PaC.Space Proofs in the shop: New Proof Profile for packaging gravure printing

PaC.Space is the first uniform colour standard and proof standard for packaging gravure printing on coated substrates and films. Proofs in the PaC.Space colour space can now be ordered conveniently at shop.proof.de.

Up to now, there have been no colour standards in packaging gravure printing, as it is much more complex than magazine gravure printing, for example, and much larger colour spaces can be achieved in packaging printing. So far, the ISOCoatedV2 color space has often been used, but it contains considerably fewer colors than PaC.Space. Or in-house standards of the packaging printers were used, but they still had to be revised for the final print before the printing process.

With PaC.Space there is now a color space suitable for many packaging gravure prints, with which a proof can be created very early in the design process, which comes very close to the later production result. The data can and should be processed directly in PaC.space, which helps to reduce costs and time.

The idea of a uniform color space is the result of a project of the Pro Gravure Working Group of the European Rotogravure Association (ERA) under the leadership of GMG and Europe’s largest cylinder house Janoschka. At Proof.de PaC.Space Proofs are created according to the following conditions:

PaC.Space
PaC.Space is the first uniform color standard for packaging gravure printing that enables an interface from supplied prepress data to process- or print-specific adjustments.
Profile: PaC.Space_CMYK_engravure_V1a.icc
Paper: Coated substrates and films in packaging gravure printing
Check profile: FOGRA_PaCSpace_MKCheck11.it8

Colour deviation of Pantone metallics and Pantone Premium Metallics colours in proofing in Delta-E (∆E)

Current proofing systems can print spot colours like Pantone or HKS very accurate. With Fiery XF 5.2 Proof software and the Epson 7900/9900 proof printers we evaluated, with which colour deviation PANTONE Metallics Coated and PANTONE Premium Metallics Coated colours can be reproduced in proofing.

The colour deviations were calculated based on the measured colour space of the proof system of Proof GmbH by the proofing software. Deviations should therefore be quite similar in practice. Almost all PANTONE colours can be simulated quite well in the wide colour gamut of the proofer.

The smaller the Delta-E value, the lower is the colour distance of the PANTONE reference to the proofed PANTONE colour. Higher Delta-E values ​​show, which PANTONE colours can’t be simulated accurately in the proof.

Please note: Since the proof devices does not have colours with metallic pigments, the metallic shine in the proof can not be reproduced. Only through the satin finish of our proofing paper a somewhat shiny effect is produced, which replaces partly the metallic luster of true PANTONE colours. Although the colour is well rendered, the metallic effect in the proof does not exist. The proof can therefore always be used only as a guide, but not as binding simulation of the final result.

PANTONE Metallics
Coated
Delta-E Deviation
Proof
PANTONE
Premium Metallics Coated
Delta E
Deviation
Proof
PANTONE 871 C 0,71 ∆E PANTONE 10101 C 1,49 ∆E
PANTONE 872 C 0,72 ∆E PANTONE 10102 C 1,77 ∆E
PANTONE 873 C 1,03 ∆E PANTONE 10103 C 1,00 ∆E
PANTONE 874 C 1,26 ∆E PANTONE 10104 C 1,42 ∆E
PANTONE 875 C 0,97 ∆E PANTONE 10105 C 1,42 ∆E
PANTONE 876 C 0,86 ∆E PANTONE Silver C 1,65 ∆E
PANTONE 877 C 1,37 ∆E PANTONE 10106 C 1,09 ∆E
PANTONE 8001 C 1,52 ∆E PANTONE 10107 C 0,97 ∆E

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PANTONE Premium Metallics or PANTONE Matching System Metallics?

Pantone 877 and Pantone Silver 10077 C in comparison: Pic 2

Currently, PANTONE has two parallel Metallics colour fans:

  • PANTONE Metallics Coated: Contains the classic metallic shades available since the late 1980s.
    • Main basic colours: PANTONE 877, 876, 875 …
    • Typical colour names: PANTONE 8020, 8040, 8060, etc.
  • PANTONE Premium Metallics Coated: The new Metallics fan, which has been in existence since 2012, showing new, finer metallic shades.
    • Main basic colour: PANTONE Silver 10077 C
    • Typical colour names: PANTONE 10142, 10158, 10214, etc.

The main differences between the two fans lie in the composition of their respective basic colours: Firstly, there is the different Pantone Silver: PANTONE 877 or PANTONE Silver 10077 C. On the other hand, in the PANTONE Metallics Coated the silver is supplemented by further gold basic colours, while in the PANTONE Premium Metallics Coated the newly defined silver is the only metallic basic colour and is tinted by PANTONE Goe basic colours.

Pantone 877 und Pantone Silver 10077 C im Vergleich: Bild 2

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The names of the 84 new PANTONE Colours 2014

The following 84 PANTONE colours were added in February 2014 to the PANTONE Matching System and are included in the current Pantone Plus

PANTONE 2337 | PANTONE 2338 | PANTONE 2339 | PANTONE 2340
PANTONE 2341 | PANTONE 2342 | PANTONE 2343 | PANTONE 2344
PANTONE 2345 | PANTONE 2346 | PANTONE 2347 | PANTONE 2348
PANTONE 2349 | PANTONE 2350 | PANTONE 2351 | PANTONE 2352
PANTONE 2353 | PANTONE 2354 | PANTONE 2355 | PANTONE 2356
PANTONE 2357 | PANTONE 2358 | PANTONE 2359 | PANTONE 2360
PANTONE 2361 | PANTONE 2362 | PANTONE 2363 | PANTONE 2364
PANTONE 2366 | PANTONE 2367 | PANTONE 2368 | PANTONE 2369
PANTONE 2370 | PANTONE 2371 | PANTONE 2372 | PANTONE 2373
PANTONE 2374 | PANTONE 2376 | PANTONE 2377 | PANTONE 2378
PANTONE 2379 | PANTONE 2380 | PANTONE 2381 | PANTONE 2382
PANTONE 2383 | PANTONE 2384 | PANTONE 2386 | PANTONE 2387
PANTONE 2388 | PANTONE 2389 | PANTONE 2390 | PANTONE 2391
PANTONE 2392 | PANTONE 2393 | PANTONE 2394 | PANTONE 2396
PANTONE 2397 | PANTONE 2398 | PANTONE 2399 | PANTONE 2400
PANTONE 2401 | PANTONE 2402 | PANTONE 2403 | PANTONE 2404
PANTONE 2406 | PANTONE 2407 | PANTONE 2408 | PANTONE 2409
PANTONE 2410 | PANTONE 2411 | PANTONE 2412 | PANTONE 2413
PANTONE 2414 | PANTONE 2416 | PANTONE 2417 | PANTONE 2418
PANTONE 2419 | PANTONE 2420 | PANTONE 2421 | PANTONE 2422
PANTONE 2423 | PANTONE 2424 | PANTONE 2426 | PANTONE 2427

The following six PANTONE colours are dispensed compared to PANTONE 50th Anniversary compartments of 2012:

PANTONE Medium Yellow | PANTONE Bright orange | Red PANTONE STRONG
PANTONE Medium Blue | PANTONE Bright Green | PANTONE Neutral Black

PDF X/4 data – who calculates? InDesign or the RIP?

Recently we received a PDF file from a Swiss customer who asked us to proof it according to ISOCoatedV2. The format was PDFX-4, we could open the file, preflight it and also display it in Acrobat. However, when proofing in Fiery XF 5.2, the file was only output after a RIP time of over 3 hours.

Adobe PDF X4 screen output in Acrobat Professional

We have recorded the screen layout on a modern Macbook Pro with four processor cores and the latest Acrobat Pro version to illustrate the enormous demands on computing power.

It was clear from the screen layout that the RIP time would be quite long, but three hours with just one use was quite unusual, especially since in our RIP two instances of the Adobe PDF Print Engine work simultaneously. Where exactly the error lies in the extremely high RIP time is not yet clear. Both EFI, as the manufacturer of the Fiery RIPS, and Adobe, as the manufacturer of the PDF Print Engine (APPE), have been given the information that on a Harlequin RIP the file was probably ripped within a few minutes. So a bug in the Adobe PDF Print Engine might also be a reason for the long processing time.

It’ s a typical problem. From creation programs such as InDesign and Illustrator, the flattening of file elements with X/4 is passed on to the RIP in the print shop or proof printer.

The case in question was calculated on a quad-core system with SSDs with two instances of the Adobe PDF Print Engine and output correctly for three hours 47 minutes. However, since the final product cover is not expected to be produced in Europe, but in Asia, it was decided to break down the complex graphics with transparencies, drop shadows, etc. in Photoshop and then reuse it as a transparent PSD file. The resulting PDF X/3 file was ripped and proofed within seconds. The colour result was identical to the X4 file.

This example shows: PDF X4 is not just a modified data format. It also shifts the computing power and software requirements from the data creator to the data processor or printing house. But especially with complex graphics this can lead to unpredictable effects. Although PDF X/4-capable solutions such as Fiery XF 5.2 do exist today, a RIP time of over three hours is of course not practical.

Pantone Colour Chaos 2014: 84 new Pantone Plus colours annoy Pantone users

Screenshot Pantone Website 13.03.2014

Pantone has added a further 84 colours to ist Pantone Plus colour palette in March 2014. The the total amount of the Pantone Plus colour now extends to 1755 colours as Pantone writes on his website. The colours were – matching the Pantone colour of the year: Radiant Orchid – expanded in the Rouge and Pink range, based on the previous base colours.

Two other changes compared to the previous 50th Anniversary PANTONE guides are visible:

  • The cover sheets have been redesigned
  • The order of colour arrangement has now changed by going to chromatic criteria and now corresponds to the chromatically correct order. The colours from 2010 and 2012 have now been logically integrated into the new colour fans.

For the CMYK guides and the Premium Metallics and Neons & pastel colour guides only the cover pages have been updated. Graphic artists and the printing industry should forthwith upgrade its Solid Coated and Solid Uncoated guides to those of 2014 or newer.

Customers are annoyed by Pantone Product Policy

Since the year 2010, there has been chaos in the PANTONE Plus colour portfolio, which is not improved by the new colour guides generation. At present, there are four parallel Pantone Plus colour guides on the market, three of them with different number of colours included in the guide, although that is hardly communicated by Pantone.

The same is true for the Pantone product partners such as Adobe: Hardly any graphic designer knows what Pantone Plus colour are integrated into Adobe the specific Version since neither Pantone nor Adobe characterize their colour guide generation different. Pantone’s statement: “Compatible with today’s digital workflows – colours can be easily updated in leading design applications” translates rather: “What Pantone colours you see in your application, is pure cuincidence – depending on the update status and your manual intervention.”

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Ten points that you should always keep in mind when proofing.

It is actually quite simple to have proofs made. But experience shows that many customers often stumble over the same mistakes. We have put together the ten most important steps towards a successful proofing job:

  1. Proof as late as possible in the production process
  2. Select the right proof profile for your purposes
  3. Convert RGB or LAB images to CMYK
  4. Name Pantone and HKS colours correctly
  5. Proof your data in a 1:1 ratio and not scaled down
  6. Always proof with UGRA/Fogra Media Wedge 3.0
  7. Make sure that the job ticket is correct
  8. Make sure your service provider has the latest proof software and hardware
  9. Only accept authentic “contract proofs” according to ISO 12647-7
  10. Make sure that your proof provider has valid certifications

In the following we would like to present these individual points in more detail.

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Colour differences of Pantone Solid Coated and Pantone Solid Uncoated colours in proofing in Delta-E (∆E)

Current proofing systems can print spot colours like Pantone or HKS very accurate. With Fiery XF 5.2 Proof software and the Epson 7900/9900 proof printers we evaluated, with which colour deviation PANTONE Solid Coated and PANTONE Solid Uncoated colours can be reproduced in proofing.

The colour deviations were calculated based on the measured colour space of the proof system of Proof GmbH by the proofing software. Deviations should therefore be quite similar in practice. Almost all PANTONE colours can be simulated quite well in the wide colour gamut of the proofer.

The smaller the Delta-E value, the lower is the colour distance of the PANTONE reference to the proofed PANTONE colour. Higher Delta-E values ​​show, which PANTONE colours can’t be simulated accurately in the proof.

Pantone Colour
Solid Coated
Delta-E Deviation
Proof
  Pantone Colour
Solid Uncoated
Delta-E Deviation
Proof
PANTONE 100 C 0.89 ∆E PANTONE 100 U 1.69 ∆E
PANTONE 101 C 0.60 ∆E PANTONE 101 U 1.62 ∆E
PANTONE 102 C 1.23 ∆E PANTONE 102 U 1.40 ∆E
PANTONE 103 C 0.72 ∆E PANTONE 103 U 0.49 ∆E
PANTONE 104 C 0.48 ∆E PANTONE 104 U 0.92 ∆E
PANTONE 105 C 0.80 ∆E PANTONE 105 U 1.07 ∆E

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Pantone Plus vs. Pantone: Colours, fans and problems.

Pantone 50th Anniversary Guide: Two indexes

In 2010, one of the central innovations at Pantone was the new system for graphic designers, service providers and printers: The Pantone palette was extended by numerous colours and was given a new name: Pantone Plus

The extension by 560 colours was done in two steps:

 2010: 224 added to a total of 1341 Pantone Solid colours

In 2010, the Pantone palette was extended by 224 colours, which are named from 7548 to 7771 in the Pantone classification. All new colours could continue to be mixed with the previous 14 Pantone basic colours in the print shop.

  • PANTONE Yellow
  • PANTONE Yellow 012
  • PANTONE Orange 021
  • PANTONE Warm Red
  • PANTONE Red 032
  • PANTONE Rubine Red
  • PANTONE Rhodamine Red
  • PANTONE Purple
  • PANTONE Violet
  • PANTONE Blue 072
  • PANTONE Reflex Blue
  • PANTONE Process Blue
  • PANTONE Green
  • PANTONE Black

 2012: Another 336 more to a total of 1677 Pantone Solid colours

In 2012, the Pantone Plus palette was expanded by additional 336 colours, which in the Pantone classification are named from 2001 to 2336. In order to achieve these colours, the previous 14 Pantone base colours were extended by 4 new colours to a total of 18 base colours. The new colours borrowed from the Pantone GOE palette are:

  • PANTONE Bright Red
  • PANTONE Pink
  • PANTONE Medium Purple
  • PANTONE Dark Blue

Unfortunately, Pantone did not communicate these changes very well. A typical example can be seen in a screenshot from November 8, 2013: On the German and English Pantone pages, there are two completely different numbers for new colours; only the total number of colours on the two Pantone country pages is the same.

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Heatset and coldset? What’s the difference?

Nowadays, two different processes are used in web offset printing: heatset and coldset.

The coldset process is mostly used to print newspapers and paperbacks, with the printing ink drying purely by absorption.

In the heatset process, the paper is passed through a large dryer and a chill roll unit after the last printing unit. The length of the printing press is almost doubled by these two units. To ensure that the ink dries optimally, special heat-drying inks are used here.

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ISO12647… and then what? On the further development of the ProcessStandard Offset Printing

Fogra is currently working with great commitment on modernising ISO 12647 and adapting it to current environmental conditions.

Important innovations of the reformed ISO 12647 will be:

  • Innovations regarding paper types (PT)
  • New tone value increases
  • For proofing: New papers with optical brighteners

Why is ISO 12647 being revised? Environmental conditions have changed significantly at three central points since the last revision in 2004.

Papertypes

The previous paper types 3 and 5 with the paper whites defined in 2004 are hardly available on the market today. Even picture printing papers today show a much stronger blue colouration than just a few years ago. In addition, the revision of D50 in 2009 means that the lighting in the pressrooms now also contains considerably more UV than before 2009, which has caused problems in the matching of proofs without optical brighteners compared to papers with a high proportion of brighteners. Instead of the previous 5 paper types, there will probably now be 8 new paper types which also differentiate between glossy and matte picture printing paper:

  • PT1: Coated picture printing paper (Premium coated)
  • PT2: Brightened, coated picture printing paper (Improved coated)
  • PT3: Glossy coated magazine paper (Standard coated glossy)
  • PT4: Matte coated magazine paper (standard coated mat)
  • PT5: Wood free uncoated
  • PT6: Supercalendered, uncoated
  • PT7: Improved uncoated paper
  • PT8: Standard uncoated

Based on these eight types of paper, a total of 16 printing conditions are created by using frequency modulated non-periodic screening and conventional periodic screening.

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What is Moiré? And can I see Moiré in a proof?

Moiré effect through overlapping grid

The Moiré effect, or in other words a halftone screen overlay, is a common phenomenon when viewing prints. It occurs when two even patterns overlap unevenly.
Moiré Effekt

When does Moiré appear?

Moire is always created when screens overlap. Typical examples:

  • You have scanned in a newspaper ad and print it in another newspaper.
  • You print the portrait of a managing director wearing a jacket with a fine houndstooth pattern, a checkered shirt and a finely patterned tie. Regardless of the printing process, complete moiré chaos is guaranteed to break out here.
  • A brick building is reproduced in offset printing.
  • The photograph of a ventilation grille is viewed on a monitor

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Easy conversion of Pantone – HKS – CMYK – RGB with Adobe Photoshop

Color Selector - Adobe Photoshop

Farbbücher Auswahl in Adobe Photoshop CC: HKS, Pantone, CMYK und vieles mehr

More often the question arises as to what kind of Pantone colour corresponds to the HKS 43 K. Or what CMYK value? And what kind of web color in RGB?

If you own Adobe Photoshop, you can do these conversions directly there. In Photoshop CC all well-known color books are stored with values.

Let’s assume we are looking for the Pantone equivalent and the matching CMYK color of HKS 43 K.

1: Open the color palette in Adobe Photoshop and select HKS K as the book and then the color HKS 43 K. All well-known colour books are directly stored in Photoshop.

Farbauswahl von HKS 43 K im Buch HKS K in Adobe Photoshop CCThe color corresponds to a Lab value of 26/29/-79 and a CMYK value is already stored here. Simply select the book HKS K Process:

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Proof for Improved Newsprint (INP), Fogra 48

Contract Proof in SC Paper FOGRA40, including media wedge and measuring protocol

The default was:

“We need a proof for improved newsprint, white’76.”
“Do you know the proof profile?”
“No, unfortunately not. Can’t you decide that?”

We have looked into this question: UPM EcoPrime 76 H is printed on web offset paper in a large print shop. The information of the customer service there was:

“The default profile is Fogra 42, PSO SNP Paper (ECI) but that doesn’t fit at the back and front, is much too gray. “Proof according to Fogra 40, SC Paper (ECI), that’s much better.”

The two profiles do not match at all. SC Paper is for super-calendered paper, PSO SNP Paper for standard newsprint.. And the dot gain curves also differ completely.

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What is a finishing proof? Fogra49 and Fogra50 in detail.

original picture, iso coated v2 300%

With the proof standards Fogra49 and Fogra50 for the first time a proof standard was created that is not binding for printing. Why?

Fogra49 and Fogra50 describe two colour spaces as they are created by foil lamination not after printing but after printing and finishing.

  • Fogra 49 refers to the ICC profile: PSO Coated v2 300% Matte laminate (ECI) – PSO_Coated_v2_300_Matte_laminate_eci.icc
  • Fogra 50 refers to the ICC profile: PSO Coated v2 300% Glossy laminate (ECI) – PSO_Coated_v2_300_Glossy_laminate_eci.icc

Why were these profiles created?

Print finishing plays an increasingly important role in the further processing of printed matter. The application of a printing varnish, for example, is nowadays usually done directly during the printing process, e.g. with dispersion varnish in a 5th inking unit. The print image is usually only slightly changed in the process: An dispersion varnish, for example, results in a dot gain of 2-3 percent, a UV varnish up to around 5-7 percent. In contrast, foil lamination with OPP foil has a much stronger

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Create EAN / GTIN codes: Tips for graphic artists

EAN codes are standard on every product today. While in the good old days, shopowners themselves typed the prices into a cash register by hand, today scanner cash registers are the rule, which scan standardized EAN codes with a laser and thus clearly recognize the article and add it to the receipt.

EAN, by the way, stands for “European Article Number” and was replaced in 2009 by the global GTIN, “Global Trade Item Number”. The EAN or GTIN is a barcode that can be read automatically and read by barcode readers.

For graphic designers in Europe, two standards from the almost infinite number of EAN codes in use worldwide are primarily important in the product area. EAN 13 and EAN 8, i.e. a barcode of either 13 or 8 digits. What do these numbers actually mean?

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How exactly can printing ink be measured?

For some years now, the possibilities of colorimetric measurement of printing inks have become simpler and cheaper. And so it is often believed that measuring printing inks is simple, inexpensive and, above all, highly accurate. And this also across a wide variety of brands and generations of measuring devices. Is that true?

If you look at a few studies, that does not necessarily seem to be the case. IFRA, for example, requires that when measuring BCRA ceramic tiles the colour differences between different measuring instruments should be below Delta-E 0.3. In reality, however, things looked different. In a Nussbaum study, 8 out of 9 measurements were for a Delta-E greater than 2.0; in a Wyble & Rich study, the deviations were between Delta-E 0.76 and 1.68. But why are the deviations so large?

On the one hand, the measuring instruments differ in the way they illuminate the surfaces to be measured. This is important in two respects: On the one hand, measurements can vary greatly depending on the material, for example, because light is emitted and measured from only one light source onto the measuring surface. If a measuring instrument has only one lamp, which, for example, radiates at an angle of 45 degrees onto the measuring surface and whose reflection is measured, then the measurement can deviate by up to Delta-E 3.0 if you only rotate the measuring instrument about its own axis. If a left-handed person and a right-handed person measure the same tiles with the same measuring device, then just by holding the measuring device differently and by the different lighting angles of the tiles a measurement can be completely different.

The solution for this: In a measuring device, several light sources are distributed or, in the best case, the illumination is emitted directly circular at an angle of 45 degrees in order to minimize such effects.

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Order Proofs: shop.proof.de is online

Onlineshop for colour accurate contract proofs - shop.proof.de

shop_proof

From now on you can conveniently order proofs at shop.proof.de:

At shop.proof.de is available under shop.proof.de a comfortable online shop with numerous benefits available:

  • Convenient Data Upload: Each item one or more files can now be uploaded. So you can assign your data directly to the individual proofs.
  • Payment by Paypal, direct debit, invoice etc .: You are on shop.proof.de with Paypal and direct debit payment methods more available. Of course you can continue to conveniently order proofs on invoice.
  • See Previous orders, invoices, data uploads: You can always check your previous orders, call the invoices to and check the files uploaded.

Layout in RGB, print in CMYK. Problems?

Especially in larger companies today the layout in RGB is the rule rather than the exception. The advantages are obvious:

  • The layout takes place in a large, almost media-neutral color space
  • All Photoshop filters are available without restrictions
  • The process of color space conversion to CMYK is shifted to the production process as late as possible

In practice, however, there are two potential problems in particular.

Problem 1: CMYK conversion in the last step.
The catalogue is designed in InDesign, all data is perfectly matched, the last step before printing and proofing is the export to a printable PDF in CMYK. Usually this is done via a preset in InDesign, which defines the exact specifications for the color space conversion. In practice, however, this color space transfer can hardly be monitored. The problem: Even if you check the color values in Acrobat in the exported PDF file, for example, Acrobat does not really display the colors it contains. Acrobat brav would show you CMYK values even if the RGB images are still wrongly contained. However, other CMYK values can occur during printing when the data is processed again. Lately it looked like this:

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PDF/X4 – The future of PDF/X?

The PDF/X4 standard, a new PDF specification for PDF export, has already been available for several years. But what are the advantages of PDF/X4?

Users from the print sector have known the ISO PDF-X standards for many years. If the name PDF stands for “Portable Document Format”, i.e. the portable and thus transferable document, PDF “X” is a version specialized for “eXchange”, i.e. the exchange of PDF files. In concrete terms, this means that many of the functions that a PDF file can potentially display (form fields, calculations, 3D elements, films, etc.) but which cannot be controlled in print are prohibited in PDF/X in order to ensure secure data exchange.

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