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• Target Size
This option can be used to ensure that the size of the PDF file
doesn’t exceed a certain size (e.g. 5000 kb) This can be used for
files that need to be sent e.g. by e-mail. In order to keep the file
size below the maximum size, images may have to be downsam-
pled and/or compressed more than set in the dialog. Do not use
this for files that will be send to Press!
• Split Long Paths
Just like PS output, paths with many anchor points can be split
up an parts. The more parts that need to be exported, the longer
it will take. The default settings is 500.000 points.
7.9.6 Text settings
• Vectorise text
Before exporting, ArtPro will convert all text to paths to avoid font
problems at a later stage. When this option is switched off, the
text will be in the PDF file as real text. If text is not set to be vec-
torised, it will always be embedded.
Japanese 2-byte characters are always vectorised.
• Subset Embedded fonts...
Subset Fonts defines wether fonts should be embedded as sub-
set if only a part of the characters are used. How much of the font
characters should be used before the font is embedded com-
pletely, can be set in the When percentage of characters used is
less than field. If this value is set to 100%, a subset will be created
for every font which is not used completely.
7.9.7 Color settings
• Force Opaque Inks to knockout
If the option Force Opaque Inks to Knockout is on, overprints will
be flattened first, so a visually correct result is generated, but the
resulting PDF is NOT OK for printing!
In order to warn that the result will be correct visually, but not for
print, a red exclamation mark is shown when switched on.
• Fail on Nonseparable Blend modes
If the file to be exported contains Nonseparable Blend modes
(Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity), the file will fail if this option is
switched on.
These Nonseparable Blend modes operate on a 3 component
color space. This means that to calculate the resulting color,
CMYK needs to be converted to 3 components, the Blend needs
to be calculated, and the result needs to be converted to CMYK
again. However, no instructions are given on how these conver-
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sion from one color space to another should happen. This results
in different behaviors and different color results in different appli-
cations / RIPs
• Exclude Separations
This option can be used to exclude separations from the output.
By clicking the Options button, the Output Separations dialog is
opened. By Adding a separation (click the + button and define its
name. Wildcards can be used), you can exclude this separation
for output. By selecting an entry in the list and clicking the - but-
ton, you can remove it from the list.
The Search Unused Separation setting at the top, will exclude
separations that are not used. It will only turn separations off,
separations excluded earlier will not be removed from the Ex-
clude list, even if they are in use. The Search Unused Separation
option does not take registration color into account.
The Exclude separations can not be used in combination with the
Include separations option.
• Include Separations
This option can be used to include only the selected separations
from the output. By clicking the Options button, the Include Sep-
arations dialog is opened. By Adding a separation (click the +
button and define its name. Wildcards can be used), you can in-
clude this separation for output. By selecting an entry in the list
and clicking the - button, you can remove it from the list.
The Include separations can not be used in combination with the
Exclude separations option.
• Color Management
If a profile has been defined at the time of importing or opening a
file in the workflow, it is possible to override the settings for output
(e.g. color profiles for proofers or separated output) in this menu.
For a full description of color management in Nexus, please refer
to Chapter 12. Color Management on page 428.
• DotGain
This allows to apply a dotgain file on the output. For a full expla-
nation on Dotgain, we refer to the ArtPro manual, in the Screen-
ing section.
The applied dot gain curve will be applied to the PDF as a transfer
function in the Graphic state.
The dot gain curve for placed files will work without problems with
placed ArtPro files and PDF files coming from ArtPro or Nexus
Processor. Placed PDF files from other application will work fine,
as long as they don’t define their own dot gain curve inside the
PDF, as the embedded curve has priority.
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If a placed PDF file coming from ArtPro or Nexus Processor al-
ready contains a dot gain curve, a warning will be generated on
PDF Output.
• Always Generate CMYK Separations
This option will include all CMYK separations to deviceN color
spaces as soon as one of the CMYK separations is used. This
option is only useful for customers that use a GMG color manag-
er on their PDF files.
• Flattener
The Flattener is used to translate transparencies and blends. This
is necessary when outputting PDF 1.3 compliant. More on the
Flattener, including the Flattener Options, can be found in 8.20.
Flatten Transparencies on page 257.
7.9.8 Images settings
• Use Image Downsampling At
All images with a resolution higher that this value, will be resam-
pled. This allows you to create smaller PDF files, e.g. for a quick
soft proof.
• For Images Having at Least
If this option is on, only images with a resolution higher than the
entered resolution, will be downsampled to the down-sample
resolution. In the example above, when switching on the option,
images with a resolution below 450 ppi will remain unmodified,
while images with a resolution above 450 ppi will be downsam-
pled to 300 ppi.
• Use Averaging When Downsampling
This option is the same as in the more print settings. When it is
activated, image quality will be better, but the output will be slow-
er. The difference with PostScript output is that CCITT images
are averaged too when outputting to PDF.
• Apply on 1 bit images
If the option is enabled, downsampling will also be applied on 1
bit images.
• Image Compression
No Compression, Lossless compression (Flate), Maximum Qual-
ity, High Quality, Medium Quality or High Compression. None
means that all compression is taken off. Compressed images are
decompressed in the PDF file. A lossless compression means
that the file will still be complete after decompression. There will
no loss of quality. In the three other cases, the files are com-
pressed with a JPEG compression. A higher compression means
smaller files, but worse quality and vice versa.
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• Include RGB preview of images
This will add a lowres 72ppi preview of the large images inside the
PDF. These previews will be used by some Acrobat plug-ins, to
speed up previewing files.
• Image Clipping
The Image Clipping option allows to force Nexus to clip images
to the smallest size inside the clipping path. Nexus will also cal-
culate to include the full picture if clipping doesn’t give any bene-
fit, i.e. if the sum of the image parts is close to or bigger than the
size of the full image. A full image will only be included once in the
PDF file, even if it is placed multiple times.
• Links
The Links option allows to include OPI comments into the PDF
file. You can choose between None (no links), OPI links or Esko
links. The option Embed Images allows to define if images with
OPI comments should be embedded as well.
OPI comments can not be used in e.g. Illustrator, unless the InP-
DF plug-in is used. For more information, see the InPDF docu-
mentation.
• File & Fonts settings
This option allows to open the Root Folder, Folder Mapping,
Fonts Folder and Color Management settings. These are the
same as when opening an ArtPro file. See 7.3. Open ArtPro File
on page 185.
7.9.9 Certified PDF
If the “Output profile” file is selected then PDF file is preflighted after
being exported. The Output profile can be cleared by shift-clicking
the Browse button. If “Certified PDF Enabled” is unchecked, then
regular non-certified PDF file is saved and no new session is started.
The “Incremental save” option will work only if the last Certified PDF
(i.e. the imported Certified PDF or the last Exported PDF) is still avail-
able. The option means that the previous Certified PDF file’s con-
tents will be merged with the exported PDF, so that “rollback” the
PDF document to the previous session will be possible. Using this
option can result in a large PDF file.
To keep both the PDF as the ArtPro file in a certified (“green”) state,
it is necessary to save the ArtPro file after the Certified PDF Export.
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7.10. Print to File
The Print to File activity will convert the ArtPro native file format to a
composite or separated EPS file, depending on the Device Type
that has been chosen.
Depending on the workflow, the Print to File activity can be simply
followed by a Close File activity, an FTP activity, a Copy File activity,
or a Convert EPS to PS and a Send over PAP activity. This will be
depending on what device the file needs to be printed to and how
the device is physically connected to Nexus. This will be described
at the end of this section.
7.10.1 Load settings from
XML
Using a file dependency from a Select File activity selecting an XML
file, the settings from that XML file can be loaded in the Print to File
activity, overwriting the settings.
7.10.2 General Concepts
• Flattening
When creating a PS file, the ArtPro file is flattened if needed, as
PS does not support blend modes, opacity, etc. The settings of
the Flattening Options are used. For more info on Flattening, see
8.20. Flatten Transparencies on page 257.
• Composite PostScript®
Composite PostScript means all information is calculated into a
single page, unseparated PostScript file.
In a Composite file, placed EPS files are copied unmodified. This
means that if you work with DCS for instance, the placed low res-
olution will be sent to the printer. Both TIFF files and ArtPro files
are converted into PostScript at full resolution (or any resolution
defined by other print settings).
There are mainly 4 ways of generating PostScript for Printers/
Proofers.
• Using DeviceN (Composite L3 Printer)
When outputting composite PostScript using the Level 3 Devi-
ceN comments, a composite PostScript is generated, containing
all transparencies and spot colors. If this composite output is
handled by a RIP, capable of handling these level 3 commands,
a correct output can be achieved. This option is preferred if the
Proofer/Printer can handle it.
Please note that composite output, even when using the DeviceN
command, does not include dotgain or screening information.
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• DeviceN Off, Use Setcustomcolor OFF
The complete job, if necessary, will be flattened to remove all
overprints and transparencies, and will convert all PANTONE™
colors into CMYK.
The result will be a flattened CMYK composite PostScript file,
which can be send to any color proofer.
• DeviceN Off, Use Setcustomcolor ON
This will create a flattened file, flattening all CMYK overprints and
blend modes.
The resulting PostScript file will contain CMYK objects in combi-
nation with separation color objects. This PostScript file will still
contain overprinted objects. Not every color Proofer can handle
this.
• Bitmap Proofer
This option will force Nexus to Rip the complete job into a CMYK
image at a given resolution, and generate a PS file containing only
the Ripped CMYK image.
• Separated PostScript®
If you make a file with All Separations, a multipage PostScript file
is created. Each page contains black and white information de-
scribing the separation of one ink. So the file contains as many
pages as there are inks in the ArtPro file.
If you make a file per separation, a single page PostScript file is
created containing the black and white information of the film (ink)
you asked for.
Placed art in separated output:
•EPS files containing CMYK, grays and custom colors are sep-
arated by ArtPro, using “separation code”. Some EPS files
however, are not suited for this separation code. Therefor an
alternative separation code is provided (by switching on the
“simple separation code” option) for these situations. If you
work with DCS files (or DCS-2), ArtPro will replace the low res-
olution file by the high resolution separations.
•TIFF CMYK files are separated and converted into PS.
•ArtPro files are converted as normal, this means any picture in
the file will be expanded with high resolution.
•OPI: PostScript output of TIFF files always contains OPI com-
ments (as specified in Aldus Open Prepress Interface Specifi-
cation 1.2 and 1.3). This makes it possible to work with low
resolution images on the Mac and in proofs (= unseparated
output), and high resolution images on film (= separated out-
put). Even if the TIFF file type is not supported (not CMYK), OPI
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comments are generated.
Examples of TIFF files which are supported by OPI are RGB
and palette TIFF files. These files can be placed in ArtPro, you
will see them on screen and you are able to make a color proof-
er output. However, you will not be able to make a separation
of these TIFFs, unless you use OPI replacement.
• Placed Files (S&R)
Placed PDF 1.3 files are converted to PS during output. Placed
PDF 1.4 files cannot be converted to PostScript Level 3, and will
generate an error “Cannot convert PDF 1.4 into PostScript”. Note
that the distinction between PDF 1.3 and 1.4 is not done on the
header, but on the presence of PDF 1.4 functionality.
7.10.3 Device Types
• Color Proofer
Color Proofer is the standard Composite PostScript output to
send to PostScript proofing devices.
• Color L3 Proofer
Color L3 Proofer generates composite output, using Level 3
commands such as DeviceN and shadings. This results in com-
posite output, containing all spot colors, overprints, etc. Screen-
ing and Dotgain Compensation is not included.
• Separated Proofer
Separated Proofer is a device to print separations on a color
proofer or e.g. a LaserWriter. Although it is sent to a Proofer, the
output is separated.
• Bitmap Proofer
This output, originally developed to be able to output overprints
and transparencies, has become obsolete because of the L3
commands. With the Bitmap Proofer output, the ArtPro file is
RIPped into image data which is sent to the proofer, preceded by
a PostScript header and followed by a PostScript footer. The im-
age data consists of CMYK information. This output can get quite
substantial, depending completely on the output resolution and
the file size.
In the More Print Settings, in the RIP tab at the bottom you can
define the desired resolution. The ideal resolution is equal to the
resolution of the proofer device you are using.
• Custom Proofer
Custom proofer is the output device for proofers with all “More
Settings” available. Any Device type will actually have a number
of preset “More Settings”, of which some can be modified, and
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others are grayed out. Custom Proofer will have the preset “More
Settings” from Color Proofer, but all settings will be available for
modification.
• Generic ImageSetter
This is the default device for the output of Separated PostScript,
for a general type of imagesetter or platesetter.
• Agfa
To generate output for an Agfa imagesetter, choose Agfa in the
Device Type list. The type of PostScript generated for Agfa is
separated PostScript.
• Barco RipScript
This device type generates separated PostScript, to be exposed
through Barco RipScript.
• Barco TransScript
This output generates EPS files which can be sent to an old Bar-
co system, through Barco TransScript. Note that these files are
not standard EPS files, and are not to be used in applications oth-
er than Barco TransScript. For more information on procedures
how to output through Barco TransScript and the limitations of
this method of output please refer to the ArtPro manual.
• Creo (Layout / Single Job)
These two Devices make it possible to use OPI server functional-
ity for Step & Repeat on Creo Servers. Whereby, high resolution
image data is stored on the server and a preview version is stored
with the original file. At output the server automatically replaces
the preview version with the high resolution data, according to
the OPI comments contained in the Step & Repeat Print file.
Printing from Nexus will therefore be considerably faster, as net-
work data transfer between Nexus and the Creo server system is
reduced to a minimum.
• Procedure
1. Print the single job in the Print menu with the option Creo (Sin-
gle Job) and send it through to the Creo server.
2. Create the S&R file of the single original ArtPro job and save it.
3. Print the repetition file to Creo (Layout)
Besides the OPI possibilities, the Creo output contains DIG com-
ments, allowing Print files from Nexus to be used in the VPS, the
Creo Virtual Proofing System. Therefore, even if the OPI
Step&Repeat is not used, Creo Layout should still be used to en-
able the VPS.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested