Global Graphics publishes PDF optimization guide

‘Full Speed Ahead: How to make variable data PDF files that won’t slow your digital press’ is a guide directed to graphic designers, print buyers, production managers, press operators, owners of PSPs, and developers of digital presses and composition tools. The free guide is edited by Martin Bailey, chief technology officer for Global Graphics and the primary UK expert to the ISO committees that maintain and develop PDF and PDF/VT.

A number of leading vendors in the VDP sector have sponsored the guide, including HP Indigo, WhatTheyThink!, Digimarc, Delphax Solutions, Racami, Kodak, Hybrid Software and HP PageWide Industrial.

The impact of poorly constructed PDF files on production schedules has increased as press resolution, colorant count, speed and width rise, greatly increasing the data rate required to drive them. This increase places additional demands on the processing power of the DFE and risks slowing down the digital press: a delay of half a second on every page of a 10,000-page job adds 90 minutes to the whole job, while for a job of a million pages an extra tenth of a second per page adds 24 hours to the total processing time.

‘The main aim of the guide is to provide practical recommendations that help ensure that VDP jobs don’t slow down the print production workflow, without affecting the visual appearance that the brand owner, buyer or marketeer is trying to achieve,’ said Bailey. ‘If every label, page, carton or tee shirt is different at least some of every instance must be rendered, color managed, half-tone screened and delivered from the DFE to the inkjet heads at engine speed, and that’s a lot of data.  If everyone in the chain works together to optimize VDP PDF jobs, processing is much more efficient because presses are kept running and jobs will be delivered on time.’

The content of the guide is organized so that readers can easily find concise, practical and, importantly, actionable information relevant to their role in VDP projects. Illustrations, photos and explanatory diagrams together with examples of real print jobs help to explain the issues clearly.

To download a free copy of the guide go to www.globalgraphics.com/full-speed-ahead