Mortsel, Belgium – Drupa – 18 February 2004 – Agfa will show :Alterno, a new color conversion software for packaging at Drupa. :Alterno brings additional benefits that current color conversion models cannot achieve. It supports multiple color processes and offers spot color simulation. Based on PDF and Agfa’s CMS/QMS technology, :Alterno will be integrated into Agfa’s workflow management solution for package printing, :ApogeeX. In this way, the highest level of productivity and proofing consistency is ensured. :Alterno is a software conversion tool that substitutes the many colors that are often used in package printing with fewer customer definable colours and CMYK. In current models, these additional colours are predefined. In addition, :Alterno will work not only with FM screening (frequency-modulated, such as :CristalRaster), but also with cross-modulation screening technology such as :Sublima. Benefits for packaging printers include savings on the number of colours needed to create and produce packaging products with superlative impact. :Alterno substantially saves on ink costs, time for changing inks, and waste of expensive packaging substrates. While current models require colour conversion to be defined at the design stage, :Alterno frees the designer of this burden. :Alterno accepts original PDF files and uses colour profiles to convert any specified spot colour to the appropriate colour combination. It does so at the prepress stage and generates in a new PDF file. This means that existing packaging designs no longer need to be reworked before they can be printed in few colours. “We have found that combining :Alterno with our :Sublima cross-modulation screening brings even more benefits,” says Kris Vangeel, director of Agfa’s packaging business. “:Sublima makes it possible to print any flat tint without the image noise that is unavoidable with frequency-modulated screening; It s being used by dozens of package printing companies across the world.” Additional tools within :ApogeeX workflow management, such as in-screen calibration, seamless printing and dot capping, will further enhance print quality and user-friendliness. Agfa will demonstrate these additional tools at Drupa. “The cost savings of :Alterno and the image quality of :Sublima combine to a compelling Agfa solution that will add a dimension of uniqueness to any package printer,” added Vangeel.