Third-party online professional applications
Once you’ve established a virtual colour proofing workflow to share your projects with your clients, you should set yourself up to work with commercial print providers to complete the all-digital workflow.
The world’s largest print service providers are leading the trend toward virtual colour proofing. They are taking advantage of Apple Cinema Displays, ColorSync and Mac OS X to deliver software applications and systems that let you reliably evaluate colour images and documents online, annotate soft proofs and approve them. Whether you use built-in Mac OS X applications such as Preview, or new applications from print service providers, accurate virtual colour proofing is easier, more reliable and more accessible than ever. Here are a few options for online virtual colour proofing…
Matchprint Virtual Proofing System - LCD
Kodak Polychrome Graphics (KPG) Matchprint Virtual Proofing System - LCD delivers accurate, reliable, timely colour-critical monitor proofing for use at all stages of the print production workflow by designers, advertising agencies, prepress and printers irrespective of their location.
The combination of Apple Cinema displays with KPG’s RealTimeProof product line and proprietary colour technology allows users to eliminate time from their prepress workflow.
The patented KPG colour science behind the Matchprint Virtual System allows accurate, consistent viewing of CMYK colour proofs via 20-, 23 or 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays. Kodak Polychrome Graphics RealTimeProof Web applications enable colour-accurate collaborative or individual proof viewing of original files from a Matchprint Virtual LCD viewing station. Or you can check the status of projects on Matchprintvirtual.com from any Web-enabled desktop or laptop. With the Matchprint Virtual Proofing System - LCD, you can simultaneously view, annotate and mark up proofs online, and automatically send email notifications of project progress to team members. Trade shops, clients and agencies can communicate better throughout the proofing process.
Kodak Polychrome Graphics will also offer a press-side virtual-colour proofing system that will utilise Apple technology. This system will allow press operators to check a proof on an Apple Cinema Display against the printed sheet — an unprecedented step in printing and proofing technology geared to lower make-ready time and cost.
ICS Remote Director
A collaborative virtual colour proofing solution, ICS Remote Director from Integrated Color Solutions (ICS) leverages Apple ColorSync technology to enable printers, design and print professionals and their clients to display accurate soft proofs.
ICS Remote Director is a peer-to-peer system, where printers, prepress specialists, clients and others can view, annotate and approve proofs using the client application.
Remote Director works directly with the GretagMacbeth Eye-One Professional system to certify that the displays in your workflow are calibrated and profiled. The displays are then certified to participate in colour-accurate virtual colour proofing sessions.
Using Remote Director’s online collaboration tools, everyone on the review team can make annotations that stay with the soft proof through approval. An on-screen densitometer allows anyone involved in the session to analyse colour down to a single pixel.
The world’s largest print service providers are taking advantage of Apple Cinema Displays, ColorSync and Mac OS X to deliver software applications and systems that let you reliably evaluate colour images and documents online, annotate soft proofs and approve them.
ShareStream
RR Donnelley, the world’s largest full-service global print provider, offers ShareStream, a web-based workflow solution that makes virtual colour proofing easy and effective. ShareStream is part of a suite of software tools that RR Donnelley and its clients can use to improve productivity in developing and producing print and electronic media.
For those doing business with RR Donnelley Premedia Technologies’ creative and pre-media services groups, ShareStream provides a SWOP-certified process for evaluating images and documents online. RR Donnelley hosts ShareStream images and documents on a secure server. Participants can then annotate soft proofs and change or approve individual images or complete documents.
ShareStream also has a distribution management function that simplifies routing proofs throughout the approval process. This is valuable to organisations such as financial institutions, pharmaceutical manufacturers and others that require hierarchical approvals, but also works effectively for dispersed workgroups of any size.
DALiM DiALOGUE
DALiM DiALOGUE is an award-winning application from Dalim Software that provides users with an online facility to provide remote and collaborative viewing and soft proofing of high-resolution files via the Internet in real time. It’s specifically designed as a stand-alone product for Mac OS X, compatible with a range of automated workflows. Once calibrated, the system will ensure that every user can view files and check for content as well as colour accuracy, thanks to the powerful colour-management capabilities of Mac OS X.
The only JDF-enabled virtual colour proofing system available, DALiM DiALOGUE uses unique data-streaming technology to any standard Web browser, allowing users to view high-resolution files in a wide range of file formats without the requirement of any client software or Web browser plug-ins. Printers, publishers, ad agencies and designers can offer their customers the ability to view, zoom in/out, navigate, place annotations, draw to highlight areas, take densitometer readings, check production parameters, validate files and even “chat” in real time.
