Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Ghent Output Suite
The Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) has released the Ghent Output Suite, a suite of PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 electronic test targets that can be used to test a PDF-based workflow.
Murphy's Law
PDF/X (ISO 15930) was designed to remove uncertainty when exchanging prepress data. However, unlike the TIFF/IT standard (ISO 12639) which is a raster-based file format, the PDF/X standard uses a subset of Adobe's PDF which is object-based where individual objects may be in either vector or raster data structures.
And that is where our dear friend Murphy comes in with his law:
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
With PDF being object-based, there is potential for rendering errors to occur when the PDF/X file is processed by a RIP (or any PDF processor). If a RIP contains a bug in its PDF processing library it doesn't matter if you took the time color mange, and embed fonts and images. The print output will contain unexpected results which brings uncertainty back into the data exchange process. This is counterintuitive to creating a graphic arts data exchange format that enables blind transmission.
Bugs happen, it's part of the software development life cycle and this is why workflow systems that are PDF-based need to be tested.
Sweet Output
Test targets such as the Ghent Output Suite help workflow system users and developers determine whether their systems have issues that would cause unexpected results which might cause delays and require creative/prepress rework.
Posted in: Workflow
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