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0ECRM RIP™ for Windows NT

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1. 100 32 D 80 Q fo a 5 pa 60 5 D g 40 E D gt ao a 20 Q 20 40 60 80 100 Gray level requested Figure 11 1 Response of red sensitive paper on a Helium Neon based imagesetter 11 2 Calibration and linearization Linearization is a special case of calibration commonly used when producing output on an imagesetter Linearization is the process of adjusting values on output so that the result is proportional to the values requested in some suitable measuring system On film this is usually a matter of ensuring that the gray levels produced are the ones you request in halftone dot area coverage For example if you ask for a 42 tint in your page make up application then after linearization the output device produces that 42 tint correctly AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 327 11 Calibration Note Calibration can only provide the desired output to the accuracy with which you can measure gray levels and with which the output device can produce them See Assessing attainable accuracy on page 347 for details 11 2 1 Non linear devices It is an established industry practice to accept non linearity in the transfer from film to printing press Frequently whoever performs the scanning or lay out design uses their judgement to introduce a compensatory adjustment in the scanner settings or choice of tints basing the compensation on the kind of printing p
2. Similarly to remove a feature move it from the Page Features folder into the Examples folder You can add other new features by creating appropriate PostScript language files and placing them in the Page Features folder 5 21 Cassette management If you are using the media management facilities to keep track of the amount of media you have left in your output devices or if you are using media optimization you must specify the cassette which is to be used with the page setup Do this using the Cas sette drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Note that if you change the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 22 Page Setup Options Device you have to choose a cassette name from the Cassette list unless media man agement is disabled for that device See Chapter 9 Media Management for more details 5 22 Page Setup Options The Page Setup Options dialog box shown in Figure 5 14 provides several options that affect the way the RIP processes jobs Display this dialog box by clicking the Options button in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Several options provide compatibility with jobs using PostScript LanguageLevel 2 or LanguageLevel 1 Other options deal with more general fault conditions or are conve nience features Click the Extras button in this dialog box to see options specific to job creating applications see Section 5 23 on page 149 for details This section describes each option in the dialog box
3. 5 5 3 Roam and Preview windows Note This description applies to both Roam and Preview windows For ease of description this section refers to the Roam and Reduced Roam windows only the same description applies to the Preview and Reduced Preview windows except that the word Roam in menus becomes Preview When previewing pages the size of the image is proportional to the resolution chosen in Edit Page Setup the higher the resolution the larger the image appears Choose a high resolution if you want to look at a processed image in fine detail choose a lower resolution to see the whole image at once When you are viewing a higher resolution image the Roam gt Reduced Roam menu option is probably available in the Roam window It allows you to see more of the image in one view You must close the Roam window and the Reduced Roam win dow if you opened it before you can roam another page For most sizes of page there are horizontal and vertical scroll bars at the edges of the Roam window The scroll bars appear only when the window is too small to display the whole page at one time When there are scroll bars you can use them to move your view to different parts of the page image Alternatively you can drag the page AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 109 5 Configuring Output Formats image around by holding down the left mouse button when the cursor is over the image and moving the mouse While you are dragging the image
4. Choose the menu option Start gt Settings gt Printers In the Printers window select the printer right click and choose Properties In the Properties window click the Ports tab Choose a new port by selecting its box in the list of ports Click OK to confirm the changes 8 4 3 2 Windows 2000 To create a printer for Windows NT version 4 0 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 233 8 Configuring Input 234 1 Using the Harlequin RIP Input Controller create a new input channel of the type NT INPUT Use Start Inputs to start it 2 In the Settings gt Printers window select Add Printer 3 In the Add Printer Wizard click on Next 4 Select Local printer and ensure the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer checkbox is unchecked then click on Next 5 Select Create a new port and select ScriptWorks from the drop down selection box Click on Next 6 A list box is then displayed showing the names of all unconnected ScriptWorks Channels Select one of these and OK 7 Configure the printer and name it 8 4 4 Using the printer from Windows NT The new printer is now connected to the RIP Any printer output sent to the new printer will be routed to the RIP The Windows NT spooler will remember the names of the printers between reboots of the computer running the Harlequin RIP If an attempt is made to send a file to a printer attached to a RIP channel that is not currently running a warning
5. Missing duplicated or partial images A typical page is described by several files which can go missing or be in unexpected places The RIP finds files most quickly if the FP file and the subfiles are in the same folder It helps to use the correct file exten sion for each file type Duplicated partial images may be the result of printing subfiles inde pendently Select only the FP file not its subfiles when you want to print a final page AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 431 Poor image quality Files have an embedded resolution which the RIP must match in its page setup if you want high quality results The best way to find the embedded resolution and page size is to use a dedicated TIFF file analyzer If you try to use too high an output resolution you will see the following message Output resolution too high for this file It should be no greater than lt number gt DPI WARNING job continuing regardless Media wastage is possible Clipped images The RIP does not take a page size from TIFF IT files You must select a suitable page setup before printing the file Use a TIFF analyzer to dis cover the page size Failure to produce output open the TIFF 6 0 or TIFF IT file is either corrupt unsupported of an unrecognised type or the appropriate file type is not enabled in Configure RIP Extras The RIP displays this message if you attempt to image TIFF IT data types that it does not supp
6. The Harlequin RIP includes a sophisticated media manager For example you can keep track of the media left on the rolls of up to sixteen input cassettes a variety of materials and media widths can be set and the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth system allows you specify automatic media cutting at predetermined places such as after a particular number of pages or before the take up cassette gets too full In addition the Harlequin RIP warns you when a cassette is nearly empty and allows you to define how much space should be left between pages between jobs and between film cuts It will even save media by automatically rotating pages to use the minimum amount of film New for version 5 5 is a Media Saving feature For more information see Section 5 14 on page 138 1 3 17 2 Page features Sometimes you may want to apply a special effect to your jobs For example you may want to have the word Draft overprinted on every page Because these can be one off needs you may want to produce a special copy of a doc ument while it is at draft stage it is preferable not to alter the job if at all possible The Harlequin RIP provides this facility by allowing you to specify a fragment of PostScript language code independent of your main job to be processed in conjunction with it A fragment such as this is known as a page feature A page feature carries out some process on your job leaving t
7. To change the setting for a particular calibration chan nel select the corresponding row and then select the name of a measured channel or No Change from the available list For example select the Yellow row and then select Cyan from the drop down list to import the data measured for the Cyan channel to the Yellow cali bration channel A more realistic example might be to select an available measured channel perhaps Default for a Black or Gray calibration channel when the mea surement file does not identify the data in the way expected by the RIP AG12325 Rev 5 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box Note The RIP may detect a mismatch between the expected device profile or measurement system and display a warning dialog box This protects you from importing incorrect data 11 12 8 Exiting the Edit Calibration dialog box You must specify a separate and valid calibration curve for each process color channel to produce a calibration set unless you want to accept the default curve The RIP carries out checks on the data before it saves the calibration set If you exit the Edit Calibration dialog box without editing any calibration data the RIP closes the dialog box and saves the calibration set with a status of D This shows that you have viewed the default curve without editing it If you have edited the data for one of the process color channels but not all of them the RIP warns you and asks for confirmation that you want to
8. Dot shape Euclidean x I Override dot shape in job Resolutions ewe Ie a 25 0 Select row to edit 50 frequency for 250 IV Override frequency in job device resolution i 53 0 1 53 0 xl Edit selected row DR z I Generate extra gray levels LiriGnoriber ciaistinct Gray levelsta 1256 z I Use Harlequin Precision Screening HPS Options IV Rotate screens according to page rotation Cancel Figure 6 2 Edit Style dialog box with screening options The screening options in the Edit Style dialog box include some familiar to anyone who has used screening and some that are specific to the Harlequin RIP AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 161 6 Screening 162 e Section 6 4 Halftoning is a quick introduction to concepts if you are unfamiliar with screening and halftoning e Section 6 5 Screen angles on page 169 Section 6 6 Dot shapes on page 171 and Section 6 7 Halftone frequency explain how to use three basic screening functions e Section 6 8 Screening options and number of gray levels on page 176 describes an area where the Harlequin RIP technology provides some unconventional and valuable functionality The remaining sections in this chapter describe more subtle controls and some optional features of the Harlequin RIP 6 4 Halftoning Halftoning is the process of approximating gray levels or color shades with a pattern of dots In many halftoning
9. We recommend that you configure each sending application to close its send ing socket connection at the end of each job and pause before reopening it to send another job The reasons are e You can configure the RIP to receive input on more than one socket input for example to allow the use of different page setups Each socket must use a different address Closing the connection allows the RIP to check for pending jobs on other input channels e Certain jobs may require that the server socket is closed before the RIP can start rendering If the socket is not closed rendering starts when the next job starts to arrive which could result in a significant delay 8 7 3 Configuring a Socket input plugin To configure a new socket input click New in the Input Controller The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box Choose a name and page setup as normal then choose Socket Input from the Type pop up menu drop down list Click the Configure button The Socket Configuration dialog box appears as shown in Figure 8 7 Server Socket Details Socket type TCP by number z Address 6384 V Bi directional comms I Use Xinet protocol use for font downloading only I Use Separate Output Socket Output Socket Details Socket type TCP by number Address 6385 Cancel Figure 8 7 Socket Configuration dialog box You must make settings for the server input socket The other output and protocol settin
10. format Table 10 2 Installing fonts in the Harlequin RIP Font type Install Fonts Download to RIP Other Type 1 fonts excluding J A Multiple Master fonts 314 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 4 Installing fonts in the Harlequin RIP Table 10 2 Installing fonts in the Harlequin RIP Font type Install Fonts Download to RIP Other Type 3 fonts y v Multiple Master fonts y v TrueType fonts Jv y v PDF Type 0 composite fonts J Character identifier CID Jv J v fonts Character map CMAP files J J v Compact Font Format J v PDF CFF Type 2 fonts Type 42 fonts ZPS Type 32 fonts PS The Install Fonts command and downloading fonts to the RIP are described in the next two sections See Removing fonts on page 321 for details about deleting the fonts you have installed AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 315 10 Fonts 316 10 4 1 Install Fonts command When you choose Install Fonts from the Fonts menu the RIP displays the Install Fonts dialog box shown in Figure 10 1 Install Fonts 2 x Lookin E Dw forts fd E ia DWSerif Demi i NDSans talic DWSerif Demiltalic NDSans Roman ia DWS erif Light a DWS erif Lightltalic s NDS ans Bold 3 NDS ans Boldltalic File name Cancel Figure 10 1 Install Fonts dialog box Files of type To install a single font do the following 1 Select a font in the list box 2 Click
11. gt Monochrome CMYK Separations Contone CMYK Separations Contone gt Monochrome CMYK Composite Pixel CMYK Composite Pixel CMYK Composite Band CMYK Composite Band Edit New Copy Delete Select OK Cancel Figure 12 9 Separations Manager dialog box The Separations Manager displays a list of all existing separations styles for the current device showing the name of each separations style the corre sponding color space and the output format To display the list of separations styles for a different device select a device name from the Device drop down list When you use a device for the first time the RIP generates a set of separations styles for that device Some devices can support simple styles only Others like TIFF can produce many different styles so the names of the styles are chosen to avoid ambiguity You can edit these separations styles to suit your installation or create new ones 12 6 1 Controls and actions The controls below the list allow you to create separations styles and to edit copy or delete existing separations styles Edit Select a separations style and click this button to edit it in the Edit Style dialog box A shortcut is to double click a separations style AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 389 12 Color Separation New Copy Delete Select Note To rename a separations style copy it and save the copy with the desired name before deleting
12. sources handles previewing and output of processed pages and performs the associated file handling 1 1 1 Input and output formats The Harlequin RIP accepts jobs and produces output in several formats with the exact options depending on your configuration of the RIP The range of input formats includes PostScript language and Encapsulated PostScript EPS files Portable Document Format PDF files TIFF IT P1 files TIFF 6 0 baseline files and JPEG and JFIF files The Harlequin RIP supports modern versions of these files including PostScript LanguageLevel 3 PDF version 1 4 and derived standards such as PDF X The RIP also has controls for special handling of older versions of these files if necessary The Harlequin RIP can produce output in a variety of formats to suit various physical output devices and file formats The ability to produce TIFF 6 0 files is a standard feature but it is easy to add output options for other formats such as TIFF IT P1 files and CIP3 PPF files Similarly there are options for output to many proofing printers and final output devices 1 1 2 Versions of the Harlequin RIP The Harlequin RIP is available in different configurations and is able to oper ate on different computer platforms The configuration that is best for you depends very much on your individual needs This manual should help you assess the functionality that meets those needs In particular a version of the Harlequin RIP with a full
13. CCC MMM YYY DDD EEE is not allowed Where there is only one set of separations in the job the order of separations in the job is unimportant for example CMYKDE and KCMYED are both acceptable The additional settings for recombined jobs are these If you are recombining separations for output to screened output select the Override angles in job option also in the Edit Style dialog box and set the angle you require for each separation See Section 6 5 on page 175 for details You can also override other screening features if you wish ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 8 Color Setup 12 7 4 Recombination and composite jobs Recombination is a powerful capability of the RIP and it is as accessible and trouble free as possible In many cases it is possible to submit both composite and preseparated jobs to a page setup that has Recombine preseparated jobs selected However there are cases where the nature of the job or other settings made within the RIP mean that it is necessary to create separate page setups for composite and preseparated jobs Among the cases needing separate page setups are e The use of recombination and use of the HqnImpose procset This includes use of the page features Fill Film 2 up 2 across and sev eral example page features The RIP detects when this combination is attempted and warns the user e Inacomposite job black objects intended to knockout may actually overprint if subm
14. Using default device calibration Interpretation time 37 seconds If you attempt to print TIFF IT P1 files when the TIFF IT option is not enabled then depending on the input method chosen the TIFF 6 0 input option may attempt to process the parts of the file that it recognizes as TIFF This is unlikely to produce the desired result See also Printing TIFF 6 0 files on page 282 In the following example a TIFF IT P1 file is processed as a TIFF 6 0 file tiffdev reading H Suites Tiffit test tif as a TIFF 6 0 baseline with extensions standalone file Starting Job On 24 April 1998 08 51 42 Using Color Setup None Using default device calibration tiffdev TIFF6 compression is None tiffdev bits per sample 1 tiffdev samples per pixel planes 1 bilevel or grayscale Interpretation time 0 seconds AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 281 8 Configuring Input 282 However if the TIFF 6 0 input option does not recognize any part of the file as TIFF you will see the message open the TIFF 6 0 or TIFF IT file is either corrupt unsupported of an unrecognised type or the appropriate file type is not enabled in Configure RIP Extras The RIP displays the same message if you attempt to image TIFF IT data types that it does not support or to image files that do not conform to the TIFF IT P1 profile 8 18 Printing TIFF 6 0 files The RIP accepts TIFF 6 0 baseline files with the exceptions and ex
15. icccrd 36 IdiomSet 36 Inputs 36 MediaSavingDir 36 Messages 36 NamedColor 36 NamedColorOrder 36 Page Features 36 Page Setups 35 PageBuffers 37 205 425 Passwords 37 patterns 37 PrepFiles 37 procsets 37 AG1 2325 Rev 5 ReproductionCriteria 37 Screenin 37 Screens 37 Separation Features 37 Spool 37 structure used by Harlequin RIP 34 SW 205 Sys 37 targeteps 38 tmp 38 TrapParams 38 Usr 38 Utilities 38 WorkSpace 38 205 font conventions in this manual xx instructions in text xxi fonts 23 471 CFF 313 CID character identifier 313 compact font format 313 composite 24 312 318 322 composite fonts 312 DLD1 format 313 downloading with FireWorks 317 folder 35 317 hinted 312 installing 314 installing composite fonts 317 listing 319 minimum font set 426 preloading 318 problems with 426 Proof fonts in long format option 321 proofing 319 removing from the RIP 321 response to jobs with missing fonts 148 saving a backup file 38 TrueType 313 Type 0 fonts 312 Type 1 fonts 312 Type 3 fonts 312 Type 32 313 Type 4 fonts 312 Type 42 313 types of 312 FontSet folder 35 forms folder 35 Frequency Modulation See FM frequency deviated 185 AG12325 Rev 5 G Garbage collection 13 Genlin configuring 447 introduction 445 GIF Graphics Interchange Format 277 gray levels increasing number with HPS 183 introduction 176 limiting number of 180 184 H halftone 471 cells 164 471 deviated frequency
16. 6 Screening 192 6 11 Harlequin Screening Library Several other screen sets can be supplied for use in the Harlequin RIP They comprise the Harlequin Screening Library HSL The code to handle all of the screen sets is present in all shipped copies of the RIP but individual screen sets must be enabled using key numbers pass words Each password is tied to both a specific screening style and to the serial number of the RIP for which the option is required Please contact your supplier for details of pricing on each screen set or bundle of sets and other options enabled by passwords Where the RIP itself is secured with a hardware security dongle the security number of the dongle is used as the Harlequin RIP serial number Please note the number printed on the dongle itself and marked as serial number is the dongle hardware serial number and not the same as the Harlequin RIP serial number While the RIP is starting up it reports the serial number and its checksum a check to reveal errors in copying the digits of the serial number in the Harle quin RIP window This example report is for a fictitious serial number Serial number 1234 56 6 11 1 Switching on HSL You enter the passwords in a dialog box accessed from the Configure RIP dia log box Click Extras in the Configure RIP dialog box to display the Configure RIP Extras dialog box There is one entry in the list within the Configure RIP Extras dialog box for each of t
17. 8 7 1 Requirements All machines need to support TCP IP over Ethernet and to be linked by a net work This is the only requirement for machines running the UNIX Windows 98 and ME Windows NT or Windows 2000 operating systems Macintosh computers need the following e Open Transport an operating system extension that comes as standard on Power Macintosh computers with software support for PCI expan sion buses Open Transport is compatible with operating system ver sions from System 7 1 onwards e The computer must be a Power Macintosh that is it must not be based on the 680x0 processor family 8 7 2 Configuration preliminaries Before attempting to configure a socket you must decide what kind of connec tion you wish to make and how to implement it This subsection describes your options and what you need to know before configuring the RIP socket input AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 247 8 Configuring Input 248 In the simplest case applications on one or more machines send information to the machine running the RIP and receive no messages about the progress of the jobs It is a simple extension to make the standard output from the PostScript language interpreter progress and other messages as displayed in the RIP Monitor Harlequin RIP window available to the application sending the job 8 7 2 1 Server machine To configure the machine running the RIP you must know e The port on which the socket plugin i
18. A printing effect that occurs when a color separation is printed with incor rect screen angles It is undesirable and can be minimized by the use of correct screen angles See also HPS Harlequin Precision Screening multiple device driver A device driver which can drive more than one output device Normally you need a separate device driver for each output device you are using By using a multiple device driver however you can use this one driver to run all devices of the types that it supports For example one multiple device driver might support all your Ultre and ExxtraSetter devices N color N color is a name representing a family of systems of process colors other than the conventional four color CMYK system and CMY and RGB N represents a variable number of inks which can be less than four for economy in simple jobs such as forms printing or more than four for high quality or HiFi color Examples of N color systems are the PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector system and Photo ink technologies OPI Open Prepress Interface OPI stands for Open Prepress Interface and was originally specified by Aldus Corporation Systems using OPI enable designers to use relatively low resolution and easy to handle images on design workstations but to have higher quality images substituted for final output The RIP sup ports both OPI and the similar DCS scheme 474 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 output device A computer peripher
19. An embedded EPS file uses LZW compression which is illegal in PDF X 1 xxx PDF X 1 Error Missing Subtype in EF object xk PDF X 1 Error Unknown Subtype in EF object xxx PDF X 1 Error Subtype incorrect for embedded fil The PDF X 1 file must specify the type of an EF object embedded file using the Subtype key The Subtype key can be TIFF EPS DCS and so on The RIP checks that the Subtype key is present is one of those allowed and matches the actual type of the file kee PDF X 1 Error Invalid TIFF PhotometricInterpretation The PDF job references a TIFF file of an illegal type Embedded TIFF files must be CMYK monochrome or gray scale PDF X 1 does not allow RGB Lab or other color spaces 436 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 xxxxx PDF X 1 Error PDF referenced from PDF X 1 xxxxx PDF X 1 Error JPEG referenced from PDF X 1 The PDF job references a file type that is illegal for PDF X 1 The PDF X 1 standard allows only TIFF EPS DCS or TIFF IT P1 files to be embedded The following messages can appear as Errors or Warnings They appear as Errors if you have set up the RIP to accept only PDF X 1 jobs In most cases understanding the messages requires detailed knowledge of the PDF specification but all the messages indicate that the job is not PDF X 1 compliant If you see these errors when printing PDF X 1 jobs you have two alternatives one alternative is to ask for the job to be
20. Check that the relevant RIP input is running and has the same name as used by the Windows NT printer system If a job reaches the RIP it is likely to process successfully but you may see a message similar to this with lt name gt replaced by the name of the NT Print input Error interrupt OffendingCommand W File ip lt name gt Flushing rest of job to end of file will be ignored Job Not Completed lt name gt This can happen if you choose a driver for a printer that supports multiple page description languages For example jobs sent to HP LaserJet printers that support both PCL and PostScript languages can include problematic con trol statements at the start and end of the job The simplest cure is to pick a driver that produces only PostScript language code when printing to the RIP printers Prior to release of the NTPrint plugin v2 0r3 jobs received on an NT print input were named by the input channel and not the job A page feature was provided to overcome this From the release of the NTPrint plugin v2 0r3 shipped with Harlequin RIP Eclipse Release the page feature is incorpo rated within the NT input plugin and thus will use the name within the job The new version of the plugin will work with Eclipse Release and later RIPs AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 235 8 Configuring Input 8 5 Using the NT Pipe input A number of third party applications most notably Open Prepress Interface O
21. Configure RIP Options dialog 207 configuring Configure RIP dialog 203 extras in Configure RIP 212 for features of output devices 128 input plugins 228 minimum free disk space 216 number of parallel processes 210 output to TIFF files 113 Spool folder 241 Control key xx controlling inputs 224 output of jobs 73 separations 393 conventions AG1 2325 Rev 5 fonts xx instructions in text xxi copies number printed from page buffer 84 number to print 83 Copy Channel Data dialog 368 core RIP 467 Cover open message 428 Crdgen folder 35 crop marks 467 current cassette 467 current color space 468 current device 468 Cut media no feed command 294 Cut media with feed command 294 299 cutting media in Media Manager 298 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black See CMYK D data rate 468 Data transfer failed message 428 data underrun and printer buffer size 211 avoiding with Multiple mode 90 defined 468 Data underrun message 428 DCS defined 468 Delete Fonts command 321 deleting fonts from the Harlequin RIP 321 input plugins 228 jobs after printing 80 page buffers 80 205 densitometer using for calibration 336 Desktop Color Separation See DCS developer online processor 309 deviated frequency 185 device driver 124 469 Device Manager dialog 125 Device menu 41 device type 124 469 device independent color in PDF jobs 444 devices None 112 output defined 475 Preview 108 112 AG12325 Rev 5 TIFF 113 Devices folder 35 422 dial
22. Setup dialog box you can also save the changes by clicking the Select button In addi tion to saving the changes the Select button displays the selected device in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Click Cancel to discard all changes AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 127 5 Configuring Output Formats 5 12 Output plugin dialog boxes Many devices have features which only apply to that device For example a certain printer may be able to print on both sides of the paper a feature called duplexing Such features may be controllable in which case the device driver offers a dialog box unique to that driver containing for example a check box to turn duplexing on or off For example the device TIFF can have its output file name and format configured as shown in Figure 5 6 page 114 If the driver does not have any configurable options the Configure Device button is disabled Some output plugins allow you to set the color generation mode using the Configure Device button In these cases the Style drop down list contains only the separations styles corresponding to the selected color generation mode Otherwise the choice of separations style determines the color space and format of the output 5 13 Separations Screening and Color The options under Separations Screening amp Color allow you to choose the separa tions style and color setup for the current page setup Style The Style drop down list allows you to choose a separation
23. Single if required mode 91 Multiple Parallel compared to Single if required mode 92 4 5 Page buffering modes a summary 93 Configuring Output Formats cee 95 5 1 Creating and managing page setups 95 5 2 Page Setup Manager dialog box 96 Controls and actions 97 Reordering page setups 98 Selecting several page setups 98 Closing the Page Setup Manager 99 5 3 Edit Page Setup dialog box 99 Closing the Edit Page Setup dialog box 101 Closing the New Page Setup dialog box 101 5 4 Selecting different devices 102 Setting the resolution 103 Image interpolation 104 5 5 Sending output to the screen 107 Using the Preview device 107 Using the None device 108 Roam and Preview windows 109 5 6 Output to Preview 112 5 7 Output to None 112 5 8 Output to TIFF 113 TIFF file location and naming options 114 TIFF file format options 116 TIFF file post processing 117 5 9 Sending output to a printer 121 5 10 ProofReady plugins 122 Using ProofReady plugins 123 5 11 Multiple device output plugins 124 AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 5 12 5 13 5 14 5 15 5 16 5 17 5 18 5 19 5 20 5 21 5 22 Installing and using multiple device plugins 125 Output plugin dialog boxes 128 Separations Screening and Color 128 Media saving option 129 The Media Saving dialog box 131 Media Saving dialog box example 136 Media and time saving using optimization 137 Other options that save media 137 Default page size 138 Margins 138 Pri
24. The Harlequin RIP PostScript language compatible interpreter This is the program which takes PostScript language page descriptions as input and produces bitmaps as output crop marks Marks printed near the edges of an image which indicate where the paper should be trimmed current cassette The cassette feeding media to the output device receiving commands This can be the active device receiving a job or the menu device receiving commands from options in the Device menu AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 467 current device The term current device is ambiguous because it can refer to two different devices The active device is the imagesetter or other output device to which the RIP is sending its output This is the output device specified in the page setup for the job The menu device is the output device that provides the name of the Device menu and receives the commands generated by choosing options from the Device menu See also current cassette current color space When you are creating or editing a page setup the current color space is the color space of the selected separations style data rate The speed that an imagesetter receives data for imaging It is important that the RIP sends data to the imagesetter at approximately the data rate of the imagesetter otherwise data underrun may result You can find out the data rate for a particular imagesetter from the instructions for that imagesetter
25. To highlight the differences change the roam color of one page and then roam the pages together For details of changing the roam color see Section 12 11 3 For more information on roaming see Section 5 5 3 on page 117 12 11 2 Roaming composite pages When you view a composite page using Roam by default the RIP shows all the separations in the composite page together You can reduce the number of separations that you can see in the Roam or Reduced Roam window using the Roam Options dialog box See Section 5 5 3 1 on page 118 for details ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 11 Pages in the Output Controller 12 11 3 Changing the color in Roam You can inspect and change the colors displayed in the Roam window for the colorants in individual separations and composite page buffers To do this select a page buffer in the Output Controller click Info and in the Info dialog box click Change roam color Figure 12 14 shows the dialog box that appears Note You cannot inspect or change the roam color while you are roaming a page buffer from any page in the same job Change Roam Color Eg _Colorant Red Green Blue RoamColor 0 000 0 750 0 000 Other 1 000 0 000 1 000 Magenta Yellow 1 000 0 000 0 000 Default Red Black 0 000 0 000 0 000 Black 1 000 fo 000 0 000 EENE Cea Figure 12 14 Change Roam Color dialog box The Change Roam Color dialog box appears with a table displaying all the colorants
26. When the RIP buffers pages to disk they are placed in the page buffer folder By default this is called PageBuffers and is found in the sw folder If you want to choose somewhere else click the Change button in the Configure RIP dialog box Pages are normally compressed when they are buffered to disk so it is hard to estimate how much space will be needed for the page buffer folder because compression ratios can vary When the RIP is in either of the single modes any stored page buffer is deleted once the page has been printed In one of the multiple modes old pages can be kept if enough space is avail able These pages can be deleted automatically as required by selecting the appropriate Delete option in the Output Controller Gee Chapter 4 Harle quin RIP Output Methods Note The choice you make for the Delete option is remembered between RIP sessions by recording it in the page buffer folder Thus the choice is lost if you choose a new page buffer folder but is found again if you return to using the original folder AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 7 Configuring the RIP 206 The page buffer folder should be held on a local disk rather than on a server In addition if you are using an output device with a very high data rate this disk must be fast enough to keep up with the printer 7 3 Control of page buffering modes The options in the Configure RIP dialog box allow you to decide whether or not
27. a page setup is a named collection of settings used to process a PostScript language job All page setups are visible in the Page Setup Manager which allows you to create new page setups and to copy or edit existing page setups Using the Input Controller you can create multiple ways of sending a job to the RIP each with an associated page setup so that any user can choose an input that applies the desired settings for each job For full details see Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats partial page buffer An incomplete page buffer A partial page buffer does not yet contain all of the details of the page being rendered The RIP produces partial page buffers when there is insufficient physical memory to interpret a job while holding a complete page in memory PDF PDF has these meanings Portable Document Format A PDF file describes pages using graphic capabilities similar to those in the PostScript language Compared to PostScript language files PDF files are typically smaller and more porta ble to different printers while producing more predictable output This is the most common usage of PDF Printer Description File or Printer Definition File Files special to a creating application or to the Netware operating system that define the charac teristics of a printer Many more applications support PPD files which have a similar purpose 476 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Photo ink Photo ink technologies us
28. and then hold down the Shift key and select the last font in the block co To select several unconnected fonts hold down the Control key while making your selection The RIP constructs a PostScript language job and then runs it as if you had used Print File to print an existing file If other jobs are pending the proof takes its place in the queue 320 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 8 Removing fonts By default proofs only show a sample of the full character set in a font If you want a proof of the complete set of characters select the Proof fonts in long format check box 10 8 Removing fonts You can remove most font types using the Delete Fonts command The two exceptions to this are composite and CID fonts e Composite fonts We recommend that you remove a composite Type 0 font using the font downloader supplied with it This will ensure that the leaf fonts are removed In many cases this is also the only way to recover a font license if the license restricts you to a fixed number of installs e CID fonts If your CID font is supplied with a downloader remove the font using that downloader Otherwise delete the CID font from the CIDFont folder in the sw folder Note If there is a CID font and for example a Type 1 font with the same name the name is listed twice If you delete such a font the RIP deletes the Type 1 font first and then the CID font if you choose to delete again When you choose the
29. data underrun The result of a RIP failing to supply data to an output device quickly enough If the output device cannot stop start successfully banding or other effects will occur which may cause a loss of output quality DCS Desktop Color Separation DCS is Quark Inc s method of image substitution in PostScript language jobs The Harlequin RIP supports both DCS 1 0 and 2 0 and the similar OPI scheme 468 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 device driver A piece of software often provided by an output plugin that helps the RIP communicate with a particular printer imagesetter or other output device You can link the RIP with any output device given the correct device driver This driver could have been produced by you or by Global Graphics It is also possible to use device drivers for input devices see also input plugin device type The Harlequin RIP s concept of a multiple device driver means that you can use a single device driver to run several different imagesetters or other output device rather than requiring a separate device driver for each one One multiple device driver can run several imagesetters which have the same device type The nature of the device type depends on the multiple device driver and is likely to consists of groups of imagesetters For instance Ultre may be one device type and Pelbox may be another DLD1 font The Harlequin RIP s own font format into which most fonts can be co
30. e If you select the box labeled Allow stop start the second option will be used If the box is not selected a page buffer will be created and the page output again By default the box is not selected Even if your printer allows stop starting you may not necessarily want to use this feature Stopping and starting some printers will cause a degradation in the image AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 207 7 Configuring the RIP 208 7 3 3 Compressing page buffers The box labeled Compress page buffer in the Configure RIP dialog box controls whether or not page buffers are compressed as they are created By default page buffers will be compressed The advantages of this are e It saves disk space the compressed page buffers are smaller e It is likely to be fast the computer running the RIP is likely to be able to produce image data faster than the disk can receive it Writing smaller files to disk for compressed buffers will save time e It reduces the possibility of banding in printers that require a very high data rate Compressed page buffers allow the RIP to send data to the printer more quickly and prevent banding in the output The data rate of a printer is the speed at which it accepts data for printing Many printers require a data rate in the range 1 through 2 MB per second On some platforms this is only possible with compressed page buffers For some combinations of processor speed disk capacity and disk
31. each curve representing the linearized state of a typical device of the same kind If you are using ColorPro the default calibration set is determined by the profile Without ColorPro the RIP uses the Linear profile There are two special devices shown in the Calibration Manager as Tone Curves and Printing Press When you edit a calibration set for one of these devices the Edit Calibration dialog box offers slightly different options as described in Section 11 5 2 on page 344 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box 11 12 2 Checks in the Edit Calibration dialog box There are various checks on the validity of the calibration curves as you change settings or enter data and more as you exit the dialog box The RIP displays an appropriate warning message if any of the checks suggest a problem 11 12 3 Warning Criteria panel It is important to choose a calibration set that is appropriate for the job you are processing If you set the warning criteria for a calibration set the RIP warns you if the settings in the page setup conflict with these criteria In addition when processing the job the RIP warns you if the settings in the job conflict with those in the calibration set By setting the Abort job if calibration is on and the selected cal set does not match job option in the Page Setup Options dialog box you can tell the RIP to abort any job that fails the criteria See Section 5 22 7 on page 156
32. for no device calibration Typically you select a calibration set that has been prepared for the resolution screen frequency dot shape positive negative setting and exposure of the page setup that you are editing The dot shape and screening details are set in the separations style Some output plugins for example ProofReady plugins are supplied with reference calibration profiles typically named in this form Media_name Resolution where AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 155 5 Configuring Output Formats Media_name and Resolution represent values suitable for the output device These profiles appear in the list of calibration sets and you can use these profiles in the same way as any other calibration set The additional feature of these profiles is that select ing a reference calibration profile or a calibration set that you have based upon one is enough to apply a default color management setup provided that you have enabled an color management option See the manual for the relevant output plugin or the Harle quin ColorPro Users Guide for details 5 25 2 Press calibration The Actual Press drop down list contains a list of all calibration sets created for the Printing Press device in the current color space Select None for no press cali bration There is default entry supplied for SWOP CGATS TROO1 and there may be others Note Some of the press calibration sets may be derived from profiles when you are using
33. not form a contiguous block For example you can use this key when select ing a number of files to print Some keyboard shortcuts are specific to a particular window and only operate when that window is active When using a windowing system ensure that the relevant window is active before using one of these keyboard shortcuts Fonts and formats The following fonts and styles are used throughout this documentation ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 Paragraphs that are numbered and use this font contain instructions which you should follow in the shown order Text written in this sans serif bold face represents a menu title a menu item or a control item in a RIP dialog box Text including an angle bracket gt indi cates both a menu and the option in that menu For example choose the Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs option is a shorthand method of referring to the Start Inputs menu option in the Harlequin RIP menu Text written in this typewriter face represents a piece of PostScript language code a file name or text displayed by the Harlequin RIP If a term is written in italic it is the first mention of an important concept This concept is explained in the text immediately following in the glossary or both Note Text indicated by starting with a bold word in the left margin is impor tant and should be read carefully A Note like this one is often a suggestion that may save you work improve performanc
34. notice some small differences For more information see Entering the data on page 339 11 5 1 Establishing a workflow There are three possible workflows for maintaining calibration e Historical record e Recalibrate every time e Adjust for drifts in calibration It is usually best to use the same method for any one device It is possible to change from one to the other but you may see values in the Edit Calibration ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 5 Editing calibration sets dialog box which though correct predictions are not values you recognize because they have been calculated by the RIP Historical Sometimes it is desirable to keep a historical record of calibration sets In this case an uncalibrated strip or tar get is printed on each occasion when calibration is car ried out and anew calibration set created with the New button The new calibration set must be selected explicitly in the Edit Page Setup dialog box each time Recalibration This is the conventional method Here an uncalibrated strip is printed each time calibration is required On the first occasion a set is created with New On subsequent recalibrations Edit from uncalibrated target is selected and the values in the dialog box changed to reflect the new readings from the strip Then a calibrated strip is printed and the linearity of the result is checked and if the linearity is unsatisfactory another uncalibrated strip is printed to co
35. progress 54 dialogs language used in 217 directories structure used by the RIP 34 See also folders Disable output check box 75 disabling individual inputs 228 media management 297 output of jobs 75 stopping all enabled inputs 229 Disk space left for system option 216 disks failure to RIP to disk 425 preserving free space 216 required data rate 33 DLD1 fonts 313 469 Don t let files silently substitute Courier for missing fonts check box 151 dot gain 469 and screening options 168 compensated by calibration 328 dot shapes 470 elliptical 174 line 175 round Euclidean 172 setting in Screening Setup 171 square 174 square Euclidean 175 dpcm dots per centimeter 470 dpi dots per inch 470 dpmm dots per millimeter 470 Draft printing on each page 144 drum recorders 289 295 time saving 137 duotones in Photoshop EPS files 150 E Edit Calibration dialog 339 363 Edit Page Setup dialog 99 302 Accelerate button 157 retargeting press calibration 156 turning on calibration 155 330 turning on press calibration 156 turning on tone curve calibration 157 types of option 100 Edit Plugin dialog 226 228 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 485 486 Edit Style dialog 393 extra grays 180 with screening options 161 editing calibration sets 339 344 EDS See error diffusion elliptical dot shapes 174 Emulate old imagemask behavior page setup option 147 emulsion up down See mirrorprint Enable Feature dialog 279 enabling extra features
36. the RIP uses the Linear profile The resolution setting The halftone screen dot shape or spot function The halftone screen frequency You can enter the lower and upper limits of a range of frequencies and choose the units in the accompanying drop down list The exposure setting if software controllable by the RIP Use for Pos amp Neg Select this box to show that the calibration set is suitable for both positive and negative output This can apply only to monochrome devices Also select the Negative media box if you are measuring from negative output and use the Measurements as drop down list to show whether you are measuring with a positive or negative reading densitometer 11 12 4 Other controls Name ECRM RIP Operator Guide The name of the calibration set If you alter the name shown here you are renaming the set not creating a new set This box is empty if you enter this dialog box by click ing the New button in the Calibration Manager You must enter a name before leaving this dialog box AG12325 Rev 5 Channel Add AG12325 Rev 5 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box This drop down list contains the names of the channels defined in the calibration set Depending on the device there may be one or several channels A monochrome device has a single channel while a color device has several channels labeled with the names of the colors For example Cyan Magenta and Yellow are possible channels f
37. the background is white and the dot size increases as the gray value increases when the gray value reaches 50 the dots become white the background becomes black and dot size decreases as the gray value increases 6 6 1 Common dot shapes Sections 6 6 1 1 through 6 6 1 4 describe a number of commonly used dot shapes 6 6 1 1 Round This is a commonly used dot shape but dot gain can be a problem in the shadow areas since the white diamond at the center of four adjoining circles can easily become filled with black as the dot size grows However round dots give a smooth appearance in the highlights and middle tones To use round dots choose Round from the Dot shape drop down list 6 6 1 2 Round Euclidean This dot shape reduces dot gain in the shadow areas and is good for general purpose use It is common in newspaper production for example To use round Euclidean dots choose Euclidean from the Dot shape drop down list ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 6 Dot shapes SL 6 6 1 3 Elliptical Euclidean This dot shape is used to avoid a fairly sharp transition at around 50 that can occur with the round Euclidean dot shape with some imagesetters To use it choose llipticalP from the Dot shape drop down list This is an excellent dot shape for general use ofeme A variant of EllipticalP is Ellipticall Note The CMYK screen angles used for all elliptical dot shapes must be 60 degre
38. the color of the separation a number and the suffix For example when sepa rating a color job called jobname ps you might see 1jobnamepsC00 tif ljobnamepsM00 tif ljobnamepsY00 tif ljobnamepsKO00 tif 2jobnamepsC00 tif 2jobnamepsM00 tif 2jobnamepsY00 tif 2jobnamepsKO00 tif AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 115 5 Configuring Output Formats If a file already exists the RIP creates the next file in the sequence If you do not want the page numbers to appear at the start of the file name select the Del page num prefix check box In this case the RIP creates file names such as jobnamepsC01 tif This option is only relevant if you select Use jobname as stem The Use jobname unchanged option is designed to support jobs arriving with names that include double byte characters as used in several Oriental languages and other extended alphabets In earlier versions the plugin constructed the output file name after testing characters byte by byte and discarding characters that were potentially illegal in file names This is still the safe and strongly recommended option but when there are illegal characters it can produce files with unpredictable names which may be difficult to use in complex workflows To retain the old safe behavior leave the check box Use jobname unchanged unselected To enable the new option select the check box Use jobname unchanged For this option to work you must also select Use jobname as stem
39. the list of options for Intended Press and Actual Press included the Linear AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 353 11 Calibration 354 entry In all usage selecting the Linear entry had the same effect as choos ing None The Harlequin RIP version 5 1 revision 1 and later do not have a Linear setting The default options for Intended Press and Actual Press are None Note If you use the Migrate utility to transfer settings from a Harlequin RIP installation of version 5 1 revision 0 or earlier to a RIP installation of version 5 1 revision 1 or later any use of Linear is mapped to None 11 9 Using a combination of calibration sets If you are printing to a direct output device the page setup can include a cali bration for the output device and a tone curve calibration The RIP applies any calibration sets specified in the page setup in this order 1 The Tone Curves calibration 2 The device Calibration If you are preparing a job for a printing press the page setup can include an imagesetter calibration a tone curve calibration and calibrations for the intended and actual presses The RIP applies any calibration sets specified in the page setup in this order 1 The Intended Press calibration to remove compensation for the gain of the intended press 2 TheTone Curves calibration 3 The Actual Press calibration to compensate for the gain of the actual press 4 The device Calibration the calib
40. want to disable media management when you share feed cassettes between different devices this will prevent the RIP issuing meaningless warnings about low media levels AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 295 9 Media Management Display the Media Manager dialog box by choosing Media Manager from the Output menu Figure 9 3 shows the RIP Media Manager dialog box This dialog box allows you to configure and control media Device Mans etter z I Using online developer I Disable media management Paper feed Cut around each page 0 250 T after job between jobs 0 000 IV after pages fja before cut 12 000 I before length 50 000 Buit in feed length 0500 Length wamings Built in cut length fe coo First 5 000 f Manualfeedlenath 2000 Second 2o00 Manual cut length fe o00 Final foo Min length before cut 24 000 Select units feet z Select units finches z Cancel Figure 9 3 Media Manager dialog box The RIP displays the name of the current device at the top of the dialog box in the Device drop down list All selections that you make in this dialog box apply to the displayed device and to all cassettes that you use on this device These selections are not confirmed until you click OK You can select another device using the Device list then set up different options for managing media in the new device Click OK to confirm your media management choices for the device s that you have edited Click Canc
41. 4 Macromedia FreeHand features This option controls handling of features found in jobs from Macromedia FreeHand Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate ECRM RIP Operator Guide The PostScript language code generated by FreeHand places spot color vignettes on the process color separations rather than the spot color separations If you select this option the RIP places the spot color vignettes on the appropriate spot color separations if available There is one limitation all vignettes appear in process color separations when the job submitted to the RIP is a PostScript file printed directly from FreeHand Use the EPS file format to enable this option to work correctly For this option to take effect select a separations style that creates separations and that enables the relevant spot color separations The separations style must either specify a sepa ration for each spot color or have Other colors in job set to Yes See Section 12 7 1 on page 381 for details Note This option is available only when the PostScript Lan guage compatibility level option is set to 3 By default this option is selected AGI12325 5 24 PDF Options 5 24 PDF Options This button displays the PDF Options dialog box in which you can set the options for printing PDF files Using these options you can for example print a range of pages rather than the whole file or specify which versions of PDF file to accept You can also supply
42. 5 Screen frequency is the number of halftone cells per inch or centimeter The corresponding units are lines per inch lpi lines per centimeter Ipem or lines per millimeter lpmm For example a screen frequency of 100 lpi means half tone cells spaced every hundredth of an inch Screen angle is the angle between one side of the halftone cell and an axis on the output device not a fixed axis on the page the reference axis is usually the direction of the slow scan The screen angle becomes important when you are combining the separate patterns of dots used for color reproduction The most important consideration is the angular separation of the different screens not their absolute angles relative to the device axes ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 4 Halftoning Note For most screens you can use the box Rotate screens according to page rotation in the Edit Style dia log box to maintain screen angles relative to the page axes This may help you diagnose the cause of prob lems with patterning in the output 0 ae A Screen angle Ss A B5 pe Y 180 Figure 6 5 Halftone cells and screen angle 6 4 2 Dot shape The choice of the shape of each dot that is generated in a halftoned image is essential to the quality of the eventual image Figure 6 4 shows circular and elliptical dots but dots can have other shapes and need not even form a con nected shape within the halftone cell Indeed there are
43. 7 10 Harlequin RIP memory allocation 214 7 11 Minimum free disk space 216 7 12 Disable sounds 216 7 13 Resetting the Harlequin RIP to default values 216 7 14 Choosing the user interface language 217 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Requirements and limitations 217 Procedure 218 Configuring Input cceeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeees 221 8 1 Input management 222 8 2 Managing input plugins 224 Turning on the input system 226 Adding a new input source to the list 226 Copying an input plugin 227 Editing the details for an input source 228 Configuring an input plugin 228 Deleting an input source 228 Enabling and disabling input sources 228 8 3 Using the AppleTalk input plugin 229 Configuring an AppleTalk input source 229 8 4 Using the NT Print input 230 Installing the plugin 230 Configuring an NT Print input 231 Creating a printer under Windows NT 232 Using the printer from Windows NT 234 Printing from a DOS command prompt 234 Troubleshooting NT Print 235 8 5 Using the NT Pipe input 236 Installing the plugin 236 Creating an NT Pipe input 237 Configuring the named pipe 237 Connecting an application to the Harlequin RIP 239 8 6 Using the Spool Folder input folder 240 Configuring a Spool Folder input source 241 8 7 Using the Socket input plugin 245 Requirements 247 Configuration preliminaries 247 Configuring a Socket input plugin 250 8 8 Using the Asynchronous Socket plugin 253 Creating an asynchronous socket input 253 Sample
44. 8 10 PDF Options dialog box The options are in sections for page selection PDF type acceptance and passwords 8 14 5 1 Page selection Print all pages Leave this check box selected to print all the pages in the PDF document If you wish to print only a subset of the pages from a PDF job deselect this check box and enter the desired pages in the Pages field Reselect this check box when you have finished printing the subset of pages This enables the printing of all pages from other PDF jobs You do not need to delete the entry in the Pages field Page s Enter numbers for the page or pages that you wish to print You can enter individual page numbers or ranges separating each number or range with a comma character 270 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 14 Printing PDF files To enter a page range enter the numbers of the first and last pages in the range using a hyphen to separate them for example 7 16 If you wish to print all pages from a particular page to the end of the job enter a range starting with that particular page and ending with a number that you know to be higher than the last page in the PDF job for example 47 10000 You can combine individual page numbers and ranges for example De 27 121623724 When printing a PDF job the RIP displays a message for each page that is not printed because of being unlisted in this field This is a typical message Warning Skipping page 1 not in r
45. ColorPro See the Harlequin ColorPro Users Guide for details You can add other entries as described in Chapter 11 Calibration 5 25 3 Use of a different printing press If you are not using ColorPro you can retarget a job from its intended printing press to another printing press using the Intended Press option This is a complex topic in the general case discussed more fully with reference to cal ibration in Press calibration on page 337 In summary the overall effect of press calibration in the output path is to first apply any primary calibration for example as required for an imagesetter to remove com pensation for the gain of the Intended Press and then to compensate for the gain of the Actual Press The Intended Press calibration is not available when ColorPro is enabled Instead several options are provided for processing color data ahead of the transfer to press These options include emulating the output of one press on another type of press For details see the separate Harlequin ColorPro Users Guide The calibration set speci fied in Actual Press is always used The Intended Press drop down list contains a list of all calibration sets created for the Printing Press device in the current color space If you have a scanned image that ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 26 Other page setup options was not aimed at a specific press select None for no intended press calibration There is a default entry supplied
46. Cutting media 297 Feeding media 298 Interaction with other Harlequin RIP options 300 9 4 Monitoring media 300 Setting up the monitoring system 300 Cassette Manager and Edit Cassette dialog box 301 Using media management 305 Using media management with multiple setups 305 Low media warnings 306 Hardware feeds 306 Online developers or processors 308 Monitoring your media 309 10 1 Supplied fonts 312 10 2 Types offont 312 10 3 The DLD1 format 313 10 4 Installing fonts in the Harlequin RIP 314 Install Fonts command 316 Downloading fonts to the RIP 317 10 5 Pre loading fonts 318 10 6 Producing a list of installed fonts 319 10 7 Proofing fonts 319 10 8 Removing fonts 321 10 9 Composite fonts 322 10 10 Font substitution 323 Calibration asansasnsnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn 325 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide xi 11 1 Why calibration is needed 325 11 2 Calibration and linearization 327 Non linear devices 328 11 3 Calibration in the Harlequin RIP 329 Accessing calibration functions 330 Calibration sets 330 11 4 Example procedure 330 Devices and requirements 330 Choosing the correct exposure 333 Creating a calibration set 337 Entering the data 339 Applying the calibration 341 11 5 Editing calibration sets 342 Establishing a workflow 342 Variations on the Edit Calibration dialog box 344 Choosing and labeling calibration sets 345 Saving calibration sets 346 11 6 Consistency of calibration 346 Checking calib
47. Delete Fonts command from the Fonts menu the RIP displays a dialog box as shown in Figure 10 4 where you can select the fonts to remove As with the Install Fonts and Proof Fonts dialog boxes you can select as many fonts as you want When you click Delete the RIP removes the fonts you have selected immediately Warning If you remove a font and then need to process a job that uses it you will first have to reinstall it There is no confirmation dialog box Before click AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 321 10 Fonts ing Delete be sure that you have the original file from which you can reinstall the font Delete Highlighted Fonts x Courier BoldOblique Courier Oblique Harlequin Helvetica Helvetica Bold il Helvetica BoldO blique Helvetica Narrow Helvetica Narrow Bold Helvetica Narrow BoldOblique Helvetica N arrow O blique Helvetica Oblique Le Cancel Figure 10 4 Delete Fonts dialog box 10 9 Composite fonts The RIP provides full support for composite fonts Because of their size com posite fonts are treated specially You cannot install them as you would Type 1 fonts for example and there are certain considerations you must make if they are to be used efficiently See Section 10 4 2 on page 317 for information about installing composite fonts Composite fonts are usually very large and can consume much computer time and memory Whenever a character is encountered in a job a RIP mus
48. Device Choose this option to see the Select Output Device dialog box where you can see a list of available out put devices Select a device and click Select The possible names in the Select Output Device dialog box and thus of the Device menu are exactly the same as the ones you can choose from the Output device list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box For example the name might be UltreP or ExxtraSetter if the RIP is driving only one imagesetter or only one of each type of imagesetter If you are driving two imagesetters of the same type there might be names such as Ultre_1 and Ultre_2 you can choose a name for each device when you set it up in the Device Manager 9 2 2 Using the Device menu For most output devices the Device menu contains commands to advance feed the media and to cut it On some output device types there may be extra commands or some of the default commands may be grayed out Any output device that you choose from the Device Manager can have its own version of the Device menu in technical terms the menu is specified in the relevant output plugin at the time of software manufacture AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 293 9 Media Management 294 For example if a device takes a long time to load film there could be a pre load command allowing you to load film during the processing of a page to avoid delay once the page is ready to image e To advance the media in the current device choose one
49. Figure 5 7 shows you the configuration of an imaginary system using both single and multiple device drivers Hee ee Device1 Device2 Device3 Device4 Device5 Device Driver 47 Multiple Device st Driver Ultre Devices marked U ExxtraSetter Devices marked E Figure 5 7 The use of multiple device drivers in the Harlequin RIP Five devices are shown driven by two output plugins Device1 is of type Ultre and is driven by an ordinary output plugin However the remaining four devices are all driven by one multiple device output plu gin Two of these devices are of type Ultre and two are of type Exxt raSetter so this driver must know about at least two device types it may well know about others 5 11 1 Installing and using multiple device plugins Install a multiple device output plugin just as you would for an ordinary output plugin and as described in Section 5 9 on page 121 The plugin then appears as one of the options in the Device Manager dialog box shown in Figure 5 8 You create and configure devices driven from a multiple device driver using the Device Manager To open the Device Manager click the Device Manager button AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 125 5 Configuring Output Formats which is the icon button under Output Device in Edit Page Setup The Device Man ager is also available from the Harlequin RIP menu Plugin MultiDev i32 ri Final Proof Capstan stop start 0 Draft Printer Sheet Device
50. Garbage collection With the Eclipse Release of the Harlequin RIP garbage collection has been implemented Garbage collection is performed when memory is low and reclaims the memory occupied by composite objects that are no longer acces sible to the PostScript program This helps some jobs that allocate a lot of memory but not all Some jobs that could not partial paint will now need significantly less memory than before When garbage collection starts a message is displayed on the console win dow Garbage collection is controlled using the PostScript Language operator vmreclaim AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 13 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 14 For more information on garbage collection see section 3 7 4 of the The PostScript Language Reference 3rd Edition 1 3 6 Headless RIP Option The headless RIP functionality that was introduced in Harlequin RIP versions 4 5 and 4 6 is also available in Harlequin RIP 5 0 1 3 7 FlatOut RIP version 5 0 and all subsequent Harlequin RIP 5 releases are capable of stitching single page PGB files into a predefined flat This feature enables the development of page based workflows around the Harlequin RIP Three components are required to produce a stitched flat 1 A background PGB file You can create a background in a page layout application and then convert the PostScript language code to a PGB using the Harlequin RIP This flat background contains a slot for ea
51. HCS and HDS correctly e Overriding screen angles e Recombining preseparated jobs e Warning of an attempt to separate a preseparated job Identifying the color in auto separated jobs is simple but all versions of the RIP supporting HSL are also capable of detecting which color is being inter preted in preseparated PostScript from a very wide variety of applications While the detection methods used have a very high success rate they are not guaranteed to function with all PostScript language files generated by appli cations See Section 12 7 2 on page 384 for details about the Recombine preseparated jobs option 6 13 Using Harlequin Harpoon PCI Halftone screening is computationally intensive and can dramatically slow down the rendering of a page One solution to this bottleneck is off loading halftone screening calculations to specially designed hardware See Appendix C Harpoon PCI Screening Accelerator for details AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 201 6 Screening 202 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 Configuring the RIP Chapter 3 through Chapter 6 describe how you can use the Harlequin RIP to configure the appearance of any page of output sent to a printer or the screen This chapter shows how you can also configure the way in which the RIP works allowing you to get the best performance from the RIP working with your particular computer network and output devices together with system software
52. Install Note Normally only LaserWriter font format files and PC format files with a pfb or pfa extension are visible in the upper list box If your fonts are not in this format select All Files from the Files of type drop down list Use the Look in drop down list to use other directories or drives You can also select several fonts and install them together Shift To select a block of several files select the first file in the block and then hold down the Shift key and select the last file in the block en To select several unconnected files hold down the Control key while making your selection A successfully installed font produces the message Installed font font_name in Type 42 format ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 4 Installing fonts in the Harlequin RIP The Install Fonts command will install into the RIP Type 1 excluding multiple master fonts Type 3 and single byte PC format TrueType fonts or OpenType fonts with TT outlines There is no support for double byte fonts Macintosh format resource fork fonts or OpenType fonts with CFF outlines If you try to install a file that does not contain a font or that contains a font of another type the RIP displays a message in the RIP Monitor This will not harm the RIP or the file in any way the RIP just refuses to install it All fonts installed are placed in the fonts folder in sw If a font is of Type 1 it will be converted into DLD1
53. Long and Short Error messages generated by the RIP are generally fairly con cise These page features make the RIP generate longer and shorter but longer than normal error messages Fill Film This puts as many pages of a multi page job onto the output media as will fit The size of the input pages is determined by the setpagedevice or setpageparams call or the first BoundingBox or PageBoundingBox comments if there is no setpagedevice and as Letter if there is no indication at all The output page size is taken as it stands on entry typi cally from the page setup Image Replacement This will load both OPI and DCS image replacement code List Spot Colors This lists to the system monitor console the names of all the spot colors accessible in the current job Also loads the level 1 separator so all level 1 spot colors are also displayed Print info on error Use this to add additional information related to PostScript errors to the output and to image the page interpreted so far Print page on error Use this file as a page feature or a boot option in HqgnOEM to print partial pages when a PostScript error other than inter rupt or timeout occurs Note Each page feature is a simple text file and contains a similar description some times with more detail as a comment AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 143 144 5 Configuring Output Formats 5 20 2 Adding other features The Enable Feature list provides a num
54. Media saving is enabled for each page setup by clicking the Media Saving option situ ated in the lower left section of the Edit Page Setup dialog box With the media saving option selected jobs processed in the RIP are automatically grouped together with other jobs according to resolution bit depth paper type and output device The jobs are only output to the device when the page is full A collec tion of jobs on a page is known as a flat For example you may have a 32 inch roll installed in the output device and a queue of three A4 sized jobs waiting to be output Instead of printing a single job along the width of the roll the RIP will fit all three jobs along the width of the roll ultimately saving media The Media saver works by receiving page buffers from the RIP In the pagebuffer header there are fields specifying the media width and media height page width and page height The Media saver uses the media width and media height values as the size of the flat and page width and page height value as the size of the page If the device supports cassettes the media width and media height values are defined in the Cassette manager If the device is a roll media height in the page buffer is the same as the page height and is ignored by the media saver If the device does not support cassettes the media width and media height values are those entered by the user in the Page Layout dialog box Again the roll device rule ECRM RIP Opera
55. Mediumltalic and ZapfDingbats into the RIP ZapfChancery MediumItalic HONloadfont ZapfDingbats HONloadfont The RIP may take slightly longer to start up but any jobs using these fonts will run considerably faster Pre loading a composite font takes longer than pre loading other types of font but saves more time for each job using it ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 6 Producing a list of installed fonts 10 6 Producing a list of installed fonts Sometimes you will need to know whether a particular font is currently installed in the RIP You can produce a list of all the currently installed fonts by choosing Fonts gt List Fonts This list will appear in two places e The Harlequin RIP window this lets you see immediately whether or not fonts are installed e The file LOGFILE in the sw folder this provides a more permanent record of which fonts were installed at a particular time The date and time accompanies every list 10 7 Proofing fonts Sometimes you may want to produce a formatted listing of all the characters in a particular font known as a proof This would normally entail writing a special PostScript language job to produce the listing but the RIP allows you to produce a proof of any installed font automatically Note The RIP cannot proof CID fonts If you request such a proof the RIP uses a substitute font which is Courier unless your supplier has configured a different substitute Pala
56. N8 and S1 through S10 and each is visibly labeled ISO 400 in the image The alternate data is calcu lated from the primary data has a lower spatial resolution and is visibly labeled ISO 300 in the image The names of the alternate data files end in the letter A resulting in the names N1A S1A and so on A 7 PDF troubleshooting The methods of control provided by the PDF Options dialog box mean that it is possible to reject PDF files that are valid but that fail to meet strict criteria such as the PDF X 1 specification It is also possible for PDF jobs to be badly constructed or for required external files to be missing or in the wrong location Always inspect the RIP Monitor window or log file if you see prob lems with printed output You may see the following effects or messages No pages printed Check in the PDF Options dialog box that the PDF job is of the required type for Accept type s and that it contains at least one page matching the pages or ranges in the Pages field AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide Poor color matching Check that you have an appropriate match of color spaces and manage ment in the PDF job and in the page setup in use If the problem appears in an image also check that it is not a low resolution OPI preview being used to substitute for a missing OPI high resolution image Areas missing from the page or printed at low resolution Check that any files referenced by OPI are present and that OP
57. Optional Plugins and from the Products menu choose NIPrint Plugin 2 0r3 Click Add to add the plugin to the list of products to install and click Install to begin copying the files from the CD When the plugin is installed the Installation complete message appears After installing the files close the Product Installer window The Product installer places the NT Print plugin install wizard in the Plugins Ntprint folder which is at the same level as the sw folder You should now use the NT Print install wizard which places the plugin file in the Plugins SW Inputs folder and prepares Windows NT so that you can create a printer using the plugin To use the install wizard 1 3 Exit all running applications Run the file Setup exe found in the Plugins Ntprint folder When the installation program asks you choose the folder in which the Harlequin RIP is installed To help you identify it remember that this folder contains both the Plugins and sw folders Wait for the installation process to finish Reboot the computer Now that the plugin is installed you can create a Harlequin RIP input 8 4 2 Configuring an NT Print input To create and configure a new socket input T Click New in the Input Controller The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box Choose NT Input from the Type drop down list Give the input a suitable name and select a page setup Select the Enabled box AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP O
58. Output Controller Monitor This box is selected by default so that you can hold pages for on screen viewing before sending the pages to real output devices 3 1 2 Creating a simple job You also need to set up a sample job Usually jobs are files created by another application but you can create a simple job within the RIP as follows 1 From the Fonts menu choose Proof Fonts A window appears with a list of the available fonts which the Harlequin RIP can use with any of its possible output devices See Figure 3 3 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 53 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP Proof Highlighted Fonts x NewCenturySchlbk Bold NewCenturySchibk Boldltalic NewCenturySchibk ltalic NewCenturySchibk Roman NotDefFont zl Page Setup I Proof fonts in long format Cancel Figure 3 3 Proof Highlighted Fonts dialog box 2 Select between one and six fonts To select a range of fonts click on the first font of that range and then hold down the Shift key when you click to select the last font 3 From the Page Setup drop down list select Default Page Setup 4 Click the Proof button Several things happen on screen with some items appearing and quickly disappearing again e A Print File menu appears alongside the other RIP menu titles This menu disappears when the job is complete e The status area on the right of the tool bar in the Harlequin RIP window shows an animated pictur
59. Plugins that require a password for each device type that they provide Multiple device plugins that require a password but group several device types so that they can be enabled with a single password You should receive appropriate instructions and passwords when receiving these plugins and security dongles AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 213 7 Configuring the RIP 214 7 9 Specifying prep files Prep files are libraries of PostScript language routines that can be down loaded into a RIP and used whenever necessary Many LaserWriter drivers require certain libraries to be loaded before they can be used You can select the following options in the Configure RIP Options dialog box 7 9 1 Automatic prep loading This is a built in mechanism that if the option is selected automatically loads the correct prep file whenever it is needed This can save a lot of time for applications printing over networks especially when these applications require different prep files For example different prep files are used by differ ent LaserWriter drivers on different machines by different applications Automatic prep loading is selected by default 7 9 2 Startup prep If this box is selected the prep file selected in the drop down list is pre loaded when you start up the RIP Select the prep file that is used most often by the jobs sent to the RIP You do not have to use this option if automatic prep loading is already switched o
60. Precision Screening on page 183 6 8 Screening options and number of gray levels It is an occasional requirement to know and possibly control the number of gray levels produced on a rendered page 6 8 1 How many gray levels can you see Many studies have been published explaining just how many gray levels the human eye can distinguish or how many levels a printing press can produce from halftones The results vary from around a hundred to over a thousand depending on defined viewing conditions and the exact definition of what constitutes a distinguishable difference The most worrying aspect of these ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 8 Screening options and number of gray levels studies is that most of them are correct under the circumstances in which they were carried out they determined the right result The only thing to do at this stage is to throw away such studies and build on observations of real world printing 6 8 2 How many gray levels do you get Conventional screens can produce a maximum number of gray levels linked to the resolution of the output device and the screening frequency If you do not enable extra grays you get as many gray levels as the number of laser spots in a halftone cell plus one for all spots off that is white This number is given by the expression resolution j screen frequency Thus at 100 lines per inch lpi and 2540 dots per inch dpi you get 646 gray levels
61. Process amp Spot Colors or for Monochrome only by selecting from the Print for drop down list The output format is determined by the separations style of the page setup The Monochrome only option supports calibration of a monochrome device such as an imagesetter Choose this option to print a single calibration strip for a page setup that normally generates separations This ability removes any need to produce a page setup used only for calibration 11 10 1 Buttons Clicking a button prints at least one calibration target and more if you have selected several page setups using the From Page Setups list as described in Section 11 10 2 The options are Print uncalibrated target Prints a target without using a calibration set even if the selected page setup has one or more calibration sets associated with it AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 355 1l Calibration 356 Print calibrated target Prints a target using the calibration set or sets associ ated with the selected page setup If the output device has not changed since the calibration set was created then the nominal density values and the measured ones should be the same Print uncalibrated press target Prints a target for a printing press without using a cali bration set You must select a page setup that produces separated output Print calibrated press target Prints a target using the calibration set or sets associ ated with the selected page s
62. RIP and the sending applications operate When Socket Type is TCP by number enter the number of the port The socket plugin listens on the chosen port When Socket Type is TCP by name enter the name of the service The socket plugin gets the port number by looking up the name in the services database etc services or an equivalent file and listens on the chosen port AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 251 8 Configuring Input 252 When Socket Type is Local the socket communication is made by using a socket style file on the file system Enter the file name in the Address field 8 7 3 2 Bi directional communications and protocol These check boxes allow you to specify if and how the Harlequin RIP should return information to the application sending a job Bi directional comms Select this box when you wish the RIP to pass responses back to the sending application The RIP passes these responses on the server socket when Use Separate Out put Socket is not selected or on the output socket when Use Separate Output Socket is selected in which case you must also configure the Output Socket Details Use Separate Output Socket Select this box to use a separate output socket for responses from the RIP to the sending application You must use a separate output socket if the sending appli cation s cannot accept responses on the channel used to send jobs This box is irrelevant if Bi directional comms is not select
63. RIP Operator Guide 287 8 Configuring Input 288 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 Media Management This chapter describes how the RIP provides ways of monitoring and manag ing the use of media in a range of output devices It also describes how you can configure these ways to suit your operation 9 1 Why manage your media In a typical printing environment you might have access to a number of dif ferent imagesetters each of which takes one of several feed cassettes or drum recorders each of which holds a roll of continuous media You may use sev eral feed cassettes on one imagesetter or share one between several imageset ters You may even do both Figure 9 1 on page 290 shows a possible printing environment This environ ment can produce several operational needs Suppose that you want to produce output from the RIP on a particular output device using one of the cassettes available to you Which cassette should you use You do not want to use one that is low on media in case it runs out before the job is printed At the same time you want to make the most economical use of media If a cassette contains just the right amount of the correct media for a job it makes sense to use it instead of another one so that media is not wasted AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 9 Media Management 290 The output take up cassette is also worth monitoring You may want to pro cess all of a job together an
64. RIP chan nel or you can connect an existing printer to the RIP channel The procedures are different for Windows NT version 4 0 and Windows 2000 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 4 Using the NT Print input 8 4 3 1 Windows NT version 4 0 To create a printer for Windows NT version 4 0 1 Choose the menu option Start gt Settings gt Printers In the Printers window open Add Printer Select My Computer and click Next Click Add Port In the Available Printer Ports list select ScriptWorks and click New Port A list box appears showing the names of all unconnected RIP channels Select one of these and click OK Click Close to close the Printer Ports window and click Next Configure the printer To do this choose a manufacturer and printer model from the lists or click Have Disk if you have a special driver for the printer you wish to emulate with the RIP If you do not have a special driver choose one for a PostScript compatible printer that supports the features you require Name the printer and click Next Choose whether or not to share the printer giving it a shared name if you do share it and click Next Choose to print a test page and click Finish Windows copies some con figuration files and prints the test page You should see the RIP become busy on the NT Input in the Input Controller To use the printer see Section 8 4 4 If you later want to reassign the printer to another port do this 1 2
65. Section 3 2 A more complex use of the Harlequin RIP when the RIP was published as a network printer In particular you can define sev eral spool folder inputs each with a different page setup to match the needs of different users or applications If you find it convenient you can use the same page setup with a spool folder and other types of input To define a spool folder follow these steps 1 Choose Input Controller from the Harlequin RIP menu or bring that window to the front if there is already a check mark against that menu option When the Input Controller dialog box appears click New In the Input Channel Edit dialog box choose a Name for the output device you are about to publish say SpoolPrint and type it in Choose Spool Folder from the Type menu and for Page Setup choose an appropriate page setup Click Configure to specify the folder The default folder is called Spool in the sw folder You can use any other folder that the RIP can access See Using the Spool Folder input folder on page 246 for more information Exit the Spool Folder Configuration dialog box by clicking OK 2 Inthe Input Channel Edit dialog box select the Enabled box and click OK to exit If necessary choose Start Inputs from the Harlequin RIP menu You will see a dial appear as the new setup is published This starts the spool folder and any other enabled inputs If there are files already in the spool folder the RIP asks if you wan
66. The result is that each TIFF file has a predictable name but that name may be illegal because of length or characters used in the name It is very dangerous to use this option where the form of incoming job names is not known before submission to the RIP To recap the full path and name of a TIFF file can be as complex as the following example D RIP TIFF_Folder 300 1 jobnamepsM00 tif In this example 300 is the resolution of the TIFF file The preceding text is the path to the selected folder and the following text is the file name 5 8 2 TIFF file format options All the remaining options in the dialog with the exception of Anti Aliasing and the Post Processing section provide different ways of storing the data in the file but do not affect the viewed image These different ways of storing the data may be required by the specific application that will read the TIFF files or may improve the portability or speed of access of the files ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 8 Output to TIFF You can choose the basic internal format used for the file from the TIFF Format drop down list TIFF files can either contain the image data ina Single strip all in one chunk or Multiple strips several chunks Use the Style drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box to choose the color space and interleaving style To produce TIFF files with reverse bit ordering select the Reverse bit order check box This reverses the order of bits in
67. a 2 a 1 646 but at 175 lpi and 1270 dpi you get only 53 gray levels 1270 2 Fs bissa If you switch on Generate extra gray levels in the Edit Style dialog box then you get as many gray levels as you define with the Limit number of distinct gray lev els drop down list It is a feature of HPS that the number of levels can exceed the maximum defined in this expression Some RIP screening options do not follow this expression e Harlequin Precision Screening HPS is able to produce more gray levels than predicted by the conventional expression e HDS does not have a conventional frequency to apply in the expres sion though it is possible to establish a rough correspondence between each HDS setting and a conventional screen of a particular frequency at a particular resolution AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 177 6 Screening 178 6 8 3 How many gray levels do you need The number of grays you need depends on what you are trying to produce Some types of images with varying needs for number of gray levels are e Flat tints e Contone scans e Graduated tints and blends Images vary within these categories but the following discussion of each category should show you the principles to apply in judging how many grays are needed 6 8 3 1 Flat tints If you are using a few flat tints behind text or in a simple diagram then you may not need more than a dozen gray levels Do not enable extra grays in the RIP
68. a Spool Folder input source To create and configure a new Spool folder source 1 Click New in the Input Controller The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box 2 Choose SpoolFolder from the Type drop down list Give the input a suitable name and select a page setup Select the Enabled box 3 Click the Configure button The Spool Folder Configuration dialog box appears Make the settings you wish and click OK Click OK again to close the Input Channel Edit dialog box The spool folder input becomes active now or when you next start inputs When the spool folder becomes active the RIP reports AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 241 8 Configuring Input 242 the number of exclusions that is the number of prefixes that it will ignore See the description of the Filenames prefix list option on page 244 for details Spool Folder Configuration x Spool Folder C RIPSSW Spool IV Create spool folders if they do not exist IV Warn if spool folders do not exist Error Folder CARIPSSW ERROR I Delete on error Complete Folder C ANRIPSSW Complete IV Delete on completion Filenames prefix list J Exclude prefix list Scan spool folder every 5 seconds Time to wait for file to stabilize 5 seconds I Treat TIFF IT files as a single output group Cancel Figure 8 6 Spool Folder Configuration dialog box This dialog box contains the following control items Spool Folder ECRM RIP Operator Guid
69. a road in pure black and in the sky not colored the sun in pure yellow is shining Color images are not produced from separations by mixing inks before appli cation to the page Instead the illusion of a full color image is produced by seeing different proportions of the four inks laid together on the page Each separation adds one color component to the image cyan magenta yellow and black in turn and when they are overlaid correctly they form a full color image A color separation is strictly speaking a monochrome that is one color image It is called a color separation because it is the result of separating one color from the others in the color system For example the yellow separation in CMYK is a version of the image that shows only the yellow part of it sepa rated from the cyan magenta and black You can control how colors will be separated from the others in an image Seen in isolation a single separation may not look much like the full color image of which it will form a part but it is usually possible to identify some features of the final image In Figure 12 1 the yellow separation shows the sun which is pure yellow It also shows a small amount of yellow in the ground part of the image which will combine with the cyan separation to form the grass color However it does not contribute to the road or the text and so it is empty in those places 12 2 1 Knockouts and overprinting Suppose we have a ve
70. a user password to enable the RIP to print password encrypted files See Section 8 14 Printing PDF files on page 270 for details 5 25 Calibration The Harlequin RIP can apply one or more calibration sets to a job If you are printing to a direct output device the page setup can include a calibration for the output device and a tone curve calibration If you are preparing a job for a printing press the page setup can include an imageset ter calibration a tone curve calibration and calibrations for the intended and actual presses If the page setup uses an ColorPro color setup the intended press calibration is disabled Calibration sets are created for a particular device and color space You can only select a calibration set for the currently selected device and color space The choice of sepa rations style determines the color space Note that while an imagesetter is not a multi color device you can create a calibration curve for each color in the separations style to take account of the different screen angles likely to be used for the colors To create or edit a calibration set click the Calibration Manager button which is the icon button in the Calibration amp Dot Gain section of the Edit Page Setup dialog box See Chapter 11 Calibration for more information 5 25 1 Device calibration The Calibration drop down list contains a list of all calibration sets for the currently selected device and color space Select None
71. abort the PDF job xk PDF X 1 Error Invalid TIFF compression An embedded TIFF file uses a compression method not allowed by PDF X 1 Many TIFF files use LZW compression which is not allowed Ask the creator of the file to recreate the file using an allowed compres sion method PDF X 1 allows an embedded TIFF file to be compressed using the CCITT or new JPEG methods Note The new JPEG method is given the TIFF tag value Compression 7 and is expected to be adopted as part of the forthcoming TIFF 7 specifi cation The new method was designed by the Independent JPEG Group to overcome severe problems in the method of JPEG compres AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 435 sion as described in the TIFF 6 0 specification dated 1992 The old scheme used the TIFF tag value Compression 6 and several related but separate fields xxx PDF X 1 Error Vector painting operator in EPS stroke An embedded EPS file uses a vector painting operator PDF X 1 does not allow embedded EPS files to contain vector painting operators stroke fill show and so on kee PDF X 1 Error Invalid alternativeSpace in Separation colorspace xxxx x PDF X 1 Error Invalid base colorspace in Indexed color space The PDF job uses an illegal colorspace PDF X 1 places restrictions on the alternativeSpace of Separation colorspaces and the base colorspaces of Indexed colorspaces in embedded EPS files xxxxx PDF X 1 Error LZWDecode in EPS
72. and any other applications running on the computer You have control over a variety of settings including the following e The folders in which certain files are placed by the RIP e The page buffer mode that the RIP uses e The use of buffers in memory e Job timeouts e Memory allocation All of the options described here are available from the Configure RIP dialog box or subsidiary dialog boxes You can also reset the RIP to its factory settings as described in Resetting the Harlequin RIP to default values on page 216 or choose a different language to be used in dialog boxes menus and messages as described in Choosing the user interface language on page 217 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 203 7 Configuring the RIP 7 1 Configure RIP dialog box The Configure RIP dialog box is displayed when you choose Configure RIP from the Harlequin RIP menu or type Ctrl R If there is an Input Queue menu you must stop the input queues before you can choose Configure RIP choose Stop Input Queue from the Input Queue menu Configure RIP x Workspace folder C SWN SW WorkSpace Change Page buffer folder C SWN S wW PageBuffers rarae Page buffering Multiple Parallel IV Compress page buffer Network buffer e4 Kb Printer buffer 1024 Kb Options OK Job timeout eooo minutes Sptions Tisas fi Extras Cancel Figure 7 1 Configure RIP dialog box Section 7 2 through Section 7
73. and that enables the relevant spot color separations The separations style must either specify a separation for each spot color or have Other colors in job set to Yes See Section 12 7 1 Producing separations on page 381 for details Note This option is available only when the PostScript Lan guage compatibility level option is set to 3 It is only rele vant for Photoshop versions 2 5 through 4 Photoshop version 5 does this automatically if imaged in LanguageLevel 3 For more information see Section 1 3 3 2 Duotones tri tones and quadtones By default this option is selected Note Photoshop images saved to EPS always include the input profile from Photoshop which a job may not want to actually have applied when color managing For details on overcoming this see Appendix C of the Harlequin RIP Extensions manual 5 23 2 Adobe Illustrator features These options control handling of features found in jobs from Adobe Illustrator Don t let files silently substitute Courier for missing fonts AG12325 Rev 5 Illustrator 7 checks for font availability and replaces any unavailable fonts with Courier This means that changing the default font or selecting the Abort the job if any fonts are missing option in the RIP would have no effect If you select this option the RIP ignores the font substitution in the Illustrator PostScript language code You can then change the default font or select the Abort the job if any fonts
74. and the cyan and magenta separations are placed into position 2 Again each flat can contain separations in no particular order A single job can appear on earlier or later flats as long as there is space With by separation page position job selected the first two jobs behave as before The first incoming job contains a cyan and magenta separation C4 M4 which are placed on flat 1 and 2 position 1 The second job M3 Y gt can use the sec ond position in flat 2 for the magenta and creates a new flat 3 for the yellow The third job contains cyan magenta and yellow separations C3 M3 Y3 There is space on flat 1 for the cyan separation on flat 1 position 2 but it is not used because the next flats do not have space Therefore new flats 4 5 and 6 are created and the cyan magenta and yellow separations are placed into position on those flats This illustrates that using this option jobs stay together and appear on consecutive flats 5 14 1 Media Saving dialog box example The following example of the Media saving dialog box shows a number of flats in various stages of construction Flat Device Pages Resolution Depth 10 Capstan 67 72 72 1 Box ps Box1 ps 11 Full Drum 20 300 300 1 test ps test ps Box2 ps 33 100 100 Figure 5 12 Example flats In this example there are three flats in construction Flat 10 is destined to be output on a Capstan device and has two jobs ca
75. are familiar with the RIP you should consider using such an on screen test when processing a new kind of job for the first time Note This manual uses some conventions of font and style to describe special key combinations and to highlight the titles of programs and dialog boxes options in menus and dialog boxes and text that we suggest you type For details see Conventions on page xiv in the Preface AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 49 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 3 1 1 Creating a page setup First you need to create a convenient page setup a collection of settings that the RIP uses to process the jobs submitted to it 1 Choose the Page Setup Manager option from the Harlequin RIP menu If you cannot choose this option stop inputs to the RIP To do this click the tool bar button that shows a red arrow and traffic light or choose the Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs menu option 2 In the Page Setup Manager as shown in Figure 3 1 select a page setup Default Page Setup isa safe choice select it and click Edit to display the Edit Page Setup dialog box If you want to create a new page setup the easiest way is to copy the Default Page Setup Select Default Page Setup and click Copy to display the New Page Setup dialog box Default Page Setup TIFF 100 0 None CMYK Separations Halftone defpos one 72 0 None Monochrome Halftone defneg None 72 0 None Monochrome Halftone CMYK composite None
76. are provided for sending output to the screen Preview and None None is the more flexible choice if you are running the RIP in the Multiple or Multiple Parallel page buffer mode None is a dummy device provided for test runs and for previewing so no physical printing takes place You can preview the pages sent to the None device using the Roam command from the Output Controller in the same way as you can preview the pages sent to an actual device You can roam several pages at once if they are the same size which allows you to view selected separations of a color image together or to compare buffers for the same page when processed with different page setups You can also hide one or more separations when previewing a composite image The Out put Controller is only available in either of the multiple page buffer modes Preview is also a dummy device and it enables you to preview individual separa tions a composite image or selected colors of a composite image in all page buffer modes The Preview device does not allow you to combine pages or separations for viewing and jobs sent to Preview do not appear in the Output Controller 5 5 1 Using the Preview device By setting the output device to Preview you can preview any jobs processed on your monitor As a separate output device Preview is most useful when running in Single or Single if required modes when the Output Controller is not available The RIP pauses all job processing while
77. be sent to you on disk e When you buy a hardware RIP you buy a dedicated machine which is specialized for performing one task interpreting the PostScript lan guage With a software RIP the non dedicated hardware you buy is a computer which can be used for many purposes other than running the Harlequin RIP AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 5 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP e Itis much more expensive to customize a hardware RIP to individual requirements than it is to customize a software RIP Even if despite these points you feel that a hardware RIP is still the best solu tion for your particular case it need not be traditional dedicated hardware It is possible to use hardware accelerators to assist a software RIP such as the Harlequin RIP 1 3 2 File format and version support The Harlequin RIP supports several file formats and maintains this support across the widely used versions of these formats as well as the latest versions Note The Harlequin RIP limits all user created names or file names to 31 bytes This is equivalent to 31 characters when using standard ASCII text and 15 characters when using double byte character sets such as Kanji For example the Harlequin RIP is a PostScript LanguageLevel 3 compatible RIP management system but still supports features of PostScript Level 2 and earlier The RIP also recognizes uses of PostScript code specific to common image creation and page layout applicatio
78. been moved The setup file has been corrupted or is missing There are no devices installed in the devices folder Table A 3 File messages Problem Move a copy of the device driver into SW Devices Reset the RIP to the fac tory defaults Reinstall the RIP Things to try Could not open the newly created RIP setup file File too deeply buried inside directories Move it somewhere else Incompatible version of the RIP setup file used Old RIP setup file used ECRM RIP Operator Guide This probably means that there are too many other files open The file pathname is too long for the RIP to cope with The setup file you are using is associated with a different version of the software Close some files Move the file that you are trying to access to a point higher up in the file system so that the full pathname becomes shorter Find and install a copy of the correct setup file that was supplied with the version of the RIP that you are running this file must be placed in the SW folder or reinstall the RIP AG12325 Rev 5 Table A 3 File messages Continued Message Problem Things to try Problem finding file The RIP cannot find a file Try running a disk repair maybe disk is damaged utility A 1 4 Problems with networks Network troubleshooting is a necessarily technical operation Consult your network manager if you have any doubts about your abilities in th
79. buffer Meeting these requirements is sufficient for you to view the page buffer on screen or for the Harlequin RIP to convert it into a file in a use ful graphics format When you want to convert the page buffer to an image on physical media you must transfer the data to an output device This transfer is another factor determining overall performance and often imposes other requirements on the computer system running the RIP Many output devices need data to reach them at a sustained high speed in general this speed becomes higher and harder to achieve as the resolution of the device increases Table 2 2 page 32 shows examples of required data transfer rates in kilobytes per second for typical output devices supported by the various versions of the Harlequin RIP ae E or Output device 200 300 Large format inkjet printer 2000 300 Dye sublimation printer 750 2400 Slow imagesetter 1500 1270 Fast imagesetter 8000 4000 Large format drum recorder Table 2 2 Required data rates for typical output devices With simple jobs these data rates can be achieved without using a page buffer on disk However with complex jobs a page buffer may be required which means that the disk on your computer must be fast enough to supply data at ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 2 Installing printer interface cards these rates If the disk is too slow and your printer is not capable of stop starting without abandoning th
80. check box to show that you are measuring data from negative output media Leave it clear when you are using positive media AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 369 11 Calibration 370 Force solid colors Smooth Extrapolate ECRM RIP Operator Guide This check box is available only when you are using halftone devices When you select this box any color in a job that uses the maximum density of any channel is represented by the maximum amount of that colorant available on the output device this guarantees a solid color that is the maximum deliverable by the output device rather than a lower density color achieved by screening that calibration has established as 100 The default setting of this option is selected and should be left for work on most presses this will ensure that colors defined as solid in the incoming PostScript file will be imaged as solid For Gravure work this option should be unchecked This option does not apply to calibration test strips only jobs For example this is a desirable setting where you wish to avoid screening black text but using it means you do not have an exact colorimetric match for the color when using ColorPro See also the Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide This button smooths the values near the ends of a curve typically to approximate a smooth curve where the limited resolution of a measuring device may have truncated similar values to be the same This button is enab
81. configuring the RIP so that it carries out certain tasks automatically and changing them yourself 4 3 2 1 Deleting buffered pages When the RIP is in either of the multiple page buffering modes pages are kept buffered on disk When the hard disk fills up however there is no room for new pages and so the RIP cannot interpret any further jobs To proceed the RIP deletes some existing pages to make room for new ones The drop down list labeled Delete in the Output Controller lets you specify one of three strategies to follow Choose whichever option you prefer e The default strategy is When necessary As disk space is required for new page buffers the oldest ones will automatically be deleted from the Held Queue Pages which have been locked will not be deleted See Section 4 3 2 4 Locking important pages for details of how to lock pages The amount of hard disk space currently available is displayed at the bottom of the Output Controller so you can tell when old page buffers are likely to be deleted The number displayed does not include any space you have reserved for the system see Chapter 7 Configur ing the RIP e Choosing Always will cause pages to be deleted immediately after they have been output This means that page buffers will never be retained for reprinting unless they have been locked before printing was com pleted See Section 4 3 2 4 Locking important pages for details of 80 ECRM RIP Op
82. dark gray bars to show the job being processed in the usual way The progress box is part of the Output Con troller in either of the multiple modes or a separate window in either of the single modes To disable a single AppleTalk input or other input temporarily select it in the Input Controller and click Off To remove an input permanently from the Input Controller select the entry and click Delete See Using the AppleTalk input plugin on page 235 for more information 3 2 A more complex use of the Harlequin RIP You have seen how the Edit Page Setup dialog box lets you choose the output device and a variety of effects that control the appearance of the pages you display Many publishing environments deal with more than one kind of document For example suppose that you need to print a product manual in draft and final versions draft documents need not be printed at a high resolution but final versions should exploit the full printing quality of the output device The Harlequin RIP processes documents according to page setups Each page setup specifies a complete page format in terms of the orientation resolution size and so on and provides a way to recall that page format easily and exactly For full details see Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats 3 2 1 Saving a page setup To make and save a new page setup 1 Stop inputs to the Harlequin RIP if necessary In the Harlequin RIP menu make sure that there is n
83. dialog The Page Setup Manager contains a list of all existing page setups showing the name of each page setup the corresponding output device and some important settings the output resolution the calibration set in use and the separations style In a new installation of the RIP there is always one page setup called Default Page Setup This page setup uses a set of options that can be expected to work with any installation of the RIP producing a low resolution on screen preview You can delete or redefine this page setup to suit your installation 5 2 1 Controls and actions The controls below the list allow you to create new page setups and to edit copy or delete existing page setups You can also choose the units in which to view the resolu tion of output listed for each page setup Edit Select a page setup and click this button to edit it in the Edit Page Setup dialog box A shortcut is to double click a page setup See Section 5 3 on page 99 for details of using this dia log box Note To rename a page setup copy it and save the copy with the desired name before deleting the original AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 97 5 Configuring Output Formats New Click this button to create a new page setup and edit it in the New Page Setup dialog box See Section 5 3 on page 99 for details of using this dialog box Copy Select a page setup and click this button to edit a copy in the New Page Setup dialog box Dele
84. dialog box We hope to fully support the use of the X Rite DTP 34 device including the USB version in future releases of Genlin AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 445 The remaining sections show how to set up and use Genlin and how to trou bleshoot any problems e Section C 2 describes set up and use e Section C 3 on page 450 describes troubleshooting C 2 Using Genlin The use of Genlin involves these stages e Starting a work session with Genlin This section describes the con nections and checks to make before you start measuring targets e Measuring each target This section describes the steps involved in using Genlin to measure a target C 2 1 Starting a work session with Genlin Follow these steps to start a session using Genlin 1 Connect your measuring instrument to the computer using a serial inter face typically the COM1 or COM2 communications port 2 If necessary recalibrate the measuring instrument using the correct cali bration plaque or other reference Follow the manufacturer s advice about recalibrating the measuring instrument after periods of storage or heavy use 3 Start Genlin by opening the application file located in the Harlequin RIP application folder 446 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 C 2 2 Measuring each target Note This procedure assumes that you printed an uncalibrated target Follow these steps to measure a target using Genlin 1 Choose File gt Con
85. e Fonts and font handling including composite fonts See page 23 e Convenience features See page 24 1 3 1 Software RIPs compared to hardware RIPs Many PostScript language compatible interpreters are based on hardware rather than software That is most PostScript language printers come sup plied with a RIP that runs on its own special hardware Sometimes a RIP may run on only one type of printer The Harlequin RIP contains a software RIP carefully written to support a number of computing platforms and output systems There are a number of advantages to using a software RIP e If you have a hardware RIP and wish to take advantage of new hard ware you must either pay for an upgrade of the old hardware or stop using it With a software RIP such as the Harlequin RIP you can use your old hardware for other purposes you still have a usable com puter Thus taking advantage of new technology in the hardware industry is much more cost effective if you have a software RIP e You can easily take advantage of new features if you have a software RIP If new features are added to a hardware RIP the only way to take advantage of those features is to buy the new version of the hardware or to have a firmware upgrade Both of these options incur considerable time and expense Doing the same thing for a software RIP is much sim pler and cheaper improved versions of the Harlequin RIP can be run on the same hardware as older versions and can
86. even if for example you specify a length of 12 inches and a page is 18 inches long 9 3 4 Feeding media The options on the right of the Media Manager let you specify when the RIP will feed media automatically There are three feed policies under Paper feed e Feed the media around each page e Feed the media between jobs e Feed the media before every cut 298 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 3 Advancing and cutting media automatically See below for a fuller description of these policies and some of the possible reasons for wanting extra media feeds in each of the specified situations The remaining entries in this section of the dialog box describe characteristics of the output device To use any of these options type the feed length that you want in the text box alongside the appropriate label Type 0 zero into the text box if you do not want an automatic feed You can choose which units to use for the lengths from the Select units drop down list above the OK button the available units are feet inches meters centimeters picas and points Some reasons and the details for each feed policy are as follows Around each page Feed through some media around every page that is produced perhaps so that you can perform cuts by hand more easily Half of this amount will be fed before the page and half after it Between jobs Feed through some media after every job that has been processed perhaps to make it ea
87. exit with out editing the other channels In this context editing the data for a channel means at least viewing the data to assess if it needs editing The RIP keeps a record of which process color channels you have edited and queries you if you have not edited all of them For example if you edit only the Cyan channel of a 4 color device the RIP will query you about the Magenta Yellow and Black channels The following mes sage is typical You haven t viewed the following channels Magenta Yellow Black Finish editing anyway The RIP does not allow you to save an unreasonable curve One example of an unreasonable curve is a non monotonic one that rises but then falls before ris ing again If you try to save an unreasonable curve the RIP warns you and prompts you to correct the curve before you can save it AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 373 1l Calibration 374 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 Color Separation This chapter describes some basic concepts of color reproduction and the related parts of the Harlequin RIP The concept of color separation is no longer restricted to producing separated output When processing any job the RIP creates a separation for each process colorant and also where appropriate for spot colorants The output format determines whether the separations are printed together as a composite or separated By configuring these separations you can control the printin
88. extra messages Calibration and color management is setup as normal when running a calibra tion target This is different to previous behavior where it was not setup At the start of the target procset everything that has to be turned off is turned off The target procset now gets information about its environment from Post Script data in setcalibration and various color management operators Therefore calibration and color management must be setup normally for this information to be present A manifestion of this is that when running calibration targets the normal mes sages for calibration and color management are displayed followed by a number of extra switched off messages for example Setup loaded Default Page Setup Starting Job On Tuesday April 24 2001 10 27 13 AM Using Color Setup testing Using calibration for device Glossy Photo Hvy 720 Color management switched off for calibration job Tone curve calibration switched off for calibration job Intended press calibration switched off for calibration job Actual press calibration switched off for calibration job Device calibration switched off for calibration job Running Uncalibrated Target for Default CMYK spot colors target Only the relevant messages appear that is if color management is not enabled its switched off message will not appear 11 4 2 3 Acceptable exposure values The ranges of values that you can enter into the From To and Step
89. for Pos amp Neg option for monochrome devices e The Force solid colors option is unavailable 11 5 3 Choosing and labeling calibration sets It is important to choose a calibration set that is appropriate for the job you are processing If you set the warning criteria for a calibration set the RIP warns you if the settings in the page setup or job conflict with these criteria By set ting a page setup option you can tell the RIP to abort any job that fails the cri teria See Section 11 12 3 on page 365 for details Name the calibration set carefully so that you can identify all the parameters associated with it For example it may not be sufficient to name the calibra tion set with the chosen resolution since the dot shape and line frequency could also affect the calibration Most settings have obvious single values Screen frequencies and positive negative settings need some discussion Screen frequencies are given as a range to indicate the range of frequencies for which the set is valid It is a good idea to start by working out which frequen cies you expect to use for example 85 100 112 120 133 150 175 lpi and so on You can then create ranges centered on each of these values for example 75 to 93 lpi 93 to 106 lpi and so on You do not have to create calibration sets for the full range of frequencies you may find for instance that the lower frequencies do not need calibration either because the output devi
90. for details Otherwise the RIP displays the warning messages in the Harlequin RIPwindow Most of the controls in this panel are paired a check box and a setting control To make the calibration set apply to a particular value or limited range of val ues for the setting select the corresponding box and then enter the value or values If you do not select the box the setting is not tested and the Calibration Manager shows Any in the column for that setting Note If you create a calibration set from the Edit Page Setup dialog box the RIP takes the default settings for the Warning criteria from the page setup you are editing The warning criteria are Profile not illustrated This warning criterion is available only with ColorPro and appears only if your output device has more than one profile available There is no check box associated with Profile if present the profile is always used as a criterion The choice of profile determines the default calibration set AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 365 11 Calibration 366 Press not illustrated Resolution Dot shape Screen freq Exposure This drop down list appears in the Edit Calibration dia log box only if you are editing the calibration for a printing press There is no check box associated with Press if present the press profile is always used as a criterion The choice of press profile determines the default calibration set If ColorPro is not enabled
91. from For other types of jobs the file name will be used The color for printing the page Color separation pages in the Output Controller are labeled with their separa tion name for example C m Y or K or the spot color name or Composite if there are several colors on one page for example when using the PackDrum page feature PackDrum is intended for use with drum imagesetters and it is an example so you must add it before use as described in Features on page 149 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system 4 3 1 5 Monitoring progress The Output Controller can be used to monitor the progress of each page as it is printed the large box between the two queues gives you an indication of the progress of the job As soon as a buffer begins to print the shape of this progress box changes to reflect the aspect ratio of the page For instance if it is a portrait page the box will have greater height than width and if it is a land scape page it will be wider than it is high As the page is printed the box starts to fill from the top with a light gray pat tern followed by dark gray Figure 4 2 page 74 shows this happening e The amount of dark gray in the progress box indicates the proportion of the job that has already been printed e The amount of light gray in the progress box indicates the proportion of data currently in the printer buffer waiting to be printed e The amount of white
92. from AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 325 11 Calibration 326 one media manufacturer to another Also laser dots are never square as in an idealized raster usually overlap often cannot resolve a single pixel and can not always be turned off between adjacent pixels Similarly in direct output devices overlap of toner dots in laser printers or ink spreading in inkjet devices often produces a deviation of some kind between required gray levels and those actually output Whatever the physical reason the result is variability or non linearity and some adjustment is almost always necessary to compensate for these physical artifacts This is called calibration Note In almost all output devices a solid 100 black area prints as a 100 black area and white always prints as white Any failure to achieve this degree of faithful reproduction usually indicates a problem or maladjustment in the output device which you must cure before attempting calibration Consider the irregular solid line in Figure 11 1 It shows an example of the kind of response typically seen from red sensitive paper on a Helium Neon based imagesetter The diagonal dotted line represents the theoretical line that would be shown for a perfect material The arrowed lines show how if you request a 50 tint you will actually see something like a 65 tint on paper when measured with a densitometer When setting flat tint areas for monochrome print work var
93. graphical user interface GUI is available for Power Macintosh computers running Mac OS 8 9 and Mac OS X computers PCs using Intel or compatible processors and running Windows 98 and ME Windows NT Windows 2000 and Windows XP home and pro computers based on the Digital Alpha processor and running Windows NT and various computers running the UNIX operating system The GUI version of the Harlequin RIP may be used on both single and multi ple processor machines running the UNIX Windows NT Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating systems This manual describes the GUI version of the Harlequin RIP for Windows NT Windows 2000 and Windows XP 2 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 2 Why use the Harlequin RIP The Harlequin RIP is appropriate for a wide range of output devices includ ing high resolution imagesetters lower resolution plain paper setters and medium to high resolution printers and plotters It supports the special fea tures of these devices and maximizes their overall productivity 1 2 Why use the Harlequin RIP The Harlequin RIP has proven itself to be a fast versatile and powerful PostScript language compatible interpreter and more There are many rea sons for choosing it above other similar interpreters the most important of which are discussed here The Harlequin RIP is effective compatible and robust and shows real bene fits in everyday use e The Harlequin RIP is effective because it processes j
94. gt Executive the RIP asks you to select a page setup for use with the Executive Note If you do not choose a page setup the RIP uses the one that you chose last time you used the Executive If you have not used the Executive in this RIP session the first page setup in the drop down list is used To change the order of this listing see Reordering page setups on page 106 The RIP then displays a window where you can enter PostScript language code by typing or cutting and pasting Any PostScript language code that generates output when executed produces page buffers exactly like other jobs processed using the same page setup It is wise to hold these page buffers for inspection in the Output Controller where you can view or manipulate the page buffers before sending any suitable pages for output The Output Con troller is available in either of the multiple page buffer modes Note If you intend to keep page buffers produced from the Executive for any significant time set a job name that helps you identify the page buffers To generate an interrupt choose Interrupt from the Executive menu To quit the Executive window type quit or Ctrl W at the prompt or choose Stop Executive from the Executive menu Whenever you quit the Executive the Harlequin RIP window displays the fol lowing harmless message Job Not Completed jobname Remember to restart inputs if you stopped them before using the Executive AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM
95. if you are editing a halftone screened style Select this box if you want to ignore any screen angles set in the job See Section 6 5 on page 175 for more details Reject preseparated jobs If you select the Reject preseparated jobs check box the RIP will not process preseparated jobs If this check box is selected then the Recombine preseparated jobs check box is disabled Recombine preseparated jobs The Recombine preseparated jobs check box allows you to recombine certain classes of preseparated jobs Recombining may be useful or necessary in a variety of cases for example when proofing on a full color device or retargeting from one kind of final output device to another kind See Section 12 7 3 for details of the suit able jobs Note When using this option the RIP cannot paint par tial page buffers expect jobs with pages requiring large amounts of memory to fail if you have not allocated enough physical memory 12 7 3 Recombination There are some limitations on the jobs that the RIP can recombine There are also some classes of jobs where you should make additional settings The limitations are e The job must consist of process separations suitable spot colors where suitable is defined in this section or both It also possible to submit most composite jobs to a page setup using recombination but see the comments in Section 12 7 4 on page 401 This ability minimizes the number of page setups that you must create an
96. imagesetter rated as having a variation of less than 2 across the film cannot be expected to be able to produce work cal ibrated more closely than this AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 347 11 Calibration 348 Some reasons for inaccurate imaging are A coarse screen may not be able to reproduce an exact percentage value or may provide varying readings depending on where in a patch a density reading is taken Values intermediate between patch values are interpolated This process is never perfectly accurate Some imaging technologies produce variations in tones depending on where in the page the tones are located and some produce output that depends on the tones in neighboring areas of the page Other variable factors that can significantly affect calibration results include the following The temperature especially the consistency of the temperature at which the imagesetter and the film processor are maintained The length of time and the temperature at which film paper or ribbons are stored Whether the processor is used for other materials for example duplica tion film as well as imagesetter film The time between photographic processing and measurement Many films have a colorant that fades rapidly after processing The time and storage conditions between printing and measurement The output from inkjet and dye sublimation printers can alter signifi cantly over a period of weeks or even hours if
97. improve reproduction quality or economy beyond the lev els possible with CMYK process inks There are two general approaches to vary the number of process inks HiFi or N color printing or to add spot colors Each approach has its own advantages 12 1 1 Alternative process color systems N color printing uses a different number of process colors fewer for economy in simple jobs such as forms printing or more for high quality For high qual ity printing or HiFi color at least two distinct types of color schemes are growing in popularity for convenience in this discussion we shall call them distinct colorant and photo ink Distinct colorant printing uses a combination of different process colors For example in the PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector system there are six inks cyan magenta yellow black orange and green Other schemes of six or seven distinct colors are possible but this system is well known These colors are chosen as a set to provide a wider gamut than provided by colorants in the established CMY or CMYK schemes so for example the cyan in a six color system is unlikely to be the same as the cyan in a typical CMYK system To avoid confusion a different naming scheme is needed There is not a single fixed set of names HexC or HexCyan are equally valid names for the cyan ink and may be used by graphics applications creating jobs Photo ink technologies use a different approach There are different densities light an
98. in any way angles frequencies and dot shapes are left unchanged and no extra gray technology is used with them 6 10 5 Increasing HPS performance The first time a RIP installation uses a particular HPS screen the RIP must generate it This can take a few minutes However HPS screen sets are cached to disk which means that there is very little performance difference from using HPS if the RIP has a large enough memory allocation and apart from the first time that a particular screen set is used which is when the RIP builds the disk cache There may be some performance increase when using screen caches generated during previous jobs The RIP caches screen sets with PostScript defined spot functions as well as those with recognized functions These spot functions are not processed quite as rapidly as the built in functions the first time that they are used but when ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening previously cached screens are used there is no difference in performance between built in screen functions and spot functions supplied in PostScript High performance screening with HPS in the RIP requires a reasonably large amount of RAM As a guide you should assume that extra memory in the range 8 through 12 MB RAM is required to use HPS effectively If messages are produced in the Harlequin RIP window saying that insuffi cient memory is available and that performance is being affected then yo
99. in the Harlequin RIP 192 extra grays in HPS 183 input plugins 228 optional features 213 Encapsulated PostScript EPS 470 encodings folder 35 EPSF format files 147 error diffusion defined 470 in output plugin 161 Error folder 35 errors See problems excluding file names for spool folder 244 executive 25 defined 471 starting up 287 Executive window 287 exposure 471 changing 85 choosing for calibration 333 Edit Page Setup option 122 exposure sweeps printing 334 Extensions folder 35 Extra grays enabling 183 Extras enabling optional features 213 F Factory settings reverting to 216 Factory Settings folder 35 Fast color display in Roam and Preview 111 Fast patterns page setup option 147 Feature check box 141 features 141 471 ECRM RIP Operator Guide See also page features feeding media in the Media Manager 298 file names mapping 39 prefix list for spool folder 244 FILEMAP DAT file 39 FILEMAP PS file 39 FILERED PS file 39 files adding showpage to EPSF jobs 147 initialization HqnStart 318 name mapping from PostScript names 39 film See media FireWorks font downloader 317 FlatPgbDir folder 35 FM screening 194 folders caldata 34 categories 34 charstrings 34 CIDFont 34 CMap 34 colorrenderings 34 colorspaces 34 Complete 34 Config 35 Crdgen 35 Devices 35 422 encodings 35 Error 35 Extensions 35 Factory Settings 35 FlatPgbDir 35 fonts 35 317 FontSet 35 forms 35 halftones 36
100. inches meters centi meters picas or points Note The feed lengths for built in and manual operation may be the same If they are the same enter the same value in the two fields In routine use there are two cases e The RIP takes account of the values you set up when calculating the effects of any automatic operations and ones that you request from the Device menu You do not need to do anything extra e If you perform a manual operation by using controls on the output device you must inform the RIP Display the Cassette Manager and click the button Manual Cut Done or Manual Feed Done whenever you perform the corresponding manual operation See Figure 9 4 page 301 and the following description of the buttons 9 4 7 Online developers or processors If you are using an online developer with a particular output device you must inform the RIP so that it can handle that device correctly There is an obvious benefit to using an online developer because media that emerges from the output device is fed directly to the developer which pro duces the image automatically However online developers need to be fed a certain amount of media before they can develop any images for example a particular online developer may require a minimum of two feet of media If the RIP or an operator performs a cut before the required amount of media has been exposed then any images on the exposed media will not be devel oped automatically and there
101. incomplete to vari ous degrees For example the form could be blank in the sense that none of the fields contain any user entered information Alternatively a PDF AcroForm file could have been partially completed by a database program for example which can provide values content for some or all of the text AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 267 8 Configuring Input 268 input fields but still not yet completing the file This completeness refers to two things e The fields appearance streams may not be present in the PDF file even though the fields may have been given values that is the actual text to display in the input fields e The AcroForm will be marked as incomplete by virtue of the NeedAppearances key in the AcroForm dictionary being set to true When the Harlequin RIP is given the job of printing a PDF AcroForm it has to be sensitive to whether or not the form has been completed and is print ready The Harlequin RIP uses the following rule e If the NeedAppearances key in the AcroForm dictionary in the PDF file is false or is absent the AcroForm will be printed such that all fields and only those fields with appearance streams given will be dis played Otherwise if NeedAppearances is true the Harlequin RIP will reconstruct appearance streams for all the fields it finds What this means for the Harlequin RIP is that unless the PDF file has been made complete and print ready the final appearance
102. instead the pattern of color dots appears to be an area of a shade of color 6 4 1 Dots halftone cells and screens The dots that this section has discussed are the visible part of halftoning and most halftoning can be described in terms of patterns of these dots The industry standard terms used to describe the organization of these dots into manageable structures are halftone cells and screens AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 163 6 Screening 164 Each dot is considered to occupy a halftone cell Figure 6 4 shows two groups of four halftone cells Every halftone cell is used to represent a gray level or color intensity A dot can have any area in the range 0 of the area of the half tone cell a completely white cell through 100 of the area of the halftone cell a completely black cell Dots of intermediate areas create the illusion of gray levels The number of pixels in the halftone cell defines how many intermedi ate areas of dot are possible and in most systems this defines the number of reproducible grays Cell spacing 4 related to screen frequency Figure 6 4 Halftone cells screen frequency and dot shapes A screen is an invisible grid that is superimposed on the image each square in the grid is a halftone cell For a particular dot shape the important charac teristics of a screen are its spatial resolution referred to as screen frequency and the screen angle as shown in Figure 6
103. interface cards If you want to produce output on a printer or imagesetter there must be a suitable way of connecting the output device to the computer running the Harlequin RIP Many low or medium resolution devices can connect to stan dard communications ports or printer ports on your computer Using a high resolution or high speed output device may mean that you must install a spe cial printer interface card in the computer There should be installation instructions supplied with any interface card and there are some general guidelines in the separate ECRM RIP Getting Started Guide for each platform AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 33 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP 2 3 Harlequin RIP folder structure The folder in which the Harlequin RIP is installed contains the Harlequin RIP application itself and a folder called sw as well as other support files The sw folder contains the files that the RIP needs in order to run such as device driver files PostScript language header files and fonts You can install new device drivers features and so on in many cases by placing the relevant folders or files directly into the appropriate folder but it is safer to use a sup plied installation program if there is one Warning Do not delete any files from the sw folder except in the limited cases where this manual or the Harlequin RIP support staff advise you to do so Note Installing the Harlequin RIP creates some of the following i
104. is a computer software program developed at private expense and is subject to the following Restricted Rights Legend Use duplication or disclosure by the United States Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in i FAR 52 227 14 Alt MI or ii FAR 52 227 19 as applicable Use by agencies of the Department of Defense DOD is subject to Global Graphics Software s customary commercial license as contained in the accompanying license agreement in accordance with DFAR 227 7202 1 a For purposes of the FAR the Software shall be deemed to be unpublished and licensed with disclosure prohibitions rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States Global Graphics Software Incorporated 95 Sawyer Road Waltham Massachusetts 02453 ii AG12325 Rev 5 Table of Contents PPOTACC ici sicscc EEE EEEE XV Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 1 1 1 What is the Harlequin RIP 1 Input and output formats 2 Versions of the Harlequin RIP 2 1 2 Why use the Harlequin RIP 3 1 3 The Harlequin RIP indepth 4 Software RIPs compared to hardware RIPs 5 File format and version support 6 Extended color capabilities 8 Color screening and Roam functionality 11 Memory management 12 Headless RIP Option 14 FlatOut 14 Screening options 15 Harlequin ColorPro 16 Graphics formats 17 Input and output methods 18 Complex jobs 20 Throughput control 20 Previewing 22 Page buffer compression 22 Fonts and font han
105. is embedded in PDF job file This is not an error nor a warning It is information about the structure of an OPI job This message is most likely to occur when processing a PDF X 1 job but could occur for a basic PDF file kee PDF X 1 Error text explaining the reason The job is not a valid PDF X 1 job See the following messages for expla nations of the various reasons that can appear in messages of this form The RIP may be able to process the job as a PDF 1 3 file if you have allowed this by a choice in the Accept type s list Note If you have used a creating or editing application that claims to be compliant with PDF X 1 1999 you should report these errors and warn ings to your supplier of that tool The RIP performs strict checking of ref erenced files as well as the basic PDF content of a PDF X 1 job Note RIP versions 5 3 and 5 5 included support for PDF X 1 1999 this has been dropped in Eclipse Release and later RIPs and replaced with support for PDF X 1a 2001 and PDF X 3 2002 xxk X PDF X 1 Warning Clipped out stroke operator in EPS The job deviates from the file PDF X 1 standard in this example because of a PostScript language operator used in a referenced EPS file The operator is illegal in an EPS file referenced from a PDF X 1 job but harmless in this context Any message starting PDF X 1 Warning has some problem for the reason given in the rest of the message but will not cause the RIP to
106. job 254 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide ix 8 9 8 10 8 11 8 12 8 13 8 14 8 15 8 16 8 17 8 18 8 19 8 20 Using the Asynchronous Socket Quit plugin 254 Using the Serial input plugin 255 Overview 255 Establishing a serial link 256 Configuring a Serial input plugin 257 ASCII and binary modes 259 Using more than one method 261 Using the Print File command 262 Printing several files 263 Printing PostScript language files 263 Printing PDF files 264 Printing PDF version 1 4 265 Working with transparency 265 AcroForms 267 Related documentation 269 PDF Options dialog box 269 Usage 274 Limitations and special treatment 275 Printing JPEG and JFIF files 276 Limitations 276 Printing GIF files 277 Printing TIFF IT files 277 General 277 Installation and requirements 279 Usage 280 Printing TIFF 6 0 files 282 Procedures 282 Limitations and extensions 283 Printing page buffer files 284 Requirements and preparation 285 Printing procedure 286 Entering PostScript language code by hand 287 Media Management cccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 289 9 1 Why manage your media 289 Overview of the Harlequin RIP capabilities 290 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Suitable devices 291 What you need todo 292 9 2 Advancing and cutting media interactively 292 Device menu 293 Using the Device menu 293 9 3 Advancing and cutting media automatically 294 Automatic use 295 Enabling and disabling media management 297
107. length for the first warning is greater than for the second which itself is made greater than the final threshold All three warnings appear in the Output Controller they are Media low Media very low and MEDIA VERY LOW Choose the units used for these lengths from the Select units drop down list immediately below the Length warnings text boxes the options available are feet inches meters or centimeters Note Once you have refilled a cassette you must update its details in the Cassette Manager if you want media management to continue to work correctly 9 4 6 Hardware feeds Some imagesetters automatically feed the media a certain amount before printing any page or before performing a cut and they also may have front panel buttons that trigger these or similar actions The RIP cannot override these hardware feeds but it can record them and calculate their effects on the amount of media left in any input cassette If you have an imagesetter that issues hardware feeds and you use media management you must tell the RIP how much media is fed through when a hardware feed is performed so that it can take this into account This involves two stages set up and routine use 306 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 4 Monitoring media Perform the set up by selecting the output device in the Device drop down list in the Media Manager The relevant options are on the right of the Media Manager Built in feed length Type into
108. levels 100 6 V A a 70 20 o 03 7 400 This rule varies with the screen frequency that you are using with the particu lar tint range because steps are most obvious in dark graduations with the hardness of the dots produced by the output device and with the size of the difference in gray levels between steps but it serves very well as a basic start ing point Because of the variation with the size of the difference in gray levels between steps it is very unlikely that you should ever require more than 1024 gray levels and in many instances 512 or 256 levels are sufficient AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 179 6 Screening 180 If you are producing blends in applications such as Adobe Illustrator or FreeHand formerly from Aldus now Macromedia then you should make sure that you create blends with enough steps the RIP cannot add more steps into the blend You may also need to use switch on extra grays and use Harlequin Precision Screening with its ability to exceed the conventional limit of gray levels in order to display all the requested gray levels Graduated tints from many older applications do not produce more than 256 gray levels e Some applications always produce 256 grays for a 0 to 100 gradua tion Examples are FreeHand and QuarkXPress version 3 11 and later when printing to a PostScript LanguageLevel 2 compatible device e Some always produce 256 gray levels in a single blend even a short one
109. list this column is labeled Press but the behavior is the same The default calibration set is determined by the selected profile Note A profile is used in ColorPro options to define the color performance of a combination of output device media and colorants If you create calibration sets in the RIP without Color Pro and subsequently enable ColorPro the RIP associ ates the Linear profile with the existing calibration sets Status The Status column tells you about the source and whether the current data for the given calibration set came from an uncalibrated target or a calibrated target The possible entries are Cc for data from a calibrated strip U for data from an uncalibrated strip E if you have edited the data since entering the Calibration Manager D if you have viewed the default curve without editing it See Establishing a workflow on page 342 for a discus sion of why you might use different types of target E is an important entry in the Status column because it shows that you have uncommitted changes for that calibration set which affects the valid com mands and the values you see in the Edit Calibration dialog box AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 361 11 Calibration 362 If you select a calibration set with status you can only further edit the values in the same way so only the edit button that you have already used on that set is enabled If you edit the set you see the en
110. list of calibra tion sets for that device and the currently selected color space If necessary select the appropriate color space from the Color Space drop down list The list of color spaces contains all the color spaces in which a separations style is defined for the device For example if the device has separations styles defined in the Monochrome and CMYK color spaces then you can create cali bration sets in the Monochrome or CMYK color space Most entries in the Device list are direct output devices imagesetters plate setters proofing printers and some preview options and file formats but there are also special entries for Printing Press and Tone Curves The ways in which you create and use calibration sets for these types of entry vary Direct output devices The way to create the calibration set is to print and measure a calibration target as described in this chapter To use a calibration set in the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can choose any calibration set that was defined for the current device and current color space in the Calibration drop down list The choice of sep arations style determines the color space Although an imagesetter is not a multi color device the calibration set for an imagesetter contains a cal ibration curve for each color specified in the separations style to take account of the different screen angles used for these colors Note A special example is the CIP3 output plugin Its beh
111. lot of black taking into account the maximum black ink density Specify the maximum black ink density in the adjacent Max black text box as a percentage value as described in Section 12 8 5 on page 413 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 411 12 Color Separation 12 8 4 3 None CMY K ucr This option performs no black generation or undercolor removal Black is rep resented as a mixture of cyan magenta and yellow leaving only those colors expressed explicitly in the PostScript language job as black rather than as a mixture of red green and blue or as device independent color to be rendered on the black separation 12 8 4 4 Light Medium and Heavy Light Medium Heavy K K K CMY ucr These options introduce black gradually according to exponential functions with proportionately smaller amounts of black added and color removed for the lighter colors than the darker ones This is again subject to the constraints of maximum ink densities specified in the adjacent boxes See Section 12 8 5 for details of controlling these ink densities 412 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 9 Color separation angles in job 12 8 4 5 UCR CMY ucr Instead of an exponential curve this option adds no black until the maximum colored ink density is reached and then adds black linearly up to its maxi mum The maximum colored ink density is the maximum ink density value minus the maximum black dens
112. may be a media jam in the developer It is easy to avoid this problem ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 4 Monitoring media To set up the RIP to drive an output device with an online developer first make that device current and display the Media Manager Make these two settings Using online developer Select this box to show that you are using an online developer Minimum length before cut Enter in this text box the minimum length of media that the online developer requires for processing You can choose the units for this length from the Select units drop down list immediately below The units available are feet inches meters centimeters picas and points In routine use you do not need to do anything extra The RIP will make an automatic cut only if there is sufficient exposed media to enable the online developer to work effectively If you need to force a cut select Cut with feed from the Device menu This command feeds enough media to pad the output to the Minimum length before cut value and then performs a cut When using an online developer the RIP does not issue warnings to change take up cassettes and does not disable output after a cut 9 4 8 Monitoring your media When you are using media management the RIP can display information about media usage on your computer screen and keep the information up to date as jobs are output Choose Media Monitor from the Output menu to display the information
113. needs separate installation or configuration From the memory that the RIP controls it allocates a minimum of 1024 KB buffer space by default To find the best setting for your system try starting with a 4 MB 4096 KB buffer and if you have problems with data underrun increase the buffer size until the problem goes away If this fails you may need a faster disk or more memory The ability to roam large or multiple page buffers is related to the printer buffer size 4 MB is a good starting point for this use To change the size of the printer buffer enter the number of kilobytes KB you require in the text box labeled Printer buffer in the Configure RIP dialog box If there is not enough memory for the requested printer buffer its size will be reduced automatically The figure you enter is the minimum amount of memory that the RIP will use for buffering output Sometimes especially in Single if required mode the RIP will use a much larger amount of memory Note The amount of printer buffer memory needed varies according to job and device resolution output device speed computer speed disk speed and so on Experiment with a larger buffer if necessary 7 8 Extras The Configure RIP Extras dialog box available from the Configure RIP dialog box is used to switch on screening strategies and layered options by entering passwords Note There are other places where you may need to enter a password Some plugins require you to en
114. not the fundamentals of networking connections and services You are likely to require assistance from technical support staff for initial configuration and occasional maintenance of such installations AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide XX Conventions This manual uses some conventions to make it clear where you give keyboard commands or choose from the menus and dialog boxes as described in the following sections The keyboard You can execute many of the commands available in the Harlequin RIP either by using the mouse or by using a keyboard shortcut This is a combination or sequence of key presses that executes a command without you having to choose a menu option with the mouse Keyboard shortcuts for individual commands are discussed in context throughout the manual Shift The Shift key is often used when selecting a group of objects from a list For example when selecting a group of files to print It is also used in keyboard shortcuts and in some mouse actions Ctrl The Control key is used in keyboard shortcuts and in some mouse actions For example you can often hold down Control while pressing another key or a mouse button Whenever this manual describes one of these actions the text shows which key or mouse button to use for example when you can use the Control key and the letter key K in combination the text shows Ctrl K The Control key is also used when selecting several objects from a list that do
115. of the Advance menu options when available There are usually three options to advance the media allowing you to feed 1 3 or 6 inches of media through the imagesetter The relevant output plugin can be written to offer any number of similar options specifying other lengths or units e To cut the media in the current device choose one of the Cut menu options There are commands to cut with or without feeding media If you choose Cut media with feed or type Ctrl K the RIP will feed a pre determined length of media through the imagesetter and then cut You can specify the amount of media to feed through in the Media Manager See Automatic use on page 295 for details of how to set this length If you choose Cut media no feed or type Ctrl L the RIP will cut the film without feeding any extra media Note Some output devices for instance the PelBox always perform a feed before a cut The RIP cannot override this feed but it can keep a record of how much media is fed If you use such a device read its manual to find out this feed length and enter the value in the box labeled Built in cut length in the Media Manager dialog box See Hard ware feeds on page 306 9 3 Advancing and cutting media automatically The automatic options described in this section reduce the number of times you need to use the RIP menu commands or front panel buttons on the physi cal output device You must do some setting up to make sure th
116. of what the RIP is already doing This input provides a way of controlling and monitoring the RIP from without using menus and dialog boxes These jobs are restricted in what they can do if jobs from other inputs are to have the intended result To prevent unintended interaction with a running jobs each job submitted to the asynchronous socket input should start by per forming a save and end witha restore Also the job should not use any painting operators or otherwise alter the graphics state Permissible tasks those that do not interfere with other jobs at the interpreta tion stage include querying the availability of fonts and manipulating page buffers in the throughput system The one exception where interference with another job is allowed and neces sary is that it is possible to kill the currently running job 8 8 1 Creating an asynchronous socket input It is possible to create an asynchronous socket input in the Input Controller and subsequently to edit or delete it Note The expected way of creating an asynchronous socket input is by including PostScript language statements in the files that the RIP executes when starting up An asynchronous socket input created this way is likely to AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 253 8 Configuring Input 254 be a protected channel optionally viewable in the Input Controller but not editable To create and configure an asynchronous socket input 1 Click New in the
117. on page 175 and Section 6 5 on page 169 These sections also describe how to override any con flicting settings made in a job AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 181 6 Screening 182 The following summary of what happens when the Harlequin RIP processes a job may be useful The RIP determines the screen or screens it will use for a job using the values in the Edit Style dialog box and the color of the pages being processed e Monochrome jobs use the gray settings e The color of pages in preseparated jobs is deduced by a variety of means as described in Section 6 12 on page 201 Note Some jobs which have preseparated spot color pages do not con tain any information about the name of the spot color they represent In these circumstances the RIP uses the screening angle that corresponds tothe Other colors in job entry e Colors of pages are determined from settings in the Edit Style dialog box When a job supplies any screens of its own using the set screen setcolorscreen or sethalftone operators then if the override check boxes in the Edit Style dialog box are all cleared the RIP uses the frequency angle and dot shape of the supplied screen until the job provides another screen or cancels any screens it has supplied However if the Override frequency in job check box is selected in the Edit Style dialog box the RIP continues to use the frequency given in the dialog box instead of the one supplied by the j
118. options in the Edit Style dialog box Depending on the output device that you choose you may see different entries in the Dot shape list Output plugins can modify the contents of this list either to add screens suitable for the output device or to remove the names of inappropriate dot shapes Note The PostScript language allows you to specify an arbitrary dot shape by defining a spot function This offers great flexibility but there are some possi ble problems as outlined in the The PostScript Language Reference Manual 2nd Ed One probable consequence of having a spot function defined in the Post Script language is slower rendering of jobs using that spot function it is almost always preferable to use a dot shape provided by a RIP in place of one AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 171 6 Screening 172 implemented in the PostScript language The RIP includes efficient implemen tations of many commonly used dot shapes to offer both speed and choice Jobs often specify their own dot shape To force the RIP to use your chosen dot shape instead select the Override dot shape in job check box A Euclidean dot shape strategy produces better saturated grays at gray values above 50 especially at finer higher screen frequencies Euclidean strategies increase the fill of halftone cells from the corners instead of the centers when the gray value exceeds 50 That is when the gray value is less than 50 the dots are black
119. other machine is already using the same port and send ing something that is not the standard output from a PostScript language job Deselect the Xinet proto col in the Socket Configu ration dialog box and the sending application Xinet PapConnect does significant error checking which slows transfers and may be unnecessary for most jobs AG12325 Rev 5 A 2 Warnings in the Harlequin RIP window The following warnings all appear as messages in the Harlequin RIP window Again the warnings are grouped here according to the type of problem A 2 1 Problems involving disk space Table A 6 Disk space messages Message Things to try System warning Insuffi cient Disk workspace Error VMerror Offending Command renderbands System Warning Free disk space gone below requested limit AG12325 Rev 5 Create more free disk space before reprocessing the job that gave the warning This appears after a partial paint fails Make sure that compression is turned on in Configure RIP If this does not help free up some disk space The RIP waits for some disk space to be freed This is not a fatal error It can happen for example if the RIP is outputting pages or has pages waiting to be output in the Active Queue When these pages have been output they are deleted automatically and the RIP continues with its current job If there are no pages waiting to be output free up disk space by doing some of the fol
120. out put process as shown in Figure D 1 All data becomes a screened bitmap at the earliest possible stage Core B Output B Device B Output B Printer _ a a RIP manager plugin card imagesetter B B cw KEY Use of the disk pUNETS is optional depending 5 Scieened dala on the Single or Multiple mode in use Bitmap Figure D 1 Software screening With assistance from Harpoon PCI the RIP can screen jobs in two different modes which differ by screening at different times within the process that produces physical output By choosing the correct mode you can select max imum speed of output or a lesser degree of acceleration with a guaranteed minimum output rate which is useful when the output device is sensitive to stop start operation AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 455 Use of the disk buffers is optional depending on the Single or Multiple mode in use R S R S Screening gt Screening p Harpoon accelerator plugin PCI card manager B B B B Output Device Output Printer i manager plugin card imagesetter B B KEY RLE contone data and _ screen information Screened data Bitmap Figure D 2 Hardware screening replacing software screening The first mode shown in Figure D 2 performs screening at the same stage as
121. output device 113 Page Setup Manager dialog 96 reordering list of page setups 98 Page Setup Option Extras dialog 149 Page Setup Options dialog 145 abort if calibration does not match 148 abort if fonts are missing 148 add showpage 147 emulate old imagemask behavior 147 fast patterns 147 number of copies to print 149 remove color operators 146 run prep at start of job 146 setting the LanguageLevel 145 Page Setups folder 35 page size specifying default 138 Page stop started message 429 PageBuffers folder 37 205 425 Pantone Matching System 378 Paper jam message 429 Paper low message 429 Paper out message 429 paper See media partial page buffer 20 215 defined 476 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 491 492 Passwords folder 37 patterns folder 37 PDF files color management 441 input methods 275 printing 264 Printing PDF version 1 4 265 setting options 269 special treatment 275 two definitions 476 PDF jobs color management in 444 PDF Options dialog 269 PelBox See imagesetters performance Rainbow Islands test image 92 requirements 28 Seybold Musicians test image 31 PGB hot folder 144 Photo ink defined 477 photo ink N color system 377 Photoshop images processing jobs containing 441 443 pica 477 pipes named pipes as inputs 236 pixel 477 plug in module 477 point 477 Portable Document Format See PDF files 264 positive See negative post processing TIFF files after output 117 PostScript language access from executive 287
122. page 138 and Features on page 149 for a fuller description of these options 9 4 Monitoring media When you start monitoring media you must tell the RIP how much media is in each cassette Thereafter the RIP maintains a record of how much media remains and will warn you when any cassette is running low 9 4 1 Setting up the monitoring system The RIP monitors the feed cassette providing the media rather than the out put device used This is because any one output device may take several dif ferent feed cassettes For instance you may have an imagesetter that can produce output on either film or paper and you may keep two cassettes one loaded with film and one loaded with paper Note If you have an output device that uses a roll feed you can monitor its use of media by treating it as a device with a permanently mounted cassette Before processing any jobs you need to tell the RIP about the cassettes you are using and give details of the media currently in each cassette You do this from the Cassette Manager dialog box Click the Cassette Manager button in the Edit Page Setup dialog box or choose Output gt Cassette Manager to open the Cas sette Manager dialog box as shown in Figure 9 4 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 4 Monitoring media 9 4 2 Cassette Manager and Edit Cassette dialog box The main window of the Cassette Manager lists each available cassette so that you can see and compare the information
123. page buffers for a given page must all be at the same position on their respective flats It is additionally guaranteed that the group of flats that contains all the page buffers for any one job also contains all the page buffers for the other pages on the flat Empty spaces will be left for separations that are not available or missing Note This option will not work for preseparated jobs because the RIP treats each separation as a different job AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 133 134 5 Configuring Output Formats The following examples illustrate the difference between the by separation page positionandby separation page position job options Table 5 2 Media saving example 1 Incoming Job by separation page by separation page Flat position position job No position 1 position 2 position 1 position 2 So Ky Ki K4 K Flat 1 GMa Vue G C C Flat 2 Ma Y3 M Mg Mp M Flat 3 Ca Ya Ka Y Y3 Y Yz Flat 4 Z Y4 C Flat 5 z Y Flat 6 a K4 Flat 7 Table 5 2 shows an example where four incoming jobs are placed on flats differently according to the selection of either by separation page position orby separation page position job With by separation page position selected the first incoming job contains only a black separation K4 which is placed on the first flat in position 1 The second job Cy M3 Y gt contains no black separation and there
124. plugins allow you to select the color generation mode using the Configure Device button When this is the case the Style drop down list contains only the separations styles corresponding to the selected color generation mode For certain types of output device a text box labeled Exposure becomes active in Edit Page Setup By specifying a number in the text box you can change the exposure of the chosen output device this varies the power of the laser used to create the image which in turn makes the image lighter or darker Refer to the documentation for your output device to see if it has an exposure control Choosing the correct exposure is described in Chapter 11 Calibration Media and cassette monitoring and management facilities are available for all contin uous feed printers supported by the Harlequin RIP For details of how to use these facilities see Chapter 9 Media Management and Cassette management on page 144 5 10 ProofReady plugins ProofReady plugins allow the RIP to provide page images to a supported printer and work in a different way to other plugins When you create a Page setup for a ProofReady device a default color setup is applied using input and output profiles and rendering intents defined within the plu gin You must have ColorPro enabled to use this automatic color management feature You can also create your own color setup if you do not wish to use the default settings ProofReady plugins have the follo
125. present in the selected page buffer The columns in the table are Colorant This is the name of the colorant in the page buffer In a separation there is only one colorant In a composite page buffer all the included colorants appear Typical composite page buffers contain only process colors but for a small number of output plugins there can also be spot colors Red This is the red component of the roam color in the range 0 zero through 1 0 Green This is the green component of the roam color in the range 0 zero through 1 0 Blue This is the blue component of the roam color in the range 0 zero through 1 0 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 417 12 Color Separation Roam Color This is the name of the roam color In an unchanged page buffer this is the same name as appears in the Col orant column In a changed page buffer the color is the last one chosen for this colorant You can substitute any other color by choosing from a list of common colors or by typing new values To change a color first select it by clicking on its row in the table The boxes at the foot of the table display the RGB values and the name of the roam color for the selected colorant You can choose named colors from a list or specify any other color by RGB values To select a named color use the drop down list for Roam Color The listed values are any special colors represented in this page buffer a list of default colors for the RGB a
126. printing of the content The only function relevant to the Harlequin RIP is the ability to forbid printing In general the RIP does not print files where the creator has forbidden printing AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 275 8 Configuring Input 276 Document Information The Harlequin RIP window displays the PDF version number and general information about the document as supplied by the author or creating application Notes PDF Notes text annotations do not appear in the out put neither as icons nor as textual content Extensions The RIP ignores all extended content for example mul timedia content and private data that is labeled as such according to the PDF specification 8 15 Printing JPEG and JFIF files The RIP can print JPEG and JFIF files using the Harlequin RIP gt Print File com mand or from a spool folder The simplest way to print JPEG and JFIF files is using the Harlequin RIP gt Print File command To see a listing of JPEG and JFIF files in the current folder use the JPEG Files or All Files option in the Files of type drop down list of the Print File dialog box You can also supply JPEG and JFIF files to the Harlequin RIP using spool folder inputs See Section 8 6 Using the Spool Folder input folder for details When ColorPro is enabled the RIP can detect and utilize an ICC profile embedded in a JPEG file See the Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide for details 8 15 1 Limitation
127. private extensions to the format The result has been that TIFF now represents a family of file formats and there are many pro grams that implement only the more popular parts of these formats The RIP supports the imaging of TIFF IT Profile 1 files generally referred to as TIFF IT P1 files a common method of transferring images for use in adver tising The International Standards Organization ISO Draft International Standard 12639 describes the TIFF IT and TIFF IT P1 formats Relevant ear lier standards are ANSI IT8 8 and the Aldus TIFF 6 0 standard now main tained by Adobe AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 277 8 Configuring Input 278 The TIFF IT P1 format is being promoted by a body called Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications It provides a clean interface for the proprietary color electronic prepress systems CEPS formats such as the Scitex CT LW format TIFF files can contain many different types of data but in general a single TIFF IT P1 file contains only one kind of data from a total of six possibilities each known by a two letter abbreviation as listed in Table 8 2 The exception is the FP file which includes layout information and the details of some combination of files each containing CT HC or LW data it is conve nient to call these other files subfiles of the FP file The data may appear in any order within the FP file but applications must image it in a set order There must be at
128. proofing and emulation ColorPro provides the largest realizable color gamuts for the final print market and allows greater accuracy than would be possible using standard profiles Harlequin ColorPro embraces open systems industry standards and device independent color science and is able to make full use of them If you have ICC profiles with which you already achieve good results you can use these profiles with ColorPro You should however be aware that ColorPro contains color science that is optimized for the Harlequin RIP and is easily utilized with the introduction of SetGoldPro ColorPro allows you to specify different gamut mapping algorithms in the reproduction of a page For example you can simultaneously specify Absolute colorimetric to reproduce some elements of the page and yet specify Perceptual to reproduce the photographs The end result is that on a single page the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth color for photographs are each calculated without affecting other elements on the page Harlequin ColorPro allows processing of colors in page data using ICC profiles produced by s third parties or end users using third party character ization and profiling tools ICC profiles specify a translation between two color spaces Each profile is prepared for a specific set of imaging conditions One device may have more than one profile The profiles may correspond to running the device with d
129. re created in a form that is compliant with PDF X 1 and wait for that job to be supplied to you the other alternative is to use a page setup that accepts basic PDF using the option Any PDF lt 1 3 as basic PDF and print the non compliant version In rare cases there may be a more fundamental error in a PDF file that pre vents you printing it at all in such cases you must use a different PDF file xxxxx PDF X 1 Error unknown PDF X version xxx PDF X 1 Error unexpected PDF X version xxxxx PDF X 1 Error obsolete PDF X version xxx PDF X 1 Error unexpected PDF version The PDF version number is too low too high or otherwise unsuitable for use with this version of the RIP and the settings in use xxx PDF X 1 Error missing Info dictionary xxx PDF X 1 Error invalid Info dictionary PDF X 1 jobs must have a valid Info dictionary xxx PDF X 1 Error missing trailer ID key PDF X 1 jobs must have an ID entry in their trailer object xk PDF X 1 Error invalid encryption If encrypted PDF X 1 jobs must have a blank User password AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 437 438 xxx PDF X 1 Error invalid operator kee PDF X 1 Error invalid HTP in ExtGState xxxxx PDF X 1 Error invalid TR in ExtGState k k K K K PDF X 1 Error invalid RI in ExtGState kee PDF X 1 Error invalid TransferFunction in halftone xxx PDF X 1 Error invalid colorspace xxx PDF X 1 Error invalid fil
130. searches the job for a color space array embedded ICC profile or a color space resource If there is such an element the Harlequin RIP uses it to trans form the relevant object on the page and then treats the object as defined in device independent color See Appendix B Jobs Containing Color Manage ment Data for details Override overprint mode in job There is a new PostScript operator called setoverprintmode which is the PostScript equivalent of the PDF gstate opm flag If an object is set to overprint and opm or setoverprintmode is on the Harlequin RIP drops any colorants which have a zero value This is called implicit overprinting This is what the Override overprint mode in job option controls If the Override overprint mode in job option is checked the Overprint process colors option described below is always honored and any overprintmode and OPM parameter in the job is ignored If it is not checked any overprintmode and OPM parameter in the job will be used and the Overprint process colors setting will be used as the default value 404 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 8 Color Setup Table 12 1 Input Document Controls in the New Color Setup dialog box Continued Fields Description Overprint process colors Drop white objects If this option is selected and overprinting is switched on for an object the RIP overprints any process color component defined as 0 in
131. section of the Edit Page Setup dialog box Ink set options have been removed from the Edit Separations dialog and placed within their own Ink Set Manager See the TrapPro User Manual for more information Honor Color Management PDF and PS options were previously in the Page Setup gt PDF Options dialog and Page Setup Options gt Extras dialog The option is now called Override color management in job and is avail able in the Color Setup dialog Changes to v5 5rla include The addition of a Mac OS X version of the manual A small number of corrections deletions and additions all highlighted by change bars xvi ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Changes to v5 5r1 include e AcroForms support see Section 8 14 3 on page 273 e Convert RGB blacks to true black see Output Controls for RGB options in the New Color Setup dialog box on page 395 e The way calibration works has been changed For more information see Entering the data on page 327 The following changes were made for v5 5 e Image Interpolation support see Section 5 4 2 on page 112 e Media Saving feature see Section 5 14 on page 138 e PDF 1 4 InFlight checker Less significant changes include e Automatic creation of Font resources for installed CID fonts see Section 10 2 on page 300 e Font substitution changes see Section 10 10 on page 311 e Change to the messages when calibrating see Section 11 4 2 2 on page 323 e Changes to
132. sets its own page size and overrides the default page size However in some cases such as when using the Proof Fonts command the RIP uses the default page size You can specify the default page size by clicking Page layout in the Edit Page Setup dialog box to display the Page Layout dialog box You can specify either a standard page size by name or the absolute page width and height If you do not want to use a standard page size using Page size specify your preferred values in the Page width and Page height text boxes Sizes can be in inches millime ters picas or points depending on the current selection in the Select units drop down list to the right of the Page width box When you have specified a nonstandard size the RIP displays Other in the Paper size drop down list 5 17 Margins You can specify margins for a job by clicking Page layout to display the Page Layout dialog box This dialog box varies slightly depending on the type of device The example in Figure 5 13 is for a sheet fed device You can set the margins by typing values into the appropriate text boxes Any margins you specify are added to values set within the job Choose the units to use from the Select units drop down list When you specify the left margin the right margin is calculated automatically based on the total width of the media and the size of the image If you wish you can specify a negative value for ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 17 M
133. software screening in the applicable modes this is before producing the page buffers on disk The second mode shown in Figure D 3 screening at output time takes place when outputting to the chosen output device after producing the page buff ers on disk This mode does not involve the core RIP in screening freeing it to process the next job submitted to the RIP 456 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 R S Screening gt Screening gt Harpoon accelerator plugin PCI card manager B B R S A YB R S Output B Device B Output 7 Printer Core p p p RIP manager plugin card imagesetter R S R S KEY oD RLE contone data and ay _ screen information Use of the disk buffers is optional depending B Screened data on the Single or Multiple mode in use Bitmap Figure D 3 Hardware screening at output time When running the RIP in Single or Single If Necessary mode both screening modes are equivalent and you should choose screening at the same time as software In Multiple and Multiple Parallel modes you can use either screening mode but screening at output time is usually faster and is preferred if the output device is not sensitive to stop start operation One of the major differences when you delay screening until the time of out put is in the size and format of the page buffer PGB files on dis
134. specified in job 176 screen levels limiting 184 screen sets selecting 193 screening 168 and separations style 159 chain 193 error diffusion 161 470 extra gray levels 183 FM 194 ECRM RIP Operator Guide HDS 194 HMS 199 HPS 183 HSL 192 overview of methods 15 Screenin folder 37 spot functions 171 with Harlequin Harpoon accelerator 455 screens defined 164 Screens folder 37 searching for input symbol 226 Separate spot color duotones tritones amp quadtones to spot color plates check box 150 Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate Ilustrator 6 152 Ilustrator 7 152 QuarkXPress 153 Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate check box Macromedia FreeHand 154 Separation Features folder 37 separations 163 changing color 85 colored 392 features needing recombination 388 monochrome 392 page numbering in Output Controller 78 progressive 392 style and screening 159 Separations Manager dialog 389 Serial input plugin 224 Setting the PostScript LanguageLevel 145 settrap 415 Seybold Musicians test image 31 Rainbow Islands test image 92 Shift key xx shortcuts keyboard xx showpage operator 147 Single if required mode 91 compared to Multiple Parallel 92 page buffer modes compared 70 Single mode advanced details 90 page buffer modes compared 70 SMP number of parallel processes 210 AG1 2325 Rev 5 Socket configuring the input plugin 250 input plugin 223 See also sockets sockets as input to
135. speed you may wish to limit the use of compression You can do this using the Minimum compression ratio option in the Configure RIP Options dialog box as described in Section 7 3 5 There are very few cases where you will always want to use uncompressed page buffers If you do want this choice clear the Compress page buffer box 7 3 4 Band size for printing buffer The Band size for printing buffer option in the Configure RIP Options dialog box also has an effect on the performance of driving an output device The value specifies the size in kilobytes KB of the bands into which the RIP divides a page for rendering in the slow scan direction Larger bands mean the page is divided into fewer pieces Changing the size will alter perfor mance characteristics Large pages either in area or bits per pixel mean that many fewer scan lines can be accommodated in each band and this can slow down the system On the other hand too many scan lines in a band means that each band takes longer to process and could lead to stalling the output device ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 4 Job timeout The value you should enter depends on the configuration of your machine Typical values are 128 KB for black and white output and more for output in color perhaps 256 KB Adjust these values according to experience with your configuration 7 3 5 Minimum compression ratio This option in the Configure RIP Options dialog box has an effect onl
136. spot color include colored text company logos and colors that are outside the range available from mixing process colors Spot colors may also be used to define effects other than coloring for example to place varnishes and glues 12 1 2 1 The PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM The Harlequin RIP is able to make use of the latest PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM Previously Pantone colors were identified as CV coated and CVU uncoated For example PANTONE 533 CV and PANTONE 533 CVU With the new system colors are identified as M matte C coated and U uncoated For example PANTONE 533 M PANTONE 533 C and PANTONE 533 U Both the new and previous set of names will produce correctly on the output device All the Pantone Databases can be found in SW NamedColor To use the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM the color names must match exactly the names used in the job For information on how to include color separations see Section 12 7 1 Producing separations The Pantone Process database has been released in the Harlequin RIP v5 5r3 As previously stated all the Pantone Databases are in SW NamedColor The new PantoneProcess Database is found in the SW NamedColor Examples folder ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 1 Introduction To make this database work it must be referenced in one of the files in SW NamedColorOrder You do this by editing Intercept Recombine and Roam PantoneProcess should be put before Pant o
137. such as text input fields multiple choice option lists and click able buttons a PDF file that features an AcroForm is used to provide compre hensive electronic form filling functionality You interact with the form via the usual mouse and keyboard actions The AcroForm can be programmed to respond to events such as clicking on a but ton to provide various levels of automation 8 14 3 1 Print Ready PDF AcroForm files An AcroForm is generally created for interactive use via an interactive pro gram like Adobe Acrobat However you may want to print these files The Harlequin RIP is of course not interactive and is only concerned with render ing the contents of the PDF file for printed output This creates a number of issues about exactly which of the essentially interactive features such as but tons and lists should be printed and how they should appear When the form is completed that is all the required text input fields are filled in using Adobe Acrobat the PDF file is re saved by Acrobat to save the entered information When this is done Acrobat creates additional content in the PDF file called Appearance Streams which render the filled in text input fields It also marks the PDF file s AcroForm as being complete by setting the NeedAppearances key in the AcroForm dictionary to false We refer to a file that has been completed in this way as being print ready Prior to being made print ready a PDF AcroForm may be
138. such things as the current page setup and Configure RIP settings as well as folders for information including the configuration for available devices default color profiles and target definitions In the Config folder the Factory Settings subfolder contains the default configuration for the Harlequin RIP when it is shipped This is essentially a copy of the Config folder itself In the Config folder the Page Setups subfolder contains all the page setups you have saved within the Harlequin RIP e The Crdgen folder contains the color rendering dictionary CRD gener ator plugin executables You can only manipulate CRDs in the Harlequin RIP with the ColorPro option enabled e The Devices folder contains all the output plugin files possibly within subfolders for the various output devices e The encodings folder contains the font encodings for the fonts installed in the RIP e The Error folder is provided as a default location for the spool folder input to place files that it cannot process e The Extensions folder can contain folders or files used to implement extensions to the RIP e The FlatPgbDir folder provides space for the page buffer files used by FlatOut See the FlatOut User Guide for details e The fonts folder contains fonts used by the Harlequin RIP including the fonts installed with the RIP e The FontSet folder is used for PostScript LanguageLevel 3 font sets often used with CFF fonts It may be empty
139. summary Another potential inefficiency of Single if required mode is that if the page is relatively simple a lot of processing time is wasted when the page is output ting which could be used to get the next page ready as happens in Multiple Parallel mode 4 5 Page buffering modes a summary The table below provides a summary of the major capabilities of each page buffering mode Single if Multiple Will the Harlequin RIP required Single Multiple Parallel Ever create a page buffer J J J J Always create a page buffer x Jv Jv J Ever create more than one x x y J page buffer Retain any page buffers on x x J y disk Always output as soon as a y y v s page is ready Always stop interpreting while y y v x outputting Interpret pages while x x x J outputting other pages Allow pages to be output J J y s again Allow modification of page x x Jv J buffer settings without reinterpretation Allow previewing the page x x Jv s Table 4 2 Summary of the capabilities of each page buffering mode AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 93 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 94 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 gt Configuring Output Formats Chapter 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP presented some of the basic ways of getting output from the RIP That chapter introduced the Page Setup Manager and Edit Page Setup dialog box and showed how you can use page setups to choose the output device and many
140. text boxes are dependent on the output device On several types of device the values do not form a continuous range Read the manual for your output device care fully before entering any values The Harlequin RIP makes exposure tests over a range of exposure values by starting at the first exposure value that you want to produce and then at regu lar steps up to and including a last exposure value For example if you want AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 335 11 Calibration 336 to print test pages at exposure settings of 120 125 130 and 135 then type 120 135 and 5 into the boxes Typically each test page is just over 2 inches long Care If you are using an output device where increasing exposure values do not necessarily mean increasing laser intensity smoothly at the film surface take care in selecting the settings for this dialog box If necessary print out two sweeps for example 225 through 230 and 100 through 120 11 4 2 4 Checking the target Each of the test pages should look like that in Figure 11 3 unless you choose a composite Separations Screening amp Color Style in which case you will out put a vertical exposure test page with all colors on a single page In addition if you choose CMYK halftone output you will produce four individual test pages one for each separation Test pages designed for use with densitome ters that move the media automatically may look slightly different often hav in
141. the Device Manager and click Delete This removes the driver immediately When you click the New Edit or Copy button the RIP displays the Device Manager Edit dialog box shown in Figure 5 9 oo cstDece Address fiate4sten7 Caneel Figure 5 9 Device Manager Edit dialog box This dialog box has three fields that you can edit Specify a name for the device in the Name text box This is the name that appears in the Device drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box and elsewhere Choose the device type from the Type drop down list a list of all the device types that the selected multiple device output plugin supports The device types are preset during the manufacture of a plugin and are not subsequently config urable You cannot tell a multiple device driver to look for a device with a type not listed here Use the Address text box to type in the address of the device you are adding or editing This text box provides device information such as a multiplex address a SCSI port or a file name all highly dependent on the type of device For details of what to enter here refer to the documentation available from your supplier for the specific multiple device output plugin Click OK when all values in the Device Manager Edit dialog box are as you want them This confirmation is provisional you must also click OK in the Device Manager to finally save your changes If you opened the Device Manager from the Edit Page
142. the original Click this button to create a new separations style The New Style dialog box appears as described in Section 12 6 2 Once you have set the color space and output format you cannot change them for the named separations style Select a separations style and click this button to edit a copy The New Style dialog box appears as described in Section 12 6 2 Select one or more separations styles and click this but ton to delete them together You cannot delete a separa tions style if it is used in a page setup You cannot delete the only separations style in a list This button is available if you opened the Separations Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box and a separations style is selected The Select button confirms the changes you have made and exits the dialog box In addition the Select button displays the selected separations style in the Edit Page Setup dialog box You can also select separations styles and reorder them by dragging them to new positions in the list The order in the Separations Manager is the order of appearance in menus where you choose a separations style 390 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 6 Separations Manager dialog box 12 6 2 New Style dialog box The New Style dialog box appears when you click the New or Copy button in the Separations Manager Note If you clicked Copy to display this dialog box you can change only the style name this ensures that
143. the 0 and 2 tint panels and between the 98 and 100 panels These figures are for film or bromide inkjet output can be black from the 80 patch upwards Keep the strip that you decide has the right exposure you can measure values from it to create the calibration set If you think a value falling between those used in your exposure sweep might be better print a new target at that expo sure For example set Exposure in the Edit Page Setup dialog box and then use Print uncalibrated target You can only set the Exposure in the Edit Page Setup dialog box if your output device supports software exposure control other wise the option is grayed out 11 4 3 Creating a calibration set You can create a calibration set after you have measured data from a target or obtained it elsewhere for example from a manufacturer s specification for the device Choose Harlequin RIP gt Page Setup Manager The RIP displays the Page Setup Manager Select the page setup for which you printed the exposure test or single calibration target and click Edit In the Edit Page Setup dialog box set the Exposure to the chosen value If your output device does not support soft ware exposure control the Exposure option is grayed out and you may have to set the exposure manually Click the Calibration Manager button to open the Calibration Manager shown in Figure 11 4 This button is next to the Calibration and Tone Curves drop down lists Calibration se
144. the Harlequin RIP 245 requirements for use with the Harlequin RIP 247 special effects applied to jobs using page features 141 applied to jobs using page setup 140 specifying default page size 138 image scale 141 Spool folder 37 configuring 241 excluding files from processing 244 input plugin 223 multiple inputs 20 Spool Folder Configuration dialog 241 spot colors exact names required 396 397 reporting on screen 141 spot functions 171 See also dot shape spread 480 square dot shapes 174 square Euclidean dot shapes 175 StandardCharStrings file 34 starting up executive 287 Harlequin RIP 39 inputs 61 output of jobs after earlier disabling 75 Startup prep Configure RIP option 214 status area in tool bar 44 of a calibration set 361 stop start defined 480 Stop Executive command 287 stopping a print job 263 all enabled inputs 229 all inputs 42 Harlequin RIP 47 output of jobs temporarily 75 the computer running the Harlequin RIP 48 stripping See page imposition substitute fonts AG12325 Rev 5 in jobs from Illustrator 151 or aborting the job 148 SW folder 205 symmetric multiprocessing 210 Sys folder 37 T Take up full message 430 Take up space low message 430 targeteps folder 38 TCP IP 223 testing calibration sets 342 serial line input 256 Threads option in Configure RIP dialog 210 throughput control 21 defined 481 system 73 ThroughPut Info dialog 82 TIFF Tag Image File Format 18 113 configuring files 11
145. the RIP moves it to the error folder specified unless the Delete on error box is selected If a file prints successfully the RIP moves it to the Com plete folder specified unless the Delete on completion box is selected Delete onerror Select this box if you want the RIP to delete files that the Spool folder fails to print Leave this box clear if you want failed files to be moved to the Error Folder Note that a file is treated as an error if you abort it while it is being processed Complete Folder If a file successfully prints the RIP moves it to the loca tion specified in the text field alongside this button unless the Delete on completion box is checked Click the Complete Folder button to change this location using the standard file browsing dialog box Delete on completion Select this box if you want the RIP to delete files that the Spool folder succeeds in printing Otherwise the RIP moves these files to the Complete Folder AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 243 8 Configuring Input Filenames prefix list This text field specifies files to ignore when they arrive in the spool folder if you have also selected the Exclude prefix list box The specification is based on the first part or prefix of the file names Prefixes are case sensitive For example if you type in the prefix ab the RIP ignores all the arriving files whose names begin with ab Examples of files that the Harlequin RIP would ignore for this prefi
146. the changes you have made by clicking the OK button in the Calibration Manager If you opened the Calibration Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can also save the changes by clicking the Select button In addition to saving the changes the Select button displays the selected calibration set in the Edit Page Setup dialog box If you click the Cancel button in the Calibration Manager you lose all the changes to calibration sets that you have made since you opened the Calibration Manager 11 6 Consistency of calibration Once you have produced a number of calibration sets for a device you must be sure that they continue to be accurate to an acceptable degree and that you use them appropriately This section describes what to do and check in routine use 11 6 1 Checking calibration Once you have produced a calibrated output successfully you need only check that the calibration remains stable Do this at suitable time intervals ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 6 Consistency of calibration which may vary from twice a day to once a month depending on your requirement for accuracy and what you learn about the stability of your systems Even if you check calibration sets only occasionally always check them when your imaging or processing environment changes for example when you load film ink or ribbon from a new production batch or change your proces sor speed or temperature In many cases it may also b
147. the contents of the page have a large effect For example the compres sion ratio achievable for a page filled with an unchanging background tint is likely to be better for a contone page buffer than for a halftone page buffer In addition you must ensure you have enough disk space to hold workspace for processing the scanned images on any one page of your job For example when printing the Seybold Musicians test job a full color scanned image 8 MB of extra disk workspace will sometimes be required in addition to the figures shown above Whenever possible the Harlequin RIP uses RAM in preference to disk space If you have spare memory after allocating memory for the considerations described in Performance on page 28 and in the separate ECRM RIP Getting Started Guide you may be able to use this surplus to create a RAM disk in which to place page buffers To be useful the RAM disk must be at least large AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 31 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP 32 enough to hold a single page buffer and if you want to use throughput using either of the multiple page buffer modes it should ideally be large enough to hold at least two page buffers For 2540 dpi color work a RAM disk of around 100 MB is desirable For 1016 dpi monochrome output a RAM disk of around 30 MB may be enough 2 1 1 Driving a printer effectively The machine requirements discussed so far have concerned the production of a page
148. the disk reserve is used up then it will abort the job 4 3 2 2 Operations on buffered pages There are a number of useful tasks that you can perform on buffered pages as listed below Some of the options are only available for pages which are not currently being output or when no pages are being output Using the lists of page buffers and the Roam button you can e View pages on the screen e Select several color separations and view them on the screen Using the Info button and the Info dialog box you can e Lock and delete page buffers AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 81 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 82 e Print multiple copies of page buffers e Change a page to print in negative or vice versa e Change the exposure with which page buffers are printed e Trim excess white space from the output e Select the output device and cassette for page buffers when appropriate e Set margins and center the page on the media when appropriate e Change the colors used to Roam page buffers You can apply these changes to the selected page only or to all the pages of a job These options are available in the Info dialog box Some options can be unavailable either temporarily while you are Roaming a related page buffer or permanently because the output plugin requires particular settings Display the Info dialog box by selecting a page and pressing the Info button or by double clicking on the page Note The H
149. the italic text Imported password file Passwords 1234 56 variable string pwd Click OK to dismiss this dialog box e If you have chosen to reset the Harlequin RIP to its factory settings you see a series of dialog boxes asking you which settings you wish to reset See Section 7 13 on page 222 for details of how to do this When the RIP has finished loading a window containing the following menu items appears Harlequin RIP OF x Harlequin RIP Edit Preview Color Output Fonts Figure 2 1 The Harlequin RIP menus Some windows appear as described in Chapter 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP That chapter describes some basic procedures that you can use to familiarize yourself with the Harlequin RIP The remainder of this chapter introduces the menus tool bar and status bar and describes how to stop the RIP 2 4 1 The menus There are several menus e The Edit menu contains the common window based edit facilities of Cut Copy Paste and Clear 40 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 4 Starting up the Harlequin RIP e The next menu changes name to indicate which device it is controlling This menu contains commands for controlling output and cutting the media being used on any printers connected to the computer Because the displayed name can change this documentation refers to it as the Device menu Figure 2 1 page 40 shows Preview in this position The device does not necessarily have to be
150. the output path is to first apply any primary calibration to remove compensation for the gain of the intended press and then to compensate for the gain of the actual press Note that the intended press calibration is not available when ColorPro is enabled Instead ColorPro provides several options for processing color data ahead of the transfer to press these options include emulating the output of one press on another type of press For details see the separate Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 351 11 Calibration For this reason the process is split in two 1 You give the gain expressed as a calibration set of the intended press which may be one of A standard press Some standard presses are built in to the Harlequin RIP A variation on a standard press A typical variation is for example an extra 5 gain at 50 over SWOP Type 1 printing but with essentially the same shape of gain curve You can create such calibration sets in the RIP by extrapola tion from the standard curves provided with the RIP A real press This press might be one of a group of similar presses another of which may be used to print the job Alternatively this same press may actually print the job but can no longer print with the same gain as assumed when making the scans You give the gain of the actual press The calibration here is expressing the adjustment needed to put the press back into its referen
151. the shape of the mouse cursor changes to a hand The hand speed determines how quickly the image moves when you move the mouse You can set the hand speed together with other options in the Roam Options dialog box See Section 5 5 3 1 for details Shift Hold down the Shift key to see cross hairs marking the location of the view in propor tion to the size of the Roam window For example if the cross hairs are shown in the bottom right of the window the window contains the bottom right portion of the page Hold down the Shift key and click the mouse Shift click to jump to another part of the page For example if you Shift click on the middle of the window the window scrolls to show the middle of the page 5 5 3 1 Roam Options and Preview Options dialog boxes Note This description applies to the options for both the Roam windows and the Pre view windows For ease of description this section refers to the Roam and Reduced Roam windows only the same description applies to the Preview and Reduced Pre view windows Display this dialog box by choosing the Options command from the Roam menu in either the Roam window or the Reduced Roam window Roam Options xi Ur f Color display Fast X Hand speed Slow X Figure 5 5 Roam Options dialog box The Roam Options dialog box contains a list of the separations shown in the Roam window and the Reduced Roam window ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 5 Sending out
152. this information ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Some pages may have surplus white space at the sides and this could mean that film saving will not rotate the page You can force the rotation in the Edit Page Setup dialog box and also tell the RIP to center the page if appropriate so that only the white space is clipped It is possible to set up automatic operations such as printing 4 up or 8 up This is done by adding fragments of PostScript language code into the system that specify where to lay out the pages This could for example automatically fill a large sheet of film with pages This form of imposition only works within a single job A 5 Seybold timings The Seybold test timings have to cover a large range of resolutions so for example two printers with resolutions of 2000 and 2540 dpi respectively would be compared to one another directly However remember that there is more data in a higher resolution bitmap a 2540 dpi bitmap contains 62 29 more data than a 2000 dpi bitmap The time taken to generate the 2540 dpi job while probably not as much as 62 longer is certainly substantially longer If you really must reduce timings to be comparable across different resolution printers the only solution is to use the lowest resolution possible A 6 TIFF IT troubleshooting Various problems may occur and warning messages may appear when imag ing TIFF IT files with the RIP These are described and explained below
153. time 1 seconds Painting page to disk Page buffer size Raw 1960Kb Compressed 3Kb Ratio 715 88 1 Print time 0 seconds Total time 1 seconds Job Completed fontlist Figure 3 7 Harlequin RIP window messages The window displays only messages since the start of the RIP session and can display the last 32 000 characters of these messages Within this limit you can scroll back to inspect the messages for old jobs the window scrolls back to the end when new text appears In Multiple Parallel mode the default page buffer mode timings require careful interpretation because the RIP may be outputting and interpreting jobs at the same time Also if the RIP has to pause for example to wait for disk space to be freed the timings may be misleading because of the variable time spent freeing space The RIP adds a copy of all the messages appearing in the text window to a file called LOGFILE in the sw folder The size of the log file can be restricted by editing the GeneralPreferences text file found within the config folder in the sw folder ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 4 Monitoring the Harlequin RIP By changing the value of MaxLogfileSize to any value other than 0 will specify the maximum size of the file in bytes When this maximum value is reached LOGFILE will be changed to LOGFILE OLD The size of the file is checked when the RIP is started and each time a message is written to the f
154. to let the black separation cause a knockout in the magenta separation This effect is called overprinting and is the opposite of a knockout Overprinting eliminates the risk of finding gaps in the final output but cannot be used unless the overprinted ink is strong enough to overcome the effects of the ink or inks beneath it When overprinting is not possible trapping remains a possibility 12 3 Producing color images from separations In the RIP depending on the output format you can print separations together as a composite page colored separations or each separation as a monochrome page If you print a set of monochrome separations for use in the printing process these separations can be put together to form a color image The separations are carefully placed one on top of the other until all the color details can be seen How is this achieved Typically color pictures do not consist only of areas drawn in full intensity primary colors Most of the picture is usually be in various shades and tints Most printing presses require screened halftones so these varying intensities are achieved by using halftone dots Each separation therefore is usually composed of a pattern of halftone dots See Chapter 6 Screening for details of halftoning In halftoning strategies continuous tone gray or colored images are imitated by combining dots of different sizes and colors They are combined in such a way that to the human eye th
155. to run some tests and decide whether or not to use image interpolation ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 4 Selecting different devices Image interpolation works by producing a smooth transition between adjacent sample values rather than painting all pixels covered by a source sample with the same color There is a performance penalty when interpolation takes place and this penalty is related to the area of the output image and to whatever color management is taking place Because it may increase the time required to render the image image interpolation is disabled by default and is only enabled when the width or height or both of an image on the device is larger than the corresponding dimension of the source If either dimension of the image on the device is less than that of the source the filter will be deactivated Image interpolation only ever takes place if the Interpolate flag in an image or mask dictionary is set to true and this is set by the generating application Note Interpolation image and mask is not supported for type 4 images Image interpolation increases the resolution of the image to the device resolution by increasing the bit depth of the image For example a 1 bit grayscale image will inter polate to say an 8 bit image with a smooth gray scale transition between each black and white pixel Image mask interpolation produces output that is 4 times higher in resolution than the input but it can run up
156. to three times in a row providing at most 64 4 x 4 x 4 times higher resolution output The mask interpolator uses two criteria to choose if higher resolution output is needed Ifthe source mask width and height are both higher than the device resolution stop Ifeither the source mask width or height are more than 150 of device resolu tion stop Otherwise interpolate again The second check is concerned with images whose source data is not square but they have been transformed so that on the device they are close to becoming square This is to avoid the larger side of the image becoming very large as the smaller side tries to achieve the device resolution AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 105 5 Configuring Output Formats 5 4 2 2 Reducing image resolution When an image is reduced on an output device rows and columns of the source image are discarded to make the image fit in the desired area Some images are generally unaffected by this process photographs for example However some images such as technical drawings can become badly affected When an image contains many fine horizontal and vertical lines they can become badly dis torted or even lost completely by the process naively discarding whole columns and rows The image reduction filter eliminates this kind of problem by resampling the whole image to the device resolution ensuring that all pixels in source image are represented on the output Thin lin
157. versions of the RIP but it uses more disk space and requires you to manage two page buffer folders in the newer version Choose Harlequin RIP gt Configure RIP then click Change to change the folder used to hold page buffers e You can copy the older page buffers directly into the page buffer folder used by the newer version of the RIP You may need to restart that ver sion of the RIP before the RIP displays the page buffers Warning Take care not to copy page buffers with the same file names as ones already in the destination folder AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 87 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 88 e You can leave the page buffers in the page buffers folder of the older version of the RIP In the newer RIP version choose Harlequin RIP gt Configure RIP then click Change to change the folder used to hold page buffers Note If you use Reduced Roam on a page first in the newer version of the RIP this prevents you using Reduced Roam on that page in the same folder when using the older version of the RIP You can inspect the information displayed in the Info or Page Layout dialog boxes for an older page buffer but you cannot change anything The main con sequences are that you cannot change the number of copies to be printed and you cannot change the permission for automatic deletion You can Roam older page buffers without any problems beyond a small color change which is most pronounced in continuous tone unscre
158. when the TIFF IT option is not enabled then depending on the input method chosen the TIFF 6 0 input option may attempt to process the parts of the file that it recognizes as TIFF This is unlikely to produce the desired result TIFF IT files can result in very large page buffers and potentially cause painting to multiple partial page buffers We recommend that you allocate 128 MB of memory to the RIP if possible with an absolute minimum alloca tion of 64 MB RAM It is not possible to run a simple spool folder where any of the CT HC LW or FP files may arrive first the result may be partial images The spool folder can accept TIFF IT P1 files but only if the order of arrival and file naming can be controlled See page 245 for details of configuring the spool folder for a spe cially controlled source of TIFF IT P1 files If the order of arrival or naming is unsuitable or unpredictable using Print File from the Harlequin RIP menu is the simplest reliable method of ensuring that the RIP images the intended file or combination of files 8 17 2 Usage To print a TIFF IT file first choose a page setup with a large enough imaging area and an appropriate resolution for the high resolution data types Next choose the option Print File from the Harlequin RIP menu Figure 8 9 page 262 shows the dialog box that appears Display the contents of the folder holding the file that you want to print Choose the file that you want to print Typic
159. when using in RIP separations Quark XPress Features v Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate when using in RIP separations Act on XPress page comments when recombining not recommended with imposed pages I Replace XPress graduated fills with smooth shading gt Macromedia FreeHand Features M Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate when using in RIP separations Cancel Figure 5 15 Page Setup Option Extras dialog box 5 23 1 Adobe Photoshop features These options control handling of features found in jobs from Adobe Photoshop Note The Honor PostScript Color Management check box has been removed The option is now called Override color management in job and is part of the Input Document Controls within the Color Setup Manager See Section 12 8 on page 388 for more details To make fullest use of jobs containing device independent color defini tions enable a color option in the Configure RIP Extras dialog box Separate spot color duotones tritones amp quadtones to spot color plates This option enables the interception of Photoshop duotones tritones and quadtones when encountered in EPS files Select this box if you want to separate spot color duotones tritones and quadtones to spot color separations 150 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 23 Page Setup Option Extras For this option to take effect select a RIP separations style that creates separations
160. when you refill one You must also ensure that the cassette being used to process a job is the same one the RIP thinks is being used You can check this by seeing which cassette is chosen in the selected page setup 9 2 Advancing and cutting media interactively You can use the interactive options described in this section immediately without performing any preparation This can be useful when you are starting to use a new system Once you have established the effects of the options and decided which of these you want to use regularly you can set up automatic procedures to reduce your need for ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 2 Advancing and cutting media interactively the interactive options see Advancing and cutting media automatically on page 294 The interactive options and any manual controls on the output device remain useful for unusual jobs or special tests 9 2 1 Device menu Each interactive option is a Harlequin RIP menu command which affects the selected device and the cassette mounted in that device The commands are in amenu in the main Harlequin RIP window which appears between the Edit menu and the Color menu The menu changes its name to indicate the currently selected output device Note For simplicity this manual refers to this menu as the Device menu The commands available in this menu can vary to suit the currently selected out put device The first option in the Device menu is Select
161. which is merely flushed ignored by the interpreter Clear this box if you encounter problems with network software or wish to ensure full compatibility with other PostScript language compatible interpreters 8 4 Using the NT Print input This input publishes the RIP as one or more printers available to the Windows NT print services Once fully installed and configured each printer has a name visible to Windows NT There are several stages to installation and configuration which you must carry out in this order e Installing the plugin e Configuring the RIP to make the input available e Configuring Windows NT to associate a printer with the RIP input Section 8 4 1 through Section 8 4 3 describe these stages in detail 8 4 1 Installing the plugin The installation is a two stage process you run the Harlequin RIP Product installer to unload the NT Print files you then run the NT Print install wizard 1 The NT Print plugin requires the Harlequin RIP to be installed on the target machine If the RIP is not installed then you may add it at the same time as you add the NT Print plugin 2 Insert the Harlequin RIP CD ROM and access its contents At the top level of the CD run the Install exe setup program 3 In the Product Installer window specify location for the plugin files by selecting the Harlequin RIP folder 230 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 8 4 Using the NT Print input From the Package menu choose
162. will be aborted and the following message is displayed WARNING THIS JOB USES PDF 1 4 TRANSPARENCY ABORTING JOB 8 14 2 3 PDF Page Alert With the PDF Page Alert switch enabled the following alert appears when interpreting every page that uses transparency THIS PAGE USES PDF 1 4 TRANSPARENCY Using the page by page check allows the RIP to switch between Normal and Backdrop Rendering mode on a page by page basis This improves perfor mance because backdrop rendering a page containing no transparency is much slower than normal rendering Note When a PDF file references another PDF file via transparency the sec ond PDF is now checked while determining if the page containing the refer ence has any transparent object on it Also not all applications that provide a user interface to define transpar ency do so using PDF 1 4 structures Macromedia FreeHand has support for transparency but it is done in a different way Also Acrobat Distiller cannot make transparent objects For more information see the Harlequin RIP Extensions manual ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 14 Printing PDF files 8 14 3 AcroForms A PDF file can contain information which is additional to the standard PDF format When viewed using an interactive application such as Adobe Acrobat this additional information provides interactive features making the page more like a form These files are called AcroForms With features
163. with a control offering choices between more smoothing and faster preparation aspect ratio The height to width ratio of a page banding The white bands which can be produced if interpreted data is sent to cer tain kinds of imagesetter too slowly see also data underrun the result is that media continues to feed through but no image is available to AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 465 print leading to white bands in the output The RIP uses a printer buffer which ensures that data is sent to the imagesetter at a steady rate in order to reduce the chances of this problem occurring Banding will only occur in imagesetters which cannot stop start successfully black generation The process of adding black to CMYK images in variable amounts according to printing effects required cassette A container for output media This cassette contains a roll of film or paper and is slotted onto the top of an imagesetter in such a way that the media can be fed through Some versions of the Harlequin RIP include the Media Manager which allows you to monitor the amount of media left in many different cassettes automatically See also current cassette choke The process of overprinting a small border on graphics to make them look smaller Spread and choke are often used as part of trapping to pro tect against misregistration of color separations CIP3 CIP3 was a group called International Cooperation for Integration of
164. you are viewing a page and resumes only when you close the Preview window AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 107 108 5 Configuring Output Formats When you print a file to the Preview device a new window appears containing the image processed as shown in Figure 5 4 Preview 1 fontlist 400 400H dpi Biel Es Preview AvantGarde Book amp abcdefghijklmnopars ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP 1234567890 cue Figure 5 4 Preview window You have already seen an example of screen roam in Chapter 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP Using screen preview as a device gives you the same options as screen roam You can preview up to 24 bit RGB or 32 bit CMYK raster images as long as you have sufficient memory If you have installed an N color device you can also roam N color images Navigation in the Preview window is the same as in the Roam window For details see Roam and Preview windows on page 109 You can hide one or more separations when previewing a composite image See Section 5 5 3 1 Roam Options and Pre view Options dialog boxes for details 5 5 2 Using the None device When running in a multiple page buffering mode you can preview pages from within the Output Controller by clicking the Roam button See Job management on page 88 By setting the output device to None you can carry out test runs and preview pages and separations You have already seen an example of screen roam in Section 3 1 A simple Harleq
165. 1 2 Print Calibration dialog box Select an appropriate page setup in the From Page Setups list Note If you forget to choose a page setup the RIP uses the one that you chose last time you used the Print Calibration command If you have not used the Print Calibration command in this RIP session the first page setup in the list is used To change the order of this listing see Reordering page setups on page 106 Note Some settings in the chosen page setup are ignored or altered notably those in a ColorPro color management option that would change the color of a graphic object Each button creates a slightly different target test strip or series of targets To create the appropriate series of targets for the example procedure you need to set up some values and then click Print exposure sweep Note If your output device does not support software exposure control run the tests manually instead according to your output device manufacturer s instructions Typically set the exposure manually click Print uncalibrated target and repeat for each exposure value Print exposure sweep uses the values in the associated From To and Step text boxes to print test strips at each of several exposures in the range ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 4 Example procedure 11 4 2 2 Messages From version 5 5 calibration is installed differently however the end result is the same as previous versions with the exception of a few
166. 2 on page 74 to see examples of this The following items of information are displayed e The delete permission for each page e Whether or not the page was created by an older version of the RIP e The page number of the original job e The original job name e The color for printing the page The delete permission for or origin of each page You can configure the RIP so that it automatically deletes pages once they have been printed or when space on the hard disk is low However you can still retain an important page by changing its delete permission See Deleting buffered pages on page 80 for details on deleting pages automatically and Operations on buffered pages on page 81 for details on retaining important pages The mark if any to the left of each page in the Active Queue and Held Queue indicates its delete permission x The page is locked and cannot be deleted automatically no mark The page is unlocked and can be deleted automatically lt The page was created in an earlier version of the Harlequin RIP Note The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later can read page buffers created by version 4 5 and you can roam or print these buffers The mark lt in front of the name of an older buffer is there to remind you that there are some limi tations on what you can do with earlier versions of page buffers see Section 4 3 3 on page 87 for details The page number of the original job The page number of t
167. 25 Rev 5 12 11 Pages in the Output Controller 12 10 2 Controls in the Harlequin RIP The Trapping drop down list in the Trapping section of the Edit Page Setup dia log box always provides the following options None This option performs no trapping settrap Quark Use this option to have the RIP generate overprinted borders according to instructions embedded in suitable jobs by QuarkXPress See Section 12 10 1 for details of how to produce suitable jobs If your copy of the RIP has one of the optional TrapPro features enabled there may be extra entries in this list and you also can create new sets of trapping rules that also become entries in this list as described in the separate TrapPro User Manual 12 11 Pages in the Output Controller In general the RIP treats separations the same way whether they are the result of processing a preseparated job or the result of separating a composite color job within the RIP Depending on the separations style each page of a composite color job can produce several pages one for each separation Once these pages are in the Output Controller the RIP handles them in the same way as any other pages The pages are tagged with their color which appears after the name in the Output Controller For example the job picture ps separated for CMYK printing would have four entries in the queue as follows picture ps C picture ps M picture ps Y picture ps K Cyan magenta yellow a
168. 263 AG1 2325 Rev 5 setting PDF options 269 several copies 149 several files 263 size of buffer for band 208 TIFF IT files 280 using a different press 156 329 using special effects 141 problems curing 419 431 failure to RIP to disk 425 with fonts 426 with HPS 188 with HSL 200 with networks 423 with TIFF IT files 431 process colors changing the angles 170 process work See color processor online developer 309 procsets folder 37 profiles ColorPro feature 361 defined 478 progress box 58 79 media management 305 warning messages in 427 progress dial 54 61 progressive proofs defined 478 progressive separations 392 Proof Fonts dialog 54 320 proofing fonts 319 in long format 321 proofs defined 479 progressive defined 478 Q queues active 74 held 74 transferring pages between 76 quitting Harlequin RIP 47 R RAM See memory Raster Image Processor defined 479 Read dial 55 recombination AG12325 Rev 5 features requiring 388 Recombine preseparated jobs and composite jobs 401 check box 399 memory requirements 29 suitable jobs 399 Red Green Blue See RGB Reduced Preview window 109 reduced roam 56 83 109 Reduced Roam window 109 reject preseparated jobs 399 remaining length of media 304 Remove color operators page setup option 146 removing fonts from the RIP 321 rendering 479 reordering page setups 98 reprinting jobs 76 ReproductionCriteria folder 37 requirem
169. 3 creating files 113 naming files 114 output device 113 post processing output files 117 See also TIFF IT files TIFF 6 0 input 282 TIFF IT files data types 278 format and history 277 installation and requirements 279 password 213 printing 280 printing with spool folder 245 troubleshooting 431 time saving optimization 137 timeouts on jobs 209 tmp folder 38 tone curves adjusting 157 creating and using 349 in Edit Page Setup dialog 157 introduction 348 Toner low message 430 Toner out message 430 tool bar introduced 41 status area 44 Transparency 265 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 495 496 TrapParams folder 38 trapping defined 481 in QuarkXPress jobs 414 in the Harlequin RIP 414 TrapPro menu commands 46 Trim Page check box in Page Setup dialog 137 Trim page check box in Info dialog 84 troubleshooting See problems TrueType fonts 313 Type 0 fonts 312 Type 1 fonts 312 Type 3 fonts 312 Type 32 fonts 313 Type 4 fonts 312 Type 42 fonts 313 U UCR 408 410 Ultre See imagesetters undercolor removal 408 410 uninstalling fonts 321 units of measurement dpcm 470 dpi 470 dpmm 470 Ipem 473 lpi 473 Ipmm 473 pica 477 point 477 Unknown error message 430 Usr folder 38 Utilities folder 38 V version file in SW folder 39 vignettes defined in spot colors 149 virtual memory 481 allocating for the Harlequin RIP 215 setting 29 WwW Warming up message 430 When necessary ECRM RIP Operator Guide delete
170. 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 479 480 roam To preview interpreted jobs in the Output Controller available only in either of the multiple modes See also preview rosette The pattern in which halftone cells are arranged in a separated image This figure shows how the RIP can produce rosettes which either have dark centers on the left of the diagram or clear centers on the right of the diagram with the central dot removed screen angles The angles at which the halftone screens are placed in relation to one another screen frequency ruling The density of dots on the halftone screen commonly measured in lines per inch lpi This is sometimes called raster or mesh spread The process of printing a small border just outside the edges of graphics to make them look bigger Spread and choke are often used as part of trapping to protect against misregistration of color separations stop start The ability of an output device to stop and restart during printing tag In TIFF or TIFF IT files an Image File Descriptor IFD contains a number of entries tags each consisting of an unique tag number from 0 to 65535 and its corresponding value or values Tag numbers are gener ally determined by the TIFF 6 0 or TIFF IT specifications and each has a ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 specific meaning In TIFF 6 0 tag numbers above 32767 are vendor defined For example the tag number for the tag named Do
171. 5 Rev 5 8 14 Printing PDF files You can also supply PDF files to the RIP using spool folder inputs and all forms of network protocols AppleTalk sockets and so on See the summary of managed inputs in Section 8 1 on page 222 If necessary set the PDF options in the page setup corresponding to your chosen managed input 8 14 7 Limitations and special treatment The RIP can always print PDF files that are designed to be printed There are some minor differences compared to the way in which the RIP handles Post Script language files Also the emphasis on printed output and limited inter activity means that the support of some optional content in PDF files is missing or modified compared to the support in a dedicated PDF viewer These features are Embedded fonts and font substitution The Harlequin RIP supports the use of fonts embedded in PDF files as well as fonts already available to the RIP for use with PostScript language jobs The embedded fonts can include TrueType Type 42 fonts CID char acter identifier composite fonts and Compact Font Format CFF fonts The RIP aborts the job when there are any missing fonts requested by a PDF job For PDF jobs the RIP ignores the setting of the Abort the job if any fonts are missing check box in the Page Setup Options dialog box Security settings The creator of a PDF file can limit access to a PDF file by requiring a password of the reader or forbidding changing copying or
172. 58 3 Select your preferred physical device from the Device drop down list Note If the device is not listed in the Device drop down list you may need to configure it using the Device Manager available from the button next to the Device list and described in Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats It is probably easier to use the None device to do another screen preview 4 Assuming that you have successfully chosen a physical device set the resolution and any other required options in this New Page Setup dialog box Note that if you change the Device you have to choose a separa tions style from the Style drop down list and for some devices a cas sette name from the Cassette drop down list 5 Click Save As the RIP displays the Save Setup dialog box In the Save As text field type a name Default to Printer is suitably descriptive so type that name then click Save 6 Click OK to close the Page Setup Manager 7 Choose Media Manager from the Output menu and select the Disable media management box You need to configure the media management before using it that topic is covered in Chapter 9 Media Management 8 Now create anew sample job as before by choosing the Fonts gt Proof Fonts command and choosing some fonts from the Proof Highlighted Fonts dialog box 9 From the Page Setup list select Default to Printer and click Proof The RIP displays the same indicators of activity text in the Harlequin RIP w
173. 7 on page 211 describe the use of items in this dialog box Section 7 8 on page 212 describes the use of the dialog box displayed when you click the Extras button The Options button leads to another subsidiary dialog box described in part of Section 7 3 on page 206 and in Section 7 9 on page 214 through Section 7 12 on page 216 7 2 How the Harlequin RIP controls files You can configure the RIP so that certain files are always kept in particular folders on your machine You can specify the following e Workspace folder e Page buffer folder 204 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 2 How the Harlequin RIP controls files 7 2 1 Workspace folder This folder is used as general disk workspace If there is not enough RAM available the RIP will create temporary files in this folder to use as workspace This might occur if you are processing jobs that contain very large images By default the workspace folder is called WorkSpace and is found in the sw folder You can specify another location for the workspace by clicking the Change button in the Configure RIP dialog box and specifying a folder of your choice The amount of disk space required for workspace will vary a lot from job to job It is worth remembering that jobs containing large images scanned at high resolution will often produce very large workspace files amounting even to many megabytes Simple jobs however may require none at all 7 2 2 Page buffer folder
174. 72 0 None CMYK Composite Figure 3 1 Page Setup Manager dialog box 50 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session 3 In the Edit Page Setup dialog box shown in Figure 3 2 set the Device to None and the Vertical and Horizontal resolutions to something small say 72 dpi If you change the Device you must choose a separations style listed in the Style drop down list and for some devices a cassette name from the Cassette drop down list For the purposes of this example you can select any option from these lists For more information about the options in this dialog box see Section 5 3 Edit Page Setup dialog box on page 107 The None device does not produce any printed output but does perform all the necessary processing for the job including producing page buff ers as defined on page 451 in the Glossary This device can be used for testing and timing jobs and is especially useful for previewing the job on screen AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 51 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 52 Edit Page Setup Default Page Setup Pontigure device ProctHeady z CMYK Composite x E No Color Management x Eq Noe Eonngure Figure 3 2 Edit Page Setup dialog box 4 Click OK Click Save As if you are working in the New Page Setup dialog box and save the page setup as Default Page Setup this changes the original page setup but it is c
175. AG12325 Rev 5 8 10 Using the Serial input plugin 8 10 Using the Serial input plugin The Serial Line input plugin handles PostScript language jobs passed to it over a serial line RS232 or V24 standards The benefits of offering serial line input are e The Harlequin RIP can become an immediate replacement for a Post Script compatible printer that was used exclusively over a serial line e Remote computers can submit jobs to the RIP through a serial line with out being part of the same network as the computer running the RIP The use of a RIP input using a spool folder or network protocol is preferable in almost all cases The advantages of these methods are greater speed and robustness than using a serial line 8 10 1 Overview This is a brief introduction to creating and using a serial input to the Harlequin RIP There is more detail in later sections The first stage of using a serial input to the Harlequin RIP is to find available serial ports on the remote computer and on the computer running the RIP and to establish a reliable serial link between them This requires a null modem cable with suitable connectors for the ports Section 8 10 2 Establishing a serial link specifies the cable more fully and suggests how you or your sup plier may need to test the link Next you must configure the RIP input To configure a Serial input choose the source in the Input Controller and click the Configure button The Serial Comms
176. AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 309 9 Media Management 310 The information appears in the Media Monitor shown in Figure 9 6 By default when in Multiple Parallel mode the RIP displays both the Output Controller and the Media Monitor Media Monitor x Name Cassette 1 Type Film Page 32 Length 85 15 Exposed 31 19 Units x Figure 9 6 Media Monitor window The media information is presented in the following fields Name The name of the feed cassette A series of asterisks in this field shows that the current output device has media management disabled Type The type of media in the feed cassette A series of asterisks in this field has the same meaning as in the Name field The entry No Film No Media or a blank entry means that no one has defined the type of media not that the cassette is empty Pages The number of pages exposed since the last cut was performed Length The amount of media left in the current feed cassette This length is shown in the unit of measurement that you can choose in the Units field in this dialog box Exposed The amount of media that has been exposed since a cut was last performed This is also the amount in the take up cassette Units The units of measurement for figures in the Length and Exposed fields Choose any convenient unit from those listed ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 Fonts Whenever the RIP processes a job that uses
177. Configuration dialog box appears containing several controls described in Section 8 10 3 Configuring a Serial input plugin Set the controls to the desired values and click OK then enable the input in the Input Controller dialog box and again click OK When you select Start Inputs from the Harlequin RIP menu or immediately if inputs are already started a message appears in the Harlequin RIP window of the general form Publishing Serial Input printer lt serial_name gt Finally the remote computer must send a job When the input is receiving data from the remote computer an alert box appears on the screen of the com AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 255 8 Configuring Input 256 puter running the RIP to show that the plugin is reading data There is no progress box because the plugin cannot find out the total size of the job until it has read all of it 8 10 2 Establishing a serial link Note This section is necessarily technical The null modem cable must connect the lines for send data receive data and signal ground earth Depending on the handshaking method the cable may also need to connect control lines If you wish to use hardware handshaking the cable must also have the RTS and CTS control lines connected Software handshaking does not require these control lines because it uses the XON and XOFF characters sent over the data lines For both forms of handshaking this is a minimum requirement the pr
178. E file contains a record of all transactions with the Harlequin RIP monitor This file can be saved and its size restricted For more information see Section 3 4 Monitoring the Harlequin RIP ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 4 Starting up the Harlequin RIP e The files FILERED PS and FILEMAP DAT replacing FILEMAP PS which is still present for short term compatibility contain important informa tion for use in file name mapping The RIP manages these files automat ically you must not change these files manually File name mapping is necessary because PostScript language file names can be very long can contain characters that have special meanings for file systems on the computer running the Harlequin RIP and are case sensitive For each PostScript language file name that could be a prob lem the RIP creates a unique and acceptable file name in the file system and records both file names together as a mapping in FILEMAP DAT You may find it useful to inspect FILEMAP DAT if you need to associate a particular file name with the other name in its mapping For example this is a typical mapping between Press and PRESS Press PRESS M Note The file names are all uppercase exactly as shown in this manual It is possible for Explorer in Microsoft Windows to display these names with only a leading capital letter e The version file contains text describing the version of the Harlequin RIP for u
179. ECRM RIP for Windows NT Operator Guide Eclipse Release November 2002 AG12325 Rev 5 GLOBAL GRAPHICS Copyright and Trademarks Eclipse Release November 2002 Part number HK 6 0 OEMN ECLIPSE Copyright 1992 2002 Global Graphics Software Limited All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmit ted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Global Graphics Software Limited The information in this publication is provided for information only and is subject to change without notice Global Graphics Software Limited and its affiliates assume no responsibility or liability for any loss or dam age that may arise from the use of any information in this publication The software described in this book is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of that license ECRM is a registered trademark of ECRM Incorporated ScriptWorks is a registered trademark and Harle quin the Global Graphics Software logo Harlequin RIP ColorPro EasyTrap FireWorks FlatOut Harlequin Color Management System HCMS Harlequin Color Production Solutions HCPS Harlequin Color Proofing HCP Harlequin Error Diffusion Screening plugins 1 bit and 2 bit HEDS1 and HEDS2 Harlequin Full Color System HFCS Harlequin ICC Profile Processor HIPP Harlequin Standard Co
180. G12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 245 8 Configuring Input puters and machines running the UNIX or appropriate Microsoft Windows operating systems The benefits of using network sockets are Transfer of jobs between different types of machines occurs at network speeds typically much higher than those achieved with serial links One server machine the one running the Harlequin RIP can receive input from as many sending machines as can connect to the network The RIP must finish one job before starting another including jobs from other types of input plugin All sending machines are configured in the same way Given an existing network there is no requirement for extra hardware or shared file systems A program or user on the sending machine can be informed of the job status as the job progresses There are some potential minor difficulties with socket input It requires a small amount of central network management or user access to configuration files on the sending and receiving machines This management or user access is required only when setting up the links not for routine use In general the socket input plugin accepts only PostScript language and PDF input sent with a basic TCP IP stream protocol This protocol is simple to generate but prohibits the direct use of any extra protocol such as that used by the UNIX 1p program The Xinet PapConnect pro tocol is an option if there is no Macintosh computer inv
181. HPS 185 frequency 326 strategies 162 halftones folder 36 halftoning 384 description 162 See also screening Hand speed option 111 hard copy 471 hardware feeds 472 using 306 Harlequin Chain Screening See HCS Harlequin Color Production Solutions See HCPS Harlequin Dispersed Screening See HDS Harlequin Micro Screening See HMS Harlequin Precision Screening See HPS Harlequin Screening Library See HSL Harlequin Harpoon configuring 459 installation 454 requirements 453 screening modes 455 troubleshooting 461 using 201 458 Harlequin RIP failure to appear on the network 439 folder structure 34 monitoring 66 quitting 47 resetting to standard configuration 217 starting up 39 Harlequin RIP window 66 215 319 Harpoon See Harlequin Harpoon HCS introduction to Harlequin Chain Screen ing 193 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 487 488 HDLT password 213 HDLT Harlequin Display List Technol ogy defined 472 HDS compared to lpi measures 197 HDS Light 192 introduction 194 varieties of 194 height page default 138 Held Queue 74 Hex N color system 377 Hexachrome PANTONE Color System 377 HiFi color N color system 377 hinted fonts 312 472 HMS calibration for 200 introduction to Harlequin Micro Screen ing 199 varieties of 199 Hold and Reprint command 91 HPS 472 and gray levels 183 background reading 168 enabling HPS 2 0 186 introduction to Harlequin Precision Screening 183 memory required 28 29 options dialog 184 perform
182. Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS Global Graphics s pat ented Frequency Modulation FM screening technology Moir patterning is impossible with HDS and it gives finer detail for a given device resolution AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 15 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 16 Also included are Harlequin Chain Screening HCS which is particularly good at creating smooth flat tints and at holding detail in continuous tone regions and Harlequin Micro Screening HMS which allows a greater range of tones to be used even at high screen rulings 1 3 8 3 Screening for extended color systems Several color systems require more than the four screens used for CMYK work The Harlequin RIP contains screens suitable for use with HiFi color sys tems such as the PANTONE Hexachrome Color Selector system or the vari ous photo ink technologies using different densities light and dark versions of one or more colorants 1 3 9 Harlequin ColorPro It is possible to add and use the advanced color management facilities pro vided by Harlequin ColorPro which as an optional extra provided with the Harlequin RIP and requires a password for it to be enabled ColorPro is a comprehensive color management system which replaces all the previous offerings such as HIPP HCMS HFCS and HCPS ColorPro together with SetGoldPro profile making software is Global Graphics color science solution for ensuring color quality and accuracy for
183. I is enabled in the RIP Files referenced by OPI must be embedded in a PDF X 1 file Warning Skipping page 1 not in requested page range This is not an error It is a reminder that the options chosen in the PDF Options dialog box have caused a page to be omitted from the PDF job being printed This omission may be intentional oe o9 Error invalidaccess Offending command pdfexec The PDF files may have been saved with security settings that require a password to be entered for printing Obtain the password from the sup plier of the PDF job and enter the password in the text field in the Pass word section of the PDF Options dialog box Passwords are case sensitive If you enter the correct password in the Harlequin RIP and still see this error check that you have not entered one or more white space charac ters at the end of the password Another possible cause of this error is that the password uses characters from an extended non ASCII charac ter set The way in which these characters are represented can vary from platform to platform and the PDF password may have been set on a platform different from the one on which you are running the RIP Request a new file using a simpler password Finally the PDF file may be damaged Try using another application to view or print the file taking note of any messages given by that application 434 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 High resolution file
184. IP Operator Guide 11 Calibration 368 Copy Delete Measurements as ECRM RIP Operator Guide Note that in the special case of the Tone Curves and Printing Press devices the list includes all the spot colors named in separations styles for any device in the selected color space This is because tone curve and press calibration can be used with any page setup If the data for one channel is similar to another channel you can copy the data and then edit it rather than hav ing to enter it again For example to copy the data from the Cyan channel to the Magenta channel first select the Magenta Channel and click the Copy button Then in the Copy Channel Data dialog box select the Cyan channel from the drop down list and click the OK but ton For some devices for example with an imagesetter you might feel that the calibration of the black channel is also adequate for the color channels In this case use the Copy command to copy the black channel data to the other channels You can delete any spot color channel from the Channel drop down list by selecting the spot color channel and clicking the Delete button If you have not defined any spot color channels the Delete button is not available Use this drop down list to declare what kind of mea surements you are entering in the data boxes The entries available in this can vary with the type of output device Two examples are Status T a standard mea sure of absolute den
185. IP detects this construct in Photoshop jobs and cor rectly diverts the duotone to spot color separations Note that you must con figure the Harlequin RIP to generate these spot color separations for this to work For more information see Section 5 23 1 Adobe Photoshop features 1 3 3 3 Patterns and Smooth Shades LanguageLevel 3 implements new features that improve the quality of Post Script language fills In addition it allows shades to be output smoothly at the resolution of the output device target The RIP extends this capability by allowing for vignette replacement in which existing vignettes in PostScript language and PDF jobs are replaced This functionality greatly improves the quality of gradients and shades on output AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 9 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 10 1 3 3 4 Images The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later supports type 3 and 4 image dictio naries for uses such as masks This allows an application to produce masks using multiple images in a more efficient fashion This mask technique also improves performance by eliminating the need for a detailed PostScript lan guage clipping path This feature is best suited to lower resolution output devices and workflows 1 3 3 5 settrapparams LanguageLevel 3 includes a new software interface that allows the description of trap settings within a PostScript language file The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later incorpor
186. If the job attempts to specify separations you must select the Override separations in job check box if you want to produce the separations shown here Use Level 1 spot colors ECRM RIP Operator Guide Spot color is not a standard part of the PostScript Level 1 specification It is a widely used convention that was defined later If you wish to separate composite jobs using this spot color convention select this box Warning We strongly advise you not to select this box when defining a separation style to which you will sup ply preseparated jobs The box is only enabled if you using a CMYK separation style and not recombining but you might use a style with these settings and sub mit preseparated jobs in order to override screen angles or other settings You cannot select this box when you are using a monochrome separation style or you have selected the Recombine preseparated jobs box When you select this box the RIP converts conven tional representations of spot colors in PostScript Level 1 language documents to the current PostScript Language compatibility level By default the RIP con verts the spot colors to LanguageLevel 3 To convert the spot colors to LanguageLevel 2 style change the Post Script Language compatibility level in the Page Setup Options dialog box This check box has an effect only when producing spot colors AG12325 Rev 5 12 7 Edit Style dialog box Override angles in job This box appears only
187. Input Controller The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box 2 Choose Socket InputAsync from the Type drop down list Give the input a suitable name and select a page setup Select the Enabled box 3 Click the Configure button The Socket Configuration dialog box appears Make the settings you wish and click OK See Appendix 8 7 3 Configuring a Socket input plugin for details 4 Click OK again to close the Input Channel Edit dialog box The asynchro nous socket input becomes active as you click OK or when you next start inputs All other aspects of its use and configuration are as described in Section 8 7 on page 245 8 8 2 Sample job This example shows how a short PostScript language job can kill the current job This code kills the currently running job errordict interrupt get exec 8 9 Using the Asynchronous Socket Quit plugin The Socket Input Quit type is a special case of the asynchronous socket input with the single purpose of causing the RIP to quit Connecting to a socket of this type makes the RIP quit without the need to send a PostScript language job containing the appropriate commands To create an input of this type follow the procedure for the asynchronous socket described in Section 8 8 1 on page 253 but choose Socket Input Quit in the Type drop down list You can select any page setup for use with this input There is no need to specify a return channel ECRM RIP Operator Guide
188. LE This message is harmless and means that the RIP is using a more com pact form of RLE page buffer to conserve memory and allow faster transfers There is no loss of image quality compared to software screen ing with the same settings For other use of Limit number of distinct gray levels to 512 or 1024 levels the RIP uses 10 bit RLE page buffers again without loss of quality but without displaying a message e Any attempt to use more than 1024 gray levels results in truncation to 1024 levels and the message Warning Screening accelerator limited to 1024 gray levels D 5 Performance gains Using Harpoon PCI has two possible benefits Harpoon PCI can reduce the latency the time taken to start sending output to the output device and it can increase job throughput sustained over a number of back to back jobs It is important to realize that Harpoon PCI accelerates only screening just one of the several processes that transform a PostScript language job into physical output In summary these processes are interpretation rendering of which screening is a part and output There are combinations of jobs slow output devices and settings in the RIP that can reduce or hide the performance gains possible from using Harpoon PCI D 6 Choice of output mode Harpoon PCI can provide acceleration in all output modes For testing the best repeatability is likely to come from using Single When Necessary and output to the None plug
189. M and Y M C K 478 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 proof A preview or hard copy of some or all of the characters in a font or of an image The RIP can create various forms of proofs as composite out put as a set of separations or as a progressive proof to suit the needs of the situation Raster Image Processor See RIP rendering The term rendering refers to the process of creating a bitmap image or raster from the interpreted page description This bitmap can be used by the output device to produce a visible image resolution The degree of detail with which an image is reproduced usually mea sured in dots per inch dpi The higher the resolution the greater the detail in which the image will be reproduced The resolution of a com puter screen is usually around 72 dpi whereas an image detailed enough to print in a magazine may be closer to 2500 dpi RGB A color representation scheme or color space where separations in red green and blue are overlaid to create full color images The RGB scheme is usually used by computer monitors and televisions and by some printers RIP Raster Image Processor A standard term used to name programs or devices which take an image of some description text line vector drawings or photographic images and convert it into a bitmap for dis play on a computer screen or output on an imagesetter The final bitmap is the raster referred to in the name AG12325 Rev
190. PI servers are able to communicate with PostScript language compatible RIPs running under Microsoft Windows NT using named pipes A named pipe is an interprocess communication method that allows two Windows NT applications to exchange large amounts of data very efficiently Note In a typical OPI workflow high resolution images are stored on the OPI server machine are included into print jobs and are transferred over the net work to output devices This operation frees workstations from moving large image files but large files must still travel from the OPI server to the RIP The NT Pipe input plugin for the RIP allows OPI servers or other applications to supply data to the RIP via named pipes There are two possible cases e The RIP and a suitable application can share a single multiprocessor machine and use a named pipe to communicate This allows the other application to deliver jobs to the RIP at much faster speeds than it can deliver jobs to a networked printer provided by the Harlequin RIP e With a single processor machine or an application that cannot share a multiprocessor machine the RIP and the other application must run on separate Windows NT systems connected through a network Even in this case using named pipes can deliver much better performance than printing over an AppleTalk network 8 5 1 Installing the plugin To use the RIP named pipe support you need a plugin file in the SW Inputs folder The file name is
191. Page Setup Options x PostScript Language compatibility level E x T Run prep at start of job Appicl sserPrep5 0 Remove color operators compensates for bugs in Aopleleser rensi0 I Fast patterns Some patterns may appear differently T Emulate old imagemask behavior Causes inverted images I Add showpage at end of job if necessary For printing EPSF files I Abort if calibration is on and the selected cal set does not match job T Abort the job if any fonts are missing T Preserve monochrome and preseparated jobs I Number of copies to print fi Extras Cancel Figure 5 14 Page Setup Options dialog box 5 22 1 PostScript Language compatibility level This option allows you to choose the level of PostScript language compatibility for jobs submitted to this page setup You can choose PostScript LanguageLevel 1 2 or 3 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 145 5 Configuring Output Formats By default this option is set to 3 because most jobs run correctly and this setting allows the RIP to use the maximum number of PostScript language features and Har lequin RIP extensions The result is often faster operation or increased output quality You may need to set the value to 1 or 2 for a small number of older jobs to run cor rectly For example if you set this option to 2 the RIP interprets jobs using the Level 2 PostScript language conventions together with any non conflicting Harle quin extensio
192. Pre press Press and Post press CIP3 The CIP3 group developed the Print Production Format PPF for files to contain information about print jobs including administrative data information about inks and register marks comments and preview images CIP3 has become CIP4 and maintains a web site at http www cip4 org CIP4 is a similar group called International Cooperation for Integration of Processes in Prepress Press and Postpress formed to continue the work of CIP3 and to develop a new file format called Job Description Format JDF 466 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 CMYK A color representation scheme or color space where cyan magenta yellow and black are combined to create full color images color separation A monochrome image that describes a component of a color image that has been described using a particular color space In printing images are commonly depicted in the CMYK space leading to four separated pages for each full color page color space A scheme of representation for color images such as CMYK or RGB Colors are represented as a combination of a small set of other colors or by other parameters for example hue saturation and brightness HSB composite font A font which consists of more than 256 characters Composite fonts are indispensable for producing images which contain for example Japanese text However they need to be treated as separate from ordinary fonts core RIP
193. RICK pipe RIP Fred Windows NT allows a named pipe to have a number of instances This means that for each pipe of a given name Windows NT will allow more than one client application to open the pipe at any one time The RIP plugin can then service the clients in sequence one at a time Some clients for example Color Central from Imation Publishing Software formerly Luminous Technology always expect to be able to connect to a named pipe For this reason you should normally create at least two pipe instances This allows the client software to recon nect to the pipe in order to send the next job while the RIP finishes processing the previous job AG12325 Rev 5 8 5 Using the NT Pipe input If you wish to change the number of pipe instances from the default value of two you can do so in the Named Pipe Plugin configuration dialog box as shown in Figure 8 5 above 8 5 4 Connecting an application to the Harlequin RIP Several applications include support for named pipe output This is a general discussion refer to the manual for your application for details Once the RIP has been configured to accept named pipe input you must con figure the other application to use a named pipe for communication with the RIP Typically you do this 1 Add anew printer to which the application can send data 2 Select named pipe as the method of communicating with the printer 3 Identify the particular named pipe to use giving a name t
194. RIP offers you complete control of screen angles for both pro cess and spot colors There are a number of reasons for choosing screen angles carefully e A long established reason for choosing the screening angles and fre quencies of color separations has been to pick a set of values that mini mize inaccuracies in the screens and consequent moir patterning when they are superimposed This reason is becoming less important as the accuracy of screen genera tion increases For example the RIP includes Harlequin Precision Screening HPS a technology that provides more accurate screening and reduces moir without unduly limiting the choice of screen angle and frequency See Harlequin Precision Screening on page 183 for details AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 169 6 Screening 170 e You may wish to override a set of angles requested in a job This is espe cially useful if the job has requested a set of angles that optimize the output quality for a particular output device such as a laser printer but that may diminish the quality on other devices such as an imagesetter e You may want consistency for example on all pages of a single publi cation when the jobs come from different sources Enforcing settings in the RIP is the simplest way of getting such consistency A good choice of angles for general use with color separations in offset litho work is a set in which the colors are separated by 30 for exampl
195. T 4 compression group 3 2 D 1 bit per pixel or bpp e CCITT T 6 compression group 4 1 bpp e LZW compression including Differencing Predictor e CMYK including DotRange 0 255 e JPEG compression Note If you are attempting to RIP images which you have prepared using Photoshop and saved using ZIP or JPEG compression the RIP may generate a rangecheck error This occurs because ZIP compression is not a recognized TIFF compression format and as such is not documented in the TIFF 6 0 specification The JPEG compression that Photoshop uses is a new version of JPEG data in TIFF files which is also not part of the TIFF 6 0 specification 8 19 Printing page buffer files The RIP can print page buffer files produced by another similar installation of the RIP This is a convenient way of setting up a simple workflow able to transfer pages from one RIP installation to another One example of how this ability can be useful is where you have several RIPs with a single fast final output device and perhaps various slower proofing printers It is easy for a single RIP working alone to keep a slow proofing printer supplied with jobs On the other hand it may require many of the Harlequin RIPs interpreting jobs and producing page buffers to keep your fast output device busy One solution is have the interpreting RIPs all pass their ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 19 Printing page buffer files final output page buffers to a
196. Talk input plugin An AppleTalk input source publishes a name over the network This name appears in the Chooser on Macintosh computers connected to the network making the RIP available just like a LaserWriter Other non Macintosh com puters connected to the network and able to use AppleTalk can also use the RIP as an AppleTalk printer In complex networks there may be a need for extra actions before all computers can use a new printer 8 3 1 Configuring an AppleTalk input source To configure an existing AppleTalk input source select the source in the Input Controller and click Edit The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box Click the Configure button The AppleTalk configuration dialog box appears as shown in Figure 8 3 Appletalk Configuration x Wait Timeout i minutes M Abort on error Cancel Figure 8 3 AppleTalk Configuration dialog box Wait timeout This value sets the length of time in minutes that the input source waits for data If no data is sent for that length of time and the RIP is waiting for data the job is aborted AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 229 8 Configuring Input Abort on error This control sets the behavior of the input plugin on detecting an error By default this box is selected which means that an error causes an immediate abort This is not the typical behavior of a PostScript language compatible interpreter but it may save considerable time spent in transferring data
197. Test Device Unlimited rate 4 start 7 Edit New Copy Delete Select Cancel Figure 5 8 Device Manager dialog box The Plugin drop down list shows the multiple device output plugins currently installed in the RIP You can install several multiple device plugins and this drop down list lets you choose between them The devices driven by the selected plugin appear in the table listing each line displays the name type and address of one device For instance in Figure 5 8 the dialog box lists devices linked to the Mult iDev multi ple device plugin Note Both the name Mult iDev and the values entered for each device are fictitious and used here for illustration only There are several multiple device plugins but their names and the acceptable values vary greatly so they are documented separately A typical real multiple device plugin is HOMu1Dev The Device Manager has the following uses To change the configuration of a device select its entry in the list and click Edit then use the Device Manager Edit dialog box To adda new device click New then use the Device Manager Edit dialog box To adda device that is similar to an existing device select its entry in the list and click Copy then use the Device Manager Edit dialog box You must give the copy a new name ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 11 Multiple device output plugins To delete a device from the current multiple device driver select it in
198. The Enabled state This should be on to make the source available when you start the RIP or start inputs e The Status This can be Stopped Idle or Busy An input is stopped either because all inputs are stopped because you have disabled this input in the Input Controller using Off or because of a problem when trying to start that input An idle input is ready to receive a job but none is arriving A busy input is actually receiving a job You can also choose to see the same information about items that are not con trollable from the Input Controller The check box below the list gives you this ability Show protected channels Select this box if you wish to see but not control the status of protected channels This box is grayed out if there are no protected channels Protected channels are channels that have been created outside the Input Controller possibly by executing PostScript language commands in configuration files that the RIP used when starting up and marked as being outside routine user control Typically a pro tected channel is not an input source for imaging jobs instead it performs one of the other functions described in Input management on page 222 Below the list of sources are several buttons that allow you to perform the var ious actions described in sections 8 2 2 through 8 2 7 When you have finished making changes in the Input Controller you can keep it visible as a way of monitoring which i
199. When viewing a higher resolution image the Roam gt Reduced Roam menu option is probably available It allows you to see more of the image in one view When you have finished inspecting the page preview close the window To do this choose the Close option in the window control menu Alternatively you can use the standard methods for your operating system Note You must close the Roam window and the Reduced Roam window if you opened it before you can roam another page 3 1 3 1 Other pages in the job If there are other pages in the job the RIP has probably processed them in the time you spent inspecting the first page if so there are appropriate messages in the Harlequin RIP window and new entries in the Held Queue on the right of the Output Controller Monitor Any following pages are called 2 fontlist 3 fontlist and so on You can e View one of the processed pages by selecting it and clicking the Roam button ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session e Stop processing any remaining pages by using the Kill Current Job option in the Print File menu Any pages already processed stay in the Held Queue until deleted 3 1 3 2 Killing jobs and error messages After killing a job and depending on what stage the job had reached you may see a PostScript language error message in the Harlequin RIP window Error messages look similar to the following Error interrupt OffendingCommand interr
200. a log box Once enabled HPS is a property of the page setup which uses this separations style and the RIP uses HPS for all pages printed with that page setup HPS allows you to select any screen frequency and to use the usual CMYK screen angles of 0 15 45 and 75 plus multiples of 90 To reduce moir patterning HPS uses an adaptive screening technique that can adjust each halftone dot so that it is placed within one half pixel of its ideal location HPS also allows you to choose how rosettes are formed in the image and to generate extra gray levels allowing the use of higher screen frequencies than the resolution would normally allow The default HPS settings supplied with the RIP have been carefully chosen to provide good output on most if not all output devices We strongly recom mend that you test output using the default settings in the HPS Options dia log box before adjusting anything at all The information in Section 6 10 3 Possible problems with output on page 188 is intended to help in adjusting values if you think that it is necessary 6 10 1 Controlling extra grays in HPS The ability to generate extra gray levels is a very powerful feature of HPS It allows you to use more gray levels in your job than are normally available with conventional screening This has particular benefits in eliminating step ping in vignettes and avoiding posterizing Gray level controls on page 180 describes the u
201. a log box then run the job again Choosing whether to screen at the same time as the RIP software screening or at output time is most appropriate varies from job to job If a job can be output successfully using screening at output time without a stop start then it will normally be faster than screening at the same time as software You can make both choices of screening time available to users the screening strategy used is determined by the page setup D 4 Using Harpoon PCI with the Harlequin RIP Start up the Harlequin RIP this will take slightly longer than usual less than 5 seconds extra The flashing dots will stop updating for a few seconds while the driver loads Select your output device in the Edit Page Setup dialog box and make any required settings The Edit Page Setup dialog box contains a button labeled Accelerate The but ton is grayed out when you have chosen an inappropriate output device or there is no screening plugin ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Choose an appropriate output device and click the Accelerate button to see the Acceleration Options dialog box as shown in Figure D 4 Acceleration Options x T Screen at output time Device HarpPci ia2 z Eontiaure device Cancel Figure D 4 Accelerate Options dialog box The Acceleration Options dialog box allows you to choose e Software screening e Hardware screening at the time of software screening e Hardware screening at output
202. a byte in the raster data of a halftoned TIFF file monochrome so if the byte was 11010001 it becomes 10001011 Select the Pad to 32 bit alignment box to make each line of the TIFF file data end ona multiple of 32 bits This is an efficiency setting for monochrome output only that may make the file faster to read in some applications You can choose between Macintosh and IBM PC byte ordering from the Byte order ing drop down list This option lets you select the byte ordering to be that used by Intel IBM PC machines little endian machines or Motorola Macintosh machines big endian machines This is the order of bytes in a word needed by the TIFF reader to correctly interpret the TIFF header Most TIFF readers can read both sorts of header You can choose the compression format used for the file from the Compression drop down list The choices are None CCITT Huffman CCITT Group 3 CCITT Group 4 LZW or Packbits Note The CCITT compression formats are only suitable for monochrome output Finally for all except monochrome files you can choose a level of anti aliasing in which intermediate colors are used to visually smooth boundaries Anti aliasing is most useful at low or medium resolutions Select the desired option from the Anti Aliasing drop down list box None is the fastest option but provides no anti aliasing Of the other options the higher numbers provide more smoothing but also require more time to prepare a give
203. a manage ment facilities are available the RIP can take account of any devices that do this hinted font When previewing images on a low resolution screen or when printing them on a low resolution printer text can look odd when rendered because of the size of the output pixels becoming significant when com pared to features in the characters Hinted fonts can improve the appear ance of text rendered at low resolution or at very small sizes on higher resolution devices This figure shows a simple example for the letter h in low resolution without hinting left and with right Here the hinting has balanced the width of the vertical strokes See also font HDLT Harlequin Display List Technology Provides a programmatic interface for customization between interpre tation and rendering HDLT appears as a password enabled option but is most likely to be used by your supplier as a way of providing func tionality that is not otherwise obvious in the RIP GUI HPS Harlequin Precision Screening A proprietary technique used to reduce the effect of moir interference and improve the quality of a color separated image when using half tones See Chapter 6 Screening 472 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 IFD Image File Descriptor Image File Directory This structure used for each collection of information within a TIFF file A typical IFD contains several entries
204. a physical output device con nected to your machine The RIP is equally capable of saving an image to a file in a particular format such as TIFF You can find out more about these options in Selecting different devices on page 110 e The Color menu contains commands for starting the Separations Manager and for color management The color management commands depend on optional parts of the Harlequin RIP See Section 2 5 1 e The Output menu contains commands for controlling calibration media management and output e The Fonts menu contains commands for installing deleting and proof ing fonts within the RIP e When required the RIP can display other menus to the right of the per manent menus mentioned so far For example the Print File menu appears when you have used the Print File command to print a file and contains commands allowing you to control printing of that file All standard commands in these menus are described in later chapters of this book together with the situations and operations that require you to use them See Section 2 5 on page 45 for details of menus affected by optional features in the Harlequin RIP 2 4 2 The tool bar All versions of the Harlequin RIP have a tool bar containing icon buttons and a status area The buttons provide rapid access to frequently used menu options and dialog boxes as described in Section 2 4 2 1 on page 42 The sta tus area shows what the RIP is doing as described in Sect
205. a screen is selected Each of the vari ants of HDS requires cache files to be installed into the Screens subfolder of the sw folder These are saved in folders named in the pattern HDS lt set gt gen where lt set gt is replaced by particular values The lt set gt part of the name is a for super fine b for fine c for medium d for coarse or e for super coarse Each folder has subfolders named A Ai B Bi C D Default E and F These folders allow for up to six independent output colorants including light and dark versions of two inks and spot colors For example with a conventional four color device the mapping is that Cyan uses A Magenta uses B Yellow ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 11 Harlequin Screening Library uses C and Black uses D Installer applications supplied by Global Graphics for use with the RIP automatically install all appropriate cache files The RIP ignores the value set for Rotate screens according to page rotation in the Edit Style dialog box when screening with HDS Compression of page buffers is less efficient with HDS than other screening techniques It is a general rule of compression that increased randomness in data reduces the amount by which it can be compressed You can expect com pressed page buffers to be larger when using HDS and disk performance to become marginally more important to total throughput It is usually possible to maintain or improve throughput with the same out
206. able in a multi column list A language is available for immediate use if the entries after its name or code in the Language column are all Present or Yes The columns have these meanings e The Messages and Resources columns show if parts of the RIP localiza tion are present e The Locale column shows if the operating system supports the language e The Enabled column shows if the RIP localization is enabled when the entry is Yes or disabled when the entry is No Click Cancel if you do not wish to make a change You can supply a password to enable a language if the only thing making that language unavailable is a No entry in the Enabled column Select the row for your chosen language and click Enable In the password entry dialog box enter your password and click OK You should now see that the language is ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 14 Choosing the user interface language enabled Check the password if the language is not enabled If you still have problems click Cancel to continue using your previous user interface lan guage while you obtain support from your supplier To use an enabled language select your chosen language and click OK The RIP displays a dialog box asking if you wish to confirm your choice and quit the RIP Click Yes if you are sure and then click OK to dismiss the second con firmation dialog box When you restart the RIP you should see that it is using your chosen user interface lan
207. about the options in the Edit Page Setup dialog box see Section 5 2 on page 108 To publish a printer on the network 1 Choose Input Controller from the Harlequin RIP menu or bring that window to the front if there is already a check mark against that menu option 2 When the Input Controller dialog box appears click New to display the Input Channel Edit dialog box 3 In the Input Channel Edit dialog box choose a Name for the printer you are about to publish say Brill 0 Print and type it in Select Apple Talk from the Type menu list and select Default to Printer from the Page Setup menu list Make sure that the Enabled box is selected and click OK Note The RIP may fail to publish an AppleTalk input If so the relevant entry in the Status column of the Input Controller dialog box shows Stopped You can leave the Input Controller dialog box displayed or close it See if there is a check mark in front of the Start Inputs option in the Harlequin RIP menu if there is no check mark choose this menu option You will see a progress dial appear as the new setup is published Now go to a Macintosh computer elsewhere on your network and try to print a document Among the available printers shown by the Chooser you should now see Brill O Print If you send a job to this printer the RIP again dis AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 61 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP plays the progress box filling with light and
208. acilities see Chapter 9 Media Management AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 139 5 Configuring Output Formats 5 18 Printing effects The Effects options in the Edit Page Setup dialog box allow you to produce output using assorted effects The dialog box displays a representation of a page near the Effects label in which the letters AB are written You can either click the Rotate Negative and Mirrorprint options to select the effects or you can click the Effects page to cycle through all the possible combinations of effects The Effects page changes as you select any of the options illustrating the effects of using the selected combination The Rotate drop down list allows you to select 90 180 and 270 degree rotations The image itself remains unchanged If the job was already set to rotate in the opposite direction the two rotations Ae cancel giving non rotated output Similarly if the job rotates in the same direction the two rotations add If Negative is selected the page produced is in negative If the job was already in negative that is a negative image is defined in the page description the two negatives cancel each other out giving positive output Using this option may affect the proper choice of calibration set see Chapter 11 Calibration If Mirrorprint is selected the RIP produces a mirrored image which is reflected about the vertical axis However if the job being sent
209. age buffers are created and saved on disk in this mode These are not deleted after the pages have been output allowing pages to be reprinted whenever necessary This is extremely useful if a prob lem such as a developer jam occurs with the output device All the available processor time on your machine is used in this mode prior ity goes to the task of sending bitmap data to the output device and any pro cessor time not used in that way can be used to interpret the next page of data It is possible for several pages to have been written to disk but not yet sent to the output device This may occur if there are pages which are quick to inter pret or if the printer is relatively slow or is not ready Eventually of course this will fill up the hard disk When this happens inter pretation is suspended until enough pages have been output and deleted or disk space has been freed up by another application When the disk fills up the Harlequin RIP window displays this message System warning Insufficient Disk Space In Multiple Parallel mode you can customize the RIP so that when disk space runs out it automatically deletes pages which have been output See Section 4 3 2 1 on page 80 for details 4 4 2 Multiple mode In Multiple mode like Multiple Parallel mode page buffers are kept on disk This is in contrast to the single modes where only one page can be held on disk at a time Before reprinting the Output Controller c
210. aken into account in the calibration As can be seen from the above comparison with conventional screening many people using HDS screens may become aware of the issues required to print very fine detail on film for the first time The following hints and suggestions are useful when working with HDS screens particularly HDS Fine and also apply to conventional and other screens at very high line frequencies These hints are not a definitive guide but do provide a starting point for producing good HDS output Consider every stage of the process including e While scanning choose an appropriate unsharp masking setting You may need to use unsharp masking settings different from those used for conventionally screened output e When producing film positives try using different laser spot sizes We have found that the best results are produced if a relatively small laser spot size is used in conjunction with exposures sufficient to give solids with densities in the range 3 5 through 4 0 However this may not be applicable to every imagesetter AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 197 6 Screening 198 e When making plates and proofs take great care to ensure that the film is clean and dust free and make any other adjustments that help to ensure intimate contact between the film and the proof or plate medium For example increase the vacuum pump down time from say 20 seconds to 60 seconds or more e When printing on a press w
211. al capable of producing printed copy of a docu ment such as an imagesetter or laser printer See also active device menu device output plugin A device driver that controls an output device connected to the RIP page buffer A file on disk used to store a page of interpreted output before it is printed or previewed Depending on the page buffer mode in which you run the RIP it can produce page buffers always or only when required Once produced page buffers can either be retained on disk to allow reprinting or deleted after printing to save space on your hard disk page imposition The process of printing several pages of say a pamphlet on one sheet of media so as to minimize the amount of trimming that needs to be done For example two copies of a four page A5 pamphlet could be pro duced from a sheet of A3 by printing the A5 pages in the pattern shown in this figure The pattern needs to be printed on both sides of the A3 sheet reversed vertically on one side Two copies of the pamphlet could then be pro duced simply by cutting the paper along the horizontal line and folding along the vertical line This process is much simpler than producing and trimming each page separately and rearranging them so as to forma booklet AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 475 Imposition is one of the applications dealt with in the PostScript language extensions provided by the Harlequin RIP page setup In the Harlequin RIP
212. al output at a screen frequency fur ther from that originally requested A value of between 5 and 10 is nor mally acceptable Increasing the Angle accuracy or Frequency accuracy settings that is increas ing allowable variations from the deviated frequency and angle also gives the RIP more freedom in selecting a screen and may reduce patterning on indi vidual films but this may also increase the likelihood of moir effects between plates If you are using HPS to produce extra grays on mono or non overlap ping spot color work then you can safely increase these numbers and may obtain slightly better output If you are producing process separated work then you should probably not change the default numbers If Abort job if accuracy not achieved is selected and it is not possible to deter mine a screening set within the angle accuracy or frequency accuracy requested then the RIP cancels the job currently being output 6 10 2 3 Enable HPS 2 0 Select the Enable HPS 2 0 box to use features added to HPS These features can improve the quality of output when using the Generate extra gray levels option Flat tints and vignettes are smoother particularly in highlights and shadows because the mottling effects which can be caused by generating the extra gray levels are reduced Even without HPS 2 0 these effects are unlikely to be significant until the ratio of resolution to screen frequency is less than 12 for example you might see mottlin
213. al output plugins support single output devices or families of similar devices and may be supplied with special screens calibration and color man agement and other features appropriate to the device such as control of expo sure or cutting media Optional output plugins support file formats useful in workflow systems advertising distribution and setting up printing presses These formats include TIFF IT P1 and the CIP3 Print Production Format PPF 1 3 11 2 Input plugins Input plugins provide communication between the Harlequin RIP and other systems primarily as sources of input ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth The standard input plugins provided with the Harlequin RIP include AppleTalk An AppleTalk network connects together a mixture of Apple and other computers and printers in order to share disk resources and printing ser vices AppleTalk runs on LocalTalk and Ethernet and is a widely sup ported network protocol AppleTalk networks often include multiple printers available to Macintosh OS 8 9 users through a list in the Chooser desk accessory Because the Harlequin RIP behaves as any other printer on AppleTalk you can send print jobs to the RIP running on a machine connected to the AppleTalk network in the same way as any other printer The Har lequin RIP can emulate several differently configured printers if you wish Spool Folder This plugin allows you to set up the H
214. ally this is an FP file if you are imaging a finished page but you can specify a subfile for example to proof it alone There is no enforced file name convention but the two letters of the data type usually appear in the name For the example of a CT file with name file you may see any of file ct file ict file cT file ICT To make sure that you see all files choose All Files in the Files of type drop down list ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 17 Printing TIFF IT files Select the file you want to print and click Print If you are printing an FP file the RIP displays a progress dial while reading each of the files referenced by the FP file and the Harlequin RIP window shows text similar to the following example tiffdev reading H Suites Tiffit 66 fp as a TIFF IT P1 FP Final Page standalone file Starting Job On 24 April 1998 08 51 42 Using Color Setup None Using default device calibration tiffdev reading H Suites Tiffit 66 ct as a TIFF IT P1 CT low resolution contone subfile of an FP job tiffdev reading H Suites Tiffit 66 1lw as a TIFF IT P1 LW linework subfile of an FP job Interpretation time 40 seconds If you are printing a subfile data types CT HC or LW you see less text after clicking Print tiffdev reading H Suites Tiffit 66 ct as a TIFF IT P1 CT low resolution contone standalone file Starting Job On 24 April 1998 08 51 42 Using Color Setup None
215. an and yellow dots in the area of land will appear green as simulated in Figure 12 7 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 385 12 Color Separation Yellow Magenta Cyan separation Yellow Magenta Cyan Figure 12 7 Yellow Magenta and Cyan separations Finally the black ink for the black K separation is printed All of the separa tions have been combined producing a full color image as simulated in Figure 12 8 The Magazine The Magazine a weekly review a weekly review wal m Yellow Magenta Cyan Black K separation Full CMYK image Figure 12 8 Yellow Magenta Cyan and Black separations 12 4 How color separations are produced Each job may specify color images in one or more different color spaces for example CMYK RGB red green and blue HSB hue saturation bright ness or an N color space No matter how a job is specified the RIP separates that job into one output format to suit the output device Again in this discus sion we will concentrate on CMYK separations as an example 386 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 4 How color separations are produced 12 4 1 Color PostScript language jobs Composite color jobs are not described as a series of separations Instead each object on the page is described just once in full color Importantly the PostScript language method of describing color is device independent Th
216. an be used to change many characteristics of the interpreted pages meaning that time is not wasted in interpreting jobs again As in Multiple Parallel mode it is possible that the hard disk will become full you should ensure that page buffers are deleted when necessary to free up disk space You can let the RIP delete pages for you preserving important pages which you do not want deleted or you can delete page buffers yourself whenever you want AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 89 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 90 The main difference between this Multiple mode and Multiple Parallel mode is that interpreted pages cannot be output while other pages are being interpreted In Multiple mode when a page is ready interpretation is suspended until it has been output in a similar fashion to the way the single modes operate The advantage of Multiple mode over either of the single modes is that because multiple page buffers can be written to disk interpretation can continue even if the output device is not ready to accept data for instance if there is a media jam or if it has been turned off Multiple mode should be used if you experience a lot of data underrun in Multiple Parallel mode This is only likely to happen with very complex jobs or an output device that requires data to be supplied at a very high speed Note Data underrun occurs when an output device does not receive data to print at a fast enough rate So
217. ance 190 problems and cures 188 used with pattern screens 190 HqnOEM initialization file 318 HqnOEM file 38 HqnProduct file 37 HanStart file 37 HSB 386 HSL enabling screen sets 192 introduction to Harlequin Screening Library 192 problems and cures 200 selecting screen sets 193 Hue Saturation Brightness See HSB ECRM RIP Operator Guide I ICC profiles defined ICC profiles definition 17 icccrd folder 36 IdiomSet folder 36 Image interpolation 104 image replacement 142 imagemask emulating old behavior of 147 images previewing 55 printing color 384 roaming 55 scaling 141 imagesetters linearization 327 required data rate 32 selecting output devices 103 See also output devices Import Measurements dialog 371 imposition 141 See also page imposition Info dialog 84 access to Page Layout dialog 139 Ink low message 428 Ink out message 428 Input Channel Edit dialog 228 Input Controller dialog 224 input methods JFIF files 276 JPEG files 276 Input Modes printer problems 439 input plugins 473 adding new 226 configuring 228 deleting 228 editing 228 enabling 228 introduction to 18 managing 224 types supplied 222 Input Queue mode 62 66 input sources See input plugins inputs disabling individual inputs 228 starting up 61 stopping 42 stopping all enabled inputs 229 Inputs folder 36 AG1 2325 Rev 5 Install Fonts dialog 316 installing composite fonts 317 fonts 314 printer interfac
218. and create two new AppleTalk devices as before called Pos O Print and Neg O Print While using the Input Channel Edit dialog box select the page setup Pos for Pos O Print and Neg for Neg O Print Once you have enabled the new inputs and used Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs the RIP publishes the two new printers on the network Sending a job to Pos O Print causes it to be output as normal while jobs sent to Neg O Print are output in negative You can publish several more inputs to the Harlequin RIP each with different page setups As well as changing the Negative setting you can change the out put device output resolution rotation screening strategies and many other settings 3 3 Using the Harlequin RIP with a spool folder Using a Spool Folder input you can configure the Harlequin RIP to print files placed into a common folder usually one accessible from other computers on your network This means that various users or applications can write files into a spool folder The RIP repeatedly checks this folder and when it finds a new file it processes the file The RIP deletes each file from the spool folder 64 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 3 Using the Harlequin RIP with a spool folder after printing it but using the Spool Folder Configuration options you can instruct the RIP to save the file in another folder after printing The RIP associates each spool folder with a page setup giving the benefits described in
219. ange Gray No Change hi Cancel Figure 11 6 Import Measurements dialog box ECRM RIP Operator Guide 371 11 Calibration 372 ECRM RIP Operator Guide Note The data in the file is provided in the correct for mat by a separate utility program Genlin which sup ports the use of various automated densitometers See Appendix C Using Genlin on page 437 for details The import file contains measured data for some or all of the channels in the calibration set For each calibra tion channel you can choose to import the measured data for that channel to import data that was measured for a different channel or to leave the current data for the calibration channel unchanged By default the RIP uses the measured data for a channel where available If there is no measured data for a channel the RIP defaults to the No Change option The Calibration Channel column contains the names of all the process and spot color channels defined in the calibration set including the Other colors in job channel if appropriate When you select the Channel drop down list in the Edit Calibration dialog box you see the same list of defined channels You can define a spot color channel using the Add button in the Edit Cal ibration dialog box see page 367 for details The drop down list under the Measured Channel column contains the names of all the measured channels in the import file together with the No Change option
220. angle specifying the default clipping region for the page when displayed or printed Acrobat Exchange sets this when cropping a page This list allows you to define how strictly the PDF file must conform to various standards and specifications for PDF jobs You can use the On error list to define what the RIP should do if the job does not meet the requested specification The options in this list are as follows Auto detect types This is the default option The RIP makes the best possi ble attempt to print the file according to the type label ing within the job If the job claims to be PDF X 1 but does not meet that standard the RIP treats that as an error but may still be able to print the file Any PDF lt 1 3 as basic PDF ECRM RIP Operator Guide Print any job with a recognized PDF version that is version 1 3 or less including non compliant jobs labeled as PDF X 1 but not actually complying with the standard This is the most relaxed setting AG12325 Rev 5 8 14 Printing PDF files Only PDF X 1a 2001 If the file does not name itself as PDF X 1a 2001 or PDF X 1 2001 treat it as less than PDF 1 3 Only PDF X 3 2002 or X 1la 2001 If the file does not name itself as PDF X 3 2002 or PDF X 1a 2001 treat it as less than PDF 1 3 Note For information on PDF 1 4 see Section 8 14 1 on page 265 On error The options in this list define the action you wish to occur if there is an error for example if the PDF file
221. ant installation guide 2 1 2 Ability to RIP a job Depending on what page buffer mode you choose the Harlequin RIP will usually create one or more page buffers on disk when you process any job see Chapter 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods for full details This allows the RIP to print any job on a machine of any performance no matter how complex the job is The only requirement for your machine apart from a minimum requirement of RAM is that it must have sufficient free disk space to hold these page buffers By default the Harlequin RIP compresses page buffers as it creates them the compression is always lossless and does not affect the output quality in any way This compression can reduce the disk space required to anything from half to a tenth of the uncompressed file or even less However you do not have to compress page buffers if you do not wish to See Chapter 7 Config uring the RIP for full details Note Crop marks can greatly increase the actual size of the page by adding largely blank surrounds to the image and hence create a need for more disk space If you ask the Harlequin RIP to compress page buffers as they are cre ated the extra space required by crop marks compresses well as does the other blank space between text and images Typical free disk requirements for both compressed C and uncompressed U page buffers are shown in the following table giving details for output at different resolution
222. ant to exclude files that resemble real jobs but that actually contain accounting or housekeeping infor mation for the software that delivers files into the spool folder You may also want to exclude or at least delay real jobs with particular origins or qualities All this is possible so long as the file names have a recognizable prefix You specify which folder the RIP uses in the input plugin Configure dialog box available from the Input Controller By default this folder is called Spool ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 6 Using the Spool Folder input folder and exists in the sw folder If needed you can create several spooled inputs each with its own folder page setup and exclusion list When you specify a folder accessed over a network make sure that the folder automatically becomes available to the computer running the RIP when that computer is restarted Because files are normally deleted as soon as they are printed it is important to ensure that the RIP has permission to delete files in the spool folder partic ularly if the spool folder is on a network file server See Appendix A Trouble shooting for more details The files in the spool folders are processed in the order in which they arrive However if there are jobs already in a folder when the RIP is started or if a very large number of files have been queued the RIP determines the order of those jobs by the date stamps on the files 8 6 1 Configuring
223. applied to jobs in page features 141 handling Level 1 language jobs 145 handling Level 2 language jobs 145 PostScript Printer Description See PPD PPD defined 477 PPF file format and CIP3 466 precision screening See HPS prefix list 244 preloading composite fonts 318 fonts in the Harlequin RIP 318 ECRM RIP Operator Guide prep file 478 PrepFiles folder 37 preseparated jobs recombining 399 rejecting 399 Preserve monochrome and preseparated jobs page setup option 148 press calibration alternative uses 352 in Edit Page Setup dialog 156 introduction 349 See also calibration preview defined 478 images 22 55 See also roaming Preview window 109 Print calibrated press target 356 Print calibrated target 342 347 356 Print Calibration dialog 334 355 Print exposure sweep 356 Print File command 262 Print File dialog 262 Print File menu 262 Print Production Format See PPF Print uncalibrated press target 356 Print uncalibrated target 355 printer buffer 211 and data underrun 212 and roaming large page buffers 212 Printer Caught Up message 430 printers installing interface cards 33 required data rate 32 See also output devices Printing draft on each page 144 printing calibration targets 355 color images 384 exposure sweeps 334 files 262 in mirror image 140 in negative 140 in rotated orientation 140 JFIF files 276 JPEG files 276 multiple copies 83 PDF files 264 PostScript language files
224. ard fonts and the special purpose fonts installed in the fonts folder in the sw folder 10 2 Types of font There are several different types of fonts that can be installed and used with the RIP See Section 10 4 on page 314 for details about installing fonts Type 1 fonts these are the most commonly used fonts Type 1 fonts can contain hints metrics that vary with the size of the characters Hinted fonts can improve the appearance of text rendered at low resolution or at small sizes on higher resolution devices for example hints can affect 11 point text at resolutions up to 2000 dpi Note The font downloaders supplied with many Type 1 fonts actually install Type 1 fonts as Type 4 fonts Type 3 fonts Type 0 composite fonts these are special fonts designed to support large character sets such as Japanese or Chinese They can include many Type 1 Type 3 or Type 4 fonts ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 3 The DLDI format e Character identifier CID composite fonts together with associated character map CMAP files used to produce CID keyed fonts which exist only in the memory of the Harlequin RIP or other RIPs CID keyed fonts fulfil the same purposes as Type 0 fonts but can be defined more flexibly using CID fonts and CMAP files and so form the preferred format for new fonts e Single byte PC format TrueType fonts or OpenType fonts with TT outlines Note The RIP automatically creates Font resources fo
225. ardware handshake uses the CTS RTS control pins Select only one handshake method Link Timeout This setting has an effect only when the plugin is using binary mode The value is the time in seconds that the input plugin waits without receiving new data before considering that the job has finished The RIP accepts values in the range 1 through 1000 Set the value to be larger than any pauses you expect in the data from one job but small enough to have the RIP recognize the end of job in a reasonable time The remote application must wait for this time between sending the end of one job and starting to send the next job so an overlong value reduces throughput In particular you may want to set a large value 100 seconds or more if you are testing a link by typing PostScript language statements through a terminal emulator program in this case the value must be larger than any pause in your typing 8 10 4 ASCII and binary modes The input plugin can treat data arriving from the serial line in one of several ways You choose which way the plugin uses by selecting one of the following modes e Binary e ASCII e Adobe binary We recommend that you select Binary unless there is a strong need to use one of the other modes AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 8 Configuring Input ASCII and Adobe binary are very similar modes where the input plugin treats some characters specially The application sending the data must se
226. are feeds on page 306 To set up or change the details for a cassette select the relevant cassette in the Cassette Manager window and click the Edit button Figure 9 5 shows the Edit Cassette dialog box that appears containing the details for the selected cassette Edit Cassette x Name Media Type Film Media Width 2 00 Remaining Length 75 02 Number 1 Units ZE crea Figure 9 5 Edit Cassette dialog box The RIP displays the following values in both the Edit Cassette dialog box and the Cassette Manager You can only change these values from within the Edit Cassette dialog box The RIP displays the information about a cassette in columns in the Cassette Manager and in corresponding text boxes in the Edit Cassette dialog box Cassette name An identifying name This name will be displayed on the Cassette drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dia log box The name is purely for your own conve nience you can change it to any name you like Choose a name that allows you to identify the cassette and that suits your situation and your procedures You might find it helpful to attach a label with this name and the type of media to the actual cassette For example if you use two cassettes only on an Ultre imagesetter and only for specific types of media then you might name these cassettes UltreFilm1 and ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Media type Media width q Imageable width AG12325 R
227. are missing option This options applies to both PostScript and EPS files from Illustrator By default this option is selected ECRM RIP Operator Guide 151 152 5 Configuring Output Formats Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate ECRM RIP Operator Guide For both Illustrator 6 and 7 files if you select this option the RIP places the spot color vignettes on the appropriate spot color separations if available There are limitations all vignettes appear in process separa tions when the job submitted to the RIP is a PostScript file printed directly from Illustrator and vignettes from a spot color to a process color appear in process separations even when the job is in EPS format For this option to take effect select a RIP separations style that creates separations and that enables the relevant spot color separations The separations style must either specify a separation for each spot color or have Other colors in job set to Yes See Section 12 7 1 on page 381 for details For Illustrator 6 files if you do not select this option the RIP honors the information in the job and places spot color vignettes on the process color separations rather than the spot color separations For Illustrator 7 files if you do not select this option the result depends on the separations style and on the information in the job If the separations style generates a separation for a particular spot color the RIP places a vi
228. argins any margin For example a 1 0 inch left margin would clip 1 inch off the left hand side of the page Page Layout x Device Width DW 36 00 Device Lenath DL oog Media Width MW 12 00 Media lengt MU 00 Top Margin TM 0 00 I Center page on Media Width Bottom Margin BM 0 00 Genter page on Media Length Left Margin LM 0 00 Page size A4 Bight Margin RM 3 73 Page width 8 24 finches x Select units finches Page height 11 69 Cancel Figure 5 13 A typical Page Layout dialog box You can center the page on the media by selecting the relevant option Note that the page is always centered if you choose this option even if the job itself explicitly sets the page width If you are using one of the multiple modes the Page Layout dialog box is also avail able from the Info dialog box This dialog box is displayed when you click Info in the Output Controller see Operations on buffered pages on page 89 When chosen from the Output Controller the page layout options are specific to the selected page or optionally to all pages in the same job When chosen from the Edit Page Setup dia log box the options are applied to all jobs subsequently interpreted with that setup The output device dimensions are built into the driver for the current device and can not be changed You can set the media width in the Cassette Manager For details of how to use the Cassette Manager and other media management f
229. arlequin RIP so that it continually scans or polls a folder directory for example on a central server for input files When these files appear and are complete the RIP processes them The spool folder uses the network file access provided by your machine for example Network File System NFS on machines run ning the UNIX operating system You can use multiple configurations as described in Multiple inputs on page 20 allowing you to have several scanned folders each with a different associated page setup NT Print This publishes the Harlequin RIP as a printer available to the Windows NT print services NT Pipe This provides a named pipe allowing high speed communication with an application such as an Open Prepress Interface OPI server Serial Port With this plugin PCs and other computers can be connected using their serial ports and communicate with one another The data transfer speed however is very slow This plugin supports the Adobe Serial Lines Protocol AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 19 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 20 e Sockets With this plugin the Harlequin RIP can accept input from a network socket client program which may be part of a larger workflow system This plugin supports TCP IP and UNIX socket protocols 1 3 11 3 Multiple inputs For some input types it is possible to have available several configurations or page setups where parameters such as resolution output
230. arlequin RIP version 5 0 and later can read page buffers created by version 4 5 The mark lt in front of the name of an older buffer is there to remind you that there are some limitations on what you can do with earlier versions of page buffers see Section 4 3 3 on page 87 for details 4 3 2 3 Viewing pages with the Roam function You can view one page or several pages or separations at the same time By selecting one page buffer and clicking Roam you can preview the selected page This prevents wasted film and time by letting you check that an image has processed correctly before it is printed While roaming a page the RIP is still able to process other jobs but not to output them You cannot roam a page while the RIP is outputting so you should disable output when using Roam To roam more than one page at once select all the pages you wish to view and click Roam the selected pages will be overlaid in the Roam window For example this allows you to preview all separations of a color image together Remember you can select several buffers using the Shift and Control keys ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system When viewing a higher resolution image the Roam gt Reduced Roam menu option is probably available It allows you to see more of the image in one view You must close the Roam window and the Reduced Roam window if you opened it before you can roam another page For more details about the Roa
231. as on film Press calibration provides these facilities e The press can be put into the same state as some reference state Though this can often be achieved by adjusting press controls the RIP provides a finer degree of tuning than just the maximum density or mid tone controls common on the press e The press can be accurately tuned for Harlequin ColorPro e An adjustment can be made for a different press from the one for which the job was originally prepared This might be needed because it really is a different machine or because the dot gain characteristics have changed over time for example as the blankets have worn e An independent adjustment can be made to compensate for changes to the job after scanning and so on which affect the gain on press such as substitution of HDS screens e The gain of the press can be expressed in relative terms This form is common in manufacturers documentation for example 20 at 70 rather than the more common measure on film as 70 reads 90 which is equivalent e Readings can be estimated from a small number of data points supplied by the manufacturer 11 8 1 How does press calibration work Conventionally a color job is prepared by combining scanned pictures with application generated text and graphics In this process there are two assump tions made e The film to which the resulting raster will be first directed is linearized that is if the job requests a 25 gray
232. assette Manager Ui Input Controller Gi Media Manager ut AG12325 Rev 5 2 4 Starting up the Harlequin RIP Displays the Separations Manager dialog box where you can create and edit separation styles for the selected device This is equivalent to the Color gt Separations Manager command Displays the Color Setup Manager dialog box which allows you to create and edit color setups with or without color management depending on whether the password enabled ColorPro option is activated See the Section 12 8 on page 388 and Harlequin Color Pro User Guide for details This is equivalent to the Color gt Color Setup Manager command Displays the Calibration Dot Gain Manager dialog box where you can create and edit calibration sets This is equivalent to the Output gt Calibration Manager command Displays the Cassette Manager dialog box where you can create cassettes and edit their information This is equivalent to the Output gt Cassette Manager command Displays the Input Controller dialog box Also this button hides the controller if it is already displayed This is equivalent to the Harlequin RIP gt Input Con troller command Displays the Media Manager dialog box where you can set up automatic media management This is equivalent to the Output gt Media Manager command ECRM RIP Operator Guide 43 2 Running the Harlequin RIP Note The Device Manager Separations Manager Color Setup Manager Cali
233. at is no matter what color space is used to describe an image it can be rendered on any properly color calibrated output device that your RIP supports The same color job can thus be used to produce for example full color output on an RGB color printer or a set of monochrome separations ready to be used in the printing process Some devices typically desktop printers and proofing systems can accept continuous tone input Note If you have ColorPro available you can apply it to CMYK separations as well as to color composite CMYK jobs The separations must be suitable for use with the Recombine preseparated jobs option described on page 399 The RIP can take full color jobs as input and interpret them once to produce separation information for each color in the space In CMYK this creates four monochrome output pages each corresponding to a different color separa tion When the full color image is to be produced the colored parts of a sepa ration show where inks should be applied and the white parts where not Alternatively the RIP can print the separations together as a composite 12 4 2 Preseparated jobs Having the RIP produce separations from composite color jobs is not the only means of producing separations The job could be separated into one or more PostScript language documents before it reaches the RIP This might be done by the application program in which the job was composed or by a special separator program that took th
234. at the auto matic options do what you want The manual options remain useful for use with unusual jobs or special tests see Advancing and cutting media interactively on page 292 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 3 Advancing and cutting media automatically 9 3 1 Automatic use The RIP can advance the media in a cassette or drum recorder automatically With many imagesetters the RIP can also cut media although this depends on the particular device you are using Figure 9 1 shows two possible schemes for advancing and cutting media auto matically The RIP supports these schemes and many others Flow of exposed media gt P2 Pi P3 P2 Pi P4 P3 P2 P1 Job 3 i Job 2 Job 1 Advance and cut only between jobs P2 P1 P3 P2 P1 P4 P3 P2 P1 y 7 Advance every page and cut between every 4 pages Figure 9 2 Some options for handling output media automatically Using the Media Manager you can make the RIP perform media cuts and feeds automatically choosing when and how much media to feed through and when to cut You can also disable or re enable all media management facilities as often as you wish Harlequin RIP output plugins designed for sheet fed devices dis able media management on those devices automatically You will probably
235. at you will be making significant changes to the RIP the computer the network or con nected output devices e If you leave settings unchanged you need only restart the RIP to have it start responding to all its previous inputs e Ifyou are making changes you may prefer to disable inputs from other computers until you have restarted the RIP and proved that there are no resultant problems From the Harlequin RIP menu choose Quit or press Ctrl Q to exit the RIP 2 6 2 Stopping the computer If you are also stopping the computer exit any other applications and follow the usual procedure described in the manual for your computer or operating system Once you have followed the procedure wait until you see a message saying that you can remove power Switch off the computer 48 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP Chapter 1 gave a broad overview of the kinds of tasks the Harlequin RIP can perform In this chapter you will learn how to process simple jobs and how to switch between different configurations 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session Once the Harlequin RIP is installed and running on your machine you can start to use it Starting up the Harlequin RIP on page 47 describes how to start the RIP and gives an overview of the menus and tool bar It is a good idea to start with a short test job and to view it on screen so that you avoid wasting materials Even when you
236. ates the sett rapprams inter face and uses this for setting trapping parameters Harlequin has extended settrapparams to include those trapping parameters that are not covered by the 3010 specification 1 3 3 6 Type16 halftones The Harlequin RIP 5 0 version and later supports type 16 halftones which can contain more than 256 shades of gray Harlequin has always supported an arbitrary number of gray levels even in the PostScript Level 1 compatible RIPs In the Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later this support for more shades of gray is also accessible using the LanguageLevel 3 constructs 1 3 3 7 Idiom recognition The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later uses idiom recognition to detect Post Script language procedures and replace procedures that are bound when defined This extends to procedures some of the benefits that Harlequin s shadowop operator provides for operator redefinition Once the PostScript language code is intercepted the Harlequin RIP replaces it with optimized code This operator has many potential uses that include detecting level 2 code ina PostScript language file and replacing it with LanguageLevel 3 code ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth 1 3 3 8 Type 32 fonts RIP version 5 0 and later recognizes and supports Type 32 fonts 1 3 3 9 Other operators RIP version 5 0 and later supports the LanguageLevel 3 operators that are defined in the 3010 LanguageLevel 3 specificat
237. ation dialog box Copy Click this button to copy a calibration set The RIP cre ates a new name for the copy by adding characters for example 1 or 2 after the original name If the name is longer than about 13 characters then you can see the added characters only in the Name field of the Edit Calibration dialog box where you can also edit the name to be more meaningful Delete Click this button to delete the selected calibration set or sets The RIP generates a warning if the selected calibra tion set is used in a page setup Note You cannot delete a calibration set if you open the Calibration Manager from within the Edit Page Setup dialog box OK Confirms the changes you have made and exits the dia log box Select This button is available if you opened the Calibration Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box and if a calibration set is selected The Select button confirms the changes you have made and closes this dialog box In addition using the Select button displays the selected calibration set in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Cancel Closes the Calibration Manager canceling all changes made since you displayed this dialog box 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box Figure 11 5 page 339 shows the Edit Calibration dialog box There are various ways of entering this dialog box and corresponding varia tions in its contents AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 363 11 Calibration 364 11 12 1 Entr
238. ation set for the tone curves in the usual way enter ing data values for the patches and possibly using Smooth You apply tone curve calibration sets using the Tone Curves drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box For the Harlequin RIP version 5 1 revision 1 and later tone curves behave in the opposite sense to device and actual press calibration curves This normally means that you enter higher values where you wish to see more output For example assuming a positive reading system where 0 is no output and 100 is full density or coverage enter values higher than the nominal values of the patches to produce more output for a given input Note In the Harlequin RIP version 5 1 revision 0 and earlier tone curves behaved in the same sense as device and actual press calibration curves in these earlier versions for the example just given you had to enter lower values where you wished to see more output 11 8 Press calibration Press calibration allows the RIP to make press adjustments to the density of the ink on paper on a printing press independently from the intermediate medium usually film used to prepare printing plates AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 349 11 Calibration 350 Press calibration can also be set up to work in absolute density measurements instead of halftone dot area coverage which means the actual color can be predicted rather than just its relationship to the maximum and minimum densities
239. ations require the output color space to match that of the separations For example it is not possible to produce colored separations or progressive separations from a job presepa rated to CMYK if the output device uses the PhotoInk color space The RIPs separation facilities allow you to preserve device independence in your jobs right up until you wish to interpret it for output on a particular device However you can present device dependent preseparated jobs to the RIP if you wish and it will process and output them correctly 12 5 Creating and managing separations Separations information is saved together with screening information in a separations style which can be used in several page setups A separations style is defined for a specific device color space and output format Selecting a separations style in the Edit Page Setup dialog box determines the color space of the page setup Separations styles are created and managed in the Separations Manager ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 6 Separations Manager dialog box 12 6 Separations Manager dialog box The Separations Manager appears when you click the Separations Manager button in the Edit Page Setup dialog box or choose the Color gt Separations Manager command Device G Output Format Monochrome Halftone Monochrome Monochrome Halftone Monochrome Monochrome Contone Composite Band CMYK Separations Halftone CMYK Separations Halftone
240. avior with respect to calibration is like that of a printing press because its purpose to provide ink key data for use with printing presses Printing Press You can use this special device to calibrate the transfer from film to press In general you do not create calibration sets for a press though this would be possible but expensive once you had created a calibrated output path to film or plate Amore common way of working is to 358 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 11 Calibration Manager dialog box adjust the press to conform to one of the standard references such as SWOP CGATS TRO01 or a BVD FOGRA standard and to use the corre sponding calibration profile as supplied with the RIP You apply a calibration set for the press that you are using by choosing its name in the Actual Press drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box You can also adjust a job prepared for a different press do this by choosing a supplied profile or measured calibration for that different press in the Intended Press drop down list and making the normal choice for the press that you are using in Actual Press Tone Curves This special device allows you to make another set of color adjustments in addition to the device calibration and press calibration Typically you might create a tone curve calibration by estimating the required change at one or two tonal values and then extrapolating and smoothing to obtain the other data values Yo
241. ays placed in the printer buffer before being cop ied out to the printer as required In most cases if the printer is not continu ously fed data one of the following may happen e Banding gaps may appear in the output e Pages may be aborted for example in a laser printer e The printer may stop start This is known as data underrun To avoid data underrun the RIP must ensure that the printer buffer never becomes empty However at any given time you cannot guarantee that the RIP is sending data to the buffer it may be processing the next page of data if you are running in Multiple Parallel mode or there may be other applica tions running that the RIP has to wait for If the printer buffer empties and you get data underrun try making the printer buffer larger For example assume you are sending output to a fast 900 KB second printer while using another application at the same time and that application does a screen update that takes 3 seconds during which time the RIP is locked out AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 211 7 Configuring the RIP 212 In that time the printer could consume 3 x 900 2700 KB 2 7 MB of data To prevent data underrun you must ensure that you have a printer buffer at least this big In practice a printer buffer in the range 4 MB through 12 MB is usually ade quate This total includes any buffering memory on interface cards or in the output device but if there is such memory it
242. ber of commonly useful features but there are other supplied examples that you can add to the list and a PostScript language pro grammer can create many more One of the supplied examples Draft prints the word Draft on each page Another one Pack Drum saves film by packing images on a drum recorder in the way that Fill Film does ona sheet fed device and Pack Capstan does on a capstan recorder Finally PGB hot folder enables you to resubmit page buffers to the version of the RIP that produced them Note All page features in the Examples folder are supplied as an illustration of what is possible with the Harlequin RIP The page features are believed to work as described but they are not supported as a part of the Harlequin RIP Page features that appear in the Enable Feature list are supported but are documented only in the Post Script language files A feature appears in the Enable Feature list only if there is a corresponding Post Script language file in the Page Features folder in the sw folder where you have installed the RIP The name of the feature in the dialog box is the same as the file name All the other supplied examples are files in an Examples folder in the Page Features folder There is also a file called Read Me that describes the exam ple features and how to create others To make an example feature available copy the file from Examples into the enclosing Page Features folder and display the Edit Page Setup dialog box
243. bration Manager and Cassette Manager buttons are also available from the Edit Page Setup dialog box 2 4 2 2 Status area The status area has three sub areas one shows what the input system and interpreter are doing one shows what the output system is doing and a final one shows the most recently used output device Figure 2 2 shows some typical contents of the status area D T O Peye Figure 2 2 The status area of the tool bar The meanings of these example status bars are 1 Idle The RIP is not looking for jobs on its inputs 2 Scanning The RIP is looking for input but none is arriving 3 Interpreting The RIP is interpreting a job 4 Printing The RIP is sending a job to an output device 44 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 5 Menus affected by optional features In all these examples the output device is the Preview device The text can change to show other types of output including output to graphics files and real printers and imagesetters This completes a brief description of the controls and status indicators in the Harlequin RIP If you want to try using the RIP see Chapter 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP on page 59 If you want to stop the RIP see Stopping the Harlequin RIP on page 47 2 5 Menus affected by optional features A number of commands and options in dialog boxes appear only if your copy of the Harlequin RIP has been supplied with certain optional features and these are
244. bs One of these options adds showpage to the end of a job if necessary See Section 5 3 on page 107 for details When ColorPro is enabled the RIP can detect and utilize an ICC profile embedded in an Encapsulated PostScript file See the Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide for details 8 14 Printing PDF files The RIP can print Portable Document Format PDF files that conform to the PDF 1 4 specification or earlier or PDF X versions listed below The PDF Options dialog box allows you to set up strict or flexible workflows using these versions of PDF jobs The Harlequin RIP support for PDF 1 4 includes transparency JBIG2 128 bit encryption output intents and referenced PDF Note RIP versions 5 3 and 5 5 included support for PDF X 1 1999 this has been dropped in the Eclipse Release of the Harlequin RIP and replaced with support for PDF X 1a 2001 and PDF X 3 2002 The Harlequin RIP supports verification of the following PDF X versions PDF X 1a 2001 If a PDF X file nominates itself as PDF X 1 2001 it is treated as if it were as PDF X 1a 2001 file PDF X 3 2002 The PDF Options from the page set up manager allows the user to select from a range of PDF X verification settings see Section 8 14 5 2 on page 272 The aim is to reproduce with high quality all the features of PDF files that can be rendered on paper or film You can also preview pages printed from PDF files but the RIP does not provide a fully interactive hypertext v
245. calibration set Then if there are entries in the Profile menu in the Edit Calibration dialog box choose the supplied calibration profile that you used to print the target Enter a Name for the new calibration set You can use the same name AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 449 450 as the supplied calibration profile but omitting the enclosing paren theses that supplied calibration profiles use this makes the link between the two profiles more obvious 8 Click Import see the description on page 359 for more details After importing the data and making any other settings exit the Edit Calibra tion dialog box and Calibration Manager by clicking OK Warning You must read the values from the data file or copy the data file to another location before measuring another target for the same RIP installa tion Genlin uses the same file name for every data file so any existing mea sured data is lost when you measure a new target Start again from Section C 2 2 on page 447 to read another target Note If you no longer need to measure any of the targets that you have printed using the RIP you can choose File gt Purge This means that the num bering of targets can restart from 1 C 3 Troubleshooting This is a list of some possible error messages and symptoms that you may see together with suggestions for avoiding them C 3 1 Error messages All error messages are preceded by the details of the measuring instrum
246. calibration sets for use with different presses or different paper stocks on a given press In most circumstances however a single calibration set is sufficient and you should therefore specify a range of frequencies likely to cover any line frequency which might be set in the screening dialog boxes ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 11 Harlequin Screening Library or requested by a PostScript language job The HDS screens are symmetric that is you may use a single calibration set for both positive and negative output Though HDS screens do not have the same lines per inch lpi characteristic as conventional screening the following rough comparisons may be useful If we take the case of an imagesetter working at 1524 dpi with a relatively small dot size less than 20 um then HDS Coarse has a dot gain on film only slightly higher than a conventional 150 lpi screen in the midtones and holds up better than the conventional screen in the highlights and the shadows HDS Medium has a similar correspondence to a 200 lpi screen at 1524 dpi Finally HDS Fine has characteristics similar to a 300 lpi screen and needs similar careful handling to obtain good results It should be noted that the lpi corre spondence changes more or less in proportion to changes in the imagesetter resolution For example a rough correspondence to a 100 lpi screen is given by HDS Coarse at 1016 dpi though if the final press has high dot gain this still has to be t
247. ce is fairly accurate at these values or because the work you do at those frequencies does not demand accurate output Also it may be that the same calibration set will apply to a wide range of frequencies for example 100 300 Ipi You must inform the RIP about the various combinations of positive and neg ative output and measuring devices The Measurements as drop down list allows you to tell the RIP which densito meter mode you used when performing your density readings Some densito AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 11 Calibration 346 meters read in positive dot others in negative dot that is a clear area may read 0 zero or 100 For a monochrome device you can specify what kind of output you are mea suring using the Negative media check box The Use for Pos amp Neg check box allows you to record whether the RIP can use this calibration set for both positive and negative output or only one The default setting of this box selected is usually the best to use but for very accurate calibrations apply this setting only to Euclidean dot shapes See Chapter 6 Screening for a description of Euclidean screening When this check box is not selected the RIP uses the calibration set only for positive or negative as set in Negative media 11 5 4 Saving calibration sets Click the OK button to save the calibration set You can then edit a different calibration set create a new calibration set or save all
248. ce state what the press looked like when first calibrated which is not usually a linear state but the characteristic dot gain curve of a printing press The RIP can then do the calculations which account for the difference This separation allows the actual press behavior to be accounted for without need ing to remember what differences to apply manually 11 8 2 Alternative uses of press calibration It is also possible to work in two alternative ways which are uncommon at present but which we expect to become more common in the future Scan to linear Here the scanned images and application graphics are produced assum ing the measured response of the press rather than the film will be lin ear The RIP provides a special None calibration set which can be used as the intended press for use in this situation 352 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 8 Press calibration e Press is linear Here the press is indeed set up to produce a linear response but the job is not expecting this In this situation the None calibration set would be chosen for the actual press or more likely some calibration set derived from None that will bring the press back to its required linear state This is similar to printing to a full color desktop printer Of course it is possible to work with both of these ways simultaneously Note Earlier versions of the Harlequin RIP used Linear not None as explained in Section 11 8 4 on pag
249. ch page This background may contain sluglines crop marks and so on 2 Single page PGB file s For example to produce an eight page flat eight single page PGB files must be generated 3 A flat description file This file describes the location of the background and single page PGB files on disk The flat description file also indicates the positioning of pages on the flat The flat description file is presented as an input to the Harlequin RIP and the PGB files are stitched into a single flat for output to the specified output device The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later accepts PGB files from Harlequin RIPs version 4 5 It also accepts PGB files from any other Harlequin RIP plat form This extends the ability to interchange PGB files between Windows plat forms which was introduced in the Harlequin RIP 4 5 For additional information on how to generate a flat description and more on PGB stitching please refer to the FlatOut User Guide ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth 1 3 8 Screening options The Harlequin RIP has several screening features and options designed to produce high quality output on devices ranging from imagesetters to inkjet proofing printers There is generalized screening support for color systems that go beyond straightforward CMYK process colors but you need an output plugin and device able to support these color systems The Harlequin RIP is able to create extra g
250. ch off such features in the sending application if possible or to set up a PPD or other configuration file which uses the same screen frequency for all separations and a standard set of angles for example 0 15 45 and 75 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 189 6 Screening 190 If modifying the input file is not possible then in the HPS Options dialog box select Snap angles to nearest 7 5 degrees and in the Edit Style dialog box select Override frequency in job You cannot use this second method if you want several different screen frequencies on a page for example for special effects 6 10 4 HPS and pattern screens Some applications use the PostScript language halftoning mechanism to pro duce patterns rather than halftones However devices which do not require screens would then reproduce the pattern as a shade of gray Some applica tions which do this produce poor PostScript language files in such a way that they only produce the desired result at resolutions which are multiples of 75 dpi presumably because they were designed for output at 300 dpi ona laser printer and not for high resolution imagesetters To avoid these problems the RIP detects such screens and replaces them either with a special screen which does not suffer from resolution problems or with an equivalent PostScript language pattern depending on whether the output is halftone or continuous tone HPS does not alter these pattern screens
251. characteristics of printers printing processes presses scanners and other equipment It appears when Harlequin ColorPro is enabled Uninstall ICC Profile This command uninstalls ICC profiles and appears when Harlequin ColorPro is enabled 2 5 2 TrapPro and TrapProLite TrapPro is an option for the Harlequin RIP that can be set up to perform trap ping If TrapPro is present and enabled the following command appears in the Output menu See the separate TrapPro User Manual for full details TrapPro Manager This command displays a dialog box where you can inspect and create different sets of rules for trapping These rules become available in the Trapping section of the Page Setup dialog box See Section 12 10 Trap ping features for details Ink Set Manager This command displays a dialog box where you can configure various types of ink including normal opaque and transparent ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 6 Stopping the Harlequin RIP 2 5 3 Media Saving Media Saving is a layered option for the Harlequin RIP which is enabled using a password If Media Saving is present and enabled the Media Saving option appears in the Output menu Media Saving This option displays a dialog box where you can view the various flats being created and view roam or delete the various pages used to make up the flats See Section 5 14 Media saving option for details 2 6 Stopping the Harlequin RIP You can sto
252. click OK to save your changes and close the dialog box Click OK in the Page Setup Manager AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 341 11 Calibration 342 Return to the Print Calibration dialog box choose the page setup in which you have chosen the new calibration set and click Print calibrated target You should see improved tonal rendering in the calibrated target Measure the tint values on this calibrated target If the values are wrong in any patches reread these tint patches on the original exposure sweep target and edit the values in the calibration set again 11 5 Editing calibration sets The procedure described in Section 11 4 is adequate for creating new calibra tion sets This section describes how you can choose a strategy to keep calibra tion up to date choose which calibration sets to use and edit existing calibration sets There are three more general sections Section 11 6 on page 346 discusses establishing and maintaining calibration Section 11 7 on page 348 describes tone curves calibration and Section 11 8 on page 349 describes press calibration For details of the individual dialog boxes see Print Calibration dialog box on page 355 Calibration Manager dialog box on page 357 and Edit Cali bration dialog box on page 363 They way that calibration is applied is different for v5 5r1 If you decide to edit a calibration set created before v5 5r1 with a v5 5r1 RIP or later you may
253. colors in documents defined using the PostScript Level 1 language AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 12 Color Separation 12 1 5 Harlequin ColorPro Harlequin ColorPro extends the color handling capabilities of the RIP For example you can use ColorPro to intercept CMYK color definitions and con vert them to device independent color using input profiles The extra facilities and changes of procedure associated with ColorPro are described in the sepa rate manual Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide 12 2 What color separations are Color printing using this color mixing method is done using color separations These are sets of single color images that yield a full color image when com bined appropriately Figure 12 1 shows how four single color images can be combined to produce an image in different colors In this grayscale figure dif ferent shades of gray represent the various colors Separations produced in four process colors Cyan Magenta Yellow Black The Magazine a weekly review Overlay process yields full color images The Magazine a weekly review Figure 12 1 How separations can form a color image 380 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 2 What color separations are The image in the figure shows the cover page of a fictional magazine It is mostly black but has a small color illustration on the right that consists of some land in green over which there is
254. contains a list showing the separations that the RIP can pro duce There are initially separations for the process colors in the selected color space In Figure 12 11 there are separations for the four process colors in the CMYK color space If the chosen output format supports additional colorants you can control the printing of spot color separations using the Other colors in job entry or you can add a separation for a specific spot color The order in the list defines the order of production of separations on output If the output device can generate separations in a different order you can move a selected color up and down the list by selecting it and dragging to the new position You can rename or delete spot color separations You cannot delete the stan dard process color separations from the list nor can you change their names You may however ask the RIP not to produce a certain separation For particular jobs you may want to vary the settings in the interests of effi ciency or to ensure compatibility with PostScript language code that uses Level 1 operators For example the default settings produce separations for all process colors so you may want to turn off some process colors if a job is mainly defined in spot colors Also for example if you need to reprint just a nn ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 12 7 Edit Style dialog box single separation and it is not saved in the Output Controller you can turn o
255. converts those spot colors to the appropriate combination of process colors To change the settings for an existing colorant select the colorant from the list and edit the values in the boxes below Note If the output format of the separations style supports screening you can also change the screen angle of the process color or spot color separation See Section 6 5 1 Changing angles for separations for details Separation The name of the separation To rename a spot color sep aration type the new name into the text box You can not rename process color separations AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 395 12 Color Separation 396 Print ECRM RIP Operator Guide Warning The name you enter for the spot color must match the one used in the job in every respect upper and lower case use of embedded space characters and any trailing cv or cu suffixes For example a typical Pantone specification is PANTONE 386 Cv but applica tions may report this in different ways If this option is set to Yes a page will be produced for the separation even if the separation is blank If this option is set to No the page will be omitted although any effects it might have on the others are still calcu lated You might use this feature to suppress process color separation for a job using spot colors only If the option is set to Not Blank the RIP will produce a page for that separation as long as the separation is not blan
256. cript language header files that are available in the Enable Feature drop down list of the Edit Page Setup dialog box This menu is generated dynamically from the files available in this folder If a feature is turned on in the relevant page setup the appropriate file is run at the beginning of the job Additional example page features are available in the folder called Examples within this folder The example files supplied with the RIP show you how to do such things as produce draft copies perform page imposi tion resubmit page buffers and use image replacement with DCS files You can add your own files if you wish 36 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 3 Harlequin RIP folder structure e The PageBuffers folder provides space for rendered pages that are written to disk e The Passwords folder may be empty but is available for files used to install passwords for optional parts of the Harlequin RIP The RIP installs all new passwords automatically as it starts Files with exten sion pwd are files to be used by the RIP files with numeric extensions 001 002 and so on have been installed and files with extension pwx are files that the Harlequin RIP has failed to install e The patterns folder contains resources for PostScript language patterns e The PrepFiles folder contains all the prep files used by the Harlequin RIP e The procsets folder contains various patches to the PostScript lan guage as well as other fu
257. d dark versions of one or more colorants A capable system is then able to use the light ink in highlight areas and the dark ink where more colo rant is required A typical set of colors is light cyan dark cyan light magenta dark magenta yellow and black As in distinct colorant systems these are not the same inks as used in the CMYK system and it is important to distinguish between the two systems Various naming schemes are possible a possible example is PhotoCyan Light PhotoCyan PhotoMagenta Light PhotoMagenta PhotoYellow and PhotoBlack The Harlequin RIP provides facilities for screening and calibrating both of these color systems but the actual availability for use of a distinct colorant or photo ink color space depends upon there being an installed output plugin AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 377 12 Color Separation 378 using the new software facilities Also some configuration of the files in which the RIP stores colorant databases may be needed before first use For example the Harlequin RIP allows for jobs to use any of the different color naming schemes discussed for distinct colorant and photo ink systems and to link these to the internal naming scheme used by the RIP Each new naming scheme requires some configuration 12 1 2 Spot colors Spot colors are used in a job when a particular color is used very heavily or must have a better quality than is available by mixing the process colors Typical uses of
258. d in the Edit Style dialog box in the RIP Careful calibration can improve output quality when using HMS The Euclidean variant of HMS is symmetrical but you should normally produce separate calibration sets for positive and negative output of the Elliptical HMS form 6 11 2 Troubleshooting HSL An undefinedresult error from setscreen setcolorscreen or sethalf tone is probably due to one of the following e An attempt has been made to use a screen set which has not been enabled or where the password entered for that screen set is incorrect for the current security number This can occur if an incorrect password has been entered accidentally or if the dongle has been changed from that for which the password was originally created Note Selection of HSL screens in the Screening dialog box is enabled when any nonzero number is entered in the Enable Feature dialog box for that screen set the ability to select a HSL screen does not necessarily imply that the number entered is correct for use with the specific dongle connected e Anattempt has been made to use an HDS screen when HDS has been correctly enabled but one or more of the appropriate HDS screen caches is not present ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 12 Automatic detection of color separations 6 12 Automatic detection of color separations There are several procedures in process separated work where the RIP must know which color is being interpreted e Using
259. d maintain but has no intentional effect on the composite jobs AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 399 12 Color Separation 400 The names of suitable spot colors must be unambiguous If the job sup plies a CMYK equivalent for a spot color that is sufficient for the name to be unambiguous When the job does not contain a process equivalent for a spot color the name is still unambiguous if the RIP can find a correct equivalent The RIP searches several files in the SW NamedColor folder for an equiva lent These files define several commonly used names including other process colors such as Red Green and Blue spot colors produced by some common job creating applications and the cv and cvu names defined in PANTONE Colors Note Some common names for example Pink or Mauve can have slightly varying definitions in different jobs because either the creating application or the designer has used a conflicting definition One solu tion is to add a CMYK equivalent in the job where such a name occurs The job must contain all the required separations in one file or Apple Talk connection It is not possible to recombine jobs where each separa tion is in its own file Where the job contains more than one set of separations separations from each set page must appear contiguously for example KCMY DEKCMYDEKCMYDE and so on where D and E represent spot colors rather than ordered by colorant For example the order KKK
260. d need to know how much more media the output cassette can accept Equally if the output goes to an online processor you may need to know that there is enough film output for the processor to handle satisfactorily In addition there may be times when you want to cut the media in a particu lar cassette or feed extra media If you are working at your computer and the output device is not located nearby doing this by hand might be inconvenient E ao ae i ie a be D bin E gt processor Multiple feed Imagesetters Take up cassettes for film cassette and paper Figure 9 1 Using multiple output devices and cassettes 9 1 1 Overview of the Harlequin RIP capabilities The Harlequin RIP media management can meet all these needs subject to operating with suitable output devices and getting a minimal amount of information from the operator These requirements are explained in later parts of this section The RIP can manage up to sixteen feed cassettes at once using as many suit able output devices as are connected ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 1 Why manage your media For each cassette or roll fed device it can monitor the media remaining dis play the amount of media for the particular cassette in use and issue auto matic warnings when this amount is low The RIP can also instruct the output device to perform cut and feed opera tions both automatically at pre specifi
261. d while starting up the RIP 420 ECRM RIP Operator Guide Reset the RIP to the fac tory defaults Reset the RIP to the fac tory defaults Reboot the machine If this does not help reinstall the RIP AG12325 Rev 5 Table A 1 Start up messages Continued Message Problem Things to try Superpro C Plus or Something concerning Check that the dongle is Activator dongle not the dongle is incorrect installed and plugged in plugged in or invalid correctly Fatal error Fatal security Check that the Sentinel device failure device drivers have been installed and started If you have both a Sentinel C Plus and a Sentinel SuperPro dongle con nected to the same paral lel port to protect the RIP and another application then they must be con nected in the order Com puter C Plus SuperPro If this does not help shut the PC down disconnect the dongle completely and reconnect it Power up the PC again If these suggestions fail you may have an invalid or a failed dongle AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 421 A 1 2 Problems with resources Table A 2 Resource messages Message Problem Things to try Could not access a The plugin driver for the Reset the RIP to the fac resource for the current current device seems to tory defaults plugin device driver Could not access a Setup resource There are no devices installed in the setup file A 1 3 Problems with files Message have
262. de AG12325 Rev 5 12 7 Edit Style dialog box Click OK to confirm all the changes you have make in the Separations Manager and Edit Style dialog boxes The OK button saves the changes you have made and closes the Separations Manager If you opened the Separations Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can also save the changes by clicking the Select button In addition to saving the changes the Select but ton displays the selected style in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Click Cancel to discard all changes Note If you open the Separations Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box changes that you make in the Separations Manager are independent of the Edit Page Setup dialog box For example if you create a separations style and close the Edit Style dialog box with OK and the Separations Manager with OK or Select the new style will remain even if you click Cancel in the Edit Page Setup dialog box 12 7 Edit Style dialog box The Edit Style dialog box appears when you create or edit a separations style in the Separations Manager It contains the options related to separations and where appropriate to screening There are two forms of the dialog box e Ifthe output format of the separations style supports screening con trolled by the RIP the Edit Style dialog box contains options that allow you to set up defaults and override the screening parameters requested in a job See Chapter 6 Screening for a description of th
263. depending on the switch settings 8 14 2 1 PDF Check Warning With PDF Check Warning enabled the following message appears at the start of every PDF job using transparency WARNING THIS JOB USES PDF 1 4 TRANSPARENCY This message indicates that the PDF 1 4 transparency checker procset has identified an element marked as transparency in the job The procset then switches the RIP from Normal mode into Backdrop Rendering mode Normal mode means the RIP functions normally and you should not notice any significant changes in behavior in terms of performance memory usage and so on In Backdrop Rendering mode there are significant changes Interpretation time will be broadly similar as in normal mode however rendering time will AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 265 8 Configuring Input 266 be increased This is because the RIP does the compositing in the render phase and this process is computationally intensive The compositing phase cur rently requires memory to be allocated and so vmerrors may occur In terms of results the objects are composited at full device resolution there is no downsampling like that produced by pre flatteners Areas of the page which have only opaque objects are optimized to render faster and thus performance depends on how much of the page is covered by objects which are transpar ent 8 14 2 2 PDF Check Abort With the PDF Check Abort switch enabled all jobs using transparency
264. der 2 Create an appropriate page setup and choose the PGB hot folder entry in the Enable Feature drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 285 8 Configuring Input 286 3 Optionally if you wish to use a spool folder as input create a new spool folder input and in the Input Channel Edit dialog box choose the page setup that you created in step 2 Configure and name the spool folder as described in Section 8 6 1 on page 241 then make sure that it is enabled and that the inputs are started The preparation of the supplying RIP installation is simpler Create page set ups that use the output device plugin with resolution and other settings that match those you have chosen in the receiving installation You do not need to select the PGB hot folder page feature 8 19 2 Printing procedure Depending on how you prepared the system there are two possible methods You can use both methods together e Supply page buffer files to a spool folder if you have set up one as part of the preparation described in Section 8 19 1 on page 285 e Choose Harlequin RIP gt Print File navigate to the relevant folder select the wanted files and click Print Page buffer files have the extension PGB so be sure that you are displaying all files in the folder Warning For both methods the receiving RIP effectively deletes the supplied page buffer file at the same time as it creates a new pa
265. device 2 Print and measure a calibration target 3 Use an Edit dialog box to enter the data and label it with the information describing its use You may also want to inspect the resulting curve and smooth or edit the data values This is where you name the calibration set 4 Apply the calibration set you have created and check that it provides good output Section 11 4 2 on page 333 through Section 11 4 5 on page 341 describe these steps in more detail 11 4 1 2 Devices without exposure settings The procedure is simpler for a device that does not have an exposure control such as a color inkjet printer supplied with reference calibration sets Note It is very unlikely that you will achieve good results if you try to use an inkjet printer without a reference calibration set or other control of ink delivery The typical response of an inkjet printer in its raw state is to pro duce very dark images and deliver so much ink that there are severe problems with drying time or ink running across the printed page Supplied reference calibration sets or calibration profiles define an ideal or reference printer Using a reference calibration set greatly improves output but the response of your printer the user printer may differ from the refer ence printer because of small but inevitable variations between printers You AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 331 11 Calibration may be satisfied with the reference calib
266. device rotation and negation are given specific values Using AppleTalk several different virtual printers can be made available on the network using a single running copy of the Harlequin RIP each printer with a different page setup When using the Spool folder plugin several spool folders can be made available each with an associated page setup You can enable multiple types of input allowing for example AppleTalk and Spool folder inputs to operate at the same time 1 3 12 Complex jobs Given enough memory and disk space the Harlequin RIP can interpret arbi trarily complex jobs The same is not true for many other high resolution RIPs This is achieved with a feature called partial page buffering or painting partial pages in some messages Essentially if a particular job is so large that it can not all be fitted into memory at once the RIP interprets only as much of the page description as does fit into memory and places the interpreted image in a partial page buffer Having dealt with part of the image the RIP gains enough free memory to deal with the next part the effect being that the page description is divided into manageable sections which are interpreted one at a time Disk space is used to hold what has been interpreted so far until the whole image has been processed and printing can commence 1 3 13 Throughput control In almost all circumstances it is desirable to produce page images as quickly as possib
267. different for different kinds of processor e For Intel 486 and Pentium processors and compatible processors the plugin file is called ntpipe i32 e For Digital Alpha processors now available from Compaq the plugin file is called ntpipe axp 236 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 5 Using the NT Pipe input Quit the RIP if it is running If the plugin has been supplied with an installa tion program use that and follow the instructions If you have no installation program drag the appropriate plugin file into the sw Inputs folder 8 5 2 Creating an NT Pipe input When you have an installed plugin file start the RIP and follow this procedure 1 Click New in the Input Controller The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box Choose NT Pipe from the Type drop down list 2 Give the input a suitable name and select a page setup Select the Enabled box Note The name you choose forms the last part of a longer network name for the pipe We suggest that you choose a name that uses letters and numerals only a z and 0 9 and that is a convenient length do not include punctuation space characters or the wildcard characters and 3 For most applications you can now click OK to close the Input Channel Edit dialog box You can now read Section 8 5 4 on page 239 to see how to connect an applica tion to this pipe If you have difficulty or know that you need to change the default configuration read Sec
268. disk storing the images in a specific graphics format AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 17 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 18 An output plugin that creates disk files provides a simple method of translat ing from the input format to another graphics format Using such an output plugin extends your ability to transfer graphics defined in the PostScript lan guage or PDF to other software applications or systems For example you can produce a graphics image without dependencies on external fonts or color management Also you may wish to send a page description to someone who does not have access to PostScript language tools but who can use files in the Tagged Image File Format TIFF TIFF is a commonly used graphics format and a TIFF output device is supplied with the RIP 1 3 11 Input and output methods The Harlequin RIP performs most of its input and output using plugins small auxiliary programs that the RIP loads when it starts up You can install new plugins into an existing installation of the Harlequin RIP to add new input and output capabilities Several optional plugins are sup plied with an installer program and it is always better to use an installer if it exists but the basic operation is file copying 1 3 11 1 Output plugins The RIP sends all output to printers and other output devices through output plugins thereby allowing the quick and straightforward addition of support for new output devices Typic
269. dling 23 Convenience features 24 Running the Harlequin RIP cceeeeee 27 2 1 Machine requirements 28 Performance 28 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide iii Ability to RIP a job 30 Driving a printer effectively 32 2 2 Installing printer interface cards 33 2 3 Harlequin RIP folder structure 34 2 4 Starting up the Harlequin RIP 39 The menus 40 The tool bar 41 2 5 Menus affected by optional features 45 ColorPro menus 45 TrapPro and TrapProLite 46 Media Saving 47 2 6 Stopping the Harlequin RIP 47 Quitting the Harlequin RIP 47 Stopping the computer 48 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 49 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session 49 Creating a page setup 50 Creating a simple job 53 Previewing the image on screen 55 Outputting to a real device 57 Sending a job to the Harlequin RIP 60 3 2 A more complex use of the Harlequin RIP 62 Saving a page setup 62 Associating a page setup with an input 64 3 3 Using the Harlequin RIP with a spool folder 64 3 4 Monitoring the Harlequin RIP 66 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 69 4 1 Historical overview 69 4 2 Page buffering modes 70 Operating modes 71 4 3 The throughput system 73 Output Controller 73 Job management 80 Page buffers produced by older versions of the Harlequin RIP iv ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 87 4 4 Advanced details of page buffering modes 88 Multiple Parallel mode 88 Multiple mode 89 Single mode 90
270. e The current spool folder is shown in the text field alongside this button This location is where the RIP detects the arrival of files and considers them as possi ble jobs by looking at the type of file and any file names excluded in the Filenames prefix list Note Choose a folder that is dedicated to receiving jobs In particular avoid using folders where other files are arriving or changing For example the sw folder is a bad choice because the log file changes with every job Click the Spool Folder button to change this folder using the standard file browsing dialog box Alternatively you can type a full path name in the text field but be aware that any typing errors can cause an error or the creation of a new folder AG12325 Rev 5 8 6 Using the Spool Folder input folder Create spool folders if they do not exist Select this box if you want the RIP to create the named spool folders if they do not already exist The RIP creates the folders when the input channel becomes available for use This time can be immedi ately after you click OK in the Input Channel Edit dialog box for an enabled channel but you may need to choose Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs or enable the input channel before it becomes fully available Warn if spool folders do not exist Select this box if you want the RIP to issue a warning if a folder named as a spool error or completion folder does not exist Error Folder If a file fails to print
271. e and R RGB color CMYK color separations are also supported as defined in the published TIFF 6 0 specification Appendix K Under Separations Screening amp Color the Style drop down list contains all the sep arations styles created for the TIFF device The choice of separations style determines the color space and format of the output Note The TIFF file is complete when it appears in the file system with the name requested by the user primarily to ease any subsequent automatic processing of the file To make this possible the RIP produces and then removes an intermediate file with the suffix TMP or the suffix TEM if the requested name has extension TMP You can configure how the RIP produces and names TIFF files by clicking Configure Device in the Edit Page Setup dialog box when the selected output device is TIFF Alternatively if you are running the RIP in one of the multiple modes the device of any page buffer in the Output Controller can be configured by clicking Configure Device in the Info dialog box of that page buffer AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 113 5 Configuring Output Formats Figure 5 6 shows the TIFF Configuration dialog box Folder CASWATIFF_S 4 T Path includes resolution Stem F o MV Use jobname as stem Use 8 3 Filenames T Del page num prefix Use jobname unchanged Sufix us Tiff format Multiple strips 7 I Reverse bit order I Pad To 32 Bit Align
272. e 15 75 0 and 45 respectively for CMYK and related sets using these angles plus or minus multiples of 90 For use with elliptical dots a separation of 60 is rec ommended leading to angles of 15 75 0 and 135 for CMYK Note The angles shown in the Edit Style dialog box shown in Figure 6 2 page 161 always take effect for jobs that contain no screening requests If the job attempts to set screening you must select the Override angles in job check box if you want to use these values 6 5 1 Changing angles for separations The list of separations shows all colorants including the standard process col ors and any spot colors and their screen angles The boxes below the list of separations allow you to control the printing of process color separations and change the screen angles Note From the Eclipse Release of the Harlequin RIP ink types are decided using the Ink Set Manager which is only available when one of the TrapPro options are enabled See the documentation supplied with TrapPro for more information If the chosen output format supports additional colorants you can also con trol the printing of spot color separations Any spot color not explicitly listed is controlled by the Other colors in job settings With the default set tings if a job calls for spot colors not named in the list of separations the RIP converts those spot colors to the appropriate combination of process colors To change
273. e amount used can be varied according to the effects you wish to achieve AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 409 12 Color Separation 410 Black generation is the process of computing how much and where black should be added to the image Note If you have Harlequin ColorPro available it is able to add black in ways more subtle than the controls described here using Color Rendering Intents See the separate Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide for details When converting color descriptions expressed in RGB or in HLS device independent color or other spaces which end up as RGB to CMYK for print ing the RIP must decide how much of a color is to be represented by black ink and how much by the others Because a perfect theoretical description of the color image is provided by the CMY components if black is added with out the appropriate removal of some of the cyan magenta and yellow the color produced on the printed page will not be the one intended Undercolor removal UCR is the process of reducing the amount of other colors present where the black is added The legend ucr represents undercolor removal in the graphs later in this section Note The black generation settings in this dialog box operate in the RIP with out Harlequin ColorPro With ColorPro enabled an alternative method is nor mally used The settings made here are used with ColorPro only when sending RGB data direct to a four color device without first con
274. e or improve the quality of output Warning Like a Note a Warning is important and often indicates the need for care to avoid loss of files or settings AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide xxi xxii ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP This chapter provides an introduction to the capabilities of the Harlequin RIP e Section 1 1 on page 1 defines the Harlequin RIP e Section 1 2 on page 3 describes the advantages of using the Harlequin RIP e Section 1 3 on page 4 describes various features of the Harlequin RIP 1 1 What is the Harlequin RIP The Harlequin RIP is an application that takes a document or job describing images or pages and produces output from that job on an output device which can be a printer imagesetter computer screen or a file on disk The term output device is used throughout this manual except where the nature of the device is important In general a software application or hardware device that performs this task is known as a Raster Image Processor RIP or where the PostScript language is involved a PostScript language compatible interpreter The Harlequin RIP is a software RIP management system It contains both a software RIP and a collection of supporting functions that help the RIP per form its task efficiently For example the RIP accepts jobs from various AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP
275. e 353 A special case of linear scans is device independent color data images where the colors are expressed in CIE L a b for example or held on Photo CDs in YCC format Here Harlequin ColorPro is required to accurately reproduce the intended color and in this case only the actual press calibration set is used This is also the case if CMYK colors are converted to device independent colors first by ColorPro in that case the gain incorporated in the job is accounted for during the conversion by ColorPro Lastly note that press calibration is not a substitute for ColorPro Calibration can compensate for changes in response of the individual process colors but it cannot account for variations in colors of inks and dyes Therefore if the actual and intended presses are significantly different processes a proofing device and a press for example or two entirely different kinds of press the colors cannot be accurately reproduced using only calibration 11 8 3 Direct to press There are two ways of calibrating for working direct to press e You can assume a linear imagesetter and calibrate for the actual press as normal In this case set the device calibration to linear None e You can assume a linear actual press and calibrate for the device as normal In this case set the actual press calibration to linear None 11 8 4 Version history Linear and None In versions of the Harlequin RIP up to and including version 5 1 revision 0
276. e 71 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods When the RIP is in either of the single modes it sends each page straight to the output device once it has been interpreted If the RIP buffers a page to disk that page buffer is deleted once the page has been printed Single Modes Multiple Modes Interpreter Interpreter mangal a exch def paperheight S exch def 3 Jobs Page buffer file Page buffer files manualieed exch def paperheight po aE by gt ar tat Output device Output device Figure 4 1 How the Harlequin RIP behaves in Single and Multiple Modes When in one of the multiple modes pages are always buffered and they are not usually deleted until disk space is required for new pages so they can be reprinted at a later point The throughput system tools can be used to oversee printing allowing a range of benefits which are described below See Section 4 3 The throughput system Note also that when in Multiple Parallel mode interpretation can take place at the same time as outputting an earlier page to a printer or imagesetter but this is not true of either of the single modes This is not illustrated in the diagram 72 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system Even though the increase in job throughput is significant when in Multiple Parallel mode there may be cases usually because of hardware limita tions when you will need to use one of th
277. e The forms folder contains resources for bitmap forms AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 35 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP e The halftones folder contains halftone resources Note The comments in these halftone resources files show how you can define custom dot shapes in capable graphics and layout applications and have these dot shapes linked to Harlequin screens in the generated PostScript language files e The icccrd folder contains the color rendering dictionaries CRDs pro duced from ICC profiles e The IdiomSet folder contains idiom set resources Each idiom set in this folder is loaded when the RIP starts e The Inputs folder contains all input plugin files Spool and any others e The Messages folder has been moved to the same level as the SW folder and contains localized message files The appropriate file is selected the first time the RIP is started e The MediaSavingDir contains page buffers that are marked for media saving e The Namedcolor folder is the location of files defining a resource type NamedColor which stores color values referred to by name It is accessed by the Install ICC Profile dialog box present when using ColorPro as well as by the Harlequin core RIP e The NamedColorOrder folder contains files defining the orders in which resources of type NamedColor are searched when the Harlequin RIP is looking for the definition of a named color e The Page Features folder contains all the PostS
278. e You can measure calibrated or uncalibrated targets This means that you can print a calibration target with the previous cali bration applied and enter only the values that are in error possibly saving time and materials Alternatively you can start again with an uncalibrated target as if no calibration exists See Establishing a work flow on page 342 for a discussion of the advantages and advisable controls e You can create a separate calibration curve for each channel of multi color devices for example color ink jet printers and printing presses If the output device or printing press supports additional colorants you can create separate calibration curves for spot colors Although an imagesetter is not a multi color device you can create a separate calibration curve for each color to take account of the different screen angles e If you are preparing a job for a printing press you can create separate calibration curves for output to film and output to a printing press If you are not using Harlequin ColorPro you can retarget a job from its intended printing press to another printing press using a separate cali bration set to remove the compensation for the gain of the intended press See Press calibration on page 349 for a discussion of the back ground issues e Tone Curves allow you to make another set of color adjustments in addition to the device calibration and the press calibration See Tone curves
279. e about which screen angle sets are to be used in PostScript language jobs in the Optimize for angle set text box The default set 15 75 0 45 is used for most offset litho work while settings are also pro vided for other screening systems To decide which entry you should use 1 Convert all the screen angles your job uses to numbers in the range 0 through 90 Do this by repeatedly adding 90 to any values less than 0 or subtracting 90 from any values of 90 or greater 2 Compare the converted numbers with angles in the menu entries There are three possibilities e If you reach a set of values where all of the numbers are in a single entry in the menu then use that entry e If the values do not match an entry exactly then select the closest match e If there is no close match then select the default 15 75 0 45 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 187 6 Screening 188 6 10 3 Possible problems with output There are two main kinds of problem to avoid with HPS output e Patterning on individual films e Patterning caused by the interaction of two or more films from sepa rated output often called moir In addition there are practical considerations You usually want your output to be produced as rapidly as possible and you do not want to have to install excessively large amounts of RAM in the computer running the RIP The following subsections describe how to address these problems 6 10 3 1 Pa
280. e accepts contone data and performs its own screening For devices that can be config ured to support either contone or screened output the screening options in the Edit Style dialog box do not appear when you select a contone separations ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 3 Edit Style dialog box style unless you are using external screening such as the Harpoon PCI screening accelerator Some proofing output plugins list two entries for Device in the Edit Page Setup dialog box for each model of printer that the plugin supports One entry is for a device that uses the screening options in the RIP which appear in the Edit Style dialog box for that device The second device performs its own screening such as error diffusion screening EDS and does not have screen ing options in the Edit Style dialog box 6 3 Edit Style dialog box The Edit Style dialog box shown in Figure 6 2 appears when you select a sep arations style and click Edit in the Separations Manager Edit Style for CMYK Separations Halftone CMYK Separations Halftone gt Monochrome Separations are Reread in ket order I Override separations in job M Use Level 1 spot colors To change order select and drag to new T Override angles in job position Set print to Yes to automatically print other colors in job I Recombine preseparated jobs I Reject preseparated jobs Edit selected row Cyan Yes x 15 0 New Delete
281. e advisable to check exposure settings To check the calibration click Print calibrated target in the Print Calibration dia log box and measure the density of the tint panels If the value for any tint panel drifts outside your acceptable range you can use data from the calibrated target to correct the calibration set You need record only the values that are in error Display the Calibration Manager dia log box select the calibration set and then click Edit calibrated target In the Edit Calibration dialog box enter the newly measured value or values Alter natively you can click Print uncalibrated target in the Print Calibration dialog box read all the densitometer values from that target and then use Edit uncalibrated target to edit the calibration set appropriately 11 6 2 Assessing attainable accuracy It is relatively easy using these procedures to maintain the accuracy of cali bration data on an imagesetter using film This accuracy can be within 2 of a perfect result The accuracy obtainable with bromide paper is far lower and it is not feasible to maintain densities closer than about 5 One reason for hav ing a less accurate requirement for bromide paper is that two densitometers are likely to show much larger differences when measuring the same piece of paper than when measuring the same piece of film When assessing your required level of accuracy take into account the accu racy of the imaging engine itself an
282. e card 33 installing Harlequin RIP ability to RIP a job 30 printer data rates 32 instructions in text xxi Interface card failed message 428 interface cards installing 33 International Color Consortium See ICC Invalid clipping message 428 Invalid resolution message 428 J JDF and CIP4 466 JFIF files input methods 276 printing 276 Job Description Format See JDF jobs altering parameters 82 altering parameters for all pages 87 deleting automatically after printing 80 preserving from deletion 83 reprinting 76 screen settings and overrides 181 timeouts 209 JPEG files input methods 276 printing 276 K keyboard accelerators xx 473 keyboard shortcuts xx knockouts 382 409 L language choice at first use 39 used in user interface 217 LanguageLevel 1 setting compatibility 145 LanguageLevel 2 setting compatibility 145 LanguageLevel 3 145 setting compatibility 145 AG12325 Rev 5 Laser diode failed message 428 Level 1 PostScript language jobs compatibility setting 145 Level 2 PostScript language jobs compatibility setting 145 Level 3 PostScript language jobs compatibility setting 145 Limit number of distinct gray levels 184 Limit screen levels 184 line screening in halftoned images 175 linearization 327 See also calibration List Fonts command 319 localization language in user interface 217 locking page buffers 83 LOGFILE 319 in SW folder 38 messages from Harlequin RIP 66 low media warnings 306 Low power mes
283. e compression kee PDF X 1 Error invalid function type kk PDF X 1 Error invalid halftone type kk PDF X 1 Error invalid pattern type PDF X 1 files have restrictions on the allowed PDF operators parame ters in the graphics state transfer functions color spaces methods of compression halftones and patterns The job has tried to use an invalid option xxx PDF X 1 Error missing embedded font PDF X 1 jobs can use only embedded fonts The job has tried to use a font without embedding it xxx PDF X 1 Error invalid filespec xxxxx PDF X 1 Error invalid embedded filespec Files referenced through OPI in a PDF X 1 file must be embedded within the PDF X 1 file itself The job includes OPI references to files that are not embedded xxxxx PDF X 1 Error invalid external file PDF X 1 jobs can use external files only for OPI The job has tried to use an external file for some other purpose xxxxx PDF X 1 Error invalid embedded fil PDF X 1 jobs can embed a limited number of file types The job has a file specification that is badly specified for Macintosh UNIX or DOS ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 platforms is not embedded or where the Subtype of the file indicates that the file is not TIFF IT EPS DCS or TIFF xk PDF X 1 Error invalid PS XObject A PDF X 1 job cannot contain a PostScript XObject PostScript code embedded in the PDF page description xxx PDF X 1 Error missing charac
284. e different densities light and dark versions of one or more colorants A capable system is then able to use the light ink in highlight areas and the dark ink where more colorant is required A typical set of colors is light cyan dark cyan light magenta dark magenta yellow and black pica A unit of measurement in printing Usually equal to 12 points or 0 166 inches pixel A single element of a VDU s display or of an image plug in module A software product that can be interfaced with the RIP to provide extra features or customizations point A unit of measurement used in printing There are 12 points to a pica Historically there have been several definitions of the point a common definition is 0 01384 inches or approximately 72 points to the inch The PostScript language uses a default user unit which is exactly 1 72 of an inch 0 01389 inches or 0 3528 mm This unit is frequently called a point and this is the definition used by the RIP PPD PostScript Printer Description Each PPD is a file that defines the charac teristics of a printer When installed correctly a PPD customizes an oper ating system printer driver or a creation or page layout application to optimize PostScript language jobs for the printer described by the PPD Many imagesetter and printer manufacturers provide PPDs for the printers that they produce precision screening See HPS Harlequin Precision Screening AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP O
285. e is needed for new pages when it will be automatically deleted This is illustrated in Figure 4 3 4 Print page buffer 3 Place page buffer in Y 5 Retain page buffer in Active Queue Held Queue 7_ 2 Interpret job 1 Issue print command Figure 4 3 Flow of a page buffer between the active and held queues 4 3 1 2 Interrupting output The Disable output check box can be used at any time to stop printing When it is selected pages will remain in the Active Queue until you clear the check box to resume the printing Disable output does not stop the current page printing if there is one To stop a page while it is printing drag the page name from the top box into the Held Queue or Active Queue If pages are interpreted while output is disabled the new pages created are added to the Active Queue as normal Disabling output does not prevent you from processing jobs You will find Disable output useful if you need to renew the media in an output device or if there is a fault on a device but you wish to continue interpreting and preparing more pages for output AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 75 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods The RIP automatically disables output when certain errors occur for example if a device determines that the wrong cassette is mounted 4 3 1 3 Moving page buffers You can move any of the pages shown in the Output Controller between the Active Queue and Held Queue by select
286. e of a hand writing a page None appears in the status area on the right When you use other output devices you see other animations and names e Text reporting the progress of the job appears in the scrolling text area of the Harlequin RIP window as the RIP starts the job and reads the necessary fonts e At least one progress dial window also appears and shows what is happening For example the Read Dial shows how much of the job the RIP has read and disappears when the RIP has processed the complete job With a small job like this proof and a fast computer 54 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session the Read Dial may not appear Figure 3 4 shows the dial Other dials can appear depending on the size of the job and the settings in your copy of the RIP x Reading from fontlist Time 0 06 Bytes read OKb Type ALT to kill current job Figure 3 4 Read Dial Notice what happens in the Output Controller Monitor window A job called 1 fontlist appears in the list on the left the Active Queue After a few moments its name moves into the box at upper center of the window to show that the RIP is processing it and then to the Held Queue on the right The job is called 1 fontlist to show that it is the first page of the fontlist job This job is probably only one page long unless you chose several fonts 3 1 3 Previewing the image on screen This job has now been processed b
287. e other modes provided For exam ple you may not have enough disk space to store any page buffers or the combination of a slow disk and an output device with a high data rate may mean that working in Multiple Parallel mode becomes impractical See Section 4 3 for more details 4 3 The throughput system This section describes the Output Controller which is the central part of the throughput system and discusses how it can be used to increase throughput The Output Controller is available when either of the multiple modes is selected see Section 7 3 Control of page buffering modes for details on how to change the page buffer mode The Output Controller gives you powerful facilities for controlling any jobs output by the RIP These include e Reprinting without reinterpreting the original page description e Changing the order of the pages to be printed e Control over a variety of page characteristics without reinterpreting the page description e Aborting any page before it is completely printed 4 3 1 Output Controller To display the Output Controller if it is not already displayed select Output Controller from the Output menu or type Ctrl O It will appear as a separate window on your screen as shown in Figure 4 2 If you want to remove it AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 73 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 74 choose the menu option again By default the Output Controller is displayed when you star
288. e output of the composition program and pro duced PostScript language separations from it However these methods are not optimal If you preseparate the job you com mit yourself to printing the job on a device that can recombine the separations it produced the documents become device dependent A process that commits a job to a particular device is not desirable because you may need to output your job on a number of different devices The RIP can recombine certain classes of preseparated jobs see the description of the Recombine preseparated jobs option on page 399 for details AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 12 Color Separation 388 There some circumstances where you must use recombination with presepa rated jobs in order to use features of the RIP and some of these circumstances apply even when you wish to produce separations These features are e Output to a composite proofing or final output device e Color management using ColorPro e Trapping with the in built options in the RIP e Output to progressive separations e Output of separations in a different order All these features require the RIP to have access to the complete color of all objects on a page To ensure that this is possible for preseparated jobs select Recombine preseparated jobs Alternatively where other settings in the page setup prohibit recombination select Reject preseparated jobs Note Both colored separations and progressive separ
289. e page it is not possible to output the whole page If your printer can stop start in the middle of a page then achieving the required data rate is less important but the quality of the output may still be affected depending on the device When you look at the data rates in this table note the following e The disk speed of your machine must be slightly faster than the data rate of the output device in order to drive it successfully the extra speed allows for the overhead of transferring the output to the printer For example a machine with a disk speed of 1 3 MB s may be required to drive a slow imagesetter at 750 KB s e To smooth out peaks and troughs of disk performance and other system and RIP functions the Harlequin RIP uses a printer buffer in memory Typically you should make this buffer large enough to hold between 5 and 10 seconds of output to the device for example 7 5 MB for a device that outputs at 750 KB second You can set the size of the printer buffer in the Configure RIP dialog box see Chapter 7 Configuring the RIP We strongly recommend that you use compressed page buffers If this is done the Harlequin RIP can achieve higher data rates because less data has to be read from disk Compressing page buffers also lets you run the RIP ona slower disk than would be required were page buffers not compressed There are very few situations where it is not desirable to compress page buffers 2 2 Installing printer
290. ecial key combinations and to highlight the titles of programs options in menus and dialog boxes and text that we suggest you type For details see the Conventions on page xiv in the Preface Windows NT Windows 2000 and Windows XP use disk space as virtual memory For Windows NT Version 4 0 Windows 2000 and Windows XP the defaults suggested when you install Windows are satisfactory for use with the Harle quin RIP If you later install more disk space or memory you should update the virtual memory setting To do this open the System control panel and dis play the Performance tab In the Virtual Memory section click the Change button and use the recommended figures In summary as well as the memory and disk allocations discussed here the performance of the RIP also depends on the following e The speed of the processor AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 29 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP 30 e The amount of additional RAM on your machine Additional RAM is RAM above the basic requirement e The disk speed of your machine e The interface used to send data to the output device especially if it is a high performance device Performance issues are described throughout this manual but see especially Chapter 7 Configuring the RIP and Appendix A Troubleshooting for details about optimizing the performance of your hardware For further details on machine specifications you should consult the relev
291. ecorder you can choose Time Saving which rotates the page in whichever direc tion takes the least time to output Note Some applications such as QuarkXPress generate a page size for the job which is dependent on the media width set in the application Media saving often cannot work when processing jobs generated by these applications To avoid this problem make the media width in the application the same as the width of the page being cre ated including any crop marks which are to be printed 5 15 1 Other options that save media Selecting the Trim page check box in the Effects section causes the RIP to trim any white space off the top and bottom of each page Note If you are sending output to a device fed with fixed size sheets such as a typical laser printer using Trim page does not save media and is very likely to alter the regis tration between pages for example when the content of those pages has a variable outline or bounding box Several features listed in the Enable Feature drop down list of the Edit Page Setup dialog box instruct the RIP to use media as economically as possible In general these features pack pages together so that for example more than one page is imaged side AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 137 5 Configuring Output Formats by side in the length of media that would otherwise be used by one page See Fea tures on page 141 for a fuller description 5 16 Default page size Normally a job
292. ed Use Xinet protocol not present on Macintosh computers Do not select this option unless you know that all the sending machines are using the Xinet PapConnect pro tocol In particular Macintosh computers cannot use PapConnect Also we recommend that you use this option only for downloading fonts for general use leaving this box unselected gives faster transfer rates 8 7 3 3 Output socket details These details are only relevant when you have selected the Use Separate Output Socket box and the Bi directional comms box ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 8 Using the Asynchronous Socket plugin Choose these values in the same way as for the server socket described in Server socket details on page 251 You must choose a different Address from the one chosen for the Server socket It is convenient but not essential to use the same socket type to make it obvious whether or not the addresses are dif ferent For example choose numbered addresses that differ by 1 Note The sending application can continue to listen on the RIP output socket after it has closed its sending socket Sending machines on page 249 explained why it is advisable to close the sending socket the one connected to the RIP Server socket 8 8 Using the Asynchronous Socket plugin The asynchronous socket input is not for use as a source of routine jobs It is a special case of the socket plugin designed to run jobs immediately regard less
293. ed intervals and events and interac tively on request when you choose menu options The physical device itself must support software control of these functions You can still perform manual operations while using the RIP media manage ment The purpose of media management is to reduce the need for routine manual operation and record keeping A media saving feature is also available For more information see Section 5 14 on page 138 9 1 2 Suitable devices You will gain some benefit from using media management with most types of output device Media management performs most efficiently when the fol lowing assumptions are satisfied e The physical output devices are roll fed from cassettes The RIP media management is not suited to or necessary for sheet fed devices e When you change a feed cassette you also mount an empty output cassette by changing or emptying the full one e There is only one feed cassette mounted at a time This is the usual case There is at least one imagesetter which can have several input cassettes mounted at one time e Each physical device is represented by one Harlequin RIP output device This is the usual case The possibility of having multiple output devices arises because there are some physical devices which can provide multiple types of output One example provides a dual technology dye sublimation and thermal transfer engine in one unit These technologies have different character ist
294. ee Sending output to the screen on page 107 for further information about the Preview and None devices 5 7 Output to None The None device option available in the Edit Page Setup dialog box does not produce any printed output but it does perform all the required processing for the job includ ing the production of page buffers in the appropriate modes This can be used for test ing and timing jobs and is especially useful for previewing on screen when you want to jump between pages or overlay separations using the Output Controller Under Separations Screening amp Color the Style drop down list contains all the sep arations styles created for the None device The choice of separations style determines the color space and format of the output ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 8 Output to TIFF Note The Output Controller is only available in either of the multiple modes You can preview a page in one of the single modes by setting the output device to Preview instead of None See Sending output to the screen on page 107 for further information about the Preview and None devices 5 8 Output to TIFF The Harlequin RIP can produce TIFF Tag Image File Format files which you can choose by selecting the TIFF output device in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Most desktop publishing applications can import this format of file The Harlequin RIP produces TIFF files which are compatible with TIFF 5 0 Classes B bilevel G gray scal
295. el to abandon all changes made to media manage ment on any device in the current use of the Media Manager 296 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 3 Advancing and cutting media automatically 9 3 2 Enabling and disabling media management In the Media Manager dialog box there is a check box labeled Disable media management e Select this box to turn off the automatic media management facilities for the output device If you turn off media management there will be no current cassette selected in the Cassette Manager See Setting up the monitoring system on page 300 e Leave the box clear to enable media management Note After enabling or re enabling media management you must verify the contents of each cassette used on that output device For details see Setting up the monitoring system on page 300 9 3 3 Cutting media With media management enabled you can choose when the RIP will make automatic cuts Note Any cut operation disables output unless the output device is using an online processor developer Typically you will need to fit a new take up cas sette before re enabling the RIP outputs the RIP displays a message to remind you of this You can choose from three different policies available on the left of the Media Manager in the section labeled Cut The three choices are e Cut the media after each job e Cut the media after a certain number of pages e Cut the media when or slightly be
296. en uses a variable amount of memory so the point at which Harpoon PCI runs out of memory cannot be given as an exact number of screens Nevertheless check the number and types of screens being used in the job It is worth trying to simplify the screens first For example when using HPS reduce the number of gray levels to 256 relax the required accu racy by altering the angle and frequency accuracy settings in the Harlequin Precision Screening Options dialog box as described in Using the HPS controls on page 190 If these simplifications fail to make the job render when using Harpoon PCI try switching to software screening AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 463 464 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Glossary This glossary gives a brief description of many of the important terms and concepts surrounding the Harlequin RIP Italics are used to indicate terms with their own entry elsewhere in the glossary active device The active device is the imagesetter or other output device to which the RIP is sending its output This is the output device specified in the page setup for the job See also menu device anti aliasing A technique in which intermediate colors or grayscale tones are used to visually smooth boundaries between different colors Anti aliasing is most useful at low or medium resolutions and with boundaries between very different colors The Harlequin RIP TIFF output plugin can perform anti aliasing
297. enabled The major features that have this effect are e Harlequin ColorPro See Section 2 5 1 e Harlequin Screening Library HSL The visible changes are limited to new dot shapes in the screening part of the Edit Style dialog box as described in Chapter 6 Screening e TrapPro and TrapProLite See Section 2 5 2 e Media Saving See Section 5 14 2 5 1 ColorPro menus ColorPro is a color management system that can work as an integrated part of the Harlequin RIP If relevant options within ColorPro are present and enabled the following commands appear See the separate manual entitled Harlequin ColorPro User Guide for full details In the Color menu Color Rendering Intent Manager This command allows you to create and edit custom color reproduction strategies in ColorPro It appears only when the ColorPro option is enabled AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 45 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP 46 Color Setup Manager A standard set of options is available with the Color Setup Manager without ColorPro including Black gen eration and UCR control and color management over ride options When ColorPro is activated an extended set of options is available You can create and edit color setups including the selection of input and output pro files rendering intents and press emulation Install ICC Profile This command supports the use of industry standard color profile files which enable portable definitions of the
298. ened page buffers 4 4 Advanced details of page buffering modes This section gives more details about each page buffer mode As mentioned earlier you should use Multiple Parallel mode whenever possible but if this proves difficult you can specify a different mode in the Configure RIP dialog box described in Chapter 7 Configuring the RIP Recall that a page is buffered to disk into a file of rasterized data produced as the RIP interprets the data on the page When the page has been interpreted the data in the buffer file is sent to the output device and printed Using buffers on disk means that complex pages can be interpreted without requiring large amounts of working memory This section provides more specific details than the brief description in Section 4 2 on page 70 You may find this section useful if you wish to experi ment with running the RIP in different modes 4 4 1 Multiple Parallel mode Multiple Parallel mode is a highly efficient way of increasing throughput utilizing your computer to the full and is the recommended mode for most cases However if you have an output device that can stop start you may ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 4 Advanced details of page buffering modes want to use the Single if required mode especially if the data rate of the printer is high Interpretation of pages can proceed while other already interpreted pages are being output In addition multiple p
299. eneration itself You can force the scheme set in the Color Setup dialog box to override those set by the job by selecting this check box Max ink Max black This value constrains the maximum amount of all four CMYK colors that will be generated in the conversion process Similarly colors specified explicitly as black are not affected by this This value is the maximum amount of black ink that will be generated by the color conversion process Note that colors specified explicitly as black are not affected by this setting Convert RGB to true black ECRM RIP Operator Guide Some applications and especially Microsoft Word use RGB colors for everything including solid black coded as 0 0 0 setrgbcolor or 0 0 oina DeviceRGB color space You should choose this option to force the RIP to intercept blacks coded in this way and convert them to 0 0 0 1in a CMYK color space AG12325 Rev 5 12 8 Color Setup After setting options in the New Color Setup dialog box click Save As and assign a name to this color setup The Color Setup Manager dialog box dis plays the new color setup that you have created Note that you can also Edit Copy and Delete color setups from the Color Setup Manager 5 Click OK to confirm all the changes you have make in the Color Setup Manager and New Color Setup dialog boxes The OK button saves the changes you have made and closes the Color Setup Manager If you opened the Color Setu
300. ent For example you might see this full message when there is a problem with an X Rite 938 instrument X Rite 938 Error No responding device attached to selected serial line Error Returned data not recognised There is a mismatch between the Instrument setting in the Configuration dialog box and the measuring instrument that you are using Check that you are using the correct Instrument setting for your instrument ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Error Open interface details error 0 There is a mismatch between the Port setting in the Configuration dialog box and the port interface to which your measuring instrument is con nected Try changing the Port setting or connecting your measuring instrument to the specified interface port Error No responding device attached to selected serial line This message may appear if the measuring instrument does not have any power supply Check the power supply to the measuring instrument and ensure that it is switched on If the problem persists there may be a fault with the power adapter or cabling Error Unknown This message may appear if you have used the File gt Abort Target menu option This message may also appear if the RIP is unable to recognize the error generated by your measuring instrument Check any display panel on a manual instrument for more details In all cases you will be asked whether you wish to re try measuring the target If the error persist
301. ents data rate to printer 32 disk data rate 33 disk space 30 minimum font set 426 RAM 28 resetting Harlequin RIP 217 RIP configuration 216 Resetting the Harlequin RIP 216 resolution 479 setting 104 resubmitting page buffers 144 reverse See negative Revert to Factory Settings 216 RGB 17 479 in color composites 386 right reading See mirrorprint RIP defined 479 RIP configuration PageBuffers folder 205 resetting 216 WorkSpace folder 205 ripping to disk failure 425 Roam button 55 82 Roam Options dialog 110 Roam window 109 roam defined 480 roaming ECRM RIP Operator Guide 493 494 accurate color display 111 and disable output 82 changing the displayed colors 417 description of Reduced Roam window 109 description of Roam window 109 hiding separations 110 images 55 large or multiple pages and printer buffer 212 options 110 reduced roam 56 83 109 separations 416 setting hand speed 111 several pages 82 109 rosette 480 Rotate page setup effect 140 round Euclidean dot shapes 172 RS232 See Serial Run prep at start of job page setup option 146 S Save Setup dialog 63 savin a backup of all fonts 38 all configuration settings 38 media or time 137 page setup configurations 101 separations styles 401 scaling the output image 141 screen angles definition of 164 expected in incoming job 413 glossary entry 480 screen frequency 164 480 and calibration sets 345 and gray levels 177 overriding 176
302. equested page range Page size bounding box PDF version 1 3 offers several options for defining a rectangular area that is the area of interest for a PDF page A PDF file may set values for one or more of these areas to be used as appropriate to the different ways that the PDF file can be used viewing office printing imposition commercial printing and so on The RIP looks for the values of the option chosen in this list and makes a page buffer of the size set by that option Only MediaBox must be present in a file but the other areas inherit default values from MediaBox The options in this list are fully defined in the Portable Document Format Reference Manual Version 1 3 The default is MediaBox MediaBox The size of the media which may be larger than the page imaged upon it BleedBox The size of the page whose edges must be reached by bleed objects though the trimmed size of the page may be smaller There may be printer s marks and parts of the bleed objects outside this area AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 271 8 Configuring Input 272 TrimBox ArtBox CropBox 8 14 5 2 PDF Types Accept type s The size of the page as intended for delivery to the reader after trimming any printer s marks and excess bleed areas The size of the rectangle to be used when placing a PDF graphic Typically this is the bounding box of the graphics plus a possible allowance for captions or blank margins Rect
303. equin Precision Screening HPS 6 4 4 Threshold screens As an alternative to a spot function screen a threshold screen describes a half tone to the Harlequin RIP by providing the order in which to mark pixels explicitly in a table The table has as many entries as there are pixels in the halftone cell A consequence of this is that a threshold screen is always defined in terms of a fixed cell size in pixels whereas a spot function can be applied to arbitrary sizes of screen dot This means that the screen cell for a spot function will occupy more pixels but the same physical area on the output if either the res olution is increased or the frequency number of halftone cells per device independent unit distance decreased but a threshold screen will get physi cally smaller and its frequency increase if the resolution is increased A further consequence is that HPS and other techniques which vary the actual pixels of a screen cell cannot be applied to threshold screens On the other hand threshold screens can be controlled very precisely pixel for pixel and are therefore suitable for describing Frequency Modulated FM screens if the cell is large enough While threshold screens can be used to describe conven tional clumped dots they are less flexible because of their resolution depen dence and absence of rotation to a specified angle at least in their simplest form Neither kind of screen is suitable for describing non tessel
304. erator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system how to lock pages When switching to Always from another strategy any unlocked pages in the Held Queue will be automatically deleted if you answer yes to a prompt e Choosing Never will cause pages to be locked as soon as they have been output which means that they will never be deleted automatically If this strategy is used for long periods of time the hard disk will eventu ally fill up and no more jobs will be processed until you manually remove pages or otherwise create more disk space Note The option When necessary offers a good way to retain newer page buffers and manage disk space automatically If you choose Never or Always for some special purpose we strongly suggest that you return the setting to When necessary as soon as possible the RIP remembers and uses the option you choose for Delete even between RIP sessions In When necessary and Always modes it is possible for the RIP to get so far ahead of the output device that the disk becomes filled with pages in the Active Queue In this case the RIP will temporarily suspend creating more pages until some of the existing ones are output and can be deleted to allow it to continue The Harlequin RIP window displays a message warning that the system has temporarily run out of disk space If disk space runs out when there are no pages that can be removed and no pages still to be output the RIP will continue anyway and if
305. es When the RIP renders subfiles as part of an FP job it uses extra information in the FP file to determine the overall size of the page and position each subfile which can be smaller within that page The RIP can also image a single CT HC or LW file independently of an FP file For each of these files the RIP locates the image origin at the PostScript lan guage origin relative to coordinates 0 0 at the bottom left of the page For example this provides a limited proofing capability but be careful to avoid printing a partial image when the subfiles are available before the FP file When ColorPro is enabled the RIP can detect and utilize an ICC profile embedded in a TIFF file See the Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide for details 8 17 1 Installation and requirements You must enable the RIP to print TIFF IT files by entering a password or key number issued to you by your supplier Note that TIFF 6 0 input is always enabled 1 Display the Configure RIP dialog box and click Extras 2 In the Configure RIP Extras dialog box select the item TIFF IT in the list 3 Click the Add button In the Enable Feature dialog box that appears enter the key number issued to you for use with TIFF IT and then click OK to return to the Configure RIP Extras dialog box and OK again to return to the Configure RIP dialog box AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 279 8 Configuring Input 280 If you attempt to print TIFF TT P1 files
306. es for example when driving a color device directly as well as in separated output It also allows for the controls to be made unavailable when inappropriate If you wish to create a setup with Color management including ICC profiles custom rendering intents or perform press emulation on a proofer you should use the Harlequin ColorPro option This option is activated by a password and you should contact your dealer for more information If you do have Harlequin ColorPro activated in your Harlequin RIP and you wish to create a setup with color management you should consult the Harlequin ColorPro User Guide 12 8 1 Define color setups no color management Follow these steps to create a customized color setup Note that a color setup corresponds to a particular device and color space 1 Choose Color gt Color Setup Manager The Color Setup Manager dialog appears Color Setup Manager Eg Color Space CMYK a Device EENEN Type No Color Management No Color Management New No Color Management setup Edit Copy Delete Figure 12 12 Color Setup Manager dialog box 402 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 8 Color Setup 2 In the Color Setup Manager dialog box select the device for which you want to create a color setup If you are creating CMYK Separations half tone you should select Printing Press in this option 3 If necessary select the color space for which you want to create this co
307. es you may need a timed delay before the command finishes A wait for a key press may be useful for testing but becomes unwork able with many output files Command The entry in this text field is a string specifying a post pro cessing application which must be available on the computer running the RIP Optionally you can supply options under stood by the application and data such as the name of the rel evant input or output files The command string can contain substitution codes The RIP expands the codes and runs the command at the end of each output file Section 5 8 3 1 lists the recognized substitution codes The string should normally include the file extension and the full path name of the application file However you can type just the file name if the command file has extension EXE and is in one of the folders specified by the PATH variable ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 8 Output to TIFF File names passed to the application as data are assumed to be in the folder receiving the TIFF files unless you type a different path name 5 8 3 1 Post processing substitution codes 5 8 3 2 The Harlequin RIP recognizes the substitution codes shown in Table 5 1 You can insert an integer between the percent character and the letter code to restrict the maximum number of characters used in the result string For example 6 4 repre sents the first six characters of the job name Checking the command Table 5 1 P
308. es and enhancements but also allows for a level of dynamic memory management within the Harlequin RIP ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth There are new GUI controls for setting memory As in the past it is possible to specify the memory used by the Harlequin RIP but there is a significant differ ence e In previous versions the Harlequin RIP put a claim on the entire amount of memory specified so that the operating system and other applications could not use this memory even if the Harlequin RIP did not require it at a particular time The Macintosh implementation because of operating system differences varied slightly with respect to this functionality e With the new implementation the specified memory is not held exclu sively for the Harlequin RIP Instead the Harlequin RIP takes only the amount of memory it requires at the time This amount rises while pro cessing a job but once the job is processed the memory is returned to the system This allows the Harlequin RIP to co exist better on a system with the operating system and other applications The new implementation also makes it possible to specify a reserve amount of memory available for short term use by the Harlequin RIP For example the Harlequin RIP may use this reserve in time critical operations where the alternative would be to use disk storage as long as the reserve is large enough to keep the operation in memory 1 3 5 1
309. es apart instead of the normal 30 degrees This is because of the asym metry of the elliptical dot 6 6 1 4 HDS HMS and HCS Global Graphics has developed a number of special screening strategies to provide better quality control and performance than standard forms of screening These are not supplied with the Harlequin RIP by default but may be purchased separately For details of Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS Harlequin Micro Screening HMS and Harlequin Chain Screening HCS see Section 6 11 on page 192 describing the Harlequin Screening Library AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 173 6 Screening 174 6 6 2 Other dot shapes The dot shapes in this section are mostly used only for special effects or pur poses for general purpose use the shapes in Common dot shapes on page 172 tend to be better 6 6 2 1 Elliptical Elliptical dots generally produce a smoother transition than round dots because the ellipses initially intersect only along one axis though this can pro duce a lined effect To use an elliptical dot shape choose Ellipticall Elliptical2 EllipticalQ1 or EllipticalQ2 from the Dot shape drop down list Note As mentioned for Elliptical Euclidean the screen angles used for all elliptical dot shapes must be 60 degrees apart instead of the normal 30 degrees This is because of the asymmetry of the elliptical dot 6 6 2 2 Square Square dots are rarely used except for particu
310. es can be orientated so as to use the optimum amount of paper and for printing pre imposed sheets of paper for instance when printing a book where certain pages are made out of the same piece of paper Some understanding of the PostScript language is useful here but the Harlequin RIP is supplied with several impo sition templates which can be used immediately ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 Running the Harlequin RIP This chapter is a short guide to getting the Harlequin RIP running on your machine It does not contain complete installation details because these differ between different combinations of computer operating system and output device For full details see the separate ECRM RIP Getting Started Guide for your platform combination of computer and operating system This chapter provides details for the following e Machine requirements described in Section 2 1 e Connecting your machine to an output device described in Section 2 2 on page 33 e The files and folders used by the RIP described in Section 2 3 on page 34 e Starting up the Harlequin RIP and an introduction to the standard menus and dialog boxes described in Section 2 4 on page 39 e Some menus that appear only when options are enabled described in Section 2 5 on page 45 e Stopping the Harlequin RIP described in Section 2 6 on page 47 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 27 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP 2 1 Machine requireme
311. es database is installed if you install TCP IP networking Typically the services database is the file windows services On Macintosh computers there is no services database This means that you must choose ports using TCP by number on a Macintosh but you may be able to inspect the services database on a computer of another type if you are oper ating on a mixed network Warning Where used the services database is an important part of a net worked operating system Make a copy of the services database file before editing it in any way 8 7 2 2 Sending machines To configure the machines sending jobs to the RIP you must know e The network address IP address or hostname of the machine running the Harlequin RIP e The port on which the machine running the RIP is listening for input Optionally you may need to know e Asecond port used to return the standard output to the sending appli cation The RIP can return this information on the server port a second port is only needed if the sending application requires a separate port Your network manager should be able to supply these details All other settings are dependent on the software used to send the jobs and must be compatible with those you have made in the Socket Configuration dialog box For example you may need to configure the sending software to receive the PostScript language status messages AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 249 8 Configuring Input
312. es on a white background would become more faint as the image is reduced rather than be discarded completely Any reduced image may benefit from the reduction filter however images contain ing fine line detail will show the most benefit Although some processing time is required the reduction filter can in some cases speed up processing as it reduces the amount of information the RIP has to work with In particular large high resolution images being output on a relatively low resolution device 1200 dpi image on a 300 dpi device may notice a speed improvement partic ularly if the job is using color management The image reduction filter only becomes active when the width or height or both of an image on the device is smaller than the corresponding dimension of the source If either dimension of the image on the device is greater than that of the source the filter will be deactivated 5 4 2 3 Alphamask and Interpolation When specifying an alphamasked image any interpolation setting in the mask dictio nary is ignored instead the interpolation setting in the image data dictionary is applied to both the image and mask Since alphamasks are contone they are interpolated in the same way as image data Image and mask data that is contone and binary data are normally interpolated differently ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 5 Sending output to the screen 5 5 Sending output to the screen There are two output devices that
313. ese screening options try starting with Figure 6 2 page 167 e Otherwise a more compact dialog box displays only the options for separations as shown in Figure 12 11 This form of the dialog box suits contone output and also output to devices and processes that do their own screening The remainder of this section describes the separations options appearing in both forms of the dialog box Note There are also controls for black generation for CMYK output and over printing in the Color Setup dialog box accessed from the Color Setup Manager or the Separations Screening and Color section of the Edit Page Setup dialog box See Section 12 8 on page 401 Also trapping options are available from AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 393 12 Color Separation the Separations Screening and Color section of the Edit Page Setup dialog box See Section 12 10 on page 414 Edit Style for CMYK Separations Contone CMYK Separations Contone gt Monochr E3 Separations are generated in list an es order To change order Yellow Yes IV Override separations in job select and drag to Black Yes Use level 1 spot colors new position Other colors in job No Set print to Yes to I Reject preseparated jobs automatically print other colors in job I Recombine preseparated jobs Edit selected row Cyan Yes v New Delete Figure 12 11 Edit Style dialog box This dialog box
314. esolution Under Resolution there are two options that allow you to specify the resolution of the image to be printed The resolution defines the detail with which an image is printed or displayed and is given in terms of dots per inch dpi The list of available resolutions varies between output devices Most physical output devices support a limited number of resolutions and you must choose from the values shown in the drop down lists For some devices such as TIFF you can either type in a resolution or choose one of the values Normally the vertical and horizontal resolutions should be the same value this is your only option when the screening method is HDS or when the chosen output device requires the same vertical and horizontal resolution For other screening methods and with other output devices you can set the resolutions to different values if you need to AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 103 5 Configuring Output Formats Set both resolutions at once by defining just the vertical resolution the hori zontal resolution is automatically set to the same value Set different vertical and horizontal resolutions by setting first the vertical and then the horizontal resolution Note The resolutions shown in this dialog box always take effect for jobs that do not specify a resolution If the job attempts to specify the resolution you must select the Override resolution in job check box if you want to produce the res
315. essages produced when successfully processing a TIFF 6 0 file Setup loaded tiff Ripping file Ht Suites PEOPLE 68 tif as TIFF tiffdev reading H Suites PEOPLE 68 tif as a TIFF 6 0 baseline with extensions standalone file Starting Job On Thursday January 29 1998 08 48 48 Using Color Setup None Using default device calibration tiffdev TIFF6 compression is None tiffdev bits per sample 8 tiffdev samples per pixel planes 4 CMYK Interpretation time 32 seconds The remaining text not shown here is related to rendering and output not to the input 8 18 2 Limitations and extensions The Harlequin RIP accepts TIFF 6 0 baseline files with the following differences Not supported e LAB color e 16 bit Images e Multiple IFDs images per file the RIP images only the first e PhotometricInterpretation 4 transparency mask e PlanarConfiguration 2 tiffdev This option is offered by the Harlequin RIP TIFF output plugin as composite RGB or CMYK output with band interleaving in the Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later Note From Harlequin RIP version 5 5r1 the t if fexec operator supports PlanarConfiguration 2 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 283 8 Configuring Input 284 Ignored e GrayResponseCurve e GrayResponseUnit Restrictions e 1 2 4 8 or 16 bits per plane Additionally the RIP supports the following full TIFF 6 0 extensions to TIFF 6 0 baseline e CCITT
316. etail in continuous tone areas for example scanned images but can suffer from worse object moir than for example Euclidean dots if the subject of the image contains fine patterns HCS is also very good at creating smooth flat looking tints in process color work even at low screen rulings although you must take care at the edges of such tints where patterns can occur unless the tints are bounded for example edged with a black rule For HCS screens the RIP uses the screen frequency entered into the Edit Style dialog box but ignores the entered angle Instead the RIP selects an angle automatically based on the color separation being processed from the set 45 45 15 and 75 We recommend that you turn on Harlequin Precision Screening while using HCS at higher frequencies also use the extra grays functionality of HPS 6 11 4 Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS Harlequin Dispersed Screening is the Harlequin RIP Frequency Modulation FM screening technology The main advantages of using HDS are that it pro duces no moir it has better definition than conventional screening and regis tration is less critical HDS also has a visually pleasing screen structure and is generally more printable than other FM screens Finally it should be noted that HDS is intended for use with a wide range of printing processes Instead of using a fixed shaped dot structure HDS uses irregular clusters of pixels to form an irregula
317. etup You must select a page setup that uses an Actual Press calibration set and that produces separated output See Press calibration on page 349 for more details Print exposure sweep Uses the values in the associated From To and Step text boxes to print test strips at each of several exposures in the range This button prints an exposure sweep for each selected page setup so be careful you do not pro duce more targets than you intend This prints an expo sure sweep without using a calibration set even if the selected page setup has one or more calibration sets associated with it 11 10 2 Other controls These controls affect the contents and number of calibration targets produced by the buttons described in Section 11 10 1 Print for ECRM RIP Operator Guide Choose the set of colors you wish to have printed on print test strips You may see just one option usually Process Colors only in this list if your output device and the selected page setup do not support spot colors AG12325 Rev 5 11 11 Calibration Manager dialog box If the output format supports additional colorants you can also choose to print the calibration for Spot Colors only Process amp Spot Colors or for Monochrome only The output format is determined by the separa tions style of the page setup From Page Setups Select one or more page setups from this list if desired From To Step Print exposure sweep uses the values in these t
318. etween the RIP and the output device has either been broken or was never established Data underrun The output device has not received data from the RIP when it was expected Deleted cassette The required cassette has been deleted in the Cassette Manager Ink low The ink supply to the output device is running low Ink out The ink supply to the output device has been exhausted Interface card failed Communication between the RIP and the interface card in the machine has either been broken or was never established Invalid clipping An invalid clipping was requested of the output device Invalid resolution An invalid image resolution was requested of the output device Laser diode failed The laser diode of the output device is not working satisfactorily Low power The output device is low on power Table A 9 Progress box messages Continued ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 AG12325 Rev 5 Misplaced cassette The required cassette is in another output device Missing cassette There is no cassette in the output device No cassette The input media cassette requested is not available No power The output device has no power No take up cassette There is no take up cassette for the output device Not ready The device is not ready for an unspecified reason perhaps unknown or too complex to show Look for an extra message in the Monitor window Off line The RIP cannot communicate with the output device Page
319. ev 5 9 4 Monitoring media UltrePaper2 An alternative solution in the same situa tion might be Ultre1 and Ultre2 with a separate record of the type of media If you use the same cassette to hold paper and use it for proofs on different output devices then you might call it PaperProof Note The symbol gt in front of the cassette name indi cates the cassette in use on the current or most recently used output device The type of media held in the selected cassette It lets you tell quickly whether for instance the cassette holds paper or film The field Cassette Name is purely for your own convenience you can change it to anything you like The entry No Media means that no one has yet specified a type of media for the cassette The width of the media in the selected cassette or drum recorder The RIP uses this value when calculating in which orientation to print a page if you are using the Media Saving option in the Optimization menu See Printing effects on page 148 You must set this value to the actual width of media that can be printed on the imageable width because some output devices cannot image right up to the edge of the media If you enter the total width of the media and the output device has a smaller imageable width then some large pages are likely to extend into the non imageable area and those output pages will be clipped or visually corrupted when the RIP attempts to output them The illustration t
320. ext boxes as respectively the first last and increment values of exposure when producing an exposure sweep Take care to enter values so that the complete sweep corre sponds to valid exposure values for your output device For example values of 100 120 and 5 produce a sweep with exposures of 100 105 110 115 and 120 To recap the From box is the first exposure setting the To box is the last exposure setting and the Step box is the size of the step With values of From 100 To 150 and Step 5 You will get 11 exposures from 100 to 150 in steps of 5 Change the Step 5 to Step 10 and you will get 6 expo sures from 100 to 150 in steps of 10 11 11 Calibration Manager dialog box Click the Calibration Manager button in the Edit Page Setup dialog box or choose Output gt Calibration Manager to display the Calibration Manager dialog box as shown in Figure 11 4 page 338 This dialog box helps you create new calibration sets and manage your exist ing calibration sets You can edit sets to keep them accurate by entering data from new targets or to adapt a copy of an existing calibration set for example to make it apply to a related group of settings Finally you can delete any entry in the list by selecting it and clicking Delete AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 357 11 Calibration Calibration sets are grouped by device and by color space When you select a device from the Device drop down list the dialog box shows a
321. ey mix and the observer sees the intended color image To ensure that the colors combine correctly the positions of the dots on each separation are calculated carefully The grids or halftone screens for each sep aration are aligned at different angles to avoid moir patterns Once each separation has been produced the final image can be constructed by printing the separations directly on top of each other The intermediate stages are progressive proofs In the CMYK model this is usually done by print ing yellow first then magenta cyan and finally black Figure 12 5 and the fol ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 3 Producing color images from separations lowing figures show the stages involved when printing color in this way for the example image in Figure 12 1 page 380 Blank paper Yellow separation Yellow Figure 12 5 Yellow separation Figure 12 5 shows how yellow ink for the yellow separation is printed on blank paper You can also preview separation printing on screen in the RIP See Roaming separations on page 416 Next the magenta ink for the magenta separation would be printed on the paper but since the separation is empty for this image nothing is printed Yellow Magenta separation Yellow Magenta Figure 12 6 Yellow and empty Magenta separations Next the cyan ink for the cyan separation is printed To the eye the pattern of cy
322. f jobs When installed these plugins are obvious parts of the RIP the description of these plugins and their configuration forms the bulk of this chapter e A PostScript device on which you can open a file and read or write from a PostScript language job This is not seen by the end user e A filter to manipulate data This is not seen by the end user e A source of asynchronous actions Most of these actions are small spe cialized tasks and not directly related to output of a user job For exam ple one such action enables the RIP to provide a list of installed fonts while busy with a job for output There are a number of input plugins supplied with the RIP each providing users with the ability to submit jobs Section 8 2 on page 224 describes the way 222 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 1 Input management in which you can manage these plugins and the inputs they provide The sup plied inputs are AppleTalk This lets the RIP accept input from any AppleTalk network connected to the machine running the RIP See Section 8 3 on page 229 for more details NT Print This publishes the RIP as a printer available to the Windows NT print services See Section 8 4 on page 230 for more details NT Pipe This provides a named pipe allowing high speed communica tion with an application such as an Open Prepress Interface OPI server See Section 8 5 on page 236 for more details Spool Folder This lets you spec
323. f the job does not out put or stops and starts while outputting you may need to reconfigure the RIP or the host machine To help you identify a problem the text window in the Harlequin RIP window displays and records any error messages The Output Controller Monitor provides another two useful facilities e If you want to reprint a page once it is in the Held Queue you can do so easily just drag it with the mouse back into the Active Queue Try that with the top font list job now it is sent again to the same device which should be None If you did the same to the other font list job which was sent to your imagesetter or printer the RIP would produce another hard copy It is very quick to output a page like this again because it has already been processed once the RIP stores the raster data and just sends this data again to the relevant output device By default the RIP deletes pro cessed jobs from the Held Queue only when it is necessary to free up disk space for new jobs e If you select a job and click on the Info button or just double click on the job the RIP brings up the Throughput Info dialog box which con tains the settings for that particular job You can change some of these settings before reprinting the job Note If you are roaming a page there are fewer available options in the Output Controller For example you must close the Roam window and the Reduced Roam window if you opened it before you can roam a
324. ff all the other separations The Print option in the Edit Style dialog box determines which separations are produced The RIP produces all those separations marked as Yes and the non blank separations marked as Not Blank Note If you are printing a preseparated job and you wish to not produce some separations select Recombine preseparated jobs even if you then wish the RIP to produce output separations The RIP produces all separations of a preseparated job except when recombining If you are producing screened separations you can control the screening of process and spot colors by using the screening options in the Edit Style dialog box See Chapter 6 Screening for a description of these options Note The separations shown in this dialog box always take effect for jobs that do not specify their own separations If the job attempts to specify separa tions you must select the Override separations in job check box if you want to produce the separations shown here 12 7 1 Producing separations The boxes below the list of separations allow you to control the printing of process color separations and change the ink type If the chosen output format supports additional colorants you can also control the printing of spot color separations Any spot color not explicitly listed is controlled by the Other colors in job settings With the default settings if a job calls for spot col ors not named in the list of separations the RIP
325. figure to display the Configuration dialog box as shown in Figure C 1 Configuration x RIP Folder wooo Instument X Rite DTP41 1 Measure StatusT zl Media Press Paper gt Port com zi OK Cancel Figure C 1 Configuration dialog box Select your desired settings as explained here and then click OK RIP Folder Identifies the sw folder of the RIP installation that you are using to print targets and import data You can read targets that have been created by the RIP running on another computer if you have network access to the corresponding sw folder If you want to do this click Change and use the file browser to select the sw folder of the remote the RIP installation The default is the relative path to the sw folder of the the RIP with which Genlin is supplied as shown in Figure C 1 Instrument A list of supported measuring instruments Choose your desired measuring instrument and ensure that the correct Port setting is selected Measure Measurement types supported by your chosen measur ing instrument Choose a suitable measurement type AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 447 Media A list of types of media that targets are printed on including press and imagesetter media Choose the type of media that your target is printed on For exam ple choose Press Paper when using a proofing printer Port A list of the interface ports available on your computer Choose the port to which your measuring i
326. fonts they must be available in memory Fonts are loaded into the RIP from the disk automatically whenever they are required However the fonts must have been installed first or they must be embedded in the job that uses them Installation is a once only pro cess where the RIP configures the font for its use and puts it in the appropriate place This chapter discusses how fonts are installed and then used by the Harlequin RIP The RIP provides a suite of facilities that let you manage fonts easily and effi ciently This suite includes commands that will e Install fonts in the RIP e Tell you which fonts are currently installed e Produce a proof of any font currently installed e Remove fonts from the RIP AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 311 10 Fonts 312 10 1 Supplied fonts The Harlequin RIP comes with the 35 standard fonts found in most versions of the Apple LaserWriter and many other PostScript printers The RIP font folder also includes several special purpose fonts The Harlequin font is used only for the Harlequin RIP logo The HP Times Roman and HP Courier fonts are used for PCL emulation PCL is the Printer Control Language used in Hewlett Packard laser printers The NotDefFont font is used by composite fonts The Stick font is used for HPGL emulation HPGL is a plotter language used by some Hewlett Packard laser printers The Harlequin RIP sup ports HPGL2 with this font The RIP supplies the 35 stand
327. for SWOP CGATS TROO1 and there may be oth ers Note Some of the press calibration sets may be derived from profiles when you are using ColorPro See the Harlequin ColorPro Users Guide for details You can add other entries as described in Chapter 11 Calibration 5 25 4 Tone curves Tone Curves allow you to make another set of color adjustments in addition to the device calibration and the press calibration The Tone Curves drop down list contains a list of all calibration sets created for the Tone Curves device in the current color space Select None for no tone curves calibration See Section 11 7 on page 336 for more details 5 26 Other page setup options Accelerate The Accelerate button displays a dialog box to control the optional Harpoon PCI screening accelerator consisting of hardware and special control software The Accelerate button is grayed out when you have chosen an inappropriate output device or there is no screening plu gin Harpoon PCI can be used with any screened output bit map plugin See Appendix C Harpoon PCI Screening Accelerator for details AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 157 5 Configuring Output Formats 158 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AGI12325 6 Screening This chapter describes halftone screening in monochrome and color work and the different types of screening offered by the RIP You use the screening options in the RIP in combination with the options that control color sepa
328. fore a certain length of it has been exposed To use any of these options select the check box labeled appropriately and if there is a text box alongside the label type a suitable value in that box If you choose a combination of conditions for a cut the RIP will cut whenever any one of those conditions becomes true and will then reset all counts of length or pages AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 297 9 Media Management To cut the media After every job printed select the check box labeled after job The RIP will auto matically cut the media after every job output on the current device After a number of pages select the check box labeled after pages and enter the number which must be a whole number in the adja cent text box The RIP will automatically cut the media after that number of pages has been printed Ata certain length select the before length check box and specify a length in the box This length is the maximum that will be exposed For example you might choose a length that is convenient to process You can select the units you wish to use for length from the Select units drop down list in the bottom left of the Media Manager The options available are feet inches meters and centimeters Note The RIP never cuts the media while part of the way through printing a page Where a cut at the exact length would fall within a page the RIP per forms the cut before outputting the page This occurs
329. fore creates three new flats 2 3 and 4 The third job contains only magenta and yellow separations M3 Y3 There is space on existing flats for this job magenta flat 3 position 2 and also yellow flat 4 position 2 The fourth job contains cyan yellow and black separations C4 Y4 K4 There is space on black flat 1 position 2 for Ky and also space on cyan flat 2 position 2 for C4 However yellow flat 4 already contains a separation therefore a new flat 5 is created and the yellow separation is placed in position 2 It can be seen from this that each flat contains separations in no particular order A sin gle job can appear on earlier or later flats as long as there is space With by separation page position job selected the first three incoming jobs are treated as before The black separation in the first job K4 is placed on the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 14 Media saving option first flat in position 1 The second job C M3 Y gt creates three new flats 2 3 and 4 And the third job M3 Y3 finds space on existing flats on magenta flat 3 position 2 and also yellow flat 4 position 2 The fourth job contains cyan yellow and black separations C4 Y4 K4 Even though there is space on black flat 1 position 2 for Ky there is no corresponding space in position 2 of flat 3 and flat 4 for the magenta and yellow plates This is because this option keeps the separations for each job together Therefore new f
330. format before being added to the folder This can then be loaded into the RIP whenever necessary Installation is performed on a copy of the font so your original font file remains intact 10 4 2 Downloading fonts to the RIP This section describes how to download fonts to the RIP e Multiple Master fonts Multiple Master fonts may be downloaded over AppleTalk from a Macintosh using the downloader supplied with them e Composite fonts Composite fonts vary greatly and so the procedure for installation is likely to be different for each one there is no industry standard for this at present Almost all composite fonts now come with their own AppleTalk installers however there is still a small number that are shipped as a collection of self installing PostScript language files Contact your font supplier for more detailed information about using particular composite fonts with the RIP FireWorks the Harlequin font downloader can considerably ease the task of installing some composite fonts If you would like more informa tion about FireWorks please contact your supplier e TrueType fonts Some downloaders are available for installing TrueType fonts on RIP disks Such downloaders will work with the Harlequin RIP AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 317 10 Fonts 318 e CID fonts If your CID font is supplied with a downloader install the font and any relevant CMAP file over AppleTalk using the supplied downloader If
331. g Print The following keys make this possible You can select a contiguous block of files by selecting the first file in the block then selecting the last file in the block while holding down the Shift key em You can select several non contiguous file names by holding down the Control key while making your selection Note The list of files to print can include files other than PostScript language PDF files TIFF 6 0 and TIFF TT P1 The RIP ignores types of files that it can not print 8 13 Printing PostScript language files The RIP can print PostScript language files and Encapsulated PostScript EPS files using the Print File command or managed inputs You can also enter Post Script language code interactively using the Harlequin RIP gt Executive command You can submit PostScript language jobs to the RIP using any of the managed input methods AppleTalk NT Print NT Pipe Spool Folder sockets and serial input The Page Setup Options dialog box provides several options that tailor the way the RIP processes jobs Some options provide compatibility with jobs using PostScript LanguageLevel 2 or LanguageLevel 1 or produced by spe cific applications Other options deal with more general fault conditions or are convenience features For example some PostScript language file formats AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 8 Configuring Input 264 such as EPS do not always include a showpage operator at the end of jo
332. g of individual colorants in the job Although there is only one separation in the monochrome color space the RIP provides the same options for configuring that separation Separations information is saved together with screening information in a separations style which can be used in several page setups A separations style is defined for a specific device color space and output format Selecting a sep arations style in the Edit Page Setup dialog box determines the color space of the page setup These are the related parts of the Harlequin RIP e The Separations Manager and Edit Style dialog box See Section 12 5 on page 388 for details of the choices you make for all separations See Chapter 6 Screening for details of the screening options for halftone separations AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 375 12 Color Separation e The Color Setup dialog box See Section 12 8 on page 401 This dialog box contains the controls for black generation and undercolor removal trapping and overprinting e Use of the Output Controller to view superimposed color separations See Section 12 11 on page 415 The Output Controller is available in either of the multiple modes This chapter describes how you can define separations styles while Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats describes how you can choose different separations styles when producing output 12 1 Introduction To produce a color image many reproduction sy
333. g one strip of patches for each color and it is possible to have custom targets supplied with each output device driver Uncalibrated Target for device TIFF uncalibrated Precision Screening Off D Max Min Resolution 150 0 x 150 0 Exposure 0 Screen Frequency 26 0 Screen Angle 45 0 Screen Spot Euclidean ITGAMKRATEA aevwxgsaev counter filseri join test use a lens Reference Number 1 Friday January 29 1999 05 07 Figure 11 3 Uncalibrated exposure sweep test page If you have a densitometer select the correct exposure by reading the density values of the two squares labeled D Max Min on each of the test pages from your exposure sweep Measure both squares to check for a uniform exposure across the page Optimum density varies from material to material but gen erally a densitometer reading of between 3 5 and 4 0 is acceptable for film and between 1 8 and 2 0 for paper The densitometer should of course be switched to give density readings rather than dot percentage readings If you do not have a densitometer you can still use this page to select an approximate exposure setting study the fine detail in the bottom left of the page and select the exposure that gives clear fine white detail in black areas and vice versa As an additional guide you should be able to tell the differ ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 4 Example procedure ence between
334. g passwords and in other cases with software only procedures You can add more output options with software plugins to support imagesetters platesetters proofing and display printers and workflow integration A PostScript language programmer can add simple fragments of PostScript code to provide features such as marking pages with draft or similar overprint and color bars It is possible to upgrade hardware and software independently The Harlequin RIP is very similar on all platforms so there is little or no need for retraining if you need to add another type of computer When you upgrade the Harlequin RIP you can transfer your existing settings to the new version of the RIP and most optional output plugins Section 1 3 discusses many of these features in more depth 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth Section 1 2 on page 3 described some of the advantages of using the Harle quin RIP This section describes the features that contribute to those advan tages Characteristics of a software RIP See page 5 File format and version support See page 6 Extended color capabilities See page 8 Screening options See page 15 Harlequin ColorPro See page 16 Graphics formats See page 17 Input and output methods See page 18 Complex jobs See page 20 4 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth e Throughput control See page 20 e Previewing See page 22 e Page buffer compression See page 22
335. g the 24 hour clock The default length is 6 For example a time just after 7 30 pm would be shown 193211 x The current file name suffix For example TIF ozZ The current file name stem taken from the Stem text field or from the jobname if Use jobname as stem is selected For example if Stem is set to TIFF z can produce TIFF00 TIFFO1 and soon string The RIP reports each command and the working folder directory in the main win dow in the following form talics show which text can vary with different jobs and page setups Running post job command C RIP myproc bat C S TIFF Coldfaceps TIF in directory C S TIFF For a more thorough test of how the command behaves when used at the command prompt of the operating system select the Create window box and try creating a batch BAT file with these contents and using the name of the batch file as the application in your command string echo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pause Note If you have problems with a command also test it outside the RIP by opening a command window and running the command manually If you think that you have used any substitution code from which the RIP might generate an element containing characters with a special meaning to Windows try surrounding that code with double quotes For example use f in the Command field rather than just f If there are no special characters involved look at the number of substitution codes that you are
336. g when the previous one is finished Without a network buffer when one page is finished the RIP would have to wait for 8 MB to be read slowly from the input before it could be processed 7 6 2 Freeing the sending application The network buffer also increases productivity in the workplace by freeing the applications sending jobs sooner You will be able to work with the appli ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 7 Printer buffer size cation again as soon as the job has been read into the network buffer even though the RIP may only have processed a small portion of it For example when printing the Seybold Musicians test job your sending application can be freed in about three minutes if a 32 MB network buffer is used even though the job might take 10 minutes to output overall On smaller jobs such as the Seybold Trout test approximately 200 KB of PostScript language code it is possible to free your application in about 30 seconds even though the job will take up to five minutes to output overall To change the size of the network buffer enter the number of KB you require in the text box labeled Network buffer in the Configure RIP dialog box It is 64 KB by default If there is not enough memory for the requested network buffer its size will be reduced automatically 7 7 Printer buffer size The printer buffer is used to store processed raster data that is ready to be sent to the printer When outputting data is alw
337. g with a resolution of 1270 dpi and a screen frequency of 150 lpi where the ratio is about 8 5 6 10 2 4 Generate clear centered rosettes Figure 6 7 Clear centered and spot centered rosettes ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening Generate clear centered rosettes is one of the few controls which you might expect to change in the HPS Options dialog box When color separations are combined the dots form one of two rosette patterns as shown in Figure 6 7 Clear centered rosettes are less likely than spot centered rosettes to show a significant color shift if separations are printed slightly out of register but the output produced is normally less saturated lighter and has a more noticeable rosette structure In general output at high frequencies or where the output may be run on presses with poor registration should use clear centered rosettes while output at low screen frequencies or on well registered devices including most color printers should use spot centered rosettes If you find that you are not getting consistent clear centered or spot centered rosettes across the full width of a page try varying the requested frequency slightly or increase Maximum frequency deviation to allow the RIP to find a screen set with better angle and frequency accuracies 6 10 2 5 Optimize for angle set It is possible to reduce the amount of memory required by HPS if you can give some guidance to the softwar
338. ge buff ers even if the device is not ready to output If a printer jam occurs in an over night job the RIP is still able to process the job and the page buffers are ready for output the next day In a high volume environment this ability can be invaluable Even when there are no problems with the output device you can still save time if you need to produce more than one copy you do not need to reinter pret the page description because the bitmaps are still retained on disk This means for example that if a page gets damaged in the developer or there is a problem with ink delivery then it is easy to print another copy Secondly the Harlequin RIP increases job throughput by allowing job inter pretation and output to occur simultaneously While some pages of a job are being interpreted other pages which have already been interpreted can be sent to the output device This can greatly increase throughput when output ting several pages in succession With a fast computer it is possible to drive the imagesetter continuously for several pages Even with fast output devices time can be used effectively because the RIP can be interpreting data while the output device starts up AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 21 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 22 1 3 14 Previewing The Harlequin RIP allows you to preview pages at their output resolution on screen to check them for mistakes before they are output at their full outpu
339. ge buffer in its own PageBuf fer folder and makes it visible in the Output Controller Monitor Even if you use a spool folder input and leave Delete on completion unselected the completed files copied into the Complete Folder are no longer valid page buffers When printing a page buffer file the RIP displays a message in the main Har lequin RIP window similar to this example where text in italic varies accord ing to the file and plugin Introducing new pagebuffer C my_folder 00000003 PGB Pagebuffer created for device my_device Page name 2 fontlist K Total time 1 seconds Job Completed 00000003 PGB The receiving installation of the RIP does not check whether each page buffer was created for an output plugin that the receiving installation has installed ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 20 Entering PostScript language code by hand Any page buffers created by a plugin that is not installed either fail to appear in the Output Controller Monitor or trigger the error could not access a resource for a plugin device driver 8 20 Entering PostScript language code by hand If you would like to type code directly into the RIP and see the results inter preted you can use the Executive which allows you to type PostScript lan guage code and have it interpreted immediately by the RIP If the input system is running you must stop it using the Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs menu option When you choose Harlequin RIP
340. ge buffers produced by the job not just one Making changes to each buffer individually can be tedious if not ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system impractical so an option is available which allows you to change all the page buffers produced by a job at once To propagate changes in the current page to all other pages produced by the job make your changes for one page buffer then select the Change all pages in job check box in the Info dialog box before clicking OK to close the dialog box This change affects pages in both queues If the current page is from a job cur rently being processed and pages are still being created the new pages will get the new attributes if this option is selected 4 3 3 Page buffers produced by older versions of the Harlequin RIP The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later can read and print page buffers cre ated by version 4 5 The newer installation of the RIP must have an output device that matches the output device used to create the page buffers There are some limitations on what you can do with earlier versions of page buffers depending on the way in which you access the older page buffers There are several ways to use older page buffers with a newer version of the RIP e You can copy the older page buffers into a special transfer folder used only for that purpose by the newer version of the RIP This is the safest method because it avoids any interaction between the two
341. gnette in that spot color on the spot color separation However if Other colors in job issetto Yes the RIP will generate a separation for a spot color if it encounters a flat tint in that color but not if it encounters a vignette in that color Once the spot color separation exists the RIP will add a vignette in that color to the separation If the spot color separation does not already exist the RIP places the spot color vignette on the process color separations Note This option is available only when the PostScript Lan guage compatibility level option is set to 3 By default this option is selected AG12325 5 23 Page Setup Option Extras 5 23 3 QuarkXPress features This option controls handling of features found in jobs from QuarkXPress Separate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate The PostScript language code generated by QuarkXPress places spot color vignettes on the process color separations rather than the spot color separations If you select this option the RIP places the spot color vignettes on the appropriate spot color separations if avail able This option applies fully to PostScript files printed from QuarkXPress For this option to take effect select a RIP separations style that creates separations and that enables the relevant spot color separations The separations style must either specify a separation for each spot color or have Other colors in job set to Yes See Section 12 7 1 for de
342. gs are optional but interrelated you may need to make more than one choice to have a valid combination of settings 250 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 7 Using the Socket input plugin 8 7 3 1 Server socket details On some the RIP platforms the Socket type control allows you to choose from TCP by number TCP by name and Local The only option available on all platforms is TCP by number The TCP by number and TCP by name options both offer full network access The options are equivalent in that both identify a numbered port The only difference is that if you give a name the name is used to look up the number in the services database a file which links numbers with names A Local socket works only with the UNIX operating system and only on the host machine that is where the sending application and the Harlequin RIP both operate on the same machine It is provided only for compatibility with older systems Server Socket type Choose TCP by number or TCP by name for use across a network including from the host machine and enter the corresponding port name or number in the Address box Under the UNIX operating system you can also choose Local but do so only where absolutely required by the sending application and enter a socket file name in the Address box Address There are up to three possible entries in this box depending on the choice made for Socket type which itself may be limited by the platforms on which the
343. guage Note You may still see a small number of options in lists or messages appear ing in English or another language This is normal For example the Feature and Calibration lists in the Edit Page setup dialog box display the names of files which remain unchanged as the user interface language changes Simi larly the Harlequin window displays messages if they are produced directly by PostScript language jobs and if needed some very rare and technical error messages AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 219 7 Configuring the RIP 220 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 Configuring Input This chapter describes the different ways in which the Harlequin RIP can accept its input and how to configure the RIP to use each type of input Chap ter 5 Configuring Output Formats describes the different ways in which you can control output from the RIP using page setups There are several ways of providing input to the Harlequin RIP Using one or more managed inputs as described in Section 8 1 Input management and the following sections This is the preferred method for routine use because in general the managed inputs allow users on many machines to submit jobs to the RIP Using the Print File menu command as described in Section 8 12 on page 262 This command allows a user on the machine running the RIP to print all of the job types possible on that installation of the RIP You can use Print File
344. guage startup code created by the RIP supplier or OEM The targeteps folder contains any EPS files that are incorporated in custom calibration targets and potentially other targets This folder is referred to from target definitions while interpreting a target file espe cially in response to the Print Calibration dialog box The tmp folder is used as a location for temporary files The TrapParams folder is used for PostScript LanguageLevel 3 trapping parameters It may be empty The Usr folder contains several files needed by the Harlequin RIP The Utilities folder contains files each of which can perform a useful function when run as a job using the Print File menu option e BackupConfiguration ps This file enables you to make a backup file containing all your con figuration settings for an installation of the Harlequin RIP e BackupFonts ps This file enables you to make a backup file containing all your fonts both the standard set and any additional fonts that you have installed You can store such a backup file elsewhere for security and for example use it as a simple way to restore a complex configuration if you need to reinstall the same version of the Harlequin RIP You can restore backed up fonts to a newer version of the RIP but you can only restore configu ration settings to the same version of the RIP The WorkSpace folder provides space for any temporary workspace files created by the RIP The LOGFIL
345. guages are chosen from English and most Western European languages technically described those languages that use encodings of the ISO Latin character set There is also little risk in switching from ISO Latin to a language that uses a two byte character encodings for example Japanese Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese There is a higher risk of problems if you attempt to switch between two languages that use different two byte character encodings The operating system of your computer must support the language you wish to use You are also likely to require the RIP localization files and a password from your supplier before you can change the language used by the RIP If AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 217 7 Configuring the RIP 218 you have to install any files restart the operating system and the RIP before proceeding 7 14 2 Procedure To check which languages are available or to switch to another available lan guage choose the Harlequin RIP gt Language menu option The Select User Interface Language dialog box appears as shown in Figure 7 3 Select User Interface Language x Language Messages Resources Locale Enabled JPN Present Present Missing No nalish United Kingdom Present Present Present Yes English United States Present Present Present Enable Cancel Figure 7 3 Select User Interface Language dialog box The dialog box shows you which languages are avail
346. hat matches one you have created in the RIP The general form of the name is lt machine gt pipe lt pipe prefix gt lt name gt For example when the machine is called BRICK the pipe prefix is the default ScriptWorks Channel and the name as entered in the Input Channel Edit dialog box is Fred then the full pipe name is BRICK pipe ScriptWorks Channel Fred A period can serve as a shortcut for the name of your local machine If the supplying application and the RIP are on the same computer the pipe name could be pipe ScriptWorks Channel Fred 4 Give whatever other information the application requires and complete the procedure that makes the printer available for use with the application If you have multiple copies of the RIP or have published multiple NT Pipe input channels from a single installation of the RIP you can repeat the same sequence for each channel AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 239 8 Configuring Input 240 8 6 Using the Spool Folder input folder A spool folder input source regularly scans a specified disk folder directory and processes any PostScript language files and other suitable files that are placed there Normally these files are deleted after successful processing The spool folder can be on a network file server or the local machine Users create files from their applications These applications can create the files directly in the spool folder or can create the
347. he DeviceN color space provides the functionality to support HiFi color or N color systems where colorants in addition to CMYK enhance the attainable gamut of an output process It also provides solutions for minimizing the number of spot colors required by an output device 8 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later uses this color space to extend separa tions management Roam and plugin capabilities Depending on your spe cific device and workflow additional plugin development may be required to make use of the expanded number of color channels 1 3 3 2 Duotones tritones and quadtones Some applications for example Photoshop versions 2 5 through 4 convert duotones involving spot colors to CMYK colors when producing composite PostScript language jobs While the composite output is correct when such jobs are submitted to a RIP that uses in RIP separation the duotones are drawn on the process color separations and not on spot color separations as expected Photoshop 5 0 has the ability to produce spot color separations when in RIP separation is selected for a LanguageLevel 3 RIP This eliminates the problem just described for output generated by Photoshop 5 0 when sent to any LanguageLevel 3 RIP In addition to producing correct output from Photoshop 5 0 jobs the Harlequin RIP correctly handles jobs from Photoshop versions 2 5 through 4 as well The Harlequin R
348. he HSL screen sets There is a second entry for HDS titled HDS Light this entry provides a limited use of HDS restricted to lower resolution output devices such as proofing printers There may also be entries which refer to options in other areas of the RIP for example ColorPro for the Harlequin RIP color management system These entries are described elsewhere in this manual see Section 7 8 on page 218 for a summary of other entries The word Yes after a name indicates that the screen set or option is enabled To enable a new set or option select it in the list and click Add In the Enable ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 11 Harlequin Screening Library Feature dialog box that appears enter the password supplied to you for that set then click on OK to return to the Configure RIP Extras dialog box and OK again to return to the Configure RIP dialog box You can change a password already entered by selecting the appropriate entry in the list on the Configure RIP Extras dialog box and clicking on Add Note To disable a feature that you have already enabled with a valid pass word enter a password of 0 zero The RIP may reject a password when you type it into the Enable Feature dia log box The main reasons for rejection are e The password is wrong probably because of incorrect transmission or a typing mistake e The password is for the wrong option For example if you enter an HDS password after selecting HCS
349. he document However there are times when this is not possible a font may be corrupt or the original font may not have been sent with the original file In such cases the only solution is to substitute with a font that is very similar in design to the original specified font The customer may ask you to do this to get the job done on time If substitution were not available the RIP would do one of two things error and refuse to produce the job or substitute a default font depending on the setting of the Abort job if any fonts are missing option see Section 5 22 8 on page 157 Either result may be unacceptable One solution is to open up all the pages in the original application program and search and replace every occurrence of the problem font This is not ideal as it is time consuming you may not have the original application and if you miss one or two occurrences where the font was used the processing time would be wasted Having the RIP do the substitution for you on the fly is the best solution because all occurrences of a font are guaranteed to be substituted In the RIP the file sw config Font Substitution is automatically run as the RIP boots You can configure the following information in that file e Default font to use e Default CID font to use e Font substitution table e CID Font substitution table AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 323 10 Fonts In all cases the Font Substitution file has many c
350. he information loss inherent in tonal adjustment than for pass ing on to the final output device Finally any image manipulation software that produces some of its tonal alteration effects by means of the PostScript language operator sett ransfer or any similar mechanism and which therefore ends up requesting a nonlin ear gray scale from the RIP may require an increased number of grays to reflect these changes adequately Although applications such as Adobe Photo shop allow transfer functions to be saved in EPS files they apparently intend this for device linearization rather than for tone curve control Note Adjusting tonal data in image manipulation software often benefits from an original scan with as many levels of gray as possible to reduce quanti zation effects when changing brightness or contrast but this does not directly affect the number of gray levels that are required from the output device 6 8 3 3 Graduated tints and blends It is in these areas that the requirement for extra gray levels really shows To avoid confusion the word vignettes is used here to cover both graduated tints and blends The minimum number of gray levels required is 256 but some long vignettes or those over a relatively short range of tints may require more The rule of thumb is that no single step in a vignette should be more than 0 03 inches 0 75 mm wide Thus a vignette from 20 to 70 tint that is 6 inches long requires at least 400 gray
351. he interpreted data is placed in a page buffer thus freeing memory More data is interpreted and when memory is exhausted again the data is merged into the original page buffer and memory is again available to continue the job This process continues until all the data for the page has been interpreted at which point the data in the page buffer is sent to the chosen output device as for Single mode This mode is very productive but robust where there is an unpredictable mix of simple and complex jobs and is especially useful when most jobs are rela AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 91 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 92 tively simple It is productive because the RIP processes the simple jobs with out creating disk buffers and achieves maximum throughput for these jobs It is robust because when a job is complex enough to require buffering the RIP creates and then sends the page buffer this takes some extra time but the time is taken only when required In some cases Single if required mode provides the quickest way to output a job The Output menu on the main Harlequin RIP window contains a Hold and Reprint option as described for Single mode 4 4 5 Multiple Parallel compared to Single if required mode The preferred mode for maximum performance and convenience is Multiple Parallel mode The Single and Multiple modes will always be slower than Multiple Parallel mode they are available only to help you cope w
352. he original untouched Often the effect of the process is to produce a desired printed effects but some page features produce no printed output because their pur pose is to report some properties of the job A number of page features are provided with the Harlequin RIP for immedi ate use or as examples You can choose any of those for immediate use from a menu in a dialog box See Section 5 20 on page 149 for details As with plugins you can add new page features by placing them in a particu lar folder 1 3 17 3 Interactive sessions The Harlequin RIP has a feature known as the executive which allows you to run an interactive PostScript language session This means that you can type AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 25 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 26 fragments of PostScript language code and have them interpreted immedi ately This can be very useful when debugging and testing small parts of jobs The executive feature is available in the Harlequin RIP on all supported platforms 1 3 17 4 Page imposition Page imposition is the process of laying out several pages of a document on one large sheet of paper or film Using a combination of PostScript language operators and an extension to the language it is possible to take several pages and produce output on a large sheet of paper each page being printed in an orientation and position determined by you Page imposition can be useful both for saving media pag
353. he original job from which the page buffer comes is dis played on the right of the delete permission AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 77 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 78 For example if you are producing separated CMYK color the RIP produces four monochrome pages for each original page of the job The first four pages represent the Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black separations for the original page 1 The next four represent the CMYK separations for the original page 2 and so on Separated pages produce pages with the original number labeled by color Thus the four separations for page 1 are called 1 Jobname C 1 Jobname M and soon If you only print a range of pages from a document they are labeled in the original job from 1 upwards rather than with the true page number in the document For example pages 3 through 7 of a document are labeled from 1 through 5 in the job The original job name The name to the right of the page number is the job name This is not necessar ily the same as the file name of the job If the job name for a PostScript language job is not specified in the page description then one of the following will apply e Ifthe input came from a file the file name will be used e Ifthe input came from the Executive then the value of sexec will be used e If the input came from an AppleTalk network then the value of ip atalkname will be used The atalkname is the AppleTalk printer it came
354. hoice of separations style determines the color space Click the Color Setup Manager button to create or edit a color setup See Section 12 8 on page 388 or the separate manual Harle quin ColorPro Users Guide Color Setup Manager This icon button is next to the Color drop down list It opens the Color Setup Manager dialog box from which you can create or edit a color setup See the separate manual Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide The Color Setup Manager is independent of the Edit Page Setup dialog box You can create or edit a color setup in the Color Setup Manager even if you do not want to use it in the current page setup If you do want to use a new or changed color setup select the color setup in the Color Setup Manager and click the Select button 5 14 Media saving option Media saving is provided as an extra layered option that allows you to instruct the Harlequin RIP to automatically fit pages onto the output media in a way that makes the most efficient use of the media For example when imaging A4 pages they would normally be placed one above the other on the output media With media saving AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 129 5 Configuring Output Formats enabled the A4 pages could be placed side by side thus utilizing more of the media width This option is especially useful with Capstan and Drum devices For more information on how to select the extra features supplied with the RIP see Section 7 8 Extras
355. iation in gray level is often immaterial because the relatively small tonal variations encoun tered will not be visible to an untrained eye But as soon as scanned images are introduced into monochrome work it becomes apparent that highlight and shadow detail is lacking and typically that the image is darker than expected The higher the halftone frequency used the more the shadow areas will fill in and highlights will lighten and the more necessary calibration becomes Color process work brings the problem into flat tint work as well because variations of only a few percent from the requested value in just one of the color plates can throw the final apparent color well away from that intended Note Calibration is important in color work but it is not a complete answer Calibration is sufficient only where the originally requested colors are pre pared with the final output device in mind calibration can adjust the individ ual color values but not the hues of those colors A color management system ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 2 Calibration and linearization is required to make adjustments which change hues as for example in digital proofing The RIP allows calibration sets to be built for particular configurations By choosing appropriate calibration sets you can make the RIP correct for varia tions caused by different output devices line frequencies exposure values dot shapes and negative positive setting
356. ics and require separate strategies regarding calibration and color sep aration providing each technology with its own output device type is a likely solution AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 291 9 Media Management 292 9 1 3 What you need to do Media management reduces and simplifies your routine work but you need to perform a small amount of setting up for each cassette or media source before starting to use media management This setting up includes e Specifying when automatic cuts or feeds and warnings should occur You do this in the Media Manager dialog box e Naming cassettes and specifying their initial contents You do this in the Cassette Manager dialog box After this setting up all you have to do is tell the RIP when you change some thing that affects its records of media use e Which cassette is in use You do this in the Edit Page Setup dialog box using the Cassette menu e How much media you have put in a cassette when you refill it and when you perform a manual operation that affects the amount of media You do this in the Cassette Manager dialog box Note Any management system that monitors the amount of media remaining relies upon knowing the amount that was available when the system was set up since there is usually no automatic means of detecting this It is therefore essential that you inform the RIP how much media is available to each cas sette whenever it changes for instance
357. iew just the Cyan Magenta and Black films Adding the Yellow film as well can be useful in assessing varia tions in the marginal moir added by the Yellow plate but should not be included in your standard viewing Eliminate two other sources of moir before attempting to tune HPS If you are using a dot shape which is not symmetrical when rotated in 90 steps that is virtually all dot shapes apart from square and round then all the screen angles used for cyan magenta and black plates may need to be 60 apart rather than the traditional 30 apart Yellow should then be at 30 from two of the screens Suggested angles are 15 75 0 and 135 for cyan magenta yellow and black respectively Whether you need to follow this suggestion or not depends on the content of the image because flat tints in certain colors show moir most clearly and on how extreme the asymmetry of the dot shape is Many older process separating applications and newer ones using PPDs PDFs and so on to optimize for older imagers include individ ual screen frequencies and angles for the four process colors which are designed to optimize output on older PostScript language compatible RIPs that are not capable of producing halftone screens at accurate angles and frequencies Using these frequencies and angles means that the output from the RIP with HPS is no better than without HPS and indeed may be far more prone to moir The best route is to swit
358. iewer or edi tor there are no search cross reference or annotation facilities Note PDF X is a standard defining a subset of PDF designed for trouble free use where the creator sends the PDF file to an external printer or other pre press consumer For example a PDF X 1 file can use OPI references to exter nal file types only if a file stream of that external file is included in the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 14 Printing PDF files PDF X 1 file Another example is that a PDF X 1 file cannot use some color spaces for example DeviceN that are allowed in PDF version 1 3 8 14 1 Printing PDF version 1 4 There are a few applications that can save files in version 1 4 of the Portable Document Format PDF these include Illustrator 9 and 10 Acrobat 5 InDe sign 2 0 and Photoshop 7 0 One of the major features of this new revision is the ability to mark objects as being partially transparent so that other objects in the background are visible through them This feature aids the creation of many special effects including drop shadows ghosting back of image areas behind text blocks and soft edges to silhouetted pictures 8 14 2 Working with transparency In the Eclipse Release of the Harlequin RIP the InstallInFlight procedure has been withdrawn and replaced with InstallTransparencyCheck and a BackDropRender Selector A number of switches are available and the following messages will appear
359. ifferent combinations of resolutions inks and paper New profiles can be easily added to ColorPro and previously installed profiles can be selected without the need to reinstall each time a profile is used An option to uninstall ICC profiles is also provided In addition ColorPro allows the use of profiles prepared in the Harlequin RIP format Global Graphics supplies a number of profiles for commonly used systems When ColorPro is enabled the Harlequin RIP can detect and use any ICC pro files that Photoshop has embedded in EPS TIFF or JPEG images This manual describes the Harlequin RIP without ColorPro but mentions areas where ColorPro would modify your use of the Harlequin RIP The extra facilities are described in the separate manual Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide For information on color facilities provided in the Harlequin RIP as standard see Section 12 8 on page 388 1 3 10 Graphics formats The Harlequin RIP can produce halftone output 8 bit grayscale output 8 and 10 bit run length encoded RLE output and color contone continuous tone output in N color CMYK and RGB formats This allows the RIP to be used for driving contone color printers as well as imagesetters This output is passed to an output plugin described in Section 1 3 11 and from there to the output device controlled by that plugin Output devices are often physical printers producing images on paper or film but devices can also be files on
360. ify a particular number of copies By default this option is set to 1 one 5 23 Page Setup Option Extras The Page Setup Option Extras dialog box shown in Figure 5 15 enables you to alter the way the RIP processes jobs produced by specific applications The topics include color management font substitution and vignettes in spot colors Note The treatment of embedded color management and spot color vignettes is the same whether the job submitted to the RIP is a file produced directly by the named application or a file produced by a page make up application and referencing or con taining a file from the named application There are differences in what is possible with different file formats from some applications as noted for each option typically an EPS file is handled better than a PostScript language file printed directly from the named application AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 149 5 Configuring Output Formats Display this dialog box by clicking the Extras button in the Page Setup Options dialog box This section describes each option in the dialog box Page Setup Option Extras x m Adobe Photoshop Features cd Separate spot colors duotones tritones and quadtones to spot color plates when using in RIP separations Adobe Photoshop versions 2 5 4 m Adobe Illustrator Features M Don t let files silently substitute Courier for missing fonts r eparate spot color vignettes to the spot color plate
361. ify multiple independent folders into which users or applications can place jobs to be printed The RIP checks for the presence of files in these folders and prints each one automati cally See Section 8 6 on page 240 for more details Socket plugin This allows input to arrive over a network which can contain different types of computer using a TCP IP socket See Section 8 6 on page 240 for more details Asynchronous socket plugin This is similar to the socket plugin but is only suitable for a limited number of jobs Typically these are small jobs performing control or monitoring functions rather than imaging See Section 8 6 on page 240 for more details Asynchronous socket quit plugin This is similar to the asynchronous socket plugin but has the single pur pose of causing the RIP to quit It does not receive any jobs See Section 8 12 on page 262 for more details AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 223 8 Configuring Input 224 e Serial port on PCs and platforms running the UNIX operating system This supports the Adobe Serial Lines Protocol and lets you connect two machines by their serial lines so that input can be accepted by a RIP running on one of them See Section 8 10 on page 255 for more details Each of these plugins can be thought of as analogous to a multiple device out put plugin except that they provide inputs rather than outputs 8 2 Managing input plugins You control input plugins using
362. ile Only one LOGFILE OLD is retained Therefore you must be aware of the size of the log files and rename them to keep all messages Note You will only see messages that have been added to the log file since you started the current RIP session To view the entire contents of the log file including messages from any earlier sessions you must use a text editor like Notepad or WordPad provided with Windows The log file is an important source of information when difficulties arise Refer to it if you have any problems AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 67 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 68 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods This manual uses the term throughput to mean the productivity of your RIP workflow how much work you are completing in a given time The Harlequin RIP provides a comprehensive set of tools that allow you to maxi mize your throughput 4 1 Historical overview The Harlequin RIP is able to overcome many of the problems which have beset traditional PostScript language compatible RIPs RIPs have traditionally operated in a serial fashion that is the RIP processes a page of PostScript language and then outputs it then processes the next page and outputs it and so on The Harlequin RIP can operate in this manner This approach to processing which includes both interpreting and rendering and output is usually ade quate with low to medium res
363. ile name mothbal ps Cen Files of type PostScript Files ps z Cancel Page Setup Defaut Page Setup z Figure 8 9 Print File dialog box Choose an appropriate page setup for printing the files from the Page Setup drop down list Note If you do not choose a page setup the RIP uses the one that you chose last time you printed a file If you have not printed a file in this RIP session the first page setup in the drop down list is used To change the order of this listing see Reordering page setups on page 106 The Print File dialog box shows all PostScript language files in the current folder To show files of a different type or all files use the Files of type drop down list If you want to choose a file that is not in the folder shown use the dialog box to move to the correct folder Use the Look in drop down list to use other folders or drives Note To select all files in the list click anywhere in the central list of files and type Ctrl A While any file is being processed an additional Print File menu appears on the menu bar of the main RIP window ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 13 Printing PostScript language files Alt You can abort the current job by choosing Kill Current Job from this menu or by typing Alt e a period character 8 12 1 Printing several files To print out several files at once just select more than one file from the Print File dialog box before clickin
364. ility between different types of computers To impose the limit for portability select the box Use 8 3 Filenames This specifies a maximum length of 8 character names with 3 character extensions for example TIFF3001 tif This limit is necessary if you wish to move the TIFF files to a PC running some older versions of MS DOS or Windows Specify the suffix of the file name that is the file extension by typing a string into the Suffix text box By convention many applications expect the suffix of a TIFF file to be tif or TIF The stem of the name can be a fixed stem or a variable stem based on the jobname You can specify the fixed stem of the file name produced that is the first part of the file name by typing it into the Stem text box For example TIFF The RIP creates a simple file name based on the stem a sequentially increasing num ber and the suffix For example for a stem of TIFF the sequence is TIFF00 tif TIFFO1 tif TIFF02 tif and so on If any of these files already exists the RIP creates the lowest numbered file that does not clash and increases the numbers from that starting point avoiding any other existing files Alternatively the RIP can use the jobname itself as the variable stem of the file name if you select Use jobname as stem The job name is truncated if necessary to keep within the allowed length of file name In this case the RIP creates a file name based on the page number of the job the job name
365. ill not warn if you select the calibration set This corresponds to clearing the check box for the warning criterion in the Edit Calibration dialog box n a not applicable Shows that the type of entry is not relevant to the device For example Exp exposure is n a if the device does not support exposure control The individual columns are as follows with the names used in the Edit Calibration dialog box following in parentheses Name The name of the calibration set Resolution The resolution setting Dot shape The halftone screen dot shape or spot function Freq Screen freq The halftone screen frequency Exp Exposure The exposure setting if software controllable by the RIP For example this option is not available for the None or Preview devices Use for Pos amp Neg This tells you whether the calibration set can be used for both positive and negative output as set by the state of the check box labeled Use for Pos and Neg in the Edit Calibration dialog box The possible entries are if you can use the calibration set for both 360 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 11 Calibration Manager dialog box N if the calibration is for only one of positive or negative Profile ColorPro only or Press Entries in the Profile column are n a except when ColorPro is enabled when each entry shows which pro file to associate with the calibration set When Printing Press is selected in the Device drop down
366. in because this choice eliminates several areas of ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 background activity that may mask the gain For output to a real recorder use the mode that you know works best You can perform timing tests using Harpoon in two ways with the None plu gin or with an actual recorder plugin To make a representative test with the RIP you must be careful to set an appropriate value for Band size of printer buffer in the Configure RIP Options dialog box Choose the value you have established as being reasonable for software screening After changing any setting in the Configure RIP Options dialog box exit and restart the RIP to make sure that the new setting is in use before carrying out any tests None plugin Using the None plugin shows the true throughput of Harpoon with any test page because the recorder speed is not an issue Recorder plugin The best test jobs for judging Harpoon are jobs that take longer to render than to output to the recorder With these jobs you see the throughput increase when using Harpoon PCI because the recorder no longer has to wait for the RIP to prepare the page D 7 Troubleshooting You may see the following effects or messages when using Harpoon PCI Accelerate button grayed out in the Edit Page Setup dialog box There may be no screening plugins installed or the output device may accept unscreened output only No screens visible when roaming a buffer You are look
367. in Section 3 3 on page 64 First if you are outputting to an imagesetter and want to produce color sepa rations you should turn on HPS Global Graphic s proprietary high quality screening system To do this 1 In the Page Setup Manager select the page setup that uses this output device we suggested Default to Printer and click Edit 2 Click the Separations Manager button next to the Style list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box to open the Separations Manager 3 In the Separations Manager select an appropriate style from the list for example CMYK Separations Halftone and click Edit to open the Edit Style dialog box ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session 4 In the Edit Style dialog box select the check box marked Use Harlequin Precision Screening this enables a high quality screening method HPS Click OK to save your change and close the Edit Style dialog box and then click Select to close the Separations Manager The name of the style that you just edited appears in the Style list 5 Click OK twice more to exit the Edit Page Setup and Page Setup Manager dialog boxes Because this may be the first time you have used this screening method HPS has to cache save information on disk this may take a few minutes This happens with each new resolution dot shape and screen frequency you use the RIP displays a suitable progress dial as it caches each screen For more information
368. in the RIP it determines the frequency of the Yellow plate using the value specified for Zero degrees fre quency adjustment The identity of the Yellow angle is determined either from the color halftone dictionary supplied to the set screen or sethalftone Post Script language operator or is taken as the third entry in Optimize for angle set The default value of 7 means that the frequency of the Yellow plate is 107 100 7 of the deviated frequency used for Cyan Magenta and Black plates A number of printers have discovered that increasing the frequency of the Yellow plate can reduce the residual moir that is inevitable when using four process plates with halftoning systems Values typically used are 5 to 11 greater than the frequency of the other plates The effect is very similar if the frequency of the Yellow plate is reduced rather than increased and that this allows the more noticeable Cyan Magenta and Black plates to be imaged at a higher frequency when the capability of the plate maker paper ink press combination is the limiting factor on halftones Enter a negative number to reduce the frequency used for the Yellow plate AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 185 6 Screening 186 6 10 2 2 Maximum frequency deviation Increasing the value in the Maximum frequency deviation box gives the RIP more freedom in finding an optimal screen set and can reduce patterning or moir at the expense of possibly giving fin
369. indow an animated picture and one or more progress dials Another fontlist job appears in the Active Queue and a large empty rectangle appears just above the center of the Output Controller Monitor and starts to fill with gray This rectangle is known as the progress box Note that in either of the single modes the progress box appears in a separate window This time when the job is being processed watch the two gray bars that suc cessively fill the progress box a light gray and a dark gray spreading from the top The light gray bar represents the amount of data the RIP has processed the dark gray bar represents the amount that has been sent to the output device printer ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session Note The bottom edge of the light gray bar should always be ahead of below the dark gray If the dark gray catches up the page may not be output properly it depends how the printer reacts to having to wait for data In this case the RIP printer buffer has probably been set too small and you should increase its size You can do this in the Configure RIP dialog box available from the Harlequin RIP gt Configure RIP menu command Typical sizes are in the range 4 MB through to 12 MB When the dark gray has reached the bottom of the progress box the RIP has finished the job and the progress box clears If the job was processed success fully you can now pick it up from your output device I
370. ing and moving them with the mouse To move a page buffer do the following 1 Select the desired file 2 Holding down the left mouse button drag the file between the queues The selected page will move with the mouse pointer and enter the list at the position where you release the mouse button Shift If you wish you can move a block of several pages at once To select a block select the first one then hold down the Shift key and select the last one Ctrl You can also select several page buffers which do not form a contiguous block Hold down the Control key while selecting the page buffers You can reprint or abort a job or reorder the pages in the queue easily and quickly by moving the pages between the queues as follows e To reprint a page move it from the Held Queue to the Active Queue e To stop a page before it is printed move it from the Active Queue to the Held Queue e To abort the page that is currently being printed move it from the box between the queues to the Held Queue e To change the order of the pages in a queue move them within the queue e Ifyou are moving a lot of pages at once disable output first to ensure that none of them are inadvertently printed before you are able to move them 76 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system 4 3 1 4 Page buffer information Information about each page is displayed in the Active Queue and Held Queue Refer to Figure 4
371. ing at a contone image such as the RLE images produced when you use Harpoon PCI to screen at output time AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 461 Warning Screening accelerator limited to 1024 gray levels This message can appear in the Harlequin RIP window when the RIP is interpreting a job The maximum number of gray levels that the RIP can support when using Harpoon PCI is 1024 This limit applies whether the higher number of gray levels results from the screen having a naturally high number of gray levels or is the result of using Harlequin Precision Screening HPS and the Generate extra gray levels option If a job requests more than 1024 gray levels the RIP will issue a warning and continue the job using 1024 levels There should be no significant loss of quality Error ioerror Offending command renderbands File job nam le ae Error ioerror Offending command showpage File jobnam Either of these messages can appear in the Harlequin RIP window fol lowed by the RIP aborting the job when the RIP is rendering a job using screening at output time If at the same time the Output Control ler shows that the free disk space has fallen to zero it is likely that a tem porary screening file has filled the disk and the RIP cannot complete the job The RIP displays the free disk space figure near the bottom center of the Output Controller followed by the word available To allow sufficient space y
372. ingle Single if required Multiple and Multiple Parallel Table 4 1 introduces and compares these modes Table 4 1 Comparison of page buffer modes Mode Behavior Single if required Only buffers a page to disk if the page is too com plex to process in working memory deletes this buffer after printing Otherwise sends output directly to the output device Single Always buffers a page to disk before printing it Deletes the page after printing Multiple Always buffers a page to disk before printing it Retains on disk all pages created for a job for ease of reprinting ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 2 Page buffering modes Table 4 1 Comparison of page buffer modes Mode Behavior Multiple Parallel Always buffers a page to disk before printing it Retains on disk all pages created for a job for ease of reprinting Sends interpreted pages to the output device while interpreting other pages at the same time Note For normal use you should use Multiple Parallel mode This gives the best overall performance from the RIP and the best control over every page processed The RIP uses this mode by default Refer to Chapter 7 Configuring the RIP for details of how to select differ ent page buffering modes in the RIP 4 2 1 Operating modes Figure 4 1 presents an overview of the behavior of the Harlequin RIP in the single and multiple modes AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guid
373. ingle mode and Single if required mode In this mode the Output menu on the main Harlequin RIP window contains a Hold and Reprint option You can also select this option by pressing Ctrl H Selecting this option allows you to choose whether or not to reprint each fol lowing page without having to reinterpret it This can be used to print more copies of a page When you have selected the Hold and Reprint option the RIP displays a dialog box at the end of processing each page asking if you want to reprint the page You can answer Yes in which case the RIP reprints the page and redis plays the dialog box or No in which case the RIP deletes the page buffer and interprets the next page Note As a side effect of using Hold and Reprint the RIP displays a harmless error message in the Harlequin RIP window PrinterError re print for hold and re print 4 4 4 Single if required mode This mode is similar to Single mode except that a single page buffer will be created only when it is necessary The RIP will attempt to output a page to the printer without using a page buffer at all but will create one in either of the following cases e It is not possible to interpret the page quickly enough to keep up with the printer and the printer does not have a stop and restart function e All the available working memory on your computer has been filled by interpreted data before the page has been completed In the second case t
374. ion The Harlequin RIP accepts PostScript language output from applications using these LanguageLevel 3 operators PostScript LanguageLevel 3 3015 operators setoverprintmode and currentoverprintmode were included starting with 5 5rla version RIPs 1 3 3 10 File filters The Harlequin RIP supports the required file filter additions documented in the 3010 LanguageLevel 3 specification 1 3 4 Color screening and Roam functionality RIP version 5 0 and later contains several new capabilities relating to color screening and roam Where appropriate Harlequin has taken care to enable the end user to control the underlying functionality from the user interface Not all of the new functionality is applicable to all output devices or work flows You will find some features more relevant than others for particular output devices and workflow instances 1 3 4 1 Color API Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later contains a programming interface API that allows you to set the options for the Harlequin color management mod ules from PostScript language code This provides control over all color options including the installation of ICC profiles without a user interface AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 11 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 12 1 3 4 2 Spot color screening and calibration The Harlequin RIP version 5 0 and later has the capability to calibrate and screen spot colors as well as process colors This feature greatl
375. ion 2 4 2 2 on page 44 The tool bar is part of the main window AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 41 2 Running the Harlequin RIP 42 2 4 2 1 Tool bar buttons These tool bar buttons have the following uses Print File Displays the Print File dialog box where you can rey choose a file to print This is equivalent to the oe Harlequin RIP gt Print File command Print Calibration Displays the Print Calibration dialog box where you can print various patterns of calibration target for use in calibrating output devices including printing presses This is equivalent to the Output gt Print Calibration command cs Start Inputs Starts any enabled inputs This is equivalent to the Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs command when the inputs are stopped Kes Stop Inputs Stops any enabled inputs This is equivalent to the Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs command when the inputs are enabled Kes Page Setup Manager Displays the Page Setup Manager dialog box where you can create and edit page setups This is equiva lent to the Harlequin RIP gt Page Setup Manager command Device Manager Displays the Device Manager dialog box where you can instantiate create and configure devices driven from a multiple device driver This is equivalent to the Harlequin RIP gt Device Manager command ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Separations Manager Bi Color Setup Manager EH Calibration Manager E C
376. ion is probably available in the Roam window It allows you to see more of the image in one view You must close the Roam window and the Reduced Roam win dow if you opened it before you can roam another page Shift If you Shift click at a particular point in the Reduced Roam window the view in the Roam window scrolls to center on that point on the page AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 111 5 Configuring Output Formats Shift If you Shift drag with the mouse hold down Shift key then press and hold the mouse button you can range over the part of the page which is visible in the Reduced Roam window 5 6 Output to Preview By setting the output device to Preview in the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can preview any jobs processed on your monitor Using screen preview as a device gives you the same options as screen roam As well as navigating a preview of an image you can display a reduced preview window which shows the same image reduced in size If you are running the RIP in one of the multiple modes and wish to preview jobs you may find it useful to process those documents using None and then preview each page buffer separately from within the Output Controller by clicking the Roam button Under Separations Screening amp Color the Style drop down list contains all the sep arations styles created for the Preview device The choice of separations style deter mines the color space and format of the output S
377. ion pages 415 warning messages in 427 Output Controller dialog 73 139 Always option 80 identifying color separations in 77 locked pages in 425 low media warnings in 306 Never delete option 81 numbering of separation pages in 78 warning messages in 427 When necessary delete option 80 output devices 1 changing 84 defined 475 Harlequin Harpoon 201 printing to 121 selecting 103 output plugins defined 475 introduction to 18 multiple defined 474 overprinting 384 409 controls 409 Override angles in job 182 399 Override black generation in job box 411 Override dot shape in job 172 182 Override frequency in job 176 182 Override separations in job 398 overriding job settings 181 398 P Pack Drum 144 page buffers altering all in job 87 altering parameters 82 compressing 22 208 defined 475 deleting 80 205 from older versions of the Harlequin RIP 87 locking 83 modes 70 moving in Output Controller 76 AG12325 Rev 5 resubmitting 144 roaming 82 summary of modes 93 page features adding 144 Draft 144 Image replacement 142 imposition 141 OPI 142 Pack Drum 144 PGB hot folder 144 printing Draft on each page 144 reporting on spot colors 141 resubmitting page buffers 144 saving film 144 Page Features folder 36 page imposition 26 141 430 475 Page Layout dialog 85 138 page setup definition 476 Exposure 122 Mirrorprint effect 140 Negative effect 140 Rotate effect 140 saving configurations 101 saving setups 20 TIFF
378. ional TrapPro features enabled you can create sets of trapping rules and apply them within the RIP From the Eclipse Release of the Harlequin RIP the ink set options have been removed from the Edit Separations dialog and placed within their own Ink Set Manager TrapPro and the Ink Set Manager options are fully described in the separate TrapPro User Manual New Delete AG12325 Rev 5 Use this button to add a separation for a spot color to the list Anew row appears in the list of separations Type the name of the spot color into the first text box below the list to replace the text New Color If required edit the settings for Print Warning The name you enter for the spot color must match the one used in the job in every respect upper and lower case use of embedded space characters and any trailing cv or cu suffixes For example a typical Pantone specification is PANTONE 386 Cv but applica tions may report this in different ways Use this button to delete the selected spot color separa tion The separation disappears from the list You can not delete process color separations ECRM RIP Operator Guide 397 12 Color Separation 398 12 7 2 Other options There are some other controls in the Edit Style dialog box not linked so closely to individual separations Override separations in job The separations shown in the Edit Style dialog box always take effect for jobs that do not specify their own separations
379. ions 16 Color menu summarized 45 color process work need for calibration 326 color separation 163 467 controlling separations 393 for HCS and HDS 201 identifying in the Output Controller 77 knockouts 382 409 labeling pages in Output Controller 415 misregistering separations 382 overprinting 384 producing color images 384 roaming color images 416 roaming in false colors 416 trapping 414 using Level 1 spot colors 398 color separations overprinting 409 Color Setup Manager dialog 402 color space 467 converting with ColorPro 380 in PostScript language jobs 387 reproducing 376 ECRM RIP Operator Guide colored separations 392 ColorPro and press calibration 350 device independent color 353 introduction to color management 16 memory required 29 menu commands 45 colors accuracy in Roam and Preview 111 colorspaces folder 34 Communications failed message 427 compact font format fonts 313 compatibility setting for PostScript LanguageLevel 145 Complete folder 34 composite fonts 24 312 322 467 CID 313 efficient use of 322 installing 317 memory required 28 preloading 318 compressing page buffers 22 208 setting required compression ratio 209 Config folder 35 configuration settings backing up 38 Configure RIP dialog 204 compressing page buffers 425 Configure RIP options Allow stop start 206 automatic prep loading 214 band size for printer buffer 208 minimum compression ratio 209 minimum free disk space 216 Startup prep 214
380. is an unrecognized type or if it fails to meet the condition set in the Accept type s list The actions are as follows Report errors and accept as PDF 1 3 Report errors and print the job as if it is PDF version 1 3 The errors reported are for the type as explicitly set in the Accept type s field or as detected when the setting is Auto detect types There is one exception in a PDF X 1 job if the opm overprint mode flag is set then its presence and value are ignored without producing an error There may be problems with the printed results if the job is newer than version 1 3 or badly constructed Reject if invalid PDF type Report errors and reject abort the job Where a condition in the PDF file is encountered which does not conform to the appropriate PDF X specification a warning message is displayed Unless you have selected the Reject if invalid PDF type option process ing of the PDF file continues as normal AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 273 8 Configuring Input 274 8 14 5 3 Password Use password to print protected documents Select this option when you wish to print a document that has been pro tected by a password and enter that password in the text field Enter one password only For maximum security remove the password after use This removal is optional if your other PDF jobs do not have password protection Note The PDF specification allows for files to have Owner and User reader pass
381. is area A 1 5 Problems with sockets Message Table A 5 Socket messages Problem Things to try No communication AG12325 Rev 5 Suspect a bad configura tion in the receiving or sending application Check that both applica tions are using the same port and that the sending application is using the expected protocol basic TCP IP socket stream or Xinet PapConnect as configured in the Socket Configuration dialog box Next check the network connectivity using ping or an equivalent network utility program ECRM RIP Operator Guide 423 Table A 5 Socket messages Continued Message Problem Things to try Bad jobs at the receiving end Missing bad or cor rupted status messages at the sending machine Poor transfer rates 424 ECRM RIP Operator Guide The sending application may not be using the cor rect protocol The Socket plugin or the port is not configured cor rectly An inappropriate proto col may be in use Check that the sending application is using the expected protocol basic TCP IP socket stream or Xinet PapConnect Check that no other machine is already using the same port and sending some thing that is not a Post Script language job Check that the sending application is using the expected protocol Check that the RIP Socket plugin is configured to return the PostScript lan guage standard output on the correct port Address Check that no
382. is displayed and the user is given the chance to retry the job If you start the RIP input channel before the user retries the job the job will restart successfully 8 4 5 Printing from a DOS command prompt You can send a single PostScript language or PDF job direct to the RIP from a DOS command prompt provided that the RIP is the default printer Note While this is a simple method of testing NT Print we do not recom mend this method for routine use There can be problems for example if you attempt to copy multiple files or files of an inappropriate type For PostScript language files at least there are free shareware and commercial utility pro grams that handle multiple files and provide other useful features such as printing only selected pages ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 4 Using the NT Print input 1 Make the printer the default printer for your computer using the appro priate method For Windows NT version 4 choose the menu option Start gt Settings gt Printers In the Printers window select the required printer icon then right click to display the menu and choose Set As Default 2 From a DOS command window on the computer running the RIP type copy file ps SCRIPTWORKS This command spools the file file ps into the Windows NT printer system from where the job goes to the RIP input channel specified by the default printer 8 4 6 Troubleshooting NT Print Jobs may fail to reach the RIP
383. is printed as soon as all Roam win dows are closed ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 14 Media saving option From version 5 5r1 an extra media saving option is provided called Order of pages on flat The Order of pages on flat option provides a drop down list with the following options none Page buffers are placed on flats if they fit regardless of color in the same way media saving worked in version 5 5 of the Harlequin RIP by separation Each flat is dedicated to a particular separation name there fore page buffers with different separation names cannot appear on the same flat For example cyan separations can only appear on cyan flats However once allocated to its flat a page buffer may be positioned anywhere on that flat by separation page position Each flat is dedicated to a particular separation name in the same way as described in the by separation option above The page buffers for a given job must all be at the same posi tion on their respective flats But no consideration is given to what other separations may be on these flats Therefore it is not guaranteed that the group of flats that contains all the page buffers for any one job also contains all the page buffers for the other separations on the flat Note This option will not work for preseparated jobs because the RIP treats each separation as a different job by separation page position job Each flat is dedicated to a particular separation name The
384. is set to 1 Color operators are always available in PostScript LanguageLevel 2 and 3 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 22 Page Setup Options 5 22 4 Fast patterns This option enables Level 1 PostScript patterns defined as halftone screens to be pro cessed more quickly but at a lower resolution than normal You should not use this option if you require high quality images since the option makes the output of any user defined patterns have a more grainy texture than normal at resolutions above 300 dpi By default this option is not selected 5 22 5 Emulate old imagemask behavior This option is used to overcome a now rarely seen bug in a previous version of the Adobe interpreter The effects of this bug may still be present in some older files of PostScript language code By selecting the Emulate old imagemask behavior check box you can print these old jobs correctly By default this option is not selected ha E3 5 22 6 Add showpage at end of job if necessary Consider the case where a page of PostScript lan guage code contains a negative image mask If the page is itself printed in negative the image mask appears normal as illustrated on the left In older jobs negative image masks are still printed in negative producing the error illustrated on the left This is because the PostScript lan guage code in the job is attempting to rectify a bug that is no longer present Certain PostSc
385. isk space and often means that large jobs can be printed without stopping the imagesetter because compressed data can be read from disk more quickly Stopping an imagesetter part way through a job can lead to a loss in output quality so this facility can be of great benefit See the description of data underrun on page 98 which explains one problem that page buffer compression can help avoid ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth Page buffer compression always produces buffers of the same size as or smaller than the original For color pages it typically achieves a compression ratio of 3 1 and for newspaper pages a typical ratio of 10 1 That is the com pressed page buffer could be less than a third of the size of an uncompressed one for color pages and a tenth of the size for newspaper pages For color images this can mean reducing disk requirements from 150 MB to only 50 MB Page buffer compression in the RIP is a completely lossless procedure The quality of your output is fully preserved when compressing and then uncom pressing the page buffers For details of the amount of disk space you need to reserve for page buffers see Ability to RIP a job on page 38 From version 5 5 files greater than 2 GB can be read and written The most likely use of this is the ability to generate page buffers greater than 2 GB 1 3 16 Fonts and font handling To print text the relevant fonts must be insta
386. it Page Setup or New Page Setup dialog boxes ClickCancel to discard all changes 5 3 Edit Page Setup dialog box The Edit Page Setup dialog box shown again in Figure 5 2 appears when you click Edit in the Page Setup Manager The New Page Setup dialog box appears when you click New or Copy The New Page Setup dialog box is the same as the Edit Page Setup dialog box except that the OK button is labeled Save As See Section 5 3 2 Closing AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 99 5 Configuring Output Formats the New Page Setup dialog box for details References to the Edit Page Setup dialog box throughout this manual also apply to the New Page Setup dialog box Edit Page Setup Default Page Setup m TEE Procteagy z A No Color Management x Eq Noe kongur Ereferences e Figure 5 2 Edit Page Setup dialog box The options you can configure from the Edit Page Setup dialog box include Hit The device to which the RIP sends output The separations to be created from each job together with the output format The halftone screening to be used with each job The calibration to be applied to each job The color setup for the job The effects to be applied to input jobs 100 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 3 Edit Page Setup dialog box Section 5 4 on page 102 through Section 5 26 on page 157 describe the options within these categories Many options involve subsidiary dialog boxes A
387. ith relatively high dot gain consider com pensating for this gain On such presses particularly on web offset you may have to make an adjustment for the higher dot gain in the high lights and midtones due to the finer detail in the screen Various schemes are possible and have been used for this one approach is to calibrate the screen for the press directly but be aware that images are normally scanned with a modest press compensation already in place and take this into account HDS screens have no angle as such but are rotationally isotropic they have the same characteristics in every direction Even though the screen angle is ignored different patterns are used for each process separation This does not depend on the screen angle originally selected but uses the automatic color separation detection described in Automatic detection of color separations on page 201 The screen caches used by HDS mean that HDS output is produced at virtu ally identical rates to that using other screening systems within the RIP The caches are reasonably large although not significantly greater than those used for many combinations of screen frequency resolution and angle Do not select very large values for Limit screen levels in the HPS Options dialog box unless you have very large amounts of RAM available to your copy of the RIP Unlike HPS HCS or HMS the screen caches used by HDS cannot be created by the RIP if they are not present when
388. ith that bug but problems arise if you wish to interpret old PostScript language page descriptions generated with an application written before the bug was fixed with your new RIP The old page descriptions take the bug into account but the new RIP does not so the hard copy produced with your new RIP is wrong If your RIP cannot accommodate this as the Harlequin RIP can your old PostScript language files and indeed your application if you still use it are useless The input file formats that the Harlequin RIP supports are e PostScript LanguageLevel 3 Level 2 and Level 1 e PDF versions up to and including PDF 1 4 files e PDF X 1a 2001 and PDF X 3 2002 e JPEG and JFIF e TIFF 6 0 and optionally TIFF IT P1 e GIF e PCL4 See Section 5 22 on page 153 and Chapter 8 Configuring Input on page 227 for more details Note RIP versions 5 3 and 5 5 included support for PDF X 1 1999 this has been dropped in the Eclipse Release of the Harlequin RIP and replaced with support for PDF X 1a 2001 and PDF X 3 2002 The Harlequin RIP can also enable substitution of high resolution images for PostScript language jobs using an in RIP implementation of the Open Pre press Interface OPI versions 1 3 and 2 0 and Desktop Color Separation DCS versions 1 0 and 2 0 See Section 5 20 on page 149 for details Additionally the Harlequin RIP can be configured to support special fea tures color management font substitution duotones a
389. ith very demanding output devices that are not able to stop start when there is very little memory to use as a printer buffer However in some circumstances it is possible that the Single if required mode will be faster than Multiple Parallel mode This is because the bitmap of an output page does not need to be compressed written to disk read back from disk and decompressed again before being printed If you run in Multiple Parallel mode and the page buffer folder is on a RAM disk the disk time required is minimal but you still have to compress and decompress the page It is a question of speed versus convenience Multiple Parallel mode offers much greater convenience and will usually also offer the best performance However you should use Single if required mode if you are either only out putting a single page so there can be no benefit from the overlapping of out putting and interpreting or if the time to compress and decompress the page to and from disk is large This is true for example of the Seybold Rainbow Islands test job where 30 time savings are possible if Single if required mode is used at 2400 dpi The main problem with Single if required mode is that if the job is too com plex then the printer will catch up a paint to disk will be necessary and the page output again wasting the time spent on the failed page and some media ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 5 Page buffering modes a
390. itted to a recombining page setup This happens without any warning message from the RIP Note If you have recombine on you may have problems with composite files that contain a setpattern command An error message similar to the following may appear Error setpattern disabled while recombining Aborting page The solution to this is to turn recombine off 12 7 5 Closing the Edit Style dialog box You must close the Edit Style dialog box to save your changes You must also close the Separations Manager before you can use any other part of the RIP Click OK to confirm all the changes you have made in this use of the Edit Style dialog box including any deletions This confirmation is provisional you must also click OK or Select in the Separations Manager to finally save your changes Click Cancel to discard your changes immediately 12 8 Color Setup In the Harlequin RIP Eclipse Release the Color Setup options have been changed The Color Options button is removed from the Page Setup dialog AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 401 12 Color Separation box and is replaced by a Color Setup Manager and Color Setup dialog box The trapping controls appear in the Trapping section of the Edit Page Setup dialog box This method allows each color setup to be saved and used with any number of page setups The location of these controls in an independent dialog box allows for UCR and trapping when producing composite color pag
391. ity value See Section 12 8 5 for details of controlling these ink densities 12 8 5 Ink densities Most of the black generation styles are affected by the ink densities set in the two Max ink and Max black options in the black generation section of the Color Setup dialog box You should select these values with consideration for paper and press characteristics 12 9 Color separation angles in job The RIP sometimes needs to identify which colors are represented in jobs for example when recombining a preseparated job Often there are well struc tured identifiers that give the answer directly and unambiguously Where there is not an obvious identifier the RIP analyzes the contents of the job to decide a likely color The screen angle is one of the items that the RIP analyzes Under the label Color separation angles in job set the Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black text fields to the screen angles that the incoming job uses for these colors AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 413 12 Color Separation Note The angles in this section are the screen angles expected in the incoming job not the angles used for output The angles used on output are set in the Edit Style dialog box and can be entirely different 12 10 Trapping features Trapping options are found in the Trapping section of the Edit Page Setup dia log box and gives some control over trapping that is overprinting edges of objects in the output to avoid white gap
392. k For example to produce only the process colors and convert all colors defined as spot colors in the job to process colors set each process color to Yes and set Other colors in job to No These are the default settings To produce a separation for every spot color requested in the job and for each of the process colors set each process color to yes and set Other colors in job to yes Then any calls for unlisted spot colors in a par ticular job mean that the RIP produces the required sep arations automatically for that job If you want to produce a separation for a specific spot color and to convert all other spot colors which may be included in the job to process colors set the specific spot color to Yes and set Other colors in job to No Of these ways the one you choose is likely to be dic tated by the characteristics of your output device and process such as the number of inks available in one pass AG12325 Rev 5 Angle 12 7 Edit Style dialog box This box appears only if you are editing a halftone screened style Enter the screen angle you want to use for this separation See Section 6 5 on page 175 for more details of screen angles Note This box defines a default value used if the job does not set its own screen angles If you wish to use angles entered here even when the job requests other values select the check box Override angles in job also in this dialog box Note If you have one of the opt
393. k e For screening at the same time as software the page buffer contains bitmap data which can be large and potentially slower to transfer but the rate is guaranteed e For screening at output time the page buffer contains run length encoded RLE data which is often smaller than the corresponding bitmap and faster to transfer but with no guaranteed minimum transfer rate Apart from different sizes and transfer rates another consideration is whether you wish to view the output screening The RLE page buffers are contone images that is unscreened AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 457 458 Note The RIP requires more memory to roam an RLE page buffer than a bit map page buffer and is slower to display the image When the RIP is short of memory during roaming you see the message Not enough memory to roam this many seps try using fewer seps or allocate more PrintBuffer To cure this problem increase the figure labeled Printer buffer in the Configure RIP dialog box Doing this means that you are reducing the memory available to other processes performed by the RIP and you may need to increase the total amount of memory available to the RIP as described in Chapter 7 Con figuring the RIP If you wish to roam a particular buffer that provokes this message and you cannot allocate more memory for use by the RIP switch to software screening or clear the box labeled Screen at output time in the Acceleration Options di
394. k OK If you wish to retry reading the strip click Yes align the strip with the instrument and click OK Click No if you wish to abandon measuring the target Manual instruments Follow the screen prompts to measure the target If you are using a manual instrument such as the X Rite 938 you will also see prompts in the display panel of the instrument to read individual patches within strips For example the prompt Move to C100 means read the 100 Cyan patch Choose File gt Abort Target if you wish to abandon reading a target 5 Click OK when you have finished measuring the target At this point Genlin has created a data file containing all the linearization data for the target which you can import into the RIP The file is named import and is located in the caldata folder within the RIP sw folder 6 Use the menu option Output gt Calibration Manager and in the Calibration Manager choose the appropriate Device and Color Space for the target See Section 11 11 on page 345 for details of the Calibration Manager 7 The next action depends on whether you are updating an existing cali bration set or creating a new one Choose the appropriate action e If you are updating an existing calibration set select it in the table listing This must be the calibration set that you used to print the target Click Edit from uncalibrated target The Edit Calibration dialog box appears Go to step 8 e Click New if you are creating a new
395. l input plugin To create and configure a new serial source 1 Click New in the Input Controller The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box 2 Choose Serial Input from the Type drop down list Give the input a suitable name and select a page setup Select the Enabled box 3 Click the Configure button The Serial Comms Configuration dialog box appears as shown in Figure 8 8 Make the settings you wish and click OK 4 Click OK again to close the Input Channel Edit dialog box The serial input becomes active now or when you next start inputs Device COM1 X Baud Rate 9600 y Parity Noe a Character Bits e E Stop Bits ooo Mode e Job Output T Local V Remote Handshake M Software Hardware Link Timeout zo seconds Cancel Figure 8 8 Serial Comms Configuration dialog box Most controls in the Serial Comms Configuration dialog box set shared com munications parameters which must match those in use by the sending com puter and application Alter these communications settings only if you understand their meaning and you can ensure that the remote computer is reconfigured to use the same settings AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 257 8 Configuring Input 258 The remaining items also affect communication but are specific to the com puter running the Harlequin RIP and are fully described here Device Baud rate Parity Character Bits Stop bits Mode Job Outp
396. lar effects Images produced with square dots tend to have dot gain problems particularly in the shadow areas To use the square dot shape choose Square2 from the Dot shape drop down list ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 7 Halftone frequency 6 6 2 3 Square Euclidean Another form of square dot shape To use square Euclidean dots choose Square1 from the Dot shape drop down list 6 6 2 4 Rhomboid This dot shape is very similar to the square Euclidean shape but generally gives a somewhat smoother result You should consider using it instead of the square dot shape To use this dot shape choose Rhomboid from the Dot shape drop down list 6 6 2 5 Line Line shaped dots are generally used only to produce special effects since there tends to be a lot of dot gain To use the line dot shape choose Line or Line90 from the Dot shape drop down list 6 7 Halftone frequency Another way to improve the quality of halftoning is to increase the halftone frequency the density with which the image is covered by halftone cells Increasing the frequency is rather like increasing the resolution of an image more dots are produced and each dot is smaller However the more you increase the frequency the fewer gray levels you can print Section 6 8 Screening options and number of gray levels discusses how many gray lev AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 175 6 Screening 176 els you can obtain and how many are
397. lating screen ing techniques such as error diffusion ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 4 Halftoning The PostScript language offers several variations on threshold screens which allow greater or lesser control over the sizes of the tables involved and the tes sellation of the tiles equivalent to the angle in a spot function There are no threshold screens in the standard set supplied with the RIP but it is possible to use threshold screens embedded in a job or installed in the RIP by your supplier 6 4 4 1 Using threshold screens In the Edit Style dialog box when you have selected a threshold screen in the Dot shape list and Override dot shape in job is selected the following options are not available e Frequency e Override frequency in job e Angles for all process and spot colors e Override angles in job e Use Harlequin Precision Screening e Rotate screens according to page rotation Note If you clear the Override dot shape in job check box these options are enabled so that you can override some parameters of spot function screens supplied in the job For more details of these options see Section 6 5 through Section 6 7 and Section 6 10 6 4 5 Halftone options The Harlequin RIP provides a number of options to control halftone genera tion Using them appropriately can improve the quality of your image depending on the output device media and resolution used You can also override any scree
398. lats 5 6 and 7 are created o accommodate in position 1 the cyan yellow and black separations from incoming job 4 This illustrates that using this option jobs stay together and appear on consecutive flats Table 5 3 Media saving example 2 Incoming Job by separation page by separation page Flat position position job No position 1 position 2 position 1 position 2 C Mp C Gs C4 Flat 1 Ma Yo M Mp M Mp Flat 2 Cz Ma Y3 Y Y gt Flat 3 M3 C3 Flat 4 Y3 Mg Flat 5 Ys Flat 6 Table 5 3 shows an example where three incoming jobs are placed on flats differently according to the selection of either by separation page position orby separation page position job With by separation page position selected the first incoming job contains a cyan and magenta separation C M which are placed on flat 1 and 2 position 1 The second job M3 Y2 can use the second position in flat 2 for the magenta and cre ates a new flat 3 for the yellow The third job contains cyan magenta and yellow separations C3 M3 Y3 There is space on flat 1 for the cyan separation but no space on flats 2 and 3 position 2 for the magenta and yellow The yellow cannot go onto AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 135 5 Configuring Output Formats flat 3 position 1 because it would not be in the correct position for registration Therefore new flats 4 and 5 are used
399. le while maintaining high quality All Harlequin RIPs are written with this aim in mind and can benefit from operating with fast hardware Beyond this and especially when using high resolution imagesetters special ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth techniques can help maximize the rate of producing useful output The Harlequin RIP can use these techniques collectively called throughput control when either of the multiple page buffering modes is selected See Section 4 2 on page 78 for more details of multiple and single page buffering modes The Harlequin RIP increases job throughput in two ways Firstly the RIP differs from other RIPs in the way bitmaps are produced and sent to an output device A traditional RIP must interpret a page and send the bitmap directly to the output device before continuing with the next page Because of this if you have to change cassettes or some fault occurs with the output device the current page cannot be output until the fault is cleared pro ductive work stops until the situation is resolved The Harlequin RIP can be operated in this way if desired but it offers a pow erful alternative that overcomes these limitations by saving bitmaps on disk in the form of page buffers before bitmaps go from the disk to the output device Many page buffers can be stored on disk as many as will fit into the available disk space and the RIP can continue to produce and save pa
400. least one subfile in an FP file but no more than one of each type For example an FP file cannot contain more than one CT file and it is typical for FP jobs to contain only a CT subfile and an LW subfile The full list of data types with their typical uses is Table 8 2 TIFF IT data type codes and usage Data type Usage FP Final Page layout for CT HC and LW CT Contone typically low resolution LW Line Work HC High resolution Contone BL Binary Line work not an FP subfile BP Binary Picture not an FP subfile MP Monochrome Picture not an FP subfile Some of these data types are partly compatible with the corresponding defini tions in the TIFF 6 0 standard The largest difference with TIFF 6 0 is that TIFF IT has only one image per file The FP file format can have up to four Image File Directories IFDs but only one image the preview image for the FP layout ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 17 Printing TIFF IT files The major restrictions on TIFF IT P1 compared to TIFF IT are that TIFF IT P1 e Uses CYMK only when appropriate e Is pixel interleaved when appropriate e Has a single choice of image orientation e Has a single choice of dot range The Harlequin RIP images an FP file by rendering the referenced CT HC and LW subfiles in that strict order Order is significant because the HC and LW subfile types can include transparent regions able to reveal images rendered from previous subfil
401. led when you are calibrating for a printing press or when the output device supports extrapolation There also needs to be at least one empty data value You can use Clear to empty all data values enter a lim ited number of values and then press Extrapolate to have the RIP calculate the remaining values A typical AG12325 Rev 5 Clear Reset Import AG12325 Rev 5 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box source of values is a manufacturer s data sheet for example giving press gain in the form a gain of 15 at 50 In rare cases extrapolation may not be able to produce a reasonable curve the RIP displays an error message to tell you if this has happened One example of an unreasonable curve is a non monotonic one that rises but then falls before rising again Click this button to clear all the boxes This is intended as a preliminary to entering data in a small number of boxes and using the Extrapolate button to calculate val ues for the other boxes Reset deletes all entered data for the calibration set and displays the default curves for the device and profile if ColorPro is enabled For a multi channel device it resets all channels not just the channel whose curve is displayed To import the data from a file rather than typing num bers into the boxes click the Import button The RIP dis plays the Import Measurements dialog box shown in Figure 11 6 Calibration Channel Measured Channel Gray No Ch
402. lequin RIP and enabling specific devices or RIP options with passwords There is likely to be a separate installation or operator s manual for such plugins and perhaps a special installation program Note It is often dangerous to attempt to re install or update an installed plugin in the same copy of the Harlequin RIP because of file name mapping described briefly on page 47 and other issues It is much safer to make a fresh installation of the RIP install the new plugin and then transfer your setting to the fresh installation The sep arate Migrate program can help you make this transfer Where a plugin supplies a single device type the device type becomes ready for use as soon as it has been installed and if necessary enabled with a password Multiple device output plugins appear first as one of the options in the Device Manager where you can choose which device you want to use See Multiple device output plugins on page 124 Once installed the name of a device added with a new output plugin appears as one of the device options in the Edit Page Setup dialog box and you can select it just like any other device AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 121 122 5 Configuring Output Formats Under Separations Screening amp Color the Style drop down list contains all the sep arations styles created for the current device The choice of separations style deter mines the color space and format of the output Note Some output
403. ll the information that you need to create a page setup is available from the Edit Page Setup dialog box You can call the Device Manager Separations Manager Color Setup Manager Calibration Manager and the Cassette Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box The changes you make in these managers are independent of the page setup you are creating For example you can use the Separations Manager to create a separations style even if you do not want to use that separations style in the page setup 5 3 1 Closing the Edit Page Setup dialog box You must close the Edit Page Setup dialog box to save your changes You must also close the Page Setup Manager before you can use any tool bar buttons or menu options in the RIP for example to start inputs Click OK to confirm all the changes you have made in the Edit Page Setup dialog box This confirmation is provisional you must also click OK in the Page Setup Manager to finally save your changes Alternatively click Cancel to discard your changes immediately Note If you open one of the other managers from the Edit Page Setup dialog box changes that you make in that manager are independent of the Edit Page Setup dialog box For example if you open the Separations Manager and create a separations style as long as you close the Edit Style and Separations Manager dialog boxes with OK or Select the new style will remain even if you click Cancel in the Edit Page Setup dia log box 5 3 2 Clo
404. lled Box ps and Box1 ps using 67 of the flat Flat 11 is destined for output on a Drum device and has three jobs using 20 of the flat Flat 12 is also destined for output on a Capstan device but at a different res olution to Flat 10 136 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 15 Media and time saving using optimization 5 15 Media and time saving using optimization The Harlequin RIP provides media and time saving options in the Optimization drop down list in the Processing section of the Page setup dialog box These options are only available if your output device supports them If your output device does not sup port these features the options will not appear in the list The media saving described in this section is different to the Media saving option described under Section 5 14 and does a different job Using the two options together may give unpredictable results The Optimization drop down list allows you to instruct the RIP to rotate pages auto matically if doing so saves time or media For capstan and drum type devices you can choose Media Saving For drum type devices you can also choose Time Saving If you choose Media Saving in the Optimization drop down list the RIP rotates the image if it calculates that media can be saved by doing so You should ensure that the media width is correctly set within the Cassette Manager to make this option work effectively See Chapter 9 Media Management If the current device is a drum r
405. lled in a RIP before interpreting a job or the fonts must be supplied with that job If the interpreter sees that a Times Roman font is needed for a particular job it must know what a Times Roman font is The Harlequin RIP comes ready sup plied with the 35 standard fonts found on most PostScript language printers and several additional fonts See page 300 for a description of the supplied fonts Thousands of other fonts are commercially available as is software to help you design your own fonts from scratch The RIP can load any PostScript font into the RIP for use in interpretation unless the font is encrypted using some proprietary encryption mechanism The Harlequin RIP enables you to download list and proof fonts easily and quickly You have complete control over which fonts are loaded when the RIP is run and can remove any unwanted fonts at any time The Harlequin RIP can convert any Type 1 PostScript font into its own format DLD1 DLD1 fonts consume much less memory and disk space than normal Type 1 descriptions and so reduce processing time but with no change in output quality AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 23 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP 24 The 35 standard hinted fonts are provided with the Harlequin RIP in DLD1 format Font hinting is essential when previewing images or printing at low resolution where it greatly improves the quality of the output 1 3 16 1 Composite fonts The Harlequin RIP sup
406. llustrating how pages are position on the flat Margin bet argin between pages value lt i Cut mark t i t A between flats lt lt a a a Figure 5 11 Margin media saving control Note If when using media saving you get output that is clipped you should make the Margin between jobs value greater than the value of the unprintable margin for the device If you want to avoid the possibility of a flat never being output because there may never be enough page buffers of the same type you can click the Time to wait between pages option and enter either a number of minutes or hours When an incomplete flat has been displayed in the Media Saving dialog box for the defined time out period it will automatically be output to the selected device When Time to wait between pages is not checked partially filled flats will always wait for new pages of the same specification to arrive You can Roam individual pages displayed in the Media Saving dialog by selecting them and clicking the Roam button Similarly you can delete individual pages by selecting them and clicking the Delete button When a flat is printed the page buffers that the flat references are deleted from the disk Because of this the Print Flat button is disabled when a Roam window is open Ifa flat is going to be printed because the time out period has expired and a Roam window is open the flat is placed in a queue and
407. lor setup Note that when you create a page setup the separations style you choose determines the color space of the page setup 4 At this point you have the option to select either New No Color Manage ment setup or New ColorPro setup which is only available by use of a password If you can select New ColorPro setup you should consult the Harlequin ColorPro User Guide for more details New Color Setup No Color Management x m input Document Controls _ r Dutput Controls for RGB Override color management in job Black generation None x T Override overprint mode in job p T Override black generation in job M Overprint process colors T Drop white objects Max ink 1300 Max black fioo I Overprint grays I Overprint 100 black fo mage only black I Convert RGB black to true black m Input Separation Detection Angles in Job Cyan Magenta Yellow Black f 5 00 75 00 fo ca 45 00 Cancel Figure 12 13 New Color Setup dialog box AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 403 12 Color Separation The following tables describe the options available in this dialog Table 12 1 Input Document Controls in the New Color Setup dialog box Fields Override color management in job Description Select this check box to override any color manage ment supplied in the job and use the options set in this dialog box If you do not check this box the Harlequin RIP
408. lor System HSCS Harlequin Chain Screening HCS Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS Harlequin Micro Screening HMS Harlequin Precision Screening HPS HQcrypt Harlequin Screening Library HSL Harpoon RipFlow ScriptWorks MicroRIP ScriptProof ProofReady Scalable Open Architecture RIP SOAR SetGold SetGoldPro TrapMaster TrapPro TrapProLite TrapWorks PDF Creator and RIPFlow are all trademarks of Global Graphics Software Limited Portions licensed under U S Patents Nos 4 500 919 4 941 038 and 5 212 546 EasyTrap is licensed under one or more of the following U S Patents Nos 5 113 249 5 323 248 5 420 702 5 481 379 Adobe Adobe Photoshop Adobe Type Manager Acrobat Display PostScript Adobe Illustrator PostScript Distiller and PostScript 3 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and or other countries which may be registered in certain jurisdictions Global Graphics Software Limited is a licensee of Pantone Inc PANTONE Colors generated by the Harlequin RIP are four color process simulations and may not match PANTONE identified solid color stan dards Consult current PANTONE Color Publications for accurate color PANTONE Hexachrome and PANTONE CALIBRATED are trademarks of Pantone Inc Pantone Inc 1991 Other brand or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders US Government Use The ScriptWorks software
409. lowing things Delete some files Turn on page compression in the Configure RIP dialog box Reconfigure the PageBuffers folder by placing it on another disk with more free space Ensure that there are no locked pages in the Output Controller ECRM RIP Operator Guide 425 A 2 2 Problems involving fonts Table A 7 Font messages Message Things to try Error invalidfont Check that the RIP has installed the font correctly Offending A Try proofing the fonts using the Proof Fonts option on scommandz the Fonts menu If the font fails to proof it may be cor rupt If the fonts proof correctly the job itself may be corrupt If any job requires a particular font which is not installed the RIP attempts to use Courier as a substi tute lt FontName gt Font not The font specified in the PostScript language file is not found using Courier actually loaded into the RIP Courier is the default font in this case Courier Font not found If this message appears the RIP currently has no fonts using Courier loaded at all Use Install fonts to install some fonts the minimum font set that must be installed is Courier Times Helvetica and Symbol Alternatively reinstall the RIP A 2 3 Problems involving files Table A 8 File messages Message Things to try ERROR IN CONFIG FILE The RIP failed to finish interpreting the file For example you will see this message if you try to print a TIFF file that is corrupt un
410. m elsewhere for example on the local sys tem for later transfer into the spool folder The RIP can process some or all of the following file types using a spool folder PostScript language PS Encapsulated PostScript EPS Portable Document Format PDF TIFF 6 0 single TIFF IT P1 subfiles or TIFF IT P1 file groups if supplied in order JPEG and JFIF files With some preparation you can also process page buffers from a similar version of the Harlequin RIP The available options depend on your installation and configuration of the RIP Note You cannot use a spool folder for printing FP TIFF IT P1 files without special care because FP files reference subfiles and the RIP must image the data in these files in a set order If in a spool folder any of the CT HC LW or FP files may arrive first then the result may be partial images The spool folder can accept TIFF IT P1 files if the order of arrival and file naming can be controlled so that all subfiles arrive before the FP file and you select the TIFF IT P1 option described on page 245 If the order of arrival or naming is unsuitable or unpredictable using Print File from the Harlequin RIP menu is the simplest reliable method of ensuring that the RIP images the intended file or combination of files The RIP ignores types of files that it cannot print and any files that you exclude intentionally by configuring the spool folder input You can exclude files based on their names You may w
411. m function see Roam and Preview windows on page 117 4 3 2 4 Locking important pages To lock a page buffer so that it is not deleted by the RIP when disk space is low select the Don t delete page check box in the Info dialog box Page buffers which have been locked in this way are displayed in the Output Controller with a mark on the left of the job name as described on page 77 ThroughPut Info x Job 1 fontlist Output device None z Resolution 72 00 Vertical Configure device dpi x 72 00 Horizontal Page width 8 28 inches 7 Copies to print fi Page height 11 69 Copies printed 0 Eanes T Negative Change roam color T Trim page I Don t delete page Size on disk 15Kb Cassette E ns atte z gt IV Change all pages in job Exposure a Cancel Figure 4 4 Info dialog box You can delete any buffers from the hard disk whether locked or not by selecting them and clicking on the Remove button in the Output Controller A warning dialog box appears which lets you cancel the operation if necessary 4 3 2 5 Printing multiple copies Multiple copies of any page buffer can be printed by specifying the number of copies required in the Copies to print text box of the Info dialog box for the appropriate page buffer The next time that buffer is printed the specified number of copies will be produced with the number in the Copies to print text AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 83 4 Harlequin RIP Ou
412. me devices will signal an error and stop when this occurs Others may continue to feed through media with the conse quence that large bands will appear in the output Still others will attempt to stop and restart This may result in a loss in quality of the image and in any case is likely to be slower For more information about using the Harlequin RIP with such printers see Using a printer that can stop start on page 212 See also Printer buffer size on page 217 4 4 3 Single mode When running in this mode the RIP interprets a page of a job and sends it to the output device then interprets the next page and sends it and so on until all the jobs specified have been printed Note To run successfully in Single mode as in Multiple mode it is important that the RIP can send data to the output device as quickly as the output device requires it In this mode the RIP always creates a single page buffer sends the data in it to the output device and then deletes the page buffer to make room for the next one This means that you cannot use the throughput system tools By default if a data underrun occurs and data cannot be read from the page buffer fast enough to keep up with the printer the RIP tries once more to out put the page and if it still fails aborts the job ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 4 Advanced details of page buffering modes Note The RIP does not display the Output Controller Monitor in S
413. ment Monochrome Only Byte ordering IBM PC fa Compression None pi AntiAliasing None 7 Post Processing I Enable T Create window Command l Cancel Figure 5 6 TIFF Configuration dialog box The options in this dialog box fall into categories location and naming file format and post processing as described in the following subsections 5 8 1 TIFF file location and naming options Choose the folder in which the Harlequin RIP places files by clicking the Folder but ton and choosing a folder from the dialog box open the folder in the list and then click OK The TIFF Configuration dialog box then shows the path to the folder that you chose If Path includes resolution is selected the RIP places any TIFF files created in a sub folder of your chosen folder with the name of that subfolder set to the resolution of the job for example 300 or 2400 In general the RIP names each file within a folder uniquely by combining characters from some of the following character strings The page number ofthe job ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 8 Output to TIFF Astem fixed or variable The name of the separation A sequentially increasing number A suffix If the combined length of these character strings is sufficiently long the RIP truncates the stem to stay within the maximum length of a file name on the computer running the RIP or an optional tighter limit providing greater portab
414. most of which are pairs of tags and values There can be several IFDs in a TIFF file but the only type of TIFF IT P1 file to contain more than one IFD is the Final Page FP file See also TIFF Tag Image File Format input plugin A device driver which controls an input device connected to the RIP Input plugins have several uses they are primarily used as methods in which input can be sent to the RIP for example using a spool folder but they can also be used as PostScript language devices or data manip ulation filters and they can be used to perform asynchronous actions keyboard accelerator A set of key presses which have the same effect as a mouse based opera tion such as selecting a menu item while probably taking less of a user s time to perform lpi Lines per inch A measurement of halftone screen frequency Lines per centimeter lpcm and lines per millimeter lpmm are also offered by the RIP media The various materials such as paper or film that are used in producing hard copy menu device The menu device is the output device that provides the name of the Device menu and receives the commands generated by choosing options from the Device menu See also active device AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 473 mirrorprint An option in the Edit Page Setup dialog box which allows you to pro duce a mirror image copy of your job See Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats moir pattern
415. n verted Operations with DLD1 formatted fonts can be performed signifi cantly faster than they would be with normal font descriptions dot gain A printing effect which results in dots being printed larger than they should be It occurs as a result of ink spreading on the printed page and if not compensated for can lead to an image appearing too dark dot range The range of numerical values used to represent color values TIFF IT P1 uses a dot range of zero 0 through 255 Note The value 0 may be associated with white and 255 with 100 black or the full density of a particular ink but this is not essential in the MP data type for example these end values can be associated with par ticular colors and the intermediate values represent proportionate blends of these two colors See also TIFF Tag Image File Format AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 469 dot shape The shape in which dots on the image are generated See Chapter 6 Screening dpi Dots per inch A measure of the resolution of an output device Dots per centimeter dpcm and dots per millimeter dpmm are also offered by the Harlequin RIP Encapsulated PostScript EPS EPS is a subset of the PostScript language which allows images to be described in a format which can be imported into other documents EPS images are independent of the format of the document and so may be imported into documents using a wide variety of applications from withi
416. n but it can be a useful option if a number of people on the net work are using the same LaserWriter driver If the correct startup prep is already loaded it can save a few 2 5 seconds on each job You can use automatic prep loading at the same time as a startup prep 7 10 Harlequin RIP memory allocation The options in the Configure RIP Options dialog box shown in Figure 7 2 page 207 allow you to specify the memory allocation for the RIP If the Memory for RIP option is not selected the RIP is allocated all the available physical memory less the amount specified in the Minimum memory left for sys tem field ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 10 Harlequin RIP memory allocation If you want to reduce the amount of memory allocated to the RIP select the Memory for RIP option and enter the value in the text box The RIP is allocated this amount of memory less the amount specified in the Minimum memory left for system field The Minimum memory left for system field lets you reduce the allocation for the RIP so that memory is left for the operating system and any other running applications If this value is too small the operating system will start paging which will degrade performance Note The following two options are not available for a symmetric multipro cessing SMP version of the RIP If a particular job is so large that it cannot all be fitted into memory at once the RIP starts to paint partial page buffers
417. n RIP Output Methods 86 that you can display by clicking Page layout in the Edit Page Setup dialog box as described in Default page size on page 146 Device Width Dw 36 00 Device Length Di Ooo Media Width MW 12 00 Media lenatt Mi 00 Top Margin TM 0 00 T Center page on Media Width Bottom Margin BM 0 00 J Genter page on Media Length Left Margin LM 0 00 Page size 44 v Right Margin RM 3 73 Page width 8 24 inches x Select units inches 7 Page height fi 1 69 Cancel Figure 4 5 Page Layout dialog box This dialog box allows you to change the margins for the selected page buffer Type the margin size you want into the appropriate text boxes You can choose the units of measurement you require from the Select units drop down list In addition you can center the selected page on the media by clicking on the Center page on Media Width and Center page on Media Length check boxes The default value for each option is taken from the page setup for the selected page buffer If you override any of these values they will take effect next time you print the page buffer Some of the fields in the Info dialog box may not be editable depending on the type of device 4 3 2 12 Changing attributes for the whole job Each of the options described above only affects the selected page buffer However many jobs consist of more than one page and very often you will want to make the same changes to all of the pa
418. n here if the installation procedure for a plugin fails to install a device of the type you want This discussion uses the following terms Device A device is often a physical piece of equipment which pro duces output It can also be a way of producing a graphics file in a format like TIFF A device can be selected by name from the Device drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Device type Any particular device is of a certain type For instance some printers are of type Ultre and some are of type ExxtraSetter Distinguishing different device types is like distinguishing different models of computer Some options for example the resolutions or media types available depend on the device type Output plugin The output plugin is the software you install into the RIP to make it drive a particular device It tells the RIP the name and type of the devices it drives as well as the address of the device that is where to find the device in terms of the computer rather than physical location With ordinary output plugins one plugin can drive only one device If you want to install a large number of devices you need many different output plugins This can make configuration of the system cumbersome Multiple device output plugins allow you to drive a number of different devices using just one plugin You can have any number of devices of a particular type ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 11 Multiple device output plugins
419. n image 5 8 3 TIFF file post processing You can use this section of the dialog box to define extra actions after the RIP has cre ated each TIFF file These actions depend on commands supplied with Microsoft Windows AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 117 5 Configuring Output Formats To do this you type text specifying a command and its options in a way similar to typ ing in a Windows command prompt window The command can be a simple batch file or a complex application provided that you can give the command all necessary options and information on the command line a command needing operator interac tion is likely to cause problems You can use such post processing commands to convert the file to a different format or to send the data to a destination that is not directly supported by TIFF output from the RIP There are several other possibilities such as extracting information for use in reports limited only by your ability to obtain or create a suitable application and to supply information to it The controls in this section of the dialog box are Enable Select this check box to enable a post processing command as entered in the Command text field Leave it unselected to disable post processing Create Window Check this box to display a Windows command prompt win dow for example to display any messages produced by the post processing command The command window closes at the end of the command so to read any messag
420. n probably find alternatives in a good book store or technical library Real World Scanning and Halftones David Blatner amp Steve Roth Pub Peachpit Press Inc ISBN 1 56609 093 8 If you ignore the fact that the authors are very insistent that the Post Script language can only produce 256 gray levels then this is an excel lent introductory text for PostScript halftoning 168 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 5 Screen angles PostScript Screening Adobe Accurate Screens Peter Fink Pub Adobe Press ISBN 0 672 48544 3 A very good introduction to digital halftoning which then continues into discussion of process work and advanced screening techniques Some of the book is specific to Adobe Accurate Screens but many of the concepts are common to HPS as well This book also has an interest ing section on factors affecting device calibration and other causes of poor film and press output An Introduction to Digital Color Prepress AGFA Corporation This booklet was produced to sell Agfa imagesetters but many of the ideas discussed are common to all digital halftoning systems Electronic Color Separation Dr R K Molla Pub R K Printing and Publishing ISBN 0 9620453 0 6 This book refers to analog color scanners and does not discuss digital halftoning The example scanning systems are somewhat dated but the halftone concept has not changed since the book was written 6 5 Screen angles The Harlequin
421. n some versions of the Harlequin RIP which allows you to type in PostScript language code and to see the interpreted results You should only use this mode if you are familiar with the PostScript language exposure Some imagesetters for example Pelbox have an exposure setting which can alter the strength of the laser which produces the image In these cases the exposure may be set using the Edit Page Setup dialog box feature A section of PostScript language code that may be automatically inter preted with any job specified using the Edit Page Setup dialog box font A set of type characters for use in a textual printing job Fonts typically contain alphabetical and numerical type as well as common special symbols such as marks of punctuation The Harlequin RIP is supplied with the industry standard 35 fonts for PostScript Level 2 and some spe cial purpose fonts Users can install third party fonts as required halftone A complex image which has been broken up into a series of very small dots so as to reproduce it A newspaper photograph is a good example of a halftone image See Chapter 6 Screening halftone cell A single dot in a halftone image hard copy A physical copy of a document on media such as paper or film AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 471 hardware feed Some imagesetters will automatically feed through media whenever a job is completed In versions where the Harlequin RIP s medi
422. n the application itself or can even be imported into other PostScript language page descriptions error diffusion A technique that can be used to screen contone images into a halftone reproduction The technique works by calculating the error between the required contone value and the achieved halftone value at each point which might be a single pixel or a halftone cell distributing that error to neighboring points and using the error to modify the contone values for those points This is repeated for the errors at all points The result is an irregular and non repeating screening pattern that shows very little color error Error diffusion is easy to implement on low resolution devices but can be difficult to use for high resolution or color output where the irregu larity makes it difficult to predict moir or dot gain effects Another problem occurs where the image is rendered in bands which may be processed in an order that is different to their spatial order this can lead to visible discontinuities The Harlequin RIP does not support error diffusion directly but Harlequin Dispersed Screening has some of the same random visual qualities while remaining predictable with respect to behavior on physi 470 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 cal output devices Also output plugins can implement error diffusion screening in their output while accepting contone page buffers from the RIP executive A special mode i
423. n those separations If this box is not selected then the other process color components are taken into account If this box is not selected the objects appear in any separation where the color component is defined as non zero in the CMYK color space or not 1 in the RGB color space Process color components defined as 0 in the CMYK color space or 1 in the RGB color space are always overprinted Table 12 2 Input Separation Detention angles in Job options in Color Setup dialog box Fields Description Cyan The angles specified in these fields help the Magenta ColorPro application detect the individual plates Yellow within a job The default angles will usually work Black If you do change one of these values for example Cyan to 30 00 and the incoming job has Cyan at 15 you will encounter problems AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 407 12 Color Separation 408 Table 12 3 Output Controls for RGB options in the New Color Setup dialog box Fields Description Black generation Override black generation in job This is the process of computing how much and where black should be added to the image This option determines how much black ink should be used to reproduce colors Select Ignore Minimum Light Medium Heavy Maximum or UCR from the menu Undercolor removal UCR is the process of reducing the amount of other colors present where the black is added Rarely a job will specify black g
424. nctionality that is not built directly into the Harlequin RIP Patches for specific applications are held here as well as calibration test jobs e The ReproductionCriteria folder is the location of files defining a resource type ReproductionCriteria This is used to link color ren dering dictionaries CRDs to the criteria which created them This allows the Harlequin RIP to test whether a CRD needs to be regener ated or whether one already exists e The Screenin folder contains screening plugins for use by the Harlequin RIP In many installations there are no screening plugins e The Screens folder is used when halftone screens are cached saved to disk for later use There is a subfolder here for each dot shape cache known to the Harlequin RIP either as supplied or as created during use e The Separation Features folder performs a similar task to Page Fea tures but applies only when separating jobs in the Harlequin RIP e The Spool folder is a default location used by the Spool folder input plugin for receiving jobs e The sys folder includes HqnStart the Harlequin specific startup file and Boot list a list of files to be executed upon booting starting the Harlequin RIP This folder also contains HqnProduct which contains AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 37 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP 38 PostScript language startup code specific to that product and HqnOEM which may contain additional startup PostScript lan
425. nd one of these special characters to signal the end of the job and can send other characters to control and monitor the job in progress The end of this section lists the special characters for example C In detail the modes are Binary The RIP passes all data to the core RIP and detects the end of job by observing that no data has arrived within a timeout period The remote application must use at least the same timeout period between sending jobs ASCII All data is passed to the core RIP for processing except for special characters The special characters are C D and T ASCII mode resembles Adobe binary mode with the exception of not supporting A Adobe binary All data is passed to the core RIP with the exception of special control characters defined by the Adobe binary communications protocol BCP The special characters are all control characters characters which you can send from within a terminal emulator program by holding down the Control key while typing a normal character key For example you can type Control T shown as T by holding down the Control key while typing the letter T The characters most likely to be useful in testing are those supported by ASCII mode Character Meaning A Treat the following character so that it passes to the core RIP asa control character which would otherwise have been stopped and taken as a control A is not supported in ASCII mode Table 8 1 Special character
426. nd CMYK spaces Default Red and so on and an entry called Other You cannot select Other it shows only that you have edited the RGB values to a color not in the list To return to the original roam color for a colorant use the list to select the name that appears in the Colorant column To specify any color not in the drop down list edit the values in the fields for Red Green and Blue Once you have edited a value then as soon as you move to another field or select a different row in the table the Roam Color name for the edited colorant changes to Other If you want to edit another color click on its row You can do this for all colo rants if you wish each can have its own value for Other Click OK in this dialog box and OK again in the Info dialog box to save your changes to roam colors Click Cancel in either dialog box to abandon your changes 418 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Appendix A Troubleshooting This appendix provides solutions to common problems that can occur when running the RIP The first sections contain information about the warning messages that can appear They are grouped according to where the messages appear in the RIP Section A 1 Warning messages and what to do gives a list of some of the major error messages that may occur when running the RIP All of the messages in this section appear in dialog boxes Section A 2 Warnings in the Harlequin RIP window describes the
427. nd black are abbreviated to C M Y and K respec tively Red green and blue are abbreviated to R G and B respectively Spot color separations are tagged with the full name of the separation AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 415 12 Color Separation 416 12 11 1 Roaming separations When you view a separation on a color display using Roam it is displayed in the appropriate color at least until you choose to change that display color The Roam window also displays the title of the page an abbreviation for the color and the resolution Cyan magenta yellow and black are abbreviated to C M Y and K respectively Red green and blue are abbreviated to R G and B respectively An asterisk character indicates a spot color separation and a percent character indicates grayscale Shift You can view a block of several separations at once Click to select the first one then hold down the Shift key and click to select the last one When you view multiple separations the colors are overlaid to give an impression of how they will look when combined on paper For example in a high resolution screened picture you should be able to see the rosettes of the screen pattern See Chapter 6 Screening for more discussion of viewing superimposed screens You can roam a separation in a different color which can be useful for exam ple if you want to see the differences between two separations of the same color
428. nd vignettes of jobs AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 7 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP produced by several image creation and page layout applications These applications include e Adobe Photoshop e Adobe Illustrator e QuarkXPress e Macromedia FreeHand See Section 5 23 on page 158 for more details 1 3 3 Extended color capabilities The Harlequin RIP supports the use of color capabilities introduced with PostScript LanguageLevel 3 This support includes use of N color or HiFi color systems using varying number of colorants whether those colorants mimic CMYK systems photo ink systems or use obviously different colorants The RIP provides separations management preview screening calibration and plugin support for the popular N color systems The RIP also has the ability to calibrate and screen spot colors separately from process colors This feature greatly simplifies the management of spot colors in the RIP 1 3 3 1 DeviceN and N color The DeviceN color space allows better control of PostScript language code in environments where the number of separations is no longer dominated by the CMYK RGB and monochrome color models N represents the number of process color separations Using the DeviceN color space CMYK corre sponds to N 4 RGB to N 3 and monochrome to N 1 This color space allows the Harlequin RIP to access separations where N 2 duotones or greater than 4 N color T
429. nder 10 of the memory space of other formats This table shows some typical figures for the disk and memory AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 10 Fonts requirements of a font in DLD1 format and for the corresponding font in Type 1 and Type 4 formats Table 10 1 Disk and memory requirements for font types Font type Disk space KB Memory KB DLD1 45 4 Type 1 100 50 Type 4 50 30 Note It is difficult to give corresponding estimates for Type 3 fonts because they are inherently so flexible but they are not particularly efficient 10 4 Installing fonts in the Harlequin RIP If a job requires a particular font the font must already be installed in the RIP before the job is processed unless the job itself contains the font definition If the font is not found the RIP will instead print the text in Courier or issue an error message depending on the setting for Abort the job if any fonts are miss ing in the Page Setup Options dialog box See Section 5 22 8 on page 157 for details Depending on the font type you can install a font into the RIP in one of two ways by using the Install Fonts command or by downloading the font to the RIP Table 10 2 summarizes how to install the various font types An entry in the Other column indicates that the Harlequin RIP supports the use of the fonts when they are embedded in PostScript language or PDF jobs A following PS or PDF indicates that embedding is possible only in that
430. neu if all Pantone colors should be produced by their CMYK equivalents Putting it at the end that is after PantoneMatte will mean only the new PC Pantone colors will be found that is PantoneU and PantonevV colors will still be converted to XYZ 12 1 3 Types of color jobs There are two common types of color jobs e All the color information is in one job This is a full color job also known as a color composite e The color information has been separated into a page for each color ink This is a preseparated job These pages may be parts of one job or sepa rate jobs Composite jobs offer the greatest flexibility in handling jobs and targeting them to different output devices but many workflows are built around pre separated jobs The RIP can recombine many preseparated jobs provided that the separations are supplied as one job Section 12 4 1 on page 387 and Section 12 4 2 describe the details of using composite and preseparated jobs with the RIP 12 1 4 Harlequin RIP This chapter describes how you can produce output from documents for use in CMYK color printing You can also produce output for other color systems such as RGB and N color and output for jobs that include spot colors The Harlequin RIP accepts either full color jobs or preseparated jobs as input and outputs them correctly The Harlequin RIP also provides some extensions to the PostScript language specification for example the ability to recognize spot
431. ng the name contain parts indicating the output device and settings such as resolution Another tactic might be to label a page setup with its general purpose for example proofing or final output Try not to be too specific because you can change the settings within a page setup without changing its name For example this can be useful if you change the device you use for proofing If you have several networked inputs that each use the same page setup it is easier to edit just one page setup than to create a new page setup and then change all the inputs to use the new page setup You can give an experimental page setup a less carefully chosen name but try to make it clear that it is not for routine use 5 2 Page Setup Manager dialog box The Page Setup Manager dialog box appears when you choose Page Setup Manager from the Harlequin RIP menu or when you type Ctrl S You must stop inputs before you can display the Page Setup Manager if necessary choose the Harlequin RIP gt ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 2 Page Setup Manager dialog box Start Inputs menu option or click the tool bar button that shows a red arrow and traffic lights Default Page Setup TIFF 100 0 None CMYK Separations Halftone defpos None 72 0 None Monochrome Halftone defneg None 72 0 None Monochrome Halftone CMYK composite None 72 0 None CMYK Composite Edit Copy Delete Units ei OK Cancel Figure 5 1 Page Setup Manager
432. ning parameters that might be specified within the page description itself AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 167 6 Screening These are the three main features that are affected by the halftone strategy you choose e The shape of the dots created See Section 6 6 Dot shapes for the relevant controls e The frequency and angle of the dot pattern created See Section 6 7 Halftone frequency on page 175 for the relevant controls e The accuracy of the screens generated There is no general way of con trolling accuracy One way of getting good accuracy is to use Harlequin Precision Screening HPS described in Section 6 10 Harlequin Preci sion Screening on page 183 6 4 6 Dot gain When a halftone image is printed the ink used to create each dot tends to flow outwards as it is absorbed by the paper This phenomenon is known as dot gain Similarly dots printed on a laser printer tend to spread outward when the toner is bonded to the paper As a result any printed dot tends to be larger than the calculated dot size Dot gain can affect the quality of printed images For example if there is a sig nificant amount of dot gain images tend to appear too dark For more details see Chapter 11 Calibration 6 4 7 Suggested background reading If you do not have a reasonable grounding in halftoning systems then you may find the following books helpful This is by no means an exhaustive list and you ca
433. nly if it is important to emulate the behavior of a traditional sepa rating workflow when a monochrome or preseparated job is submitted to the RIP using a page setup that is intended for automatic separation of composite color jobs This option helps you avoid the extra non useful sometimes blank separations that can be produced when a monochrome or preseparated job is accidentally submitted using a page setup that is intended for automatic separation of composite color jobs Selecting this option ensures that the RIP generates correctly labeled separations Select this option to make monochrome jobs produce a single black separation and to ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 23 Page Setup Option Extras make preseparated color jobs produce correctly labeled separations Even though cor rectly labeled the separations may also be blank Note You can avoid blank separations by selecting Not Blank in the Print column of the Edit Style dialog box as described in Section 12 7 1 on page 381 That option is slightly different because if it is used alone on preseparated jobs in a separating work flow then the resultant separation may have the wrong label for example a presepa rated job for CMYK may produce only four K black separations It can be useful to use both options together 5 22 10 Number of copies to print This text box contains the number of copies of a job that are to be printed You can type a new value into the box to spec
434. no downloader is supplied use the Install Fonts command All installed fonts are placed in the sw fonts folder except for CID fonts and CMAP files which are placed in the cIDFont and cmap folders respectively The leaf fonts of many composite fonts are also installed elsewhere 10 5 Pre loading fonts The Harlequin RIP always pre loads the 35 standard fonts since one or more are likely to be used by most jobs If you frequently use a particular set of other fonts you can ask the RIP to load them automatically upon start up The RIP will take slightly longer to start up but once loaded the fonts will be in memory when jobs require them This saves time when processing jobs since the RIP does not have to stop interpreting to wait for a font to be loaded The time savings can be considerable if a job requires a composite font the RIP could be waiting for up to 40 seconds to load it By having it pre loaded you will save this time with every job that uses it Note You can use this method to pre load composite fonts so long as they have been installed according to the instructions in Downloading fonts to the RIP on page 317 To pre load a font add a new line to the Harlequin RIP initialization file HqnOEM and restart the RIP This initialization file is in the Sys folder in the sw folder You must add one line of PostScript language code for every font you want to load For example the following lines load ZapfChancery
435. nother page AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 60 3 1 5 Sending a job to the Harlequin RIP You have seen how the Harlequin RIP processes a simple job created within the RIP Now it is time to see how to send a real job If you want to print a file you can do so directly by choosing Print File from the Harlequin RIP menu and specifying that file Try printing a file now if you have a small file available for example a PostScript language file The RIP interprets the file and sends it to the printer or on screen preview according to the page setup that you choose in the Print File dialog box Section 8 12 on page 268 describes this method and the following sections describe other types of files that the Harlequin RIP can print Usually however you will want to let the RIP accept input directly from other applications We shall see how to do this using AppleTalk and publish a printer visible to Macintosh computers on your network For more details on supplying jobs to the RIP see Chapter 8 Configuring Input 3 1 5 1 Publishing a setup with AppleTalk Note AppleTalk is not always enabled in the Windows operating system The ECRM RIP Getting Started Guide describes how to install and enable Apple Talk If AppleTalk is not already enabled or you do not have a suitable Macin tosh computer you can create the page setup described here but use a spool folder input as described
436. nputs are submitting jobs or close it using the Harlequin RIP gt Input Controller menu option or the tool bar button AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 225 8 Configuring Input 226 8 2 1 Turning on the input system To start receiving jobs from the configured and enabled inputs choose Start Inputs from the Harlequin RIP menu or type Ctrl I When you do this there is a delay of a few seconds as the various defined input sources are initialized and then the RIP starts to accept jobs from those sources The status area of the tool bar shows the searching for input symbol a torch or flashlight shining on an arrow Anew menu appears in the menu bar called Input Queue This menu has these options e Kill Current Job This causes the job currently processing to be aborted It may take a few seconds e Stop Input Queue This turns off the input system when the job currently processing has finished e Abort Input Queue This aborts the job currently processing and then turns off the input system 8 2 2 Adding a new input source to the list You can create many different input sources for each input plugin For exam ple you could create 5 spool folder input sources and 10 AppleTalk input sources To add a new input source to the list 1 Click the New button in the Input Controller The RIP displays an Input Channel Edit dialog box similar to that shown in Figure 8 2 allowing you to fill in the details for this sou
437. ns The reason for supporting older versions of files and applications is that almost all PostScript language and PDF page descriptions are created auto matically by applications Those applications can only use the features of the page description language as they existed at the time of writing the applica tion and those features are subject to change The PostScript language was first created and used in the mid 1980s and since that time it has undergone many improvements and changes Throughout this period people have been trying to create PostScript language page descrip tions that above all work despite any bugs in the interpreters which may have existed at the time To cope with this situation the Harlequin RIP is compatible not only with the PostScript language jobs of today but with the jobs of yesterday There are two aspects to dealing with older jobs dealing efficiently with features that are now better supported by more modern versions of the page description language dealing with work around methods for bugs in older versions of the page description language The Harlequin RIP does both 6 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 1 3 The Harlequin RIP in depth It might not be immediately obvious why it is necessary to deal with bugs and work around methods but consider this example What happens if a bug is fixed in a widely used PostScript language inter preter Newer RIPs and applications no longer have to cope w
438. ns This means that level 2 jobs run in exactly the expected environment Well constructed level 3 jobs also run but are likely to operate more slowly if they use features better supported in LanguageLevel 3 5 22 2 Run prep at start of job Prep files are libraries of PostScript language routines that can be downloaded into a RIP and used whenever necessary Many LaserWriter drivers require certain libraries to be loaded before they can be used See Automatic prep loading on page 220 for details If the box for this option is selected and a prep file chosen from the drop down list the chosen prep file is run at the start of every job that is interpreted with the relevant page setup By default this option is not selected 5 22 3 Remove color operators This option also provides compatibility There are two cases where you should con sider using it One case occurs because of a bug in LaserWriter Driver 6 0 If you are using this driver and get a PostScript language error especially if the sending appli cation is Freehand formerly from Aldus now Macromedia then select this option and output the job again Some applications use PostScript Level 1 extended color operators incorrectly producing incorrect for example blank output If you select this option the RIP uses basic color operators instead and output appears correctly Note This option is available only when the PostScript Language compatibility level option
439. nstrument is connected 2 Choose File gt Read Target select the number of the target that you are reading printed as Reference Number Non the target and click OK 3 In the Read Target dialog box choose which channels you wish to mea sure as well as the filter type and measurement type that you wish to use Read Target x Cyan Yes Cyan Status T lt Rite Magenta Yes Magenta Status T X Rite Yellow Yes Yellow Status T lt Rite Black Yes Visual Status T lt Rite Cyan Yes Cyan Status T X Rite 7 Cancel Figure C 2 Read Target dialog box To do this select the channel you wish to edit and choose Yes or No from the menu below the Read column If both your measuring instru ment and target support more than one measurement system you may also have a choice of alternative filters and measurement types in the menu below the Measure As column For example choose Cyan Status T X Rite then click OK See Section 11 12 5 on page 357 for details of measurement types 4 Measure the target by referring to the details for your type of measuring instrument If you have repeated problems reading a patch or strip see Troubleshooting on page 450 Follow the screen prompts to measure the target 448 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Strip readers and other semi automatic instruments You may see a Bad reading message appear if the instrument has been unable to correctly measure the strip if so clic
440. nting effects 140 Scaling the image 141 Features 141 Using features 141 Adding other features 144 Cassette management 144 Page Setup Options 145 PostScript Language compatibility level 145 Run prep at start of job 146 Remove color operators 146 Fast patterns 147 Emulate old imagemask behavior 147 Add showpage at end of job if necessary 147 Abort if calibration on and the selected cal set does not match job 148 Abort the job if any fonts are missing 148 Preserve monochrome and preseparated jobs 148 Number of copies to print 149 5 23 Page Setup Option Extras 149 Adobe Photoshop features 150 Adobe Illustrator features 151 QuarkXPress features 153 Macromedia FreeHand features 154 5 24 PDF Options 155 5 25 Calibration 155 Device calibration 155 vi ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Press calibration 156 Use of a different printing press 156 Tone curves 157 5 26 Other page setup options 157 SCFEGHING iiir aiiai aiheina ineine 159 6 1 Managing separations styles 159 6 2 Separations Manager dialog box 160 6 3 Edit Style dialog box 161 6 4 Halftoning 162 Dots halftone cells and screens 163 Dot shape 165 Spot function screens 166 Threshold screens 166 Halftone options 167 Dot gain 168 Suggested background reading 168 6 5 Screen angles 169 Changing angles for separations 170 6 6 Dot shapes 171 Common dot shapes 172 Other dot shapes 174 6 7 Halftone frequency 175 Changing the halftone frequencies 176 6 8 Screening
441. ntrol of what happens When processing jobs containing Photoshop EPS images e Is the Override color management in job option selected in the Color Setup dialog e Does the image contain a PostScript color space array e Is the UseCIEColor parameter set to true in the job See Section B 0 1 and Section B 0 2 for details When processing jobs containing PDF files e Is the Override color management in job option select in the Color Setup dialog AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 441 B 0 1 Override color management in job not selected The Harlequin RIP checks for color management information in the image and the job in the following strict order If the image contains a PostScript color space array Photoshop EPS files only The Harlequin RIP uses the color space array CSA to transform the image It treats the image as a device independent color image Otherwise if the UseCIEColor parameter set to true in the job The Harlequin RIP uses the DefaultGray DefaultRGB Or DefaultCMYK ColorSpace resources to transform the image colors It treats the image as a device independent color image Otherwise if the UseCIEColor parameter is set to false or has no value in the job the Harlequin RIP treats the job as CMYK or RGB B 0 2 Override color management in selected job If the current page setup does not use a color setup The Harlequin RIP checks the setting of the UseCIEColor parameter in the job If the UseCIECol
442. nts This section covers the hardware requirements that you need to run the Harlequin RIP Do not worry if you are not familiar with the RIP technical terms used in this section As you work through the manual all of these terms will be explained The Glossary on page 441 explains many of these terms Hint Follow the basics of this section on first reading to get a working instal lation of the RIP When you are more familiar with the RIP use this section for reference so that you can improve the RIP s performance in your environ ment 2 1 1 Performance For a given processor type and speed the most important things affecting the performance of the Harlequin RIP are the built in or physical memory RAM and the speed and size of disks It is recommended that you use a 450 MHZ Pentium based PC running Windows NT Windows 2000 or Windows XP with 256 MB or more of random access memory RAM and a minimum of 4 GB of free disk space In addition the following points should be considered e There must be sufficient space to hold page buffers on disk e There must be sufficient PostScript language virtual memory available for the job This is especially important when using composite fonts e For some output devices a disk with a certain minimum performance may be required Important The general rule is that the more memory the better the perfor mance Note especially that if you use the following features we recommend that
443. o check mark in front of the Start Inputs option Choose the Start Inputs option if there is a check mark this stops inputs Alternatively click the Stop Inputs button in the tool bar 2 Choose Page Setup Manager from the Harlequin RIP menu or click the Page Setup Manager button in the tool bar The Page Setup Manager dialog box appears where you have two choices If there is already a 62 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 2 Amore complex use of the Harlequin RIP similar page setup select it and click Copy to display the Edit Page Setup dialog box If there is no similar page setup click New to display the very similar New Page Setup dialog box 3 Edit the settings in the New Page Setup dialog box to give the configura tion you want Click Save As 4 The Save Setup dialog box appears and you can specify a name for your new page setup in the Save As text field See Figure 3 6 Click Save to save the setup and return to the Page Setup Manager dialog box You can verify that the setup was saved under this name by looking at the entries in the Page Setup Manager dialog box Whenever you want to output a job manually you can use this setup by selecting its name in the Page Setup menu in the relevant dialog box for example the Print File or Proof Highlighted Fonts dialog box You can also configure the Harlequin RIP to make named page setups available to jobs submitted by other users and applications as described next N
444. o the left shows an example of clipping where a page the rectangle is wider than the imageable width arrowed only the area shown shaded is imaged successfully ECRM RIP Operator Guide 303 9 Media Management 304 Remaining length The amount of media left inside the cassette The RIP updates this value whenever it advances or prints media The RIP also tests the updated value against your choice of threshold values so that it can warn you when the media is running low You must type in the length that you have loaded whenever you refill a cassette with media Number A unique number that the RIP uses to keep track of the cassette You can edit this number only when creating an entry for a new cassette the RIP suggests an unused number but you can use any other unused number Units The units used in the measurement fields in this dialog box Use this drop down list to choose any convenient unit The RIP converts any figures already displayed to the units you choose Note The unit of measurement that you choose here is also used to display media usage in the Media Monitor window see Monitoring media on page 300 9 4 2 1 Closing the dialog boxes You must close the Cassette Manager before you can use any tool bar buttons or menu options in the Harlequin RIP Click OK to confirm all the changes you have made in this use of the Edit Cassette dialog box This confirmation is provisional you must also click OK in
445. ob Similarly if Override dot shape in job is selected the RIP ignores the dot shape supplied by the job and uses the one given in the dialog box instead and if Override angles in job is selected the RIP ignores any angles given by the job in favor of those in the dialog box If all three boxes are selected all screens given by the job are effectively ignored If you are using HPS the frequency and angle values are also subject to slight adjustment to achieve accurate screening See Section 6 10 2 on page 184 for details of how to limit any adjustment Note HDS screens do not have a conventional screening frequency or angle and ignore the frequency and angle settings HCS uses a fixed set of angles so it also ignores the angle setting ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening When placing color separations on top of one another the angles and frequen cies at which those separations are produced should be calculated very accu rately so as to reduce moir patterns Historically this required the use of specially selected screens that minimize the patterning effect Harlequin Precision Screening HPS is a color screening technology that ensures high quality reproduction with any screening option in the RIP defined using a spot function You can enable HPS for a separations style by selecting the Use Harlequin Precision Screening check box in the Edit Style di
446. obs quickly is able to process jobs of virtually any size and can re output selected pages or a complete job without re interpretation e The Harlequin RIP is compatible because it is kept up to date with PostScript PDF and font specifications image file formats and relevant standards from independent bodies Note The Harlequin RIP is able to use proprietary extensions internally for quality of output speed and efficiency without losing compatibility e The Harlequin RIP is also compatible because it supports several net working protocols for use in many kinds of networks whether or not all the computers are of the same type e Robustness comes from experience with many real jobs You can config ure the Harlequin RIP to override poor settings in incoming jobs and avoid office printer quality screening on expensive media use its abil ity to detect poorly labeled color separations and so on e The Harlequin RIP is flexible enough to support many workflows including composite or preseparated color PostScript PDF or TIFF IT P1 Some of these input formats require the Harlequin RIP options AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 3 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP A system using the Harlequin RIP is easy to extend and to upgrade when nec essary because the Harlequin RIP is a software based RIP You can add options such as advanced screening color management and trapping In many cases you can do this by enterin
447. oducing separations 395 Other options 398 Recombination 399 Recombination and composite jobs 401 Closing the Edit Style dialog box 401 12 8 Color Setup 401 Define color setups no color management 402 Overprinting controls 409 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide xiii Black generation and undercolor removal 409 Black generation 410 Ink densities 413 12 9 Color separation angles in job 413 12 10 Trapping features 414 Trapping and QuarkXPress 414 Controls in the Harlequin RIP 415 12 11 Pages in the Output Controller 415 Roaming separations 416 Roaming composite pages 416 Changing the color in Roam 417 Appendix A Troubleshooting 419 Appendix B Jobs Containing Color Management Data 441 Appendix Using Genlin 445 Appendix D Harpoon PCI Screening Accelerator 453 xiv ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Preface This manual is a complete guide to using the ECRM RIP on PC platforms run ning Microsoft Windows NT Windows 2000 and Windows XP The ECRM RIP is a PostScript language interpreter and rasterizer It sup ports the full range of PostScript 3 operators as well as earlier versions of the language It is also a complete RIP Management System that can process a wide variety of file formats including PDF EPS and TIFF The ECRM RIP is based on proven Harlequin RIP technology and incorporates a Harlequin RIP The guide covers the features of the RIP in a structured way giving examples that show you how to perform a
448. of the various fields of the AcroForm could be displayed slightly differently than they might appear in the viewing application for example Acrobat 8 14 3 2 PDF AcroForms and the Harlequin RIP When a PDF AcroForm has been completed and saved and is therefore print ready the Harlequin RIP will print all AcroForm field types text fields choice list boxes buttons and signature fields However this is conditional upon the manner in which the fields have been defined in the AcroForm For exam ple some button fields may have been flagged by Acrobat as not to be printed In this case the Harlequin RIP will not print such items If the PDF AcroForm has not been saved as print ready the Harlequin RIP still supports the rendering of text input fields both single line and multi line To do this the RIP constructs or reconstructs the fields appearance streams according to the field values and other information contained within the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 14 Printing PDF files AcroForm It should be noted however that there is a degree of licence with respect to how a viewing application may format the items such as text and buttons and so results between different viewing applications may differ If the AcroForm is not print ready the Harlequin RIP also attempts to support other field types such as buttons and choice lists but their final appearance may be different to the intended result by a greate
449. ofiles e Does the current page setup use a color management option AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 443 444 e Is the Override color management in job check box selected in the Color Setup dialog box e Does the image contain a PostScript color space array Photoshop EPS files only e Does the image contain an embedded ICC profile e Is the UseCIEColor parameter set to true in the job B 3 PDF color management PDF jobs can use a variety of color spaces including device dependent spaces such as DeviceCMYK Typically when using device independent color spaces PDF version 1 2 files use the CalGray and Calres color spaces and PDF version 1 3 files use the ICCBased color space but these usages are under the control of the creating applications see the Job Options dialog box for the Advanced tab in Distiller 3 0 for the Color tab in Distiller 4 0 Full use of device independent color requires ColorPro to be enabled ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Appendix C Using Genlin Genlin is a utility provided with the Harlequin RIP to read calibration targets generated by the RIP C 1 Introduction Genlin supports these measuring instruments e X Rite 408 e X Rite DTP41 series e X Rite DTP 32 e X Rite DTP 34 using the DTP 32 driver e X Rite DTP 12 e X Rite 938 Note If you wish to use the X Rite DTP 34 measuring instrument you must choose X Rite DTP32 from the Instrument menu in the Configuration
450. ogram on the remote computer may require other control line connections or links between pins even if you are using software handshaking If the remote computer and program require extra control signals it may help to know that the RIP controls the DTR line and ignores the DSR line For testing you have two options e Use a communications or terminal emulation program on both computers e Use a communications or terminal emulation program on the remote computer and the RIP on the local computer You must configure a Harlequin RIP serial input first Send a carriage return character to the RIP to make the RIP react as if it is receiving a job if the link is good the RIP loads a page setup and displays a message in the Harlequin RIP window Like most PostScript language compatible interpreters the RIP does not by default echo characters to the remote computer There are many commercially available communications programs but the Terminal program supplied with Microsoft Windows and the tip program supplied with the UNIX operating system are adequate You can start testing by typing short messages PostScript language jobs if you are sending to the RIP input plugin Do not consider the link fully tested ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 10 Using the Serial input plugin until it can transfer files of about 10 KB without any corruption Find the high est speed at which the link works reliably 8 10 3 Configuring a Seria
451. olor Separation describes the facilities the Harlequin RIP provides for controlling the printing of individual colorants in both composite and separated output Appendix A Troubleshooting provides solutions to common prob lems that occur when running the Harlequin RIP Appendix B Jobs Containing Color Management Data describes how jobs and images with attached color management data interact with related settings in the Harlequin RIP Appendix C Using Genlin describes a utility program providing semi automatic measurement of calibration targets generated by the Harlequin RIP Appendix C Harpoon PCI Screening Accelerator describes a combi nation of hardware and special control software able to provide screened output at rates higher than those possible with software alone Finally the Glossary explains terminology used throughout the manual Assumptions The Harlequin RIP runs in the MicrosoftWindows NT Windows 2000 and Windows XP environment It is important that you are familiar with the appropriate operating system at least to the level of using the file Explorer and a simple text editor or word processor such as Notepad or WordPad If you are not please refer to the Microsoft Help or manuals In complex installations you may wish to send jobs between PCs Macintosh computers and computers running the UNIX operating system This manual describes the details special to the Harlequin RIP but
452. olution devices However with higher resolution devices this approach becomes wasteful because periods are spent with the output unit idle while the RIP is working and then with the RIP idle while the output unit is working The RIP allows you to overlap processing and output for greater throughput AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 69 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 70 Also if you need to change cassettes or deal with a printer fault or media jam most RIPs must wait until the fault is cleared before they can output the cur rent page and continue If you are processing a long job and a fault occurs it must be reinterpreted once the fault has been detected For an overnight job the fault will probably not be detected until the morning in which case a lot of time will have been wasted 4 2 Page buffering modes The Harlequin RIP overcomes these limitations by allowing you to choose one of four different modes of operation Depending on the job involved and the configuration of your hardware you can choose whichever mode is most suit able and overcome many of the problems described above There are two general methods of operation in the RIP multiple and single Multiple modes allow you to write each interpreted page to disk ready for later printing and reprinting Single modes only interpret one page before printing must occur and hence make the RIP operate in a more traditional manner The four specific modes are S
453. olution shown here 5 4 2 Image interpolation When an image is at a different resolution to the device on which it is to be imaged artifacts can be introduced with various degrading visual effects Image Interpolation attempts to eliminate these effects using extra processing to effectively recreate the image specifically for the device Image Interpolation works both ways reducing the resolution of the image to match an output device with a lower resolution and increasing the resolution of an image to match an output device with a higher resolution 5 4 2 1 Increasing image resolution If you input an image that has a resolution which is slightly lower between 50 100 than the resolution of the output device the resulting image appears with jag gies Image interpolation will generally eliminate this type of problem with very lit tle if any perceptible loss of image quality If you input an image that has a resolution which is significantly lower 50 or less than the resolution of the output device the resulting image appears blocky Image interpolation will smooth such images giving a blurry look If the resolution of the original image is reduced more when compared to the output device the output becomes more blurry In practice you can still get jaggies when the image has a resolution that is signifi cantly lower in resolution but their effects are not as pronounced as in the slightly lower case It is a good idea
454. olved Jobs without names may be named only after the name of the input socket making it difficult to identify jobs that need re sending If a job does not provide a name itself set jobname in statusdict before the job is run For example statusdict jobname a_filename ps put sets the jobname to a_filename ps Note Most machines running sockets can support several independent types of communication and there is usually ongoing communication for processes 246 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 7 Using the Socket input plugin including mail printing and file transfer The different types of communica tions are kept separate by assigning each to a different port usually identified by number Port numbers below 1024 are listed in a services database and have registered uses and protocols that enable computers at local and remote sites to communicate according to published standards Some numbers above 1024 also have agreed uses but most are available for use in a way specific to a single site as allocated by the local network manager or system administrator Prior to release of the Socket plugin v2 1r3 jobs received on a Socket input were named by the input channel and not the job A page feature was pro vided to overcome this From the release of the Socket plugin v2 1r3 shipped with Harlequin RIP Eclipse Release the page feature is incorporated within the Socket plugin and thus will use the name within the job
455. omments and is intended to be self documenting 324 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 Calibration This chapter discusses calibration of output devices Calibration involves the measurement of test images produced on an output device and the use of those measurements to produce stable images with good tonal values here good means consistent and usually linearized in some measurement system Some devices have a published specification that you can use in place of mea sured data this is true of many printing presses In demanding applications you may use several different calibrations on the same device according to the settings on the device or within the RIP The way calibration is applied has been changed for Harlequin RIP version 5 5r1 For more information see Editing calibration sets on page 342 This chapter describes how you can produce suitable test images called targets or test strips measure their characteristics then enter or edit calibra tion data while Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats describes how you can choose different calibrations when producing output 11 1 Why calibration is needed Regardless of the accuracy of an output device the media and other consum able items can vary and have an effect on the output For example an image setter may produce an accurate and stable exposure of the media on which it is imaging but the reaction of that media varies from paper to film and
456. on page 348 for details e You can use different measuring systems as appropriate for the kind of output device and measuring instruments Additionally these features are arranged so that is easy to add and use the advanced facilities provided by the ColorPro options The extra facilities and changes of procedure associated with ColorPro are described in the separate Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 11 Calibration 330 11 3 1 Accessing calibration functions The Harlequin RIP Output menu contains the Print Calibration and Calibration Manager commands The Calibration Manager is also available from an icon button alongside the Calibration drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Use the Print Calibration command to display the Print Calibration dialog box From here you can print test strips targets which enable you to measure the characteristics of your output devices Use the Calibration Manager command to display the Calibration Manager dia log box This allows you to create and edit calibration sets using measure ments from test strips or published figures and to enable or disable the use of particular calibration sets The consequence is that you can adjust for day to day or printer to printer variations in ink density and similar variations in the exposure of imagesetters and platesetters 11 3 2 Calibration sets A calibration set is a piece wise linear curve that maps
457. one Composite Band CMYK Separations Halftone CMYK Separations Halftone gt Monochrome CMYK Separations Contone CMYK Separations Contone gt Monochrome CMYK Composite Pixel CMYK Composite Pixel CMYK Composite Band CMYK Composite Band Edit New Copy Delete Select ILo Cancel Figure 6 1 Separations Manager dialog box The Separations Manager displays a list of all existing separations styles for the current device showing the name of each separations style the corre sponding color space and the output format From the Separations Manager you can create separations styles and edit copy or delete existing separations styles This chapter describes how to set the screening options for an existing separations style For details about creat ing separations styles see Chapter 12 Color Separation Select a separations style from the list and click Edit The Edit Style dialog box appears If the output format of the separations style supports screening the Edit Style dialog box contains screening options as shown in Figure 6 2 For example if you choose a separation style with an output format of halftone separations the Edit Style dialog box contains screening options The screening options do not appear if the output plugin for the selected out put device does not support screening This usually means that the output device supports continuous tone contone output or that the devic
458. onvenient for use this name during this session 5 Click OK again to close the Page Setup Manager dialog box The Output Controller Monitor window must be displayed for you to see the processed output for the None device If you cannot see this window first choose the Configure RIP option from the Harlequin RIP menu and check that the option shown against Page buffering is Multiple Parallel then dis ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 3 1 A simple Harlequin RIP session play the Output menu and look at but do not choose the option Output Con troller If there is a check mark next to the menu option the RIP is displaying the win dow but it may be hidden behind another window The Output gt Output Con troller menu option can be used to toggle between opening and closing the Output Controller Monitor Each time that you open the Output Control ler Monitor it opens in front of all other RIP windows Note The Output Controller is only available in either of the multiple page buffer modes You can also view a page in one of the single modes by setting the output device to Preview instead of None In the following description we assume that you are working in Multiple Parallel mode If you are using one of the single modes see Sending output to the screen on page 115 for more details about previewing pages For the example job described next make sure that you have deselected the Disable output check box in the
459. oon PCI is a screening accelerator for the Harlequin RIP consisting of hardware and special control software The combination of the Harlequin RIP and this hardware and software is able to provide screened output at rates higher than those possible without hardware assistance Harpoon PCI sup ports all of the screening types available in the Harlequin RIP HPS HDS and so on Harpoon PCI can be used with any screened output bitmap plugin The Harpoon PCI hardware is one full length card for the PCI bus The PCI bus is one of several possible buses used to add expansion cards inside mod ern computers You should also have Harlequin RIP software with support for Harpoon PCI D 1 Requirements The main requirement is a computer with a PCI bus slot capable of receiving the Harpoon PCI card and otherwise suitable for running the Harlequin RIP There are no significant changes in the required disk space and memory RAM when using Harpoon PCI AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide D 2 Installation Install both the Harpoon PCI card and if required by your output device the appropriate interface card into the computer Follow the normal precautions for personal safety and prevention of electrical damage these are outlined in the ECRM RIP Getting Started Guide but use specific guidance from the manu facturer of your computer All communication and control is through the PCI bus connector Other con nectors are for use in manufac
460. option in Output Controller 80 width of media 303 page default 138 Windows See Microsoft Windows workflows for maintaining calibration 342 WorkSpace folder 38 205 wrong reading See mirrorprint AG1 2325 Rev 5
461. options and number of gray levels 176 How many gray levels can you see 176 How many gray levels do you get 177 How many gray levels do you need 178 Gray level controls 180 6 9 Job settings and Harlequin RIP settings 181 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening 183 Controlling extra grays in HPS 183 Using the HPS controls 184 Possible problems with output 188 HPS and pattern screens 190 Increasing HPS performance 190 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide vii viii 6 11 Harlequin Screening Library 192 Switching on HSL 192 Selecting an HSL screen set 193 Harlequin Chain Screening HCS 193 Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS 194 Harlequin Micro Screening HMS 199 Troubleshooting HSL 200 6 12 Automatic detection of color separations 201 6 13 Using Harlequin Harpoon PCI 201 Configuring the RIP ccccssseesseseeeeeeees 203 7 1 Configure RIP dialog box 204 7 2 How the Harlequin RIP controls files 204 Workspace folder 205 Page buffer folder 205 7 3 Control of page buffering modes 206 How to choose the page buffering mode 206 Using a printer that can stop start 206 Compressing page buffers 208 Band size for printing buffer 208 Minimum compression ratio 209 7 4 Job timeout 209 7 5 Threads and parallel processing 210 7 6 Network buffer size 210 Increasing throughput 210 Freeing the sending application 210 7 7 Printer buffer size 211 7 8 Extras 212 7 9 Specifying prep files 214 Automatic prep loading 214 Startup prep 214
462. or a 3 color device If the output device can support additional colorants you can add a channel for a spot color The channel Other colors in job allows you to specify a calibration curve for any spot colors that do not have a separate calibration curve Note that although an imagesetter is not a multi color device you can create a separate calibration curve for each color to take account of the different screen angles specified in the separations style You must specify a separate calibration curve for each process color channel to produce a valid calibration set The RIP reminds you to view the data for each channel to assess if it needs editing as described in Exiting the Edit Calibration dialog box on page 373 Note that you can also Copy the data from one channel to another channel The RIP does not allow you to change to another chan nel if the calibration curve for the current channel is unreasonable One example of an unreasonable curve is a non monotonic one that rises but then falls before ris ing again In such a case the RIP warns you and prompts you to correct the curve before you can change to another channel To add a channel for a spot color click the Add button In the Add Channel dialog box select the name of the spot color from the drop down list and click the OK but ton The list of spot colors contains all the spot colors named in the separations styles for the selected device and color space ECRM R
463. or parameter is set to true in the job The Harlequin RIP uses the DefaultGray DefaultRGB Or Default CMYK ColorSpace resources to transform the image colors It treats the image as a device independent color image Otherwise if the UseCIEColor parameter is set to false or has no value in the job The Harlequin RIP treats the job as CMYK or RGB ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 B 1 Summmary of options Override color Image contains a Job contains Result management in color space array UseCIEColor set job to Selected True Use the DefaultGray DefaultRGB or DefaultCMYK ColorSpace resources to transform image colors False Treat job as CMYK or or no value RGB Not selected Yes Use the CSA to transform the image No True Use the DefaultGray DefaultRGB or DefaultCMYK ColorSpace resources to transform image colors False Treat job as CMYK or or no value RGB Table B 1 Current page setup does not use a color management option Settings within the Harlequin RIP in the PostScript language or PDF job and in the images themselves can all control the processing of images in a job Note Some options apply only to EPS files produced by Adobe Photoshop Section B 3 on page 444 describes the cases specific to PDF jobs B 2 PostScript language jobs and image files The Harlequin RIP checks the following when processing jobs containing Photoshop EPS images or TIFF JPEG images containing embedded ICC pr
464. ork buffer to a minimum of 64 KB e Reducing the printer buffer to a minimum of 512 KB If there is still not enough memory to give the RIP at least 4096 KB the RIP will display a warning and quit 7 11 Minimum free disk space The Harlequin RIP allows you to ensure that it leaves free a minimum amount of disk space which is good practice and allows for use by other applications Specifying this reserved disk space is important for use with the two RIP modes Multiple and Multiple Parallel that can produce multiple buffers where it ensures that the disk is not completely filled up with an unlimited number of page buffers The default value of the Disk space left for system option is 5 MB You may want to increase it to reserve disk space for other applications running on the same machine such as spooling programs A reasonable value should be near the size of the largest files regularly created or copied on the relevant disk Try using 50 MB if this size is difficult to predict 7 12 Disable sounds Select this box in the Configure RIP Options dialog box to suppress the system beep normally generated when the RIP encounters an error 7 13 Resetting the Harlequin RIP to default values If you decide that you want to revert to the default values that the RIP is sup plied with choose the Revert to Factory Settings option in the Start menu If you did not add the RIP commands to the Windows Start menu when you installed the RIP o
465. ort or to image files that do not conform to the TIFF IT P1 profile If you attempt to print TIFF IT P1 files when the TIFF IT option is not enabled then the TIFF 6 0 input option may attempt to process the parts of the file that it recognizes as TIFF If this message appears then the TIFF 6 0 input option does not recognize any part of the file as TIFF Poor performance Long imaging times Text in the TIFF IT file can lead to large numbers of line segments and very large files See the comments made in Installation and require ments on page 286 432 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Also if the computer running the RIP is running other applications at the same time the other applications may be using memory that the RIP could use to operate more quickly Shut down any programs that you do not need then stop and restart the RIP to be sure that it is using as much memory as possible Problems with SCID files Standard Color Image Data SCID primary data files are incompatible with the TIFF IT support in the RIP but SCID alternate data is compati ble SCID primary data is incompatible because it uses the dot range 28 through 228 See the Glossary on page 441 for an explanation of dot range The ISO document DIS 12640 describes the dot ranges and other differences between the primary and alternate formats but the next paragraph is sufficient to identify both types of data Primary data files are named N1 through
466. ost processing substitution codes Code Meaning oC The current separation color represented by a string of default length one character Typical separation names are Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black Examples for length one are C Y M and B d The current date in the format YYMMDD with a default string length of 6 For example 26 October 1998 becomes 981026 e The job exposure as entered in the Page Setup dialog box For example 221 St The output TIFF file name not including the full path For example based on jobname and not suppressing the page number 1ColdfacepsC05 TIF j The current page buffer name as shown in the Output Controller Monitor For example 1 Coldface ps C n The current job number an integer that the Harlequin RIP increments each time it processes a new job For example 115 0 The full output directory path set by the Folder button but not the res olution if the check box to include resolution has been checked nor the file name For example C S TIFF p The current page number within the job For example 13 Ar The job resolution in dots per inch For example 72 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 119 5 Configuring Output Formats 120 Table 5 1 Post processing substitution codes Code Meaning S The current jobname after removal of characters that would be illegal in a file name For example Coldfaceps t The current time in the format HHMMSS usin
467. ote You can reorder the entries in the Page Setup Manager dialog box by selecting one or more entries and dragging with the mouse The order in the Page Setup Manager is the order of appearance in menus where you choose a page setup typically when configuring a managed input described in Section 8 2 on page 230 or interactively printing a file described in Section 8 12 on page 268 Default Page Setup Save As inating Cancel Figure 3 6 Save Setup dialog box AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 63 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 3 2 2 Associating a page setup with an input Creating and saving page setups also allows you to make a published printer use a specific page setup this allows all users of the RIP to choose a suitable page setup for a particular job by choosing the associated printer Try the fol lowing to see how this works with just two published printers on the network 1 Display the Page Setup Manager Copy the page setup Default to Printer select it and click Copy In the New Page Setup dialog box make no changes just click Save As Give this page setup the name Pos 2 Inthe Page Setup Manager select Pos and click Copy to make a copy and start editing that copy In the Effects section of the New Page Setup dialog box select the Negative check box and click Save As 3 Save the new page setup with the name Neg Click OK to close the Page Setup Manager 4 Display the Input Controller
468. oted to the RIP AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 209 7 Configuring the RIP 210 7 5 Threads and parallel processing The Threads option in the Configure RIP dialog box is disabled in versions of the RIP that can use only a single processor In a symmetric multiprocessing SMP version of the Harlequin RIP running on a suitable hardware platform you can use this control to set the number of parallel processes used by the RIP In all normal use you should set this value equal to the number of processors available in your system this will produce the fastest rendering Other smaller values may be useful in testing or trou bleshooting 7 6 Network buffer size This buffer lets the RIP read data from the input source before actually need ing to process it Having this ability has two advantages e It increases throughput e The application that is sending the data to the RIP becomes free sooner 7 6 1 Increasing throughput With many jobs there are large amounts of data to be read often across slow networks so it is desirable to use any available time reading in the data rather than waiting for the RIP For example when printing the Seybold Musicians test job approximately 32 MB of PostScript language code in four separation pages of 8 MB a net work buffer of 8 MB is desirable since this means that while one separation is being processed the next one can already have been read in ready for pro cessin
469. ou have two options use one of the following cures and then reprint the job For a permanent cure display the Configure RIP Options dialog box and change the figure shown after Disk space left for system If the previous figure is below 10 MB add 5 MB to it If the figure is already much higher than 10 MB leave it at the higher figure For a temporary cure delete enough files to free 10 MB of disk space and ensure that no more files are created until after the job has completed Error limitcheck Offending command showpage File job nam 6 This message can appear in the Harlequin RIP window when the RIP is starting to render a job 462 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 See the next message for a combined explanation Error Screening Accelerator failed to open output This message can appear in the Harlequin RIP window when the RIP moves a page buffer to the active queue in the Output Controller Both this message and the preceding one accompanied by failure to render a job can arise because of other reasons but one cause to consider when hardware screening with Harpoon PCI is that there may be too many screens in use within the page or set of imposed pages There is a fixed limit on the amount of memory that Harpoon PCI can devote to generating screens This limit is very large compared to typical memory allocations in an unassisted RIP but it is possible to exceed the limit with some jobs Each scre
470. output options This chapter describes the details of these dialog boxes and discusses likely output devices 5 1 Creating and managing page setups Every job that you supply to the RIP takes its imaging options from a named page setup This is true both for jobs arriving through a managed network input defined in the Input Controller and for jobs that are the result of you choosing a menu option in the RIP for example Proof Fonts or Print File These menu options can be a useful way to test new page setups You can keep a number of different page setups which you use regularly perhaps one that has Harlequin Precision Screening HPS turned on and one that does not one that previews images and one that sends output to a particular printer You can save as many configurations as you wish AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 95 96 5 Configuring Output Formats Page setups are such an important part of the RIP that you must name each one as you create and save it You can use up to 30 characters in a name It is useful to give each page setup a meaningful name without being too specific about its contents Choose a meaningful name because the page setup name appears in several menus where you have to choose a page setup Also for each job the RIP dis plays a message in the RIP Monitor saying which page setup it used Choose a form of name that suits the variety of jobs and output devices that you work with Consider maki
471. ox shown in Figure 11 5 page 339 This dialog box lists the resolution dot shape screen frequency and so on that this calibration set is intended to work with You can change these settings as necessary See Edit Calibration dialog box on page 363 for details of all controls There are variations on this dialog box for calibrated and uncalibrated targets and for tone curves printing presses and other devices These variations include the nature of the values you enter to define the curve and the color channels you can select The title of the dialog box changes to show the kind of target and the device The general form of the title is Edit lt calibrated uncalibrated gt target for lt Device name gt lt calibrated uncalibrated gt depends on which edit button you clicked in the Calibration Manager lt Device name gt is the selection in the Device drop down list in the Cali bration Manager When you edit the calibration set for a printing press the differences are e The presence of a Press drop down list in the Warning Criteria panel In this case the default calibration set is determined by the selected profile 344 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 5 Editing calibration sets e The types of measurements available in the Measurements as drop down list When you edit the calibration for tone curves the differences are e The options in the Warning Criteria panel are unavailable except for the Use
472. p Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can also save the changes by clicking the Select button In addition to saving the changes the Select button displays the selected color setup in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Click Cancel to discard all changes 12 8 2 Overprinting controls Where 100 process black is present and in other circumstances you may wish to perform overprinting rather than causing knockouts in the other sepa rations This applies both to composite color output and to screened output See Knockouts and overprinting on page 381 for an introductory discus sion 12 8 3 Black generation and undercolor removal With regard to the CMYK color space in principle all colors can be repre sented with cyan magenta and yellow In practice however the theoretically correct combination of these three colors will not produce the color expected when printed because of the limitations of inks To overcome this practical problem pure black ink is used to improve color reproduction on the printed page This is the role of the K or black separation Black is added to produce pure black on the page because using a combina tion of cyan magenta and yellow usually gives dark brown rather than black when printed Therefore black text is printed with black ink Black is also added in color regions of an image to strengthen color tones The application of black can often be very effective for improving an image Th
473. p the RIP whenever you wish but you should keep it running as much as possible whenever you expect jobs to be input There are very few cases where you must stop the RIP for example you must stop the RIP when you shut down the computer running the RIP or when you update your copy of the RIP The state of the RIP when you stop it is also the state that the RIP assumes when you next start it For example if you quit the RIP when inputs are active then the RIP restarts with the same inputs enabled 2 6 1 Quitting the Harlequin RIP If you are the only user of the RIP all you must do is ensure that no jobs are in progress and choose the Quit command in the Harlequin RIP menu Take more care if there are other users as described here If the RIP is providing a network service warn the other users that there will be an interruption of service Disable output by selecting the check box labeled Disable output in the Output Controller if you are operating in either of the multiple modes This shuts down the output cleanly by allowing the current job to complete but not start ing any other jobs When you restart the RIP output is re enabled automati cally though you will have to answer a question if there are any jobs waiting to be output in the Active Queue Wait for any active jobs to complete AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 47 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP Leave the RIP settings in their usual state unless you know th
474. pages will be buffered on disk and if they are whether they will be com pressed automatically Chapter 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods gives full details of what hap pens when you use the various page buffering modes The following text tells you how and why to choose a particular mode 7 3 1 How to choose the page buffering mode You can choose which mode to run the RIP in by selecting one of the items in the Page buffering of the Configure RIP dialog box 7 3 2 Using a printer that can stop start Some background information may help you understand this feature Several output devices supported by the RIP require a continuous high speed flow of data when they are imaging while others can stop and restart stop start when there is a pause in incoming data with little or no effect on the pro duced image In many of the printers supported by the Harlequin RIP stop ping has no bad effect and may pass unreported However in many imagesetters stopping can produce some visible difference in the produced image so these imagesetters report to the RIP the fact that they have stopped started Normally when outputting if the printer reports a stop start the page will not be output However when using Single Multiple or Multiple Parallel mode the RIP will always make page buffers on disk and if your system is configured with a sufficiently fast disk the printer will never stop start If the disk may not be fast enough
475. pen a command DOS window in the folder holding the RIP application and type this C PATH gt ScriptWorks RESET ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 14 Choosing the user interface language Note In the command line change ScriptWorks to the exact name of the application that you are using A dialog box appears asking if you wish to return to the factory defaults e Click Yes if you wish to reset any part of the current configuration e Click No if you wish to keep all of the current configuration the RIP starts up normally If you click Yes the RIP displays several dialog boxes that allow you to reset specific parts of the configuration one after the other For each dialog box click the Yes button to reset all the configuration information described in that dialog box Click No to keep that part of your configuration The RIP allows you to reset most parts of the configuration in this manner including page setups RIP configuration media management information and window positions After the last dialog box the RIP starts up normally 7 14 Choosing the user interface language You are asked to make a choice of the language to be used in dialog boxes menus and messages when you start up the RIP for the first time Later you can check the exact language in use or change the language for most combi nations of languages 7 14 1 Requirements and limitations There is no problem in changing language if both lan
476. perator Guide prep file A PostScript language header file which is interpreted before the main job processing in order to provide a standard setup to be used by a range of different jobs preview To view an interpreted job on the screen before producing a hard copy of it profile In printing and color science a profile is a description of the color per formance of an input or output device such as a scanner printer or dis play monitor With suitable software it is possible to transfer color definitions between different devices and to have the same colors appear on each There is an open standard for profiles promoted by the International Color Consortium ICC supported by many device manufacturers and vendors of profile creation tools The ColorPro color management options within the RIP are supplied with several profiles and can install additional ICC profiles There are several types of profile see the Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide for more details progressive proof A proof or series of proofs in which some intermediate stages of laying down the colors are shown For example a CMYK page is usually printed in the order yellow magenta cyan and finally black The full set of corresponding progressive proofs would be Y Y M Y M C and Y M C K If the page is to be printed with two passes on a two color press the most useful proofs are likely to be the ones representing the product of each pass on the press Y
477. perator Guide 231 8 Configuring Input 232 2 Click the Configure button The NT Print Configuration dialog box appears as shown in Figure 8 4 NT Print Configuration x Startup Retry Configuration a OK T Enable O Retry Delay seconds Cancel Figure 8 4 NT Print Configuration dialog box The dialog box contains controls to allow for the situation where RIP inputs have started up before the Windows NT spooler system this is possible on fast machines The default is to accept failure in which case the printer will be unavailable without some user intervention You can make the RIP keep trying within a time limit by using the controls Enable Select this box if you want the RIP to retry making a connection to the Windows NT spooler after initially failing Retry delay Enter the time after the initial failure for which you wish the RIP to con tinue retrying A retry delay of 60 seconds is likely to be enough on all machines Too long a delay means delaying jobs on other inputs so reduce this figure if you have no problems Click OK to close the configuration window 3 Click OK again to close the Input Channel Edit dialog box 4 Use Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs to start inputs You now have a RIP channel that forms a port visible to the Windows NT printer configuration software 8 4 3 Creating a printer under Windows NT You have two options Either you can create a new printer to use the
478. ports composite fonts in both Original Composite For mat OCF and Character Identifier CID formats which allow you to use large or complex fonts such as those for Chinese Japanese or Korean charac ters Composite fonts support large character sets and are especially impor tant in the Far East There are several features to allow easy composite font installation without requiring complex structuring of the fonts Also because of the high value of such complex fonts the Harlequin RIP provides a way of encrypting fonts so that they can only be used with a particular copy of the RIP 1 3 17 Convenience features The Harlequin RIP provides some useful facilities for monitoring media on cassette loaded devices such as imagesetters and for using or testing frag ments of PostScript code These fragments page features can do such things as labelling output or performing basic imposition and media saving Most of these facilities require little or no knowledge of the PostScript language 1 3 17 1 Media management Output devices vary greatly in the type of output media they can use and the amount of manual intervention required Some devices use a single source of roll fed or sheet fed material and the output is ready to use while other devices can accept media from a variety of sources or require processing of the output Equally different users make very different demands on their image setters with respect to film and paper handling
479. put quality by exploit ing the ability to process jobs at lower resolution HDS screens cannot be used if the horizontal and vertical output resolutions selected are not equal 6 11 1 Harlequin Micro Screening HMS Harlequin Micro Screening uses a Respi screen structure to allow greater high light gradation even at high screen rulings It does this by using half the nom inal screen between 0 and 5 dot area and between 95 and 100 and the nominal screen ruling between 20 and 80 dot area Between 5 and 20 and between 80 and 95 HMS goes through transition zones Two variants of HMS are included in HSL one where the dot shapes in the 20 to 80 tints are very similar to the standard Euclidean dot shape and one where they closely resemble the standard Elliptical shape HMS Euclidean HMS Elliptical1 If you have been limiting the screen frequencies that you use because you can not be certain of holding the small highlight and shadow dots with finer AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 199 6 Screening 200 screens then HMS should allow you to output at significantly higher frequen cies However it does not assist you if you need to limit your screen frequen cies because of press registration problems HMS may be used to extend the length of print runs in situations where this is normally limited by drop out increasing as the print run progresses HMS acts on both the screen frequency and angle as define
480. put to the screen You can use this dialog box to choose the separations that are displayed Select a sep aration or use the Shift or Control keys to select multiple separation names then click one of these buttons On Displays the selected separation or separations Off Hides the selected separation or separations You cannot use this button if using it would hide all separations The other controls do not require a selected separation Color display By default the RIP displays the page image as quickly as possible If you prefer a more accurate but slower display of colors select Accurate from the Color display drop down list This control may be unavailable if there are restricted display colors because of hardware limitations or display modes chosen in the operating system Hand speed The hand speed determines how quickly the image moves when you move the mouse If you find that the page image moves too quickly you can slow down the hand speed by selecting Medium or Slow from the Hand speed drop down list You can close the Roam Options dialog box using the Roam gt Options menu option again Alternatively closing the Roam window will also close the Roam Options dia log box If you do not close the Roam Options dialog box explicitly it will be dis played the next time you preview pages 5 5 3 2 Reduced Roam and Reduced Preview windows When viewing a large or high resolution image the Roam gt Reduced Roam menu opt
481. r HDS dot The distribution of these dots or clusters through the screen is what gives HDS its characteristics Five varieties of HDS are supplied with HSL called HDS Super Fine HDS Fine HDS Medium HDS Coarse and HDS Super Coarse There are also closely related HDS screens for use with output devices supporting the alter ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 11 Harlequin Screening Library native process color systems discussed in Section 12 1 1 on page 363 For example you may see Hex HDS Super Fas wellas HDS Super F in the Dot shape menu of the Edit Style dialog box Warning Do not use Hex HDS Super F or other screens whose names start with Hex when your output device is operating in a conventional CMYK or RGB output space Several output plugins remove the names of inappropri ate dot shapes from the Dot shape list to help prevent mistaken choices These varieties differ in the size and distribution of the HDS dots clusters used to create tints The selection of which to use should be based on the phys ical characteristics of the imagesetter being used together with details of the plate making press ink paper and press environment In general the higher the quality of the entire printing process the smaller the HDS dot that can be used The finer HDS screens are best used with high qual ity imagesetters capable of holding single laser spots The coarser HDS screens are best selected on presses which cannot hold ve
482. r installed CID fonts every viable combination of CID font and CMap will be created These font resources are created when CID fonts or CMaps are installed using the Install Fonts option in the Fonts menu and are deleted when CID fonts are deleted using the Delete Fonts option from Fonts menu Font resources may also be created or deleted on startup if the available CID fonts or CMaps have changed since the last bootup Installing a CID font over AppleTalk with a font installer will not automatically create font resources the RIP must be quit and restarted to do this The created font resources may be deleted using the Delete Fonts option on the Fonts menu and will not be re created by the RIP Note The RIP supports the use of a variety of other fonts for example when they are embedded in PostScript language or PDF jobs The embedded fonts can include Compact Font Format CFF Type 2 Type 42 and Type 32 fonts 10 3 The DLD1 format The Harlequin RIP will convert Type 1 fonts and Type 1 fonts contained within composite fonts into its own DLD1 font format The DLD1 format stores font data far more efficiently than do standard stor age formats Access to font data and operations upon fonts are made much faster while the amount of PostScript language virtual memory consumed by the font is reduced dramatically The benefits of using the DLD1 format include a DLD1 format font occupies less disk space and this format can require u
483. r or lesser extent It is therefore highly recommended that all AcroForm files to be submitted to the Harlequin RIP are saved as print ready first 8 14 4 Related documentation The following documents may help you understand AcroForms e Graphic technology Prepress digital data exchange Use of PDF for compos ite data Part 1 Complete exchange PDF X 1 American National Stan dard CGATS 12 1 1999 This document is available from NPES see http www npes org for purchasing details e Portable Document Format Reference Manual Version 1 4 Adobe Inc e Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide Global Graphics Software 8 14 5 PDF Options dialog box Figure 8 10 shows the dialog box that appears when you click PDF Options in the Edit Page Setup dialog box This view shows some settings that are not at their default values AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 269 8 Configuring Input If you need to print PDF files with different options for example with differ ent passwords you can create a number of PDF page setup configurations PDF Options Eg m Print Pages I Print all pages Page s Enter page numbers and or ranges separated by commas For example 2 4 7 11 Page size bounding box MediaBox he PDF Types Accept type s Auto detect types he On eror Report errors and accept as PDF 1 3 z m Password I Use password to print protected documents Mo Cancel Figure
484. r save all the changes you have made to date by clicking OK in the Calibration Manager You can create or edit a calibration set in the Calibration Manager even if you do not want to use it in the current page setup Once you have saved the new calibration set by clicking OK in the Calibration Manager it will remain even if you Cancel the Edit Page Setup dialog box If you opened the Calibration Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can also save the changes by clicking Select In addition to saving the changes using the Select button displays the selected calibration set in the Calibration control in the Edit Page Setup dialog box If you click Cancel in the Calibration Manager you discard all changes to cali bration sets that you have made since you opened the Calibration Manager When you edit a calibration set for color data the procedure is very similar except that you must enter data for each color channel Note that although an imagesetter is not a multi color device you can create a separate calibration curve for each color to take account of the different screen angles 11 4 5 Applying the calibration You must select a calibration set from the Calibration drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box in order to use it Subsequently you can save the page setup and recall both the page setup and its corresponding calibration set as required Select your new calibration set in the Edit Page Setup dialog box and
485. ra tions to create a combined color separations style The RIP does not restrict the concept of color separation to producing sepa rated output When processing any job the RIP creates a separation for each process colorant and also where appropriate for spot colorants The output format determines whether the separations are printed together as a compos ite or separated By configuring these separations you can control the print ing of individual colorants in the job Although there is only one separation in the monochrome color space the RIP provides the same options for configur ing that separation Separations information is saved together with screening information in a separations style which can be used in several page setups You can keep a number of separations styles that you use regularly for example to define dif ferent screening options 6 1 Managing separations styles Separations styles are created and managed in the Separations Manager as shown in Figure 6 1 You can open the Separations Manager by clicking the AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 159 6 Screening 160 Separations Manager icon button next to the Style drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box or by choosing the Color gt Separations Manager com mand 6 2 Separations Manager dialog box Separations Manager x Device G hai Output Format Monochrome Halftone Monochrome Monochrome Halftone Monochrome Monochrome Cont
486. ration To obtain the best output you can calibrate the user printer so that it responds in the same way as the refer ence printer this produces your own calibration set that you can use in your page setup and edit or update as required When you create a page setup the Calibration entry must match the combina tion of device media and resolution being used This is true for both supplied calibration profiles and your own calibration sets Note You can tell apart supplied calibration profiles and calibration sets that you have created because most supplied calibration profiles appear in the Edit Page Setup dialog box with parentheses around the name shown in the Calibration list See the documentation for the relevant output plugin if you are in any doubt about identifying the entries in the Calibration list The page setup you use to print a target can use either kind of Calibration entry e To create your own calibration set for a device for the first time your page setup must use a supplied calibration profile for the device e To edit your own calibration set your page setup must use that calibra tion set Once you have identified or created an appropriate page setup follow the steps below to print a target using this page setup 1 Use the menu option Output gt Print Calibration and choose your page setup in the From Page Setup s list 2 Choose the type of target that you wish to print from the Print For menu Proces
487. ration 346 Assessing attainable accuracy 347 11 7 Tone curves 348 Creating and using tone curves 349 11 8 Press calibration 349 How does press calibration work 350 Alternative uses of press calibration 352 Direct to press 353 Version history Linear and None 353 11 9 Using a combination of calibration sets 354 11 10 Print Calibration dialog box 355 Buttons 355 Other controls 356 11 11 Calibration Manager dialog box 357 List headings and entries 359 Buttons 362 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box 363 Entry methods and variations 364 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Checks in the Edit Calibration dialog box 365 Warning Criteria panel 365 Other controls 366 Values 369 Test strips and data boxes for patches 369 Controls 369 Exiting the Edit Calibration dialog box 373 Color Separation cccccccecesseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 375 12 1 Introduction 376 Alternative process color systems 377 Spot colors 378 Types of color jobs 379 Harlequin RIP 379 Harlequin ColorPro 380 12 2 What color separations are 380 Knockouts and overprinting 381 12 3 Producing color images from separations 384 12 4 How color separations are produced 386 Color PostScript language jobs 387 Preseparated jobs 387 12 5 Creating and managing separations 388 12 6 Separations Manager dialog box 389 Controls and actions 389 New Style dialog box 391 Selecting several separations styles 392 Closing the Separations Manager 392 12 7 Edit Style dialog box 393 Pr
488. ration for the imagesetter The Intended Press calibration is not available when ColorPro is enabled Instead ColorPro provides several options for processing color data ahead of the transfer to press these options include emulating the output of one press on another type of press For details see the separate Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide The calibration set specified in Actual Press is always used From version 5 5r1 the default curve which is a device correction curve is applied before any other calibration ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 10 Print Calibration dialog box 11 10 Print Calibration dialog box Choose Output gt Print Calibration to display the Print Calibration dialog box as shown in Figure 11 2 page 334 You can select which page setup to apply while printing a test strip or expo sure sweep by choosing an entry from the list in this dialog box If you select several entries then when you click the button to print the appropriate target the RIP prints one test strip or exposure sweep for each page setup you have selected Note Some settings in the page setup are ignored or altered notably those in a ColorPro option that would change the color of a graphic object There may be different distinct targets for each output device or type of device If the output format supports additional colorants spot colors you can choose to print the calibration for Process Colors only Spot Colors only
489. ray levels with HPS and to control the number of extra levels even with PostScript Level 1 jobs This feature helps to eliminate stepping in vignettes and to avoid posterization while enabling you to set a limit on the number of levels that is appropriate to the required image quality The RIP also supports more than 256 shades of gray when they are specified using PostScript LanguageLevel 3 constructs 1 3 8 1 Harlequin Precision Screening For very high quality output Harlequin Precision Screening HPS has been produced This is a proprietary feature that eliminates objectionable moir patterning when producing color separations Once correctly set up and with sufficient memory available the Harlequin RIP can produce output with HPS at speeds comparable to those obtained when using traditional lower quality rational tangent screening HPS has been designed for automatic operation without the need to refer to complex tables of magic numbers and you can choose to override any bad settings in the job This is especially useful for print bureaus who often receive PostScript language code that is not set up for high quality screening 1 3 8 2 Harlequin Screening Library Global Graphics has developed a number of special screening strategies for very high quality press work particularly when printing in color They are included in the Harlequin Screening Library HSL and require separate pass words to become enabled HSL includes
490. rce Input Channel Edit x Name dw_apple 5 Configure Type AppleT alk sf Page Setup Default Page Setup z M Enabled Cancel Figure 8 2 Input Channel Edit dialog box ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 2 Managing input plugins 2 Type a name for the plugin device in the Name text box The name is used to identify the source within the RIP It may also be used by the input plugin itself If you create an AppleTalk input device when you start inputs a printer of this name becomes available on the AppleTalk network 3 Choose the plugin type from the Type drop down list 4 Choose a saved page setup from the Page Setup drop down list the RIP applies this page setup to each job arriving at the source 5 If the plugin is to be initially turned on select the Enabled check box 6 Click the Configure button to display an input plugin Configuration dialog box allowing you to specify details relevant to the plugin you have chosen The Configuration dialog box varies according to the type of plugin cho sen It is used to give details about how the input is to be handled and to set up any hardware associated with the source See Section 8 1 on page 222 for a list of input types and page references to their configura tion and use 7 When you have specified all the details for the new source click OK 8 2 3 Copying an input plugin When you have created an input plugin you can copy it
491. relating to different cassettes A new installation of the Harlequin RIP lists one cassette in the Cassette Man ager You can add more cassettes at any time and subsequently edit their information or delete their entries using the Edit New Copy and Delete buttons There is a related Edit Cassette dialog box in which you can alter the informa tion for a particular cassette Cassette Manager x Deseme feee e e Cassette 2 NN fim 2 00 45 90 Edit Manual Feed Done Copy Delete Units feet z RT Cancel Figure 9 4 Cassette Manager dialog box The information in the Cassette Manager also appears in the Edit Cassette dia log box each category is listed below There are two buttons which appear in the Cassette Manager only Use these buttons to tell the RIP when you have performed a manual operation On some output devices a manual operation may be the only option or it may be quicker than an operation driven by the RIP Manual Cut Done Click this button when you have cut the media in the current device Manual Feed Done Click this button when you have performed a manual feed of media in the current device AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 301 9 Media Management 302 Before using one of these buttons you must set up the amount of media used in the corresponding manual operation These quantities are labeled Manual feed length and Manual cut length in the Media Manager See Hardw
492. rent exposure for each combination of media and resolution Halftone frequency and dot shape will not affect required exposures significantly However the media and the chemistry of the developer used can make a big difference stable developer chemistry is very important for accurate calibration 11 4 2 1 Printing exposure tests Choose an appropriate page setup This should set the correct output device output resolution and negative positive settings dot shape and screening details if appropriate The dot shape and screening details are set in the sepa rations style of the page setup The exposure is unimportant at this stage you will override it to make the test print Section 11 4 3 on page 337 describes how to create a calibration set for this page setup Note If you are using a drum device with variable film feed you will usually want to rotate the page or select film saving when printing test strips See Media saving option on page 138 for details AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 333 11 Calibration 334 Choose Output gt Print Calibration The RIP displays the Print Calibration dialog box shown in Figure 11 2 Print Calibration x Print for aGIESSUBr Testy From Page Setup s Print uncalibrated target Print calibrated target Print uncalibrated press target finaline Print calibrated press target Print exposure sweep fea Erom Io Step po fha fi Cancel Figure 1
493. requested tint levels to actual tint levels and has some associated information including the intended output resolution exposure dot shape range of screen frequency and nega tive positive settings that the calibration set has been prepared for Whenever you select one or more calibration sets in the Edit Page Setup dia log box the RIP uses those calibration sets to output jobs 11 4 Example procedure The following procedure outlines basic cases in which you can create and apply a calibration set for a simple monochrome or color device driven directly by the RIP The same principles apply to more complex cases involv ing color devices and printing presses 11 4 1 Devices and requirements Although an imagesetter is not a multi color device you can create a separate calibration curve for each color to take account of the different screen angles ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 4 Example procedure To create calibration sets you need a reliable and accurate densitometer that is reflective for paper and transmissive for film The densitometer that you select should ideally display dot coverage in percentage terms rather than simple density readings since calculating coverage by hand is time consuming and prone to errors 11 4 1 1 Devices requiring exposure settings The procedure for a device such as an imagesetter needing a correct exposure setting is 1 Where appropriate establish the correct exposure for the
494. required for various types of graphic elements See also Section 6 10 1 Controlling extra grays in HPS on the extra grays feature available when using Harlequin Precision Screening HPS 6 7 1 Changing the halftone frequencies In the Edit Style dialog box there is a list of halftone frequencies one for each device resolution or for a range of resolutions The list of available resolutions depends on the chosen output device The RIP uses the frequency that corre sponds to the resolution selected in the Edit Page Setup dialog box The con trols below the list allow you to change the frequency for the selected row and to change the frequency and resolution units To change the halftone frequency for a particular resolution or range of reso lutions select the row in the list and type the desired frequency into the text box below You can change the units for the resolution to dots per inch dpi dots per centimeter dpcm or dots per millimeter dpmm You can change the units for the frequency to lines per inch lpi lines per centimeter Ipcm or lines per millimeter lpmm Sometimes the job itself specifies a screen frequency to use when rendering If this is the case the halftone frequency you specify in the Edit Style dialog box is ignored To force the RIP to use your screen frequency instead select the Override frequency in job check box Always consider selecting this box if you use HPS See Section 6 10 Harlequin
495. ress to be used Calibration is still a valuable process in this scheme but the purpose is to pro duce a known and repeatable non linear transfer It is possible to create a single calibration set that compensates for the com bined characteristics of an imagesetter and a printing press but this scheme is inflexible and clumsy where several imagesetters and presses may be used in various combinations Also you cannot account for absolute density varia tions A more flexible approach and one provided by the RIP is the ability to pro duce and use a calibration curve for each color of a printing press applied separately from film linearization This improves the accuracy and ease of compensating for the dot gain of for example Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS HDS screens gain more on press than conventional screens Calibrating the press for use with an HDS screen replaces a laborious and approximate compensation previously possible only by changing the film lin earity settings or scanning with HDS in mind Note that although an image setter is not a multi color device you can create a separate calibration curve for each color to take account of the different screen angles See Press calibration on page 349 for details of press calibration 328 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 3 Calibration in the Harlequin RIP 11 3 Calibration in the Harlequin RIP The calibration facilities allow several ways of working
496. results for most jobs When an option is selected from the ProofReady menu the options in the Separa tions Screening and Color section of the Page Setup dialog are enabled This allows you to create and edit ProofReady color setups or separation styles However non compatible separation styles and color setups cannot be selected or created If you want to create a calibration set for your printer rather than using the reference calibration profile you can print an uncalibrated target and import the data using Gen lin Once you have created a calibration set you must choose it from the Calibration menu You can also expand the capabilities of a ProofReady plugin by creating and using custom color setups built upon the same profiles used to create the default color set ups For more details of ProofReady plugins see the user guide for the relevant Proof Ready plugin AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 123 124 5 Configuring Output Formats 5 11 Multiple device output plugins The Harlequin RIP lets you install multiple device output plugins which allow you to drive a number of different devices without needing a separate output plugin for each one Note Many output plugins intended for use with a range of similar output devices such as inkjet printers are multiple output plugins but are supplied with preconfigured devices ready for use in the Edit Page Setup dialog box You should only need to use the description give
497. rinted Treat TIFF IT files as a single output group Select this box if you want to process TIFF IT P1 files as a group but only if you can predict that both the file names and the order of arrival follow these conditions All related files must have the same file name stem For example this is a valid group of files myfile ct myfile lw myfile hw and myfile fp All subfiles must be in the spool folder before the FP file arrives and is ready to print After processing a TIFF IT P1 group the RIP moves or deletes all the related files together with the action depending on success or failure and the settings of other controls in this dialog box If you leave this box unselected the RIP processes the individual files as they become available Note When producing TIFF IT P1 files as output using the optional TIFF IT P1 output plugin the RIP satisfies the rules for having the related files treated as a group 8 7 Using the Socket input plugin A socket is a hardware independent method of communicating across a net work The RIP Socket plugin supports TCP IP on Ethernet for job transfer between any combination of machines running the UNIX Windows 98 and ME Windows NT or Windows 2000 operating systems The RIP Socket plugin also supports a smaller set of features on Power Macin tosh computers but not 680x0 based Macintosh computers This smaller set of features is supported between any combination of Power Macintosh com A
498. ript language file formats such as EPS EPSF or EPSI all forms of encapsulated PostScript do not necessarily include a showpage operator at the end of the job To print these files directly from a RIP a showpage may need to be added AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 147 5 Configuring Output Formats If this option is selected the RIP automatically appends a showpage to jobs when necessary Note If a job containing a PostScript language error is aborted any partially com plete page is processed and output By default this option is not selected 5 22 7 Abort if calibration on and the selected cal set does not match job If you require job calibration select this option to prevent the RIP printing jobs with an inappropriate calibration set The calibration set is specified in the page setup See Chapter 11 Calibration for details By default this option is not selected 5 22 8 Abort the job if any fonts are missing Select this option to ensure that a job is aborted if any font it uses is not available If you leave this option unselected the RIP attempts to use a suitable replacement for any missing font By default this option is not selected You are able to specify Default fonts in the SW Config FontSubstitution file See Font substitution on page 311 for more details Note For PDF jobs the RIP ignores the setting of this option 5 22 9 Preserve monochrome and preseparated jobs Select this option o
499. rrect the flaws The new calibration val ues are in the existing set so there is no need to select a new calibration set in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Adjustment Here a calibrated strip is printed on each occasion except the first when an uncalibrated strip is printed to enter the values with New Edit from calibrated target is selected This should then show the perfect values If the device has changed these values will be a little in error and the new values can be entered A second calibrated strip can be printed to check the result Again the new calibration values are in the existing set so there is no need to select a new calibration set in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Note When working in density rather than percent dot it is not immediately obvious what the correct values should be Edit from calibrated target provides this information AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 343 11 Calibration However whatever method is adopted the most important rule is to match the edit command to the type of target To be explicit e When entering measurements using uncalibrated test strips always do so with Edit from uncalibrated target or New e When using calibrated test strips always do so with Edit from calibrated target Calibration will be completely wrong if you do not follow this rule 11 5 2 Variations on the Edit Calibration dialog box When you edit a calibration set the RIP displays the dialog b
500. ry fine detail such as high speed web offset presses The physical size of the HDS dot created with each of these options varies both with the imagesetter laser spot size and with the resolution at which it is driven HDS Super Coarse HDS Super C is designed to be suitable for use in newsprint applications on imagesetters at mid range resolutions that is 1000 through 1600 dots per inch dpi HDS Super Fine HDS Super F is designed for output devices where final copy is produced directly for example laser or inkjet printers HDS Super Fine HDS Fine AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 195 6 Screening 196 HDS Medium HDS Coarse HDS Super Coarse Below is a table with the spot sizes in microns for the different HDS models and different output resolutions for 20 HDS screen Imagesetter platesetter 1016 1200 1800 2400 3600 resolutions dpi HDS Super Fine 1x1 pixel 25 21 14 11 7 HDS Fine 2x1 pixels 35 30 20 15 10 HDS Medium 2x2 pixels 50 42 28 21 14 HDS Coarse 2x3 pixels 61 51 34 26 17 HDS Super Coarse 4x4 pixels 100 84 56 42 28 Table 6 1 Spot sizes in microns of a 20 HDS screen Both the frequency and the angle supplied in the Edit Style dialog box are ignored when using HDS screens except for calibration As with any high definition screening technology accurate calibration is important for good quality output using HDS and it may be necessary to cre ate several
501. ry simple image that is a pure magenta background with a pure yellow square in the middle The separations produced will be those in Figure 12 4 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 381 12 Color Separation Separations for a yellow square on a magenta background Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Figure 12 2 Color separations for a simple image with knockouts Since the yellow and magenta inks can portray yellow and magenta quite ade quately on their own the cyan and black separations are empty The yellow separation shows a square in the middle and nothing else The square signifies the presence of yellow in the image at that point The magenta separation shows a white square on a magenta background So magenta will be printed in every part of the image except for that square Because magenta will not be printed in the white square only yellow will appear there when the separations are put together This is important since if magenta was printed there too it would mix with the yellow and produce a square that was not pure yellow but red Equally no other inks will overlap the magenta background because no separations other than the magenta one contribute any color to that region An area of a separation that is made empty so that it does not interfere with a graphic object represented by a color or colors in other separations is called a knockout This is because the colored area has been knocked out of the
502. s Click New to create a new calibration set for the first time The RIP displays an appropriate version of the Edit Calibration dialog box Subsequently you will probably edit the set as described in Editing calibra tion sets on page 342 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 4 Example procedure 11 4 4 Entering the data When you edit a calibration set the RIP displays the dialog box shown in Figure 11 5 Edit uncalibrated target for None Eg m Warning Criteria Profile M Resolution poo Vettical api gt joo a Horizontal V Dot shape fEucidean T Screen freq ool a I Exposure M Use for Pos amp Neg Name Nonel Channel Monochrome x Measurements as Positive dot x I Negative media I Farce solid colors 100 150 30 0 400 450 500 1 00 re 00 i 00 E 00 i 00 fio oo feo f 20 00 430 00 440 00 45 00 50 00 550 600 700 80 0 80 9300 94 0 960 980 1000 55 00 eo 00 70 00 fs0 00 85 00 20 00 PE 94 00 96 00 198 00 100 00 ee a ee ah el hh a es ee a Smooth Clear Reset Import Cancel Extrapolate Figure 11 5 Edit Calibration dialog box For version 5 5r1 the way calibration works has been changed All calibration sets created before v5 5r1 will work in the same way they always have How ever if you decide to edit a calibration set created before v5 5r1 with a v5 5r1 RIP or later or create a new calibration set the values will be automatically adjusted
503. s A JPEG file in Progressive format a format option in Adobe Photoshop can not be printed by the Harlequin RIP Progressive format is often used for web downloads ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 16 Printing GIF files 8 16 Printing GIF files The Harlequin RIP can print GIF Graphics Interchange Format files using the Harlequin RIP gt Print File command or from a spool folder The easiest way to print GIF files is using the Harlequin RIP gt Print File command To see a listing of GIF files in the current folder use the GIF Files or A11 Files option in the Files of type drop down list of the Print File dialog box 8 17 Printing TIFF IT files The Harlequin RIP supports the imaging of TIFF IT Profile 1 files generally referred to as TIFF IT P1 files a common method of transferring images for use in advertising This section summarizes the history of the file format and its uses before describing how to enable and use imaging of these files in the RIP The description of use starts with Section 8 17 1 on page 279 See also Printing TIFF 6 0 files on page 282 8 17 1 General The Tag Image File Format TIFF is a well established and popular file format for raster images There have been a number of published standards for the format of TIFF files each successive standard generally being more complex than the last This growing complexity has reflected the format increasing in flexibility and providing for
504. s especially when the gray tint arises from a named Black spot color which is converted to process Overprint 100 black When this option is selected the RIP overprints 100 black rather then generating knockouts in the other separations The black channel or separation is generated as normal but depending upon the characteristics of the other inks may need to be applied last in the combination process so that it overprints all colors necessary If this option is selected overprinting occurs regardless of whether overprinting is switched on for that graphics object How the overprinting of the other separations is done depends on the Image only black option There is no performance penalty incurred by using this feature in fact it may be slightly faster to overprint given that knockouts do not have to be calculated This feature only applies to black objects not to individual pixels of a continuous tone image that happen to be 100 black 406 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 8 Color Setup Table 12 1 Input Document Controls in the New Color Setup dialog box Continued Fields Description Image only black This option controls whether solid black objects appear in the process color separations other than Black when the Overprint 100 black option is selected If this box is selected the RIP ignores the other process color components of black objects and no trace of the objects appears i
505. s consider recalibrating the measuring instru ment or following advice in the Symptoms section C 3 2 Symptoms Failure to communicate with the measuring instrument This may be due to a mismatch between configuration settings and the actual instrument or interface port used A break in cabling or a failure in software between the computer and the measuring instrument may also be the cause of a communication failure Check the connections and settings in the Configuration dialog box If these appear to be correct try switching off or disconnecting the measuring instrument for 30 seconds and then reconnecting it Alternatively Genlin may not be able to communicate with the measur ing instrument due to the re configuration of the interface port by another application If you think this is the case close the application that you suspect is causing the conflict If necessary shut down and restart your computer AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 451 Failure to read the correct data from the target A problem in this area is most likely to be a mismatch between the Target file selected in Genlin and the type of target you are physically measuring First make sure that the number you select in the target list after clicking File gt Read Target matches the reference number printed on the target itself If recalibrating you may have printed the target on the wrong paper type Otherwise you may have read the wrong patches when u
506. s style for the currently selected device A separations style contains information on separations and screening where appropriate which you can use in one or more page setups The choice of separations style determines the color space and format of the output Note Some output plugins allow you to set the color genera tion mode using the Configure Device button In this case the Style drop down list contains only the separations styles corresponding to the selected color generation mode If you change the Device you may have to select a corre sponding separations style for the new device before you can save the page setup Click the Separations Manager button to create or edit a sep arations style ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 14 Media saving option Separations Manager This icon button is next to the Style drop down list It opens the Separations Manager dialog box from which you can cre ate or edit a separations style See Chapter 12 Color Sepa ration for details The Separations Manager is independent of the Edit Page Setup dialog box You can create or edit a style in the Separa tions Manager even if you do not want to use it in the current page setup If you do want to use a new or changed style for this page setup select the style in the Separations Manager and click the Select button Color The Color drop down list allows you to choose a color setup for the currently selected device and color space The c
507. s Colors only is often suitable See Section 11 10 on page 355 for details of all these options 3 Prepare your printer for example by loading the correct paper and click Print uncalibrated target Enable output in the Output Controller if necessary to get a printed target Note You must print the target on the paper for which the calibration profile or set was created in order to obtain an accurate calibration set 332 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 4 Example procedure 4 Wait for this target to dry thoroughly before attempting to measure it Even when a target appears dry It can take ten minutes or more for some combination of inks and media to stabilize completely so that the colors are no longer changing and the target is unaffected by handling You can then follow the rest of this overall example procedure from Section 11 4 3 on page 337 11 4 2 Choosing the correct exposure For devices such as imagesetters where calibration is performed with respect to dot area coverage the first step is to ensure that your output device is set up with the correct exposure Attempting to calibrate an imagesetter with badly adjusted exposure settings will waste a lot of time and film and may lead to undesirable effects at plate making time such as variable dot gain Run a series of test pages at varying exposures to determine the setting required to give a solid black and a clear white You are likely to need to select a diffe
508. s and for different page sizes These figures are for halftone ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 1 Machine requirements page buffers holding a monochrome page or one separation of a separated page All figures are given in MB US Letter A4 Tabloid A3 Broadsheet Resolution U C U C U C U C U C 300 dpi 1 00 0 20 1 00 0 20 2 00 0 40 2 10 0 41 4 60 0 93 400 dpi 1 70 0 36 1 80 0 37 3 60 0 71 3 70 0 74 8 20 1 60 600 dpi 4 00 0 80 4 10 0 83 8 00 1 60 8 30 1 70 19 00 3 70 800 dpi 7 10 1 40 7 40 1 50 14 00 2 90 15 00 3 00 33 00 6 60 900 dpi 9 00 1 80 9 30 1 90 18 00 3 60 19 00 3 70 42 00 8 30 1200 dpi 16 00 3 20 17 00 3 40 32 00 6 40 34 00 7 20 74 00 14 80 1524 dpi 26 00 5 20 27 00 5 40 52 00 10 40 54 00 10 80 120 00 24 00 2400 dpi 64 00 12 80 68 00 13 60 128 00 25 60 136 00 27 20 296 00 59 20 3048 dpi 104 00 20 80 108 00 21 60 208 00 41 60 216 00 43 20 480 00 96 00 Table 2 1 Typical free disk requirements for page buffers Contone page buffers or composite color page buffers are bigger than mono chrome page buffers when uncompressed by a combined factor taking account of the number of bits used per color and the number of colors in the page buffer For example when uncompressed a four color page using 8 bits per color 256 tonal values would use 32 times more memory than the figures given here It is harder to predict the relative sizes of compressed page buffers because
509. s depend on the selected output device and the setting for Color space For example with a typical CMYK device operating in its own color space you can generate output as monochrome separations as colored separations either single or progressive proofs or as a composite For an RGB output device you can convert CMYK or N color separations to RGB output and so on When an arrow appears in the output format name it indicates that the color space does not match that of the output device Note Once you have set the color space and output format you cannot change them for the named separations style Click the Create button to open the Edit Style dialog box described in Section 12 7 on page 393 Click Cancel to discard your changes immediately 12 6 3 Selecting several separations styles You can select multiple separations styles when you want to delete or reorder them Use the following keys Shift To select a block of separations styles that appear together in the list select the first style in the block then while holding down the Shift key select the last style in the block Ctrl To select several separations styles regardless of whether they form a continu ous range hold down the Control key while selecting the styles you wish to delete 12 6 4 Closing the Separations Manager You must close the Separations Manager before you can use any tool bar but tons or menu options in the RIP ECRM RIP Operator Gui
510. s difficult to check the correctness of an installation If you have checked for faulty connections the most reliable procedure is to reinstall the software A 8 2 The Harlequin RIP is not picking jobs up correctly The software on either the printing PC or the RIP PC may need reinstalling If the RIP is published on the network but jobs do not get processed correctly check the following Spooler problems Some spoolers check for a specific product name The RIP is set to LaserWriter Sim If the spooler does not recognize this it may not send the job to the printer This name has been chosen to minimize such problems A 9 Spool folder problems and considerations In cases where the spool folder is on a file server you must ensure that the RIP has permission to access the shared folder and all enclosed folders 440 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Appendix B Jobs Containing Color Management Data Settings within the RIP in the job and in the images themselves can all control the processing of images in a job This appendix describes the settings that influence this processing and explains which setting takes precedence in each particular case Section B 1 on page 443 summarizes this information Important Different rules apply when you are using Color See the Harlequin ColorPro Users Guide for details If you are not using ColorPro the RIP checks the following for Photoshop and PDF jobs and allows independent co
511. s in ASCII and Adobe binary modes 260 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 11 Using more than one method Character Meaning C Generate an interrupt This terminates the job immediately with an error D Signal a normal end of job T Request a job status The job status is returned down the serial line as a message enclosed in square brackets For example this might be one such message job Test job status Waiting Table 8 1 Special characters in ASCII and Adobe binary modes 8 11 Using more than one method The RIP can use any combination of the above input types and listen on all active inputs When several inputs want to send data only one job can reach the RIP at a time but the other inputs may be able to receive and buffer data for later rendering To accept input from several sources create and enable the sources you want in the Input Controller The RIP automatically monitors all enabled sources as soon as the input system is started with the Start Inputs menu option AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 261 8 Configuring Input 262 8 12 Using the Print File command When you select Print File from the Harlequin RIP menu the dialog box shown in Figure 8 9 appears Print File 2 x Look in ja Test_ps x Sl pa E Name 3 football ps 33KB PS 477795 2 22 3 eyeball ps 43KB PS 4 7795 1 29 la digital ps 18KB PS 477795 1 26 a mothball ps 33KB PS 477795 2 22 gt F
512. s showing when printed due to slight misregistration If your copy of the RIP has the one of the optional TrapPro features enabled you can create sets of trapping rules and apply them within the RIP TrapPro is fully described in the separate TrapPro User Manual You must enable TrapPro or TrapProLite by obtaining a keyword and selecting the TrapPro or Trap ProLite item while following the procedure described in Section 6 11 1 on page 199 of this manual Making full use of trapping in the RIP can require the choice of appropriate options both in the applications creating the PostScript language job and in the RIP 12 10 1 Trapping and QuarkXPress The Harlequin RIP supports trapping facilities provided by QuarkXPress and its sett rap PostScript language extension QuarkXPress has the ability to generate arbitrary trapping It can do so in either of two ways e By including explicit overprinted borders in the PostScript language page description it produces This method works on all RIPs but may produce large job files e By indicating that a capable RIP should generate the trapping The RIP can do this if you select the settrap Quark option The QuarkXPress operator must use a printer description file declaring that the RIP sup ports this feature Using this option allows QuarkXPress to generate more compact PostScript code which saves disk space and may lead to faster interpretation by the RIP 414 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG123
513. s to listen for input Optionally you may need to know e A second port if you wish to return the standard output to the sending application and that application requires a separate port e Any protocol in use by the sending application The options supported by the Harlequin RIP are basic TCP IP socket stream or Xinet PapConnect In general you can ask your network administrator to allocate a port or ports and give you the number s or name s to enter in the RIP Using a name rather than a number allows the flexibility of changing only the services database if it becomes necessary to start using another port If you have no network administrator you may need to look at the services database yourself in order to find ports that are available for use In the UNIX operating system the services database is the file etc services Under Windows NT and Windows 2000 the position of the services database can vary between different installations of the operating system The adminis trator can choose where to install the operating system with the chosen loca tion recorded in the environment variable Systemroot and the services database is stored in a fixed relationship to this location For example if the operating system is installed in winnt then the services database is the file winnt system32 drivers etc services ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 7 Using the Socket input plugin Under Windows 98 and ME the servic
514. sage 427 Busy or off line message 427 C caldata folder 34 calibration and color process work 326 calibration sets 330 creating a calibration set 337 densitometer use 336 entering data 339 factors affecting accuracy 348 for positive and negative 345 maintenance strategies 342 printing a target 331 printing presses 349 screen frequencies 345 smoothing 340 stopping output without calibration set 148 turning on in Edit Page Setup dialog 155 156 157 Calibration Manager dialog 341 357 saving calibration sets 346 calibration sets copying 363 creating from imported files 371 creating from published data 370 editing 344 naming 366 operating on several sets 362 saving 346 status in Calibration Manager 361 Cassette Manager dialog 300 301 Cassette Manager Edit dialog 302 cassettes 466 changing 84 creating or deleting 301 media management 290 setting up monitoring 300 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 483 484 categories folder 34 CFF fonts 313 chain screening 193 Change roam color button in Info dialog 417 dialog 417 channels in calibration sets 367 character identifier fonts 313 charstrings folder 34 choke 466 CID fonts 313 CIDFont folder 34 CIP3 and PPF files 466 defined 466 CMap folder 34 CMYK 17 381 386 467 color changing 85 colorrenderings folder 34 device independent and ColorPro 353 operators 146 color management in a PDF job 441 instructions in a job 441 supplied with an output plugin 156 with ColorPro opt
515. sage 428 Ipcm lines per centimeter 473 Ipi lines per inch 473 Ipmm lines per millimeter 473 M margins setting in Page layout 138 measurements choice for calibration data 368 media 473 advancing 292 cutting 292 293 295 298 307 feeding 293 295 298 hardware feeds 306 low media warnings 306 monitoring 300 309 remaining length 304 saving optimization 137 saving film 144 type 303 width 303 media management 24 configuring 144 disabling 297 introduction 289 Media Manager dialog 296 Media Monitor 310 MediaSavingDir folder 36 memory allocating 214 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 489 490 increasing 214 requirements for disk space 30 requirements for RAM 28 temporary allocation 214 Memory for RIP option 214 Memory reserve for RIP option 215 menu device 473 menus changes in displayed commands 45 description of 41 language used in 217 messages in LOGFILE 66 language used in 217 warnings and errors 420 Messages folder 36 Microsoft Windows Help and manuals xix Minimum free disk space Configure RIP option 216 Minimum memory left for system option 214 215 Mirrorprint Edit Page Setup option 140 mirrorprint 474 misregistering separations effect 382 minimizing effect 414 missing fonts aborting jobs with 148 modes Multiple 89 Multiple Parallel 88 page buffering in the Harlequin RIP 70 Single 90 Single If Required 91 moir pattern 474 reducing 169 reducing with HPS 183 monitoring Harleq
516. screens where the black pixels are distributed dispersed around the halftone cell without being joined into one dot The way in which pixels are produced physically makes it difficult to manage dispersed pixels though Harlequin Dispersed Screening HDS exploits this effectively to produce a less prominent pattern in the output There are two common ways of producing dot shapes spot function screens and threshold screens Both kinds of halftone work by telling the RIP which pixel within a screen cell to mark next to obtain the next darker gray level The Harlequin RIP supports all the screen types defined by The PostScript Language Reference Manual 2nd Ed and the non proprietary types added in The PostScript Language Reference 3rd Edition This means support for HalftoneType values of 1 through 6 10 and 16 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 165 6 Screening 166 6 4 3 Spot function screens Spot functions describe the dot shape using a mathematical function which given the position of a pixel within a halftone cell produces a number which says where in the sequence of pixels that pixel should be marked This tech nique is very flexible because it allows a single function to define a halftone cell at any size or angle In the Harlequin RIP the common dot shapes are provided by spot function screens This means that all the screening options in the Edit Style dialog box are available including the benefits of using Harl
517. se by some RIP utilities Do not edit or remove it 2 4 Starting up the Harlequin RIP You should refer to the installation guide for your platform for details on how to install and configure the Harlequin RIP To start up the Harlequin RIP application choose the Harlequin RIP entry from the Start menu or double click the Harlequin RIP icon in the install folder lt company gt exe An initial dialog box is always displayed while the program starts up Some extra things happen in special circumstances e When you are starting up the RIP for the first time after installation you see a dialog box asking you to choose the language to be used in dialog boxes menus and messages The dialog box shows you which lan guages are available A language is available if the entries after its AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 39 2 Rumning the Harlequin RIP name are all Present or Yes If you are in doubt choose English United States initially you can switch to another language later using the Harlequin RIP gt Language menu option as described in Section 7 14 on page 223 Select your chosen language and click OK e When you have installed a plugin or other option that option may require enabling with a password The RIP can read the password from a file if the installation process for the plugin supplied one If the RIP reads a password file it displays a dialog box with a message similar to this but with differences to
518. se of the product Chapter 6 Screening explains the control the Harlequin RIP gives you over screening techniques This chapter includes a complete description of using Harlequin Precision Screening Chapter 7 Configuring the RIP shows you how you can configure the Harlequin RIP to give the best performance in your environment You will probably want to experiment with the options described in this chapter but once you are satisfied that the RIP is running as you want it you will not need to alter them on a regular basis The later chapters of the manual deal with specific facilities that the Harlequin RIP offers and may be used as reference Chapter 8 Configuring Input describes the different ways in which you can send PostScript language code and other forms of job as input to the Harlequin RIP either working on a stand alone machine or as part of a network Chapter 9 Media Management gives you complete details of the media management facilities available in the Harlequin RIP Chapter 10 Fonts describes the use that the Harlequin RIP makes of fonts the different font formats that are available and the special built in facilities that the RIP has to make handling fonts easy and more efficient Chapter 11 Calibration discusses the ways in which the Harlequin RIP can help you ensure accurate calibration of your output xviii ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Chapter 12 C
519. se of the gray level controls in the Edit Style dialog box including the effect of switching on or off HPS AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 183 6 Screening 184 There is one extra option within HPS The extra option Limit screen levels in the HPS Options dialog box allows you to separate pattern reduction adjustments from extra gray generation set the Limit screen levels value to a high value and Limit number of distinct gray levels in the Edit Style dialog box to the number of gray levels that you actually require If you see patterning on individual films try increasing the Limit screen levels value if you believe that there is a shortage of memory then reduce the value 6 10 2 Using the HPS controls Optimize for angle set fis 0 75 0 0 0 45 0 z p IZ Snap angles to nearest 7 5 degrees Angle accuracy Jo x Frequency accuracy fo Ipi Zero degrees frequency adjustment 7 00 Maximum frequency deviation E I Enable HPS 2 0 IT Abort if job accuracy not achieved Limit screen levels to E5536 z IV Generate clear centered rosettes Cancel 004 020 00 OK Peed Figure 6 6 Harlequin Precision Screening Options dialog box Section 6 9 on page 181 describes how the RIP arrives at a set of screening val ues for a job When using HPS for each screen in a job the RIP calculates the best set of screen angles and frequencies to use for the set requested The process starts with the req
520. separation One problem with using knockouts is that if the separations are not overlaid accurately enough there may be a white gap at the edge as shown in Figure 12 3 This effect is the product of misregistering the separations that is misaligning them when they are combined Nevertheless in cases where printing one ink on top of another would produce the wrong color producing ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 2 What color separations are separations with knockouts is essential Generally graphic and page design applications produce knockouts automatically Inaccuracies caused by misregistered knockouts can be overcome by using special printing effect such as trapping The RIP provides some support for trapping See Trapping features on page 414 Figure 12 3 Misregistered separations with white gaps Suppose we have another simple image that is a pure magenta background with a black square in the middle Figure 12 4 shows the separations that can be produced Separations for a black square on a magenta background Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Figure 12 4 Color separations for a simple image with black overprinting AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 383 12 Color Separation 384 In this case we do not need to make a knockout on the magenta separation because the black ink should be strong enough to overcome the influence of the magenta ink beneath it So we may choose not
521. sier to see where one job ends and the next starts Note This feed after a job will not occur if there is a cut after the last page of the job caused by either of the cut after pages or cut after job settings Before cut Feed through some media before making any cut per haps to stop film near a cut being exposed to external light The RIP feeds the amount of media you specify here before performing any of the automatic cuts described on page 297 or a cut that you have requested by choos ing Cut media with feed from the Device menu See also Hardware feeds on page 306 AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 299 9 Media Management 300 9 3 5 Interaction with other Harlequin RIP options The description just given of automatic cutting and feeding is accurate but there is also a degree of interaction with the RIP options to use media as eco nomically as possible These options either reorient pages or pack them together so that for example more than one page is imaged side by side in the length of media that would otherwise be used by one page The results are that the page length can vary or that the RIP treats several pages as one unit and that this unit is treated as a page by the media manage ment software This may be unexpected but it should not cause any problems The relevant options occur in the Optimization and Enable Feature drop down lists of the Edit Page Setup dialog box See Media saving option on
522. sing a manual instrument or incorrectly aligned the target when using a strip reader Finally the target may be incorrectly printed or the measuring instrument may need recalibration Failure to transfer correct data to the RIP Ensure that the RIP Folder specified in the Configuration dialog box is the path to the sw folder of the RIP installation into which you are importing data If the RIP Folder is correct this problem may be due to a problem with the content of the caldata folder where target and import data is stored This is very unlikely event but if it happens delete the caldata folder which is a subfolder of the Harlequin RIP sw folder and print the target again Note After deleting the caldata folder you cannot use Genlin to read targets created before you deleted the folder you must reprint the targets The reference number printed on the target does not appear in the list when you click File gt Read Target This can happen if the target was printed using a different Harlequin RIP installation Ensure that the RIP Folder setting in the Configuration dialog box is the correct path to the sw folder of the RIP installation used to print the target This can also happen because the caldata folder was deleted between printing the file and trying to read it with Genlin reprint the target and measure the new print 452 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Appendix D Harpoon PCI Screening Accelerator Harp
523. sing the New Page Setup dialog box You must close the New Page Setup dialog box to save your changes You must also close the Page Setup Manager before you can use any tool bar buttons or menu options in the RIP for example to start inputs AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 101 5 Configuring Output Formats If you click Save As in the New Page Setup dialog box a dialog box appears request ing that you enter a name for the new page setup Figure 5 3 shows this dialog box Save Setup x Default Page Setup Save As inating Cancel Figure 5 3 Save Setup dialog box The dialog box shows a list of existing page setups You have these options Type a name in the Save As text box and click Save The new page setup is added to the list in the Page Setup Manager Select a name from the list of the page setups to transfer it to the Save As text box You can edit the name first or click Save immediately to overwrite the existing setup ClickCancel to return to the New Page Setup dialog box If you attempt to save a setup using an existing name the RIP asks you to confirm the action before overwriting the existing setup If you answer No you return to the Save Setup dialog box where you can choose another name Once you have saved the page setup you must also click OK in the Page Setup Man ager to finally save your changes 5 4 Selecting different devices The Device drop down list in the Edit Page Set
524. single machine running a RIP whose only func tion is to accept page buffers and pass them to the fast output device as quickly as possible Note The separate FlatOut User Guide describes this situation and other more complex possibilities in greater detail The method described here is designed for the rerouting of complete and valid page buffers using Print File or spool folder inputs 8 19 1 Requirements and preparation There are some requirements on the installations involved and you must pre pare the receiving and supplying Harlequin RIP installations before use The requirements are e The RIP installation printing receiving the page buffers must have the same installed version of the same output plugin as used to produce the page buffers e This receiving RIP installation must be running in Multiple or Multi ple Parallel modes e The sending RIP installations must be version 4 5 or later e All the RIP installations must be running on the same platform for example Windows NT on an Intel compatible processor e It must be acceptable to have the original page buffers destroyed after output The preparation of the receiving RIP installation is to enable use of the PGB hot folder page feature and create a page setup Optionally you can use the page setup with a spool folder input 1 Enable the page feature by copying the PGB hot folder file from the SW Page Features Examples folder to the SW Page Features fol
525. sity and Dot the area coverage of halftone output Note that if you choose to edit a different Profile which uses an alternative measurement system a Measurement system not found warning is dis played and the correct system for the newly chosen profile is automatically selected in this menu AG12325 Rev 5 11 12 Edit Calibration dialog box Max density not illustrated This control allows for conversion between percent dot and density It appears only for the Printing Press device and for ColorPro profiles that require it to appear 11 12 5 Values You can enter values in any form offered to you in the drop down list labeled Measurements as Examples are e Percent dot 0 through 100 e Dot Gain relative values expressed in values from a perfect transfer curve e Status T Density e Visual or ISO Visual which is the same as the Visual channel of Status T e L from CIE L A B 11 12 6 Test strips and data boxes for patches Each output device can have its own pattern of test strip and there can be varying numbers of patches on test strips for different devices If the target uses fewer patches than the maximum 36 then the remaining data boxes appear empty and unlabeled You can exit this dialog box only when all labeled boxes have entries You can provide entries by typing by using Extrapolate or by using Import and a file of data values 11 12 7 Controls Negative media Select the Negative media
526. solely to reproduce flat tints 6 8 3 2 Contone scans If you are using a small desktop flat bed scanner that is producing contone images for output then you are usually able to work with output producing as few as 64 gray levels A few scans may benefit from up to 128 gray levels and the distinction is usually as much to do with which desktop scanner you are using as with the image content In general images with very gentle tonal or color graduations for example a cloudy but not stormy sky need the most gray levels but even in these cases the best 6 bit 64 gray levels scanner can produce better output than many 8 bit 256 gray levels competitors For scans made on a drum scanner or a high quality flat bed scanner you can usually obtain adequate output with this low number of gray levels but the quality of the output normally increases with up to 256 gray levels Several scanners are available which produce 10 12 or even 16 bits per channel image data and it is possible that you can increase the output quality of these images by allowing more gray levels on output PostScript LanguageLevel 3 includes the facility for 12 bit per channel images to be output 4096 gray lev els and this is supported in the Harlequin RIP The increased number of gray levels from the scanner is intended more to allow input noise to be removed ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 8 Screening options and number of gray levels and to reduce t
527. space in the progress box indicates the proportion of data not yet printed and not yet buffered e When the progress box is completely filled with dark gray the page has finished printing though margins and extra feeds may require a few more seconds In addition the time taken for the current page buffer is displayed in the mes sage area below the progress box Some printers may also buffer the data internally so they may not start print ing until some or all of the data has been received The message area and the progress box are both used to display additional information when problems arise For example if your printer becomes low on media an icon will be displayed in the progress box together with an appropriate status message See Appendix A Troubleshooting for a full description of these error messages Note In either of the single modes the Output Controller is not available and the progress box appears in a separate window AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 79 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods 4 3 2 Job management The Output Controller gives you control over a variety of page attributes Using the Output Controller you can for example e Ensure that certain pages will never be automatically deleted e Specify the number of copies of any page to print e Change individual page characteristics without having to interpret the job again There are two general methods of controlling these attributes
528. stems take advantage of the fact that there are small sets of colors that when mixed in the correct propor tions can produce any of a very wide range of other colors For example com binations of red green and blue inks commonly known as RGB or cyan magenta and yellow inks CMY can between them produce thousands of different hues Color printing more commonly uses CMY colors with the addition of a black ink to account for imperfections in the printing process This manual uses the term CMYK for the system of color representation using these four inks Cyan Magenta Yellow and blacK These inks are the commonly used process colors There are several other terms in common use some terms using B for Black or referring to the order of printing each ink by reordering the letters YMCK YMCB and KCMY are typical Black ink is used for several practical economic and quality reasons e Black appears very often for example in text e Black ink is cheaper than colored inks e Mixing CMY inks produces an impure black probably tinged with brown and can result in objectionable colored fringes on small objects such as characters in body text Additionally one application of black ink replaces three applications of colored inks so drying time can be reduced 376 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 1 Introduction e Black can be used to extend the range of colors and tints available from mixing CMY inks There are ways to
529. stop started The RIP has supplied data quickly enough but the device has stop started Paper jam Media has jammed in the output device Paper low The paper or film supply to the RIP output device is running low Paper out The paper or film supply to the output device has been exhausted Table A 9 Progress box messages Continued ECRM RIP Operator Guide 429 430 Printer caught up There was a data underrun and stop start was either not selected or is not supported by the printing device Take up full The take up cassette is full Take up space low Space in the take up cassette for the device is running low Toner low The toner supply to the output device is running low re sae 3 Toner out The toner supply to the output device has been exhausted 3 Unknown error An unknown condition has caused an error Warming up K The output device is preparing itself for communication with the ahalorde RIP Wrong cassette The wrong cassette is in the output device Table A 9 Progress box messages Continued A 4 Page imposition and media saving On wide printers using the media saving option described under Printing effects on page 148 can save both time and media You must ensure that you set the media width for the cassette being used correctly because it is the media width that is used to determine if the rotated page would fit on the media See Monitoring media on page 288 for details of how to set
530. subjected to bright sunlight Reasonable calibration can normally be achieved easily but for very high quality calibration a considerable amount of care in setting up and controlling the imagesetting environment is required 11 7 Tone curves Tone curves allow you to make another set of tone or color adjustments in addition to the device calibration and the press calibration In a properly con trolled workflow you should have little need to use tone curves but you may find that they offer a quick and effective way of working around short term ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 8 Press calibration difficulties such as lack of calibration facilities or badly formed jobs that you cannot easily correct in the job For example you may have to process a particular set of images where the correct calibration does not produce an acceptable printed result There are two common cases You may be able to produce a tone curve using exact data perhaps coming from a known setting in scanning or later processing Alter natively you may wish to emphasize a color or tonal range in response to artistic direction such as a request to boost the mid tone magenta component by 10 In all cases the tone curve is an exact record of what you have done kept sep arate from the device and press calibrations 11 7 1 Creating and using tone curves To create tone curves select the Tone Curves device in the Calibration Manager Create the calibr
531. such as 10 to 30 An example is QuarkXPress version 3 1 e Some calculate the number of gray levels which the current resolution and screen frequency could produce on a RIP that does not support extra gray level functionality and use that Examples are FreeHand and QuarkXPress version 3 11 and later when printing to a PostScript LanguageLevel 1 compatible device In the first two cases it may be worth switching on extra gray levels in the RIP if you are using a low resolution or a fine high frequency screen In the last case you gain no benefit by switching on extra grays 6 8 4 Gray level controls There are two screening options in the Edit Style dialog box shown in Figure 6 2 page 161 that affect the number of gray levels These options are applicable to any screen especially HDS to limit the num ber of available gray levels For HPS only the number of levels can also be increased to more than the natural number of levels for the screen Limit number of distinct gray levels When you have selected the accompanying check box Generate extra gray levels described next you can choose an entry from list to control the number of gray levels that the RIP produces There are several differ ent cases ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 9 Job settings and Harlequin RIP settings With this list enabled e When using HPS the RIP produces the exact number of gray levels set here e When not using HPS the RIP treats
532. supported or of an unrecognized type This can also occur if a file in the spool folder is locked by another application Close the file and try again 426 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 Table A 8 File messages Continued Message Things to try Inappropriate compres This message appears if you try to print a file that has sion an inappropriate compression format For example a color or grayscale TIFF file with CCITT compression CCITT compression is only suitable for monochrome TIFF files A 3 Warnings within the progress box When appropriate the progress box may show the following warning mes sages together with the accompanying icons The progress box is part of the Output Controller in either of the multiple modes or a separate window in either of the single modes Output plugins can supply their own warnings and icons which are not listed here ral AG12325 Rev 5 Buffer full The page buffer on the output device is full Buffer space low The output device is running out of buffering memory Busy The output device is working on another job Busy or off line The output device is either busy or off line Communications failed Communication between the RIP and the output device has either been broken or was never established Table A 9 Progress box messages ECRM RIP Operator Guide 427 428 Cover open The cover of the output device is open Data transfer failed Image data transfer b
533. systems the dots can have only one color value but can vary in size to alter the ratio of dot color to background color The simplest use of this technique is approximating gray levels with a pattern of black dots against a white background as illustrated in Figure 6 3 Here the size of the dots varies to represent different shades of gray You see an area of small dots as a light gray while an area of larger dots each nearly filling its allowed space in the pattern of dots is seen as dark gray More strictly it is not the size of the dots but the resultant ratio of black area to white area that represents the gray value ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 4 Halftoning Figure 6 3 An example of halftoning Color shades are approximated with three patterns of dots each in a primary color cyan magenta and yellow used with or without a fourth pattern of black dots This description of halftoning assumes three patterns in fact the fourth pattern of black dots is almost always used for technical reasons that do not affect the principles of halftoning Within each color separation the size of the dots in relation to their back ground is proportional to the amount of the primary color in the composite shade When the separations are combined typically by overprinting in regis tration they create the illusion of shades of color The cyan magenta and yel low dots cannot be distinguished when viewed from a distance
534. t find its definition in the composite font and then convert it into a bitmap before it is printed or previewed If a RIP does this for every character in the job it will be very slow The RIP minimizes the number of character conversions it has to do by storing the results of conversions in a RAM cache store This means that the first time a character is seen it is converted it into a bitmap and stored in the cache When that character is seen next the RIP does not need to convert it again because it can find the result immediately in the cache store Significant sav ings in processing time can be made using this method especially when deal ing with frequently used characters The RIP is able to cache more character data when more memory is available to it We recommend you allow extra memory in the range 16 MB through 322 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 10 10 Font substitution 32 MB You will need more memory still if you wish to cache several compos ite fonts Try experimenting with memory allocation as requirements will depend on the fonts and types of job you have If you are going to use a composite font regularly you should pre load it into the RIP See Pre loading fonts on page 318 Pre loading makes the RIP slower to start up but saves a great deal of time when processing jobs that use those fonts 10 10 Font substitution Generally it is preferable to use the exact font that was used in the design of t
535. t resolution You can preview halftone contone and grayscale images using the full color capabilities of the display system You can request a reduced view of the entire page in a separate window This provides a better idea of what the whole page looks like and also acts as a navigation aid to help you to display any part of the page at full resolution to check fine detail The remaining functionality depends on the page buffering mode Section 4 2 on page 78 describes page buffering modes Using either of the multiple page buffer modes you can view several separa tions or pages overlaid or separately This allows a good check of the page including checking image positioning trapping and so on You can view sep arations in their natural colors thus obtaining a realistic impression of final output or in false colors to highlight differences between similar separations or composite pages In either of the single page buffer modes you can view only individual sepa rations or a composite image and only in the natural colors 1 3 15 Page buffer compression When producing jobs at high resolutions or on large format devices large amounts of disk space are often required if page buffers are used The RIP makes the most of the available disk space by compressing page buffers as they are created and placed on disk and then uncompressing them as they are read from disk and printed or displayed Compression saves a great deal of d
536. t to start by printing them Files that are put into the folder after this input is enabled are rendered and printed in order of arrival in the folder Note The RIP may fail to publish a spool folder input If so the relevant entry in the Status column of the Input Controller dialog box shows Stopped The most likely reason is that you have tried to use a folder already in use by another spool folder input return to the Spool Folder Configuration dialog box and choose a new folder 3 When you want to stop running the spool folder and all other enabled inputs choose Start Inputs in the Harlequin RIP menu again AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 65 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 66 To disable a spool folder temporarily select it in the Input Controller and click Off To remove a spool folder s entry in the Input Controller select the entry and click Delete Removing the entry does not remove the associated folder on disk nor any contents of that folder 3 4 Monitoring the Harlequin RIP The Harlequin RIP window shows the progress of jobs through the Harlequin RIP The text displays information about timing errors job completion fonts and other messages Figure 3 7 shows some example messages in the Harlequin RIP window Setup loaded none72cmyk Starting Job On Sunday November 29 1998 10 45 43 Using Color Setup None Using default device calibration 1 AvantGarde BookOblique Interpretation
537. t up the RIP Output Controller 7 Monitor x Active Queue 1 fontlist Held Queue 1 Prolog Gray Composite 2 stock phot 1 fontlist 1 newprint 1 fontlist 1 4BCEF 1 hary pg 1 Uncalibrat on Test Strip Delete when necessary z Items 0 Usage 0Kb Disk free 24 5Mb Items 8 Usage 181Kb Figure 4 2 Output Controller Monitor dialog box 4 3 1 1 The Active Queue and Held Queue The Active Queue and Held Queue in the Output Controller can contain a num ber of items each representing a page of output The Active Queue contains pages which are currently queued for printing Pages listed at the top of the Active Queue will be printed first The Held Queue contains pages which are being held on your hard disk They may have already been printed or you may have moved them there yourself See Section 4 3 1 3 The number of items in a queue together with the amount of disk space they use is displayed below each queue If a page is currently being printed it is shown in the box at the top of the Output Controller between the Active Queue and Held Queue As pages are printed there is a constant flow from the Active Queue to the Held Queue After a page has been interpreted it will be placed at the end of the Active Queue printed in its turn and then transferred to the Held Queue where ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system it will be retained until disk spac
538. tRange is 336 throughput Generally the efficiency with which images are interpreted and pro duced In the Harlequin RIP specifically throughput is another term for Multiple Parallel mode where interpreting and output are carried out in parallel and the Output Controller is used to manage the printing of jobs See Chapter 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods TIFF Tag Image File Format The basic TIFF file format Without further details you cannot assume that something described as being a TIFF file conforms to the TIFF 6 0 TIFF IT or TIFF IT P1 standards Note TIFF IT is sometimes referred to as Transport Independent File Format for Image Technology This name refers to the same format as described in Chapter 8 Configuring Input trapping Techniques used to tackle undesirable printing effects caused by misreg istration of printed separations optical effects and so on See spread and choke See also Chapter 12 Color Separation virtual memory Virtual memory has these meanings In PostScript terminology virtual memory or VM is a pool of memory used for the storage of composite objects such as strings arrays and dic tionaries PostScript language compatible interpreters are free to imple ment VM using all appropriate types of memory in their working environment In computer operating systems virtual memory is disk memory used as an extension to physical memory built in memory or RAM Many oper ating s
539. tails Note This option is available only when the PostScript Lan guage compatibility level option is set to 3 By default this option is selected Act on XPress page comments when recombining AG12325 Rev 5 Select this option if you wish to recombine preseparated jobs submitted directly from QuarkXPress where there may be missing separations When you select this option the RIP is able to recombine QuarkXPress jobs by analyzing comments in the job For example the RIP can detect which separations to recombine into a page when given a sequence of separa tions such aa MYKCMYK Leave this option unselected if you are processing jobs that do not come directly from a file created by QuarkXPress for example after being assembled in an imposition package after output from QuarkXPress By default this option is not selected ECRM RIP Operator Guide 153 154 5 Configuring Output Formats Replace XPress graduated fills with smooth shading Select this check box to replace graduated fills produced by QuarkXPress with LanguageLevel 3 smooth shading shaded fills Shaded fills generally produce better visual quality and may be faster to generate You can use this selection if you are using the TrapPro trapping option This is because TrapPro can handle shaded fills Note This option is available only when the PostScript Lan guage compatibility level option is set to 3 By default this option is not selected 5 23
540. te will be used The default value taken by these options is the one specified in the page setup for the selected job See Chapter 5 Configuring Output For mats for details Only output devices suitable for the page buffer are shown in the Info dialog box 84 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 4 3 The throughput system 4 3 2 9 Changing the exposure If an appropriate output device is selected you can change the exposure for the selected page Type in the new value in the Exposure text box of the Info dialog box Next time the buffer is printed the new exposure value will be used You should consult the documentation for your output device to find appropriate exposure values and also see Chapter 11 Calibration 4 3 2 10 Changing the color You can specify the color of a job separation to roam from the Info dialog box Click the Change roam color button to use the Change Roam Color dialog box as described in Section 12 11 3 on page 404 When roaming color images this lets you assign different colors to different separations and view the resulting image without having to interpret the job again 4 3 2 11 Specifying page layout You can change a variety of margin settings for a page buffer by clicking Page layout in the Info dialog box The Page Layout dialog box will then be dis played as shown in Figure 4 5 It is the same as the Page Layout dialog box AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 85 4 Harlequi
541. te Select one or more page setups and click this button to delete them If any of the page setups are in use by a managed input the RIP displays a warning dialog box for each used page setup Click Yes if you are certain that you want to delete the page setup 5 2 2 Reordering page setups You can also select page setups and reorder them by dragging them to new positions in the list The order in the Page Setup Manager is the order of the page setups listed in the Print File Proof Fonts and Print Calibration dialog boxes and in the Select Page Setup dialog box shown before entry to the Executive window 5 2 3 Selecting several page setups You can select multiple page setups when you want to delete or reorder them Use the following keys Shift To select a block of setups that appear together in the list select the first setup in the block then while holding down the Shift key select the last setup in the block Ctrl To select several setups regardless of whether they form a continuous range hold down the Control key while selecting the setups you wish to delete ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 3 Edit Page Setup dialog box 5 2 4 Closing the Page Setup Manager You must close the Page Setup Manager before you can use any tool bar buttons or menu options in the RIP for example to start inputs You have these choices Click OK to confirm all the changes you have made in the Page Setup Manager or in the Ed
542. tems imme diately other items are created later as required by later reconfiguration of the RIP or the use of particular options such as screening features or spooled input The sw folder contains the following items e The caldata folder which is created when you first use the Output gt Print Calibration menu option to print a calibration target and is updated as you print more targets This folder holds files and folders describing the printed targets If you use the Genlin program to mea sure a printed target it generates a file of results in this folder e The categories folder contains the categories resource e The charstrings folder contains the file StandardCharStrings which contains the standard name to character mappings used by most fonts Other mapping files may also be stored here e The ciIDFont folder contains fonts defined in the CID character identi fier format e The CMap folder contains information for use with CID fonts e The colorrenderings folder contains color rendering resources e The colorspaces folder contains resources for the color spaces defined in the Harlequin RIP e The Complete folder is provided as a default location for the spool folder input to place files that it has successfully processed 34 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 3 Harlequin RIP folder structure e The Config folder contains all the configuration files for the Harlequin RIP These include files detailing
543. tensions listed under Section 8 18 2 on page 283 This support extends to all TIFF files produced by the Harlequin RIP TIFF out put plugin with the exception of files produced with these settings e In the Harlequin RIP version 5 0 through 5 5r0b where Style in the Edit Page Setup dialog box has been set to RGB Composite Band or CMYK Composite Band e In the Harlequin RIP version 4 5 and earlier where TIFF format in the TIFF Configuration dialog box has been set to PlanarConf 2 multiple strips Note From v 5 5r1 the Harlequin RIP can handle RGB Composite Band or CMYK Composite Band Style but only with the tiffexec operator tiffdev still does not support these styles Note The Eclipse Release and later RIPs support Palette color Index color TIFF files 8 18 1 Procedures TIFF 6 0 input is always enabled but operates only with Spool Folder input and the Print File command It is also possible to use TIFF 6 0 input from Post Script language instructions ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 18 Printing TIFF 6 0 files Copy the TIFF file to the correct folder for Spool Folder input or select it in the dialog box shown when you choose Print File If you use Print File type the file name or make sure that the RIP is displaying all files in the list of files TIFF files often have the file name extension TIF but this is not required This extract from the text displayed in the Harlequin RIP window shows the m
544. ter a password elsewhere read the documentation for the plugin carefully to find out where Also some language options for the user interface can require you to enable the language before you can use it see Section 7 14 on page 217 for details ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 8 Extras See Harlequin Screening Library on page 198 for details of how to use the screening options and how to obtain and enter passwords for all options requiring passwords to be entered in the Configure RIP Extras dialog box The other entries in the list can include ColorPro to enable the color management options within the Harlequin RIP Harlequin ColorPro is described in the separate Harlequin ColorPro User s Guide TrapPro and TrapProLite to enable the TrapPro trapping options within the RIP See the separate TrapPro User Manual for full details HDLT to enable Harlequin display list technology PostScript and PDF to enable PostScript language and PDF input TIFF IT to enable TIFF IT P1 input Note There is an optional TIFF IT P1 output plugin If this plugin is present it shows the entry TIFF IT P1 TIFF IT P1 Be careful to select the correct entry for input or output before entering a password Media Saving to enable the Media saving facilities There may also be entries for plugins that require a password These entries can be the result of Security dongles that require a password before allowing use of plugins
545. terised printing condition xxk X PDF X 1 Error multiple characterised printing condi tions All data in a PDF X 1 job must be prepared for exactly one character ized printing condition which is identified using embedded ICC pro files A job can embed multiple ICC profiles and each must contain a characterized printing condition but all conditions must be the same The RIP reports the first condition to the Monitor window in a message similar to this example Prepared for printing condition CGATS TR 001 A 8 Network troubleshooting This section covers solutions to network problems when configuring the Harlequin RIP A 8 1 Harlequin RIP fails to publish If the RIP is not publishing on the network check the following A 8 1 1 Network connections Ensure that the network cable is connected correctly to your The easiest way to do this is to check that the PC can see other things on the network For example are there any printers on the network visible in the Print Manager If not check that connections have not been broken due to connectors being removed Restart the RIP once you have checked the connections and corrected any problems with the network cable PC Start the RIP make sure that there is an AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 439 AppleTalk channel defined in the Input Controller that is on and then choose Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs A 8 1 2 Is the system software installed correctly It i
546. the CMYK color space or as 1 in the RGB color space That is the component is treated as transparent When this option is not selected a process color component produces a knockout on the separation However if overprinting is switched on for an object the RIP overprints colorants that are explic itly set to overprint using the Harlequin extension to setcmykcolor When Overprint process colors is selected Drop white objects determines how the RIP handles white objects objects defined as 0 0 0 0 setcmykcolor 1 setgray or 1 1 1 setrgbcolor If this option is selected and overprinting is switched on for that object the white object simply disappears from the separations If this option is not selected the white object knocks out underlying objects even when overprinting is switched on By default this option is not selected AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 405 12 Color Separation Table 12 1 Input Document Controls in the New Color Setup dialog box Continued Fields Description Overprint grays Select this object to enable the Cyan Magenta and Yellow colorants to be overprinted rather than knocked out when a color is specified as gray with the PostScript language setgray operator or spot color converted to a gray level and the job requests overprinting This behavior is not defined by the PostScript language and though it is unusual for a job to rely on it sometimes a job will assume thi
547. the Cassette Manager to finally save your changes The OK button saves the changes you have made and closes the Cassette Manager If you opened the Cassette Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box you can also save the changes by clicking the Select button In addition to saving the changes the Select button displays the selected cassette in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Click Cancel to discard all changes ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 9 4 Monitoring media Note If you open the Cassette Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box changes that you make in the Cassette Manager are independent of the Edit Page Setup dialog box For example if you create a cassette and close the Edit Cassette and Cassette Manager dialog boxes with OK or Select the new style will remain even if you cancel the Edit Page Setup dialog box 9 4 3 Using media management When using media management you must select both the feed cassette to be used and the output device in the Edit Page Setup dialog box as described in Cassette management on page 153 When printing a job the RIP uses the cassette selected in the saved page setup associated with the input source pro viding the job When you perform a manual operation on the output device use the Manual Cut Done or Manual Feed Done buttons in the Cassette Manager dialog box When you refill a cassette you must use the Edit Cassette dialog box to inform the RIP how much media is now in
548. the Input Controller Before creating new inputs or changing existing ones check that you have an appropriate page setup to associate with each input While creating page setups you can keep the Input Controller displayed but not the subsidiary dialog boxes Display the Input Controller dialog box by choosing the Harlequin RIP gt Input Controller menu option or clicking the tool bar button Figure 8 1 shows the Input Controller dialog box PName Type Page Setup Ena Status dw apple AppleTalk Default Page Setup On Idle draft_spool SpoolF older defpos On Idle neg_spool SpoolF older defneg On Idle I Show protected channels New Copy Delete Gn Off Figure 8 1 Input Controller window The Input Controller is similar to the Device Manager described in Section 5 11 Multiple device output plugins The main list shows the input sources currently available Each input source can be turned on or off individ ually using the buttons the state is displayed in the Status column Each row in the list represents one particular source and contains e The Name for the input source This is used to identify the source within the RIP It may also be used by the input plugin itself ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 2 Managing input plugins e The Type of input This determines which input plugin the RIP uses e The Page Setup This is the page setup used by all jobs arriving through this source e
549. the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM see Section 12 1 2 1 on page 364 The first three chapters contain information about what the Harlequin RIP does and how to get it up and running on your machine Chapter 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP gives a description of what the RIP does and the kind of tasks for which you can use it This chapter also gives a broad overview of the different versions of RIP that are available Chapter 2 Running the Harlequin RIP describes your machine requirements and how to start up the Harlequin RIP once it is installed Chapter 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP describes the most fundamental elements of the system It shows you how to do useful work without learning a large number of new skills The next four chapters form a more comprehensive account of the software AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide xvii Chapter 4 Harlequin RIP Output Methods introduces the different ways in which the RIP can operate and how you can get the best perfor mance out of the software for the jobs you are running The chapter moves from general principles to more specific examples of the best way to use the RIP Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats describes the flexibility the Harlequin RIP provides for configuring the appearance of any printed page The tools described in this chapter will be used on a regular basis and are important for anyone who will make extensive u
550. the cassette 9 4 4 Using media management with multiple setups Sometimes you will need to process a job on a device that had previously used one cassette and now must use another This is quite likely to happen when using a number of different page setups When a change of cassette is required the RIP will warn you that the correct cassette is not in the current device and will halt printing until you have loaded it This ensures that you will never waste time or media by printing jobs on the wrong cassette If you are running the RIP in a Multiple mode the warning will appear in the progress box of the Output Controller If you are running in a Single mode it will appear in a separate progress box on the screen Note The RIP cannot tell which cassette is loaded on the output device so it will issue a warning even if you have changed to the correct cassette after the previous job was produced Always inform the RIP when you physically change cassettes by selecting a page setup that uses the new cassette AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 305 9 Media Management 9 4 5 Low media warnings The RIP can warn you when the amount of media in the current feed cassette is low and before the media actually runs out You can specify thresholds for up to three warnings using the Media Manager In the section labeled Length warnings type values into the First Second and Final text boxes The RIP sorts the three values so that the
551. the new style is a true copy of the original Once you have named the copy and clicked Create you can modify individual set tings in the Edit Style dialog box Style name Color space Output format AG12325 Rev 5 New Style for device None x To create a new Colors Screening and Separations style select the Color Space amp Output Format and give it a name The style needs to be created before you can set the separations and or screening parameters Style name N ew Settings Color space CMYK z Output format Separations Halftone gt Monochrome o o Figure 12 10 New Style dialog box Type in a name for the separations style The style name must be unique and can be up to 30 characters long Select the color space from the drop down list You can select any color space known by the RIP not just the color space of the target device Monochrome RGB and CMYK are always available If you have installed an N color device you can also use its color space even if you are not printing to that N color device This choice determines the process colorants specified in the separations style The output format specifies how the colorants will be printed on the output device Once you have selected the color space select an output format from the drop down list This specifies how to generate the output on the target device The available ECRM RIP Operator Guide 12 Color Separation option
552. the pages the OptimalGutter value below may be edited to change this effect This imposes two pages one above the other on the film By default no space is left between the pages the Optimal Gutter value below may be edited to change this effect This will read BoundingBox and PageBoundingBox com ments in PostScript files interpreted through the RIP and will use the page size and origin position set in these comments as long as no page size has already been explicitly set by the job This is useful for processing EPS files which should not explicitly set page sizes but which may have an origin at some distance from the lower left corner of the image This will add crop marks and gray wedges to a page output through the RIP If the page is monochrome register marks crop marks file name time amp date of processing and a single gray wedge will be added If the page is a composite page being auto separated by the RIP register marks crop marks file name time amp date will be added along with a step wedge for each of CMYK and a set of progressive patches for ink trapping and neutral den sity tests If the job is preseparated the RIP will also detect the color of each plate and add the appropriate marks AG12325 5 20 Features If the page is being auto separated and also includes spot sep arations crop and register marks will be added to each spot separation plate and a note of the plate name included Error Handler
553. the settings for a particular colorant select the colorant from the list and edit the values in the boxes below To change the screen angle type the ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 6 Dot shapes new value in the Angle text box For details of the other options see Section 12 7 Edit Style dialog box on page 379 Note The Angle column and text box are both blank when the selected Dot shape does not have a controllable angle Typically this is because the dot shape belongs to a threshold screen which does not have a conventional angle or because the screening is being done in an output plugin or hardware device Each colorant has its own screening angle which allows you to avoid moir problems when a job has several spot colors used in duotone combinations with each other or with the standard process colors The angles shown in the Edit Style dialog box always take effect for jobs that contain no screening requests If the job attempts to set screening you must select the Override angles in job check box if you want to use the values shown in this dialog box 6 6 Dot shapes Manipulating the dot shape generated can greatly influence the amount of dot gain in an image The Harlequin RIP offers a variety of dot shapes your choice between them might depend on the output device resolution and media used and the type of image Dot shapes are controlled from the Dot shape drop down list which is one of the screening
554. the use of spot colors and reports the colors on screen before you print You can use features by choosing one from a drop down list without knowing how they work but with a little knowledge you can add new features A Harlequin RIP fea ture is a fragment of PostScript language code which is executed just before a job is run The fragment specifies the changes to be made to the interpretation of that job but is completely independent of it 5 20 1 Using features Several page features are supplied with the RIP ready for immediate use To use one of these features select the Enable Feature check box and select a feature from the drop down list Make any other settings you wish and save the page setup The feature is applied to all jobs using that page setup until you clear the check box AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 141 142 5 Configuring Output Formats Many of the features enable you to save media by packing pages on large format devices or to get more information about jobs and any errors arising from jobs In addition one feature Image replacement enables substitution of high resolution images for PostScript language jobs using Open Prepress Interface OPI and Desktop Color Separation DCS schemes The page features currently supplied and supported are 2 across 2 up Bounding Box Crop Marks ECRM RIP Operator Guide This imposes two pages side by side on the film By default no space is left between
555. the value chosen here as an absolute upper limit and uses the natural value of the screen or this limit whichever is lower This list is disabled when Generate extra gray levels is not selected With this list disabled out e When using HPS the RIP produces the number of gray levels required to attain the specified accuracy of screening as set in the HPS Options dialog box shown in Figure 6 6 page 184 e When not using HPS the RIP produces the natural number of gray levels for the screen For HDS the natural number can be very large and using HDS unlimited can have a performance penalty Generate extra gray levels There are two possible reasons for selecting this box e With all Harlequin RIP screening options it enables the use of the Limit number of distinct gray levels to restrict the number of gray levels produced on the output page e With HPS only it enables the use of more screening levels than needed to get the required accuracy of screen angle and frequency Generating a large number of screening levels can reduce undesired patterning even if the number of levels actually used is restricted by the value chosen for Limit number of distinct gray levels See Section 6 10 1 on page 183 for the control of extra screening levels in HPS 6 9 Job settings and Harlequin RIP settings The details of how you can choose settings for dot shape frequency and angle are given in respectively Section 6 6 on page 171 Section 6 7
556. then the password is not accepted The fact that the Enable Feature dialog box accepts a password does not neces sarily imply that the password is correct for that particular screen set on that particular copy of the RIP Remember that the serial number of the Harlequin RIP is set by the dongle If you get errors when using an HSL screen please check that the entered password is correct 6 11 2 Selecting an HSL screen set Once enabled each screen set adds one or more entries to the Dot shape drop down list in the Edit Style dialog box Select the entry for the screen you want to use Note You can select a screen set in the Edit Style dialog box so long as the RIP has accepted a non zero password entered in the Password dialog box All attempts to use the screen will fail if the password entered is invalid for the the Harlequin RIP serial number currently in use 6 11 3 Harlequin Chain Screening HCS Harlequin Chain Screening uses a long ratio elliptical dot When used for pro cess color separations the angles used are 60 apart rather than the more com mon 30 apart used for most offset litho work This gives an overall triangular AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 6 Screening 194 pattern and produces a very fine rosette structure The angles used are 45 45 15 and 75 for yellow magenta cyan and black respectively When used at high frequencies this screening set is extremely good at holding d
557. then you can set the Allow stop start option in the Configure RIP Options dialog box to allow the page to output ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 7 3 Control of page buffering modes When using Single if required mode if the printer runs so fast that it catches up with the data being supplied by the RIP the RIP will create a page buffer containing the data for the current page The RIP will then reprint that page before carrying on with the next page However if your printer can stop start you have two options e Allow a page buffer to be created and output again If the page buffer still cannot be output fast enough to keep up with the printer the job will be aborted e Stop the printer until enough image has been processed and then start the printer again You can choose which of these should be done from the Configure RIP Options dialog box as shown in Figure 7 2 Display this dialog box by clicking on the Options button on the main Configure RIP dialog box Configure RIP Options Eg IV Automatic prep loading e g Aldus Apple I Startup prep AppieLaserPrep6 0 Disk space left for system Mb Minimum memory left for system 16384 Kb Band size for printing buffer fize Kb Minimum compression ratio 66 70 I Memory for RIP 8192 Kb Memory reserve for RIP 0 Kb I Allow use of all available memory T Allow stop start T Disable sounds Cancel Figure 7 2 Configure RIP Options dialog box
558. this text box the amount of media that the output device feeds when it receives a software feed request The Media Manager will add this amount to its record of the amount of media consumed for every job pro cessed and deduct it from the details of the relevant cassette This is used in addition to the around each page feed value Built in cut length Type into this text box the amount of media that the output device feeds before a cut triggered by software Whenever a cut is issued the RIP will subtract this amount from its record of the remaining length of media for the current cassette This is used in addition to the before cut feed value Manual feed length Type into this text box the amount of media that the output device feeds when a front panel button triggers a media feed The RIP adds this amount to its record of the amount of media consumed and deducts it from the details of the relevant feed cassette Manual cut length Type into this text box the amount of media that the current output device feeds before a cut triggered by a front panel button AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 307 9 Media Management 308 Whenever you inform the RIP that you have performed a cut the RIP subtracts this amount from its record of the remaining length of media in the current cassette For these options you can choose units from the Select units drop down list at the bottom of the dialog box The units available are feet
559. time To use software screening leave both of the check boxes clear This disables Harpoon PCI entirely To enable Harpoon PCI for screening at the time of software screening select only the box called Enable hardware screening accelerator Run a job as normal You should see the following message in the Harlequin RIP window as the job is processed The message continues to appear once for each job making the same use of Harpoon PCI Screening accelerator enabled To enable Harpoon PCI with screening at output time select the box labeled Screen at output time Run a job as normal You should see the following mes sages in the Harlequin RIP window Screening accelerator enabled Screening deferred until output The Device drop down list and the Configure device button enable future expansion such as a choice of alternative accelerator devices and configuring your use of alternative or multiple devices With only a single Harpoon PCI card installed there is only one entry for Device The name of the entry is dif ferent on different platforms At this release there are no extra options so the Configure device button is always grayed out AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 459 460 Whenever you are using hardware screening with Harpoon PCI you may see one of two messages e If you are using Generate extra gray levels in the Edit Style dialog box and limiting the number of gray levels to 128 or 256 you see Using 8 bit R
560. tino litalic abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQR 1234567890 UA amp _ Figure 10 2 An example of font proofing You can proof fonts either on a printer or on your screen by choosing Proof Fonts from the Fonts menu The RIP produces the proof using your choice of page setup and fits as many fonts as possible on a page Figure 10 2 shows an example of a short format proof for one font AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 319 10 Fonts When you choose Proof Fonts the RIP displays a dialog box that lists all of the fonts currently installed as shown in Figure 10 3 Proof Highlighted Fonts x NewCenturySchibk Bold NewCenturySchibk Boldltalic NewCenturySchibk Italic NewCenturySchibk Roman N Palatino Roman Stick Symbol y zl Page Setup I Proof fonts in long format Cancel Figure 10 3 Proof Highlighted Fonts dialog box First choose an appropriate page setup for proofing the fonts from the Page Setup drop down list Note If you forget to choose a page setup the RIP uses the one that you chose last time you proofed fonts If you have not proofed fonts in this RIP session the first page setup in the listing is used To change the order of this listing see Reordering page setups on page 106 Select the fonts you want to proof and click Proof You can select as many fonts as you like Shift To select a block of several fonts select the first font in the block
561. tion 8 1 on page 222 for a list of input types and page references to their configuration and use 8 2 6 Deleting an input source To delete an input source from the RIP select it in the Input Controller and click the Delete button You can select multiple inputs and delete them in one action 8 2 7 Enabling and disabling input sources To enable an input source select it in the Input Controller and click the On button To disable a source select it and click the Off button Using these but tons has the same effect as selecting or clearing the Enabled check box in the relevant Input Channel Edit dialog box When the selected input source is enabled then the On button is disabled and when it is not enabled then the Off button is disabled You can select several input sources and then turn them on or off together ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 8 3 Using the AppleTalk input plugin When an input plugin is enabled the RIP automatically publishes it when starting input queues meaning that the input plugin can be used to send jobs to the RIP To make enabled inputs active choose Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs or click the tool bar button that has a picture of a green arrow and traffic light See Section 8 2 1 Turning on the input system To stop all enabled inputs choose Harlequin RIP gt Start Inputs again or click the tool bar button that has a picture of a red arrow and traffic light 8 3 Using the Apple
562. tion 8 5 3 8 5 3 Configuring the named pipe The Configuration dialog box allows you change another part of the name for the pipe and to allow more than one connection to the same named pipe When configuring a front end or server application to send data to the RIP using named pipes you must enter the full name of the pipe The format for the name is lt machine gt pipe lt pipe prefix gt lt name gt To get an actual name replace lt machine gt with the name of the computer run ning the RIP replace lt pipe prefix gt with the name entered in the Named Pipe AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 237 8 Configuring Input 238 Plugin dialog box and replace lt name gt with the name you entered in the Input Channel Edit dialog box If the RIP is running on a Windows NT system named BRICK and the channel has been defined in the RIP with the name Fred the pipe name would be BRICK pipe ScriptWorks Channel Fred Named Pipe Plugin x Configuration Scriptworks Channel Pipe Prefix 2 Pipe Instances Cancel Figure 8 5 Named Pipe Plugin dialog box Pipe Prefix Pipe instances ECRM RIP Operator Guide If you wish to use a different scheme for pipe names you can change the prefix by clicking on the Configure button in the Input Channel Edit dialog box The RIP displays the Named Pipe Plugin dialog box For example entering RIP in the Pipe Prefix field would make the full pipe name B
563. to account for the application of the default curve to the calibration The default curve is a linearization profile of the output device Previously the default curve was only taken into account when the calibration set was first created and not after editing From v5 5r1 the default calibration curve is always taken into account If you leave the Edit calibration dialog by selecting Cancel the new values will not be saved and the calibration will work as before If however you decide to AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 339 11 Calibration save the new values the calibration will work using the default curve and will produce more accurate results When you click New to create a new calibration set you enter the Edit Calibration dialog box for an uncalibrated target with all Warning criteria boxes empty The warning criteria list the resolution dot shape screen frequency and so on that this calibration set is intended to work with At least you must e Name the new calibration set e Show what kind of values you are measuring e Provide data values You should also use the Warning criteria boxes to show which settings the calibration set is intended to work with Edit Calibration dialog box on page 363 describes how to use all the items in this dialog box but this short procedure mentions the essential items 1 Type a name into the Name text box 2 Choose the type of measurement you are making from the Meas
564. to create other inputs of a similar type This can save you some effort depending on the complexity of the Configuration dialog box To copy an existing input select the entry in the Input Controller and click the Copy button You must give the copied input a new name and you will probably need to alter some details in the Configuration dialog box For example only one active input can use a particular spool folder or network input at one time but you can have two or more inputs using the same source provided that you enable only one at a time AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 8 Configuring Input 228 8 2 4 Editing the details for an input source To edit the details for an existing input source do one of the following e Select the entry in the Input Controller and click the Edit button e Double click the entry in the Input Controller The RIP displays an Input Channel Edit dialog box allowing you to edit the details for the selected plugin For full details of using this dialog box see Section 8 2 2 on page 226 8 2 5 Configuring an input plugin Configuring an input means giving details about how the input is to be han dled and setting up any hardware or software associated with the source To configure an existing input plugin select it in the Input Controller and click Edit The RIP displays the Input Channel Edit dialog box Click Configure to see the Configuration dialog box for the selected input See Sec
565. to disk To try and avoid this you can allocate extra temporary memory for the RIP using the Memory reserve for RIP option This option allows the RIP to use additional physical and virtual memory while completing the job Note If you allocate a large amount of extra temporary memory the operat ing system may start paging Paging would slow the system down more than painting partial page buffers to disk We recommend that you allocate less than 4 MB of extra temporary memory There are some instances when the RIP cannot paint partial page buffers to disk for example when recombining preseparated jobs or using TrapPro The RIP cannot complete the job if it does not have enough memory In such instances select the Allow use of all available memory option The RIP will use all the available physical and virtual memory to try and complete the job Using all the memory may severely degrade performance until the job has fin ished From the total memory allocated to it at startup the RIP allocates the printer and network buffers All memory not used for these buffers is used by the RIP for processing jobs The final allocations used are reported in the Harlequin RIP window when the RIP starts up AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 215 7 Configuring the RIP 216 If there is insufficient memory to allocate the buffers requested the RIP tries the following methods of automatic recovery in the order shown e Reducing the netw
566. tor Guide AG12325 5 14 Media saving option When enabled the RIP Output menu contains the Media Saving option which on selection displays the Media Saving dialog Media Saving x 2 72 72 1 Roam Delete Print Flat Margin between pages oo inches 7 Apply T Time to wait between pages fi 0000 rrinutes Order of pages on flat none X Figure 5 10 Media Saving dialog box 5 14 1 The Media Saving dialog box The Media Saving dialog box displays all the information required for you to keep track of which jobs are being combined into flats Jobs will only be added to a flat if the resolution bit depth paper type and device are all the same if any of these are different a new flat will be created As soon as a flat is full it will be output to the device A flat is deemed full when it reaches that stage where any new page of the same specification will not fit in the flat You can send a flat to the output device before it is completed by highlighting the flat to be output followed by clicking the Print Flat button You can ensure enough space is placed around each job by specifying a value in the Margin between pages option The Media saver ensures that there is the same given margin between the edges of the paper and the pages of jobs it achieves this by abso AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 131 5 Configuring Output Formats lute positioning of the pages on the flat Shown below is a diagram i
567. tput Methods box reducing with each copy until the value is 1 The Copies printed value keeps count of how many pages have been printed in total 4 3 2 6 Printing in negative You can produce a negative copy of a positive page buffer or a positive copy of a negative page buffer by selecting the Negative check box in the Info dialog box The default value taken by this option is the one specified in the page setup for the selected job for instance if the page setup specifies negative printing you can use this option to produce a positive copy See Chapter 5 Configuring Output Formats for details of page setups and how they are defined Note If you have calibrated your output device selecting this option from the Info dialog box may produce incorrectly calibrated output If so select the Negative option in the Edit Page Setup dialog box instead and output the job again 4 3 2 7 Getting rid of blank space You can trim white space from the top and bottom of a page by selecting the Trim page check box in the Info dialog box The default value is specified in the page setup for the selected job See Chapter 5 Configuring Output For mats for details 4 3 2 8 Changing the output device or cassette You can change the selected output device or cassette for a page by choosing the one you want in the Output device or Cassette drop down lists of the Info dialog box Next time the page is printed the new output device or casset
568. tries you made in the previous edit When you click OK or Select in the Calibration Manager the RIP commits the changes in all edited calibration sets Once committed the status reverts to C or U both edit commands are enabled and you see the perfect curve when you next view the calibration curve using Edit from calibrated target Perfect in this context means linear only in some measurement systems Once you have committed changes the RIP can show you either the cali brated or the uncalibrated curve for any future updating of the calibration Note The same calibration set can have status U or c depending on the last target and the corresponding edit command used to update it 11 11 2 Buttons Most buttons operate on multiple calibration sets Only the two edit buttons require just one selected calibration set Edit from uncalibrated target Click this button to enter the Edit Calibration dialog box for an uncalibrated target produced on an output device or printing press Edit from calibrated target Click this button to enter the Edit Calibration dialog box for a calibrated target produced on an output device or printing press New Click this button to create a new calibration set You enter the Edit Calibration dialog box for an uncali brated target with all Warning criteria boxes empty At least you must name the new calibration set and provide data values ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 12 Edit Calibr
569. ts are grouped by device and by color space When you open the Calibration Manager from the Edit Page Setup dialog box the RIP displays the calibration sets for the current device and current color space if any have been created The choice of separations style determines the color space When you first open the Calibration Manager after installing the RIP the list box is empty AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 337 11 Calibration 338 If you open the Calibration Manager using the Output gt Calibration Manager command select the appropriate device from the Device drop down list and if necessary select a color space from the Color Space drop down list Calibration Dot Gain Manager x Device None 7 Color Space Monochrome Name Resolution Dotshape Freg Exp Profile Status _ Nonel 300x300 Euclidean Any n a Y Linear D None2 300x300 Euclidean Any n a Y Linear D Edit from uncalibrated target Edit from calibrated target OK Cancel Figure 11 4 Calibration Manager dialog box The column headings are various properties of a calibration set The first col umn in the list is the name of the calibration set and the last column is the edited or unedited status of the calibration Each of the remaining columns in the list corresponds to the name of one of the warning criteria in the Edit Calibration dialog box See Calibration Manager dialog box on page 357 for full detail
570. tterning on individual screens This can be caused either by the hardware or the software If you see stripes or bands parallel to the output engine s scan lines across the film on a capstan device along it in a drum device then try these cures e Rotate the page by 90 degrees e Select the check box Rotate screens according to page rotation in the Edit Style dialog box This check box does not affect HDS e Output the page again If the bands rotate with the page the problem can probably be corrected by adjusting settings in the RIP if they do not your hardware may be at fault If you are seeing patterning on individual films there are two techniques that you can try which may help to reduce the effect e Increase the number of screen levels generated In the HPS Options dialog box set a high number for Limit screen levels The default value is 65536 which is the maximum value e Try slightly different screen frequencies often a change of only a couple of lines per inch can make a considerable difference to the patterning ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening 6 10 3 2 Moir between two or more films Many people make the mistake of placing four process separated films on top of each other ona light table and being horrified by the moir displayed Moir is always visible if you view all four plates in this way If you want a quick assessment of the moir on a final print job v
571. turing and test There are no switches or links on the board that can be set by the user There are some mechanical and electrical considerations that can affect where and how you install the card e There is a plastic extension bracket fitted to one end of the card this bracket can stabilize the card in some machines mostly those fitted with both EISA and PCI buses You may need to remove the bracket to fit Harpoon PCI into more compact machines e The Harpoon PCI card is fitted with a memory card a SIMM providing on card memory This SIMM may clash with a full length card in the next slot but the SIMM is sited to make it possible to use a short card in the next slot e Inall types of machines with more than three PCI slots there may be minor performance differences between slots This is because of the electrical implementation of the bus Try using Harpoon PCI in different slots to determine if there is a difference and to establish which slot gives the best performance Currently the Macintosh and compatible computers with this configura tion are the Apple Power Macintosh 9500 and 9515 and some configu rations of the PowerWave 604 machines Use only Harlequin RIP version 4 1 or later with Harpoon PCI All earlier ver sions of the RIP cannot use the Harpoon PCI hardware 454 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 D 3 Choosing when to screen Without hardware assistance the RIP screens jobs at a fixed point in the
572. u should increase the amount of RAM available to the RIP to obtain significant speed increases If you are not using extra grays then increasing the freedom of HPS to select from a wider range of screen sets by increasing the Maximum frequency deviation Angle accuracy or Frequency accuracy settings reduces the memory requirement If extra grays are switched on you can also reduce memory usage by using lower values for Limit number of distinct gray levels and Limit screen levels Ensure that the Optimize for angle set value defined in the HPS Options dialog box is correct for the angles that you are using If the value is set incorrectly then processing a job may require significantly more memory If you are imposing several separations onto one output film the relative posi tions of the plates which do not use 0 and 45 degree angles usually Cyan and Magenta can make significant differences to memory requirements and ren dering times If at all possible ensure that these two plates do not occur side by side that is avoid the case where a single fast scan line on the final film can pass through both a Cyan plate and a Magenta plate If all four CMYK separa tions are to be produced on a single film then the best default configuration is a two by two square with Cyan and Magenta in diagonally opposite corners because film rotation cannot then cause these plates to appear on the same scan line AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 191
573. u apply a tone curve calibration set using the Tone Curves drop down list in the Edit Page Setup dialog box For the special devices Tone Curves and Printing Press the Color Space listing contains all the color spaces for which a profile exists To edit an existing calibration set select it in the list and then click either Edit from uncalibrated target or Edit from calibrated target as appropriate 11 11 1 List headings and entries The column headings are the various properties of a calibration set The first column in the list is the name of the calibration set and the last column is the edited or unedited status of the calibration Each of the remaining columns in the list corresponds to one of the warning criteria in the Edit Calibration dia log box The values in the columns for warning criteria show the intended values for use of each calibration set as set in the Edit Calibration dialog box The RIP will warn you if you select the calibration set for a page setup with conflicting values You should create a calibration set for each combination of media and settings for resolution dot shape range of screen frequencies exposure and AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 359 11 Calibration negative positive that you expect to use with each kind of device Use narrow ranges if you want high accuracy In the columns for warning criteria you may see the following entries Any Shows that any value is allowed so the RIP w
574. uested frequency the frequency set in the job or when Override frequency in job is selected the value in the Edit Style dialog box The Edit Style dialog box contains a list of halftone frequencies one for each device res olution The requested frequency is the one that corresponds to the resolution selected in the Edit Page Setup dialog box Some requested frequencies may require a lot of memory or make it difficult to achieve the desired angle accuracy while a nearby frequency does not have ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 6 10 Harlequin Precision Screening these problems If there is a problem with the requested frequency the RIP can select one of these nearby frequencies as the deviated frequency The Maximum frequency deviation specifies the greatest deviation from the requested frequency that is allowed The RIP selects the individual frequen cies for the Cyan Magenta and Black screens such that they are within the specified Frequency accuracy away from the deviated frequency The angle is snapped to the nearest 7 5 if you select Snap angles to nearest 7 5 degrees The angles of the selected screen set are then within the specified angle accu racy of the requested angles The following subsections describe some individual options in more detail 6 10 2 1 Zero degrees frequency adjustment Once the RIP has calculated a screen set for the Cyan Magenta and Black plates as separations or composite channels with
575. uin RIP session on page 59 As you saw in that example when you print to the None device you can select a page in the Held Queue of the Output Controller and click Roam The Roam window appears The title bar of the Roam window contains the name of the file the resolution and the color of the page or pages You can view any ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 5 Sending output to the screen page in any queue of the Output Controller not just the pages you printed to the None device To roam more than one page at once select all the pages you wish to preview and click Roam the selected pages will be overlaid in the Roam window For example this allows you to preview some or all separations of a color image together Remember you can select several page buffers using the Shift and Control keys If you roam the separations of a color image or if you are roaming a composite image then the combined image may become difficult to interpret particularly if any of the separations have similar colors There are ways to reduce the complexity You can hide one or more separations as you are roaming the separations until all but one separations are hidden See Section 5 5 3 1 on page 110 for details You can choose to display a separation in any color in the Info dialog for that separation before starting to roam it See Section 12 11 3 on page 404 for details The Roam and Preview windows are described in detail in the following sections
576. uin RIP 66 media 300 309 monochrome separations 392 Multiple Parallel Mode page buffer modes compared 71 Multiple Parallel mode advanced details 88 and data underrun 211 and Media Monitor 310 compared to Single if required 92 multiple copies printing 83 ECRM RIP Operator Guide multiple device drivers 124 adding a new device 126 changing configuration 126 defined 474 deleting a device 127 Multiple mode advanced details 89 and Media Monitor 305 page buffer modes compared 70 multiprocessing number of parallel processes 210 N named pipes as inputs 236 NamedColor folder 36 NamedColorOrder folder 36 N color defined 474 N color systems distinct colorant 377 HiFi color 377 in job specification 386 introduction 377 output support for 17 photo ink 377 negative calibrating for output 345 printing in 84 networks Harlequin RIP fails to publish 439 problems with 423 Never delete option in Output Controller 81 New Page Setup dialog basic use 100 example of use 50 63 No cassette message 429 No power message 429 No take up cassette message 429 None device 112 NT Pipe input plugin 223 NT Print input plugin 223 Number of copies to print page setup option 149 O Off line message 429 online developer 309 AG1 2325 Rev 5 Open Prepress Interface see OPI 474 OPI defined 474 OPI support for 142 optional features enabling 213 Output Controller disabling output 75 labeling of color separat
577. up dialog box allows you to specify where your output is to be sent once the job has been interpreted You can send output to a physical printer write it to a file in a specified format or pre view the file on your screen Although the precise configuration of available devices 102 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 4 Selecting different devices may vary the following output devices are always shipped with the evaluation copy of the RIP Preview enables you to preview on your monitor any jobs processed This output device is available in both single and multiple modes None does not produce any printed output but does perform all the necessary processing for the job including the production of page buffers This can be used for testing and timing jobs and is especially useful for previewing on screen when you want to jump between pages or overlay separations using the Output Controller The Output Controller is available in either of the multiple modes TIFF produces TIFF Tag Image File Format files Most desktop publishing applications can import this format of file And depending on which physical output devices are available Plugin devices for example Ultre PelBox and Hewlett Packard HP650 Note that if you change the Device you may have to choose a separations style from the Style drop down list and a cassette name from the Cassette drop down list before you can save the page setup 5 4 1 Setting the r
578. upt File disk0 tmp fontlist Job Not Completed fontlist Such error messages are harmless if you stopped the job they simply report that the job stopped before it was complete In other circumstances an error message alerts you to a possible problem with a job The details of the message may help a PostScript language programmer or your support organization to diagnose the cause of that problem 3 1 4 Outputting to a real device Your installation of the Harlequin RIP has probably been set up to be able to talk to a real printer or imagesetter and if this is so you can try sending some output to it If you do not have a suitable physical output device try using None again but vary the screen resolution to a value in the range 300 through 600 dpi so that you can see more detail Run another job proofing fonts then move to the next section Sending a job to the Harlequin RIP on page 60 To send output to a physical device 1 First display the Harlequin RIP menu and choose the Page Setup Manager option which this manual often describes as choosing the Harlequin RIP gt Page Setup Manager option 2 In the Page Setup Manager dialog box select Default Page Setup and click Copy to display the New Page Setup dialog box The New Page Setup dialog box is very similar to the Edit Page Setup dialog box shown in Figure 3 2 on page 52 AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 57 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP
579. urements as pop up menu drop down list 3 Measure the dot coverage percentages from densitometer readings taken from the target that you chose in the procedure Choosing the cor rect exposure on page 333 and enter these values into the labeled boxes for calibration data The Import button allows you to import data values taken from a file which can be generated by a separate program Genlin See Appendix C Using Genlin on page 437 for use of the program and see page 371 for details of how to read the file Note Each value you enter must be consistently greater than the preced ing value or less than it if you are using a negative film or meter The Smooth button allows you to smooth the ends of the graph and by doing so the values of the calibration set in small steps If a set of values are out of range or non monotonic a warning will appear when you try to exit from the dialog 340 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 4 Example procedure 4 In the Warning Criteria panel enter the settings used to create the target resolution dot shape screen frequency exposure and say whether it applies to both negative and positive settings Note If you create a calibration set from the Edit Page Setup dialog box you need only select the Warning criteria check boxes The RIP takes the default settings from the page setup you are editing Click OK to save the calibration set You can create a new calibration set o
580. using and the length of the command string both before and after expansion of the substitution codes The limit on the length of the expanded command string varies ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 9 Sending output to a printer with the Microsoft Windows environment but you should have no problems with up to 125 characters in the string after expansion 5 9 Sending output to a printer You can use the Harlequin RIP to produce output on a variety of different imagesetters and printers The options available depend on the device drivers that have been installed with your copy of the RIP If any device drivers have been installed you can select one of these drivers in the Edit Page Setup dialog box from the Device drop down list Selecting Ultre Pel Box or HP650 for example sends output to the corresponding printer provided that somebody has done any necessary configuration to suit the way that the printer is con nected and configured You can gain the ability to send output to many other types of device by adding other output plugins A simple plugin may add a single device driver and this manual usu ally talks about the device that the driver supports Complex output plugins can sup port several device drivers and provide preconfigured page setups screening or color management Such complex plugins can require several steps during installation hardware installation system software modifications software installation in the Har
581. ut Handshake ECRM RIP Operator Guide Set this to be the serial port on the computer running the RIP to which the remote computer is connected The entries in the list include com1 and com2 A shared communication setting set it to match the setting on the remote computer A shared communication setting set it to match the setting on the remote computer A shared communication setting set it to match the setting on the remote computer A shared communication setting set it to match the setting on the remote computer There are three possible choices ASCII Adobe binary and Binary Choose Binary unless you know that the sending application requires a different mode See Section 8 10 4 on page 259 for more details on the different modes This setting controls the destination of error messages and status information about jobs Select Remote to send information down the serial line to the remote computer Select Local to have the normal RIP behavior where these messages display only in the Harlequin RIP win dow the normal behavior of the RIP for other inputs This is a shared communications setting which limits the possibility of the remote computer sending data too fast for the plugin to handle correctly The setting on the AG12325 Rev 5 8 10 Using the Serial input plugin computer running the RIP must match the one in use on the sending computer Software handshake uses the XON XOFF characters and H
582. value a densitometer would read 25 on that area of the film ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 11 8 Press calibration e The press will gain further a lot further usually and the scanner operator takes this into account when preparing a scan This means the scanner operator must know or guess the gain of the target press It also means that the colors in application generated graphics are similarly produced by guesswork experience or by reference to samples printed on a similar press previous work or more likely chosen from swatches in an appropriate PANTONE Color System or from a system with a similar intent The consequence is that if the gain of the press is not as expected then the job will not print correctly This might be because e It is not the press originally intended e The dot gain has changed or was never known e The dot gain was assumed for some particular rendering process which has changed For example you may be using a HDS screen which gains more on press than conventional screens The film can be linearized as normal and a further adjustment made to account for the difference between the HDS screens and the conventional screens By separating the two adjust ments it is now possible to linearize to film again without having to repeat the whole process Whichever of these reasons holds the job has the gain of the press already accounted for This means that the overall effect of calibration in
583. verting to a device independent color space 12 8 4 Black generation You can specify how black generation and undercolor removal should be done in the New Color Setup dialog box The settings in this dialog box con trol the way the RIP will apply black by constructing internal calls to the Post Script language operators setblackgeneration and setundercolorremoval The dialog box offers a number of black generation schemes Factors that you should take into account when selecting a scheme include the qualities of the various inks discussed in Section 12 8 5 on page 413 and printing media The scheme used is controlled by the Black generation drop down list The options are e Ignore ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 12 8 Color Setup e Maximum e None the default e Light Medium and Heavy e UCR Sections 12 8 4 1 through 12 8 4 5 describe these options Rarely a job will specify black generation itself You can force the scheme set in the dialog box to override those set by the job by selecting the Override black generation in job check box 12 8 4 1 Ignore This option does not set black generation and undercolor removal It replaces as much color as possible with black while maintaining the intended color irrespective of ink densities Because no PostScript language code for per forming undercolor removal is generated it is the fastest method 12 8 4 2 Maximum K ucr CMY This option introduces a
584. warnings that appear in the system monitor They are grouped accord ing to the type of problem Section A 3 Warnings within the progress box describes the messages that appear in the progress box The progress box is part of the Output Controller in either of the multiple modes or a separate window in either of the single modes This list does not include the warnings gener ated by output plugins The remaining sections provide additional information on specific topics Section A 4 on page 430 contains information on imposition and media saving Section A 5 on page 431 describes Seybold test timings AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 419 Section A 6 on page 431 describes solutions to problems when imaging TIFF IT files Section A 7 on page 433 describes solutions to problems when imaging PDE jobs Section A 8 on page 439 describes solutions to network problems when configuring the RIP Section A 9 on page 440 describes how to set the access permissions for the spool folder A 1 Warning messages and what to do The following is a list of some of the major error messages that may occur when running the RIP All of the messages in this section appear in dialog boxes A 1 1 Problems with starting the Harlequin RIP Table A 1 Start up messages Message Problem Things to try The RIP failed on bootup An error has occurred while the RIP was start ing up The RIP startup failed An error occurre
585. was already reflected selecting the Mirrorprint option cancels this out giving a non mirrored image 140 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 19 Scaling the image 5 19 Scaling the image You may not always want to print your job at its original size The horizontal and ver tical scaling boxes in the Edit Page Setup dialog box allow you to print out any job at a specified scale This changes the page size All scales are expressed as a percentage of the original size Thus to print out a copy of a job at half the linear size specify 50 in both the horizontal and vertical scaling text boxes To print it out at twice the size specify 200 You can specify different horizontal and vertical scales if you wish Note that the aspect ratio of the image changes unless the values in the horizontal and vertical scal ing boxes are the same Screen ruling is not affected by the scale at which a job is output 5 20 Features You may sometimes want to apply a special effect to your jobs that is not otherwise available from the Edit Page Setup dialog box You can do this in the Harlequin RIP by using features These are both powerful and easy to use For instance you can use a feature to perform a simple page imposition that prints two pages side by side and at reduced scale if required on one normal sized page to reduce media consumption when in the draft stages of document production Another feature scans PostScript language jobs for
586. while managed inputs are active Entering PostScript language code interactively by typing at a prompt on the machine as described in Section 8 20 on page 287 You must dis able other inputs for the duration of your interactive sessions in order to do this When you use managed inputs or the Print File menu command you can print several types of job The available types depend on the details of your installa AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 221 8 Configuring Input tion of the RIP Some types have associated settings in page setups may require enabling with passwords or require other care in use The possible types with references to full descriptions of their use are e PostScript language files PS and Encapsulated PostScript files EPS both described in Section 8 13 on page 263 e Portable Document Format PDF files described in Section 8 14 on page 264 e JPEG and JFIF files described in Section 8 15 on page 276 e TIFF IT P1 files described in Section 8 17 on page 277 e TIFF 6 0 files described in Section 8 18 on page 282 e Harlequin RIP page buffer files described in Section 8 19 on page 284 8 1 Input management In the same way that the RIP uses output plugins to provide output sources it uses input plugins to provide input sources Global Graphics and OEM programmers can create input plugins each of which may be used as one of the following e Input to the RIP for example as a source o
587. wide variety of useful tasks in the RIP For more details about the other versions of RIPs available see Chap ter 1 Introduction to the Harlequin RIP Contents of this manual This manual discusses basic concepts at an early stage leaving more complex issues for the later chapters In addition each chapter starts with a basic description of the relevant features before describing in detail the more techni cal issues involved Changes to the Eclipse Release of the RIP include e Harlequin ColorPro with new enhanced user interface e Support for N color and Gray Profile ICC profiles AGI12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide XV Press Proof simulation added to color products RGB proofing workflow Black threshold parameter added to custom rendering intent GUI ProofReady Plugin support on Mac OS X Harlequin 1 bit and 2 bit EDS plugins SetGold v1 2 and SetGoldPro on Win NT only TrapPro trapping Trap Zone support for PDF files PDF X 1a and PDF X 3 2002 support PDF 1 4 including transparency JBIG2 128 bit encryption output intents and referenced PDF Because of this the InFlight checker has been removed Support for Palette color Index color TIFF files Items which have been relocated in this version include The Color Options button is removed from the Page Setup dialog box and is replaced by a Color Setup Manager and Color Setup dialog box Trapping controls appear in the Trapping
588. wing capabilities Instant color management using supplied profiles A choice of resolution for the output page image for all media sizes and types supported by the model of printer in use User choice of output quality Availability of Harlequin screening techniques Preview of the screened output ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 5 10 ProofReady plugins Using the ProofReady plugin is straightforward You select the required device con figure it select a profile from the ProofReady menu and then print If you would like to improve color accuracy and you have a measurement device available you can print an uncalibrated target measure it with Genlin and then import the data and make a new calibration set You then go back to the Page Setup and select this calibration with the ProofReady Setup unchanged and proof using the calibration and the ProofReady setup combined 5 10 1 Using ProofReady plugins Each ProofReady plugin is supplied ready to use with preconfigured color manage ment for several types of media With a ProofReady plugin the way that you apply color management is simpler than with ColorPro because the setups are ready to use The special color setups appear in the ProofReady menu in the Output Device section of the Page Setup dialog box each named for a particular combination of media and resolution Choosing one of the entries from the ProofReady menu gives you a default color setup that produces good
589. words The RIP checks the password that you enter against both of these passwords and allows printing if either password pro duces a match Passwords can be any length but only the first 32 characters are signifi cant If you have any way to influence the choice of password used in jobs supplied to you suggest that it uses only ASCII characters the let ters A z and a z the numerals 0 9 and punctuation marks such as and For example there may be problems in entering the pass word if the password uses characters that are not in the English alpha bet Avoid multiple white space characters accented characters and characters that require a double byte representation Note The Honor PDF Color Management check box has been removed The option is now called Override color management in job and is part of the Input Document Controls within the Color Setup Manager See Section 12 8 on page 388 for more details To make fullest use of jobs containing device independent color defini tions enable a TrapPro option in the Configure RIP Extras dialog box 8 14 6 Usage The simplest way to use PDF files is using the Harlequin RIP gt Print File com mand To see a listing of PDF files in the current folder use the PDF Files or All Files option in the Files of type drop down list of the Print File dialog box Select the page setup that sets the correct PDF options from the Page Setup drop down list ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG1232
590. x are abacus pdf abandon ps and ab123 The RIP would not ignore ABALONE PS 123ab pdf or _absence Ignoring means that the RIP does not process the files and allows the files to remain in the spool folder until removed by a user or other software Note If you remove or disable a prefix while the spool folder is still active the RIP processes any files previ ously excluded by that prefix but still present in the spool folder You can enter several prefixes Separate multiple pre fixes by commas without surrounding spaces If you add spaces after a comma the RIP treats the spaces as part of the following string Each prefix can include alphanumeric characters the underscore character the period character and spaces For example this is a valid list of three prefixes aaab_c BAC 4 4 Exclude prefix list Select this box to make the prefix list active Leave this box empty to disable the prefix list without deleting the list of prefixes Scan spool folder every lt n gt seconds 244 ECRM RIP Operator Guide The value in the text box specifies how often the RIP checks the Spool folder for new files to be printed AG12325 Rev 5 8 7 Using the Socket input plugin Time to wait for file to stabilize The value in the text box specifies the number of sec onds that the Spool folder waits for the size of an arriv ing file to remain the same before assuming that it has been fully written and is therefore ready to be p
591. y methods and variations There are three ways to enter the Edit Calibration dialog box corresponding to buttons in the Calibration Manager e New e Edit from uncalibrated target e Edit from calibrated target These ways of entry allow you to follow most working practices The choice is yours When you use the New or Edit from uncalibrated target buttons the RIP creates a calibration curve directly from the uncalibrated data values you enter When you use the Edit from calibrated target button the RIP creates a calibra tion curve more indirectly In some circumstances and with some devices this indirect approach can lead to values that never settle to an error too small to measure you may find that the residual errors are acceptable or you may pre fer to use Edit from uncalibrated target One way of regarding the process for Edit from calibrated target is to say that the RIP uses the data values you enter from a calibrated target to detect imper fections in the existing calibration and adjusts the calibration to remove them Typically these imperfections and the corresponding adjustments are small compared to those for uncalibrated targets and may provide a better calibra tion curve than working from uncalibrated targets Another advantage of working from a calibrated target is that it may allow the use of one fewer tar get saving both time and media The RIP is supplied with default calibration curves for some output devices
592. y simplifies the management of spot colors in the Harlequin RIP 1 3 4 3 UseClEColor This operator improves color control in the PostScript language code by allowing device dependent input data to be translated to a device independent CIE color space The input colors are mapped to the device inde pendent color space using an input profile The colors may then be trans formed ready for printing on another output device Harlequin has provided this functionality for some time through the color management modules the latest being ColorPro You can choose to use the color management specified in the job by UseCIEColor or to override this and instead use the more detailed controls provided with ColorPro 1 3 4 4 Embedded ICC profiles When ColorPro is enabled the Harlequin RIP can detect and use ICC profiles embedded in Photoshop EPS TIFF or JPEG images See the ColorPro User s Guide for details 1 3 4 5 Colorimetric roam Provided a system is using an sRGB display monitor and display card and the monitor is properly calibrated Roam approximates colorimetric output on the display 1 3 5 Memory management Harlequin has a continuous program for improving the performance of the Harlequin RIP memory management A new architecture has been put into place within the Harlequin RIP 5 0 and later for the Windows UNIX IRIX Solaris and Macintosh platforms This architecture not only provides the groundwork for future memory featur
593. y the Harlequin RIP and sent to an output device The output device you chose was None a dummy device provided for test runs like this one and for previewing so no physical printing has hap pened However you can look at an on screen view of the page you have created 1 Select the job in the Held Queue by clicking and then click the Roam button A Roam window appears Note that you can preview any page in the Output Controller The Roam window displays samples of the fonts you selected See Figure 3 5 This window also displays the title of the page 1 font list the color of the page and the resolution For most sizes of page there are also horizontal and vertical scroll bars at the edges of the Roam window The scroll bars appear only when the window is too small to display the whole page at one time When there are scroll bars you can use them to move your view to different parts of the page image Alternatively you can drag the page image around by holding down the left mouse button when the cursor is over the image and moving the mouse For AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 55 3 Getting Started with the Harlequin RIP 56 more information about navigating in the Roam window see Section 5 5 3 on page 117 Roam 1 fontlist 300 300H dpi olx Roam AvantGarde Book abcdefghijklmnoparstuv ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQI 1234567890 S KA amp Ee yant arda RaankOhliian A Figure 3 5 Roam window Note
594. y when you have selected the check box Compress page buffer in the Configure RIP dialog box It allows you to limit the use of compression to cases where there is a significant saving of disk space For example if the value you enter here is 60 the RIP compresses only bands in page buffers that compress to a size smaller than 60 of their uncompressed size The value you should enter depends on the details of your system and the rel ative importance you attach to minimizing disk usage or processing time Typically useful values are in the range 50 through 100 Enter a value of 100 to have all bands compressed You may want to choose a much lower figure where there is a large amount of fast access storage and compression is slow in comparison to disk access 7 4 Job timeout The job timeout allows you to control when the RIP will stop trying to process a job This is useful for various reasons e It can protect against infinite loops in PostScript language code If there is an infinite loop in a job it will never finish processing Using a time out ensures that after a set period of time the RIP will stop processing such jobs e By altering the timeouts available in the RIP you can to some extent prevent loss of productivity by timing out complex but correct jobs before they consume too much machine time Subsequently you can rerun such jobs under operator control and supervision for example with more resources temporarily dev
595. you add extra RAM e Add an additional 8 MB RAM for each composite PostScript font used in a single job e Add an additional 12 MB RAM for when using Harlequin Precision Screening HPS e Add an additional 256 MB RAM when using TrapPro or TrapProLite 28 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 2 1 Machine requirements e Add an additional 32 MB RAM for EDS Screening in the output plugin e When using Harlequin ColorPro add extra RAM The required amount can vary according to the functions you use e There are some instances when the Harlequin RIP cannot paint partial page buffers to disk for example when recombining preseparated jobs or using TrapPro In such cases the RIP will need extra memory and must have enough memory to complete the job See Section 7 10 Har lequin RIP memory allocation the TrapPro User Manual and ECRM RIP Getting Started Guide for details e For large format devices more memory may be required In general if a job uses more than one of these features add together the extra memory required by each feature For example if a job uses composite fonts and you are using HPS add together the extra amounts of RAM You will also need enough extra RAM to accommodate any printer and network buffers you want to set up For more details see Chapter 6 Screening Chapter 7 Configuring the RIP and Chapter 10 Fonts Note This manual uses conventions of font and style to describe sp
596. ystems support the use of virtual memory AG12325 Rev 5 ECRM RIP Operator Guide 481 482 ECRM RIP Operator Guide AG12325 Rev 5 A Abort if calibration on page setup option 148 Abort the job if any fonts are missing page setup option 148 Accelerate Edit Page Setup option 157 See also Harlequin Harpoon accelerators hardware processor for the Harlequin RIP 6 keyboard equivalents for menus xx Accurate color display 111 AcroForms 267 active device 465 Active Queue 74 Add Channel dialog 367 Add showpage at end of job page setup option 147 adding anew input plugin 226 anew page feature 144 See also installing adjusting tone curves 157 Advance n inches command 294 advancing media 292 Allow stop start Configure RIP option 206 Allow use of all available memory 215 Always delete option in Output Controller 80 angles screens expected in incoming job 413 screens for process colors 170 anti aliasing defined 465 AppleTalk 229 displayed job names 78 input plugin 223 aspect ratio 465 asynchronous actions 222 Asynchronous Socket input plugin 223 Asynchronous Socket Quit input plugin 223 Automatic Prep loading Configure RIP option 214 B background reading 168 band size AG12325 Rev 5 for printing buffer 208 banding 465 black generation 410 466 overriding in job 411 Bootlist file 37 bromide See media Buffer full message 427 Buffer space low message 427 buffers network 210 page defined 475 printer 211 Busy mes

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