French RIP specialist Caldera has announced Caldera PrimeCenter V1.1, a new version that arrives hot on the heels of the original June launch of the prepress automation solution for digital printers. The purpose of the upgraded version is to improve the flexibility and enhance the automation capabilities of the original.

Caldera PrimeCenter was created to sit upstream of the RIP to facilitate scaled up production for Print&Cut workflows. It consolidates preflight, bleeding and nesting in one tool, while reducing the level of manual errors and saving time on file preparation. One of the new features that expands flexibility is that V1.1 is now compatible with more cutters and can generate cut files in layered PDF, the most used format on the market. This means that every element of a PDF, from the design and cut contour to the registration marks, is now contained in different layers. Another flexibility gain is the inclusion of extended cut marks options to provide compliancy with cutter and workflow restrictions. There are added shape choices for registration marks and fully customizable placement options.

When it comes to improving the automation capabilities of PrimeCenter, V1.1 now allows two possibilities for tracking codes. Job processing can be automated by the inclusion of optical marks such as QR codes or barcodes. Changes to the new version mean that standard barcode readers can be used to enable semi-automatic processing. Output auto naming is another area of improvement. Even though the original version of PrimeCenter already provided dynamic output file naming, V1.1 takes this a step further. Layouts can now be named according to media name, number of copies, date and ganging metadata. The ganging metadata can feature any naming attributes and these changes will ease the identification process in both manual and automatic workflows.

Further changes include automated cropping of images with blank space around them, and automated cut contour generation and crop mark placement. Operators will save time on boring tasks, allowing more focus on adding value. Simple one-click execution for mirroring and orientation will bring extra time savings.

New features will continue to be added without having to apply for full software updates, while CalderaDock provides an extensive Preflight and Fixup library. The new File Manager module allows users to choose how input files are displayed to make finding files easier than ever.

According to Julien Walther, Caldera Product Manager, “It is always our intention to provide the best possible user experience with our products, and for this reason we continue to upgrade the features that PrimeCenter offers. Increased automation is the way forward across the entire print industry, and Caldera software products are leading the way, providing significant savings of time and money, and reducing human error across the workflow.”