by John Dean, Marketing Content Specialist, Enfocus
HP Indigo with Enfocus Switch
Enfocus has been in partnership with HP for some time. HP develops a set of configurators for Enfocus Switch. They are plug-ins that allow Switch to communicate and send jobs using integrated HP technologies. The advantages of the partnership provide HP Indigo and Enfocus Switch customers with a solution that automates production from job order to output at press. Job receipt, preflight, processing and delivery to an Indigo are fully automated.
There are currently several HP Indigo plug-ins, called configurators, that install with Enfocus Switch. These configurators provide functionality and communication that more closely integrate HP Indigo into an Enfocus Switch workflow. Each of these simplifies the integration of HP Indigo processes. For example, the DFE JDF Control configurator facilitates the use of job metadata variables to set Indigo job preferences on the press.
- HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server
- HP SmartStream Production Center
- HP SmartStream Designer (Ganging, Imposition, VDP)
- HP Digital Front End JDF Control
- HP PageWide Web Press JDF Control
There is also an app available on the Enfocus Appstore. Enfocus and HP collaboratively offer the Switch HP Indigo EPM Preflight Solution. Anyone who has an HP Indigo press should know what EPM mode is all about. In short, it allows jobs to be run using cyan, magenta and yellow, saving clicks and speeding up run times. The black channel gets simulated using a CMY mix.
Determining which jobs can be run in EPM while retaining the same visual appearance as CMYK can amount to a lot of test runs on press. That is neither cost-effective nor time considerate. There are some definable criteria, though. For instance, small black text will require some tight registration since it’s being converted from one black channel to three channels. So, on a specific device, in a specific environment, 9-point black text may be reproducible using CMY. Whereas, another device may have a tolerance of 7-point text. Just as variably, one Indigo might accurately reproduce a CMYK total ink of 180% and another 210%. These are values we can easily measure and use to draw a definitive line on which jobs reproduce just as well using EPM as they do using CMYK.
No matter how closely you “print to the numbers,” one question will continue to arise. That question is, “Is this an acceptable, sellable piece?” Simply put, does the CMYK job look the same as the EPM job? That answer will greatly vary from person to person. The HP Indigo EPM Preflight Solution is an Enfocus Switch app that takes the guesswork out of the process. Without getting into the details about how the app measures deltaE and whatnot, here is a list of the eight checks that the app makes.
- Color pages – if a job is one-color black, EPM is not a logical choice
- Spot colors – this check looks for the presence of specific spot color based a user defined list
- Small black objects – thin one-color black lines or small text is checked against a threshold
- Mostly black content – checks for a percentage of one-color black pages and percentage of page area that is one-color black
- Rich black – compares content to a user defined range of CMY mix used to create rich black
- Total ink – looks for specified square area amounts that exceed a total ink threshold
- deltaE – checks pages using a device link profile for a maximum deltaE
- deltaC – checks pages using a device link profile for a maximum deltaC
Keep in mind that the app makes these checks in this order and each check is pass or fail. So, if a job fails at spot colors, it will not get checked for total ink. It’s very important to know that each of these checks is customizable and thresholds can be set using variables. What that means is that it’s possible to check each job using different tolerances through the same Switch flow. For instance, customer ABC may agree that no matter what Pantone colors they use, it’s okay to run those jobs in EPM mode. Your MIS can pass the EPM check settings into Switch along with the job’s PDF file.
Download the product guide: HP Indigo EPM Preflight Solution
Enfocus and HP are always improving their integration and working on new apps to better serve their mutual customers. To stay up to date on related news, check for announcements through Enfocus at www.enfocus.com and HP Indigo at https://www8.hp.com/us/en/commercial-printers/indigo-presses/products.html.
