Development of RIP

At present, RIP has become the core issue of prepress production. It affects all aspects of the entire production process, from color management and document management to printing. Moreover, features such as trapping and imposition that previously required separate application processing are now added to the RIP. There are many new RIP products and vendors. Suppliers such as Agfa, Halequin, Rampage, Scitex, and UFO Systems, which have been stable for a long time, all have hardware and software RIPs that are updated or new. Amiable, Colorbus, EFI, Vivid Image, Xante and others have already introduced their new large format and color copier RIP into the picture industry. Adobe has also provided updated PS print languages ​​and PDF formats that are expected to become workflow file formats for publishers with powerful, flexible tools that can be easily integrated into today's workflow. At the same time, many different forms of RIP have been unified into the same model: a combination of hardware and software on top of a WIN NT computer in a client/server system. This shows that the RIP program actually runs on the same NT platform that will soon become the core of the pre-press equipment's computer network. Today's Win NT workstations serve as hubs and transport hubs for large networks. And they also have enough power to handle the tasks of color management, color trapping, and OPI exchange. When converting layout pages, bitmap images, and vector graphics into dot matrix files - ready for export to various devices or for other publishing applications such as multimedia or Internet publishing. This new workflow mode is called RIP-Once-Plot-Many (ROPM) - a single RIP multiple output mode. The multi-purpose process In order to maximize profits, publishers' interest gradually shifts to multi-purpose - this is the same file used in many different media and formats. For example, they may want to use the same image and content for print output, short-form direct mail, and website publishing. No matter what kind of RIP, there must be able to produce output files that apply to all of these forms. This will make the multimedia communication more effective and help the image, especially the color reproduction, to remain stable and consistent because the image is rasterized once and does not use different methods for different outputs. Businesses in the computer-to-plate industry have been encouraged by direct or non-film printing. In this way, the grouped and trapped files after the RIP process are imaged directly on the printing plate. CTP saves more time and costs in the optimization workflow, and can be improved in terms of quality and stability. For CTP, the biggest obstacle is proofing. Because there is no film output, we cannot make traditional analog color proofs, and the effect of using a color desktop printer does not guarantee that the proofs will match the proofs of the press because it is different. The equipment craftsmanship, PS language, and interpretation of color information all have inconsistencies. ROPM is a key component in any CTP environment. In the ROPM workflow, digital proofs are generated from the same RIP file that will eventually be used to output the film and plate. Even continuous proofs produced by inkjet printers and dye sublimation printers will be a true reflection of all Postscript elements on the page. The use of fonts, kerning and trapping effects will be the same as those produced on the press. Wide color printing With the improvement of the quality of color printers, more and more people use wide-format printers to produce color jobs. A dedicated RIP optimized for large-format printing equipment, including Cyclone from Colorbus, Fiery XJ-W color servers from EFI, and Accel-a-Graphix CT4 RIP from Xante. Amiable Technologies’ PhotoPrint RIP has added limited image editing and text editing tools, providing a complete system for the design of the mark and the image production center affiliated with the unit. In fact, all large format printer RIPs also support a variety of screening technologies, including FM network sites. PDF and Postscript3 Adobe Postscript3 is a major page description language and is the dominant workflow model in the printing and publishing process. The appearance of Postscript3 makes the color change smoother and has a better reproduction of gradation. The PS3 supports high-fidelity color and is combined with the latest PDF version. A few years ago, Adobe introduced Acrobat software and PDF file formats. In recent years, the PDF format has had a great influence on digital presses. Postscript RIP works in two phases: First, it creates a display list of all text, graphics, images, and background elements. Then, it turns each element into a bitmap, or in a multi-colored document, forms a color separation bitmap for each color. When a file is distilled into a PDF file, the program has performed half of Postscript rasterization. The PDF file is actually a display list generated during the first step of the RIP process. The latest PDF3 version expands the editability of PDF files and supports some color management and professional copying techniques such as FM screening and high-fidelity color. Another important improvement is the independence of the page: Each page in the PDF file can be treated as a separate element. This simplifies and prints, network passes, and build processes. Moreover, PDF and Postscript3 make the raster image processing more productive and greatly increase the flexibility of the prepress production system. Instead of having to send a single large-format design file with a high-resolution image to RIP, PDF first reduces the size of the file and then turns it into its own page element. Compared with the previous period, today's process is very smart. The final result of the development and development of RIP, a new feature in RIP, once again emphasizes RIP's central position as a prepress production system. Our choice of RIP will affect every aspect of the entire process that will affect the transition from page files to actual output - whether it is film, media, or paper. Then, a key factor to consider is where the RIP process fits better in the prepress workflow, relative to the color separation, color management, trapping process, OPI exchange, and layout process. The efficiency of the system has a great influence. The relative position of the RIP process and layout steps also affects the system's capacity. Moreover, because of the power of the server, these two tasks can now be completed on the same computer. For example, the Version 7 RIP produced by Rampage includes the features of the layout. Considering the relationship between the RIP process and the layout process: If we first make a large version, the RIP must convert the entire printed page at a time. For large publications or jobs such as 2up, 4up, or 8up, such as printing, or for jobs that need to be recycled, this means that the same image is rasterized again and again. This may cause unstable color problems. However, if we first RIP and then make the big version, we can ask the pattern engine to place the same rasterized image on a large printed page. Moreover, this requirement for computer power is high, because rasterized images, especially primary rasterized ones, may have a very large size: 2,337,500,000 dots per page or 292 MB of byte capacity. This is an ideal place for PDF files to distill a file into a smaller display list. The current PDF pages are very independent. It is relatively easy for imposition systems to organize these individual PDF pages on a printed page and rotate them to the correct position. RIP then completed the task of rasterizing smaller files, and half of this work has been completed by the PDF distillation program. Determining Our Needs RIP is having a tendency to become a prepress process server. Moreover, these two words also began to be used interchangeably. When RIP becomes the core of the prepress production system, this trend will continue to be apparent. However, the RIP process is still just a process that is different from other tasks such as color management, trapping, OPI management, and imposition of the prepress server. The implementation of these tasks has a direct impact on its production capacity, efficiency, and even the quality of the image on the press, digital printer or display. But the maximum efficiency of this sequence is not only related to the final output destination of the image - paper or display, but also related to the type of image or file being produced, that is to say, different output formats, like magazines, trademarks, short editions The quality of brochures or outdoor signs will vary. Today's desktop publishers require the workflow process, they not only require good image quality in the final print or imaging process, but also have the ability to reconstruct the image or complete the file as desired. At present, color brochures printed using color printers may turn into the effect of obtaining high-resolution manuals on sheet-fed presses. And, after this, you can also turn it into a Web page. RIP will then continue to evolve and be able to complete more compact integrated prepress operations. It also helps to create more flexible input and output formats and has the potential to create more efficient workflows.