Giesbeek, The Netherlands -- Elpical, a leading specialist in automated image enhancement and image management solutions, announces the integration of its Claro image enhancement technology into ex ImageDeskXT, for automatic image handling in QuarkXPress 8 and Quark Publishing System 8 (QPS8).
 
Elpical products are available in the Americas through Tools4Media, and was

recently cited by Modern Luxury publishing group, a Tools4Media customer, for superior quality in color-correcting thousands of pictures, automatically.  Elpical Claro is becoming renowned for its ability to color-correct literally thousands of images in the space of a few hours, making it a growing favorite of publishers, commercial printers and in-house corporate printers.
 
What is ex ImageDesk XT
Developed by Germany based CoDesCo IT Consulting GmbH, ex ImageDeskXT is a desktop XTension for automatic image handling in QuarkXPress 8 and at the same time can be part of a workflow solution for image optimization in Quark Publishing System 8 (QPS8).
 
How the XTension works with Elpical Claro
The integration with Elpical's Claro Premedia allows users to create an automated image correction and enhancement workflow with QuarkXPress 8 and QPS 8.
 
In this workflow, ex ImageDeskXT transfers a XML file "Job Request" to Elpical Claro. This XML file refers to a copy of a picture in the QuarkXPress document and contains the settings regarding picture quality and format. Based on this information, Claro Premedia first individually analyzes each image and then enhances the image based on its particular requirements, as well as applying the desired crop, resolution and color space. If an image needs special attention the original and processed image can be automatically routed to the operator's desktop for side-by-side comparison. The original picture in the QuarkXPress layout will be replaced with the optimized version and the optimized picture is placed into a "Digital-Asset-Management (DAM)" or file system.
 
This allows the image to be optimized directly in the desired size, which offers great flexibility in layout and availability of the pictures.
 
John de Jong, Managing Director of Elpical points out: "The perfect integration of our Claro application in QuarkXPress 8 and QPS 8 is a success thanks to the well-devised ex ImageDeskXT.

"Next to perfect images, the Quark Desktop- and Dynamic Publishing product users profit from a secure production and productivity enhancement."
 
Klaus Behnke, Managing Director of CoDesCO, says, "Elpical Claro is the benchmark for automated picture optimization at the moment! Therefore it was obvious for us to develop the XTension ex ImageDeskXT, a product with many strong features that delivers the integration of its Claro image enhancement technology directly in QuarkXPress 8 and QPS 8. The positive feedback of our customers shows us that we hit the mark with this software solution!"