What is the future of CIP3?

Mr. LAUREL BRUNNER, through his extensive publicity around CIP3, believes that despite its slow development, many manufacturers are still actively practicing. Reluctant compromises Since the development of the CIP3 standard in the market since November last year, things have changed dramatically and the development of CIP3 has been too slow. Although those companies involved in this standard have invested great enthusiasm, there seems to be no breakthrough in this field. The reason is simple: There is a huge gap between theory and practice. There is a big difference between the imaginary world and the real world. The obstacle faced by the widespread adoption of CIP3 is its inability to use CIP3 in its efforts to encourage the use of CIP3. The supplier is not without cost in terms of development or sales. The problem is that it is too far beyond the user's basic conditions, and it is difficult for users to reconstruct the original equipment. It must address the original features of print production and the pre-digital compatibility issues in the enterprise. The first step to making CIP3 a natural, logical member of the printing world is to have good, rich digital information. Whether you like it or not, the fact is that most printers are concerned not with the use of integrated prepress and printing methods, but with the printing business. Absence of "marriage" is a "difficult marriage" between the two production processes. In terms of the current state of engineering, the possibility of CIP3 tool implementation is quite low. When normal printers try to unify the workflow and obtain savings, or when technology can reduce bottlenecks, CIP3 will naturally be on the agenda. CIP3 is also affected by another rather unfortunate feature: it is very, very sluggish, and the standard's contribution to the whole process of events exceeds the existing results, but in the end the role of CIP3 becomes less important. CIP3 is conducive to the subsequent work, it is for the printing process, but it is difficult to complete such a function is CIP3? It relies on software technology to connect all print production processes, from the input of the original to the cutting and folding process. As an initials abbreviation, it is actually somewhat misunderstood because the Prepress, Printing, and Postpress Committee (CIP3) is a personal organization that wants to achieve this goal and is keen to build data standards. The data standard has an attractive name - Print Production Format (PPF), which is actually what we are most concerned about. Its concept is to use digital tools to reduce process redundancy and ensure that all phases of print production are integrated as much as possible, reducing print preparation time. PPF is a software program that converts information between systems, such as prepress to print control and/or bookbinding. This approach is to use pre-determined digital information for a given job to preset printing ink, cutting, folding parameters, while saving the printing plate scanning process. It sounds a bit frivolous, but it does have many useful things. Just for a specific environment, its role will be different. Unfortunately, there are more environments in the UK that are not suitable for PPF. Alan Barnett gave a representative attitude towards CIP3. His company, JWL, has remained silent due to its silence on the testing and use of new technologies. The company has advanced prepress equipment based on screen-based TaigaSpace technology. But while it is so familiar with the prepress and support for CIP3 PPF screens, it is still not very interested in PPF. Barnett said: "The company has always had a variety of business and it's just too busy. I think it's important. And, unless it is something that we must pay attention to, why should we find ourselves in trouble?” In order to use Ipex as an opportunity to find out more about CIP3 PPF products, JWL, like other companies, has problems that need to be solved urgently. Their workshops went to Ipex to find digital proofing methods. Basically, what they needed and some related technologies existed. They did not work hard on CIP3 because they believed that CIP3 did not directly affect themselves. For them, the integration of prepress and printing is not a problem. Technology has both brought benefits and brought troubles for itself. For those companies that need to achieve maximum efficiency before printing, printing, and printing, PPF will undoubtedly provide an important way to increase the productivity of the entire production process. For example: PPF contains all the necessary data to control the process behind, like calculating ink area settings. It includes image information, additional tools for registering control points, ink measurement and control data, and more. For bookbinding, PPF includes folding and cutting information. Among pre-press development groups, products that are better supported by PPF come mainly from screens, Sai Angel, Barco graphics and Highwater Designs. In the bookbinding field, development is more difficult, mainly because there are too many variables to consider in the binding process, which is why it is difficult to quantify the economic benefits. Spicer Grant will apply paper cutting equipment. Its equipment includes the Angel Brisque front end, Dolev 800V imagesetter and a new Roland 700 press. Spicer Grant's sales manager is very impressed with InkPro and the Se Angel tool for delivering ink to the press. His impression is that everything is very simple, using the CIP3 to get data from prepress operations to control all aspects of the press. Mr. Hurst, who prepared to use CIP3 technology for printing, said: “The printing preparation time we have now is incredible. It is not a problem for us. We can install a printing plate in three minutes and only take two minutes. The printing press has reached normal production with almost no waste. The first print is correct.” The number of companies using PPF equipment has now reached double digits, and most of them use technology from Heidelberg, Screen and match angels. However, as the backbone of the CIP3 committee, Heidelberg has installed approximately 12 units in the UK. According to the customer's interest, it expects to double the number in the next year. Although this is not particularly sure, at least it gives a signal. The only alternative to CIP3 is Komori's PCC (Print Color Converter) technology, which is very similar to delivering ink description information to a press. Despite this, PCC is not really CIP3. Komori is working hard to develop a complete CIP3 print control system. PPF is based on the use of Adobe's PS language, which is commonly used to describe the content of pages delivered to digital output devices. PS language commands can also be used to define data structures or formats. The CIP3 committee has announced that it may use Adobe’s PDF as the basis for the CIP3 PPF. Although this seems to be forcing developers to develop two versions of the same product, there may be unexpected gains in the future. Of course, the future is still a distant, far-reaching, distant event. However, if production using the Internet has become common, the use of PDF as a basic format is unavoidable, because it is a transition from an RGB-based screen in the Internet world to a CMYK-based printing paper. The only relatively easy data format. But it is only a series of imaginations that are based on numerous assumptions. The reality is that the CIP3 standard still depends on market support. There is a lot of conflict between theory and practice. A standard first exists only when its advantages are recognized, and then it can establish a realistic standard that meets the user's requirements. This is why the PS language became the page description language of the 1980s, and why Windows became the most popular system for popular computers. It is right or wrong for users to make them like this. No matter how noble and beautiful the relevant standards are, it is not the decisive factor. Standards are eventually tested by practical applications. If they cannot survive in day-to-day applications, no matter how they are defined, they are useless. Although the development of CIP3 is slow, it seems to have survived the test of practice. In the end, it has achieved the goal that it should achieve, and it is not at all reluctant to do it. It is both simple and efficient.