Ten years after first launching its PDF Print Engine, to move beyond Postscript and better handle new design effects in print output, such as transparency, Adobe at the start of June unveiled the fourth version of modern PDF rendering technology.
The Adobe PDF Print Engine (APPE) platform, integrated by dozens of print equipment manufacturers over the past decade, is already running in more than 150,000 print operations around the world. APPE is integrated in a range of systems like toner production presses and label presses, wide format inkjet printers, and platesetters for traditional printing processes (offset/flexo/gravure).
“As the print industry’s predominant imaging platform for the last decade, PDF Print Engine renders more print jobs, day in and day out, and also more types of jobs, than any other technology,” said Adil Munshi, VP and GM, Print and Publishing, Adobe. “Adobe PDF Print Engine 4 will take customers to the next level – improving workflow efficiency, increasing job throughput and reinforcing printer competitiveness.”
APPE 4 includes key new features like Tile Parallel Processing (TPP), which brings the platform’s branded Mercury RIP Architecture to wide-format printing. Adobe explains TPP is designed to accelerate system performance by breaking up large assets, like a poster, retail sign or architectural drawing, into smaller sections, each of which is assigned to a separate instance of APPE, running on a separate CPU core. By processing multiple tiles in parallel, then seamlessly re-assembling them, Adobe explains TPP significantly reduces overall rendering time.
With APPE 4, Adobe also explains performance is now 10 times faster for graphics consisting of a pattern, which repeats over an extended area. As well, the copany explains continuous shading effects are more fluid than ever, as new algorithms developed by Adobe colour scientists smooth out long gradient blends, particularly at inflection points where hue can shift abruptly.
Spot-colour handling has also been expanded in APPE 4, where as up to 127 colour channels can now be specified and used in any given region. PDF Print Engine 4 will become available to printers throughout 2016, as equipment manufacturers integrate the technology into their next-generation technologies.
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