Information

drupa 2004 will see Fuji Photo Film Co.,Ltd. release its next generation Celebra Extreme PDF, digital printing, digital proofing and CTP workflow systems. These new products will introduce a range of JDF functionality and offer a Mac OS X interface.

FUJIFILM has been continuously developing its core Celebra JDF technologies since the first implementation was shown at Ipex in 2002. In consultation with customers, JDF partners and with the CIP4 organisation, FUJIFILM has developed a range of software tools to streamline CTP production, digital proofing and digital printing. The JDF technology is applied to many areas of the workflow, including job input, imposition,MIS, press and postpress integration.

FUJIFILM has created a partnership with Dynagram Inc. to deliver a seamless JDF imposition workflow aimed at both B1 and B2 commercial printers. Following the recent announcement that Dynagram's DynaStrip is now bundled with Celebra Extreme,FUJIFILM has now introduced its most flexible imposition workflow to date. “The combination of Dynagram’s DynaStrip JDF imposition application and FUJIFILM’s Celebra JDF functionality provides the best in automated imposition”, says Andy Cook,Managing Director of FUJIFILM Electronic Imaging Ltd., where major parts of the Celebra technology developments have taken place.

“Dynagram’s partnership with FUJIFILM demonstrates that our organisations have a firm commitment to accelerating the industry’s JDF initiative towards practical implementations of the JDF standard”, said Mr. Francois Guerard, president of Dynagram. “It is our vision, that while JDF is an emerging technology, it must above all drive a printer’s bottom line. Our goal with this integration is to clearly demonstrate the distinct business benefits and true return on investment that JDF offers”.

Celebra is now also capable of consuming JDF production jobs directly into the prepress workflow. JDF jobs coming into the Celebra workflow will contain a range of information about the job, including a unique job ID for tracking jobs in the workflow.This JDF information is supplemented with additional data obtained from the pre-press workflow system and communicated to the later stages of print production. This provides automation, reducing the need to re-key information at different stages of the workflow and eliminating operator error.

Another addition is the further development of pre-press to press integration. For many years FUJIFILM’s Celebra has supported the CIP3 PPF standard in providing ink setting data to press systems. FUJIFILM’s new JDF Press Control option will vastly extend this functionality in providing much more than just ink setting information and will minimise press make ready time.

With its continued partnership with Adobe, FUJIFILM is also introducing the latest Adobe® PDF and PostScript interpreter technology, Adobe® PostScript® 3. version 3016. This is the only PostScript and PDF interpreter that directly supports the printing of PDF V1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and PDF ⁄ X documents. The Adobe® version 3016 interpreter also introduces multi-threaded rendering to significantly speed up time-consuming rendering tasks in the RIP.

“The use of the Adobe® OEM technologies at the heart of our workflow remains an important part of our workflow strategy”, says Andy Cook. “Adobe software applications continue to develop, giving creative professionals more freedom in their approach to design. This often leads to new versions of PDF and it is vital that these new standards are promptly supported in our workflow system”.

This release also introduces a new native Mac OS X and Windows user interface. Over the past few years, pre-press workflow systems have evolved from basic RIPs to fully encompassing PDF workflow products. The requirement for greater control, greater automation and greater flexibility has driven the need to create a new user interface to meet the ever-growing demands of pre-press professionals.

As well as JDF support, the new Celebra workflow system will in the near future provide a new generation of colour management and image intelligence technologies.

These new image-processing technologies will span across all areas of image management from digital cameras to print. For print specific workflows, it means that FUJIFILM can offer much more than just colour management of RGB based PDF ⁄ X3 files,it will also be able to apply its image intelligence to provide optimised results to all RGB content.

The FUJIFILM Celebra workflow was introduced in 1997 and currently has an installation base of over 4,500 users worldwide.

ENDS