"Generation of inspection data" option

Prerequisite: An Inline inspection system must be available on the press in order for this option to display in a SheetfedPrinting sequence template, and the respective license must be enabled. If a Prinect Prepress Manager is connected, the "Generation of inspection data" option must be enabled in the upstream ImpositionOutput sequence to generate the inline reference images. See "Generation of inspection data" Option.

A Prinect inline sheet inspection system enables continuous quality control of color reproduction on the press during printing. For this purpose, the press sheets are monitored with a camera and compared with a reference image. To do this, the inspection system requires two types of files, which are generated by prepress or the ImpositionOutput sequence and, if necessary, in Prinect PDF Toolbox:

​•​An Inspection level file

The inspection level file contains information about individual areas of the sheet content that specify how intensively the inspection system is to check the respective areas. In other words, it controls the sensitivity of the inspection. This inspection sensitivity can be defined in up to 5 levels, the "inspection levels" where level 1 represents the highest sensitivity and level 5 the lowest sensitivity. In the inspection level file, the inspection levels are represented by different shades of gray.

Depending on the inspection accuracy required for a print job, either a uniform, average inspection level can be used for the inspection, or different inspection levels can be used for different areas of the press sheet to enable a differentiated inspection. In this case, the different inspection areas of the press sheet must be defined with the Coating Editor of Prinect PDF Toolbox and then saved as an inspection level PDF file (under a different name than the original PDF file).

​•​A reference image

The Sheet Inspection system uses the reference image to compare the image data the camera has captured with a specified target, a reference that was created directly from the job data The measured deviations can be transferred to the Prinect Customer Portal as "reports". In a Prinect Production workflow, reference images are generated from the sheet PDF files if the "Generation of inspection data" option is enabled in the upstream ImpositionOutput sequence. See "Generation of inspection data" Option.

Configuration of color options

Correctly set color management is required to compare the colors measured by the Inspection System with the colors of the reference image. See also "Color Conversion" option. The following elements are required:

​•​The standard ink profile for printing

For printing, a CMYK press profile is required, for example a profile adapted to region-specific print processes (SWOP, EURO etc.). Click "Browse" to select a press profile. See "Default Press Profile" box.

​•​If applicable, a PDF/X output intent if a PDF/X output intent is embedded in the document PDF file of the print job.

In some cases, a "PDF/X output intent" is defined in the PDF documents of the print job. You can then enable the option "Use Embedded PDF/X Output Intent, if Available, as Press Profile". The PDF/X output intent is then used as the ink profile for printing instead of the set default press profile. See "Use Embedded PDF/X Output Intent, if available, as Press Profile" option.

​•​The color profile for the camera of the Inspection system

An RGB color profile representing the color characterization of the camera is required for the camera of the Inspection System. Click "Browse" to select a suitable camera profile. See "Camera profile" box.

"Default Press Profile" box

A "Browse" dialog opens when you click "Browse". In this dialog, go to folder "[Prinect Server]\PTConfig\SysConfig\Resources\ICC-Profiles\Printer" The press profiles for various offset standards are located in further subfolders. Go to the appropriate subfolder and select the default profile for offset printing. See also "Press Profile" group.

"Use Embedded PDF/X Output Intent, if available, as Press Profile" option

If enabled, this option affects the default press profile.

​•​The system behaves as follows if this option is enabled:

​•​When a PDF/X file with an embedded ICC profile as its Output Intent is processed, the embedded press profile is used for color space conversion. The press profile set in "Press Profile" is ignored.

​•​If there is no Output Intent, the ICC profile set in "Default Press Profile" will be used.

​•​The press profile set in "Default Press Profile" is used for color space conversion if this option is not enabled.

Any embedded PDF/X Output Intent will not be used for color space conversion during output.

This option should be enabled whenever an embedded PDF/X output intent is used in addition to the color management of the print output. This is recommended because a PDF/X output intent usually more accurately represents the intended color settings for the output than a default print profile.

"Camera profile" box

Prerequisite: The camera profile matching the Inspection system must be located in the following Prinect Server path: [Prinect Server]\PTConfig\SysConfig\Resources\ICC-Profiles\Camera.

A "Browse" dialog opens when you click "Browse". In this dialog, go to folder "[Prinect Server]\PTConfig\SysConfig\Resources\ICC-Profiles\Camera" and select the camera profile for the Inspection system.

Import of inspection data from an external prepress system

If Prinect Production Press is connected to a third-party prepress system, the generation of the inspection files and the forwarding of the preview images and the data for ink zone control to the press are parameterized in the SheetfedPrinting sequence. In this case, the reference image and, if necessary, the inspection stage file must be generated from the sheet PDF files supplied by the prepress system. The procedure is as follows:

​•​From the external prepress system, the sheet PDF files are stored in a hotfolder on the Prinect server computer and "fetched" from there for further use in Prinect Production Press. These files are used to create the reference images and, where applicable, to create the inspection level files with the Coating Editor of Prinect PDF Toolbox.

​•​Running in the background, a special Prinect module, "Prinect Preview Service" creates the reference images directly from the sheet PDF files. This function is activated by switching on the "Generation of inspection data" option if an external prepress system is connected. The reference images are generated as composite images in PNG format.

​•​The inspection level files are generated - just as in a configuration with a connected Prinect Prepress Manager - with the Coating Editor of Prinect PDF Toolbox on the basis of the sheet PDF files supplied by the prepress system.