tiff catcher server

[andyfest]

Right now we are exporting screened 1 bit tiffs from Nexus to a Fuji Gateway tiff catcher at the front end of our platesetter, as are a lot of folks out there in pp-land. The tiff catcher queues up the tiffs and we release them....easy-peasy. Our sister company in the GTA is using Prinergy and when asked, are not using 1 bit tiffs, so we can't use them to back us up for plating. What format does Prinergy use to send the files to the server at the platesetter? Can a server be set up to accept more than 1 file format i.e.: if the server has been set up as a tiff catcher can it also be set up to accept files from Prinergy? Just curious as the question has surfaced... 

[David]

not sure what they are using to make plates, but I have always sent 1 bit tiffs from Prinergy to a platesetter.

[DCurry]

You can set up Prinergy so that it directly feeds to a platesetter (not to a queue or hot folder), but it still creates a 1-bit tiff. Your sister company should be able to set up a new process where Prinergy writes the 1-bit tiff to a specific folder either in the job or on the network somewhere, as opposed to directly to the platesetter.

But if you're trying to feed them your 1-bits and have them make plates for you, they may need to import them into Prinergy as a job and then push to their platesetter without any rescreening. I haven't done this, but I suspect they could import your 1-bits as CopyDot (resample to their device resolution if necessary), and click "Treat Input Files As Flats" which will consider them already imposed.

Probably will require some trial-and-error testing on both ends, but it seems do-able.

[andyfest]

Thanks for the info. That sounds like their set-up. When I asked their prepress manager if they were using 1 bit tiffs, her reply was "No." That's what was confusing me. Maybe she doesn't think/know that Prinergy is exporting a 1 bit tiff directly to the platesetter. So if they aren't archiving 1 bit tiffs, are they re-RIP'ing every job that they need to plate to get the 1 bits to feed the platesetter??

[johnny_jay]

We have Prinergy as well and send one bit tiffs to our platesetters. We have two Screen devices.

I think Prinergy can also be configured to output directly to a Kodak plate device and it doesn't write tiffs but I have never used that workflow, we have always sent tiffs.

I believe with Prinergy, it is an upgrade to send tiffs.

John

[DCurry]

So if they aren't archiving 1 bit tiffs, are they re-RIP'ing every job that they need to plate to get the 1 bits to feed the platesetter??

Probably, although I wouldn't really call it "re-RIPing". More like re-rendering. All the refining and trapping has already taken place, so it's just a matter of sending it to the platesetter again. If it's anything like our old setup, there is even a unique remake code on each plate so the pressman can go to the patesetter, type in that code and it will re-image the plate from its memory.

I did try my own suggestion, and couldn't get it to work all the way - everything was good up until I tried to image the plate and I hit a wall, so I'm not sure if my advice was any good in the real world. In theory it's still good, though!

[Joe]

So if they aren't archiving 1 bit tiffs, are they re-RIP'ing every job that they need to plate to get the 1 bits to feed the platesetter??

Probably, although I wouldn't really call it "re-RIPing". More like re-rendering. All the refining and trapping has already taken place, so it's just a matter of sending it to the platesetter again. If it's anything like our old setup, there is even a unique remake code on each plate so the pressman can go to the patesetter, type in that code and it will re-image the plate from its memory.

I did try my own suggestion, and couldn't get it to work all the way - everything was good up until I tried to image the plate and I hit a wall, so I'm not sure if my advice was any good in the real world. In theory it's still good, though!

I think that might only work if you have a Kodak platesetter. On our Luschers that code means absolutely nothing in its tiff catcher.

[Ear]

I run a Tiff catcher and it is not re-ripping... the Tiff Catcher is a spooler/print controller. The images are already mapped to 1-bit TIFF when they hit the tiff catcher. It also controls which plate to load, etc.. on multi-bay platesetters. But my workflow is taking care of all screening and curves, etc...

Like DCurry said, you can usually feed plates directly from the RIP, (Kodak and others) instead of using a spooler, like a tiff catcher. I like using a spooler on a different computer because it takes the load of the main machine, among other things. Gigabit network, so the tiffs spool faster than plates can burn. My tiff catcher (Raster Blaster) also lives on the same server as my EFI Colorproof, for my 9900. They seem to coexist.

And yeah, anything printed needs to be plotted to an image first, so the prepress person who said "no" about Tiffs, was wrong. She should know what happens under the hood.... shameful. lol

[steve4]

Had this issue when switching from a Creo Trendsetter to a Fuji Javelin. Had to change the process plan from creating 1 bit tiffs as "Output To"a "Virtual Proof" to "Output To" a "Tiff". Both are 1 bit tiff's but the Fuji required  a true "Tiff" output.

[andyfest]

Had this issue when switching from a Creo Trendsetter to a Fuji Javelin. Had to change the process plan from creating 1 bit tiffs as "Output To"a "Virtual Proof" to "Output To" a "Tiff". Both are 1 bit tiff's but the Fuji required  a true "Tiff" output.

So if one wanted to gather and archive the 1 bit tiffs out of Prinergy, instead of sending them directly to a drop folder on the Fuji server, how is it done? In Nexus Manager it's easy as you can hit the "Reveal in Finder" button to view and copy all of the 1 bits.

[Joe]

We never archive one-bit tiffs. But if we wanted to we would have to archive them off the tiff catcher PC. I mean if you really wanted to you could run them to the tiff catcher AND to a folder within the Prinergy job, then archive the one-bit tiffs within the Prinergy job but that seems a little redundant.

[Bert]

I believe normal Prinergy one-bit TIFF output has different header information than an industry standard one-bit TIFF. We've encountered this before when when we configure our workflows to drop TIFFs on EVO or Print Console. That's why we developed the Kodak TIFF Catcher Connection kit for folks who want to do this sort of thing.

I suppose we could do the same thing in reverse, take a standard one-bit TIFF and automatically convert it to Kodak format. Just a thought.

[Farabomb]

I wouldn't put it past Kodak to pull something like that.

I do remember sending one bits to another shop for output and they did come out but just not in the right position. I had a prinergy system and they were running Rampage.

[Joe]

Photoshop will open Prinergy one-bit tiffs. I would think if the header was non-standard that photoshop wouldn't open them.

[andyfest]

Photoshop will open Prinergy one-bit tiffs. I would think if the header was non-standard that photoshop wouldn't open them.

Photoshop will open Nexus-generated 1 bits as well.