A look at RIP today

RIP has become the lifeline of prepress production. It covers every aspect of the entire production process from color and document management to printing. Over the past period of time, features such as trapping, group editions, etc. that were previously handled by separate applications have also been added to the RIP. There are many new RIP products and developers. Long-term suppliers such as Agfa, Heidelberg, Rampage, Sai Angel, and UFO Systems have introduced improved and new product models for hardware and software RIP. Companies such as Amiable, Colorbus, EFI, Vivid Image, Xante and others have also entered the graphics market with the new large format and color Copier RIP. Adobe's print language Postscript and uploadable and downloadable PDF workflow file formats provide publishers with powerful, flexible tools that can be easily integrated into today's workflow. At the same time, many different types of RIPs have been attributed to similar patterns: In a client/server architecture, a combination of Windows NT computer-based software and hardware. This shows that the RIP program actually works on the same NT platform, and this platform will soon become the core of modern prepress equipment network. Today's Windows NT workstations function as hubs and traffic consoles for large computer networks for processing many large image files. However, they also have enough computer power to handle color management, color trapping and OPI exchange processes. When page layout files and bitmap image files and vector graphics are converted to dot matrix files, the files are ready to be exported to a large number of devices or used by other publishing applications such as multimedia or Internet publishing programs. This new workflow model is called the "Primary RIP, Multiphase Output (ROPM)" mode. A variety of intended publishers are increasingly interested in multi-intention technology content in order to maximize the value of their prepress investment. This multi-intention technology means that the same documents are used in different media and formats. For example, they may want to use the same image and content to produce printed manuals, short-term direct mail and website output in three forms. Any type of RIP must produce output files that can be used in various forms. Because the image is converted to a dot pattern only once, instead of using a different image for different outputs, the resulting multimedia transmission is more efficient and contributes to the uniformity of the image, especially in terms of color reproduction. The trend of the computer-to-platemaking industry has always encouraged investors to switch to computer-to-computer or non-film printing so that the RIP-originated and trapped documents can be directly printed on the print. In the optimized workflow state, the direct plate-making CTP method can save time and money, and can be improved in terms of quality and stability. The biggest obstacle to the CTP approach is proofing: no film output, and we can't do traditional color simulations like DuPont's Cromartine or Imation's Matchprint. The use of a color desktop printer to print proofs does not guarantee that the proofs match the proofs on the press because different equipment processes and interpretations of the Postscript format and color signals cause differences in proofs. ROPM (primary RIP, multiphase output) is a key part of any CTP environment. In the ROPM workflow, digital proofs come from the same RIP file used for the film and media output. Even continuous proof sheets output by a printer or dye sublimation printer can accurately reflect Postscript elements on all pages. The use of fonts, character arranging and trapping are all the same as those produced on printed proofs. Large-format color printing With the improvement of the quality of color printers, more people use large-format printers to print color jobs. Dedicated RIPs optimized for the needs of large-format devices, including Cyclone developed by Colorbus, Fiery XJ-W color server developed by EFI, and Accel-a-Graphix CT4 RIP by Xanet ('). Amiable Technology's PhotoPrint RIP adds limited image editing and text layout tools, providing a complete system for logo production and affiliate printing. In fact, all large-format printer RIPs also support multi-function screening technologies including FM networks. PDF and Postscript3 Format Adobe's Postscript language is the main page description language and the main workflow model in the printing and publishing industry. The Postscript3 language format gives better pitch steps and softer color conversions. It supports high-fidelity color and can be mixed with the latest PDF format. In 1993, Adobe introduced Acrobat software and PDF-portable file formats. In recent years, PDF has had a great influence on the digital prepress field. Postscript RIP works in two phases: First, it creates a display list of all text, images, graphics, and background elements. It then converts each element into a bitmap or, in a multicolor document, converts each color into a color bitmap. When a file is "distilled" into a PDF file, the program can perform half of the Postscript rasterization process. The PDF file is actually a display list produced in the first step of the RIP process. The latest version PDF3 expands the editability of PDF files and supports some color management and cutting-edge color reproduction technologies such as FM screening and high-fidelity color. Another important improvement is the independence of the page: Each page in the PDF file can be treated as a separate element, which simplifies the printing, network transmission, and composition process. The PDF and Postscript3 formats have increased production capacity in the image rasterization process, greatly increasing the flexibility of the prepress production system. Unlike converting large-format pages to high-resolution images in RIP, PDF files first reduce the file size and split it into separate page elements. Compared with the past, the current process is simply shocking. Inserting new features in the RIP The direct result of these developments once again emphasizes the central role of RIP in prepress production systems. Which RIP we choose will affect other aspects of the process of turning page files into physical output - whether it is a film, media, or paper. Then, one of the key issues to consider is how well the RIP process fits into the prepress workflow compared to color separation, color management, trapping, OPI exchange, and large format printing. This has a great influence on the efficiency of our system. The relative position of the RIP process and the build process also affects the production performance. Moreover, because of the capabilities of the server, these two tasks are now completed on the same computer. For example, Rampage's Version 7 RIP includes group edition features. Consider the relationship between the RIP process and the group version: If you first do group work, then the RIP must convert the entire printed page at once. For large print 2p, 4p or 8p, or full-page publications or jobs, this means that the same image has to be rasterized again and again, which may cause inconsistent color production. Effect. However, if we first perform the RIP process and then build, we need the pattern engine to place the rasterization document on the print proofs. Moreover, this requires the support of computer capabilities. Image rasterization files - especially color rasterization files - can be very large: pages of up to 2,337,500,000 or 292MB can be reached for an A4 page. For PDF files, this is an ideal place to distill the file and convert it to a smaller display list. Now that the PDF pages are very independent, it's relatively easy to place them on the printed page and rotate them to the right place. RIP then completes the rasterization of these smaller files, and half of its work has been completed by the PDF distiller. Determine what RIP you need is becoming a prepress system server. This period has almost begun to be used interchangeably. When RIP emerges as the core of the prepress system, this trend will continue to increase. However, the RIP process is still a bit different from other prepress servers that perform prepress management such as color management, trapping, OPI management, and grouping operations. The order of execution of these operations affects production performance, effective performance, and even printing machines, digital printers. Or the image quality of the display, but which order is the most effective, depends not only on the output destination of the image - paper or screen, but also with the type of image, more precisely, depending on the type of document created: magazines, trademarks, short Edition sales brochures or outdoor signs. Desktop publishers now require a workflow process that not only achieves optimized image quality after the printing or image processing process is completed, but also allows the image to be re-adjusted or to be completed as desired. Today's color brochures printed with a color laser printer will be printed tomorrow with high resolution booklets. The day after tomorrow, it may be placed on the website again. RIP will then continue to improve, allowing the prepress operation to be more closely integrated. It will help create more flexible input and output formation and will work to create the most efficient workflow possible. What is ROPM? Some RIP developers, including Sai Angel and Rampage, have started a "one-time RIP, multi-phase output" workflow. They claim that ROPM will enable the prepress system to have better production capacity and will improve quality and repeatability. But what exactly does ROPM mean? In short, it is a workflow mode, which is a sequence of operations when the prepress system converts electronic files into dot matrix files on a layout or a film. In the pre-press process, the process of converting image data into a dot matrix image requires the following steps: display on the display, proofing, printing, and photo output. Each Postscript device between the creator's mind and the printing device must create a rasterized image. We may RIP a single number of images: When we print a low-resolution color print; we use a proofer such as dye sublimation for proofing; when the final image is sent to a laser imagesetter or plate maker. That way, at least RIP three times for each file, assuming it does not change at every step. RIP process only once can save a lot of time. However, there may be some potential problems with doing RIP more than once for a file. The only way to ensure image quality is to anticipate the effect of an electronic document being printed. However, if each output device we use has its own RIP, the printouts from each RIP will be very different because they are both different in understanding and creating colors. The use of different RIPs also results in fonts, patterns and curves, and differences in the submitted font or other Postscript information. For a high-quality prepress department, this situation is unbearable. The best solution is to only RIP once and then use the new rasterization file for all output and imaging processes. Assuming that we have calibrated all the equipment so that they produce the same color, we can certainly say that a printer will predict the effects of high-end digital printers and even offset printers. We can see on the display all the trappings, fonts, colors and texture effects we have produced. One disadvantage of the ROPM workflow is that rasterized files are often much larger than the application files that created the files. From one device, such as a file server, to a rasterized file to another device, another device may cause network congestion. Another question is when does the RIP process occur in the workflow: before or after trapping and grouping? The pre-RIP version of the RIP page has a high power requirement for the computer, but after the RIP version, the RIP has a high requirement on RIP itself because it must be able to RIP a large file. The final choice depends on the type of job - trademark jobs generally require many repetition steps, which are different from the production of books, production catalogues or other publications.