OF After scanning the Adjust Masks dialog box looks like the one above All the overlapping stations have been located and these overlaps have been grouped into records Each record represents one kind of overlap which may occur any number of times on the plate All overlaps of the same kind are grouped together into one record Choosing a mask decision for a record will apply that decision to all instances where that overlap occurs While a plate may contain many records only one record is shown at a time in the Adjust Masks dialog box 1 Quick Adjust splits overlapping masks halfway between the two die shapes If you do not wish to use the Quick Adjust option you work in manual mode This allows you to make a decision on the priority of overlapping flaps and panels per case 2 Scan Click the Scan button to scan the stations on your plate The Scan button is disabled if scanning was done already 381 ie ESKOS Plato 3 Forward Back Use the Forward Back buttons to see each record The first button moves to the first record in the list The second button moves to the previous record in the list The third button moves to the next record in the list Finally the fourth button moves to the last record in the list of overlaps Some of the buttons may be disabled depending on which record you are currently viewing Split Overlap t
236. f the printable ASCII character set The resulting expansion factor is 4 5 making this encoding more efficient then hexadecimal Compression None LZW or Flate PostScript3 devices Downsampling he images referenced in your design are subsampled approximately to the specified value Activating this option allows you not only to reduce the size of the generated PostScript file but also to speed up generation of the PostScript file Select the unit for subsampling from the drop down list lomm or ppi You can subsample both bitmaps and contones Advanced Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Workaround Ignore varnish inks in output Fonts Contourize BG Type 1 and unprotected CID fonts Embed BG and Type 1 fonts Resolve once identical one ups in Step amp Repeat file Resolve once identical external tiles i Unprotected and protected CID fonts get referenced by name Resolve pure black overprint Limit filename size to 31 characters Split complex paths Filled and stroked paths at 5000 points Clip paths at fi o000 paints Split separated output imta multiple files Split multi page job into multiple tiles ANATA AA Suppress hailines at clips Fonts e Contourize fonts Note Protected CID fonts will be referenced by name e Embed BG and Type1 fonts Allows you to include the used BG and Type 1 fonts of your design in your PostScript file
237. for white marks Click the Barcomarks envelope to display the Extended Barcomarks dialog box which allows you to influence the settings for Centermarks Marks You can define the length of the rules of the centermarks as well as the the rule thickness You can also specify the diameter of the circle of the centermarks Click Job Name to add the Job Name to the repetition The mark turns black The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition Click Date to display the Date on your job The mark turns black The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition Use the Information Input box to add any extra information you want to display on your job Inks E Wi a ig Click the white ink strip left to display a 100 color box of all the inks used in the job Only if the strip displays color information it will be added to the repetition Grayscale ll Click the white grayscale strip right to add it to your job Only if the strip dislays grayscale information it will be added to the repetitionClick the Barcomarks envelope to display the Extended Barcomarks dialog box which allows you to influence the percentages of the grayscale strip Specify the height and width of the grayscale boxes Start allows you to define the black percentage of the first top grayscale box The default value for the start is 100 Stop allows you to define the black percentage of the last bottom grayscale box The default value for the stop is 10 Step
238. function lists all conflicts For example Check Job Parameters X Detected problems 5 T B Inks oF Ea Missing Ink PANTONE Reflex Blue C B Wrong sequence 4 Unexpected ink dark blue Ea Ruling is 120 lpi expected 175 lpi fy Dotshape is expected Check Again Eomeri LA Job Parameters are automatically checked when opening or saving a file Information regarding Job Parameters is also displayed in the Info window Logged 6 apr 07 on 10 43 02 Loading CAD plugin CAD plugin loaded 7 1 en Logged 2b aprl on 12 50 49 Missing Ink PANTONE Reflex Blue C Wrong sequence Unexpected ink dark blue Green Ruling is 120 Ipi expected 175 Ipi Dotshape is expected 1 li Some errors occurred while processing the task 10 40 Workspace It is possible to save for each opened dialog box and palette its position size and some dialog specific settings like e g the width and visibility of the columns in the Grid dialog box This kind of information is saved in a workspace e Default switches back to the factory default e Save e Manage 10 40 1 Save Workspace Save a workspace and use Manage to rename or delete previously saved workspaces Saving stores the positions of all open palettes and dialog boxes when exiting the application 390 After starting up Esko Plato all user interface dialog boxes will take the position they had when exiting Save Works
239. g The station is repeated in a 3X4 grid The grid has no gap between rows a 15 mm gap between columns A head turn is used on each row 6 2 3 Step and Repeat with Stagger example e Position center at 10 20 e Gap No gap between rows 15 mm between columns e Direction Up and Right e Head Turn No Head turn e Number of rows 3 e Number of Columns 4 e Stagger Stagger Columns 3 times 124 e Up amp Down and Continuous staggering disabled e Stagger amount 35 of height ee gO L Bia x Tie Sire Bleed a ae 1 ra Bp BionFional rTintex 100 00 3 4 O00 18 00 0 S S S S S S S S OG GG E Settings Grid 1 Station Station Mame Ja a Blairon Front Final pdf o Die Shape Trim Box Bleed Geometry so OO oo oo oe Bo 60 oo ES gH a Stagger ES 110 000 mm s E 20 000 mm Restart after 3 columns Continuous Up Down Distribute Bo mjin miim miim Automatic Gaps Gaps TER o o00 mm a 15 000 mm Plato The dialog box positions the station prior to repeating The station is repeated in a 3X4 grid The grid has no gap between rows a 15 mm gap between columns No head turn is used 125 ESKO 6 2 4 Step and Repeat with Distribute examples Example 1 Type Single Cuts no Gap no Stagger Stagger oa TE lE BLAIRON ae E Restart after E Continuous A BLAIROM
240. g boxes In all cases a file browser will pop up to select the required graphics A new station will be created using the external reference to the graphics and a die shape on the trim box of the graphics The first 2 approaches will place the station as a 1 by 1 grid block on the Plato plate The Add empty station button l can be used to create a new empty station with a size that can be specified Tip You can take any entry from the Station dialog box and drag it onto the document window This will place the station as a 1 by 1 grid block except when working in a CAD layout Afterwards the station can be altered either from the Grids or Station dialog box setting the die shape and bleed mask or from the Station View Once a station is on the plate you can use the controls in the Grid dialog box the Transform tool and the Align tool to define your layout Note Importing a CAD layout will create new empty stations for each design that is found in the CAD file For more information please refer to the chapter Creating a new station in a CAD workflow In the Manual Workflow you do not start with a CAD layout file You need to create a new station file and place it on the plate to start building the layout yourself 4 1 2 Creating a new station in a CAD workflow In the CAD Workflow you start by defining a plate and importing a CAD file to create a layout When you import a CAD file empty stations are created You
241. g is applied sufficiently and correctly The Registration Error value is taken from the Press Setting you selected The separations are randomly shifted In fact all separations are moved exactly the distance of the Registration Error but all under a random angle lf you want to see another random registration error simulation click the Simulate Again button 345 10 346 Plato In the example above you can see a small area of a job in regular preview left and with registration errors right In this case you can clearly see no trapping was applied so white lines appear at the registration shifts Breakout A Breakout is an area where the percentage of a single separation is lower than the First Visible Dot value This can be used to track areas that won t show up on print because the values are too low Your printer should provide you with the First visible Dot value The First visible dot is set in the Press Settings see Define Press Settings on page 337When switching to Breakout mode the preview will be dimmed and all areas where a single separation has a value lower than the First Visible Dot value but higher than 0 will be displayed in highlight color You can measure the actual percentages in that specific area using the densitometer see Measure Ink Densities i 7 Pe F 1 a I i i i ahi Ta j ue 3 y E L k i I 4 parii A Fj pey aA at Th ej hs ee _ i Plato Moire Detect
242. gain select Show All Color Pairs in the fly out menu To hide all color pairs that don t have traps selected in your document click a or choose in the palette s fly out menu J To show them again click p again or select in the menu To hide the Distance Shape Intensity or Pullback Ink column select Hide Distance Shape Intensity Pullback Ink Column in the palette s fly out menu Plato 6 To show the column again select Show Distance Shape Intensity Pullback Ink Column in the fly out menu Refining your Traps You can use the Color Pairs palette to select certain traps and change their trapping settings 1 Select either e the color pair s to edit in the palette e the traps to edit in your document if you want to only edit certain traps of a color pair 2 Make your desired changes as explained below to change a color pair s trapping direction Ku click Swap Trap Direction LHE H Trap direction can be from left to right from right to left or bidirectional In case of bidirectional trapping the trap will go half the trapping distance in each direction Note When you change the direction for only certain traps of the color pair the color pair will be duplicated in the palette e g one entry for spread and one for choke 2mm q Qj a 100 2mm QO 100 trap type choose Normal Trap A Pullback 2 or oi Reverse Trap tal in the Trap column You can also use this to trap a non trap
243. gain in the color profiles When toggled off the converted CMYK colors are completely re separated into the black behavior that is built into the destination profile Use the document profile as source profile if availablelf there is a document profile defined that will be used as a source profile The one chosen from the Source Profile drop down list will be overruled Embed the Destination profile as an intermediate color space If this toggle is off the colors in the PDF file will not be tagged with an ICC color profile The document is device dependent and its colors will only be reproduced accurately if the PDF file is output on the device that is specified in the Destination Profile This choice is preferable if we are sure the PDF file will be sent to the device specified in the Destination Profile If this toggle is on the color in the PDF file will be tagged with an ICC color profile The document then becomes device independent and its colors will be reproduced accurately even on devices with a color space different from the one specified in the Destination Profile In this case the Destination Profile is an intermediate color space between the Source Profile and the color profile of the device that will eventually process the PDF file This method is preferable when the PDF file will be sent to an unknown device Embed the document profile as PDF Output intentThe output intent is an ICC profile that specifies the intended output dev
244. gered Cutting Studio Designer e SmartMarks opens the SmartMarks dialog box e j cut Marks opens the i cut Marks dialog box e Staggered Cutting facilitates seamless printing in non sleeve workflows e Check Job Parameters allows you to check the inks in your files for inconsistencies regarding Job parameters that are predefined for a Automation Engine Job and allows you to correct them if necessary 9 1 9 Trapping menu Note This menu will only be enabled in the Station View and requires a dedicated trapping licence for Esko Plato Trap Trap Color Pairs Trap Tickets local O O Trap Red Under Green O1 00 Keep Red Sway From Green Rich Black White Underprint Trapping creates overlapping areas to compensate for possible misregistration between the different inks on the printed result It is used whenever two adjoining colors contain different inks in such a way that misregistration during printing results in a white gap or an undesirable line of a different color at the border of the two colors Please refer to the chapter Trapping for more information The Trapping menu contains following items Zor EI Esko M e PowerTrapper e Trap Color Pairs e Trap Red Under Green e Keep Red Away From Green e Rich Black e White Underprint 9 1 10 Window menu The Window menu contains following items Workspace Toolbars d Align Browser CAD Calc
245. h the Transform tools 295 EI cskos M 2960 You can make transformations using the selection handles or the outline of the reference box If you select one of the handles or the outline of the reference box this becomes your point of reference the point that you are transforming The point of reference does not have to be on the reference box you can also pick any location on a selected object too Moving the point of origin The point of origin is the point around which transformations will occur When you select an object the point of origin is in the center of the object It is shown as a small circle with a point in it You can move the point of origin for the scale and rotate transformations For example when you rotate an object it rotates around the point of origin or the center in the default case If you move the point of origin to some other location Esko Plato will rotate the object around the new point of origin If you cannot locate the point of origin when you use the Transform tools to modify objects for example if you zoomed in on the document window and the origin is located outside the display area press F11 and click a point The point of origin appears where you clicked Using constrain The transform tools can be set to constrain their transformations For example you might want to constrain rotations to 45 and 90 degrees Or you may want to move an object vertically These are examples of constraints o
246. h were fitted around all graphics As a consequence mapping the QuickStep plate onto the Esko Plato plate is not always possible The following approach is taken during conversion 1 The sheet definition is taken over 2 If the sheet and plate definition in the GRQ file are identical 429 Ww ESKO Plato a the plate definition is set to VPLATEFIT and HPLATEFIT b all marks attached to the plate are moved to the sheet In all formulas the parameters VPLATE HPLATE are replaced by VSHEET HSHEET By doing so the marks should keep their exact positions sheet and plate were identical in QuickStep and the Esko Plato plate will be fitted around all objects and will thus correspond to the QuickStep media box Esko Plato has no notion of clip on sheet If you used this feature in QuickStep it will be lost during conversion If during conversion the sheet or plate size changes a message will be displayed after conversion 3 FormulasFormulas are preserved including user variables if any Note that plate parameters might be replaced by sheet parameters See previous topic 4 GridsGrids and grid parameters exist in both QuickStep and Esko Plato All QuickStep grids are simply converted into Esko Plato grids 5 Registration marksThe QuickStep set of registration marks is available under SmartMarks Esko Plato and step and repeat tasks only not available in Esko PackEdge This means that QuickStep registration marks are
247. hat are already present in the job while adding marks from a set If this is the case you should use Load Set to add the marks of a set to existing marks that are already in the job 7 2 6 Replacing and editing a set Replacing a setlf you have used a set in a job and want to use a completely different set simply open another set Opening a different set will remove all the marks from the previous set and replace them with marks from the new set Editing a setEditing a set is done by loading the set making the required changes and saving the set again If you want to use an existing set as the basis for a new set you can load the existing set make the required changes and use Save As on the fly out menu Using Save As creates a new set with a different name 7 2 SmartMarks in the Station View When using SmartMarks in Esko Plato the reference point in the marks dialog boxes is based on the plate or the sheet In the Station View there is no plate nor sheet in this case the reference point is based on the borders or the margins In the Station View the borders are set to the bounding box of the current die So you can attach SmartMarks to the die of the station The Margins of a station are set to the bounding box of all the objects in the station including those that are outside the die So if you have other elements like Geometry Marks that are located outside the die the Margins are fit to include them See Setting t
248. he Automation Engine server The list of Jobs and Products in the File Selector dialogs The parameters for the Check Job Parameters as available on the Automation Engine server If you are connected to an Automation Engine a green notification will be shown 427 17 428 ESKO Plato Data Resources The common Data Resources used by the application are Color Engine Database Marks Fonts Custom and DGC By default these Data Resources are taken from the Automation Engine server However it is possible for 2 or more stand alone applications without an Automation Engine server to share the same data resources This requires that the Data Resources are shared on a remote computer Note Changing the Data Resource settings requires a restart of the application 12 Aopendix e QuickStep Compatibility 12 1 QuickStep Compatibility 12 1 1 Opening QuickStep GRQ files Esko Plato allows you to open QuickStep GRQ files which are converted into an Esko Plato compatible format While special attention was payed to maximize the compabitility this import conversion has some pitfalls which are outlined in this section 12 1 2 Conversion of GRQ data The grid based workflow of Esko Plato closely resembles the QuickStep approach of creating step and repeat layouts When opening a GRQ file or a Plato 5 0 file containing QuickStep objects the following conversions happen QuickStep library objects graphics are
249. he chapter View Selector for more information 10 12 Viewer 10 12 1 Welcome to Viewer 336 Benefits of using Viewer Viewer is a very accurate separation viewer with a lot of extra production tools It eliminates the need for separated proofs and will help you to avoid bad plate making Fly out menu options A number of settings can be found in the Fly out menu by clicking the arrow at the top right of the dialog Show in All Windows Use this to apply the Viewer preview settings to all the open windows when you used several windows Merge Similar Inks This option affects how a separation containing objects with different halftone information is displayed in the separation list Leave it off to display a separate entry for each different halftone setting as shown below at left or select it to display different halftone settings of the same separation as one entry as shown below at right elem efi Uncolored Default Click Default to use the Default Press Setting For more information see Define Press Settings on page 337 Manage Press Settings Click this option to create duplicate edit or delete Press Settings See Define Press Settings on page 337 10 12 2 Define Press Settings Before you can start working with Viewer in a meaningful way you should define your Press Settings Without basic information on the properties of the press you are using Viewer cannot simulate accurately You can
250. he chosen color When replacing a station the inks from the dummy station are cleaned up automatically if no longer used As such the dummy inks created when assigning colors to empty stations will be cleaned up automatically when the empty stations get replaced by the actual stations Display Image mode displays all objects in color External files like stations and image marks will be shown using their Display Image If an external file does not have a display image it will be shown as a color cross Medium mode shows the true objects in color It does not use the display image so the detail is very good High mode shows all objects in color and with ink based color management applied This mode is extremely accurate However the display speed may be slow due to the high level of detail being calculated and displayed Please refer to the chapter Preview Selector for additional information 335 ie ESKOS Plato 10 11 View Modes The View mode menu makes it possible to easily switch between the two different view modes jeg Sheet a Station The Sheet View shows the plate the sheet and all stations that have been placed In this view you can switch between the front and the back of a plate The Station View shows individual stations Tip Click the Show Trim and Media box button o in the Preview Selector toolbar to switch the visualization of the trim and media box on or off Please refer to t
251. he four corners the midpoints between the four corners and the center The current point is highlighted with a black line around it in the window above the center point is the current point Location The Location fields show the vertical and horizontal location of the current point In the above window changing the values in these fields will place the center of the selection at a new location Size The Size fields show the height and width of the current selection Changing values in these fields will scale the object so that it should have the height and or width that you entered Angle The Angle field shows the angle of the current selection Scale The Scale fields show the vertical and horizontal scale of the current selection Transform Window Tips e Depending on the current selection some of the fields may be disabled See Transform tool for transformations that are allowed on Esko Plato objects If no object is selected all fields are disabled e The Location and Size fields display information about the die if either a CAD layout or a station are selected For example if a station is selected the size in the Transform Window will display the location and size of the die regardless of any bleed included in the station The same is true for a CAD layout This functionality makes it easy to accurately locate the first cut of the die at a specific location e Ifthe current selection includes multiple objects some that contain
252. he inks in the job e Composite this output type can only be selected for PostScript 3 devices since they support deviceN color space to produce high fidelity colors These colors are combinations of the standard CMYK process colorants and or spot colorants guaranteeing perfectly separatable PostScript code which can also be proofed on a composite PostScript 3 device The generated PostScript file will proof correctly and separate correctly Color management for spot color objects must be handled by the device Emulsion UpTo obtain Right Reading emulsion up or Wrong Reading emulsion down Image lo specify Positive or Negative print mode Note Image and Emulsion up becomes unavailable appears dimmed when CMYK Composite Output was chosen Enter the Vertical and or Horizontal distortion in percentages Select SmartMarks from the drop down list 24 Be Esko ue Account for Media Box margins Io select the margins of the job as the true boundary If you deselect this toggle the borders of the job are taken as the true boundary When you want to output everything that is placed within the margins too leave the option activated Hide trap layer s in outputTrap layers will not be included in the output Page range e Output all pages e Output a number of pages Enter page numbers or page ranges separated by commas e g 1 3 5 8 Scale amp Tile e Enter a Scale factor percentage e Fit job on page scales the
253. he location of a SmartMark 7 2 8 Custom Inks in SmartMarks Custom Ink allows to pick any number of inks by name number or attribute Click Select Inks to seelct the Inks You can select inks in three ways e Select Custom Ink by Name on page 172 e Select Custom Ink by Number on page 172 e Select Custom Ink by Attribute on page 173 171 ESKO Ka Select Custom Ink by Name To select Custom Inks by Name select Name from the dropdown list E ooo Select Inks by Attributes Filter _ i W Magenta Yellow L Black Create if not present OF Cancel ae Only the inks that are used in the current document are displayed Activate an ink by clicking the check area in front of the ink If the Create if not present option is selected the ink will be created if it is not available in the document you want to apply the mark in Select Custom Ink by Number To select Custom Inks by number select Number from the dropdown list Cyan Magenta Yellow W Black Create if not present OK Cancel i The inks that are used in the current document are displayed Activate an ink by clicking the check area in front of the ink When building SmartMarks using a custom color in an empty document or in the list below the used inks the list shows the color unknown n whereas n is the number of the ink Select Custom Ink by Attribute Selecting Custom Inks by A
254. he overlap direction and bleed limit If you choose to adjust the masks manually click the Scan button Esko Plato will scan all the stations on the plate looking for overlaps Depending on the number of stations on your plate and their complexity this scanning may take some time Once Esko Plato has completed the scanning the overlap records are displayed in the Adjust Masks dialog box Ge ESKOS m The document window is zoomed to display the first overlap The area where these two particular overlaps occur will be displayed normally The area outside the overlap is dimmed One of the stations will be labeled A and the other will be labeled B When you choose to bleed 1 station into the other A into B or B into A you can define the maximum bleed per overlap situation 7 gp 2djust Masks 2 E ka o m Quick Adjust A3 All the stationis maske will be split between the dies Adjust Manually Scanned K lt gt gt t F 144 6 instances Masks Overlap Split Limit Bleed to 5 000 mm iam eham h rmm rh s ne apor ap ples talia de 4 Examine and set the correct mask for each record By default Esko Plato chooses the Split option for each record If you want all the masks to split between the dies you do not need to examine each record you can simply choose OK 5 When you have examined and set all the overlaps click OK The Adjust Masks dialog box clo
255. he press It allows you to regulate the ink consumption in each printing zone before printing This will significantly reduce the press setup time It is also useful to help you to decide whether or not to modify the layout of your designs on to plate or to have a more homogeneous distribution of the ink consumption along the plate This ink key histogram is a database object and will be saved in the file Position orientation number of ink keys and scan borders margins can be defined You can adjust the ink consumption by manually creating ink eater areas in Plato based on the ink key histogram Use the Fill Ink Eater Area tool in Plato to automically adjust the ink distribution Create Ink Histogram x Scan Jal Inside Sheet Merge similar inks Position Orientation Mal Histogram Height 20 000mm a Ink Key Width E Number of Ink Kens jo J Create Ink Histogram dialog box Create Ink Histogram x Scan Jal Inside Sheet Merge similar inks Position Orientation Mal Histogram Height 20 000 mm B Ink Ker width i 2 500 mm Number of Ink Keps jao Create 36 7 10 ESKO 368 Plato Scan Determine the area the scan has to cover e All inside Trim box will take into account all information within the trim box e All inside Media Box will take into account the information inside the media box Merge Similar Inks the Ink Histogram tool merges the results for inks that are the sa
256. he single desings as it arranges them The second tool on the fly out toolbar is the Reverse Second Row Nest tool which flips the design horizontally every other row The third tool on the fly out toolbar is the Reverse Second Row Align Nest tool which works similarly to the Reverse 2nd Row Nest tool except that it butts each row of designs against the edge of the first station instead of nesting them as close together as possible The fourth tool on the fly out toolbar is the Reverse Second Column Nest tool which flips the design vertically every other column The fifth tool on the fly out toolbar is the Reverse Second Column Align Nest tool which works similarly to the Reverse 2nd Column Nest tool except that it butts each column of designs against the edge of the first station instead of nesting them as close together as possible Once you select a Nest tool as you move the drag with the mouse ghost images of the design appear Next to the mouse pointer the total number of nested stations is indicated Please refer to the chapter Nesting stations Place Station Strio Number Too This tool is active only in Station View mode Click the tool button to activate the Strip Station Number dialog box The Place Station Strip Number tool will create station or strip number placeholders for your station A Station Number is a small number that is often placed on a hidden area of the package to identify the location of the package
257. heet The other functions of the Align window align objects to one another Aligning objects to one another uses both red selection and green selection A green selection is a locked a red selection is moved to align with the green selection Like the Transform window the Align window uses the die of the current selections if there is one to align the objects e Aligning objects with the Align Window e Aligning in the Station View Aligning objects with the Align Window You align objects with the Align window by selecting objects and pressing the appropriate button To align an object to the center of the sheet 1 Select the object that you want to align 2 Press the one or both of the Align to Sheet buttons in the Align window Pressing both buttons one after the other aligns the object to the exact center of the sheet Pressing only one of the buttons aligns the object in that direction only To align two objects by the same attribute 1 Select the object that you want to align to 2 Press Insert to make the selection green 3 Select the object that you want to align 4 Press the appropriate Align by Attribute button in the Align window Pressing more than one button after another performs multiple alignment commands For example pressing Align Middle followed by Align Center will align the exact center of the red selection to the exact center of the green selection To align two objects edge
258. hlighted button indicates that a vignette color is active for the selected color swatch in the Color Palette A Caution White which is the empty color that automatically appears in the color swatches when you click them is also a color When making a vignette from a color to the empty color white be aware that white is 100 opaque 10 46 Color Factory Use the Color Factory to display or modify the selected color Open the Color Factory by e Ddouble clicking a color swatch in the Color palette e activating Vignette in the Color palette Color Factory You can display or modify the selected color in the Color Factory Color Factory You can modify the percentages of inks with the slider or the spin boxes You can add an ink by entering the initial of the ink name in the input box next to the ink value input box This adds a new ink if still non existing to the Inks dialog box oor 10 ESKO 398 Plato BS Ink Factory To display or modify the inks that will be used to print a color when a job is printed or processed Vignette Color FactoryTo create color vignettes When you select an empty color swatch in the Color Palette and then click the vignette button the Vignette Color Factory appears The Vignette Color Factory is an extension of the Color Factory Vignette Points and Curve To determine how the color will be averaged between the colors assigned to the points on both sides e The vig
259. hown Data Resources The common Data Resources used by the application are Color Engine Database Marks Fonts Custom and DGC By default these Data Resources are taken from the Automation Engine server However it is possible for 2 or more stand alone applications without an Automation Engine server to share the same data resources This requires that the Data Resources are shared on a remote computer Note Changing the Data Resource settings requires a restart of the application 334 10 10 Preview The Preview menu makes it possible to easily switch between the different preview modes Cross Conkours Es Dummy Colors Display Image i Medium Cross Cross mode shows all external files as a box displaying the file name This mode displays your sheet very quickly but shows no detail Contours Contours mode shows all objects as outlines This mode is useful for aligning two contour edges precisely Dummy Colors This mode is particularly useful if complex layouts needs inspection e g the ones generated by SmartLayout When placing a station a dummy color is assigned automatically This color can be modified from within the station properties In case of real stations this representation color is used only for this visualization mode The color picker in the station properties dialog box also allows to assign a color to empty stations When doing so a designer ink is added to the ink list representing t
260. ht commer of the polygon OF Reset Cancel 33O Plato Gravity defines the distance in screen pixels where gravity or snap is in effect The higher the value the easier an object will snap to guides or other objects Enter a value between 0 and 16 Cursor Drag Delay defines the minimum distance in screen pixels the cursor must be moved before any transformation of an object takes place Enter a value between 0 and 16 Pan Overlap defines the percentage of overlap between the previous and new view when panning For example with the Pan Overlap set to 75 the new view after panning contains 75 of the previous view and 25 of a new view Shift and drag select reverses the selection Dragging a selection over an object while holding SHIFT actually deselects selected objects and selects unselected ones Create polygons by e One mouse click click the top left corner of the polygon depending on the chosen orientation and draw a polygon of the desired size e Two mouse clicks click both the top left and the bottom right corner of the polygon 10 9 6 Files tab Use the Files tab to define file settings to be used by Esko Plato as you work on a document e Preferences eee x General Defaults WEW Color Editing Files Shortcuts Offcuts Temporary Files H diEskotbg data fastserver_vO7O0ttmp Show file options in file selector dialog I Show thumbnail preview in file selector dialog
261. ical Die is not kept Nexus screening is not allowed For Extended Nexus screening only use angle ruling The font is subsetted and embedded This results in real text in Plato When you import an ArtPro file two byte fonts are always vectorized Where possible images keep their links This is the case for most Tiff joeg and PSD files and also for mapped images Some image formats are not supported by or are incompatible with Esko software This is the case for DCS images PSD with multiple alpha channels and Tiffs with extra channels which are often generated by ArtPro PS PDF import These images are either embedded or they generate a ct file on Esko software Artlink updates are disabled Barcode information is not kept nor is the link to BAG and ARD files when the ArtPro file is imported 5 4 Importing a Postscript file go You can import PostScript files and use them as a graphic in your station PostScript files are converted to GRS PDF files Composite and separated PostScript files can both be imported The Options window for importing PostScript and PDF contain the same features The Options for Illustrator and EPS contain some but not all the same features as the PostScript Options window All the features of the PostScript Options window will be described here The features that are used in PDF Illustrator and EPS files refer to this section Clicking Setup Options window contains tabs to fine tune the import
262. ice lf this option is toggled on the document profile will be saved as the PDF output intent For certain PDF flavors PDF X 3 an output intent is mandatory and this option is always on If no document profile was set explicitly the default document profile crom_offs is used instead If the document profile is a Kaleidoscope profile it will first be converted to an ICC profile 201 Be Esko M A Rasterize Dutput Device Inks Color Management Fasterize Compression Advanced Rasterizing Rasterzing Resolution E ppi k 0 Output as image Anti aliasing Convert vignettes to image Vignette Moise 2 a Output as imageWhen this toggle is activated an image is made of the job Enter the resolution Anti aliasing is relevant for the line art objects in your design that need pre processing and for which images are generated Anti aliasing smoothens the staircase effect you get in the generated images of lineart objects that need pre processing Tip This option increases the readability of small text that is pre processed to image Convert vignettes to imagelo avoid banding in the vignettes when exporting Exporting vignettes to a PostScript Format may result in blends and banding due to restrictions in PostScript However to obtain a nice result in your export file activate Convert Vignettes to CT All the vignettes present in your design will be converted to images Vignette noiseWhen exporting
263. ick the arrow in the top right corner to select one of the following items from the fly out menu 394 Plato Import LAD Data Remove CAD Data Release LAD Layout Replace Station Assign Station to Design 1 detec Station Properties e Import CAD Data has the same function as mport CAD Data on the File menu e Remove CAD Data removes that CAD layout and all associated stations e Release CAD Layout removes the CAD layout but keeps all associated stations After releasing the CAD layout the stations no longer are tied up together and can be moved individually This command will remove your CAD layout and free all of your stations P Do pou want to continue e Replace Station opens the Replace Station dialog box e Assign Station to Design opens the Assign Station dialog box e Station Properties opens the Station Properties dialog box For more information on creating a CAD workflow please refer to the chapter CAD workflow 10 44 Calculator The Calculator allows you to create modify or remove parameters Calculator l AREATO Bir Hew Moditin Hemose i The top position of the available working area 395 10 S KO X Plato For more information on formulas and working with the calculator please refer to the chapter Calculator and Parameter Formulas 10 45 Colors 396 In the Colors dialog box you define add or modify colo
264. icking in each station e Start indicate the starting point for automatic numbering e Direction indicate the direction in which the automatic numbering should be carried out e Restart numbering every row column This applies to automatic numbering Whenever a new row or column depending on the chosen direction is started the numbering restarts using the starting number defined under start with e Restart numbering every Grid This applies to automatic numbering The chosen sequence will be applied to each grid individually Prefix Suffix e Type e Fixed prefix suffix will be used for each station number e Variable prefix suffix will change for each new row or column depending on the chosen direction J Prefix Suffix in case of fixed prefix suffix type in the prefix suffix that should be used Please refer to the chapters Numbering stations and Station Strip Number tool for additional information 10 34 Adjust Masks The Adjust Masks tool is used to adjust overlapping stations It will create new masks that are applied to the stations on the plate The stations original masks are not altered The newly applied masks will further reduce the bleed of the stations in areas where there is overlap between two stations Adjust Masks a B E Buick Adjust 1 AA Allthe stations masks will Ge split between the dies F f Adjust Manually i Scanned api lt gt ou pe 4 M d 5 i f
265. identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Mark Inks Position Ink BA Registration Select Inks Overprint Eel opaque e Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical Inks Ignore Varnish Inks Add WhiteHalo Size 1 000 mm Check Add White Halo to create a white halo effect around the grid mark Position 229 ESKO 224 Mark Inks Position Copies Position On R ows Horizontal Shit e 1 000 mm al a E Attach Vertically to Lett Station Offset i imm C x Iw Iw M Repeat every f row a 4 1 a Define the horizontal or vertical copies Select On Rows or On Columns from the drop down list Depending on what you select the appearance of the other options will change b Indicate if the mark should be put on the left right and or middle stations Indicate how frequent the mark should be repeated Should it appear on every row or only every every x rows Specify the position of the marks Define the horizontal or vertical shift The interface will change according to the selection in the Copies group i only affects the marks attached to the left and right stations a shift is also applied on the marks on the middle stations The vertical position of the marks attach them to the left station column to the right station column to each station relative to the bounding box of each individual station particulary useful i
266. idth reduction of 0 01 mm By default the value O is entered for all bar codes This means that the bar width is not adapted A negative value in this input box results in thicker bars a positive value in thinner bars Device CompensationThe in decrease in bar width has 2 causes the printing process printed line is wider than what is on the plate and the plate making process Here you can enter a device compensation value The net compensation is the sum of both the device compensation and the Bar Width Reduction You can leave on 0 if you do not want to compensate MagnificationRepresents a reduction or enlargement factor for proportional reduction or enlargement of the bar code Entering 1 creates a 100 bar code Entering 1 5 creates a 150 bar code The value is an absolute factor which is automatically rounded depending on the type of bar code As bar codes are magnified or reduced in size the relationship between the bars remains constant The widths of individual bars and spaces however are increased or reduced Note Since all the values in this dialog box are related proportionally specifying a number in the Magnification input box will influence the other values in the dialog box 2r ESKO 218 HeightIhe height of the bar code The height covers the height of the bars and the digits if any Although the height does not contain information it has to be sufficient to allow an efficient reading of the code Ca
267. ie object is found the GRS will automatically be rotated and moved so that the die object is centered on the current CAD file 5 10 Editing a graphic in Esko PackEdge PackEdge can be started up from within the Station View to edit a graphic used in a station Esko PackEdge must be installed on the same computer for the two applications to exchange files To edit a graphic in Esko PackEdge 1 In Sheet View select the station that contains the graphcis to be edited 2 On the Station menu click Edit Graphics File Esko PackEdge Is started and the graphic file is opened for editing Make any changes you like and save the file For this command you must have a graphic in your station If no graphic is present Edit Graphics File is disabled 109 ae Esko M 6 Working with Esko Plato Tools Using the tools in Esko Plato to organize and layout a plate e Arranging Objects e Creating a Repetition e Creating two sided plates e Managing Inks e Trapping 6 1 Arranging Objects In the previous chapters you learned how to work with stations You can start with a CAD layout and assign stations to the layout You can also place stations in the manual layout workflow You also know how to adjust overlapping stations and how to number stations The rest of Esko Plato s tools help you to complete your plate layout You can organize your work by using Layers You can transform objects on the plate using the Transform and Align
268. iginal art or you can undistribute and expand distributed art if you want to delete the copies 445 ir ESKO Plato Update Copies After a distribute you will have the same art appearing several times in your document If you change one of them the others will not be updated automatically To have them updated select Update Copies from Studio s fly out menu When updating copies the selected one is used to recreate all the other copies This is how the package looks before updating Refresh Show Transparent Panels Show Outlines Show 3D Guides Appearance Turn Box Bring Panel Forward Send Panel Backward Fold ArtiosCAD File Change Board Export Save Graphics Preview as PNG Update Copies Undistribute moe es Expand rN Fa d Fit Panel in Document Window Show Face Outlines ea This is how the package will look after updating SBR SS ae Double click a panel to display it in the document window Che _ ff 28 654 446 Undistriobute and Expand The options Undistribute and Expand which can be found in Studio s fly out menu also apply to distributed art If you select distributed art and you Undistribute all other non selected copies are deleted If you have distributed art selected and you Expand nothing will change visually yet the selected art will loose its intelligence and become regular artw
269. ill be added Geometry Marks tool tips e Once you have set the parameters for the Geometry Mark tool you can close the Style dialog All marks that you create with the tool will use the parameters that you set in the dialog e Geometry Marks can be transformed using the Transform tool on the toolbar or the Transform window e If you want to change the parameters for a Geometry Mark that you have created already double click it The Style dialog box for the selected mark will appear Geometry Marks in the Station View Geometry Marks also work in the Station View However remember that the available inks shown in the Geometry Marks Style window include inks used on the current side of the station as well as any unused inks lf you have a two sided station with graphics placed on both sides the inks for the graphic on the current side are available for use in your Geometry Mark If you need another ink add the ink in the Inks dialog box before creating the Geometry Mark See Geometry Marks tool Modify toolbar ae To determine the modification you want to execute Plato ER Tip Modify in combination with Numbers If the Modify tool is activated you can move points numerically In the absolute value part only the input boxes for vertical horizontal and diagonal distance and for rotation are present In the relative value part the values for diagonal distance rotation and vertical and horizontal move are present All Modif
270. ill change to match the orientation in the Studio Window as closely as possible You can also zoom in by holding down the Ctrl key and dragging a rectangle around the area you want to zoom in on By spinning the package and double clicking the different panels the Studio Window can be used to navigate through the document Turn Box When working with designs for folding carton or corrugated boxes you might not be able to position the box in the desired viewing angle in the Studio Window This happens when the package has the wrong panel s facing up You can change this e g in the structural design file by selecting another Base Panel in ArtiosCAD or Studio Toolkit for Boxes but you can also turn the box in the Studio Window Just select a panel that should be facing up or down and select Turn Box from the Studio fly out menu The Turn Box functionality is linked with the Floor concept so e g The selected panel facing up means that the selected panel will become the top panel relative to the floor Note The Turn Box option is only available for boxes ard vim and scb files 439 rm ESKO Plato STUDIO 4 Il ut a Orientation tal j Turn Box ia NE 5 f O ER Turn Box Turn mere as The selected panel facing up i i R Ril a Cancel 2 Shrek AA F O The selected panel facing down W is ar Pie a ee he tay ee Ce Double
271. in QuickStep was merely used to exclude inks from registration marks Inks marked as Tech will be converted into technical inks but note that this is not always possible for instance process inks can not be set to technical in Esko Plato Whenever such a situation is encountered during conversion a message will appear 430 12 2 Studio Studio offers a 3D viewing environment where designers can see their artwork applied instantly on the packaging It also includes navigation and alignment tools and by writing a 3D PDF file from Studio designers can share their ideas with clients for review and approval Studio reduces time consuming mock ups spots design errors faster and takes away the guesswork from 2D flats For folding carton or corrugated packaging the shapes can be supplied by ArtiosCAD or Score The Studio tools in Plato can be found in Production gt Studio Designer 12 2 1 Introduction Welcome to the Studio Designer documentation This documentation describes Studio Designer as a plugin in Illustrator as well as Studio integrated in other EskoArtwork applications such as PackEdge Although the documentation is based on Studio Designer in Adobe Illustrator the functionality is the same in other versions About Studio Designer Studio Designer is a plug in for Adobe Illustrator ArtPro PackEdge and Plato for interactive 3D packaging design which helps designers make graphic designs or do pre press for folding ca
272. in a T 275 8 2 14 Digital Converting Export ccccccccecccesecscsscsscsrsssssecscssssecscssesseessssesssvesessestssnesstaneseeeen 275 9 Menus and OOM AIS ioscan reiterates snbsin teed ves senesegt ats ise Sige bes eveesaie lenny vboga ene 279 Mes MM gece passe cn ence este EE E ve epee EEE E EEEE AAEE 219 FIE a Deere eee ee ee ee ee eee eee 219 Orc Me MK a E E A tt cone ET E E EET AAA AAE AI AEE vencucactecae 280 LRS VIENE a e E E E E A E EE ee 282 9 le By deel ale oom MENU eee ee ene en eee ree 283 gTa Slain MENU eaae a eee eee 284 PORE Si UN VN aa O AE E A E EE T AOA 285 LET TOOK MA e E E E EOE AREA E A T A E EE AEN 285 9 1 8 Production MENU so maiasiss ansaitaan aE aai EAEE EEA NAATA EA EEE RANEE araa 286 SHF Dieas En 0 E E E A S E E EA E E A E cee een ete eee eee 287 TOENN TON TE o ea EEE es eonemeeetiounoies 288 PETAD AS a E S ee E A ee eT 289 Contents 9A JOIDA Haren rt a ner rm tT eV TR ee eee ee ee ee 290 92 Vi Orosshar FOS IU ON ster wt sists ttc welt tlt EEOAE 290 22 RE VICW Del OC LO lessens aana T S E N E 291 9 23 UZAY OUI IVD E acacia it Teg ate Putra ned celal ne GND dante peed toe ee rend techy heaton Mase A ceetaat eas 291 92A Staton SIS LOM ccs sacra ans shee ates na A e a E TE 291 92 SUAS BA aran tcl tsa cee ttt i bt ttt ned gale an tee esa 292 FO OOS E E 292 92 C NEW AS LO nonan EA E A AE AAAA A AA Ta E EAE AAEE EE AA AAAA 315 10 F nctionm aner Tne UON siaaa aA EN aia eatenmiae 316 MAIN LAVO e A E en aM
273. in the document window outside the selected objects All objects selected in red become deselected To deselect a single object right click the object Tip There is a preference setting for reversing the selection of an object SHIFT select the object by dragging Plato Ee Transform Tool Use the Transform tool to interactively move scale or rotate a selected object You can also transform objects numerically using the Transform dialog box Some objects in Esko Plato cannot be transformed or can be transformed only partially The following table shows the objects that may be in your document and their transformation properties Stations Yes Yes Geometry Marks Yes Yes Yes Note Certain SmartMarks cannot be moved e g the grid mark Click the Move tool to activate the fly out toolbar Select the appropriate tool and to enter a step value if needed Scale Move E ife Rotate Step 1 000 otep Amount e Using the Transform Reference box e Moving the point of origin e Using constrain e Moving an object e Scaling an object e Rotating an object e Transforming an object by a step value e Transforming an object numerically e Transforming in the Station View Using the Transform Reference box When you use the Transform tools a red reference box with selection handles appears around the objects that have been selected in red The individual objects in this Transform reference box are modified as one object wit
274. indow If you click Cancel any changes that you have made since the last Apply are deleted and the Ink Mapping dialog box closes You might want to reset the ink mapping table before clicking Apply This can be done by using the reset button Ink mapping will perform ink mapping on all objects on your plate except for SmartMarks e Graphics external files will be mapped e Geometry marks will be mapped e SmartMarks will be regenerated after ink mapping has been applied to reflect the new ink set Ink Map Tips e You will only see the ink change color if the display mode is set to Medium or High The Display Image mode uses the display image contained in the file not the actual data e After ink mapping the new inks on the right are the inks that are shown in other windows and dialogs The Inks window the View by Ink window and the printing dialog boxes now will show only the inks that appear on the right side of the Ink Map window e You can map more than one ink to the same ink For example you can map both Logo Red and Magenta to PANTONE 485 CV e If you have mapped an ink previously and now need to remap it to another ink you can simply replace the new ink on the right with another new ink e The Ink Map window does not show ink mapping used by SmartMarks SmartMarks automatically map and manage their own inks Examples of technical printing problems where Job Ink Mapping brings a solution e You ha
275. ing Templates 3 1 Creating opening and saving plates When you create and save a plate layout from Esko Plato you create a layout file You can save your plate files wherever you like Esko Plato will maintain its links to the external files that the plate uses You might like to arrange your plate files into folders that contain the plate file itself and the graphics used in the stations It is up to you to decide what works best for your company A plate file is always saved with a pla or pdfpla extension So saving a file with the name 3Up will save a file on your disk with the name 3Up pla if the graphics that you used are grs files Plate files always have the Esko Plato plate file icon e Creating a new layout e Saving a layout e Saving a layout with a different name e Opening an existing layout e Changing the sheet or plate size 3 1 1 Creating a new layout 28 When you create a new layout you need to feed Esko Plato with vital information as e g the size of the plate the size of the sheet and the position of the sheet on the plate You can do this in the Layout Setup This information will often change for plates with different types of printing processes plates and presses that you use during production If you often create the same size of plates and sheets for the same press you can automate the creation of a plate file by using Templates See Using Templates for more information Plato Note What is
276. ings in the Create Ink Histogram dialog box Plato Caution The ink key histogram will not be updated automatically when the document is changed or saved 10 2 Create Ink Eater Areas In Plato you can automatically create Ink Eater Areas These areas are the non printed areas that are not part of the printing jobs These can be left overs that will be cut off or the white spaces next to and in between one ups Choose Inks gt Create Ink Eater Areas to do so Create Ink Eater Areas q x o Dravw select one ore more shapes to which you want to restrict the creation of ink eater areas The selected shapes will be replaced by the ink eater areas If no shapes are selected ink eater areas will be created on the whole sheet Start from the Station s Die Shape Keep Away 5 000 mm W Exclude Smarthlarks Create In the Start from the Station s field you can determine the edge of the Ink Eater object Choose one of the following 369 10 ESKO 370 Plato e Die Shape when the Die Shape is defined in the Station s dialog and when it can be used as edge for the Ink Eater object e Trim Box when the edge of the Ink Eater object is defined by the Trim Box of the one up on the plate In the Keep Away field you can set the offset for the Ink Eater object in relation to the Die Shape or Trim Box By enabling or disabling the Exclude SmartMarks option you can set whether or not existing
277. ink depends on the ink that you want to add To add a Process ink 1 Click in the ink name field for the empty ink 2 Type the letter for the process ink you want to add Type C for Cyan M for Magenta Y for Yellow and K for Black 3 Press Enter To add a PANTONE ink 1 Choose Inks gt Open Ink Book and select the appropriate ink book from the list 2 Locate the PANTONE ink that you would like to add 3 Drag the PANTONE ink onto the swatch of the empty ink To add a Designer ink 1 Choose Inks gt Open Ink Book and select the appropriate ink book from the list 2 Locate the Designer ink that you would like to add 3 Drag the Designer ink onto the swatch of the empty ink You cannot delete inks that are used in external references like stations However you can map an ink in an external reference to another ink in the job You can also choose not to print the ink Plato 6 Changing the order of the inks in a document The order of the inks in the document determines how an ink is displayed and the order in which the separations are printed For these reasons you may want the inks in a particular order To change the order of the inks 1 Click and drag the ink to a new location 2 Release the mouse button To set the order of the inks based on darkness 1 Make sure that the Inks window contains all the inks you want in your document 2 On the fly out menu click Sort Light to Dark or
278. ion Moire Detection allows to detect possible screening problems Moire in the file You can set the options to highlight overlapping areas to detect situations in which Moire might occur e when the two overlapping areas have screening angles that do not differ 30 degrees e when the two overlapping areas have the same angle e when the two overlapping areas have different rulings e when the two overlapping areas have different dot shapes You can use the Ignore inks option to ignore inks that have e adensity lower than a certain value e adensity higher than a certain value e a Luminance higher than a certain value as in all those cases the Moire patterning will hardly be visible All these Moire Detection options are stored in the Press Settings See Define Press Settings on page 337 10 12 4 Viewer Compare Tool You can use the Viewer Compare tool to compare the active document with another document To compare the active job 1 Goto Window gt Esko gt Viewer gt Compare The Compare dialog opens and the name for the Current Document is shown Compare Documents to Compare Current Document file2 ai Cancel j 3 i ra k Compare To filel ai B Browse e Compare What Entire Document 2 Select the file you want to compare the active document to e f you want to compare it to an open document select its file name from the dropdown list e fyou want to compare it to a document on dis
279. ion job is previewed oom In oom ut zoom bo Selection Total view Plate view Previous View Repaint Preview d View Mode d Side d wv Show Technical Inks VIEWS vas The View menu contains following items e Zoom In To zoom in by a factor of 2 on the displayed job in the active window e Zoom Out To zoom out by a factor of 2 on the displayed size of the job in the active window e Zoom to Selection This function allows you to automatically zoom in on the selected area in your job e Total View To display the entire job including objects outside the plate after you have used any of the other View options e Plate View To zoom to the plate e Previous View To display the previous view of the active window after you have used any of the other View options e Repaint To repaint the active window to remove stray pixels or to finish painting a large file on screen ke e Preview opens the Preview menu Ea Cross Contours Es Dummy Colors fo Display Image Y Medium BG High Tip The Preview Mode buttons also appear in the Preview Selector toolbar that can be added to the work environment via Window gt Toolbars gt Preview Selector e View Mode opens the View Mode submenu ra a Station e Side allows you to switch between the front and back side of the plate e Show Technical Inks allows you to view the Technical inks in the job window e Viewer opens Viewer
280. iously created As a result only the ink name of the corresponding film will be in erase mode in the bearer bar e inks_lin_ang will display information about screen ruling and angle e ink_1 will display individual inks e date will display the date in all inks e time will display the time in all inks e format will display the plate size in all inks Inkname for additional info Select the ink by name or number in which your additional text should be created This ink setting is applied on all 5 contents fields The drop down list displays all inks present in the QuickStep file and an extra ink Registration Black Registration Black puts your additional text in all the inks of your QuickStep file Example When you choose another ink like Cyan the additional text will only be visible on your Cyan film Orientation mirrorClick one of the buttons to obtain the desired orientation or mirroring for the image Character StyleSelect the Font from the drop down list Select the weight Roman or Bold Select the font style Upright or Italic Specify the point size Paint ModeSelect Normal to set the paint mode for the image to normal overprint Select Erase to set the paint mode for the image to erase erase knocking out white Plato Tip If you want all the inks in the bearer bar provided the bearer bar is 100 and in all inks you can give in inks As paint mode you choose Erase
281. ip mark generates an Esko defined strip containing adjustable gradation patches in a selectable set of inks Plato SmartMark Options Standard Strip x Strip Inks Position Estra Length 0 000 mm W Fitto Trim Box Borders Gradations 100 80 40 25 i Resolution 2540 ppl The Standard Strip dialog box has three tabs e Strip e Inks e Position Tip i Note that the Strip can be moved in your job by simply using the Move too ill in the Tools toolbar Strip Strip Inks Position Estra Length o o00 mm W Fit to Trim Bos Borders Gradation 100 80 40 25 Ea Resolution 2540 ppi If the Fit to Trim Box Borders box is checked you can define extra length Gradations allows you to specify the list of comma separated percentages and at the same time the amount of gradations boxes per ink In the menu the sizes of the gradation boxes are 5x5 and the gradations are 3 25 50 75 98 99 100 If the job has 4 inks this will generate a strip with 4 parts a part for each ink and per part you will have 7 gradation boxes These 4 parts will be repeated until the length of the strip specified in the menu is reached Resolution allows you to specify the resolution of the mark in ppi INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box 209 l S KO X Plato Strip Inks Position Ink E Registration kd Select Inks PT Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical ln
282. is aligned with the center of the current die If this position is not correct you can move or rotate the graphic with the Transform and Align tools Tip This feature is useful for changes that require a new graphic while all the other parts of the station need to remain exactly the same To replace a graphic 1 On the Station menu click Replace by Graphics File The Replace Graphic dialog box appears oF 5 Plato My Recent Documents Desktop Blairon Back pdf Blairon Big pdf l ofp 1 aps dF 1 on to Anji lairon Front pdf My Documents Fr My Computer di My Network File name Blairon Collar pdf z aCe Files of type PDF File Cancel Job lt None gt Search Profiles defaults Setup File info Size 411 425 bytes Date 06 10 20 ayn ATA Tine 14 04 55 i This i a normalized POF Scope 3 0 file Select a file type Locate and select the file you want to use Click Setup to open the options window for the file type you selected Set any options that are required Click Open The graphic is converted to the Esko Graphics native format if necessary and is placed in the station file Ooo bh wn Or you can 1 Open the Station dialog box 2 Select the station 3 Open the station Properties dialog box of the station 4 Click Browse to browse to a new graphics file Tip If the new graphic uses different inks than the curre
283. is option if you care especially about saturated colors It preserves the saturation of colors in the image at the possible expense of hue and lightness Set Document ProfileA Document Profile is the color space of the process inks used in the document Always you can tag a Normalized PDF file with its Document Profile This means that the file knows what its Document Profile is which may make further color conversion throughout a workflow more correct Never Document Profile is not set Spot Colors PANTONE Inks Keep All No PANTONE inks will be converted to process inks Convert All All PANTONE inks will be converted to process inks 93 ESKOS m 94 e Keep list All PANTONE inks will be converted except those listed in the Inks tab Method e Use Destination Profile PANTONE and Designer inks will be converted using the selected Destination Profile This gives the most accurate color reproduction e PANTONE Solids to Process Euroscale PANTONE inks will be converted to process inks according to a fixed conversion table provided by PANTONE The result is independent of the selected Destination Profile This assumes the Euroscale print conditions e PANTONE Solids to Process SWOP PANTONE inks will be converted to process inks according to a fixed conversion table provided by PANTONE The result is independent of the selected Destination Profile This assumes the American SWOP print conditions Designer Inks e
284. istribute jaye Oo jeje Oo Automatic Gaps Gaps ae 0 000 mrm a o o00 mm This is a basic step and repeat A single station is repeated into a 3X4 grid The grid has no gutters the dies of each station abut one another No head turn is used a BLAIRON z ere a BLAIRON f T Dimon ce Example lwo e Position center at 10 20 e Gap No gap between rows no gap between columns e Direction Up and Right e Head Turn Head turn on row e Number of rows 3 e Number of Columns 4 Plato et a ee E 1 ra E Baron Font Fral tim ox as on 200 3 a ooo oom C peee O o T O a o CC CO S Settings Grid 1 Station Station Mame Ja 4 Blairon Front Final pdf 0 Die Shape Trim Box Bleed Geometry Stagger Ooi Bei ee 2s or Ee m oo E BA ae FPA 10 000 mm i Cr O00 rm EE 20 000 rr hs Restart after 2 rows Continuous Distribute eye Oo jeje Oo Automatic Gaps Gaps io 0 000 mm a o o00 mm The dialog box positions the station prior to repeating The station is repeated in a 3X4 grid The grid has no gaps A head turn is used on each row caya A pA F Tn 121 R Esko 7 Example Three e Position center at 10 20 e Gap 15 mm gap between rows no gap between columns e Direction Up and Right e Head Turn No head turn e Number of rows 3 e Number of Columns 4
285. it impossible to die cut the layout later e You should have the basic features of your layout set correctly prior to using this command At the very least make sure that the plate size sheet size sheet offset and layout position are correct e If you release the CAD layout and make adjustments to the position of the stations you should use the Adjust Masks tool after you have made these adjustments Otherwise the masks may no longer be correct if the stations have moved 3 4 Using Templates 52 You use templates to automate the layout setup CAD layout and marks features that you often use If you regularly create layouts for a particular press or customer you should use a template e What is a template e Creating a template e Saving a template Plato e Using a template 3 4 1 What is a template A template is nothing more than a layout file that has been saved as a template When you save a layout file as a template the following features are saved e sheet size plate size and sheet offset e marks attached to the plate and sheet e CAD layout if one is present in the plate file e Stations that are currently placed on the layout You assign or place new stations onto the template and then save it to create a finished layout The workflow for using templates is Create a layout file Add plate and sheet marks add a CAD layout if desired Save the file as a template Select the template when starting a new lay
286. it will be Knocked out in the Magenta separation Ignore Similar Inks becomes available when you select Registration ink Tip This is useful when you have similar inks in your job e g two cyans with a different angle and you want to step all the inks but you only want to have one cyan Ignore Technical Inks will not include technical inks in the SmartMark This option becomes available when you select Registration ink Ignore Varnish Inks will not include varnish inks in the SmartMark With Step is active when the ink is set to Registration or Custom The mark object will be repeated in each of the seleted inks The repetition is done using the specified step parameters direction step gap Interleaved with can be used in combination with With Step Inbetween each stepped instance of the mark object an additional instance of the mark object will be present in the specified ink Start with can be used in combination with the Interleaved with and With Step options It determines if the extra objects generated by activating the Interleaved with option are placed before or after the stepped instances of the mark object Ignore Darkest Ink is used in combination with With Step It determines whether or not the darkest ink should be excluded from the stepped instances of the mark object White underprint allows you to add white underprint to the mark Click the Setting button the White Underprint Se
287. ition and optimization for Photoshop Multitone images are performed whenever possible when this option is not activated Sometimes after updating your DTP applications Esko can no longer perform the optimization and the conversion of the E PS file might fail Switching this option ON will allow you to import the E PS file Show PS commentsAll PS comments present in the E PS file are displayed on screen Disable OPIThis option is valuable when you are importing E PS files of QuarkXpress containing high resolution Tiffs files for which the option Include tiff omit or Include all was activated In this case when importing such a file and if Link External Images page 5 is activated the matching for the TIFF files will surely fail It fails because at the time the E PS file was generated OPI commands were also inserted for the TIFF files Therefore the system will try to link to images for the Tiff files To overcome this activate Disable OPI Show external images searchesDisplays the path s in which the system has found and linked to external images Optimize Illustrator Patterns into PostScript patternslllustrator writes patterns in a different way than PostScript does default behavior is that Illustrator patterns will be optimized Normally this speeds up the further processing less linework in your file sometimes though the optimization itself may take some time Use PostScript rules for color conversionCheck this b
288. izontal To enter the horizontal scale percentage 100 is the original size of the PostScript file Rotate A Forces the system to rotate the PostScript File with the specified angle The origin for rotation is bottom left Possible angles in the drop down list e 0 No rotation is to be performed e 90 Forces to rotate over 90 degrees counterclockwise e 180 Forces to rotate over 180 degrees e 2 0 Forces to rotate over 270 degrees counterclockwise 5 4 7 Other 100 Plato PostScript Import xj Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Uther Output Substitute missing fonts Workaround Options Roman fonts by Courier ka Rpumin Light r Skip images Japanese fonts by Preserve Quark trapping Disable optimizations Images Import 1 bit images as Embed CT display images es T Show PS comments Disable OPI Show extemal images searches Mutput file display images Image and thumnall Optimize Illustrator patterns into PostScript patterns Use PostScript rules for color conversion A e a a a a Miscellaneous Device resolution 2400 ppi Virtual memor linnit 50 ME E Convert text to contours Recognize ArScreen lpi angle IM Place External al Customized Settings Substitute Missing FontsRoman fonts by choose a default replacement font for the missing fonts for this job on your system Japanese fonts by choos
289. job so it fits the selected paper size e Shrink oversized jobs to paper size e Select Tile Job to obtain a tiled output if the job is too big to fit on the selected paper size The tiling option which can be used to export a large job to a series of smaller pages tiles allows the user to cycle through the tiles which will be produced and see just how many tiles there are Overlap X mm inches To specify a tiling overlap The value you enter here is the amount of overlap in all four directions between adjacent tiles It defaults to 5 mm Page Setup e Select a paper size from the drop down list The list that appears here is based on the page sizes supported by the selected ppd e Orientation Auto None 90 cw 90 ccw 180 The orientation options are disabled when Tile job is selected e Alignment Bottom left Top left Top right Bottom right Centered The alignment options are disabled when Tile job is selected e Enter the number of copies Device Output Device Separations Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Resolution lt Detault 4800 dpi Dotshape Default D ot Halttoning Use Printer Defaults F Dot Gain Compensation Single curve curved dgc Automatic hp3500mat_c serdac Device Specific Options Roll fed devices Extra gap jo mrm 248 Plato Ee The Resolution depends on your output device and on the purpose of
290. k of your job You may opt to give the mark a stroke instead of a fill Select the Stroke toggle and enter a width Tint Enter a percentage If you enter 50 the mark will be shown using 50 percent of the inks INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Rectangle Inks Position Ink E Fay Registration Select Inks Overpririt Ea ET Opaque Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical Inks T Ignore Yarnish Inks W owith Step 0 000 mm Interleaved with Select Ink inane W Startwith lt none gt White Underprint Settings Position The Position tab is identical to the Position tab of the Gradation Strip Mark dialog box Rectangle Inks Position Attach to Sheet Ubject Hame Offset i 1 0 O00 HoE joo E 4 Orientation wg 0 000 7 3 12 Standard Mark 206 The Standard Mark dialog box allows you to define the display of cutting marks centermarks bleed ink squares and other job information The Standard Mark dialog box has two tabs e Marks Plato e Settings SmartMark Options Standard Mark x Marks Settings text i Click on the marks to activate Marks To activate a specific mark just click it and the mark will turn black Only the marks displayed in black will be added to your repetition This is not the case for marks displayed in white You can insert black text in the text field Marks Settings itext i
291. k click the browse button and select the file 3 Define what to compare e all artwork e the current Artboard e only Trim Box or Media Box if they are defined 347 ESKO Plato e only the selected area 4 Click OK A Viewer Compare window will open showing a comparison between the two jobs Note If you have a Trim Box defined in the Illustrator job the Viewer Compare tool will only show what s inside the trim box The Viewer Compare window The Viewer Compare window shows the two jobs and their differences and contains a number of tools and buttons to inspect these differences in various ways Move over a button with the cursor and the tooltip will indicate what it stands for Buttons with a triangle in the lower right corner contain additional options Control click Windows or Command click Mac the button or click and hold the button to see the extra options AO Viewer Compare Build 1035 Hava 1 6 0_24 PowerTrapper_bolognaise_job 0 EF PowerTrapper_bolognaise_job 2 0 Alignment m Offset X Y 0 0 0 0 mm Inspect Measure 1 Compare a Difference Threshold 0 T 1 EE F z al an 200 GRAM a E 367 BOLOGNESE E HE 1 bd ic OLOGNE saan e E ig JM o S_n B k E 207 Size 450 0 x 450 0 mm Navigating the Viewer Compare window The Viewer Compare window contains different ways to navigate 348 The Ins
292. k i 00 000 E Horizontal Shrink i 00 000 He Screen Registration FF Continuons Reset for each external file Document Profile crom offs Description crom_otts l Show Formulas 33 ESKOS M 34 2 The General tab of the Layout Setup dialog box offers you the possiblity to determine some general settings If your Esko Plato is connected to an Automation Engine server you can specify in which Automation Engine Job the new layout will be created lt indicates the Job File Format in which your job will be created PDF or GRS It invites you to give a name to your layout Note that templates are at your disposal You can select one by toggling on Use Template and selecting one from the drop down list The Shrink values are relevant only to particular printing processes such as flexography in which case the plate tends to expand as it is wrapped around the press cylinder Screen registration is relevant only to Esko FlexRip users When activated the origin of the screening will be reset for each station In doing so it is garanteed that exactly the same screening will be applied for each station When deactivated screening will be done continuously throughout the complete job 3 The Plate amp Sheet tab allows you to specify the dimensions of your plate and sheet Layout Setup a x General Flate amp Sheet Plate Hame Custom T Plate Height 1036 0 fe Fit Plate Width 1520 0 fe Sheet Height vPL
293. k wrong in Acrobat Loading CAD plugin CAD plugin loaded 6 50en Logged 8 jan D7 on 13 36 48 p The server has been shut down The editor will start working in stand alone mode i The task generated some warnings during processing You can define the Info window s behavior Click the black arrow and a the different possibilities pop Up e Always pop up Info window e Pop up info window only for errors warnings e Pop up info window only for errors Clear Info clears all messages in the dialog box W Always popup lato windo Popup Info window only for warring andor errors Popup Into window only for errors Clear into 10 50 Layer Browser You work with layers with the Layer Browser Click Layer Browser on the Window menu zi Hda 8 Mark up 3 Station Grid Layer 2 CAD Layout Station 1 a 4 layers r stations selected The features of the Layer Browser are detailed below 406 Print 2 Layers can be set to be printable or non printable Click the Print icon next to each layer to toggle between the two choices Clicking the icon at the top of the Print column toggles all the layers to printable Visibility Layers can be displayed or hidden An eye icon in the box indicates the layer is turned on Click the box to turn the layer on or off The eye button at the top of the column turns all layers off except the current layer A layer that is not displayed cannot be edited and is
294. k Book is automatically assigned by Esko Plato and is for your information only Ruling To define the screen ruling for the ink to obtain the appropriate printing quality The default value is 120 lines per inch For more specific information on screen ruling we refer you to the manual on Screens Angle To define the screen angle for the ink to avoid moir patterns especially when using process inks For more specific information on screen angles we refer you to the manual on Screens Dotshape To define the dot shape for the ink M for Monet E for Elliptical For more specific information on dot shapes we refer you to the manual on Screens The Inks Type choose Normal Opaque Varnish or Technical from the drop down list Normal Normal inks are inks that appear transparent when printed over other inks Normal is the default type for all inks Opaque Opaque inks are inks that appear opaque when printed over other inks Setting an ink to the Opaque type affects only the display of the ink Varnish Varnish inks are inks that are used to create varnish plates An ink set to Varnish does not display its color Setting an ink to the Varnish type affects only the display of the ink Technical Technical inks are inks that are used for layout purposes only Plato s Cut Ink and Crease Ink are examples of Technical inks Setting an ink to the Technical type affects the display always shown as opaque ink and affects their
295. k eater area is filled for individual separations 3 75 ie ESKOS Plato E xi Separations A Compensation Graph PANTONE 563 C E Artwork C Compensation C Room for Compensation MITAC A PANTONE 563 C B 2 37 HB PANTONE 235C 0 0 I PANTONE 258 C 0 0 I PANTONE 378C 78 24 E PANTONE RubineRedE 18 45 E PANTONE 365C 08 03 I Maximum TAC 270 44 6 10 9 m Compensation for PANTONE 563 C Compensation Preset Cage X 7 Minimum Ink Density fp I Minimum Inkkey Value P o Select multiple separations to apply the same compensationto Show graph only different separations OK Cancel y Tip Turn on the Preview option To fine tune the gradient in the ink eater area do one or more of the following e Click a separation in the Separations list to view the ink histogram and compensation room for that separation e Select a Compensation Preset to apply one of the standard compensation algorithms to the ink histogram e Set the minimum ink density and or ink key values for every separation e Drag the handles on a bar in the ink histogram to manually tweak the ink key value The white bars in the histogram show the allowed compensation room for every bar You cannot drag a bar higher than the white area or below the original uncompensated artwork value e Enable the option Maximum TAC and enter a maximum total area coverage for example 270 to display war
296. k on the vertical origin of your repetition providing the orientation is set to zero LJ Puts the bottom of the mark against the vertical origin of your repetition providing the orientation is set to zero Use the Vertical offset input box to define the vertical offset distance from the borders of the repetition Puts the left side of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition providing the orientation is set to zero iL Puts the center of the mark on the horizontal origin of the repetition providing the orientation is set to zero Ll Puts the right side of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition providing the orientation is set to zero Use the Horizontal offset input box to define the horizontal offset distance from the borders of the repetition OrientationThe Horizontal and Vertical option buttons allow you to position the mark horizontally or vertically Gradation specifications ll To specify the height of your gradation box Plato To specify the width of your gradation box Specify the Lenght of the gradation strip Use Gradations to specify a list of comma separated percentages and at the same time the amount of gradations boxes per ink In the menu the sizes of the gradation boxes are 5x5 and the gradations are 3 25 50 75 98 99 100 If the job has 4 inks this will generate a strip with 4 parts a part for each ink and per part you will have 7 gradation boxes These 4 p
297. k the arrow to select a blend mode from the list 4 Click the arrow to adjust the opacity using a slider 414 5 Turn overprint on or off by using the overprint checkbox The shaded circle a indicates that certain attributes have a transparency applied Tip Clicking the arrows expands or contracts specific parts of the Style window Tip Clicking the Fill title bar opens the Effects dialog box 10 55 2 Stroke x tyle Fill iv OJ 0 100 mm i ey Normal P100 0 4 Oyermprint Ba Formal HUU The Stroke Color box shows the current color for the stroke of the selected mark or one that you are about to create The color displayed is based on the settings of the Ink Sliders The Stroke Width field shows the stroke width in the current units Click the arrow to adjust the transparency using a slider 415 ie ESKOS Plato Turn overprint on or off by using the overprint checkbox 10 55 3 Group Adjust the opacity click the arrow to adjust the transparency using a slider 10 56 Transtorm 416 Click Transform on the Window menu The Transform Window appears 3 y E x F 97 542 mm t 195 082 mm A fa H fico a oE i 30 417 mm 260 834 rari 9 point selector Transform ooo 100 pa Location Andle 9 point Selector Use 9 point Selector to see information about a particular point in the current selection The nine points that you can select are t
298. ks e D Ignore Varnish Inks E White Underprint Settings Position The Position tab is identical to the Position tab of the Gradation Strip Mark dialog box Strip Inks Position Attach to Sheet Object Hame Offset 0 000 C x HoE joo E Orientation Ej AK o 000 7 3 14 Text Mark The Text dialog box allows you to create additional text on a specified position and a certain orientation The additional text fields will be put next to each other on the specified position Text fields can contain any additional information that you type in and will be created in the ink selected Text Inks Position Mirrored I Automatic Size il o ccomm Text 0 000 mm Style Smart Text Advanced The text Mark has three tabs e Text e Inks 210 Plato e Position Text To create additional text on a specified position and orientation Tip The Text Mark can be moved in your job by simply using the Move tool lll in the Tools toolbar Text Inks Position Mirrored W Automatic Size T o 000 mm Tak 0 000 mm Style Smart Text Advanced Check the Mirrored box if you want your text to appear mirrored When choosing Automatic Size quadding modes will be ignored and the size of the box will depend on the size of the text Deselect Automatic Size to be able to enter text box dimensions yourself Click Style to format your text Click Smart
299. l Offset from Sheet formula enabled Vertical Horizontal Count formula enabled 10 Vertical Horizontal Gap Step formula enabled 11 Rotation Angle formula enabled 12 fly out menu OONO The Grids dialog box is built up of a number of columns To show or hide columns click the arrow in the top right corner and select Select Columns from the fly out menu Select Columns X Select the columns you want to display land Number Station Mame Die Shape Bleed Advanced Sethings Vertical Offset Horizontal Offset Vertical Count Horizontal Court Vertical Gap Step Horizontal GapStep lt 1 41 4 41 41 4 4 4 4 A 4 Rotation Angle Cancel Tip The width of the different column can be adjusted by dragging the vertical separators between them Tip Stations that were previously used in the current layout can be recovered by right clicking an empty cell in the Station Name column By repeating the previous steps you can add delete or modify the stations that you intend to use in the current layout For more information on creating a grid based workflow please refer to the chapter Grid based workflow 10 49 Info Window The info window displays information that the editor generates about the job Warnings are displayed in orange errors are red 405 10 Plato Logged 8 jan 07 on 10 44 06 Acrobat s implementation limit for lange real values is exceeded Output may loo
300. l insert the cursor into the existing value in the field and allow you to edit it There are two other ways to work with dialog boxes that you may not have seen before e Dragging numbers e Using smart edit fields Dragging numbers Esko Plato allows you to drag a number between two dialog boxes Sometimes you might want to use a value from one dialog box in another For example you might want to take some measurements from within your document and then use that measured value as an entry in the Transform dialog box To drag a number from one dialog box to another 1 Click and drag the number that you want to use The cursor turns into the pointing hand icon 2 Drag the number to the edit field of another dialog box and release the mouse button The value is copied from the first dialog box to the second Using smart edit fields Many of Esko Plato s dialog boxes contain smart edit fields You can recognize smart edit fields by their display they always contain the current units label after the value in the field i 066 800 mm Smart edit fields have two important properties First you can change the current units used to display the field s value at any time Second you can use the smart edit field to calculate a new value for the field To change the current units that are used to display the field s value 1 Click the field to select its contents Everything in the field is selected 2 Type the units that you would like to
301. l not be changed In case you want to reuse certain graphics then either trapping should be reapplied or the station object should be saved as Station file 6 6 Staggered Cutting Staggered Cutting is designed to facilitate seamless printing in non sleeve workflows This means that when web fed flexo printing jobs are not using flexo sleeves the flexo material is cut and wrapped around a cylinder The unavoidable seam will be positioned in between printable objects Staggered Cutting is the tool to define the shape of the flexo plates which will later in the process be sent to a Kongsberg table on which the flexo plates are cut A cutting path can be used for all separations or a cutting path per separation can be defined Next to these staggered cutting paths Plato also stores all stroked lines which are in a technical information in special tags in a PDFPLA file These tags follow the same track are forwarded by the FlexRIP into tags in a LEN file allowing DFS to pick them up The workflow is as follows 1 An operator defines the staggered cutting path in Plato 165 RT Esko Ns 2 When ripping the PDFPLA file to a LEN file via FlexRip the path is copied into the LEN file 3 The path is then picked up by the Digital Flexo Suite DFS From DFS you can export an ACM file which can be used to cut the plate on a Kongsberg table Note The staggered cutting workflow works only on PDFPLA files PDF workflow The input of this
302. lace External Customized Settings Use rulings angles and dot gain compensation from PostScript file if availablelf the PostScript file contains rulings angles and dot gain compensation these will be used when this toggle is selected other settings in this tab will be overruled Apply Screen Swap TableSelect a screen swap table from the drop down list Inks double click the fields to edit Autoload Ink Settings from Job Setuplf Job parameters were defined you can use this toggle to make sure these inks are used If you do not click this button you are free to edit the ink settings The default values as defined at the bottom are used for ink attributres that are not set in the ink settings of the job setup 95 ESKOS M Default values used when a ruling angle or dotshape is not specified Enter the default values for ruling angle and dotshape the system will take these values when they are not specified elsewhere i e in the PostScript file or in job Parameters 5 4 4 Overprint 96 PostScript Import x Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output Strict overprint behaviour I Gyerprinting default ie non zero overprinting PostS cript UO yerprint Keep PostScript Overprint Pure Black As Other Colos o Rich Black As Other Colos o white Force Opaque ss i Overprint options only valid when importing composite PostScript files iM Place External
303. lace i cut marks around the layout the file icutmark dtl should be copied manually from X Esko bg_prog_marks_v010 dtl gmf2k_optional to X Esko bg_data_marks_v010 dtl gmfk2_v013 ala ET Esko M 2 Digital converting Export f x Select the ink s export type and optionally its layer name MAROUGE ROUGE E MOR OR NOIR HOR Mi COUPE amp COUPE T Plato Cut gt Plato Cut Print File Preset t Achons File Marne icb 269 Settings In Folder d printfiles Select Folder Cutting File Preset t Achons File Type Ji Cut File File Marne iot zey In Folder d cutfiles Select Folder Report SML report JPEG thumbnail with resolution 72 dpi In Folder Select Folder OF Cancel It allows to save all files needed to produce the current layouts e a PDF file which will be sent to the proofer or digital press e acutting file which will be sent to the cutting table The Digital Converting Export dialog contains different parts e The Inks export type e Export PDF File to create the PDF files containing all graphics for the layouts e Export Cutting File to create the file i cut file HPGL PDF MFG or ACM file containing all cutting information Inks The Inks shows all inks used in the layouts The first column lists the name of all inks The second column shows how the inks are assigned these inks need to be printed so they will be included in
304. layout e Digital Converting Export on page 275 allows you to export both a print file and a cut file e Layout Setup opens the Layout Setup dialog box e n the Document Info dialog box you can enter all administrative information related to the job The info can also be used as smart text in a text mark e XMP Property Info opens the XMP Metadata Properties dialog box e Print allows you to proof or expose the design opened in Esko Plato e Exit Closes the application Note The history list of file names provides fast access to recently used files Simply click one of the names to open the file 9 1 2 Edit menu 280 The Edit menu contains following items Plato KD Undo Ca Redo Delete 4 Cut Copy Duplicate Paste Select All Ctrl 44 Motes d Preferences Cbrl 4 E Shift P Undo To cancel the last editing function or a series of editing functions you performed The editing functions are undone one editing function at a time starting from the most recent one The last modification you made is undone and the job appears as it was before you performed the editing function Continue to choose Undo to cancel other modifications that you made to the job Note The number of undos you can perform depends on the number of Undo Levels entered in Preferences Notice that remembering the previous actions consumes memory that cannot be used for your current job anymore If you are working with ext
305. le file Ql External References External references have to be converted e Reconvert if recently updated only updated references will be reconverted all other conversions will be used as they were e Use previous conversion the existing conversions will be used potential updates will not be considered e Always reconvert all external references will be converted at all times Put External References Images into Output Folder Referenced files in GRS Job File Format will be converted to referenced external files in Normalized PDF mode but where will they end up There are two options e External Normalized PDF files will be written in the output folder next to the main Normalized PDF file e External Normalized PDF files will be written in the original folder next to the original external GRS files e Always the converted external files will be saved next to the main file e Never the converted external files will be saved in the folder of the original files e f relative if the external GRS files were close to the main GRS file subfolder neighboring folder the converted files will be saved in the output folder If the external GRS files were not close to the main file central smartmarks logos the converted files will be saved next to the original files Display image You can save the file with no display image thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or low resolution display image To save the
306. least one of these file formats Esko Plato knows how to import the native file formats of ArtiosCAD directly A layout file in ArtiosCAD is called a manufacturing file a 1 up or single file is called a design file Importing CFF2 files CFF2 import supports the existing CFF2 files a CFF2 file describing a layout places stations with a rotation combined with a mirroring negate The problem is that the CFF2 specification does not specify exactly in which order the rotation and negation have to be performed and results differ depending on the sequence Some CAD vendors have chosen to rotate first and then negate e g Artios others do it the other way around e g Elcede Click Setup the CFF2 Import dialog box pops up CFF2 Import xj Freview Mapping TAN r Mappings CAD Style Defaut CAD Styles l Search for Print Items Reconstruct common cutting lines W Use Sheet Size fram CAD File Customized Settings Mapping allows you to map CFF2 line attributes line type aux line type pointage onto line types ArtioSCAD style Please refer to the chapter DXF Import for more information CAD styles please refer to the chapter CAD styles for more information Click the Search for Print Item check box if you want Esko Plato to search for a graphic that matches the Print Item name in the CAD file Esko Plato will look for a graphics file GRS STA PDF PDFSTA that has the same name in the direc
307. ler point you may have to zoom in and repeat the alignment procedure to align your files with more precision Auto Align from Ruler Auto Align from Ruler is used the same way as the Align from Ruler tool but is more accurate at high resolution lf the details of the alignment points match the viewer will be able to increase the alignment precision and have a good alignment with fewer iterations Auto Align Auto Align does not use the ruler but rather the currently visible view of the two compared images to attempt an automatic alignment For convenience a separate tool button is available to perform an Auto Align operation without having to open the Alignment pop up menu Clicking this button will perform an Auto Align from Ruler if a ruler selection is active otherwise an Auto Align from view Viewer Compare Preferences You can open the Compare Preferences by choosing Illustrator gt Preferences gt Esko gt Viewer Compare Preferences on Mac OS or Edit gt Preferences gt Esko gt Viewer Compare Preferences on Windows You can define the resolution for the Viewer Compare previews either based on the document size or at a fixed resolution Based on Document Size will result in a low resolution for big documents so e g aligning will become more difficult when zooming in On the other hand a Fixed Resolution can result in a very heavy preview calculation if the fixed resolution is high and the document Is large
308. les Examples of external files are graphics used in stations and image marks The use of external files has two advantages First because the real data of the external file is not included in the document Esko Plato s native plate files are very small Second because Esko Plato refers to the external files on disk stations and plates that use these files are always up to date Changes made to the external files are updated automatically A Caution Note that whereas all graphics used in stations are external references the station definitions themselves the link to graphics die shape mask station number trapping layer etc are stored inside the plate file Tip When inks are changed in external files PLA files should be opened and saved 2 3 Calculator and Parameter Formulas 20 Esko Plato offers you the possibility to use parameters to build expressions or formulas e What are parameters e What are predefined parameters e Using the Calculator e How to add a parameter to the parameter s in the Formula line e Using the Calculator parameter buttons VVhat are parameters Parameters represent properties of a step and repeat job Every parameter has a unique name Parameters can be used to build expressions the so called formulas These expressions can be used to define most settings of a step and repeat job E g the parameter called PlateHeight Plato represents the vertical size of the plate You
309. lip TAD to Prink Side Release CAD Layout Create Varnish Manage Plates The Tools menu contains following items Number Stations opens the Number Stations dialog box The Adjust Masks tool is used to adjust overlapping stations Reset Masks removes all masks that were generated using the Adjust Masks tool Turn Front to Back will rotate the sheet around the vertical center of the sheet and create the back of the file With this command the left edge of the sheet becomes the right edge of the sheet on the back Tumble Front to Back will rotate the sheet around the horizontal center of the sheet and create the back of the file With this command the top of the sheet becomes the bottom of the sheet on the back Delete Back deletes the back side of the sheet Flip CAD to Print Side You may have CAD designs that show Die Side If this is the case you will need to flip the CAD design over so that you can work with the Print Side For more information please refer to the chapter Flipping a CAD Layout to Print Side Release CAD Layout removes the CAD layout but keeps all associated stations After releasing the CAD layout the stations no longer are tied up together and can be moved individually Create Varnish creates a varnish layer Manage Plates opens the Manage Plates dialog box 9 1 8 Production menu 286 The Production menu contains following items SmartMlarks i cut Marks Stag
310. ll unprotected and protected fonts are embedded Resolve once identical one ups in step amp Repeat file Resolve once identical external files Resolve pure black overprint Split complex paths Filled and stroked paths at 5000 points 7 Clip paths at 2000 paints Limit filename size to 31 characters Split multi page job into multiple tiles Suffix for PANTONE ink names e Masmum deviation of resolved curves ooz mm Fonts e Contourize fonts protected CID fonts are embedded e Embed BG and Type1 fonts Allows you to include the used BG and Type 1 fonts of your design in your PDF file A subset of the font will be embedded not the whole font Note In case the BG font does not have a corresponding PostScript Name it will be included in the PostScript file automatically A Caution When you switch off these functions take into account that the font downloaded on the PostScript device may be different from the font used in your job Consequently the output result can be different to your design Split Complex Paths Caution These are workarounds for typical PostScript level 1 path limitations Only use these when really necessary e Filled and stroked paths at X points Use this option to split linework with more than x points into several smaller linework parts This option decreases the complexity of the linework A suitable value for the selected device type is calculated for this option e Clip paths a
311. lly Simply enter the requested position or angle in the proper field 290 Plato Ee 284 000 mm 229 750 mm gt 0 000 Note Manual crosshair manipulations such as moving and rotating are also possible whenever the Select or Transform tool is activated 9 2 2 Preview Selector The Preview Selector contains a number of elements that offer a different visualization of the job Preview Selector xl Display Dc o m fe e Preview selector buttons e Zoom indicates and sets the zoom factor e Show Trim amp Media box allows you to switch the visualization of the trim and media box respectively sheet and plate edge on or off Switching off the blue or black lines indicating the trim media box can sometimes be useful to verify objects that are placed near or on the trim media box e Show values formulas adjusts the visualization of formula enabled fields You can opt to either show the formula definition or the corresponding value 9 2 3 Layout Type Layout type indicates the selected workflow grid based CAD SmartLayout or manual Tip Click the layout button to open the appropriate Layout dialog box Grids CAD or SmartLayoult Layout Type x Grid based Layout 9 2 4 Station Selector x Station ld d a D GaelicGhost_Final_Print paf b Fl 291 EI Esko ue The Station Selector is active in the Station View It lists all available stations for the current job Selecting a stati
312. lly on Sheet Aligns the center of the red selection to the center of the sheet from top to bottom O T Center vertically on Sheet Aligns the center of the red selection to the center of the sheet from left to right Align by Attribute The Align by Attribute section aligns the attribute of the red selection to the same attribute of the green selection The attributes that can be aligned are left right top and bottom edges and the center vertical alignment and middle horizontal alignment of the objects o Align Left Aligns the left edge of the red selection to the left edge of the green selection Movement is horizontal only vertical position of the red selection remains unchanged l Align Center Aligns the center of the red selection to the center of the green selection Movement is horizontal only vertical position of the red selection remains unchanged Align Right Aligns the right edge of the red selection to the right edge of the green selection Movement is horizontal only vertical position of the red selection remains unchanged oO bial Align Top Aligns the top of the red selection to the top of the green selection Movement is vertical only horizontal position of the red selection remains unchanged T Align Middle Aligns the middle of the red selection to the middle of the green selection Movement is vertical only horizontal position of the red selection remains unchanged O Align Bottom Aligns
313. lor Profile tag will be ignored the percentages will be those of the object s color e Convert preserve appearance the objects color profile will be taken into account this means that their color values will change Plato The Gray objects in a PostScript or PDF file may be tagged with a Color Profile The color percentages of untagged objects will always be preserved For tagged objects users have a choice e Ignore tags preserve percentages the Color Profile tag will be ignored the percentages will be those of the object s color e Convert preserve appearance the objects color profile will be taken into account this means that their color values will change 5 4 3 Inks The Inks Separations tab depends on the output type you selected in the Color Management tab If you choose CMYK Composite or Composite the Inks tab will be visible if you choose separated output the Separations tab will be visible PostScript Import E xj Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output T Use rulings angles and dot gain compensation from PostScript file if available Apply screen swap table None Ink Settings Ink name Ink book Ruling Angle Dotshape E Cyan M Magenta D Yellow E Black Click here to add an ink Autoload Ink Settings from dob Setup Default values uted when a ruling angle or dotshape is not specified Ruling i 20 Ip Angle E deg Dotshape E P
314. lors Replace Selected Color by Replace by Document Ink Magenta go n M Yellow o E t a E Piosc Le Rea a Details Cyan Ink Book a process Ink Type Spectral Reflection Defir L 56 9 a 32 3 b 53 0 T Include Unused Inks Replace nk 2 In the Current Inks and Colors select the Ink you want to replace Inks defined in an Ink book will have a droplet icon next to their name The Details window will show extra information on the selected ink 3 Define the Replace by type Replace by A Document Ink allows to select an Ink from the document inks By enabling Include Unused Inks all spot color inks will be available even the inks that aren t used in the job Replace by CMYK Color allows to convert the selected ink into its CMYK equivalent The CMYK values that will be used are shown underneath Note When converting to CMYK e inks from the document will be replaced by CMYK e Inks from linked CT files will be planemapped to CMYK paint e inks from linked PDF files are NOT converted as this is not Supported Plato Replace Selected Color by Replace by Ch y k Color Cyan 95 0 Magenta 0 0 Yellow 62 7 Black 0 0 Replace Ink Find Best Match will scan the selected Ink Book and list the inks with the lowest dE compared to the ink you want to replace At the bottom the New and the Current ink are shown side by side Replace Selected Colo
315. lrapper decide if there should be a pull back on the trapping pair e Always Pull Back always creates a pull back on the trapping pair The darkest ink of the pair is the pullback ink remaining ink in the pull back area Do Not Pull Back never creates a pull back on the trapping pair Pull Back Distance Use this to define a special pull back distance for the trapping pair Pull Back Fill Mode e Normal gives normal pull backs Sharpen allows sharpening on pull backs This sharpening is used e g for white text on images on CD s or DVD s Sharpening is done by pulling back the image and adding 100 black in the trapping area Reverse Automatic lets Power Trapper decide if the trapping pair should have a reversed trap Always Trap Reversed always generates a reversed trap for the trapping pair Do Not Trap Reversed never generates a reversed trap for the trapping pair Truncate Traps Choose if traps generated for the trapping pair should be truncated on center or on edge See Truncate Traps for details End Caps Choose how to shape the ends of open traps for the trapping pair square round or object dependent See End Caps for details 157 12 4 Plato eee Trap Corners Choose how to shape the trapping pair s trap corners round beveled or mitered See Trap Corners for details Direction Mode Select into both colors to use bidirectional trapping In case of bidirectional trapping the
316. lues you are allowed to combine both localized and technical formatting VPLATEFIT PlateHeightFit vertical plate size HPLATEFIT PlateWidthFit horizontal plate size VPLATE PlateHeight vertical plate size when fitted around all objects in on a plate so including stations but also SmartMarks and geometry marks HPLATE PlateWidth horizontal plate size when fitted around all objects in on a plate so including stations but also SmartMarks and geometry marks PLATETOP Platefop position of the top of the plate PLATEBOTTOW ae GRIPPER VSHEET HSHEET VSHEETFIT HSHEETFIT VSHEETOFFSET HSHEETOFFSET SHEETTOP SHEETLEFT SHEETBOTTOM SHEETRIGHT NROFINKS AREATOP AREALEFT AREABOTTOM AREARIGHT NROFGRIDS per grid Plato vertical sheet size horizontal sheet size vertical sheet size that fits around all grid blocks horizontal sheet size that fits around all grid blocks vertical offset of the sheet relative to the plate horizontal offset of the sheet relative to the plate top position of the sheet relative to the plate left position of the sheet relative to the plate bottom position of the sheet relative to the plate right position of the sheet relative to the plate number of non technical inks technical inks will not be printed Zi gt gt S S amp S Z MN D MD W W U WD M Clolalala a SS SS gt 3 5 gt 5 5 3I v ao 3 2 2 M O 4 Ioj o ol Dolma os 8 8 48 2 T
317. ly to preview the mark before clicking OK If the mark is not exactly what you want you can make changes to the dialog box and click Apply again The mark s name appears in the Current Marks list The name will be selected in the list Whenever a mark name is selected in the SmartMarks window the mark that is created by that mark will also be selected in the document window This helps you to identify which mark definition creates a particular mark in the job 169 ESKO 7 2 2 Deleting a SmartMark You can delete a SmartMark in various ways First you can simply select it in the document window and delete it like you would any other object When you delete a SmartMark from the document window its definition is deleted automatically from the SmartMark list of Current Marks You can also delete a SmartMark from the SmartMarks window 1 In the SmartMarks window click the name of the mark that you want to delete 2 Choose Delete from the fly out menu Tip You can delete more than one mark from the Current Mark list by holding CTRL to select more than one name at a time Tip You can also delete the SmartMark directly by selecting the object and deleting it 7 2 3 Editing a SmartMark After you have created a SmartMark you may want to edit it later There are two ways that you can edit an existing SmartMark First you can open the mark s options dialog box by double clicking the mark in the documen
318. m the masked object After you have modified the masked object you have to recreate the Opacity Mask by clicking on the Opacity Mask button to apply the green selected object as an opacity mask to the red selected object s Note when an object having an opacity mask is transformed moved scaled rotated shear in the document you have the choice to determine how the opacity mask has to behave e Check the Scale Vignette toggle in the Transform tool options dialog to apply the same transformation on the mask object e Uncheck the Scale Vignette toggle to only transform the masked object The mask object will not be transformed 10 48 Grids 402 The Grids dialog box allows you to create step and repeat blocks set their numeric parameters J E E Erion Fon Frand gt Timbo E F G P Blairon Collar pat Trim Box Bord Click ta add 2 _J i a S 1 Grid Number 2 Station Name 3 Add Station Add Empty Station 5 Click the Place Station icon to add stations to the sheet It is possible to place so called empty stations by clicking the Place Empty Stations icon You would do so when you are designing a layout before having received the actual graphics However in that case you would need the exact measurements of the future graphics as Esko Plato will ask for them in the Place Empty Station dialog box Place Empty Station X Based on File Select File Name Empty Station 1 Height fi 00
319. mage J E To specify the horizontal step distance between the stepped images GradationGradation allows you to specify the ink percentage for the Barcoimage OrientationClick one of the buttons to obtain the desired orientation for your image InksThe nk input box option button allows you to select one ink by its name or ink number The drop down list displays all inks available in the QuickStep file When you select ink number 1 the first ink of the ink menu of QuickStep is chosen The All on Top option button allows you to specify the selected image All on Top in all inks The Al with Step option button will force QuickStep to first execute the menu settings and then step the complete ink block Ey To specify the vertical step distance between the stepped colors Plato Paint ModeSelect Normal to set the paint mode for the image to normal overprint Select Erase to set the paint mode for the image to erase erase knocking out white J E To specify the horizontal step distance between the stepped colors Use the Customized Name Input box to give a customized name to the Barcoimage mark Enter the customized name click Apply and the new mark name appears in the list of marks 7 3 26 GRQ Marks GRQ marks allow you to define the display of cutting marks centermarks bleed ink squares and other job information To activate a specific mark just click it and the mark will turn black Only the marks di
320. me File URL Count Page SmartID a separator dash space new line Inserts all font names choose a separator dash space new line Inserts XMP ink data toggle the ones you want name group Ipi angle dotshape type also choose a separator dash space new line Inserts all layer names choose a separator dash space new line Inserts XMP information on a Job choose between Description Order ID SubOrder ID The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Position Text Inks Position Ink Fay Registration Select Inks Oyverpririt ea Opaque Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical Inks gnore Varnish Inks Settings white Underprint The Position tab is identical to the Position tab of the Image Mark dialog box 215 ESKO Plato Text Inks Position Altach to Sheet Object Hame 0O y nt Offset 0 000 B sa p000 a Orientation D sia 7 3 15 Trim Mark The Trim Mark places itself only around externally placed jobs GRS PLA STA The Trim Mark has the same features as the Corner Mark SmartMark Options Trim Mark Ba Mark Inks AJILHIL TINT 4 fi 0 000 mm H 2 000 mm fe E Offset 1 000 mm 1 000 mm When you select the second type of corner mark an extra option becomes available Check the left option to put trim marks around the stations taking into account only the outer stations Check
321. me but have different ruling and or dotshape Position specify the position of the ink histogram with respect to the trim box To do so select the Ink Histogram object and click on the Position control to align the Ink Histogram on the top bottom left or right side of the document The Ink Histogram object in your document will be updated automatically Tip When the Ink Histogram is aligned on the top or bottom the ink histogram zones are calculated in vertical zones of the document In case the Ink Histogram is aligned on the right or left size of the document the histogram is calculated in horizontal zones Orientation specify the orientation of the ink histogram bars in the ink histogram object Histogram Height specify the height of the ink histogram object in the document Ink Key Width specify the width of a single ink key bar in the histogram The Ink Key Width is normally set to the same width as the width of a single ink key zone on the press Number of Ink Keys specify the number of ink histogram bars or ink key zones on the press Caution The ink key histogram will not be updated automatically when the Ink Histogram Object is moved or when the document is changed or saved You have to select the Ink Histogram Object and click on the Update button to update the Ink Histogram The Ink Histogram in the image below is attached to the bottom of the plate It displays 40 ink keys of 12 5 mm each This represents the sett
322. ments are cut first followed by the vertical segments Each vertical segment is cut in 2 parts each time starting from the center going to the corner e Visualize cutting line will generate a small stroked line indicating the cutting path This can provide a visual indication for an operator to manually cut the plate The width of the stroke and the offset from the actual cutting path can be set Blank pixels outside Path will generate a knockout area which covers all objects that lay outside the cutting path This object can be used to knockout excessive bleed The Create button becomes active when there is one contour selected in red the input contour It will create a cutting path in a dedicated layer named Staggered Path If an existing cutting path was detected this will be replaced by the new one as there can only be 1 cutting path at a time See Staggered Cutting for a workflow example 10 39 Check Job Parameters In Esko Automation Engine Check Job Parameters allows you to check your files for inconsistencies regarding Job parameters type of bar code inks certain RIP parameters that are predefined for a Automation Engine Job and allows you to correct them if necessary Esko Plato only checks the ink job parameters Note Check Job Parameters will only be active if your Esko Plato station is connected to an Esko Automation Engine server 389 10 ESKO Plato The Check Job Parameters
323. mm 8 2 3 Exporting to a PDF File Exporting to PDF 1 4 will use PDF forms to represent the different one ups This should result in compact PDF representations of PLA files 258 PDFExport C The PDF Export dialog box has the following tabs Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Output 259 Plato Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Version POF1 4 ha i Output type Composite i Emulsion up Right reading Image Scale f Ti f Vertical distortion E Horizontal distortion f oo ES Smart arks Hone r MW Account for Media Box margins T Hide trap layer s in output Page range CEER Selection Curent page C Pages f Enter page numbers and or page ranges separated by commas For example 1 3 5 16 PDF VersionSelect a PDF version from the drop down list e PDF for Illustrator 10 or higher Select this version if you want to open the generated PDF 1 4 file in Adobe Illustrator 10 or higher Because Adobe Illustrator only supports a undocumented subset of PDF 1 4 features some objects and or color spaces must be split up transformed and or preripped in order to correctly represent them in Illustrator e PDF X 1 a 2001 ISO DIS 15930 1 e PDF X 1 2001 ISO DIS 15930 1 e PDF 1 4 the Acrobat 5 file format e PDF 1 3 the Acrobat 4 file format
324. monly used keys in PPF files You can enter data depending on what your press actually needs 2a Be Esko 7 CIP3 file mx General Administration Job Name GaelicGhost_Final Print Job Code P Job Make fF Job Mode 8 Artist Eskodtwork Customer fF Film Type Doo O Plate Type fF Print volume lo A Customized Sethrigs Caution Exporting to CIP3 files only works for single page documents 8 2 12 Exporting to a Polar File Optional It is now possible to export cutting information to Polar CompuCut stations This speeds up the setup times of guillotine cut sheets When the bounding box stations overlap the stations will be exported as 1 block so no cutting errors occur Click the Setup button to open the Export to Polar dialog box O74 Export to Polar X Side Guide Lett Gripper E Customized Setings Customized Settings Use the drop down lists to define the position of the Side Guide left right and Gripper top bottom 8 2 13 Exporting to a JDF Cutting file This task makes it possible to export a CIP4 JDF cutting file This file contains cutting information for guillotine cutting saved in a CIP4 JDF file format 8 2 14 Digital Converting Export Digital Converting Export is an optional module for Plato users that wish to export cut files for digital finishing on a Kongsberg table for sample making or short run production purposes Note To p
325. mote system in the network The Common Data Resources need to be installed on this remote computer This is an ideal setup when 2 or more stand alone applications i e not connected to an Automation Engine server need to share the same Data Resources 3 Local Data Resources The Data Resources are used from the current system The Common Data Resources need to be installed on the current system 4 Application embedded Data Resources A minimal set of Data Resources is embedded in the application When none of the above Data Resources is found the embedded Data Resources will be used Thise embedded Data Resources can not be shared between different applications You can set the Central Data Resources in the Preferences see Server and Resources on page 333 Note If the Central or Remote Data Resources are not available during startup of the application for example the server is not running the application will fall back on the Local Data Resources or if the Local Data Resources are not installed on the embedded Data Resources 2 ESKOS m 3 Working with Plate Files This section will provide you with the basics of creating plate files You will learn how to define new plates and their parameters You will also learn how to import CAD layouts for your plate and how to create save and use templates to automate your work e Creating opening and saving plates e Creating Layouts e Using a CAD file for plate layout e Us
326. mp Down 0 0 Mirror Stagger Tl Distribute g Automatic Gaps Gas lt lt aa 0 000 mam ae 0 000 rar GeometryThe Geometry section allows you to specify settings regarding head turns offset from sheet number of repetitions angle and gaps ee EE ee Em EE OO OW OW Head TurnThe default is a step with no head turns 180 degree rotations The choices from top to bottom are No Head Turn Head Turn on Row Head Turn on Column Head Turn on Row and Column EH Horizontal OffsetEnter the horizontal offset of a grid block relative to the sheet edge HA Vertical OffsetEnter the vertical offset of a grid block relative to the sheet edge E Number of RepetitionsSet the number of repeated objects you want vertically and horizontally Entering 1 in either field means that the object will not be repeated in that direction we Rotation AngleEnter a degree to specify the rotation angle of the station Mirror allows to mirror the station GapGap sets the parameters for stepping the current selection You can step by gap or by step Click the arrow to switch from step to gap and vice versa c4 Gap t Step The default is a step based on a gap For Gap the value specifies a gap between the stepped objects lf Gap is selected Esko Plato determines how far to step the selection so that the requested gap is created between the objects A gap of zero makes the stepped objec
327. mport CAD Data dialog box will pop up 5 Browse to your CAD file and click Open Import CAD Data Look in a CAD Workflow hy Recent Documents BS k to mj My Documents metadata bad arcs bpcec commonlineremoyal CFz config ck DESIGN work amp turn 3 sta_with_bechnicals 3 sta_without_technicals mayen nage ESIGN text MFG ESIGN1 text MFG Filename DESIGN1 MFG Files of type ArtiosCAD Cancel Job kNone Search Frofiles defaults Setup File info Size 19 456 bytes Date 03 01 17 DESIGNIMFG Time 10 52 17 or ESKOS 6 The CAD layout is loaded Select the station or all stations to which you want to assign the graphic s nescale pla Fe ee ee rues Berra a 5 FAME Pra iPS oh fan bee Pe Fos tet p S NESCAFE_IUP tB F nescafe pat Tip You can switch to the Station View in case it is necessary to align the graphics to the die object 7 You have now a Set of tools at your disposal to further finetune the layout Please refer to the chapter Jools In the Station View you can use the Create Bleed Mask tool HEE to specify a certain amount of bleed 38 Create Mask i Bleed 3 175 mm 3 2 4 SmartLayout workflow Smart Layout is an advanced layout tool that was developed primarily to facilitate the work of operators who have to execute jobs that will be cut by means of
328. n I file Translation x To file MacintoshHE tolder1 file file server fshare subtolder OK cancel 5 4 6 Page Size 99 5 Plato PostScript Import Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output Page Size PSPageSize Offset jooo mm Vertical size io Af x H ooo mm gt Horizontal size i Af x Scale po Z Reader s Spread o ho Ea Rotate bpo xl i IM Place External el Page SizeThe default page size is PS Page Size PS Page Size is the page size found in the selected PostScript file for import The drop down list displays all possible options Custom A5 Reader s Spread To determine how the PostScript file which has reader s spread format must be opened e Single Page Forces the reader s spread in the PostScript file into single page output e Double Page Forces PS File into reader s spread format When the PostScript file contains no reader s spread info the single pages will be set as double pages OffsetThe original offset is bottom left Specifying a positive vertical horizontal offset moves your PostScript file upwards to the right in relation to the bottom right border Specifying a negative vertical horizontal offset moves your PostScript file downwards left in relation to the bottom left border Scale vertical f To enter the vertical scale percentage 100 is the original size of the PostScript file Scale hor
329. n the Transform tools Once you turn constrain on it is active until you turn it off again This is important to remember because some tools like the Geometry tool also use constrain To turn constrain on or off press F3 You can also hold the Shift key whilst dragging Moving an object Use the Move option of the Transform tool to move an object to a new location To move an object 1 Select the object or objects you want to move 2 Click Transform on the toolbar The fly out toolbar appears 3 Click the Move button 4 Click and hold on the reference box not one of the handles and drag the box to a new location Scaling an object Use the Scale option of the Transform tool to scale an object relative to its point of origin To scale an object proportionally Select the object or objects you want to scale Click Transform on the toolbar The fly out toolbar appears Click the Scale button Move the point of origin to the appropriate location if necessary Click and drag one of the four corner points on the Transform reference box Oe e D To scale an object horizontally Plato 1 Change to the Move button on the fly out toolbar 2 Click and drag one of the horizontal points on the Transform reference box To scale an object vertically 1 Change to the Move button on the fly out toolbar 2 Click and drag one of the vertical points on the Transform reference box Rotating an object Use the Rotate
330. n the case of staggered grids or to the sheet in the scan direction relative to the sheet Select the relative position of the mark by moving the red rectangle the mark in the blue rectangle the stations Define an offset if needed You can define the Offset from center of the mark to the edge of the station default or from the edge of the mark to the edge of the station Plato Tip Check the box to be able to specify an offset in percentage 7 3 19 Cell Numbering Places station numbers on the position defined by the Position Mark The Cell Numbering has three tabs e Number e Numbering e Inks Number Select the Position Mark Named Object to define the position o fthe Cell Number The info button allows to scan all placed external references for Position Marks and all the names of the Position Marks will become available in a dropdown list to easily select the correct Position Mark Enter the font weight size alignment and orientation for the number SmankMark Options Cell Numbering x Number Numbering Inks ned i TT 5 Font Swiss 721 SWABS Weight a Upright Size 2 pt u Alignment lt Orientation Bj ij Apply Numbering Define the Format and start value for the Cell numbering Use the buttons to define the start point and direction You can add a Prefix and a Suffix 225 Plato Smarth ark Options Cell Numbering 23 W
331. n the last line This will handle all structural lines types that were not explicitly mentioned in the table of line styles Note 3 3 5 Using Print Item names Esko Plato can search for and automatically place stations based on the Print Item names contained in the CAD file The following rules are used for searching 1 Esko Plato looks in the current directory for PDFSTA files that have the same name as the Print ltem name specified in the CAD file The current directory is the one that contains the CAD file If a PDFSTA file is not found go to Step 2 2 Esko Plato looks in the current directory for PDF GRS files that have the same name as the Print Item name specified in the CAD file If no PDF GRS file is found go to Step 3 3 A File Browser is opened for you to locate the missing file Choosing a file adds a new directory to the search list Now there are 2 search directories the original one where the CAD file is located and a new one where you located a file with the File Browser Go to Step 4 4 Look in both search directories for the remaining files If no file can be found the File Browser appears again asking you to locate the missing file This browsing and searching loop continues until all the Print Items specified in the CAD file are found If all Print tem names can be matched with either PDF STA or PDF GRS files in the directory that contains the CAD file then the File Browser will never appear and the layout will be
332. nd These correspond to the different workflows that Esko Plato offers The only difference between these subitems is that they will open the appropriate workflow dialog automatically In other words there are no different flavors of PDF PLA documents For example even after choosing New SmartLayout one can still add a step and repeat grids Layout Assistant Grid based Layout CAD Layout SmartLayogt Manual Layout Ctrl M e Layout Assistant e Grid based Layout e CAD Layout S17 ie ESKOS Plato e SmartLayout e Manual Layout Tip If you always use the same workflow you can configure the Ctrl N shortcut to start your favorite new operation immediately 10 2 Open Layout Open Layout opens an existing Esko Plato document If the document is created by Plato 5 0 or lower it will automatically be converted into an Esko Plato 7 0 structure Opening of GRQ files and CAD files is also supported Open Layout My Recent Documents E GaelicGhost__Final_Print pdfpla Deskto p My Documents jg My Computer wi My Network File name Blairon_1 pdfpla Places Files of type POFPLA File Cancel Job E lairon ba Search Product I lt None gt ka Search Profiles defaults 7 Setup Size 1 017 589 bytes Date 06 12 18 Time 14 26 37 File info 10 3 Import CAD Data Import CAD Data opens a CAD layout file extrac
333. nd in File gt Shuttle A full explanation on Shuttle can be found in the Shuttle documentation available on the EskoArtwork Documentation DVD 2 3 9 Studio Studio offers a 3D viewing environment where designers can see their artwork applied instantly on the packaging It also includes navigation and alignment tools and by writing a 3D PDF file from Studio designers can share their ideas with clients for review and approval Studio reduces time consuming mock ups spots design errors faster and takes away the guesswork from 2D flats For folding carton or corrugated packaging the shapes can be supplied by ArtiosCAD or Score The Studio tools in Plato can be found in Production gt Studio Designer 2 3 10 Common data resources 26 The application needs access to the following Data Resources for correct working Fonts data in folder bg_data_fonts_v040 Color Engine Database CMS in foder bg_data_cms_v010 Custom data in folder bg_data_custom_v010 SmartMarks data in folder bg_data_marks_v010 Dot gain Compensation Curves DGC in folder bg_data_dgc_v040 The location of these Data Resources can be found from one of the following places 1 Central Data Resources Plato Central Data Resources will be used if the application is connected to an Automation Engine Server The Common Data Resources need to be installed on the Automation Engine server 2 Remote Data Resources The Data Resources are used from a re
334. ne 242 Puts the left of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition LL Puts the center of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Puts the right of the mark against the horizontal origin of the repetition Use the Horizontal offset input box to define the horizontal offset distance from the borders of the repetition GridsEnable A to select all grids of the QuickStep fileUse the Input box to select 1 or more grids to which you want to add the cell numbers The different grids have to be separated by a comma Number mage To use images for your numbering instead of digits When Image is activated Name becomes available Type the name of your image or use your right mouse button to select the image from the file selector If you select Num lc the system will look for Num1 lc Num2 lc Num3 lc Each image used for numbering will have a different name Prefix f you want to add something more before the number then enter the text here Example When you enter A then the numbering is A1 A2 A3 Suffix If you want to add something more behind the number then enter the text here Example When you enter z then the numbering is 1z Az Az Use Start to define the starting number Example When you enter3 then the numbering starts with 3 and then 3 4 5 Step When Continuous is activated and you defined a number in the input box next to it the vertical and horizontal numbering will incr
335. ne Click Click to add and select a station from the menu or click Add Station to browse to a new station 3 Enter the number of repeats Plato 6 The result is a group of stations This group carries the Step and Repeat settings that were used to create it To modify the settings of the group double click the group to open the Grid Settings dialog box with the original parameter settings When you ungroup a Step and Repeat group these setting will be lost the system will ask for a confirmation 4 Enter a gap amount 2 WARNING Ungrouping will remove Step and Repeat Persistency Cancel After ungrouping the individual stations can be manipulated 6 2 2 Step and Repeat examples e Example one e Example two e Example three e Example four Example One e Position lower left corner at 0 0 Tip Change the Origin 0 0 in the Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults e Gap no gaps between rows no gap between columns e Direction Up and Right e Head Turn No Head Turn e Number of Rows 3 e Number of columns 4 Select the Station and click the Info button The Grid Settings dialog box appears 119 ae Esko 7 120 Settings Grid 1 g F Station Station Mame Ja 4 Blairon Front Final pdf o Die Shape Trim Box Geometry Stagger Be Ge oer HEA 0 000 mm i en 0 000mm Ti 0 000 mm ness o o00 mm Er Restart after 2 fevers Continuous D
336. ne the horizontal offset distance from the borders of the repetition Size Enter the vertical and horizontal size of the rectangle co Press the ellipse button if you want to use an ellipse instead of a rectangle Repeat Use the Repeat options to specify the repeat count and step value for the Barcoimage The Esko Plato parameters and formulas of the calculator can be used H To specify the vertical count of your image Et To specify the vertical step distance between the stepped images CTT To specify the horizontal count of your image t To specify the horizontal step distance between the stepped images GradationGradation allows you to specify the ink percentage for the Barcoimage 23 ESKO ne Background InkSelect an ink by its name or its number in order to define a background color for each rectangle that you create InksThe nk input box option button allows you to select one ink by its name or ink number The drop down list displays all inks available in the QuickStep file When you select ink number 1 the first ink of the ink menu of QuickStep is chosen The All on Top option button allows you to specify the selected image All on Top in all inks The A l with Step option button will force QuickStep to first execute the menu settings and then step the complete ink block Ey To specify the vertical step distance between the stepped colors JE To specify the horizontal step distance between the
337. needed in a CAD based workflow 398 1 O ESKO Plato CAD x m CAD Data File Name gt J Design3 A Enl Designa F Ki Designt wf B P Design a2 gt B lj Design mE B e Design Rya B Designi The CAD dialog box is built up of a number of columns Design and Station If CAD data is loaded the name of the CAD file will be indicated on the first line of the CAD dialog Click the Select button to import or replace the CAD layoutThe Import CAD Data dialog box will pop up If CAD data is loaded this will replace the current CAD data Using the Orientation buttons or by entering an angle you can define the rotation angle of the CAD layout Click the Assign Replace Stations icon 55 to replace the selected station s The Replace Station dialog box will pop up together with an extra dialog box that indicates whether or not the selected station matches the selected design Selected Station CAD Filename pinta FBRJobcontainessC4D_Workflows DESIGHN MFG Design name DESIGN Print item name DESIGN Selected File Filename pointasFBRJoboontainen C4aD Workflow DE SIGH 1 grs Uses CAD Filename file DESIGN1T ARD Uses Design name Uses Print tem name Match No Click the Info button to view or adjust the properties of the selected station For more information about the options in the Properties dialog box please refer to the chapter Station Properties Cl
338. ner mark 1 191 ESKOS 192 Attach to Sheet ject Hame ai t 10 000mm e omm Diset 0000mm loin Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Define the vertical and horizontal dimensions is Define the thickness of the mark s lines Vertical and horizontal Offset allows you to change the position of the mark Corner mark 2 Plato Attach to Sheet Ubect Hame ai sd t 10 000mm e oom Offset 0000mm e omm Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Define the vertical and horizontal dimensions is Define the thickness of the mark s lines Vertical and horizontal Offset allows you to change the position of the mark Corner mark 3 Attach ta Sheet Wbyject fame ai sd y 10 000 mm Bleed 1 000mm 193 ESKO 194 Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects t Allows you to define the vertical horizontal distance between multiple corner lines Define the thickness of the mark s lines Bleed Enter the bleed distance where you want to position the marks Corner mark 4 Attach to Sheet Object Mane aid1 sd tij 10 000 mm Bleed 1 000 mm Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach
339. nette points are used to determine the color for the vignette and the vignette curve is used to determine how the colors between two or more points will be graded e Two curves and their corresponding points are displayed by default for the vignette You may add curves and points by clicking the intersecting points and dragging the points to the top of the vignette curve or by dragging and dropping additional colors to the intersecting points e Delete colors from the vignette by clicking the point that represents the color you want to delete and dragging it downward outside of the Vignette dialog box Vignette EnvelopeThe envelope in the vignette Color Factory contains the Color Factory or the Ink Factory Smooth Vignette Button Essentially the smooth vignette button activates an automatic mechanism that determines the course of the colors in such a way that banding is no longer visible in the vignette Position of Vignette E a Enter a numeric value in the input box to change the position of the vignette color The default is 50 for intersecting points and 100 for starting and ending points The intersecting point remains between 13 and 87 The icon AS before the input box will change depending on the vignette point you clicked on into an intersecting point or a beginning or ending point opacity BL Determine the opacity of the selected vignette color by entering a value in the input box Vignette Direction a Click thi
340. ng layers which were generated in PackEdge or Automation Engine If this option is on the taskinputfile will no longer be placed as an external reference so the resulting output file can be larger INKS Image Inks Position Ink E Registration Select Inks Overprint Ee opaque Ignore Similar Inks PT Ignore Technical Inks Ignore Varnish Inks with Step 2 0 000 mm F Interleaved witt Select Ink lt rone gt I Stark with lt none gt DT Ignore Darkest Ink White Underprint Settings Image Inks Position Keep ink names T Ignore Varnish Inks White Underprint Settings Ink e Registration e Darkest e Black or Darkest Note Black or Darkest selects any black process pantone if it exists If they dont exist the darkest ink is taken This option ensures that a black ink is used for the marks even if the job contains a darker ink like Reflex Blue e Black Note This option will select any black process or pantone If no such ink exists process black is added to the ink table e Knock Out e Custom Ink allows to pick any number of inks either by name or by position in the inks list e Custom Color allows you to pick a color based on the ink name ink number or color name 183 ESKO ne 184 Overprint e Opaque e Darken e Postscript e Add e Reverse Knocks out the selected ink in the underlying separation If you select Magenta for instance
341. nings in those areas of the histogram where the total ink coverage exceeds your limits The offending bars in the histogram will be highlighted with a blinking effect Tip You can select multiple separations to apply the same compensation to multiple separations simultaneously dl b PANTONE Orange 021 C D Artwork LI Compensation LI Room for Compensation Mac A l Masimum TAC 270 Compensation for PANTONE Orange 027 C Preset Custom gt T Minimum Ink Density 5 T Minimum Inkkey Value 5 Select multiple separations to apply the same Gl seen compensation to different separations Show graph only 3 76 Plato Tip Select multiple separations to apply the same compensation to different separations BB PANTONE 235C 0 0 BB PANTONE 258 C 0 0 PANTONE 365 C J Maximum TAC 270 446 10 9 Compensation for Selected Separations 3 Compensation Preset X I Minimum Ink Density Minimum Inkkey Value Select multiple separations to apply the same compensationto Show graph only DK Cancel AA different separations HB PANTONE 235C 0 0 I PANTONE 258 C 0 0 J Maximum TAC 270 44 6 10 9 r pensation for Selected Separations 3 Compensation Preset H IV Minimum Ink Density a J Minimum Inkkey Value P a Sele
342. nockout erasing trap The white Knockout trap is put on top of the lighter of the two colors This is useful to prepare a job for Dry Offset printing e g metal beverage cans where overprinting of inks is not allowed as the inks would contaminate each other on the blanket Trapping Distance Enter the width you want to give your traps The default trap width is 0 2 mm or equivalent in your chosen unit Minimum Ink Difference Trapping is applied to two adjoining colors when either e The two colors each consist of at least one ink but they have no common inks e Thetwo colors have common inks but there is a difference of at least the Minimum Ink Difference percentage for two or more inks making up these colors These differences in ink percentages must be in opposite directions For example with the default minimum ink difference percentage of 10 the following two colors will be trapped 1st color C 5 M 10 Y 50 K 15 10 K Plato 6 Increase the minimum ink difference to trap colors that are more different lower it to trap colors that are more similar 2nd color C 5 M 10 Y 85 K 5 35 Y Image Trapping e Automatic default this determines the most suitable trap direction automatically by comparing the average lightness of the CT image with the lightness of the adjoining area then traps the lighter color into the darker one e Always Towards Images this always traps line art under adjoining CT imag
343. not find an image When this option is not activated the imported E PS file will appear on screen but without the missing images Search forPreconverted Files this option forces the system to look for the GRx PDF CT or LP equivalent for the original EPS file If this equivalent is not found it will use the EPS instead The Optimize DCS LineWork toggleWithout linework DCS optimization the result after conversion of linework DCS files can be difficult to edit However it will be correct when viewed in extended preview or RIPped Optimize DCS Linework will do an additional operation to combine the elements on each DCS plate to a composite and a more editable result ImagesAvailable options are e Use Most Recent forces the system to use the existing images of a previous conversion of the same job e Reconvert forces the system to regenerate the images on the fly Use MasksAvailable in the drop down list are e PS Mask Forces the system to take the PS mask present in the PS file The mask available in the external image is discarded If no PS mask is present in the PS file no mask will be taken e External Mask if any PS Mask otherwise Forces the system to take the mask present in the external image The PS mask is discarded If the external image has no mask but there is a PS mask available in the PS file this PS mask will be taken e External Mask if any no mask otherwise Forces the system to take the mask present in the e
344. nrnienen a aE a aa AA 244 8 1 1 SS 01 Bl Ks 16 tkut antn rk rtNnANAAIENENIANANIENENIENENEENENEENENEEEENEEKENEEPENEEEEEEEEE EEEREN 244 8 1 2 Printing to a PostScript GEVICEL cc ccccccccececseecessesecsvsecevsesersssssersssesevsssevsssesevstsetevsssecassecavieesasieeesa 244 o EXPONE SKO PITO al lt Sanana enon e ene eee en ee ee eee 245 8 2 1 Exporting to a PostScript Fil cc cceeccccscecsctecetecscscsscsrssesescsstesscssesssesssstreistesieteegn 246 8 22 Expono fale arc gol ce a 2 eee ene eee ee ee ee ee ee eee Tere 255 8 23 EXPONINO 10 a PDF al gt penn ner ne ret enn te Ree erm ne ere eee eer ee 258 8 2 4 Export to AN MFG Fil ccc ccccscssececesecsrsecesscsecsvseecssssevsssecssitsevsssesessesevssieevstsecasieievesecaniesases 266 B25 EX DOr iG 10 A CFE Filara en E E 266 8 2 6 Export to a Normalized PDF Fil ccc ccc ccsccsecscecetesseceressssrssteseesecssesssisiesarersseriseges 267 8 2 7 Exporting to a PLA FING isiivetisicuissstncesostsrniienntvnessiasdiaansapinnehasqaitea soxihasiihebunie sions shieesaesabanirsinteducasaursnsnheialeni 269 8 2 0 EXPONO tO 4 PFPDFRLA gt eee ee eee S 270 Seo E PONDO O a GRS FO annann E R AA 271 8 2 10 Exporting to a JDF Layout File eect cissreisisstisiussississriisarereed 212 9 2 11 Exporing to a GIPS File a rene ee eee 272 8 2 12 Exporting to a Polar File Optional ccc cccccsccccesetsctsetetsseestsreseesssesstareseeees 274 8 2 13 Exporting to a UDF Cutting ie arac
345. nt and the amount of bleed for the selected station Properties Station B i Front B Back B Trimming Smartlayout Die Shape Trim Bos Bleed l Placed 118 Overrun 90 0 3 2 10 59 3 SmartLayout The SmartLayout tab sheet allows you to set the parameters regarding overrun orders maximum waste This tab also allows you to determine orientation and gutter These values will only be taken into account in the SmartLayout algorithm and not for instance when creating step and repeat grids 423 ie ESKOS Plato Front 4 Back 4 Tumming SrmartLayout Orientation E E E gt Ordered 30 K fe g 2K 2000 Maximum Overrun fio A Gutter 10 Between Other Stations IY Fixed Grouping af af a F 262 999 a 262500 0 000 oe aon Placed 118 Overrun 90 0 3 Orientation Indicate the orientation of the station BE CIC Click to indicate how the stations should be placed in respect to one another Possible options are e No Head Turn e Head Turn on Row e Head Turn on Column Head Turn on Row amp Column Ordered enter the number of Labels you need in thousands Maximum Overrun enter the percentage of overrun waste you re willing to allow for Gutter distance can be entered in the Search Options dialog box SmartLayout dialog box gt Options button e Always e Between Other Stations puts white between the selected station and every where it touche
346. nt color space to another This is actually a concatenation of a forward transformation of 1 profile and a backward transformation of another profile This means that all other options will be grayed out as the Link Profile takes complete care of the color management Source profile If any CMYK objects are to be converted choose a source profile The list shows all CMYK print profiles in the color database The source profile defines the target that the destination profile is supposed to match Destination profile Choose a color profile for your destination color space The list shows all print profiles in the color database These profiles are either measured in Kaleidoscope or imported ICC profiles Rendering intent e Relative No Background Use this option if you do not want any background simulation The white point of the source will be mapped on the white point of the destination process This rendering intent takes into account the ability of the human eye to adapt to the surrounding white e Absolute Background Use this option if you want background simulation and you want an exact color match including the paper simulation Map black on blackWhen toggled on the CMY part of the composite colors are converted separately from the black component As a result the type of black separation Skeleton UCR GCR is preserved by the conversion It is still possible that the black percentage changes slightly due to different dot
347. nt one you may need to clean up the inks that have now become unused For more information please refer to the chapter Inks 5 3 Importing an ArtPro Tile With the ArtPro import filter you can import an Esko Artwork ArtPro file into Plato directly The ArtPro files must have file extension ap or art Additional options appear in the ArtPro Import dialog 68 ArtPro Import g 7 xj Preferred Ink Book designer Search for missing images in 9 Browse lt b folder Embed all images Add non printable layers Folder Mapping Replace fe g emb stockimages By Astockimages Customized Settings Search for missing images in Use this to search for missing images in a specific folder folder defined in this dialog Embed all images Use this to embed all images in the file Add non printable layers Use this option to include all layers including the non printing layers Folder Mapping When the ArtPro file contains links to images that reside on a Mac OS based file server you can mount the drive of the Mac OS server on the Plato Windows workstation and use the Folder Mapping feature in the Export ArtPro to Normalized PDF task to keep the the references to the images working in the normalized PDF To map folders from the ArtPro file to the Normalized PDF file 1 Click Add 2 In the Client column type the drive name on the Mac OS system 3 In the Server column type the drive letter that
348. ntermediate color space F Embed the Document profile as POP Output Intent Ierom offe Rasterize The Rasterize tab is identical to the Rasterize tab of the PostScript Export dialog box Output Color Management Fasterize Compression Advanced Rasterizing Rasterizing Resolution E ppi x 0 Output as image Anti aliasing Convert vignettes to image Vignette Moise 2 a6 Compression The Compression tab is identical to the Compression tab of the PostScript Export dialog box 2of ESKO Plato Output Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Encoding Binas Compression fiz f Downsampling Bitmaps to pas i O Contones to fea ori Advanced The Advanced tab based on the Advanced tab of the PostScript Export dialog box Output Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Workaround Use technical inks in output Fonts Contourize BG Type 1 and unprotected CID fonts Embed 8G and Type 1 fonts Ignore varnish inks in output z naerad aaieetsel C10 fiente met Resolve once identical one ups in Step amp Repeat file referenced by name Resolve once identical external tiles Resolve pure black overprint Split comple paths Filled and stroked paths at 5000 poimts Clip paths at fi O000 paints Limit filename size to 31 characters Suppress hairlines at clips Maximum deviation of resolved curves 0 002
349. nto multiple files nstead of writing one file containing all separations the system will write one file per separation Split multi page jobs into multiple filesEvery page will be output as a separate file Suppress Hairlines At ClipsDue to the PostScript limitation of maximum points allowed for a path complex paths will be cut into smaller pieces When the PostScript file is printed exposed on some older PostScript Rips hairlines may become visible To avoid this problem activate Suppress Hairlines at Clips Image To Paper EdgelTo move the origin of the converted job to the lower left corner of the paper or film Activate this toggle to align your job to the edge of the paper or film to use the full area A Caution Exporting to a paper PostScript device For most of these devices there is always a border on the output page where nothing can be imaged Parts of your design in that border will be lost Avoid Tabular Number ProblemsWhen digits are written as tabular numbers exporting to some PostScript Rips may result in bad positioning of the numbers The tabular numbers are not correctly placed at the text base line To avoid this problem activate Avoid Tabular Number Problems Disable path clippingBy default paths are clipped by the borders of the job but there are instances where you do not want the paths to be clipped if so select this toggle Map spot color separations to CMYKThis option is intended to export a job containing
350. numbering Note If QuickStep was installed on your workstation the list of registration marks that were available in QuickStep will also be available as SmartMarks Note The list of available SmartMarks will depend on the chosen anchor point Marks that do not have an anchor point like standard mark will only pop up when General is selected in the SmartMarks dialog box 7 3 1 Setting the location of a SmartMark 180 You specify the location for most SmartMarks using a 9 point selector similar to the one that is used in the Transform dialog box Here is an example of the Standard Strip mark Strip Inks Position Attach to Eorders Object Hame Offset f t fO ogg E HoE jao E s Orientation K AK 2 fo c00 In the left half of the dialog box you set the location for the mark The red selector represents the reference point on the mark the blue selector represents the reference point in the job The reference point in the job is selected by position In Esko Plato a SmartMark can be attached to a sheet a plate visible objects bounding box of all printable objects except SmartMarks or Position Marks In the Station View a SmartMark can be attached to the borders the margins to visible objects bounding box of all printable objects except SmartMarks Position Marks or to the General level You click and drag the mark s red selector to align any of its 9 points to any of
351. ny other tool on the toolbar A station number always displays as a 0 in the Station View x Type Station Humber Font HeWvetica l weight Roman Upright SIZE fz l u Ink fe Registration When a station with a station number is placed or assigned to a plate the numbers are automatically replaced with unique numbers The unique numbers in the plate have the same placement and parameters as the placeholder that you added to the station SO Plato Tip e The Ink list in the Station Number dialog box contains the inks that are used currently in the station The list also contains some special options for creating a white station number Knockout a station number that prints in all inks Registration and a station number that prints in the Darkest ink Registration and Darkest choices will automatically update if the inks in your station change e You can edit a station number by double clicking on the number in the document window The Station Number window will appear showing you the number s current parameters e When you create a station number a layer named Station Number is automatically created This layer is a special layer that is a non printing layer The layer is made non printing so that the station number placeholders do not appear on the plate e A selected number can always be moved by using the arrow keys even if the Transform tool is not active Please refer to the chapter Number S
352. ny pull back Advanced Settings Click the triangle beside Advanced Settings to show the advanced settings Trapping Distance lf you want to use a different distance when trapping into black spot colors or images or when creating pull backs enable the corresponding option and enter the trapping distance to use Image Trapping If you don t want images to be trapped with each other disable Trap images to images Pull Back If you chose to use Automatic pull back See Pull Back the Also pull back light inks option is available Enable it if you want to create pull backs even when the pullback ink ink remaining in the pull back area is visibly different from the composed color Enable Pull back images and gradients if you want to create pull backs on images and gradients Trap decision By default PowerTrapper uses the color luminance Use Lightness to define the trapping direction except for opaque inks for which the Inks order is used e trap direction from brightest to darkest lf the Treat spot colors as opaque option is chosen color luminance is used only for CMYK For opaque and spot inks the trap direction is determined by the ink sequence e trap direction for spot colors only towards the separation listed the lowest in the Separations palette darkest e trap direction goes from the process to the spot color if the spot color is below the process color in the Separations list e trap direction if the spot col
353. o Properties Station or click the Grid Settings button i in the Grids dialog box 3 a In the Station Properties dialog box go to the Trimming tab and select Trim box or Die Cut ArtiosCut from the Die Shape list Properties Station A x Front 4 Back 4 Trimming SmartLapout Die Shape Trim Bos Placed 480 Overrun 7 4 b Inthe Grid Settings dialog box select Trim box or Die Cut ArtiosCut from the Die Shape list Settings Grid 1 Station Mame A i GaelicGhost_Final_Print pdf Die Shape Attios Cut Bleed c A third way is to select Trim box or Die Cut in the Die Shape column of the Grids or Stations dialog box HEB Station Name BjO Ei x Die Shape I P GaeicGhost Final_Print pdf a a 4 Finally select the Create Layout tool and nesting mode from the fly out toolbar and draw a rectangle in which a vertical and horizontal repetition of the station in question will appear but whereby the stations are organized on the sheet in such a way that they are fitted into one another 18 Peete ae 7 i U Sa Fa a a E i k Va eo i 4 Numbering stations Use the Number Stations command to assign station numbers to the stations in your layout You must have a station number in your station for the numbers to be displayed on the plate You can add a station number to a station at any time The
354. o window to see the 3D view The Studio Window The Studio window is the heart of Studio Designer It is a floating palette where you can see the three dimensional shape of the package To view the Studio window choose Production gt Studio Designer Se 433 12 S KO X Plato 434 Note If the placed ARD file does not contain folding angles the plug in cannot know how the box has to be folded In that case 90 degree foldings are assumed on all folding lines If the resulting shape is not the intended one the proper folding angles need to be added to the ARD file for example using ArtiosCAD or Studio Toolkit for Boxes Refreshing By clicking the Refresh button in the bottom left corner of the Studio Window the graphics will be drawn on the box Every time the graphics change the Studio Window will only update if you click the Refresh button Refresh is also available via refresh in the fly out window If Auto Refresh is enabled in the fly out window the Studio Designer window will automatically be refreshed every time your document is changed Changing the viewing Angle and Distance In the Studio Window you can look at the package from different angles You can simply click and drag to rotate the 3D object To indicate that the package is not floating in mid air the floor concept was introduced A package in the Studio Window is always positioned relative to the floor giving the package a top
355. o 270 Viewing areas over the TAC Limit When you switch to the Total Area Coverage preview the image in the preview pane will be dimmed and all areas where the sum of the densities is higher than the TAC limit specified in the current Press Setting will be displayed in 100 black Plato ENERGY ORINH Note You can press the D key to activate the Densitometer Tool and measure the actual TAC amount in a specific area see Measure Ink Densities To quickly see the maximum TAC in your document use the TAC Limit slider Move the slider to the right to use a TAC Limit value higher than that used by your current Press Setting The more you move the slider to the right the less pixels will typically be over the TAC Limit Flexo Plate If you change the Viewer Preview mode to Flexo Plate a single separation by default the first in the list will be shown as a simulated flexo plate Note In this Preview mode only one separation can be viewed at a time Note Viewer uses the same technology as the Esko Flexo Tools for Photoshop 343 10 344 Plato ENERGY RINK F First Visible Dot The Flexo Plate preview will use the First Visible Dot percentage from the press settings see Define Press Settings on page 337 Pixels with a percentage lower than the First Visible Dot percentage will be shown as areas without dots Pixels with a percentage equal or higher than the First Visible
356. o Background Use this option if you do not want any background simulation Any color that falls outside the range that the output device can render is adjusted to the closest color that can be rendered while all other colors are left unchanged The white point of the source will be mapped on the white point of the destination process This rendering intent takes into account the ability of the human eye to adapt to the surrounding white Absolute Background Any colors that fall outside the range that the output device can render are adjusted to the closest color that can be rendered while all other colors are left unchanged The white point is preserved Perceptual This will result in no background simulation white of reference color space is mapped on white of destination color space In other words if certain colors in an image fall outside of the range of colors that the output device can render the picture intent will cause all the colors in the image to be adjusted so that the every color in the image falls within the range that can be rendered and so that the relationship between colors is preserved as much as possible Use this option if you don t care too much about an exact color match but you want the pictures at least to look nice on your proofer It will give a visually pleasing result If the gamut of the source is wider than the proofer the entire gamut is shrunk so that it fits inside the gamut of the proofer Saturation Use th
357. o Plato you may want to turn the balloons off Simply click the Help menu and select Balloon Help The balloons can be turned on and off with this command Esko Plato s Online Help contains the entire contents of the User s Guide in electronic form You access Online Help by selecting Online Help on the Help menu Selecting a topic will jump directly to that section of the User s Guide You also open Online Help using the keyboard shortcut F1 Presentations leads you to the What s new in Esko Plato and the SmartMarks presentations 289 EI cskos M 9 2 loolbars All toolbars can easily be shown or hidden easily via the toolbars list in the Window menu Pa Crosshair Position 4 File amp Edit ra Layout Type vw Preview Selector vv Station Selector vw Status Bar wv Tools ra View Selector e Crosshair Position e File amp Edit e Layout Type e Preview Selector e Station Selector e Status Bar e Tools e View Selector All toolbars can docked around your drawing window Tip The Workspace Manager allows you to make some predefined workspaces of the user interface dialog boxes and switch from one to another in one single click Note For information on the Shuttle toolbar we refer to Shuttle on page 26 9 2 1 Crosshair Position This toolbar indicates the vertical and horizontal position of the crosshair and the rotation angle It also allows you to set the position or rotation of the crosshair numerica
358. oad All Products from the fly out menu to load all Products of the Job in which you are working For more information on creating a SmartLayout workflow please refer to the chapter SmartLayout workflow 10 53 Search Options 410 The Search Options dialog box appears when you click the Options button in the SmarLayout dialog box Search Options X Fill Director I iM First Cut Horizontal Fill bode Minimal Overrun lasimum Wi ashe ko a lw Sort jobs for better fit oe Gutter Height 1 000 mm f Gutter width f QO mm OK Cancel Fill Settings Fill Direction defines the fill direction You basically choose the corner from which the SmartLayout starts the repetition First Cut define the direction of the first cut horizontal and vertical Fill Mode Choose a fill mode e Minimal Overrun this option will try and place stations on a plate so that the requested number will be matched as closely as possible e Minimal Waste this option will try to keep the waste as low as possible Waste is the combination of overrun and those parts of your paper you did not print on e Strips Only the fill will be as such that one strip will contain the repetition of only one Station e Complete Strips this mode is the same as Strips Only but the strips will be full The Overrun parameter will be ignored Maximum Waste define the maximum allowed waste in percentages 411 ie
359. object is reduced with the defined distance to keep it away from the green selected object Note The reduced distance of the red selected object is in fact a trapping area that is placed in a separate layer This way you can edit or remove it without affecting your job Distance Truncate End Laps Comers Keep Away DistanceDefines the trapping distance Only positive values are allowed Truncate The trap area is truncated to avoid that it exceeds the edge s of the color area under which is trapped There are two different truncation modes On Edge iJ The trapping area is truncated on the object edge even if a larger distance has been defined This is to avoid that the trapping area of an object exceeds the edge of the object under which is trapped This is the default truncation mode default On Center Fy The system recalculates the trapping distance for the areas where a trapping area comes too close to the contour of an object In that case the trapping area stops halfway the object In all the other areas the complete trapping distance is applied End Caps This option specifies how the ends of an open trap area are constructed e Squares When this mode is selected the trapping areas are placed at right angles relative to the boundaries of the abutting color areas Object dependent 21 When this mode is selected the trapping areas are a logical continuation of the contour of the object that is
360. ocation of the note and the Note Pop up containing text the name of the user that created it and the time of creation Add Note Delete Note Delete all Motes Hide all Motes Show note pop up Show all Note Pop ups Hide all Mote Pop ups e To create a note select the Note tool and click in your document or select Edit gt Notes gt Add Note or select Add note from the contextual menu using the Note tool e To move a note click and drag the note pop up e To delete a note select itand choose Edit gt Notes gt Delete Note or select Delete Note from the contextual menu using the Note tool e To delete all notes choose Edit gt Notes gt Delete all Notes or select Delete all Notes from the contextual menu using the Note tool 425 10 ESKO X Plato 426 To hide or show all notes choose Edit gt Notes gt Hide Show all Notes or select Hide Show all Notes from the contextual menu using the Note tool Note When using Hide all Notes both the notes and the note pop ups will be hidden Only Show all Notes makes notes visible again Using Show all Note Pop ups will not have any affect To hide a note pop up click the X in the top right corner This doesn t affect the note itself it only hides the pop up To hide all note pop ups select Edit gt Notes gt Hide all Note Pop ups or select Hide all Note Pop ups from the contextual menu using the Note tool To show all note pop ups select Edit gt
361. of several grids If a repetition chart is composed of two jobs there will be two grids Each grid has its own number Each predefined grid parameter is assigned a number that corresponds to the job of the grid you are currently working on The VSIZE parameter of the first job is called VSIZE1 The VSIZE of the second job will be called VSIZE2 as this parameter refers to the job in the second grid e A logical relationship between parameters The parameter VSTEP1 may amongst others depend on the parameter VSIZE1 Example VSTEP1 VSIZE1 10 Using the Calculator To activate the Calculator right click any formula enabled input box The Calculator allows you to compose complex mathematical formulas using numeric values and or the parameters You can use predefined parameters define new parameters modify existing parameters or remove parameters that you have created previously Advantages of the Calculator e It has a wide input field which makes it easier to display long formulas e You can create formulas without having to enter parameter names You can simply select them by clicking the parameter in the parameter column How to add a parameter to the parameter s in the Formula line 1 Right click any formula enabled input box to activate the Calculator The input field that is connected to the calculator will be marked with a red rectangle 2 Put your cursor in the formula line and click once The cursor appears at the position
362. ole job You can also rotate your job manually using the orientation buttons in the right top of the Studio Window We will add some text to this panel that also needs to extend into the other panel 45 rm ESKO Plato We will now copy the text double click the other panel in the Studio Window where you would like the text to be pasted paste the text rotate it and position it correctly on the guide 458
363. on from the drop down list or using the arrows opens the selected station in Station View Tip Click the station button to open the Station dialog box in the Sheet View 9 2 5 Status Bar Ts 351975 282 090 him The Status Bar indicates the position of the cursor and displays the unit in which your job is set The server icon indicates to which Esko Automation Engine server you are connected Note You cannot change units while working in a job In order to change units select Preferences on the Edit menu and select the correct unit in the Defaults tab Changes will become effective when creating a new layout 9 2 6 Tools 292 These tools are the interactive tools that you use to build a plate You can open and close the toolbar via the Toolbars gt Tools selection on the Window menu The toolbar contains following tools DEEE TEE EE E DD J992 III DIII e Select Tool e Transform Tool e Create Layout Tool e Place Station Strio Number Tool e Geometry Marks Tool e Modify e Crosshair Tool e Draw Die Shape Tool e Create Bleed Mask Tool e Zoom Tool e Pan Tool e Measure Tool e Densitometer Tool e Notes tool e Working with tools and dialog boxes Select lool Use the Select tool to select objects in the document window You must select objects before you can transform them Selected objects are always highlighted in red If you select objects but they are not highlighted make sure that the Show Sel
364. on other documents Trap Presets can be shared between different Esko Applications PackEdge ArtPro DeskPack The Trap Presets list contains 6 default Presets that can t be changed or removed e Default e Bi directional including a rule to trap into both colors e Combipress including a rule based on Printing Method e Offset optimized for offset printing e Reverse e Sharpening including a rule optimized for sharpening Defining a Trap Preset 1 Define your trapping settings in the Trap dialog Add rules if you need to 2 In the Trap Preset list choose Save 3 Give your preset a name and click OK You can now see your preset in the Trap Preset list To reuse it in the future just select it in the list e To delete a preset select it in the Trap Preset list then select Remove e To edit a preset select it in the Trap Preset list make your changes in the trapping settings then save it again with the same name The Trap Layer The Trap Select Too You can find the Trap Select tool i in the Tools panel Use it to select trap areas in your job or double click it to open the Trapping dialog You can e click between two adjoining color areas to highlight the edge and select the trap 153 R Esko M make a rectangle selection to highlight all edges and select all traps in that rectangle Note Selecting one or more traps in your document using the Trap Select Tool also selects the corresponding color
365. on Inks Tools Production Trapping Window Help Edit Graphics File Alk O Select Bie Shape j Place Station Chrl 4lk 0 a 100 200 300 Replace Station Ctr Alt Assign Station to Design 4 Blairon Front Final pdr B M Blairon Back pdf c P Blairon Collar pdf Import SA0 Design Replace by Graphics File Gibraltar Save SALOM trl S lE E Export Station Station MP Ina 3 Select the type of file that you would like to assign from the Files of type list 4 Select the new station file to use 5 Click Open The stations that you selected are replaced with the new station Any stations that were not selected for the Replace Station command remain the same 4 4 Working with empty stations Working with empty stations allows you to create layouts even when the graphics aren t available yet Only the size needs to be known When a layout has been generated empty stations can be replaced by the actual stations by using the Assign Station or Replace Station functions While doing so a check will be performed based either on the CAD design in case of CAD based layout or on the size of the empty station against the chosen graphics file Another way to replace empty stations is using the Station properties dialog box Simply browse to the real graphics Note that this is the equivalent of replacing graphics in the Station View The station prope
366. on the sheet Station Numbers are often called die numbers or cell numbers The placeholder specifies attributes such as position font size and the ink s in which the Plato ER number is to be printed If multiple station numbers are placed on a single station they all get the same value Strip numbers on the other hand are numbered in a continuous way If multiple strip numbers are placed on a single station they all get a different value In the Station View you can define the position and appearance of the station strip number Station Mumber strip Number strip Number r 0 0 Strip Number Strip Number Station Number Expansion will happen in the Sheet View Geometry Marks Too Use the Geometry Marks tool to create marks that are simple rectangles ovals and polygons Unlike SmartMarks Geometry Marks do not update automatically However Geometry Marks that are designated as Registration color or darkest color will update when inks are added to the plate You 299 EI Esko M 300 can use Geometry Marks to add new inks to the plate Geometry Marks can be transformed like any other object There is no limit to the number of geometry marks in one plate e Choosing the shape of Geometry Marks e Setting the style of Geometry Marks e Adding Geometry Marks e Geometry Marks in the Station View Choosing the shape of Geometry Marks Click the Draw Rectangle button on the Tools toolbar to activate the fly out t
367. only one color pairs file per document If you make changes to your color pairs and save them again your color pairs file will be updated lf for some reason you need another version of your color pairs file first save your document under a different name then save the color pairs again Saving Color Pairs e To save your color pairs select Save Color Pairs in the Color Pairs palette s fly out menu Note This is only available when you have unsaved color pairs Plato 6 Loading Color Pairs e To load color pairs that you saved previously select Load Color Pairs in the fly out menu Note This is only available if you have saved color pairs for the current document You cannot load another document s color pairs You cannot load color pairs if you have changed the document after trapping 6 5 3 Trap Red under Green To trap adjoining objects manually Trap Red under Green is the manual trapping mode Adjoining objects contours text CT s blend objects need trapping to avoid the white gap that appears between the objects on the printed result The adjoining objects which need a fill attribute have to touch or overlap If they overlap and if the color that lies on top masks out cuts away the colors below a trapping area is generated on the boundary of the objects To apply Trap Red under Green you have to e Select the objects in red that need to be trapped underneath an adjoining object e Select the o
368. ons like Studio Visualizer Studio Toolkit for Shrink Sleeves or Esko Store Visualizer and ArtiosCAD or uploaded to the online EskoArtwork Studio Viewer save Graphics Preview as PNG From within the Studio window you can save a graphics preview file as a png file mainly for use in Studio Toolkit for Flexibles STUDIO Refresh Orientation F ea Show Transparent Panels Show Outlines Show 3D Guides Appearance Turn Box Bring Panel Forward Distribute Selection Undistripute it Panel in Document Window Show Face Outlines 12 2 8 FAQ 452 This section contains the answers to a number of Frequently Asked Questions There is no overlap between the selected objects and the selected panel try to distribute a logo and am getting the error message There is no overlap between the selected objects and the selected panel Please select a panel that overlaps with the selected objects Whenever distributing for the first time you will need to select two things the graphics that you want to distribute in the 2D view AND the source panel in the Studio window The no overlap error message indicates that you did select a panel in the Studio window but in 2D there is no overlap between the selected panel and the selected art Plato It is a good idea to switch on Show Face Outlines in Studio s fly out menu Refresh Show Transparent Panels Show Outlines Show 3D Guides Appearance Turn Box
369. ontal vertical or even slanted line segments clipped inside panel boundaries These line segments show where the plane is intersecting with the panels Graphics can snap to these segments just as with regular guides This is how the 3D guides are presented in the 2D and 3D view Plato DOO J Untitled 1 6 CMYK Preview Untitled 2 6 CMYK Preview ABBE Double click a panel to display it in the document window Chel fal o Pres FE n 6 faja F gt h Create 3D Guide ri l KOR fex Paga aja gt a Create 3D Guide b i Q jai For Collada files made with Studio Toolkit For Labels you can get curved 3D Guides in the document if your printable part is a conical label STUDIO Orientation Lal Ea ic La Double click a panel to display ffiinit edo Creating and Editing 3D Guides To create or move a 3D guide use the 3D Guide tool in the applications toolbar Click and drag somewhere in the shape in the document to create or move a guide By holding the option alt key you can switch between vertical and horizontal guides AAT 12 Plato To delete a 3D guide use the 3D guide tool and simply drag it outside the shape in the document To delete all 3D guides you can delete the 3D Guides layer that contains all 3D guides 12 2 5 Creating Copies with the Distribute command 442 Most of the faces of a package consist of a single panel So th
370. ool pe The Split Overlap tool allows you to cut the current record into two records each of which can have a different mask decision This is particularly useful for plates that contain folding cartons where two flaps on the same carton must be masked differently See Splitting an Overlap Record 5 Record Number The Record Number show you where you are in the list In the dialog box shown above you are looking at the second record in a list of five records The overlap represented by this record occurs twice on the plate 2 Instances 6 Mask Decision The Mask Decision Buttons determine how the masks are created Each button performs a different specific action on the current record e AB A over B The station marked A will overlap the station marked B The mask from station A will be used to cut back station B If station A does not contain a mask the bounding box of station A will be used AB B over A The station marked B will overlap the station marked A The mask from station B will be used to cut back station A If station B does not contain a mask the bounding box of station B will be used A3 Split The masks of both stations will be split between the dies This is Esko Plato s default Mask Decision After scanning all records will be set to Split initially Ta Ignore A record set to Ignore will not be altered by the Adjust Masks tool This overlap will be ignored and will remain the way that it is now
371. oolbar Select the appropriate tool draw rectangle draw ellipse or draw polygon Squares glz Open Closed Rectangle E 5 k Polygon Ellipse Setting the style of Geometry Marks The Style window allows you to set the parameters for the mark that you create You can choose whether your mark has a Fill a Stroke or both You can choose the colors of the fill and stroke as well as the line width for the stroke You can also set colors in Geometry Marks to overprint other objects Finally you can choose for the color to be Registration color which means that the color contains 100 of all inks in the document To set the Style of a Geometry Mark use the Style dialog box EJ Normal t 100 0 Overprint T z omm i Ms Formal a D Gyverorint SSl ir mli 4 E Normal t 100 0 4 Please refer to the chapter Style for more information on the various options Adding Geometry Marks To add a Geometry Mark 1 Click the Draw Rectangle button on the toolbar 2 Select the type of mark you would like to create 3 Set the parameters for the mark in the Style dialog box 4 Draw the mark The way that you draw the mark depends on the type of mark you are creating To draw a rectangle 1 Click the Draw Rectangle button on the toolbar 2 Starting where you want the top left corner of the rectangle click hold and drag to create the rectangle You can also simply click where you would like the top
372. option of the Transform tool to rotate an object relative to its point of origin To rotate an object Select the object or objects you want to rotate Click Transform on the toolbar The fly out toolbar appears Click the Rotate button on the fly out toolbar Click and hold on the reference box or on one of the objects in the reference box and drag it to a new rotation a 2S N S Transforming an object by a step value You may want to transform an object in a number of steps This is nudging You use the arrow keys on the keyboard to nudge objects by a step amount To transform an object by a step value Select the object or objects you want to modify Click Transform on the toolbar The fly out toolbar appears Click the appropriate transform button Move Scale or Rotate Enter a step value in the Step Amount field Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to transform the selected objects by the step value ore You can apply the step value to transform the objects in the following ways e Press CTRL an arrow key to apply 0 1 times the step value e Press CTRL ALT an arrow key to apply 0 01 times the step value Transforming an object numerically With the Transform tool you interactively transform objects by selecting them and applying the transformation yourself You can also transform objects numerically using the Transform window The Transform window allows you to enter exact values for the placement scaling and rot
373. or 5 steps Low for 15 steps Medium for 30 steps High for 45 steps and Very High for 60 steps The compensation is more local when using fewer steps e Merge Similar Inks the Ink Histogram merges the results for inks that are the same but have different ruling and or dotshape 4 Click Next orz Fill Ink Eater Areas Step 2 Define Compensation Compensation Preset Large O Minimum Ink Density fo Minimum Inkkey Value jo Click the Details button to see andor modify compensation values of the different separations Details lt Back Fill Cancel 5 In Step 2 define the compensation parameters Preset indicate the intensity of the compensation gradient 6 Click OK to fill the ink eater area The Compensation Presets in detail x Plato Minimum Ink Density set the minimum ink density of the ink separation in the ink eater area Minimum Inkkey Value indicate the minimum ink key histogram value for each ink key zone The ink density of the gradient is adjusted to make sure the ink key histogram value is higher than this settings Keep in mind that it is not possible to have this minimum inkkey value for all ink key zones when the ink eater area is not large enough Details click to open the Compensation Details dialog Modifying the Preset Minimum Ink Density and Miminum Inkkey Value settings in Step 2 of the Fill Ink Eater Areas wizard will adjust th
374. or is above the process color from brightest to darkest By selecting Use separation order the trap direction is determined by the ink sequence for all inks including CMYK e trap direction towards the separation listed the lowest in the Separations palette darkest Use reverse separation order does the same using the reversed ink sequence Plato e trap direction towards the separation listed the highest in the Separations palette darkest Note Using the Separation Order option will give the same result as changing all inks including CMYK to Opaque Overshoot Mode You can choose between the following three overshoot modes e Automatic default The centerline behavior is according the rules determined in the color pair list e Never on Dark Areas The centerline is forced not to get beyond the center of dark areas e Never The centerline is forced not to get beyond the center of any area An example During trapping this example will generate the following color pairs By default Automatic this color pair list results in the following traps If the parameter is set to Never on Dark Areas this will result into If the parameter is set to Never this will result into 145 Plato Color and Shape Settings Trap Color Intensity By default PowerTrapper uses the full color of the object to spread in the trap 100 trap color intensity However you can create a trap of a lighter color by r
375. or print items Note When importing an MFG file you can choose to import it as Reference Lines in the CAD Import setup window By doing so the MFG file will not be imported as CAD but only as reference lines in a separate CAD Reference layer Importing the MFG file will have no other influence on your open document Export Layout Export Layout allows to export to various formats PS EPS PDF files All conversions take the complete layout graphics die shapes and convert the information to the selected format 319 ie ESKOE Plato Tip Note that even for PDFPLA files exporting to PDF makes sense Esko PDFPLA files contain references to PDF files When exporting a PDFPLA file to PDF an all in one PDF file will be created embedding the referenced PDF files Save ir E Staggered Cutting c Ez hy Recent Documents Desktop My Documents 4 8 hy Computer My Network File name Places Save as type PS File Cancel Job lt None gt Search Product I lt Hones ha Search Frofiles defaults Setup Click Setup to open the Setup dialog box For more on these options please refer to the chapter Exporting to a PostScript File e Normalized PDF Only available if the current format is a PDFPLA file It allows you to export an Esko Software Suite 7 PDFPLA file into a Scope 3 compatible Normalized PDF file e PLA or PDFPLA Only availabl
376. orizontal distortion ho Smarth arks Nons ss s sY Wo Account for Media Box margins T Hide trap layer s in output PostScript versionChoose between PostScript 3 or PostScript level 2 Output typeChoose between an EPS a Single DCS and a Multiple DCS file EPS This will create an EPS file with an RGB preview When the selected PostScript version is PostScript 3 and the color management toggle in the Processing Tab is switched off this will be and deviceN EPS in all other cases a CMYK composite EPS will be created Single DCS file This will create one EPS DCS file containing multiple separations The DCS file always contains an RGB preview used when placing the EPS DCS file In addition a composite grayscale or color CMYK preview may be added for composite printing Multiple DCS file This will create a master EPS DCS file referring to multiple separations one file per ink These separations may contain linework as well as images The names of these files consist of the output filename followed by the name of the ink The master DCS file always contains an RGB preview used when placing the EPS DCS file In addition a composite grayscale or color CMYK preview may be added for composite printing e EPS e Single DCS file no composite e Single DCS file grayscale composite e Single DCS file color composite e Multiple DCS file no composite e Multiple DCS file grayscale composite e Multiple DCS file color composite Previ
377. ork insensitive to actions like Update Copies or Undistribute You will need to use Expand if you start copying and pasting distributed art The copy will still be considered as part of a distribution by expanding it it will no longer be seen as a distribution but as an ordinary object Note When the distributed art is a group ungrouping it is equivalent to applying Expand The art does not longer know that it was distributed even if you group it again 12 2 7 Exporting Studio Designer offers a variety of export options to a number of common formats Note The background color and other settings defined in the Appearance dialog will show up in your exported file Writing TIFF Images Studio Designer can export the 3D design to an RGB TIFF image with the graphics on top much like the Studio window but at higher resolutions Choose Export from Studio s fly out menu Choose TIFF Image as file type 447 12 Plato Export Preview File Type TIFF Image H Save As Document Cancel J Aspect Ratio Square Width Height 76 2 mm TH Resolution 300 pixels inch WH Snapshot se Perspective las Til Include Graphics C Transparent Background Image Size 0 8 megapixel You can define the Size of the image that you want to export The TIFF image will always be square and will contain the whole package You can specify the size and resolution of the image
378. ossibility to save the Technical inks as visible This toggle here makes it possible to output the visible non hidden technical inks The inks and separations are listed You can deselect one or more inks the according separation will disappear from the Plates list Dutput Device Separations Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced M Use technical inks in output Inks Total 2 Plates Total 2 e B PANTONE Hexachrome Orange C gt 1 ink PANTONE Hexachrome Orange l E 120 0 Ipi 45 0 degrees normal 4 1 ink E Black E Hr Ej na inks EJ 120 0 Ipi 0 0 degrees normal vy 6 E Black E 120 0 Ipi 45 0 degrees normal O Ca Use the Convert to CMYK button ao to convert PANTONE inks to CMYK values Color Management Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Color management Convert to emk si Use Link Profile lt A utornatics Source profile Jcomofis ssi Destination profile erom ots sisi Rendering intent Absolute Background l I Map black on black M Use the document profile as Source profile if available Embed the Destination profile as an intermediate color space Embed the Document profile az POF Output Intent crom_offs Plato Ee Convert to e CMYK all inks are converted to CMYK values e Gray all inks are converted to Gray values Use link profile Link profiles describe a transformation from 1 device depende
379. out Add stations to complete the layout Save as a Esko Plato layout file ah ON 3 4 2 Creating a template To create a template you need to create a layout file that contains all the layout information for a particular press To automate as much as possible your template should include marks too Then all the layouts created will be the same 3 4 3 Saving a template When you save a layout file you can choose to save it as a template This is how templates get created To save a template 1 On the File menu click Save Layout As 53 3 Plato Fe metadata ee 300 16inx500 RY pdFpla My Recent demo pdFpla OER IF druck 2000 pdfpla E Aa Offset 800x1050 pdfpla gt g PLS with offset pdfpla Desktop Ha PL6_template pdfpla PL6_with offset pdfpla PLATO 50 PDF pdfpla Aa trpla druck 2000 pdFpla ni Ee tS es Aa update external pdFpla or hy Computer io hy Network File name Gaelic_G host_final pdfpla Places Save as Ippe Plate Template Cancel Job lt None gt Search Profiles defaults Setup ee 2 Select Plate Template from the Save as type list 3 Click Save The extension of the saved template files is either plt or odfpla A Caution Templates are always saved in Esko Plato s template directory regardless of which directory you choose If you need to delete a template you will need to remove it manually from Esko Graphics bg_data_custom_v010
380. ows As a result a new layout will be created and the Setup dialog box will be opened 32 Plato New Layout Assistant ig xj To add and arrange statione select one of the nest workflows New Layout using a Grid Use grids to enter layout schemes numerically New Layout using a CAD layout h The CAD Layout uses an imported CAD file as the basis for the layout The CAD file will determine the number and placement of the stations on the plate Plato reads DXF CFF ODES and Artios C40 design and manufacturing structural file forrnats New Layout using a SmartLayout SmartLayout designs automatic label layouts that fill job orders at a minimum cost The layout will be the best layout one that minimizes waste and overruns on 4 particular sheet 3 2 2 Grid based workflow A grid based layout may turn out to be a very easy and practical method if you have to print labels or do straightforward step and repeat jobs You can then organize various one ups in several grids whereby Esko Plato s set of tools should help you to make optimal use of the size of the sheet 1 Go to File gt New Layout gt Grid based Layout The Layout Setup dialog box will pop up Layout Setup General Plate amp Sheet Select Job None Q Job File Format POF Layout Hame 5378965_L Use Template A yo 1 50 Selec Units bim Origin f5 T To change the Units or Origin go to Edit menu gt Preferences gt Defaults Vertical Shrin
381. ox to make sure that all color management will happen using PostScript rules in stead of BGCMS Most options in the Color Management tabsheet will be greyed out Recognize ArtScreen Ipi angle Check this box and the application will try to recognize screens that are created in ArtPro applications and swap them to Esko Graphics screens If a E PS or PDF file with an unknown ArtScreen is imported an error will be generated For more information please refer to the ScreenFilter user manual 5 4 8 Output 102 The Output tab is used to specify the name and directories for converted PostScript files PostScript Import xj Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output Output name Output directory Select Folder Image creation path Select Folder Fit Media Bos margins Show report Keep layers A A Limit filename length to masimum 31 characters Ii Place External el Available options on the Output tab are Plato Output NameSpecify an output name for the files created during conversion If no name is specified the original PostScript file name is used Output DirectorySpecify the directory where the converted files should be saved If no directory is specified the converted files are saved in the current working directory Note If an Image Directory is specified generated CT images will be saved in the image directory and will not be saved in the Output Director
382. oxes represent the vertical and horizontal count of the grid By clicking the squares you can assign numbers and so determine the order The numbers that appear are a result of the values set for Start and Continuous Click the minus button to remove the number that was assigned last Click Reset to clear all numbers Character StyleSelect the Font from the drop down list Select the weight Roman or Bold Select the font style Upright or Italic Specify the point size InksThe nk input box option button allows you to select one ink by its name or ink number The drop down list displays all inks available in the QuickStep file When you select ink number 1 the first ink of the ink menu of QuickStep is chosen The A on Top option button allows you to specify the selected image All on Top in all inks Paint ModeSelect Normal to set the paint mode for the image to normal overprint Select Erase to set the paint mode for the image to erase erase knocking out white 243 Be Esko M Printing and Exporting Print your plates and stations or export them to other file formats You can use the printing and exporting features to create proofs films or printing plates for your production process The station and plate files that you create in Plato can be printed to a variety of PostScript output devices Station and plate files can be exported to e g PostScript EPS and GRS file formats for proofing or p
383. p INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box I7 ESKO Plato Text Inks Position Value Ink E Registration Select Inke Overprint Eel opaque gt Ignore Similar Inks To Ignore Technical Inks Ignore Varnish Inks Position Text Inks Position Value Attach to Sheet Ubject Hame 10 000 Relative to Borders foiso The area on the left allows you to indicate where you want to place the Dimension Line Click the white arrow to position the Dimension Line the arrows turn black Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Define the distance between the Dimension Line and the border margin object Check Relative to Borders if you want to position the dimension line relative to the border The distance specified above will be taken into account Define the thickness of the mark s lines Value Text Inks Position Value Expressed in default gt T Decimals BE Add Unit 198 Plato Expressed in defines the units that you want use to to express the lenght of the dimension line Decimals defines the number of decimals you want to put behind the comma Select Add Unit if you want to put the unit behind the value 7 3 8 Gallus The gallus mark allows you to define the positioning of gallus strips left and right with your specific values
384. p Area is present in the current document The figure below illustrates the borders and margins of an output document as interpreted on an Esko system The full black line represents the borders corresponding to one or the above options while the dotted black line indicates the margins of the document Plato If the option Artboard or Crop Marks is selected the margins of the input document will be defined implicitly by the bounding box of all artwork in the document If there is no artwork partially outside the Artboard or Crop Area then the top bottom left and right margins will be set to zero no margins In other cases the margins will be computed automatically to include artwork of the document 5 9 Positioning a graphic When you import a graphic the center of the graphic and the center of the die are aligned with one another If this position is not correct you will need to position the graphic in the Station View using the Transform and Align tools A graphic can be moved and rotated to precisely position the graphic in relationship to the die However you cannot scale a graphic The scaling feature of the Transform window will be disabled whenever a graphic is included in a selection If the Scale option of the Transform tool is used on a selection that includes a graphic scaling will also be disabled Tip When placing a GRS file in a CAD workflow Esko Plato will analyze the GRS file and look for die objects If a d
385. p once in your job no matter how big the job is GradationsAllows you to specify the list of comma separated percentages and at the same time the amount of gradations boxes per ink In the menu the sizes of the gradation boxes are 5x5 and the gradations are 3 25 50 75 98 99 100 If the job has 4 inks this will generate a strip with 4 parts a part for each ink and per part you Plato will have 7 gradation boxes These 4 parts will be repeated until the length of the strip specified in the menu is reached Gradation specifications lil To specify the height of your gradation box To specify the width of your gradation box Enable Stroke to be able to specify a stroke width for the box Enable Add Gradation Numbers to be abe to change the settings for gradation numbers Note As long as Add Gradation Numbers is not enabled the Numbers tab will appear dimmed Numbers Gradation Mumbers Position Inks Position T m 10 oT 40 88 0 000 mm Font 4 Swiss 721 SWABS Weight Roman style Upright Size E Ink Follow Ink and Gradation ECJ Opaque T When you activate the Add Gradation Numbers toggle in the Gradation tab you can access the Numbers tab where you can define the Gradation Numbers position font and ink PositionThe buttons allow you to position your text to the left on top or to the right of the gradation boxes and make it possible to select the correct orienta
386. p to the corner point is larger than the miter ratio multiplied by the trap distance then the corner will be beveled otherwise it will remain sharp See also miter ratio option default Round fia A round cap will be placed at all corners Mitered Miter Ratio 4 Mitered Miter Ratio 3 Beveled 163 R Esko 7 Miter Ratio Determines when a sharp corner is beveled If the Distance from the base of the trap to the corner point is larger than the miter ratio multiplied by the trap distance then the corner will be beveled otherwise it will remain sharp This option is only available when mitered corners are selected default value 4 ToSelect the ink you want to make richer Also define the minimum density the destination ink must have before the system may enrich it Click Create The system will generate a Rich Ink layer which contains the added objects Note If you want to add more than one ink to make another ink richer you could use the Rich Black tool again but that takes time You can also opt to add inks to the ink used in Rich Ink layer you can do so in the Color Factory 6 5 6 White Underprint 164 To create a white background when printing on transparent or metal material The White Underprint area has the same shape but a smaller size than the object under which it is printed White Underprint x Direction ai Distance Jo 200 Ink m Flato cut Comers gt Mitered Create
387. pace X Save Cancel Tip All toolbars on the Window menu can either be used as docked tools or as proper dialog boxes 10 40 2 Manage Workspace The Workspace Layout Manager allows you to make some predefined workspaces of the user interface dialog boxes and to switch from one to another with a single click The positions of all open palettes and dialog boxes are saved when exiting the application You can start with default palette positions or restore default positions You can also save multiple layouts as different workspaces Manage Workspace X Rename Delete All toolbars can easily be shown or hidden easily via the toolbars list on the Window menu 10 41 Toolbars e Crosshair Position e Preview Selector e File amp Edit e Layout Type e Station Selector 391 ie ESKOS Plato e Status Bar e Tools e View Selector Tip All toolbars on the Window menu can either be used as docked tools or as proper dialog boxes For a detailed overview of the various tools and toolbars please refer to the chapter Joo bars 10 42 Align 392 Click Align on the Window menu to open the Align dialog box alj efeja 3er dh i Fress INSERT to Make Selection Green Align Align Align to Sheet by Attribute Edge to Edge Align to Sheet The Align to Sheet section aligns the center of a red selection to the center of the sheet These options do not use green selection A Center horizonta
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389. pect tools e The Zoom tool Under the zoom tool you find e Zoom out e Fit document in view e Fit document width height e Zoom to 1 1 view e Show Zoom Options showing all these options as individual buttons e The Zoom out tool e The Pan tool The Navigator By dragging the red rectangle when zoomed in you can navigate through the job The View options The View options allow to go back to the previous view or use additional settings such as rotate invert or mirror the view 4 gt S Fa Lf TA S 349 ie ESKOS 350 Plato Compare modes Using the Compare butons you can choose different Compare modes views Compare e View Current version only e View Reference version only e View Both documents on top of each other Additional options e View Both in their original colors e View Both Show difference the differences will be shown in the Added and Substracted highlight colors e View Both highlight difference same as above but the identical parts are dimmed e View Both only difference same as above but the identical parts are hidden e Change Added Highlight Color Change Substracted Highlight Color and Change Both Highlight Color to change the colors in which differences are shown e Reset Difference Highlight Colors to reset the default colors e Channel Matching to match corresponding channels inks for the two documents e View Both side by side shows both ve
390. ping Your plate may use inks that need to be changed to other inks For example your plate contains the ink Logo Red and that ink should be PANTONE 485 CV You use ink mapping to map one ink to a different ink You can change ink mapping in the Ink Map dialog box by selecting Ink Map on the Inks menu The Ink Map dialog box appears Meco mM my a E PANTONE 485V 0 TE PANTONE 123V o o i Map Existing Inks on the Left OK Cancel Apply to New Inks on the Right The Ink Map dialog box shows the current ink mapping of your document Before any ink mapping has occurred all the inks are mapped to themselves as shown above 137 ae Esko m 138 On the left are the inks in your document the existing inks On the right are the new inks that you want to use in place of the existing inks To map an ink you replace the new ink on the right across from the existing ink To map an ink to a new ink On the Inks menu click Ink Mapping Open the ink library that contains the new ink that you want to use Locate the new ink in the library Click and drag the color swatch not the name for the new ink into the new ink swatch that is across from the ink you want to map 5 Click Apply to make the change A OND Clicking Apply applies the ink map but leaves the Ink Map window open so that you can make more changes Clicking OK applies the ink map change and closes the Ink Map w
391. ping color pair trap distance click the Distance value to edit it trap truncation 7 J choose On Center or On Edge inthe Shape column end caps choose Square JE Round l or Object Dependent zd in the Shape column 199 156 Plato to change a color pair s trap corners g choose Round d Beveled or Mitered E in the Shape column trap color intensity click the Intensity value to edit it pullback ink for pull back traps only click the pullback ink to change it to another ink Click Update Traps C2 ito apply your changes to your document s traps Note To change several color pairs the same way use Shift to select them then make the changes in one color pair Clicking Update Traps will apply your changes to all selected color pairs Saving and Loading Color Pairs After trapping a document with PowerTrapper Standalone you can save its color pairs This ensures you won t need to re edit the color pairs if you need to change the traps later on When to Save Color Pairs You can save color pairs as soon as you are finished editing them If you haven t saved your color pairs doing the following will discard them e closing your document Note This doesn t affect your document s traps Where are Color Pairs Saved Your color pairs are saved in a file next to your document This file has the same name as your document and tcp as extension Note There can be
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393. play it in the document window Cre The bottom of this box consists of four panels coming together If you select Show Face Outlines in the Studio s fly out menu you will see blue lines showing up in your 2D Document Window The solid blue line is a reflection of the selected red panel in the Studio Window The other panels that are coplanar with the selected panel and that together form the bottom face are drawn on top of that in dashed lines If you were to draw some graphics and click Distribute Selection then the graphics would be copied and pasted to the three other panels that are coplanar with the selected one Those three panels are shown with dashed blue lines in the 2D Document Window In the following example we would like a distribute from one panel to another that is adjacent to the first in the Studio Window but they are not at all coplanar On the contrary the angle between the two panels is 90 degrees As automatically distributing will be impossible in this case we will have to do the copying rotating and pasting of the graphics ourselves The Create 3D Guide option can be a solution You could create a 3D Guide in the back inner panel and that is immediately going to create extra guides in the other panels that the guide plane intersects with You could now design your graphics in the back inner panel You do not need to do this upside down as double clicking on the panel in the Studio Window will rotate the wh
394. port rectangle lies over the thumbnail view You can see the viewport rectangle in the image window and follow its movements in the thumbnail view The viewport rectangle will be updated each time you make a change to your window view and conversely if you move this small viewport rectangle over the Pan box thumbnail view the view within your current window will be updated at the same time To move the viewport Press the arrow keys on the keyboard Press the buttons that appear in the envelope Drag the viewport rectangle in the thumbnail view of the image If you click and hold the cursor over the thumbnail view the viewport rectangle follows the point of the cursor until you release the mouse button and drop the viewport rectangle at the desired part Or click the program buttons if they have been programmed yet 408 Plato Program buttons Ilo preset some view selections for each image on the screen These settings will be saved to reuse them during your current session The settings are kept as long as the image for which they were programmed stays on the screen Repaintlo refresh the thumbnail view If you moved the viewport rectangle in the thumbnail view and you click Repaint the thumbnail view is resized until it contains the complete viewport rectangle and the image in total view Use the Repaint plug to automatically repaint the thumbnail view each time your job changes Please refer to the Pan tool chapter for mor
395. pping areas are a logical continuation of the contour of the object that is spread default Round When this mode is selected the trapping areas are ended with circular arcs This mode is typically used in combination with white knockout reverse trapping or ink pullback Corners This option allows you to change the way sharp corners in the trap areas will be handled Mitered If the distance from the base of the trap to the corner point is larger than the miter ratio multiplied by the trap distance then the corner will be beveled otherwise it will remain sharp See also miter ratio option default Round 159 ae Esko 7 A round cap will be placed at all corners e Beveled 3 Similar to mitered but with miter cut off with straight line mitered with miter ratio 1 DX IX Mitered Miter Ratio 4 Mitered Miter Ratio 3 DX BX Round Beveled Trap buttonTo apply the trapping following the parameters defined in the dialog box 6 5 4 Keep Red away from Green 160 To introduce a distance between two adjoining contours in such a way that when printed the adjoining inks do not overlap or mix In certain printing processes the nature of the inks or the printing surface cause an unwanted mixing of adjoining inks Keep Red away from Green compensates these effects Keep Red away from Green can also be used to create graphic effects for example a white outline around text The red selected
396. r a Ba brog y 49 09623 Select the tab for vertical or horizontal guides based on the type of guide you want to add Enter the position for the guide in the field below Press Enter to add the guide Click the appropriate button to position the guide relative to the top left corner of the sheet 3 4 5 6 or relative to a crosshair sr The guide you added is selected in the document window When the Mark up dialog box is open you can select move and delete the guides interactively from the document window To delete a guide select it and press Delete Automatically created layers Esko Plato can create some layers for you automatically For example a layer CAD Layout will be created when you import a CAD layout into the plate All the crease and cut lines for the CAD layout are placed in this layer A Station layer will also be created when you place or assign stations on the plate All stations are placed in this layer Plato 6 You are not restricted to using these layers They are created to help you organize your work Other objects can be placed in these layers too For instance you can place marks in the Station layer 6 1 2 Using To Front To Back Four commands on the Arrange menu help you order the objects in a layer These are To Front Forward Backward and To Back To move an object to the top of all other objects on the current layer 1 Select the object s that you want in front 2 On
397. r by Replace by Find Best Match Ink Book p PANTONE Colors Matte dE Formula CIELAB Delta E Classic 7 ade roo dE 3 97 Replace Ink Current 135 RT Esko Ns 136 e Replace by Color from Ink Book allows to replace the ink by a new ink from an Ink book Replace Selected Color by Replace by Color from Ink Book Choose From A PANTONE Solid Coated Fiter inks O F Replace Ink 4 Click the Replace Ink button Note If one or more objects can t be converted a description of the problem will appear in the Messages dialog and the converted ink will not disappear from the document Printing Method You can set the Printing Method for every The Printing Method information can be used in SmartNames or for Automation Engine task that handle the printing method By default the Printing Method column is hidden in the fly out menu you can make it visible You can select one of the predefined printing methods or create a new printing method Presets As from version 12 1 2 when connected to an Automation Engine Server the list of Printing Methods is loaded from the Automation Engine server Note This implies that Printing Methods saved in earlier versions of are no longer visible and will need to be redefined Plato 6 Printing Methods can be saved in the Automation Engine Configure tool or in by selecting Save to presets 6 4 3 Using ink libraries
398. r k i a ta an E OF Deesie mE mes api pee SN Be erie p ri mme ira be ie bed ee e be Pe e gna dags RS z E th E R 3 1soO ella lt gt 3 p g BIA zi i id i E a E i i 10 28 Fill Ink Eaters Fill Ink Eater Areas is an ink eater adjustment tool that allows you to compensate the ink key histogram for all separations based on the visualization of the ink key histogram The ink consumption on the press is determined by the design of the plate the design of the plate dictates which ink percentages are used where Ink consumption is regulated by ink keys on the press Every ink key determines the flow of ink to a specific zone on the press The goal of the Ink Eater Areas feature is to achieve a constant ink consumption over the width of the plate This makes it easier for press operators to set the ink keys and results in a faster setup time for the press Avoiding peaks and lows in the ink key histogram also avoids an excess of ink building up on the press cylinders which might otherwise spill onto non printed zones Adding and filling Ink Eater Areas to your plate flattens the ink key histogram by filling non printed zones with a vignette gradient A gradient is used to avoid hard edges in the compensation object and extra options are available to set a minimum ink density minimum ink key value and to indicate when the maximum total area coverage TAC is too high 371 1
399. r you can also simply double click the desktop icon 2 3 Concepts and ideas in Esko Plato e Stations and Layouts e View Modes e Typical workflows e Document window elements e Entering information e External Files e Calculator 2 3 1 Stations and Layouts The primary objects that you create in Esko Plato are stations and layouts A station is the object that you want to repeat on a plate You may have several copies of the same station or of different stations in one layout You may already be familiar with this concept Sometimes the terms 1 up the non repeated object and layout are used to indicate stations and plates In ArtiosCAD a design file is the equivalent of a station and a manufacturing file is the equivalent of a plate e What is a station e What is a layout What is a station A station can contain a graphic a die shape a mask and station marks You are not required to have a die shape a mask and station marks in your station All stations should contain a graphic but Esko Plato has the notion of empty stations which are stations without a graphic see further The concept of empty stations is designed to allow you to assemble plates before the final graphics become available cost estimating purposes In a normal workflow empty stations will be replaced by the actual stations before making plates The graphics used in a station can either be a Normalized PDF file or an Esko GRS file You can import
400. re The point you clicked is highlighted in the document window The location of this point is shown in the Measure window Measuring the distance between two points The Measure window shows the location of the two points and the midpoint and the distance between them To measure two points 1 Click the Measure icon on the toolbar The Measure window appears 2 Click in the document window on the first point that you want to measure 3 Click in the document window on the second point that you want to measure The two points that you clicked are highlighted in the document window The location of the two points the midpoint between them and their distance are shown in the Measure window il o essee s0561 Location Point 1 Midpoint between 1 amp 2 ese Location Point 2 Distance between1 amp 2 7 133 008 313 EI cskos M When you selected two points the values for the first point you clicked were entered into the top line of the Measure window The values for the second point you clicked were entered into the position for the second point the third line of the window 314 Measure tool tips If you click another point the values for the new point are entered into the second point position and the previous values are moved up to be the first point The Measure tool will snap to contours when in Contour Display mode allowing you to accurately measure the distance between two objects
401. remely complex jobs it may be necessary to enter a lower number of undo levels Redo To cancel the last undo or series of undos you performed Redo cancels one undo at a time starting from the most recent occurrence and displaying the job as it was before you performed an undo Continue to choose Redo to cancel other undos that you made to the job Note The number of redos you can perform depends on the number of Undo Levels entered in Preferences If you change something to your job after an undo action you cannot redo it anymore or in other words redo only works immediately after an undo action Delete To delete an object or a group of objects Cut To delete selected red objects from their current position in order to paste them into another position Copy To copy objects selected in red in order to paste them into another position 251 EI Esko m e Duplicate To duplicate any group of object s at it exact location You can move the duplicate to a new location The original object is kept e Paste To paste cut or copied objects from the clipboard e Select All To select all objects within a job The objects are displayed in red to indicate selection and can be manipulated or modified e Notes see Notes on page 425 e Preferences To define standard settings to be used by the application as you work on a job 9 1 3 View menu The View menu gives access to commands that determine how the imposit
402. rinting at a remote site e Printing Esko Plato Files e Exporting Esko Plato Files 8 1 Printing Esko Plato Files You can print to a PostScript output device directly from Esko Plato Both composite and separated PostScript can be used Typically a composite PostScript file is used for proofing A separated PostScript file is used typically for exposing films or plates on a PostScript imagesetter or platesetter e Using PostScript e Printing to a PostScript device 8 1 1 Using PostScript Before discussing the printing and exporting options of Esko Plato you should know some things about Esko file formats and their conversion to PostScript file formats Esko file formats may contain advanced features that are not directly supported in the PostScript model Examples of these features include the Esko Overprint modes and Translucency For example an Esko file may have objects that overprint one another in one separation Printing or exporting such a file to a PostScript or EPS format could result in the loss of the overprint due to the known PostScript limitations Esko Plato uses the Esko OutRight Technology to overcome this limitation This technology pre rips these objects into images that can be rendered accurately in PostScript OutRight guarantees that what you see in Esko Plato is what you get when you print 8 1 2 Printing to a PostScript device To print to a PostScript output device 1 On the File menu click Print
403. rrara citar A eva eanteiabenn ina oan oma ann eae 71 ABMs KSHV FRCS VI ASICS uaau ara aes nee O 72 45 2 ODN an Ovena RECON iran E de annie desean earned ohegae ques RS 74 ED 5 Oh FNS SUM IG MaSK S orninan n eta R A NN 15 4 5 4 Checking the status Of MASKS cccccccccsesssscecsssscecssssscssecssssscerssssescessssseserscssesesseceseseseeresesaseeesg 75 ASD Adlust Masks HDS cocarro ne E santos ain con ane tat siesta Rie T7 i om NE aS REE ae E AE A ASEE EE A A A A AE Tf GF INUIT VES STAG SCA ONS sche cesses EA ec bk etic E cr aa dnb EA AE aara SEE 79 4 7 1 Using the Place Station Strip Number TOO ccc ccc ceccscetsrettsseerssetesstetasessearierees 79 4 7 2 Numbering stations QUtOMATICAILY ccc ects seeeisessteeisisstsisiistisstireasieretiess 81 4 1 3 Numbering stations MaANUANY 2 ccacnmrsictesontnsannmenakerpinmionninidimasiaiys nietonk adn aeaepaiaee 82 AS USNO OF INES as Sta HONS norena vesauadesceisoulnits thse wisi ar oon wanna wea acai anata enero 84 4 8 1 Die and Mask of a PDF file cccccesccsescsrstscssscsrsecsssssrssnssiserssstscssessssesessasseraien 84 482 Adjust Masks with PDF TINGS oi5 jiscasnccssiissth edie sso haizah ese liveth nce tr dela eho daainio casio eaters a nda Maceov aiemanen 84 4 3 0 NUMDEF Stations With PDF TSS uscii a a leash audios a 84 49 USING GRS TICS sAS Stall OMS siceesotsciriecdsssdautsarsloletts aa aa a a lerteiacsle th delete 85 49 1 Diewand Mask ofa GRS Tile rrenean E a O celle eek eaenale 8
404. rs and vignette colors to be applied to objects Note The Colors dialog box can only be used in combination with the Geometry Mark tool x BOOL E OOC Ae 100 F lato Cut Color name Color swatches Io define add or modify colors or vignette colors to be applied to objects When you click a color swatch to add a color it is automatically filled with an empty color white Note You can also resize the Style Bar horizontally to display more color swatches Color Name input boxTo define a work name for the selected color swatch in the Color Palette to help you to identify the color for a category of objects You created a drawing with a blue color for the sky and a blue color for the ocean For the first blue color you can enter the name sky and for the second blue color you can enter the name Ocean When you select the name the color with that name becomes selected in the Color Palette The name you enter in the Color Name input box is job related and is only a tool to quickly retrieve colors It is NOT a designer ink that you create here Caution There are 2 special entries in the color palette registration color darkest color Vignette A To change the selected color from a plain color to a vignette color or vice versa The vignette options display in the Color factory For more information about the vignette options we refer you to the Vignette Color Factory The hig
405. rsions next to each other You can choose between e Automatic tiling e Horizontal tiling e Vertical tiling e View both mirror reference shows the current document on top of the mirrored reference document Alignment Comparing files with different sizes may seem like a challenge as they are not aligned in the Viewer Compare window but it provides some tools that make it very easy Alignment Ti Offset x Y 0 0 0 0 me e Alignment e on one of 9 corner center points e Align From Ruler see Align from Ruler on page 351 e Auto Align From Ruler see Auto Align from Ruler on page 352 e Auto Align see Auto Align on page 352 e Auto Align see Auto Align on page 352 e Use trim box for alignment e Offset Horizontal and Vertical Align from Ruler The ruler tool works by defining two points one in each file that have to be aligned 1 Select the reference version of the file by clicking the icon 3 Indicate the ruler anchor point Select the Ruler tool 4 ai Switch to the other version by clicking the _ icon or use Ctrl S The anchor point here in the red circle will be in a different location in the second file version 5 Indicate the point that should be positioned on the ruler anchor point here in the blue circle 351 10 352 Plato Click the Alignment button and select Align From Ruler The files are now aligned Note Depending on how precisely you defined the second ru
406. rt file types that have many options that you modify each time you export to that file type 8 2 10 Exporting to a JDF Layout File This task makes it possible to export a JDF Layout file Stations masks and marks are exported to PDF 1 5 files A JDF file containing references to all these files will be generated You can select whether you want to generate a JDF version 1 2 or 1 3 file Check Create MIME file to put the JDF and the referenced PDF files together in a MIME packed file xi JOF Versior JDF 1 2 Create MIME File JOF JoblD JOF JobPartlD l Customized Settings 8 2 11 Exporting to a CIP3 File are A CIP3 file contains information that can be used on press pre press and post press systems CIP3 file generated from PackEdge will only include information regarding the ink key settings on the press A low resolution image of all separations will be stored in the file A CIP3 file has a PostScript syntax but cannot be opened as a PostScript file A stand alone Plato will benefit most of CIP3 export because there is already a CIP3 export module on the FlexRIP The General tab allows you to define some general settings regarding the generated PPF file CIPS file X General Administration Resolution 72 dpi Compression JPEG Encoding Hex Mose la a Ant allas Output Front and Back l Customized Settings The Administration tab offers the most com
407. rties dialog box allows you to assign dummy colors to both the actual files and the empty stations For real stations this color is only used in the dummy colors mode For empty stations a designer ink representing the chosen color is added When replacing a station the inks used by the old station are automatically cleaned up if no longer used As such the dummy inks created when assigning colors to empty stations will automatically be cleaned up when the empty stations get replaced by the actual files 4 5 Adjusting overlapping stations In production your plate layouts may have stations that partially overlap one another For example if your stations include a bleed and they are placed on the layout so that they have a common cut the bleeds between the stations will overlap The Adjust Masks tool is used to adjust overlapping stations The command searches the plate for overlapping stations and presents each overlap to you as an overlap record You decide how the overlap areas should be adjusted Decide once and Esko Plato automatically applies your decision to all areas where the same overlap occurs e Using Adjust Masks 1 ESKOS M e Splitting an Overlap Record e Resetting masks e Checking the status of masks e Adjust Masks tips 4 5 1 Using Adjust Masks The Adjust Masks dialog box covers the SmartFlaps functionality It assists you to intelligently adjust overlapping graphic masks on the plate SmartFlaps sugge
408. rton bag files cans corrugated boxes flexible packages and so on Studio Designer works with structural design files created in ArtiosCAD or Studio Toolkit These can be ARD files bag files or dae zae files Collada files with a printable part defined Once a structural design file is placed in a document Studio Designer can display a three dimensional preview of the packaging with the artwork rendered on it This allows designers to see how their graphics will look on the final package Studio Designer also lets you load a multi part structural design file as a scene Each part of the scene can get its graphics from another document Studio Designer also contains productive tools for quick and accurate aligning and duplicating graphic elements Studio Designer is able to export a three dimensional package to PDF and it can export snapshots of the three dimensional package to an image file About Structural Design files A structural design file should always contain 2D information and possibly even 3D information If the structural design file contains 3D information Studio Designer can show a folded 3D representation of the structural design file A structural design file 2D and 3D contains all the cut and crease lines for a specific type of package A structural design file may also contain folding angles that define how the package is to be folded into its final shape The structural design file does not contain the graphics only th
409. s Please remember that it is also possible to release the CAD form from your layout in order to make changes interactively Once released the CAD form cannot be connected to your CAD form again The basic steps to create a plate layout from a CAD file are 1 Go to File gt New Layout gt CAD Layout The Layout Setup dialog box will pop up Layout Setup Gg x General Plate amp Sheet Plate Hame Custom T Plate Height 1036 0 fe Fit Plate width 1520 0 fe Sheet Height vPLATE Fit Ba Sheet width HPLATE Fit 5 Gripper Edge jo i E Top Margin fo ean Marcin 0 fe Sheet Position on Plate attom Margin Lett Margin jo fe 9 Right Margin jo f Available Area 1 Height 102E 000 mm Vertical Offset fo ii width 1520 000 mm Horizontal Offset 0 M Show Formulas x Cancel 4 2 Go to the Plate amp Sheet tab and select the appropriate plate or enter the plate size manually Note In a CAD workflow the sheet size will be extracted from the manufacturing file The sheet size is taken from the CAD file when importing the CAD data The sheet size can still be modified later on via the Layout setup dialog box 3 Click OK The workspace indicating your plate and paper will appear as well as the CAD dialog box that will allow you to load a CAD layout Plato untitled Job TFW Plato _60 RDALPHAIG CAD Data Click the Add CAD Layout icon amp The I
410. s displayed as a thumbnail with a rectangle indicating the current view 1 On the Window menu click Pan Window The Pan Window opens 311 EI Esko 7 Pan Window ola WY BD 2 You change the view area by dragging the red view rectangle to other locations on the thumbnail You can also set the four Memory buttons at the bottom of the dialog box to remember previous views To store the current view in a Memory button 1 Click and hold one of the memory buttons The button will turn pink 2 An Info dialog box will be displayed to inform you that the current view has been stored The envelope in the Pan Window is used to expand the dialog box to show more options Click the envelope to expand the dialog Pan Window Re Ral Ret The expanded Pan Window dialog box contains other features You can use the arrow buttons to move the view rectangle over the document You can also force the application to repaint the display by clicking the Repaint button Plato Measure lool Use the Measure tool to measure one or two points in the document window The measurements for the points are shown relative to the current origin of your document e Measuring a single point e Measuring the distance between two points Measuring a single point To measure a single point 1 Click the Measure icon on the toolbar The Measure window appears 2 Click in the document window on the point that you want to measu
411. s other stations e None e Customized You can create a customized gutter setting that inserts a gutter e g every second or third station Fixed grouping Use the toggle to get extra settings iY Fixed Grouping af ao a C3 ma t 262 999 ip 262500 l ae 0 000 oS 0 000 If you activate the fixed grouping options then every time SmartLayout places this station it will be placed in a group as indicated in this option i e with the given number of copies in vertical horizontal A424 Plato and with the given step distances You can define the geometry of the group enter the amount of station in horizontal and vertical directions and specify the distance or gap between them Note Rotation angle head turn grouping etc are all parameters which are only used by the SmartLayout algorithm These settings have no effect when a station is used in a grid based workflow 10 60 Notes Using the Notes tool and Notes function in the Edit menu you can add and edit notes in the Plato document Notes are saved in the Normalized PDF file as regular PDF Comments and will show up as Sticky notes in Adobe Acrobat Sticky notes created in Acrobat will also show up in Plato while other types of comments text corrections highlights and note properties or statusses are disregarded when opening a PDF file in Plato Remarks go here A note consists of two parts the Note itself the yellow balloon indicating the l
412. s an edit field 3 Type in the name for the new layer 4 Press Enter on the keyboard to save the new name Changing the order of layers One of the nice things about using layers is that it makes it easy to move groups of objects in front of or behind others You can change the order of the layers whenever you like and as often as you like So you can move objects on top of other temporarily and then easily move them behind again To change the order of layers 111 ae Esko m 112 1 Click and drag the layer to a new location in the list The location that the layer will be moved to is highlighted 2 Release the mouse button The layer is moved to the new location in the list Objects in the layer now appear on top of objects on lower layers Moving objects to a different layer To move objects from one layer to another you use the Cut and Paste commands When you use the Cut or Copy commands and then use Paste the object is placed on the same location To move an object to a different layer you cut the object from its current layer select a new layer and paste it into the new layer To move an object to a different layer 1 Select the object s you want in a different layer 2 On the Edit menu click Cut 3 Make another layer the Active Layer by selecting it 4 On the Edit menu click Paste The object is placed in the new layer on the same location from which it was cut Using a Grid Layer Grid
413. s applied on the complete document and therefore it is only available in Sheet View The Ink Map dialog box shows the current ink mapping of your document Before any ink mapping has occurred all the inks are mapped to themselves as shown below On the left are the inks in your document the existing inks On the right are the new inks that you want to use in place of the existing inks To map an ink you replace the new ink on the right across from the existing ink Your plate may use inks that need to be changed to other inks For example your plate contains the ink Logo Red and that ink should be PANTONE 485 CV You use ink mapping to map one ink to a different ink To open the Ink Map window click Ink Map on the Inks menu Sm ramones tone wo Tsim ravrone rcv PANTONE zacy O i Map Existing Inks on the Left OK Cancel Apply to New Inks on the Fight The Job Ink Mapping dialog box displays the current inks of the job These are not only the inks of the job objects but also the inks of the external jobs for example externally placed Esko native files or CT files Note After you have applied Job Ink Mapping the inks that are not used anymore in your job are cleaned up automatically Plato A Caution It is possible to map two inks to the same destination ink If however the mapped file contains patches in Postscript overprint where the color is defined by both inks make sure the percentage of
414. s box if you want your Normalized PDF file to be Scope 3 compatible Save unused StationsCheck the box if you want to save stations that have not been used in your design By default unused stations will not be saved Include CAD info for Digital Flexo Suite This allows to include staggered cutting amp CAD paths in the PDFFLA file All stroked technical lines can then be forwarded into the LEN file so that Digital Flexo Suite can pick these up This can be used for example to plot the die lines on a carrier sheet out of Digital Flexo Suite See also Staggered Cutting on page 165 saving a layout as a PLA file When working in GRS mode you can save your layout as a PLA file Save As PLA x Display image Display image Hide technical inks Jas defined in original file Select All Inks and Colors Cleanup unused colors Save unused Stations al Customized Settings Display Image This option allows you to set the type of display image that will be included in the file Choices are No Display Thumbnail 200 x 200 pixels or Display image preview of 72 dpi which creates a low resolution preview that can be used when the file is placed as an external file Hide Technical InksWhen selected technical inks will be stored in the file but will not be visible as exposable inks for the Esko FlexRip SelectYou can export your entire job or a part of it e All saves the entire job Red Selection save
415. s button to indicate the starting and ending point for the vignette in the job The point you click first is the point where the vignette starts The second point you click is the point where the vignette ends The points can be selected and replaced If you replace the points within the vignette the color for this vignette will also be adapted Consequently also the color swatch in the Color Palette displaying the vignette color will be adapted 10 4 Effects The Effects dialog box can appear when setting the style of a geometry mark and allows you to add more advanced transparency settings In the Fill and Stroke tab entry you can apply transparency settings on the fill and stroke attribute of the selected objects from the document in the Group tab entry when a group or combi object is targeted you can apply transparency effects to the object or group it self Fill and Stroke tab entry contain the same options Effects C Fill O Stroke O Group Opacity Gradient F Opacity amp mask define knockout shape olor Gradient C Fill O Stroke O Group Opacity Gradient Opacity amp mask define knockout shape olor Gradient The Object Group tab contains specific transparency options for PDF Transparency groups 399 1 O ESKO Plato TS sti OFI Stoke Group Upacity Gradient Fa Opacity amp mask define knockout shape Isolate blending Inherit knockout group from par
416. s containing only one ink e Normalized PDF files containing more than one ink e Colored images Can be placed in their original inks or can be inkmapped to the job s inks e CMYK and multichannel CT files e GRS files containing more than one ink The Image Mark dialog box has three tabs e Image e Inks e Position Tip i The Image Mark can be moved in your job by simply using the Move tool lll in the Tools toolbar Image Image Inks Position Name Scale fonoz To fit to the Sheet Clip or Repeat the Image Vertically Extend 0 000 mm Horizontally Extend 0 000 mm Name Enter the name of the Image Mark you want to use or click the browse button to browse to a Normalized PDF GRS LC or LP file Tip If you want to incorporate SmartNames in your file name click the SmartNames button Scale You can scale the Image Mark If the Image Mark is attached to a Position Mark other scale options are possible Scale to fit Downscale to fit Autorotate and scale to fit To fit to the Sheet Clip or Repeat the Image This option will copy the image a number of times so that its width and or height matches the width and or height of the anchor point sheet plate visible objects If the size is too large a clip path will be applied to make sure that the image exactly matches the required size Plato When placing taskinputfile you have the option to Hide trap layer s This will remove all trappi
417. s objects selected in red only e Current Layer saves the currently active layer only e Current Page saves the current page Inks and Colors e Clean up unused colors automatically removes all unused inks e Clean up unused inks and colors automatically removes all colors and inks that are not used in the job e Save unused inks and colors saves unused inks and colors Plato Save unused StationsCheck the box if you want to save stations that have not been used in your design By default unused stations will not be saved 3 4 4 Using a template Once a template is saved it will become available in the Layout Setup dialog box when you create a new layout To use a template click the Use Template checkbox and select a template from the list If QuickStep templates are present on your system they will also be included in the list Of ESKOS M 4 Working with Stations Arranging stations on the plate is the primary purpose of Esko Plato This section will provide you with the basics of working with station files You will learn a o how to create stations how to add them to the plate how to adjust areas where two stations overlap and how to number stations e Creating editing and saving a station e Using a CAD file to create a station e Adding stations to the plate e Working with empty stations e Adjusting overlapping stations e Nesting Stations e Numbering stations 4 1 Creating editing and saving
418. s of the Press Settings you can define the default values for the settings in the Moire Detection window For more info on the different settings see Moire Detection on page 347 10 12 3 The Viewer window 340 Viewing options Options particular to certain Viewer previews are grouped under View Options You can expand or collapse them using the triangle beside View Options The following options are available in all Previews Separation visibility In the Ink list you can e Click the eye icon in front of a separation color name to show or hide it e Click the eye button above the separations colors list to show or hide all separations colors e Click the ink name not the eye button to quicly hide all other separations and go in single separation mode Reverse Printing Order Use the Reverse Printing Order button w to view how your file would look like with its ink order reversed When Reverse Printing Ink Order is enabled itis always used in all windows and a red arrow icon is visible in the title bar of all the windows Orientation The orientation buttons allow to change the orientation of the Preview of the job Ame This is applied to all windows when Show in All Windows is active or only to the current window when Show in All Windows is inactive Note Keep in mind that this only changes the rotation of the preview it does NOT actually rotate the job Separations The first viewing mode shows a list
419. s the case then the parameter is no longer editable and the value is preceded by a green SmartMarks icon M You have two options for using SmartNames in the SmartMark bar code dialog box 1 If the code field in the bar code SmartMark is SmartName enabled you can immediately make this field dependant of external data sources 2 If you want to vary other settings bar code type magnification as well you have to use the bottom field in the bar code SmartMark dialog box You can enter an XML line which will transfer its values to the different other fields of the bar code dialog box The field is SmartName enabled so you can get your XML information from an external data source Make sure that the syntax of this piece of XML is correct The syntax is the same as used when specifying bar code parameters in JDF tickets E g to specify type datamatrix and code string abcdef your data source has to return the following XML string lt eg BarcodeParam egBarc Type DATAMATRIX egBarc Code abcdef gt Bo X Plato Bar Code Bax Inks Position Type EAN 13 Code 0 12345678901 28 Bar width Reduction ooo Device Compensation poo Magnification ho a Height jassa Output Resolution psa ta JW Add Characters M Light Margin Indicator f 234567090128 Check the Box checkbox to automatically create a box behind the bar code The box has the size of the required light margin around the bar code Af
420. scrvteses deansinilsanns siseiranivnestinitetni stan tssisaatesbcan ranssisnstinsasatevasie vos siasieani pastel tynPaadestsbaabstviniatacal 28 3 1 Creating OPENING and SAVING PlATES cece sssetststsrsrscsssssssssscecscssssesesesessssesestsvevesesesessseeenees 28 3 1 1 Creating A NEW LAYOUT cc cccccececsctecsrsetesscsetsvseserssseserssessisserssietesstserssieevseetasieesssietasieiasearieeeys 28 SFe ch 1916 VOU Gaerne ee ere eee eee ee ere E Cre eee re re er eee eee 30 3 1 3 Saving a layout with a different NAME ccc cece tscterstetessesersssetessesstatsetessesetatieeriseariesens 31 3 1 4 Opening an existing LAYOUT ccc cece eisctescetsrscesetstisesssssitststesiesetssttetsieseiessnnesens 31 3 1 5 Changing the sheet or plate SIZQ cece cesstsrrestsrssrestsrisssissisirssrissessniesens 32 Sogn 212 14 810 I Ech 0 0 A eee A tee ne ee eee ee E ee eee ene 32 3 2 1 Layout PASSIS CAI UU spscvpsontscineatiosvinstr cates eaioramtsoranlv tienda Steamist wAldann intense ubotes nation nd abasdtesioniradhaiuiissiareessainleetd 32 32 2 di 9 g 82 1 8 1018 4 OW eee eee ne ne eet r EEE eve eee nee eee 33 Ie OND WONTON aaeenenee ne tte terrence E E ere ty et eee eer eee 35 32A SmarnLayout WOKNOW sesesaccracsttresacisspesinertancean EE E E E a ines teva E AE 39 3 2 9 Man al WOOP OW sunrnenininiesmn nnna a EEEE ENEE Aae 43 3 2 6 Combining workflOWS cect caccceoscascncascataceanensia inant arinina i eiiie E R Ee EEEE 44 3 3 Using a CAD file for
421. se you selected the rotation button in the Orientation group 7 3 4 Center Mark A center mark places marks at the centers of the 4 sides of the anchor point plate sheet visible objects Position Mark The Center Mark dialog box has two tabs Mark and Inks SmartMark Options Center Mark xi Mark Inks B Attach to Sheet Object Hame i g t f1o 000mm f10 000mm leh 0 000 mm Mark Mark Inks Attachto Sheet gt ObjectNeamef t 10 000mm f10 000mm leg 0 000 mm There are four kinds of Center Marks e Center mark 1 on page 187 e Center mark 2 on page 188 e Center mark 3 on page 189 e From file 186 Center mark 1 Attach ta Sheet Object Mane g t 10 000mm omm l 0 000 mm Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Define the vertical and horizontal dimensions D Define the diameter Define the thickness of the mark s lines e Defines the distance between the mark and the object the Center Mark is attached to Tor ESKOS 188 Center mark 2 Attach to Sheet Gyject ane g t 10 000mm e food mm erp 0 000 mm Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Define the vertical and horizontal dimensions D Define the diameter Define the thickness of
422. ses and new masks are applied to the stations on the plate The decision that you made for each record is applied to all instances where that particular overlap occurs on the plate When you use Adjust Masks you only need to tell Esko Plato your mask decision once Esko Plato knows all the locations where that decision should be applied Tip You can indicate your prefered way of masking by selecting Manual or Quick in the Defaults tab of the Preferences dialog box Selecting an option in the adjust mask dialog will change the setting for the current file 4 5 2 Splitting an Overlap Record There may be cases in which you need to treat part of an overlap one way and the other part ina different way Since a single record is modified by a single decision you cannot do this unless you 74 Plato cut the overlap into two pieces You use the Split Overlap tool pe to create two different records from a single record In the following example the two tuck flaps need to be underneath the two main panels Since there is one overlap that needs to be treated in two different ways this overlap needs to be split You use the Adjust Masks tool as shown above to split one overlap record into two records To split an overlap 1 Locate the overlap record you want to cut 2 Click the Split Overlap tool The tool is selected in red as a one shot tool the cursor turns into Scissors 3 Click and drag in the document window where yo
423. size Inserts the vertical size of the job Job H size Inserts the horizontal size of the job Job sizes Inserts the vertical and horizontal job sizes Page number Inserts the page number Localized Inserts the job s localized modification date Choose a format date long Modification Date date time 213 ESKOS 214 Date Time Date Time Localized Date and Time Typographic Superscript Subscript Normal Underline On Underline Off Elastic Space Vertical space User Information User Name Workstation Name Output Parameter Plato Inserts the current date dd MMM yy Inserts the current time hh mm ss Inserts localized date and time Choose a format date long date time Puts text in superscript Puts text in subscript Makes text normal without characteristics Underlines the text Counters the Underline On option Inserts an elastic whitespace Inserts an fixed white space You can define the fixed space Inserts a vertical fixed space You can define this space yourself Inserts the user name Inserts the workstation name These strings of information are derived from the output settings in the editor or from the ticket used on the server these work only when applied in a set used during output PostScript or PDF output or during Esko FlexRip output Resolution Color Strategy Source Profile Destination Profile Screen Based DGC DGC Dotshape V H Distortion V H Scale
424. slllustrator writes patterns in a different way than PostScript does default behavior is that Illustrator patterns will be optimized Normally this speeds up the further processing less linework in your file sometimes though the optimization itself may take some time Use PostScript rules for color conversionCheck this box to make sure that all color management will happen using PostScript rules in stead of BGCMS 107 ESKOS M Recognize ArtScreen lpi angle Check this box and the application will try to recognize screens that are created in ArtPro applications and swap them to Esko Graphics screens If a E PS or PDF file with an unknown ArtScreen is imported an error will be generated For more information please refer to the ScreenFilter user manual 5 8 3 EPF 108 Images Other EFF Fi borders to Rice Fit margins to graphics iM Place External al Customized Settings Fit Borders toThis options allows you to specify the borders and indirectly also the margins of the output file One of the following rectangular areas of your document may be selected as borders of the output file Artboard The borders of the output file will be set to the Artboard of the document Graphics The borders of the output file will be set to the bounding box of all artwork in the document Crop Marks The borders of the output file will be set to the Crop Marks defined in the document This option is available only when a Cro
425. splayed in black will be added to your repetition This is not the case for marks displayed in white You can insert black text in the text field If you click the envelope the Extended marks dialog box appears which allows you to influence the settings for the marks that are displayed in black SmartMark Options barcomarks x Job Name Date Cutting Marks Centermarks 10 fas Ot 7 Grayscale tE Stat i00 EN pE B Stop ho Step ho Character style e Ocr 861 Ocr B Machine Read B5 Weight Foman Style Upright Size 1 0p Distance Objects to Trim Box Border 2 Ink Names Marks inside plate Bleed L Click the 90 degree corner mark to display bleed marks on your job The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition This is not the case for white marks Cutting marks Click the Cutting marks to display the cutting marks on your job The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition This is not the case for white marks Click the Barcomarks envelope to display the Extended Barcomarks dialog box which allows you to influence the settings for Cutting Marks You can define the length and thickness of the cutting marks and specify the distance from the cutting marks to the borders 235 ESKO centermarks Click the Centermarks to display the centermarks on your job The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition This is not the case
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427. st of marks Open Set opens a saved set Load Set adds a saved set to your list Save Set saves your list Save as Set saves your list under a new name A list of recently used sets Tip To change the name of a SmartMark click it in the list and edit the field Tip An easy way to identify the elements in your job is to use Position Marks Select the object The SmartMarks dialog box highlights Untitled SmartMarks E i Gek untitled M Standard Strip MI Text Mark m Margins Visible Objects Click and hold this item the field will become editable enter a new name Note It is important to know that all sets will be saved in the data directory of Esko Plato bg_data_marks_v010 dat Note Although the extension of a SmartMark set is GRS sets can both be used in PLA files as in PDFPLA documents 387 10 ESKO Plato For additional information on how to work with SmartMarks please refer to the chapter Using SmartMarks 10 38 Stagerred Cutting 388 Staggered Cutting x Path Shape Options Repeat Length SheetH eight i W Extend to Plate Edge l Gap at Seam ap Shee fo 50000 mm T Inside sheet only lM Truncate on Center l Round Comers Badius 200000 mm Separation Options W All Separations Y w PANTONE 280 wv PANTONE 24 kra E PANTONE Red 032 C Cutting Options I Tile Plate Humber of
428. stations used in a layout Station View In the Station View you are basically working on one side of a station As stated earlier on a station can contain graphics a die shape a mask and station marks The Station View offers all functionality to create and manipulate these objects e import graphics e create a die shape e align graphics and die shape e create a mask based on the die shape e add station marks e add station numbers 2 3 3 Typical workflows Your first task when starting a new plate layout is to determine which of Esko Plato s workflows you need to use The workflow that you choose will determine how to start building your plate layout Esko Plato supports different workflows a CAD based SmartLayout and Grid based Layout Workflow The fundamental difference between the CAD based layout on the one hand and the SmartLayout or Grid based layout on the other hand is that in CAD based layouts the position of the stations is dictated by the CAD layout whereas in the other workflows the position of the stations can be defined manually manual workflows The process of creating a plate is usually a logical progression First you define the sheet and plate size Next you create the stations that you plan to include on the plate You can either use the Station dialog box or the Station View to create stations containing graphics dies masks and station marks Finally you add stations and marks to the plate to create
429. sts by default to split masks Once a decision has been made it is applied to all similar mask occurrences over the entire plate The Adjust Masks tool will create new masks that are applied to the stations on the plate The stations original masks are not altered To use Adjust Masks 1 On the Tools menu click Adjust Masks The Adjust Masks dialog box appears Adjust Masks my zj Quick Adjust A3 All the statione masks will be split between the dies f Adjust Manually Scanned K lt gt or Hel 144 a instances Masks Overlap Split AB AB A3 2 Limit Bleed to 5 000 mm Cancel OK 2 You can either opt for a quick adjust or choose to adjust the masks manually When choosing Quick Masks the masks will be split based on the size of the adjoining panels flaps large panels are automatically bleeding into smaller ones asuming that smaller panels are 2 Plato the invisible flaps The example underneath shows an example the dark blue panel at the bottom is spread into the light blue glue strip The masks are not updated in real time but they will be updated just before saving the file To force an update of the Quick Masks you can use the Adjust Mask dialog box The status of the masks will be indicated in the Status bar If the masks are not up to date a warning will be displayed T Quick Masks please adjust Front Manual masks SmartFlaps allows you to decide on t
430. t window The mark options dialog box will appear Make any changes and click OK to update the mark in the document window You can also edit a SmartMark from the SmartMarks window 1 Select SmartMarks on the Production menu The SmartMarks window appears 2 In the SmartMarks window click the name of the mark that you want to edit 3 On the fly out menu click Options The mark options dialog box will appear 4 Edit the parameters and click OK You can also double click a mark name in the SmartMarks window or the mark object in the drawing window to open the option dialog box for that specific mark 7 2 4 Creating and saving a set 170 If you regularly create jobs that use the same marks you can save time by creating a set that contains all these marks Each mark of a set can be applied in one step by selecting it from the Mark Set list To create and save a Mark Set 1 In the SmartMarks dialog box add all the marks that you would like to have included in your set 2 On the fly out menu click Save Set 3 Enter a name for the Set and click OK Plato Note Position Marks except for SmartMarks objects are not saved in a set 7 2 5 Using a set Once you have defined a SmartMark set its name will appear in the Mark Set list To use it simply select its name from the list The marks in that set will be applied to the current job However it might occur that you want to keep existing marks t
431. t X points Use this option to split linework masks for images with more than x points into several smaller linework parts This option decreases the complexity of the masks Workaround e gnore varnish inks in outputVarnish inks will not be included while outputting to PostScript e Add ruling angle and dotshape information in PDF Data section e Resolve once identical one ups in Step amp repeat filelnstead of resolving the complete Step amp Repeat file identical one ups will be resolved only once e Resolve once identical external filesinstead of resolving the complete file and all its external references identical external files will be resolved only once 209 Be Esko 7 e Resolve pure black overprintOverprints are normally resolved but default pure black is left alone if you want Rich Black to be resolved too select this toggle This toggle is only available when the Color Management options in the Color Management tab are activated e Limit filename size to 31 charactersCheck this toggle if you want to make sure your imported files can be seen read from by all Apple operating systems e Split multi page jobs into multiple filesEvery page will be output as a separate file e Suffix for PANTONE ink namesEnter a suffix the default is C e Maximum deviation of resolved curvesDuring the resolving process Bezier curves are sometimes approximated by vectors The maximum allowed deviation of the curves can be entered here Note
432. t and the mark will turn black Only the marks displayed in black will be added to your repetition This is not the case for marks displayed in white You can insert black text in the text field If you click the envelope the Extended marks dialog box appears which allows you to influence the settings for the marks that are displayed in black 231 ESKO m Pe Pa SmartMark Options barcogridmarks x Job Name oOo L Cutting Marks Centermarks 10 fis a Or Grayscale G Stat hoo Stop jig Step 10 Distance Objects to Trim Bos Border 2 Ink Mames l Bleed L Click the 90 degree corner mark to display bleed marks on your job The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition This is not the case for white marks Cutting marks Click the Cutting marks to display the cutting marks on your job The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition This is not the case for white marks Click the Barcomarks envelope to display the Extended Barcomarks dialog box which allows you to influence the settings for Cutting Marks You can define the length and thickness of the cutting marks and specify the distance from the cutting marks to the borders centermarks D Click the Centermarks to display the centermarks on your job The marks displayed in black will be added to you repetition This is not the case for white marks Click the Barcomarks envelope to display the
433. t o Preview Mapping Rules A DXF Layer DXF Line Style DWF Color a Any 1 Cut CONTINUOUS Cut __ toy CONTINUOUS Annotation Modify CONTINUOUS Annotation Remove CONTINUOUS Crease CONTINUOUS Annotation Move up aoe Crease Move down Units Milimeters J Design Side Inside A Inthe preview area one sees the result of the current settings on the selected file Cut lines are visualized in red crease in green and bleed lines in blue The mapping rules allow to map DXF layer names DXF line styles and DXF color numbers onto line types ArtiosCAD style The mapping rules are a simplified version of the tune options from ArtiosCAD Use the mapping rules to indicate which DXF elements will be imported as cut crease or bleed lines The mapping rules are scanned from top to bottom as soon as a DXF element matches a rule the action corresponding with this rule ignore or import as cut crease bleed will become effective Units As the DXF file format does not have any indication of the units used in its coordinates the correct unit must be defined Design side Select InSide or OutSide Esko Plato always reads CAD data in outside mode If the CAD data was designed from the inside the CAD data will be flipped around the vertical axis Plato Tip It is very likely that different suppliers of DXF files will use different conventions Some might use different layers to distinguish between
434. t the separation s that contain the cutting lines 358 Plato Select Die Shape X Select Die Shape Separation M PANTONE Orange TC W PANTONE Purple I Include Structural lines OK Cancel 10 18 Replace by Graphics File Replace by Graphics File allows you to replace the existing graphics from a station Replace by Graphics File Look ir E Plato 6 grid t hy Recent Documents Desktop Ky Documents er hy Computer O E metadata localfonts Blairon Back pdf Blairon Big pdf Blairon Collar pdF AM Blairon Front pdf J My Network File name Blairon Collar pdf Files of type PDF File Cancel Job lt None gt Search Profiles defaults Setup Size 411 425 bytes Date 06 10 20 asics MCA Time 14 04 55 eae fi This i a normalized POF Scope 3 0 file Click Setup to open the Import Setings dialog box File mfo 10 19 Save Station Saves the current station as PDF STA file Saving stations is usefull if a station needs to be used in other layouts The PDF PLA layout will still refer to the embedded internal station 359 1 O ESKO Plato A Caution Note that a PDF PLA file never keeps a reference to a station file but does keep its reference to the underlying GRS or PDF file When placing a PDF SITA file this file is embedded as an internal station 10 20 Export Station Export Station
435. tations for more information on the various options 4 7 2 Numbering stations automatically Esko Plato includes 16 possible number orders from which you can choose 1 On the Tools menu click Number Stations The Number Stations dialog box appears Number Stations x Station Mumbers Strip Mumbers Numbering Fama p23 Ff Start Direction Start with fi E E ml UU Order Automatic K m Restart numbering every row Restart numbering every Grid Preis Suffix Type Fixed Type Fired Prefix Sultix OF Cancel Apply 2 Indicate where you want to start numbering and specify a direction Enter a start number if necessary Numbers will appear on the stations of the layout Caution When numbering stations the position of the center of the label is taken into account 81 Plato v i a LY i a ee eee ee ee Number Stations Err i x WN TAVA i me Station Numbers Strip Mumbers aval yi p th Numbering Fami f1 23 H Start Direction Start with fi 0O mw UU Order Automatic A Restart numbering every column y y IN vy y AA mly j Vik i AN Y 7 lr rey TEY yy E E E E ELLE Ez a E a m m i ud i lata 3 RR Restart numbering every Grid Prefix Sulfite Type Fined r Type Fined ha Frefix Suffix Ai py SA A RN A X
436. ted die shapes Formulas Select the format in which the formulas are visualized technical formulas or localized formulas Technical formulas correspond with the way in which formulas were visualized in QuickStep Localized formulas provide a more readable format Default Die Ink In case you always use the same die ink you can specify it here and it will automatically be detected as the default die ink in the file 10 9 3 View 328 The View tab changes the way that your document is displayed Changes made here do not affect the structure of your document x General Defaults View Color Editing Files Shortcuts Image Display Quality High Show Manual Cut Lines a Red Line Width 0 250 mm Preview Anti aliaz Text Greeking fe Show selection in preview OF Reset Cancel Image Display Quality defines the resolution used by the application to display images e Very High the application creates a display image at the highest possible resolution regardless of the display information in the image file itself e High the application creates a display image at a high resolution 72 dpi regardless of the display information in the image itself This can take very long since all data of the images are read If you have however a large job that takes more than half of the CT Cache Size the display image will be displayed at a resolution lower than 72 dpi e Default the application uses
437. ter creating the bar code with the box they both appear selected in red The bar code and the box can have different color properties INKS Ink Registration Bar Code Box Inks Position W Box ETET 0 500 mm 1 000 mm 1 000 mm 0 500 mm Bar Code Ink E Registration Select Inks Overprint oa Opaque Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical Inks Ignore Varnish Inks owith Step zs fo c00 mm Box Inks Position 219 ESKO Me 220 e Darkest e Knock Out e Custom Ink allows to pick any number of inks either by name or by position in the inks list e Custom Color allows you to pick a color based on the ink name ink number or color name Overprint e Opaque e Darken e Postscript e Add e Reverse Knocks out the selected ink in the underlying separation If you select Magenta for instance it will be Knocked out in the Magenta separation Ignore Similar Inks This option becomes available when you selected Registration ink Tip This is useful when you have similar inks in your job e g two cyans with a different angle and you want to step all the inks but you only want to have one cyan Ignore Technical Inks Technical inks will not be used in the SmartMark This option becomes available when you selected Registration ink Ignore Varnish Inks Varnish inks will not be used in the SmartMark With Step repeats the mark in various inks with a step between each repetition
438. that you create You can choose whether your mark has a Fill a Stroke or both You can choose the colors of the fill and stroke as well as the line width for the stroke You can also set colors in Geometry Marks to overprint other 412 objects Finally you can choose for the color to be Registration color which means that the color contains 100 of all inks in the document To set the Style of a Geometry Mark use the Style dialog box Overprint O Stoke T z omm i Ms Formal a D Gyverprint elef fir mel O Group m Normal 100 0 The Style dialog allows you to add a color for the fill and stroke and to apply some transparency effects to the Fill and Stroke attribute Additional stroke options can be set when the Stroke group is expanded in the user interface New in the Style dialog is the possibility to apply a blend mode or opacity to an object or group With the latter you create the so called PDF Transparency groups A PDF transparency group is a group of objects that have a transparency effect blend mode or opacity These PDF transparency groups are treated as a single object relative to underlying objects A shaded circle in the title bar of the groups indicates when a Fill Stroke or Object has a transparency applied Double click his icon to show the Effects Dialog in which you can apply more transparency to the object Specifying default settings for transparency features if you change transparency set
439. the 9 points on the job In the dialog box above the upper left corner of the mark will be aligned with the upper left corner of the sheet Plato Once you have set the reference point for a mark you can specify an offset from this point using the vertical and horizontal offset fields Both positive and negative offsets are allowed You set the orientation of the mark by selecting one of the 5 orientation options 7 3 2 Span Area The Span Area SmartMark allows to create new named objects which span a rectangular area between two points This can be used to create named objects that can be used as anchor points to position other SmartMarks SmartM ark Options Areal x Object Name rea Position 1 Position 2 Attach to Sheet Dbjeck Heme Dffset 0 000 Cz mom o agg B The SmartMark is defined by e The Name for the named object e The Position of point 1 and point 2 Position is defined as for regular SmartMarks See Setting the location of a SmartMark on page 180 7 3 3 Image Mark The image mark allows you to enter a CT LP LC GRS or Normalized PDF file as a mark x Image Inks Position Hame Pe 0 B Scale foom To fit to the Sheet Clip or Repeat the Image Vertically Extend o 000 rar Horizontally Extend 0 000 mm 181 ESKO 182 e Monochrome images Can be placed in one or all inks of the job with or without step e LP LC monochrome CT e GRS file
440. the PostScript file For proofing for example a lower resolution might be sufficient Select the Dotshape Halftoninglf you select CMYK Composite or Composite as Output type you can choose to include screen information when outputting lpi and angle e Use Printer Defaults the output device s default screen info will be used e Take over from job e Some devices offer other dotshapes if they are available in the PPD Dot Gain CompensationYou can select Dot Gain Compensation DGC curves made with IntelliCurve or IntelliCurvePro Note A screen based DGC file was the format written by the two DGC Editors DGC Editor and Screen based DGC Editor These two editors have been replaced by IntelliCurve which writes DGC Strategies However a screen based DGC file can still be applied e Single curve Allows you to select one DGC curve dgc file that will be applied to all your data e Automatic Allows you to select a screen based DGC table scrdgc file or a DGC Strategy icpro file The former allows you to apply dot gain compensation selectively depending on the dot shape screen ruling angles and even Contone or Linework properties The latter does the same but also offers ink based dot gain compensation Note You can also apply both single curve and automatic DGC simultaneously resulting in a cumulation of both effects Roll Fed DevicesAccount for Media Width allows the conversion program to find the best printing orient
441. the bottom of the red selection to the bottom of the green selection Movement is vertical only horizontal position of the red selection remains unchanged Align Edge to Edge The Align Edge to Edge section is used to align the nearest opposite edge of the red selection to the green selection For example the Align Left to Right button on the top aligns the left edge of the red selection to the right edge of the green selection The Align Edge to Edge commands can also be used with a Gap Entering a gap aligns the opposing edges with the specified gap in between them olj Align Left to Right Aligns the nearest opposite left or right edge of the red selection to the right or left edge of the green selection The opposing edges are aligned leaving the Gap amount specified between them If the Gap amount is zero the opposing edges abut Movement is horizontal only vertical position of the red selection remains unchanged CA Align Top to Bottom Aligns the nearest opposite top or bottom edge of the red selection to the bottom or top edge of the green selection The opposing edges are aligned leaving the Gap amount specified between them If the Gap amount is zero the opposing edges abut Movement is vertical only horizontal position of the red selection remains unchanged For all information on how to use the Align tool please refer to the chapter Using the Align Window 10 43 CAD The CAD dialog centralizes all functionality
442. the following rules 4 Printing Method Equals Offset 4 The top example will select inks with Pantone in their ink name and that are either have Offset as printing method or come from an ink book which name begins with Custom The second example will select inks with Pantone in their ink name except if they have Offset as printing method The Result underneath shows what inks from the current document would be selected using the current filter Note Filters are stored on the Automation Engine server when connected so they can be used in all connected PackEdge Plato stations and in the SmartMarks Automation Engine tasks 7 2 9 Custom Color in SmartMarks When you select a Custom Color ink from the Ink dropdown list you can define a color and use it afterwards in a SmartMark Custom color inks can be applied e g in text marks 175 if Plato Set untitled 4 General f Sheet SmartMark Options Text Mark q xj jmi Text Mark Text Inks Position Visible Obiect Ink Custom Cor Define Color OF Visible Objects oo Grid 1 Overprint ca Opaque P Ignore Similar lnke oo Grid E lgnore Technical Inks oo Grd 3 F fgnore Varish Inks Untitled White Underprint Settings Click Define Color to define a custom color Custom colors can be defined in three ways e By Ink Number e By Ink Name e By Color Name x Define Color by Jink Numbers Ii Ink Mames
443. then need to create station files to assign to these empty stations To create a station file for a CAD layout 1 Import a CAD layout file into your plate 2 Select an empty station that you want to assign a station file to 3 On the View Selector click Station View The Station View will be activated and the 1 up CAD design for that station is loaded You can now complete the station with a graphic a mask station marks and station numbers When you return to the Sheet View the new station definition is assigned to the CAD layout everywhere this same 1 up CAD design is used Tip Select Stations in Filled Mode E DE as it makes them easier to select 4 1 3 Editing an existing station Regardless of which workflow you are using you can always edit an existing station To edit an existing station on the plate 1 Select the station that you want to edit either on the plate or in the Station dialog box 2 Click the Station View icon on the View Selector toolbar 3 Edit the station in the Station View mode and switch back to Sheet View mode When you return to Sheet View mode the changes to the station are updated in the plate 59 ESKOS M Other ways to edit existing stations e Use the die shape and bleed columns in the Grids or Stations dialog box e Use the Station Properties dialog box 4 1 4 Using Select Die Shape Use Select Die Shape on the Station menu to modify the default die using several
444. tically every Defines how often you want the application to save your work automatically The interval between 2 automatic saves is expressed in minutes Your work is saved in a file called autosave pla or autosave pdfpla in the Temporary directory you have selected in the Files tab sheet A value of 0 disables automatic save Maximum Image Pool Memory Size Defines the amount of RAM allocated for storing Image display images The higher the value the more RAM the system has at its disposal for display image s reducing the need to reload display images from the hard disk The default value is 25 of the available RAM the minimum value is 16 Mb the maximum value is 80 of available RAM Note In general the system performs quicker when the application can hold Image display images in memory note however that the memory allocated for Image caching reduces the amount of memory available for other purposes Use data resources from If Plato is connected to a Automation Engine server the resources will be taken by default from the Automation Engine server Other options are Local computer or Remote Computer This can allow multiple Plato seats to share resources even when no Automation Engine server is available for example to exchange SmartMark sets Use the Select button to define the location of the remote computer 10 9 2 Defaults Use the Defaults tab to set the units and the default origin for new documents Or
445. tically from Esko Plato 63 ESKOS 4 2 1 CAD designs automatically from Esko Plato Importing a CAD design Importing a different CAD design Plato When you import a CAD layout into a plate empty stations are created for each 1 Up design in the layout If you select one of the empty stations and switch to the Station View the station object is opened and the CAD design for that station is displayed You then complete the station by adding a graphic a mask and any marks that are required 4 2 2 Importing a CAD design 64 Another way to create a station from a CAD layout is to import a 1 up design directly into the Station dialog box Click the Add Empty Station button L in the Grids or Stations dialog box Check Based on file and select the required CAD file using the Select File button This creates an empty station with the CAD file as die shape M BasedonFile Select File Name Empty Station 1 Height fi 00 000 mm width fi 00 000 rr Color Die Shape Trim Box 0K Cancel The next step is to select graphics for this station The reverse sequence is also possible create a station and afterwards switch to the Station View and use mport CAD Data to create the die shape A OND On the File menu click Import CAD Data The Import CAD Data dialog box appears Select a file type Locate and select the file you want to import If the selected file turns out to be
446. ting a graphic creating a mask and adding marks The die shape of the front is automatically mirrored to the back Tip e Ifthe graphic that you are using is multi page the back side will be created with the subsequent page If this is not the graphic that you want delete it and import a different graphic for the back side e Because the back side is created from the front make sure that your front is complete before using the Turn Tumble Front to Back command Changes to the front side will not be made automatically to the back e If you have used the Create Bleed Mask tool to create a mask on the front side of the station this mask is included on the back side If you do not want the same mask on the back use the Create Bleed Mask tool to create a different mask for the back side of the station 6 4 Managing Inks 130 Esko Plato has several tools that help you manage the inks in your document You can use these tools to display the individual separations of the document to add modify or map inks and to calculate the ink coverage of a document Caution Note that it is impossible to edit or delete inks in Station View mode e Viewx e Working with inks e Using ink libraries e Using ink mapping e Using external file ink mapping e Calculating ink usage 6 4 1 Viewer Use Viewer to display the separations of a document You can view individual separations or multiple separations together To view the separations of a
447. tings when no objects are selected the settings are applied to newly created objects 413 ie ESKOS Plato Note When 2 or more objects in the document with a different value for the same attribute are selected an unknown state is displayed in the user interface In this example 2 objects with a different blend mode for the fill are selected in the document Also the title bar shows an unknown state because one of the selected objects still has the default transparency settings blend mode Normal while the other object has a blend mode different from Normal Color Factory x 10 55 1 Fill Style E azl a Fill F 4 L3 4 iy Normal 100 0 W Overprint i Ms orral FOU ah 1 The color swatch shows the current color for the fill of the selected mark or one that you are about to create The color displayed is based on the settings of the Color Factory Check the box to activate the Fill attribute 2 Click the Clipping path icon to knock out all data outside the borders of the path A clipping path is a vector path which allows part of an image to show while hiding the rest usually its background effectively rendering part of the image transparent It is a means to make parts of an image opaque and parts of an image transparent Usually it is used to knock out the background It is also a way of changing the rectangular shaped boundary of a bitmap image into a shape of your choice 3 Clic
448. tion E a 10 z 2 i tr The distance input field allows you to specify a distance from the gradation boxes StyleSelect the Font from the drop down list Select the weight Roman or Bold Select the font style Upright or Italic Specify the point size InkYou can choose the color of the ink an the overprint mode The color of the ink e Follow ink and gradation the number has the same percentage of the ink of the corresponding gradation box e Follow ink the number has 100 of the ink of the corresponding gradation box e Registration e Darkest Ink 201 ESKO 202 The Overprint Mode e Opaque e Darken e Postscript e Add Position The Position tab allows you to select the position of the mark by moving the red rectangle the mark in the blue rectangle the job borders Gradation Mumbers Fozition Inks Attach to Sheet Object Hame Offset I 1 0 ogg E HoE jao E Orientation Al j aK Bei fo c00 Attach to Plate Sheet Visible Objects Objects a i Use the ffset options 5 to apply an extra offset to the chosen position using OrientationClick one of the buttons to obtain the desired orientation for your image Angle w allows you to specify an angle in case you selected the rotation button in the Orientation group INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Plato Gradation Mumbers Foszition Inks
449. tion window also includes an Undo button You use the Undo button to undo any panel selections that you have made When you use the Create Bleed Mask tool the mask is displayed in a transparent color over the entire station The color of the mask is the same as the color used for the Die Cut lines By default the Die Cut lines in Esko Plato are red so the mask usually appears as a transparent red that simulates RubyLith masking material Plato Ss Plato 6 0 File Edit View Arrange Station Inks Tools Production Trappil mra ERI EGE GaelicGhost_Final_Print pdfpla l E Create Bleed Mask ye Bleed 3 175 mm VE aom e R o Rl The transparent red area indicates the part of the station that will not be shown Any part of the graphic that is under the red transparent area will be not be visible or printable The inside of the mask will allow the graphic to show through You can add specific panels to the mask by clicking on them Each time you click inside a panel it is added to the mask The selection of a panel can be undone by clicking the Undo button on the Create Bleed Mask window The selection of panels is undone in the reverse order in which they were selected When there are no panels to undo the Undo button is disabled In the following example the glue flap and the two dust flaps at the bottom of the package have been included in the mask 309 310 Plato Ss Plato
450. to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects 2 Allows you to define the vertical horizontal distance between multiple corner lines Plato Define the thickness of the mark s lines Bleed Enter the bleed distance where you want to position the marks From file If you really have specific needs you can always design your own mark and use this option to place it as a Corner Mark Hame FO Attach to Sheet Ubject Wane ait A Offset 0 000mm e000 nm Enter the Name of the object you want to attach the mark to Attach to Sheet Plate Visible objects Objects Vertical and horizontal Offset allows you to change the position of the mark INKS The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Mark Inks Ink B3 Registration Select Inke Overpririt ca Opaque Ignore Similar Inks Ignore Technical Inks Ignore Vamish Inks 7 3 6 Crease Mark A crease mark places registration lines which line up with the crease lines in the layout The Crease Mark dialog box has three tabs e Mark e Inks e Position 195 ESKO Plato Mark Inks Position Length f 0 00000 mm Width 0 10000 rrr Orientation OnRows Stations All Stations Line Types Creases Minimum Length 20 00000 mm Mark Mark Inks Position Length i 0 00000 mm Width 0 10000 rrr Orientation OnRows Stations All Stations
451. to PostScript some vignettes or parts of vignettes will be converted to images This happens when the vignettes overlap other objects with translucency or overprint between the vignette and the other objects When the option Convert Vignettes to Image is activated all vignettes are converted to images regardless of overlap with other objects Vignettes that are converted to images may have tone jumps in the final result To reduce this banding effect noise is applied on the image The amount of noise can be specified in the field Vignette Noise Compression Output Device Inks Color Management Rasterize Compression Advanced Encoding Binay Compression fiz o D ownsampling Bitmaps to fizig mi A O Contones to feo fe Encoding Plato e Binary The image data is represented as binary data This results in compact files that are not editable in a common ASCII editor however Nor can these files be sent over a communication line using a communication protocol that relies on control characters in the data stream itself e Hex In this way the PostScript file remains editable with an ASCII editor at all times They can also be sent over a communication line using whatever communication protocol is available The drawback however is that hexadecimal image data may take up to twice as much size as binary data e Ascii 85 Encodes binary data in an ASCII base 85 representation This encoding uses nearly all o
452. to edge Select the object that you want to align to Press Insert to make the selection green Select the object that you want to align Enter a Gap in the appropriate field if desired Press the appropriate Align Edge to Edge button in the Align Window ah ON 117 ae Esko m The Align Edge to Edge commands use the nearest opposite edge to determine which way to move the red selection Before using these options arrange the objects so that the edges that you are aligning are in the relationship that you want You don t have to be entirely accurate or even close Esko Plato just needs to be able to clearly identify which edges that you want to align Align Window Tips e The Align Window uses one object that is locked the green selection to align the other objects It is a good idea to have the green selected object in the right location before starting with the Align options e After using the Align commands you can still move the objects around the sheet and plate But if you want these objects to preserve their relationship with one another you have to make sure that you select and move them together A good way to maintain the alignment parameters is to use the Group command immediately after Then the objects that you aligned will always be selected and moved as a single object e The Align commands also work with multiple selections This makes it easy to align several objects at one time with a single comm
453. tomatic Gaps 6 3 lwo sided Printing e Two sided plates e Two sided stations 6 3 1 Two sided plates Esko Plato can create the back of a plate layout from the front for two sided printing You use the Turn Front to Back and Tumble Front to Back commands on the Tools menu to create the back side The Turn Front to Back command rotates the sheet around the vertical center of the sheet With this command the left edge of the sheet becomes the right edge of the sheet on the back The Tumble Front to Back command rotates the sheet around the horizontal center of the sheet With this command the top of the sheet becomes the bottom of the sheet on the back When the back side of the plate is created the position of the stations is mirrored for accurate front to back alignment The back side of the stations is automatically inserted to create the printing on the back side If you move a Station on the front side the back side will be updated automatically Any marks that you used on the front side of the plate are reapplied to the back side When the marks are reapplied their ink usage and mapping are updated based on the inks used on the back of the stations To create a back side from the front 1 On the Tools menu click Turn Front to Back or Tumble Front to Back 2 The back side of the plate is automatically created Plato s view changes to the back side of the plate Two sided plate tips 129 ae Esko m e Ch
454. tory where the CAD file is located If no matching file is found a browser will appear and ask you to locate the missing file In case the supplied CFF2 file has undergone a common knife removal optimization the option reconstruct common cutting lines can be used to try to reconstruct common cut lines This is needed if you want to use the cut lines as the basis for mask creation Create Bleed mask in Station View and adjust masks in Sheet View When this option is activated cut lines from adjacent designs and from the layout level will be used to complete the cut lines from the different designs By enabling Use Sheet Size from CAD File you can have the Sheet Size of the open Layout changed to the Sheet Size of the CAD file If the Use LL UR values option is enabled the exact LL and UR values Lower Left and Upper Right as defined in the CFF2 file are used to define the sheet size regardless of the position of the CAD design itself If the Use LL UR values option is disabled the bounding box of all structural lines is used However in that case you can include the LL UR box in the bounding box by enabling the LL UR values contribute to sheet size option in the Mappings DXF Import Drawing exchange Format Click Setup the DXF Import dialog box pops up 45 ESKOS M 46 Preview Customized Settings Click Mappings to check or modify the selected mapping Edit Mapping E xj Mapping Hame dstimpo
455. ts Texture Size 7 1 megapixel Note To avoid z fighting problems in the exported U3D files you can use the Avoid Artefacts option This will make sure that whenever it is unclear which panel is on top resulting in flickering graphics a calculated choice will be made cutting out the underlying part and giving the top part carte blanche Export Collada Archive Studio Designer can also export to a Collada Archive zae a common exchange format for 3D models 1 Choose Export from Studio s fly out menu 2 Choose Collada Archives zae as file type Export Preview File Type Collada Archives zae gt Save As 3D Presentation View Angle From Studio Window Pp 36 5 gt 9 75 Perspective 45 M Include Graphics at pixels inch i Keep Printable Parts When this option is selected the graphics can be edited later but the output resolution is limited Texture Size 100 1 megapixel 3 Select Include Graphics at to include the graphics at the desired resolution 451 ESKO Plato 4 If you want to further use the Collada Archive in Studio Designer you need to select Keep Printable Parts lf Keep Printable Parts is enabled the artwork is always exported at the default resolution 5 Click the Save As button and define name and location for the file Note The exported Collada Archives zae can be further used in other EskoArtwork Studio applicati
456. ts abut one another H C i Vertical Gap UO ot Horizontal Gap For Step the value specifies the distance between the centers of the stepped objects If Step is selected Esko Plato steps the selection by the distance entered into the Step Amount field The value that you enter must be a positive number that is at least the size of the object This option is useful if you know exactly how far apart the objects need to be but do not want to figure out the step gap yourself Vertical Step Horizontal Step Stagger 419 10 ESKO 420 Plato E gE a Select the Direction in which you want to stagger the selected object From left to right the choices are No Stagger Stagger Columns and Stagger Rows The Stagger Distance field indicates how much to stagger the object on each repeat You can enter a value in the current units or you can enter a percentage of the object s size In the dialog box shown above the stagger distance is 50 of the height of the object The amount to stagger that must be applied will be calculated on the fly To use a value as a percentage enter the percent sign after the value Activating Continuous will add 1 extra station per row column to fill the hole created by making the indent The stagger will be repeated for a number of rows or columns as defined in Restart after n columns After that the next object will be at the begin position again By setting the Up an
457. ts the sheet size and the position and orientation of the stations The CAD information can be retrieved from a CAD file such as ArtiosCAD or from a PDF file 318 10 4 Plato Import CAD Data ae EE Look in E CAD_ Workflows f c ES MER My Recent Documents Desktop RA MACADAMI_ MFG _jlogs My Documents Osta with _technicals My Com puter i gt E ENTE File name DESIGN1 MFG Places Files of type ArtiosCAD Cancel Job lt None gt Search Frofiles defaults Setup File info Size 19 456 bytes Date 03 01 17 DESIGNA MEG iTe 10 5217 There are different ways to import CAD designs 1 Up When importing CAD data in the Sheet View empty stations are being created which will have the 1 up CAD design as die shape For more information please refer to the chapter Using a CAD file to create a station Esko Plato can open a CAD file to define the plate layout When you open a CAD file you are using the CAD Layout Workflow This workflow defines the number and locations of the stations that are on the plate It may also contain a sheet size and masks with bleeds for the stations If these features are in the CAD file Esko Plato will use them in your layout For more information please refer to the chapter Using a CAD file for plate layout optional Setup opens the CAD Import dialog box that allows you to do mappings select or create a certain CAD style or search f
458. ttings dialog box pops up White Underprint Settings x Select Ink lt none gt ETET 0 200 mm 0 200 mm 0 200 mm 0 200 mm OF Cancel Plato Select Keep original inks if you want to use the original inks of the image when placing this mark Image inks that do not yet appear in the job s ink list will be added to that list Inks that do appear in the job s ink list but which have different ink settings will also be added to that list Select Map inks if you want the inks of the image mark to be mapped to the job s inks Keep ink names is almost the same as Keep original inks except that image inks that already appear in the job s ink list with the same name but with a different ruling angle or dotshape will be replaced by the corresponding ink from the current job Inks that do not yet appear in the job s ink list will be added Position The Position tab allows you to select the position of the mark by moving the red rectangle the mark in the blue rectangle the job borders Image Inks Position Attach to Sheet Ubject Wane Offset 4 0 000 C x HoE pon i a Onentation S ooo Attach to Plate Sheet Visible Objects Objects E o a Use the offset options to apply an extra offset to the chosen position using OrientationClick one of the buttons to obtain the desired orientation for your image KANAD 185 ESKO ne Angle w allows you to specify an angle in ca
459. ttribute allows to apply a filter on all inks You can select an Attributes Filter from the dropdown Note If no Attributes Filter is defined Plato will make a Default filter selecting all Inks 173 174 Plato Select Inks by Attributes Attributes Filter lt Default gt Greate if not present 0K Lancel A Using the fly out next to the Attributes Filter dropdown you can create a new filter edit an existing filter or delete one New Attribute Filter xi Filter Untitled All of the following rules Name Contains i Result 5 inks v E Cyan v B Magenta v Yellow Save Cancel ae A filter is defined by one or more rules You can add or remove rules by clicking the or button A rule can select inks based on the name ink book ruling angle dot shape type or printing method An ink will be selected if it matches all of the highest level rules a logical AND function the ink is selected if rule 1 AND rule 2 is fulfilled Plato By holding down the ALI key the button will change to Clicking this button will add a logical operator allowing to combine rules using logical expressions All of the following rules AND Any of the following rules OR or None of the following rules NOT All of the following rules Printing Method Equals Difset All of the following rules H Mame Contains Fantond 4 None of
460. tware Foundation http www apache org Adobe the Adobe logo Acrobat the Acrobat logo Adobe Creative Suite Illustrator InDesign PDF Photoshop PostScript XMP and the Powered by XMP logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and or other countries Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries SolidWorks is a registered trademark of SolidWorks Corporation Portions of this software are owned by Spatial Corp 1986 2003 All Rights Reserved JDF and the JDF logo are trademarks of the CIP4 Organisation Copyright 2001 The International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress Press and Postpress CIP4 All rights reserved Plato Java and all Java based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems in the U S and other countries The Esko software contains the RSA Data Security Inc MD5 Message Digest Algorithm Part of this software uses technology by Best M Color Technology EFI EFI and Bestcolor are registered trademarks of Electronics For Imaging GmbH in the U S Patent and Trademark Office Contains PowerNest library Copyrighted and Licensed by Alma 2005 2007 All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners Correspondence regarding this publication should be forwarded to Esko Soft
461. two grayscale boxes Distance objects to Trim Box Border allows you to define the distance of all the objects displayed to the borders 7 3 25 GRQ Image The Barcoimage dialog box allows you to specify an image as a mark and to define amongst others its position and orientation SmartMark Options Barcoimage x Hame Foszition o ela o ma Boo foo Scale Of fioo A 1 000 Repeat Orientation a E Inks Allon Top All with Step st foo B foo eeoft oo0 Paint Mode stjo pfo oo Noma Erase Gradation ho Earccimage Apply Name Enter the name of the file that you want to use as a mark e Type the file name of the image directly provided that the file exists in the current directory e Right click the input box to open the file selector allowing you to select the path and the name of your image An lp Ic grs gro grc and gra file can be used If you want to use gr files in this menu the inks from the gr files will be the inks for this marks no matter what you specify in the inks part of the menu If the gr file has no ink the inks from the Barcoimage menu will be taken If you want a different image name for all inks create as many images as there are inks e g test1 Ic test2 Ic test3 Ic Then enter in the Name input box test lc The first ink will get test1 lc the second ink gets test2 Ic the third ink gets test3 Ic Keep in mind that test lc has to exist If
462. u to import a CAD Design Replace by Graphics File allows you to replace a graphic Save Station allows you to save the selected station Export Station allows you to export the station Station XMP Info shows you the XMP info of the station 9 1 6 Inks menu The Inks menu contains following items Inks Olt Ctrl I Ink Mapping Chrl Alt External File Ink Mapping 4lk ShiFk Ink Coverage Olk Ceri k Create Ink Histogram Create Ink Eater Areas Fill Ink Eaters PAN TONER Solid Coated Alt 5hift L Ink Books Alt Shirt B Inks To add modify or remove Inks and to display the current inks in your job with their properties Ink Mapping To map inks in the job External File Ink Mapping To replace the ink separations of a external job by any color from the color palette or by any ink from the Inks dialog box Ink Coverage To estimate the needed ink coverage for the job Create Ink Histogram To add an Ink Histogram to the plate Create Ink Eater Areas To create areas which you can use for ink compensation Fill Ink Eaters Open Ink Book To open the ink book of your choice Manage Ink Books To manage the content of the ink books 9 1 7 Tools menu Note This menu will only be enabled in the Sheet View 235 Plato Number Stations Adjust Masks Reset Masks Turn Front to Back Tumble Front to Back Delete Back F
463. u would like to split the overlap record The record is cut into two different records 4 Set the mask decision for each record The record is split into two records which can be adjusted independently The two records will follow each other in the list You can split an overlap record as many times as you want Simply select the Split Overlap tool again to make another cut 4 5 3 Resetting masks When you use the Adjust Masks tool new masks are applied to the stations on the plate You can remove these masks by selecting Reset Masks on the Tools menu When you remove masks from the stations in the plate the stations revert to using their original masks as they were created in the Station View The Reset Masks command is disabled if there are no modified masks on the current plate 4 5 4 Checking the status of masks How do you know if your masks are up to date Esko Plato will display masks information in the Status bar lf the masks are not up to date a warning will be displayed Quick Masks please adjust Front After adjusting the Quick Masks status will show Quick Masks up to date In fact you can end up in one of these situations 1 Masks up to date This situation occurs when masks are generated by one of the methods mentioned above Quick Adjust or Manual Adjust As long as no stations are added or moved this status will not change 19 ESKO Plato Masks up to date LG 356 287 527 315
464. ually copied over the repeat length Stations that are heigher than the repeat length are ignored typically these stations contain an overlay layer with marks If there are any other objects that should be taken into account when calculating the centerline ex bearer bars select these in green e Round Corners will modify the red input contour so that corners are rounded to the specified radius Rounded corners facilitate cutting and damaging the plate when taking it off the cylinder Separation Options allows to define if the cutting path is to be used for every separation or for the selected separation s only If an existing staggered cutting path is selected the Separation Options are updated to reflect in which separations this path is active Cutting Options specify how the staggered cutting path will be cut on the Kongsberg table e Tile Plate will generate a number of additional vertical cutting lines The horizontal positions where these cut lines are created is defined by vertical markup lines These markup lines can be adjusted manually or numerically The number of vertical cutting lines is defined by the selected number of Tiles e Add Nicks leaves small interruptions nicks in the cutting path to make sure the flexo material remains connected and is better kept by the vacuum on the cutting table The nicks are added on the 4 corners of the cutting path e Cut to Edge will split up the cutting path so that the 2 horizontal seg
465. ue masking Sets the overprint mode to opaque for all objects containing 100 black and at least one other ink e Force Postscript Overprint Keeps the PostScript overprint for objects in 100 black and at least one other ink overprint objects stay in overprint and opaque objects stay opaque e Force Darken Esko Forces Darken for all objects in 100 black and at least one other ink WhitePossible White paint modes to select from the drop down list e Opaque Forces all objects in white to Opaque e Keep PostScript Overprint Keeps the PostScript overprint for objects in White overprint objects stay in overprint opaque objects stay opaque 5 4 5 Images or ESKOS m 98 PostScript Import xj Pages Color Management Inks Overprint Images Page Size Other Output Embed all images i B bit and Native images with uncompressed image data size smaller than 640 kB will be embedded Link external images OFI DCS Helios Fail if rot found lt 1 lt Search for preconverted files Optimize OCS Linework Images Reconvert ka Use Masks Jonea External and PS Mask Search directories Add Remove Fath Translation File Translation E Place External al Customized Settings Embed all imagesAll images become internal images Link External Images OPI DCS Helios Force the system to look for referenced images Fail if not FoundActivate this option if you do NOT want the s
466. ulator Colors Effects Grids Info Window Pan Window SmartLawout Stations Style Transform Hide All Dialogs e Workspace allows you to create predefined workspaces e Toolbars allows you to view and hide individual toolbars e Align opens the Align dialog box e CAD opens the CAD dialog box e Calculator opens the Calculator 288 e Colors opens the Colors dialog box e Effects opens the Effects dialog box e Grids opens the Grids dialog box e Info Window opens the nfo Window e Layer Browser opens the Layer Browser e Pan Window opens the Pan window e SmartLayout opens the SmartLayout dialog box e Stations opens the Stations dialog box e Style opens the Style dialog box e Transform opens the Transform dialog box e Hide all Dialogs will hide all opened dialog boxes 9 1 11 Help menu vw Balloon Help Online Help Fil About Presentations what s Mell SmartMlarks While you are learning or working with Esko Plato you may want to consult other Help features Balloon Help Esko Plato has Balloon Help to get you up and running as quickly as possible Balloons appear when you point the cursor at an icon or command If a keyboard shortcut is available for the item it will also be shown in the balloon help Formula enabled fields also have balloon help it shows both the formula and the corresponding value Balloon Help is turned on by default As you become more familiar with Esk
467. unregistered Technical 8 E Artios Crease unregistered Technical 9 PP 1d93ec8 unregistered Technical 10 E Plato Cut unregistered Technical 11 B Plato Crease unregistered Technical 12 B 1095064 unregistered Technical 13 P 1d95fde unregistered Technical 14 B 197 76c unregistered Technical 0 lt Click here to add an ink gt Load Job Parameters 14 inks Default values when adding a new ink Ruling IE Ip Angle a5 deg Dotshape ti 1 Ink Number This number which appears automatically in front of the Ink box when the ink is defined identifies the ink by its place in the inks table Tip If you want to change the order of the inks in the table drag the number of the ink towards the number where you want to insert it Ink Patch Displays the ink When you define an ink by entering its name the Ink patch automatically displays the defined ink When you create new inks they are added immediately in the Color Palette of the Color Style box as a color swatch with 100 of that ink When you double click an empty ink box the PANTONE Book appears from which you can select inks 2 f Allows you to add an ink You can give the name or the number of the ink Allows you to remove an ink Caution You cannot delete inks that are used in external references nor are you allowed to remove the Plato Cut and Plato Crease inks 362 Plato Ink Book Lists to which ink book the ink belongs Information on the In
468. ution Do not change the height of the bar code before entering a Magnification value The height will change again according to the Magnification factor that you define Characters per unitDefines the number of characters that you want to print It is necessary to specify the number of characters per unit because the character width depends on the printing process and the surface on which the bar code is printed RatioDefines the ratio between the narrowest bar which is used as reference unit and the other bars in the bar code Narrow barlindicates the width of the smallest unit of the bar code Wide BarDetermines the width of the wide line within the symbol GapDetermines the distance between lines within the symbol and interacts with the ratio gap value 1 ratio narrow bar width 2 Output resolutionDefines the resolution for the exposure of the bar code The unit is ppi If you unlock the chain the system will no longer take the Output resolution in account Add CharactersBy default the characters are added underneath the bar code when it is created If there is no need to add them uncheck the box Light Margin IndicatorCheck the box to have a greater than gt or less than lt character printed in the human readable field of the bar code symbol with the tip aligned with the outer edge of the light margin The SmartMark bar code can get part of its parameters from an external source through SmartNames If this i
469. vaie vame n2 E a WE M Inks Use the Inks tab to define the color of the Cell Numbering The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Smarth ark Options Cell Numbering Ea ore ay O L Check White Underprint to create a white underprint underneath the Cell Number 7 3 20 Grommet Mark Places marks around the anchor point mostly the plate by dividing the height and width The Grommet Mark has three tabs e Marks e Inks e Position 220 Plato Marks Select the type of mark and its settings The Marks tab is similar to the Marks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Inks Use the Inks tab to define the color of the Cell Numbering The Inks tab is identical to the nks tab of the Center Mark dialog box Position Define the position of the marks 1 Define the hem the width of the border 2 Define the distance of the marks to the edge 3 Define the Maximum interval 221 ESKO ne Grommet Marks can be used to print marks where to put grommets on a poster These grommets can be used to mount a poster on a frame 7 3 21 Position Mark 220 A Position Mark generates uncolored objects which have a name assigned Position Marks It generates a placeholder object that will be used as an anchor point for other SmartMarks Position Marks can be positioned by means of formulas In other words any SmartMark can be positioned using formul
470. ve a file where the 4 process inks have a screen ruling of 120 Ipi After placing a PostScript file you notice that the DTP operator has defined the 4 process inks with a screen ruling of 150 Ipi The result is that you have 2 x 4 process inks With Job Ink Mapping you can easily map the screen ruling of 150 Ipi to 120 Ipi Plato e You have a file where the 4 process inks have a screen ruling of 120 Ipi You place a file externally with screen rulings of 150 Ipi With Job Ink Mapping you can map all the inks of the external file to 120 Ipi without changing the inks of the externally placed file 6 4 5 Using external file ink mapping External file ink mapping is available in the Station View It allows you to map inks for the graphics that are referenced externally 6 4 6 Calculating ink usage When your plate is complete Esko Plato has all the information that is needed to calculate its ink usage You see this information in the Ink Coverage dialog box e Using Ink Coverage e Saving ink coverage to a file e Ink Coverage in the Station View Using Ink Coverage To calculate ink coverage 1 On the Inks menu click Ink Coverage 2 Select the Scan Options that you want to use 3 Click Scan The Ink Coverage window shows the ink usage for each ink in the document xj Scar Jal inside Plate Fast 7 Merge similar inks Update Calculate ink coverage on all pages Only selected objects Wc asso
471. w Selection in Preview When objects are selected they are displayed with a red outline You can choose not to show the selection in the three color display modes by clearing this box Selections are always shown in Cross and Contour display modes regardless of this setting 10 9 4 Color Default Document Profile choose the default profile from the list Monitor Profile choose a monitor profile from the list Check Warn when placing files with another document profile to have the system display a warning when placing PDF files that have other document profiles embedded x General Defaults View Color Editing Files Shortcuts Default Document Profile crom_otfs T Monitor Profile calibrator Y i If no document profile is set the default profile will be used IY Warn when placing files with another document profile Ok Reset Cancel 10 9 5 Editing tab The Editing tab sets Esko Plato s defaults for editing These defaults do not change the structure of your document they only change your interaction with the application when editing files x General Defaults Views Color Editing Files Shortcut Gravity fo Cursor Drag Delay fo Pan Overlap FX Shift and drag select reverses the selection Create polygons by One mouse click click the top left comer of the polygon and drag the desired size of the polygon f Two mouse clicks click both the top left and the bottom rig
472. ware BVBA Kortrijksesteenweg 1095 B 9051 Gent info eur esko com ESKOS M 2 Getting Started with Esko Plato 2 1 Welcome to Esko Plato Esko Plato is a powerful tool for the creation of print ready layouts It provides a robust set of automatic and interactive tools to create even the most complex step and repeat arrangements Plato has features such as Input Output and SmartMarks in common with Esko PackEdge The fundamental purpose of Plato is to automate the creation of production ready printing plates Speed productivity and ease of use are all essential to providing the best possible product for your customer As Plato offers different modules your system may not have all the features described in this publication If necessary contact your Esko salesperson for information about purchasing features not installed on your system The two main modules are Esko Plato for Labels Esko Plato is a software application for Intel based PC s dedicated for highly productive and interactive Step and Repeat work Plato comes as a feature rich basic application with the option to add a number of Label workflow specific tools like SmartLayout This is an estimation module that will fill a given page size with a minimum of waste You are presented with a range of possible sheet layouts with immediate feedback about waste and overrun percentages based on the desired quantities of each individual one up The Layout algorithms are designed
473. watch from the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right of the dialog box and the list in the Define Color dialog box will be updated immediately x Define Color by Ink Numbers 4 E FANTONE 191C E FANTONE 195C E PANTONE 115C Ink 4 unused Ink 5 unused Ink 6 unused Ink 7 unused Ink 8 unused Ink 9 unused Ink 10 unused Ink 11 unused Ink 12 unused o Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the top right Define Color xj Define Color by Ink Numbers P vyw Cd E PANTONE 191 C Z 76 G E PANTONE 195C E PANTONE 115C A x Define Color by JInk Numbers a E PANTONE 191 C w BP PANTONE 195C Ww PANTONE 115C fo bettie toe Ink 5 unused lnk 6 unused Ink 7 unused Ink 8 unused Ink 9 unused Ink 10 unused Ink 11 unused Ink 12 unused oe Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette to the color sample at the bop right F P rig a When building SmartMarks using a custom color in an empty document the color patch shows the color unknown VLE ESKOS 178 Define Color by fink Numbers Define Color by JInk Numbers Ink 1 unused Ink 2 unused Ink 3 unused Ink 4 unused Ink 5 unused Ink 6 unused Ink 7 unused Ink 8 unused Ink 9 unused Ink 10 unused Ink 11 unused Ink 12 unused LT Tip drag a color swatch From the Colors palette oe Tip drag a color sw
474. will automatically unlock lock the ink book You can either specify the ink by entering Lab values or RGB values Enter a value in the Search box to search for a specific ink in the selected book New Ink allows you to create a new ink by entering Lab or RGB values Ink Name New Ink Color Space f DS0Lab AGB Ra i Ja E Bim eal Af Add Cancel You can remove inks by selecting the ink patch and selecting Clean Ink from the context menu 10 32 Manage Ink Books Shows you an overview of all ink books that are installed on the system and allows you to create delete and view individual ink books 378 Plato a PANTONE GoeGuide Coal Mew gO FANTOME GoeGuide Unc E FJ PANTONE Metalic Coatec Oen gO FANTONE Colors Coated Delete O PANTONE Colors Matte gO PANTONE Colors Uncoate FY PANTONE Pastel Coated Prefered Ink Book for Ink Name Lookup FY designer g The selected ink book is regarded as the preferred ink book and will be checked first when inks are entered in the Inks dialog box Click New to create a new ink book on the CMS data tree All you have to do is enter a name Please refer to the chapter Open Ink Book for additional information on how to add and create inks Note Plato supports PantoneLIVE ink books In Manage Ink Books an icon will show if the inkbook is a Color Engine Ink Book d or a PantoneLlVE ink book 1 a 10 33 Number Stations Use th
475. will be replaced by the new one lf you import a new CAD design and the existing one contained a bleed mask the mask will only be updated when switching to the Plate View 4 3 Adding stations to the plate Above you learned how to create new stations Esko Plato automatically assigns or places the new stations on the current plate But there are times that you may want to add an existing station to a new plate In this workflow you need to assign or place the station yourself You may also want to replace a station that is currently on your plate with a different station This section tells you how to use these important functions e Adding a station e Assigning a station e Placing a station e Replacing a station 65 ESKOS Ns 4 3 1 Adding a Station 66 Click the Add Station icon The Add Station dialog box opens Tip You can select multiple files Click Open to add your station to the dialog box Depending on the workflow chosen this will be the SmartLayout Grids or Station dialog box Add Station My Recent A Documents Ml Blairon Collar pdf G Blairon Front Final pdf Gaelic Shost_Final_Print pdf Desktop My Documents er an hy Computer a T My Network File name Blairon Front Final pdf Places Files of type PDF File Cancel Job lt None gt Search Profiles defaults Setup Size 3 521 227 bytes ei Date 06 12 08 A Time 15 25 47 File mfo i This i a normalized POF S
476. xternal image The PS mask is discarded If the external image has no mask no mask will be taken e No Masks The PS mask and the mask of the external image are discarded e Joined External and PS Mask Forces the system to join the available PostScript mask in the PS file and the available mask in the external image Search directories Io specify a list of directories to look for referenced images Use the buttons Add and Remove to optimize the Search Directories list Clicking the Add button opens the directory selector You can browse to the correct directory and click OK to add the directory to the Search Directory list Path TranslationTo define an understandable link for paths from a platform to another platform If The Path translation dialog box opens it has three columns e From Platform Use the drop down list to select a platform from which the files are to be retrieved NT Macintosh Unix or VMS e From path Specify the syntax of the path s of the platform you want to retrieve files from e g Myw orke I OS ES Cri pEr TOD e To Path Define the syntax of the paths so that the destination platform understands e g My wenn RO Co ripe 9 lil Image Creation Pathlif during normalization extra image data is created you can indicate here where these images should be written If no output directory is specified then CT images generated during the conversion will be saved in the current working directory
477. y actions are performed immediately no Apply Click Modify on the toolbar The Modify Rosette appears The highlighted button indicates which Modify tool is activated Click another Modify tool in the Modify Rosette or press the corresponding numeric keypad key with NumLock activated to activate the desired Modify function You can hide the Modify Rosette while you are working with Modify To toggle between displaying and hiding the Modify Rosette press the Enter key while Modify remains activated e Press z to convert to B zier mode e Press x to convert to free curve mode e Press c to convert to frame mode Modify Rosette Move Point To move points and anchor points on a segment or an object When you move the points you can change the size and shape of the segment or pA object Slide Anchor To slide anchor points along the lines of a frame on a curved segment or along a line on a line A Trim Line To move the segment if you are working in frame mode The corners with r N the adjacent segments remain the same Cut by Cursor To divide a segment or object The divided pieces of the segment or object can be manipulated or modified individually 308 EI Esko M 304 m Attention e You must click a point on the segment or object not a point on the frame or bounding box e The newly created objects have no properties Make Corner Smooth To change a curve into a corner and vice versa A
478. y choosing the appropriate file type selecting the file and setting options in the Options window if necessary The default options for each file type have been chosen carefully so you should change these options only when you really need to All of the Options windows for the file types have two useful buttons the Reset button and the Customized Settings button Plato e Reset The Reset button resets all the options that you may have changed in the Options window to their default values e Customized Settings The Customized Settings button allows you to save the current settings so that they can be used later You can also save the settings as your own default This feature is very useful for those file types that have many options that you modify each time you import a graphic of a particular file type 5 2 Replacing a graphic There are two ways to replace a graphic in a station with a different graphic 1 You can use Replace by Graphics File in Station View to discard an existing graphic and put a different one in your station 2 You can use the Station properties dialog box to replace the graphics Replace by Graphics File will delete the current graphic and place a new graphic in the station The new graphic is placed based on the information of the current graphic in the station which implies that the new graphic will have the same position and rotation as the graphic that it replaces The center of the graphic
479. y specified here Image Creation Pathlf during normalization extra image data is created you can indicate here where these images should be written If no output directory is specified then CT images generated during the conversion will be saved in the current working directory Fit Media Box margins Check this box to automatically fit the margins to the bounding box of all the objects in the file Show ReportThis option displays valuable information during the import of PostScript files Information about errors linked images search directories is displayed Keep LayersKeeps the Illustrator layer information This will only work for Illustrator 8 files It will not work for native Illustrator 9 files or higher When normalizing PDF 1 5 files or higher the Keep Layer option will also preserve the PDF layers Limit Filename Length to Maximum 31 characters Check this box if you want to make sure your imported files can be seen read from by all Apple operating systems CTs that are kept on a Windows share but might be edited on a MAC for instance 5 5 Importing a PDF Tile The Options window for importing a PDF file contains the same features as those for PostScript There are two differences between PostScript and PDF import e On the Pages tab a password field is available If the PDF file is password protected you must enter the password so that Esko Plato is able to convert the PDF file e Flatten PDF transparencies
480. you may see unexpected results in a station with many overlapping and complex die contours e For masking purposes it is sometimes useful to create additional die contours to force the mask to be a certain shape or size After the mask is created you can then select and delete the die contours that you no longer need e The color settings for manually drawn die contours can be set as a preference Edit menu gt Preferences gt View gt Show Manual Cut Lines and Line Width Contour Cleanup Tool G amp P L x i Cut Path and Redraw Shortest PartTo cut away the smallest part of the contour and to add the contour segment s that you draw to the largest part Click to indicate a point on or close to the die shape it will snap and redraw a segment which can consist of different points The end point has to be on or close to the contour so it will snap again Tip When you want to put an intermediate point of your line or curve segment near a contour click the middle mouse button instead of the left mouse button to prevent that contour from being affected Move PointTo move points and anchor points on a segment or an object When you move the points you can change the size and shape of the segment or object f Delete PointTo delete points from a segment or object By deleting the points you can change the shape of the segment or object mi Change Start Point and DirectionClick a point to define it as
481. ystem to continue importing normalizing your PostScript file when it cannot find an image When this option is not activated the imported E PS file will appear on screen but without the missing images Search for Preconverted Files This option forces the system to look for the GRx CT or LP equivalent for the original EPS file If this equivalent is not found it will use the EPS in stead Optimize DCS LineWorkWithout linework DCS optimization the result after conversion of linework DCS files can be difficult to edit However it will be correct when viewed in extended preview or RIPped Optimize DCS Linework will do an additional operation to combine the elements on each DCS plate to a composite and a more editable result ImagesAvailable options are e Use Most Recent forces the system to use the existing images of a previous conversion of the same job e Reconvert forces the system to regenerate the images on the fly Use MasksAvailable options are e PS Mask Forces the system to take the PS mask present in the PS file The mask available in the external image is discarded If no PS mask is present in the PS file no mask will be taken e External Mask if any PS Mask otherwise Forces the system to take the mask present in the external image The PS mask is discarded If the external image has no mask but there is a PS mask available in the PS file this PS mask will be taken e External Mask if any no mask otherwise Forces

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