Fiery DFE and software products have all of the necessary settings for commercial print, design and corporate in-plant customers to be assured that a comprehensive range of design elements – including fonts, transparency blends, overprints, shadings, image types, soft masks, color spaces, and more – will be accurately reproduced regardless of the type of digital press, digital production printer or wide- or superwide-format inkjet device used with the DFE.
 
“The GWG developed the Output Suite to give software developers, and more importantly end users, a way to proactively test their production workflow components and settings to identify potential problems before they are found running client production files,” said GWG Chairman David Zwang. “We welcome the efforts of EFI to validate its software solutions against the Output Suite, and help users ensure they are meeting their clients’ expectations.”
 
The GWG, a Belgium-based international assembly of industry associations, suppliers and experts, develops specifications and defines rules for determining if PDF documents are compliant to deliver quality print, dependent on the specific production process. The GWG’s PDF Output Suite determines whether workflows are behaving as expected, and gives users the ability to quickly and easily identify errors. The newest specifications in the Output Suite, released in April, addressed a need for more color-specific test patches. Beyond establishing a test for the GWG’s own specifications, the new Output Suite also includes test patches for quality issues that might appear in an Adobe® PDF/X-4 (ISO 15930-7) compliant workflow.
 
Simplified and enhanced digital print color management
 
EFI customer Marek Václavik, production and color management specialist for the in-plant print operation at the Prague Zoo, relies on an EFI Fiery Wide Format DFE and GWG tools to achieve superior, consistent and repeatable results on exhibition panels and other graphic elements used throughout the 58-hectare zoological park. The in-plant print department uses its Fiery DFE to drive wide-format printers from several different manufacturers and creates contract proofs with EFI Proof Paper.
 
“EFI Fiery technology offers really wonderful color management and the company is very responsive to our needs in terms of new features and capabilities. The GWG also does an excellent job providing tools that allow us to improve our design and production workflows,” said Václavik. “Our Fiery DFE, together with GWG tools such as PDF export settings, preflight profiles, transparency flattening profiles and the Output Suite, allow us to improve production, achieve consistent print results, reach a wider gamut and get quality colors in our multi-vendor wide-format printing environment.”
 
Advancing the industry through standards support
 
The newly released Ghent Workgroup PDF Output Suite version 5.0 is fully supported by the latest versions of EFI Fiery proServer and Fiery Wide Format DFEs, plus Fiery DFEs for cut-sheet digital printers with FS100 Pro, FS150 Pro and FS200 Pro system software. EFI Fiery DFEs and software successfully processed the 48 Ghent Workgroup PDF Output Suite version 5.0 test patches in output trials completed at EFI facilities.
 
“Digital printing businesses worldwide have found EFI Fiery DFEs and workflow software to be true vendor-agnostic, ‘no compromise’ solutions for fast, efficient and accurate digital production output,” said John Henze, vice president, Fiery marketing, EFI. “Our company strongly supports standards development and it is important for our customers to have tools that can identify potential problems with files before those files are in production. We encourage anyone looking to establish a more-efficient digital printing workflow to check if their DFE passes, or inquire about this before buying a digital press.”
 
The production specification the GWG creates has long been the de facto standard for exchange of PDF documents in the graphic arts industry. The group has developed useful tools and educational materials for automating production processes, testing workflows, and more. More details about the Ghent Workgroup PDF Output Suite version 5 are at http://tinyurl.com/zltzhmu. EFI instruction files for customers to produce perfect output using Fiery software are at http://tinyurl.com/h5ajkh3. For more information about Fiery Driven™ digital production printing, visit www.efi.com.