CTP - Computer to Plate

alfaQuest Technologies, Inc. Announces New RipExpress II Workflow Solutions

Tuesday 30. September 2008 - alfaQuest Technologies is pleased to announce the release of three new RipExpress II CTP workflow packages. RipExpress II offers an automated prepress production workflow designed to greatly simplify the transition from film to CTP.

This new prepress workflow suite is modular and offers packages scalable from Basic to Advanced to better meet specific client production requirements and capital budgets. RipExpress II is based on open industry format standards and runs on the Windows operating system.

Key features of RipExpress II include an Adobe CPSI RIP, post-RIP proofing (hard & soft proofs) and fully automated post-RIP page pairing and imposition. Multiple levels of soft proof page approval are a standard feature to insure that every plate is output correctly and to eliminate job errors from reaching the press.

A powerful browser-based client interface is used to control all aspects of the Adobe RIP and workflow. Multiple users can simultaneously receive real-time production status updates, control print queues, review detailed job information, soft proof RIPped pages and approve pages for plate making across the network. Used for final quality control of paired pages and imposition flats, this client software allows users to quickly view and approve output prior to imaging.

Post RIP Page Pairing is an automatic process that combines single page bitmaps according to a specific publication description and naming convention for page pairing or commercial imposition. Pages are joined into printer?s pairs using the bitmap merging process, which can also apply furniture such as registration marks, color bars, slug lines and barcodes. Layout templates can be saved and re-purposed, or modified, to quickly meet any production requirement. Actions take place automatically as pages are RIPped, allowing any number of jobs to be processed simultaneously as pages are received, in any order and for any number of publications.