News briefs

Magazine Ad Revenues Up, Pages Slightly Down

According to Publishers Information Bureau, total magazine advertising revenue for July 2003 increased 7.9 percent vs. July of last year, closing at

Old Media Holds its Own vs. New

The Electronic Document Systems Foundation reports new research confirms traditional forms of media are holding their own against the Internet. A study conducted by Vertis reveals that although Internet usage increased 8 percent from 2000 to 2002, consumer use of TV, newspapers and radio increased at comparative levels.

PrintImage to Host Annual Owners Conference

The PrintImage Intl. Owners Conference will take place Sept. 25-28 at the Hotel InterContinental, Chicago. Sessions will cover a variety of topics, from digital vs. traditional offset printing to marketing and direct mail.

For more information, visit www.printimage. org.

Digital Graphic Output Professionals form Association

The Professional Digital Imaging Association has formed to become a central resource for digital graphic output professionals throughout the world. PDIA was created in response to a demand for education and knowledge exchange between users and manufacturers, and resulted from research and feedback provided the digital graphic output industry.

Gene Lambert, PDIA's executive director, says, "The formation of the PDIA and the appointment of its advisory board is an undertaking that brings a breath of fresh air to the emerging digital imaging output community, worldwide. The association now has a world-class advisory board comprised of some of the most well known and respected scientists, authors and authorities in the field of color and digital imaging output."

The association is committed to the continuous positive growth of digital imaging output professionals and the companies that serve them. It aims to provide comprehensive education, training and product testing.

GATF Announces 2003 InterTech Award Recipients

The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) has named 13 companies recipients of the 2003 GATF InterTech Technology awards. A panel of independent judges chose the winners from 40 submissions.

The awards' mission is "to honor excellence in innovative technology for the graphic communications industry." Several judges comment that they find an increasing number of InterTech nominees are seeking creative ways to bring new, sophisticated technologies - thus, new services and revenue streams - within the reach of small and medium-size print businesses.

The awards will be presented at an Industry Awards dinner Saturday, Nov. 15, 2003, at the La Mansion del Rio Hotel, San Antonio, TX. A booklet showcasing all of the current year's nominated technologies will be available at GRAPH EXPO.

2003 GATF InterTech Technology Award Recipients

(Listed alphabetically by company)

Plate Cell Patterning Artwork Systems Inc.

Part of Artwork Systems' Nexus product family, Plate Cell Patterning is a software application that places anilox cell patterns on flexographic plates to improve ink transfer. The cells are "patterned" into the job during imaging on an imagesetter or a platesetter. The cell patterning roughens the plate surface in an attempt to improve the quality of printed solids, reduce ink consumption, reduce halos around type, and produce more open reverses and finer positive images.

ORIS Color Tuner 5.0 CGS Publishing Technologies Intl.

ORIS Color Tuner 5.0 color management software is designed to produce contract-quality proofs on Inkjet output devices. The system uses ICC-based color management and fine-tuning. Most file formats can be handled, including PostScript, PDF and PDF/X, TIFF, TIFF/IT, DCS, CT/LW, copy-dot, and more. The company says anyone can calibrate an output device and create a color-matching table automatically by outputting and measuring a standard color target.

HyperFlex Creo Inc.

HyperFlex is designed to aid in the exposure of small dots or graphic elements on a photopolymer plate. It helps reduce the relief depth between dots and expands the base of the shoulder. HyperFlex is designed to preserve dot size and the intended tonality, yet allow smaller highlight dots. The company says it complements and enhances hybrid AM screening technologies in flexography, allowing smaller highlight dots and reducing nonuniformities in the "FM" range of the hybrid AM highlights.

Epson Stylus Pro 7600/9600 with UltraChrome Ink Epson America Inc.

Epson's SWOP-certified combination of an inkjet printer, inks, and output media for contract-level proofing is designed to deliver accurate proofs with a wide color gamut that closely simulates colors produced on the press. The inks include a seventh color, a light black ink that improves the printer's gray balance along with transitions within the midtones and highlights. Epson's line of proofing media is designed with different base tints and gloss levels. According to the company, these features plus a high-resolution print head form a system that produces high-quality proofs at low running costs.

FastVariants

Esko-Graphics

FastVariants is a suite of software tools and technologies for outputting the same file in multiple versions. It is designed to help users avoid mistakes in the production of versioned jobs that require press operators to change one plate, usually the black plate, for another plate with a different version during the print run. Whether a job is supplied as neutral pages with separate version pages or as full-color version pages, FastVariants is designed to solve or detect specific problems that make a file unsuitable for a double burn. All of its tools run in batch mode. As one judge observed, "This application enables relatively modest printers to offer versioning services by using automated software, rather than paying for custom programming."

Goss Digital Inking System Goss Intl.

Goss Intl.'s digitally controlled ink metering system is designed to eliminate the need for fountain blades and can be mounted on new newspaper and commercial web offset presses or retrofitted to older Goss and non-Goss presses. At most press speeds and conditions, the system delivers a specific volume of ink to each zone across a web using miniature rotary valves that are either on or off. It comes ready to utilize CIP3-compliant ink key presets.

Magnapak Heidelberg

Heidelberg's high-speed newspaper insert packaging system can be configured as an inserter, a collator/polywrapper system or as a combination of both. It operates at up to 30,000 cycles per hour, per delivery. Magnapak features a shaftless, servo-driven design and advanced system controls. It can be configured as a stand-alone inserter or as a large packaging system fed automatically from press or automated storage systems.

Stitchmaster ST 400 Heidelberg

Heidelberg says the ST 400's computer-driven, independent servomotors, mobile feeders and productivity enhancements open up versatile opportunities for productive and more efficient saddlestitching. Its presets, automation and other productivity features have been designed to reduce makeready times up to 50 percent. The stitcher has an output of up to 14,000 cycles per hour and can handle products up to 12 5/8 x 19 7/8 inches. Operated via touch screen and a touch-sensitive keyboard, the Stitchmaster can be preset with local or network data, including prepress CIP data. Mobile feeders equipped with wheels allow operators to change the '. configuration.

Remote Director Integrated Color Solutions

The Remote Director system is a SWOP-certified, display-based contract proofing solution. Using proprietary color science and software technology, Remote Director is designed to give users to accurate, consistent viewing of color images on computer monitors in different locations from the same source file. It offers dynamic viewing of requested images, monitor control and calibration, verification of color accuracy, and dynamic use of industry-standard ICC profiles, and it supports CMYK and RGB workflows. It is designed to digitize users' workflows, eliminate geographical barriers and speed color-critical workflows.

Matchprint Virtual Proofing System, Version 1.0 Kodak Polychrome Graphics

According to Kodak Polychrome Graphics, this interactive, contract-level, SWOP-certified proofing system uses color science and specialized color transformations to enable accurate, consistent viewing of CMYK color reproduction via RGB displays. The system consists of high-end, customized CRT monitors, proprietary color management technologies and a suite of Web-based image viewing and collaboration tools from RealTimelmage. An instrumented color-calibration process helps ensure consistent and accurate color from monitor to monitor. Color proofs can be transported, viewed and approved, or electronically marked and returned for corrections.

Lithrone S40 Komori America Corp.

The Lithrone S40 is equipped with Komori's Color Connection software suite, and when coupled with a CIP4-compliant K-Station, Komori says it provides a link to computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) in the pressroom. Several features are designed to enhance makeready speed, including an automatic plate changing system that can change six plates in less than three minutes and advanced automatic programming from the press console of current makeready, washup, and the next makeready. The Lithrone S40 runs at 16,000 sph and can print on substrates from onionskin to 40-pt. board.

RealTimeProof Express RealTimelmage, Inc.

RealTimelmage's RealTimeProof Express allows other online systems (including those from Kodak Polychrome Graphics, WAM!NET and Printable) to be collaborative and interactive. RealTimeProof Express combines the workflow management of the RealTimeProof.com application service provider (ASP) with a local, high-resolution streaming server. RealTimeProof Express is most suitable for high-production volumes or multisite companies looking for local, secure image streaming with centralized administration. "It will enable the industry's transition to soft proofing, not only for content proofing but also for contract color proofing," noted a judge.

Xerox Square Fold Booklet Maker Xerox Corp./Plockmatic Intl. AB

Designed for the digital finishing market, the Xerox Booklet Maker produces a square-fold edge on saddlestitched booklets. Based on technology designed by Plockmatic Intl., Xerox says the machine provides the look and feel of a perfect-bound book, including preprinted color covers with text on the spine, at a fraction of the cost perfect binding. It connects inline to Xerox DocuTech printers and performs saddlestitching, folding, trimming and squaring to produce finished books at printer-rated speeds. As one judge observed, "This development provides strong market encouragement to the on-demand finishing function."