Prepress

callas software adds layer viewing and dynamic preflight profile generation to pdfToolbox 4

Wednesday 04. March 2009 - Confirming the commitment to provide new and easy ways to handle PDFs

callas software, leading supplier of PDF technologies for print production and document management and archiving, tightly sticks to its quarterly release schedule for its pdfToolbox product range by announcing the immediate availability of pdfToolbox 4.2 and pdfToolbox Server 4.2. In line with the main philosophy of pdfToolbox 4 this update provides both usability improvements and adds features and flexibility to the core PDF engine.


New layer views for print and packaging

Special attention goes to the new layer viewer that allows managing and generating layer views, bringing new ways to look at the final output. As such pdfToolbox 4 is the first-in-industry tool to generate layers in accordance with PDF/X-4.

For multi-language print jobs, it now becomes possible to easily create and view the various language versions in one PDF file.

For the packaging industry pdfToolbox 4 provides even greater benefit. Where Acrobat 9 allows toggling between layer views, pdfToolbox 4 gives access to the individual layers, with the flexibility to switch them on and off while looking at a specific layer view: e.g. the print production view, the technical die-construction and folding machine set-up view and the product marketing view. This greatly facilitates the collaboration and approval workflow between packaging designers, printers and brand-owners.

Adding versatility to the workflow

pdfToolbox 4 greatly simplifies working with Dynamic Profiles. pdfToolbox 4 Dynamic Profiles allow parameters to be entered at runtime – meaning Profiles can be tweaked on the fly and checks and fix-ups can be dynamically switched on or off. This enhancement allows working with a reduced set of pdfToolbox profiles, permitting in addition much more flexibility due to the possible adjustments.

Through versatile integration interfaces callas’ pdfToolbox Server, pdfToolbox CLI and pdfToolbox SDK already provide the easiest and most flexible solution to incorporate PDF technology into a web-portal or production workflow. The Dynamic Profile technology further streamlines that integration by allowing on-the-fly adjustments of preflight checks, corrections and process optimization based on job information entered in an MIS system or through a web-interface.

Language versions and improved font and color handling

Further improvements include:

Advanced font-management to keep font names unique and prevent font caching problems

Built-in image re-compression to change the compression method of images right inside the PDF files

New advanced color mapping to map between any combination of color spaces including RGB/CMYK to RGB/CMYK, Spot to Spot, Spot to CMYK or RGB, and RGB or CMYK to Spot

Ships with additional pre-configured pdfToolbox 4 profiles

Localized in Italian and Spanish, in addition to English, German and French



Powerful automation

callas software also announces the availability of pdfToolbox Server 4, offering the same new functionality and enhancements as its plug-in version.
In addition, pdfToolbox Server 4 features an updated Switch configurator with the ability to define variables in Dynamic Profiles. Other Switch integration improvements include: save pages as thumbnail images, JPEG images or high resolution images, enhanced EPS export, creation of multiple reports per job, severity dependent reporting and saving of XML reports as a Switch XML metadata data set.