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Tell me about remote proofing

This topic explains:

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What is the difference between a 'print' and a 'proof'?

A print is the final desired result from a printer, a printed image that will be used for its final purpose, for example, a wall chart or a large photograph to be displayed possibly in one place only.

A proof is a print that shows the essential characteristics of an image, but may be intended for printing on a different device, for example, a printing press. As such, it may not show everything that a print shows; for example, the range of colors available may be different on the final printing device, but the proof shows the overall impression of how the colors will appear (contrasts, etc.).

The graphics industry uses proofs routinely to obtain approval for a product from the various interested parties before committing to production.

There is more about proofs in the Color Management Tutorial, available in English and Japanese (look up proof in the glossary).

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What is 'remote' proofing?

In the past there have been two main ways to send proofs from one location to another:

  • Print a proof and send it by courier. This takes time, but you know exactly what the receiver will see.
  • Create a PDF file and send it by e-mail. This is much quicker, but what the receiver sees will depend on how he views the file (on screen, on an office printer?). In particular, colors can be grossly inaccurate.

Remote proofing is the term that describes a printer system that can be used to generate files for printing on a remote printer, with all the characteristics of the image preserved in the file that is transmitted to the remote location--including content data, color profiles and print settings.

Remote proofing combines the advantages of these two methods. You can send a remote proofing file quickly by e-mail, or by any other file transfer method. When the file is printed on an HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps, or 50ps printer, you can be confident that the receiver will see an accurate proof, indistinguishable from the proof you can produce at your own site.

Printing a proof file is easy to do using the software provided by HP: no other application is required.

The system ensures consistency between local and remote prints through the remote proofing software supplied with the HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps and 50ps printers (ensuring the same input) and HP's automatic closed-loop color calibration (ensuring the same output).

Both the source printer and the remote printer must be HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps or 50ps printers.

  • HP Designjet 50ps: the software runs in a Windows NT or Windows 2000 PC Server. You print to the software from a Macintosh computer or a PC running Windows through a PostScript driver and you can manipulate the software using a Web Browser.
  • HP Designjet 20ps: the software runs in a Windows NT or Windows 2000 PC Server or a Macintosh computer. You can print to the software from a Macintosh computer or a PC running Windows through a PostScript driver or a hot or watched folder. This configuration does not provide access to the software through a Web Browser.
  • HP Designjet 10ps: you install the software in your Macintosh computer or PC running Windows.

Examples

  • At the concept approval stage, when a designer has developed an idea, he can send a proof file quickly and easily to the client.
  • At the pre-press stage, the commercial printer can send a proof file emulating the characteristics of the final product to the designer or the client (or both).

There are two types of Remote Proofing Jobs:

  • Proof Generation Jobs (also called 'local jobs'):
    These jobs generate a Remote Proofing File (RPF) from certain graphic content. Optionally, a local job can also print the generated proof file on the local HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps or 50ps printer for checking before sending the file.
  • The file with the graphic content to proof (the input file for local jobs) can be in different formats (PDF, PostScript or TIFF). The supported input file formats depend on the components available on the local system and the Remote Proofing configuration.

  • Proof Consumption Jobs (also called 'remote jobs'):
    These jobs view or print remote proof files on an HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps or 50ps printer.

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How does remote proofing work?

HP has solved the problem of accurate remote proofing in the following ways.

  • The Remote Proof File (RPF) contains not only the pages to be printed but also ICC color profiles and print settings: all the information required to print an accurate proof.
  • The Remote Proofing software uses this information to print an accurate proof, taking into account the ICC color profiles of the proof printer and of the final printing device.
  • Using HP’s Automatic Closed Loop Calibration (CLC), the HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps, and 50ps printers are capable of calibrating themselves accurately in order to produce consistent colors.

Each Remote Proof File contains the graphic image and color profile information in Portable Document Format (PDF), plus a group of print settings in Job Definition Format (JDF). Both PDF and JDF are established industry-standard formats.

The Remote Proofing software performs two main functions:

  • generating proof files from source image files
  • printing or viewing proof files

The sender generates a proof file from a PDF, PostScript, or TIFF file and sends the proof file to the receiver to be printed on the receiver’s HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps, or 50ps. The sender can also print the proof file locally on an HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps, or 50ps. The proof file can be sent by e-mail, ftp, ASP (application service provider), or any other file transfer method.

When a proof file is processed, the source image is first transformed into the color space of the final printing device, and then into the color space of the HP Designjet on which the proof will be printed. The ICC color profiles of both printers are used in making these transformations.

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Requirements for the remote proofing software

Hardware requirements

At present, HP's Remote Proofing solution is implemented only for the HP Designjet 10ps, 20ps, and 50ps printers.


Server and client computers

If you have an HP Designjet 20ps or 50ps printer, you must reserve one computer to act as a printer server; it should not be used for any other purpose. Other computers can connect to the server by network and use the printer; these are known as client computers.


Software requirements

As well as the printer and the Remote Proofing software, you naturally require the printer's PostScript driver and RIP software. For full functionality, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 (or later) is also required, and it is provided on the CD.

If you have the HP Designjet 50ps, Adobe Acrobat 4 (or later) may be useful, but it is not required.

If you have the HP Designjet 10ps or 20ps, Adobe Acrobat 4 (or later) is required for proof generation, but not for printing.


Operating system requirements

The Remote Proofing software is compatible with the following operating systems:

  • Apple Mac OS 9.2
  • Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP.

However, the Remote Proofing server software for the HP Designjet 50ps is compatible with the following operating systems only:

  • Microsoft Windows NT 4 Server and Windows 2000 Server.


Input file formats

In order to generate a proof file, you must provide an input file in PDF, PostScript, or TIFF format.

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User Selections for Color Management

The options that you can select to control the color management performed in the remote proofing workflow are:

  • 'Final output device' ICC profile:
    This is the CMYK profile that describes the final output device (offset press, digital press, etc.). It is also known as the 'simulation' or 'reference' profile because is the profile of the device that has to be simulated by the proofer.
  • RGB input profile:
    This is the input profile to be used to transform RGB input.
  • Input rendering intent:
    This is the rendering intent for input transformations. Any of the four rendering intents is valid.
  • Proofing rendering intent:
    This is the rendering intent for the proofing transformation. Because there are only two rendering intents possible, this selection is presented to you as 'simulate substrate white'.
  • Handling of spot colors:
    This specifies whether to print spot colors with process inks or with separate tints.

See also Tell me about the color management model for remote proofing.

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Some terminology

  • Job: there are two types of jobs:
    • Generation jobs: generate a proof file from the input.
    • Print jobs: print a proof file to the attached printer.
  • Job settings: for generation jobs, the job settings are all the settings and information needed to generate a proof file. Most of these settings are stored in the job ticket portion of the remote proofing file. Others are used only during the generation process.
  • Job ticket: this is the job information stored in the remote proofing file. The settings in the job ticket are required to ensure output consistency when printing the job in different printers. The job ticket is filled in during generation with some of the job settings.
  • Hot folder (or a 'watched folder'): this is a folder (directory) that the Remote Proofing software watches for files to process. When you drop a file in one of the supported file formats into the folder, it is picked up by the software and processed. The type of job created depends on the type of input file: if the dropped file is a PostScript, PDF or TIFF format file, a generation job is created; if the dropped file is an RPF file, a printing job is created.
  • Hot (or watched) folder job settings: each hot or watched folder has attached a set of job settings that are used for the generation jobs created in the hot or watched folder.
  • Output folder: when a generation job is executed, the generated proof file is stored in an output folder. The output folder is one of the job settings.
  • Workflow root folder: the Remote Proofing software can only handle hot or watched folders and output folders that are located in a specific subtree of the file system. The root of this subtree is the 'workflow root folder'. (This limitation is to ensure that the job files can be accessed from any client systems in the case of a client/server configuration). Note: not all the folders under the workflow root folder are hot folders (watched by the Remote Proofing software for input files).
  • Current hot folder: this is the hot or watched folder that is currently selected. The user interface shows the list of jobs attached to the current hot or watched folder. When a new job is created through the user interface, it is attached to the current hot or watched folder and the job current hot folder job settings are used to fill up the job settings panels (the job settings can be changed during the creation process through the user interface).
  • Default hot folder: this is the current hot or watched folder when the application is started.

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