St Albans - Zünd UK has announced the launch of Prep Center workflow software in the UK, with immediate availability.

Developed for long-term reliability and stability in specialist environments, Prep Center interfaces with Zünd Cut Center and GTK Cut and any number of PDFs and graphics to create fully laid-out, ready-to-print files, automatically extracting cutting and printing paths from PDF, EPS and AI files and placing them onto the correct layers.

Users of Zünd digital cutting tables will find the software capable of achieving all types of printing and cutting layers – including routing, creasing, kiss-cutting, V-cutting and engraving – at very high speeds, thanks to full multi-core processor utilisation and 64-bit architecture. Cut times can also be estimated thanks to excellent integration with Zünd Cut Center software.

Prep Center creates hot folders that monitor for new files, feeding them into the print-to-cut workflow, while its integrated professional vector editor supports offsets and transformations while precision adjustments can be made to the final print with the panel and layout editors. It features settings for bleed, cropping, scaling, vectorising, labels and more.

The software also helps users maximise their materials and reduce waste by supporting True Shape Nesting for optimal shape packing and handling double-sided media and intelligent de-duplication. It automatically places register dots for cutting, with the option of adding metadata such as QR codes and barcodes for cutting guidance.

It features JavaScript support and understands PDF, EPS, AI, PSD, TIFF, DVI, BMP, PNG, JPEG, and GIF, and creates PDF and EPS print files and ZCC, GTK, HPGL, AI, and DXF cut files.

"Prep Center is a very stable product with much more control and more function options than a standard large RIP," comments Peter Giddings, Sales Director, Zünd Plotting Systems (UK) Ltd. "It is specialist software that reduces the work needed to be performed by printer and cutter operators in the production environment while delivering precise, resource-efficient results."

Prep Center was developed by Grafitroniks, the reseller of Zünd equipment in France, and is available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. Zünd UK is inviting businesses to attend demonstrations of the software and its complementary cutting systems at its dedicated suite in St Albans in 2016.