Additional Attributes for Color Control Marks

In the Color Control Bar Editor, there are two additional attributes for controlling the color control marks when you select "Color Control Mark" as the mark type:

Color Control Mark (with AutoClip)

The press sheet-related color control bar is clipped to the subject. When clipping to the subject, any color patches that would be clipped are included completely, and the color control bar is centered on the plate. In addition, you can define the number of color patches that will project beyond the sub­ject.

Color Control Mark (with AutoPositioning)

Prinect Signa Station looks for suitable areas without 1ups on the press sheet and automatically places the color control marks there.

A color control mark with automatic positioning always has the AutoClip feature. This means that when you select "Color Control Mark (with AutoPositioning)", "Color Control Mark (with AutoClip)" is also automatically enabled.

Like with "Color Control Mark (with AutoClip)", this new mark type affects only marks placed in rela­tion to the press sheet. The mark is positioned regardless of the selected hotspot and the selected parent (paper, plate, etc.). The marks are fit automatically to the subject.

The clip path of the mark is taken into account in the search for unused areas for the color control mark.

If there is not enough space for the mark on the paper in the search direction, this mark is 'pushed' off the paper. During output, a warning is then issued, informing you that color control marks are out­side the paper.

Solely clip paths of the pages placed on the press sheets are used when searching for a suitable posi­tion for the color control mark.

Additional options for "Color Control Mark (with AutoPositioning)"

•"Search Direction": The search direction specifies the start position and the direction in which the system will look for unused space for the color control mark.

·"from bottom to top": The search for space for the color control mark starts at the bottom paper edge plus the gripper margin. The next free position upwards is selected if there is not enough space there.

·"from top to bottom": The search for space for the color control mark starts at the top paper edge. The next free position downwards is selected if there is not enough space there.

·"from center to top": Starting at the center of the paper, the search for space for the color control mark moves upwards.

·"from center to bottom": Starting at the center of the paper, the search for space for the color control mark moves downwards.

·"center to center": Starting at the center of the paper, the search for space for the color control mark moves in both directions.

•"Offset": This is the offset in Y direction by which the mark will be shifted. If "Axisymmetric Posi­tion for Front and Back" is not set, the offset works only if there is enough free space for the color control mark at the start position. The mark is positioned at the next free position in the set search direction if there is not enough space. In this case, the offset is ignored.

•"Bottom / Top Margin": Color control marks with AutoClip are normally placed directly onto the side without any margin with paper white around the control strip. Inpress Control and also Image Control need color control marks with such a margin to be able to measure properly. Using the "Bottom Margin" and "Top Margin" boxes, you can define a margin that is included when looking for free space on the paper, with the result that the color control bar is no longer positioned directly on the side.

•"Axisymmetric Position for Front and Back": When you set this option, the mark is shifted axisymmetrically on the front and back so that on thin paper, for example, test results are not falsified by marks shining through.

In this process, the mark offset on the front is always towards the bottom paper edge and the mark offset on the back always towards the top paper edge. For that reason, there must be enough space available for both marks (including offset) when searching for an unused position for the color control mark. In this case, the offset not only affects the start position but is gen­erally written to the data.

•"Invert Search Direction on Back with Perfecting"

When this option is enabled, the color control bar is placed on the same position on front and back, something that is necessary for presses with a perfector and internal color measuring sys­tem. The option is enabled by default when new color control bars are created.

•"Ignore mark if in gripper margin or not on paper":

In certain circumstances, it happens that a color control mark with automatic positioning is placed in the gripper margin or outside the paper. Such a positioning is pointless for color con­trol marks.
When this option is set, this mark is ignored during output and is not written to the PDF marks layer. This setting is important especially when working with the Prinect Signa Station server.
If the option is not set, an error message is issued, giving you the option of canceling output.