Caldera V9 En

Caldera V9 – What's New Page 1

WHAT'S NEW in

CALDERA V9

October 2011


Contents

1. INSTALLATION .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

2. SUPPORTED SYSTEMS ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

2.1. LINUX....................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2. MAC OS X................................................................................................................................................................................ 4

3. LICENCING.................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

4. OVERVIEW OF V9...................................................................................................................................................................... 5

5. APPE 2.5 ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 5

5.1. ENHANCEMENTS....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 5.2. LICENSE.................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

6. I1PRISM V2................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

7. INKPERFORMER........................................................................................................................................................................ 7

7.1. HOW IT WORKS......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 7.2. THE DUAL PRINTING MODE....................................................................................................................................................... 8 7.3. INK SAVING RESULTS............................................................................................................................................................... 8 7.4. LICENSES.................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 7.5. KNOWN LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 9

8. COLOR CORRECTIONS............................................................................................................................................................ 9

8.1. DESCRIPTION............................................................................................................................................................................ 9 8.2. KNOWN LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ............................................................................................................................. 10

9. COLOR BARS............................................................................................................................................................................. 10

10. REOPEN JOBS ......................................................................................................................................................................... 11

11. QUICK PRINT CONFIGURATIONS .................................................................................................................................... 12

12. RELINEARIZATION............................................................................................................................................................... 12

12.1. THE PROCEDURE................................................................................................................................................................... 12 12.2. LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS......................................................................................................................................... 14

13. CHINESE SUPPORT ............................................................................................................................................................... 15

14. LIVESPOOLER........................................................................................................................................................................ 15

15. COSTVIEW 3............................................................................................................................................................................ 17

16. COLOR BOOKS....................................................................................................................................................................... 17

17. PRINTING AND CUTTING ACCURACY............................................................................................................................ 19

18. MINOR ENHANCEMENTS.................................................................................................................................................... 19

18.1. FASTER CONNECTIONS IN SPOOLER...................................................................................................................................... 19 18.2. EASYMEDIA: AVERAGING MEASUREMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 19 18.3. EASYMEDIA: TARGET REORGANIZATION ............................................................................................................................. 19 18.4. EASYMEDIA: PRINTING MULTIPAGE TARGETS ...................................................................................................................... 19 18.5. EASYMEDIA: CORRECTION CURVES..................................................................................................................................... 19 18.6. N-COLOR: ENHANCED INKSETS ........................................................................................................................................... 19 18.7. EYEONE READING ................................................................................................................................................................ 19 18.8. PROFILE BROWSER ............................................................................................................................................................... 20 18.9. RESOLUTIONS IN RASTER FILES ............................................................................................................................................ 20 18.10. PROFILE PARAMETERS (VS. MEDIA PARAMETERS).............................................................................................................. 20 18.11. SPOT COLORS: NCS AND HKS LIBRARIES.......................................................................................................................... 20 18.12. EASYMEDIA: 3D GAMUT DISPLAY...................................................................................................................................... 20 18.13. GRANDCUT: CUSTOMIZATION ............................................................................................................................................ 20

19. NEW PRINTER DRIVERS ..................................................................................................................................................... 20


20. DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS, MODULES AND SYSTEMS............................................................................................ 21

20.1. SCANNER DRIVERS AND RELATED PRODUCTS ....................................................................................................................... 21 20.2. HPGL RIP............................................................................................................................................................................. 21 20.3. KUBUNTU 7.04 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 21 20.4. I1PRISM V1 AND LOGO PROFILERS ..................................................................................................................................... 21 20.5. MAC /PPC AND TIGER .......................................................................................................................................................... 21

21. MODIFICATIONS OF KEYS AND LICENCES .................................................................................................................. 21


1. INSTALLATION

In the case of a first install, Caldera V9 has to be installed from the V9 distribution DVD. In the case of an upgrade (from V8 or any other version), Caldera V9 can be installed either from the distribution DVD, or with the software upgrade (CalderaV9.calpatch), downloadable from our usual locations - the second method being preferable. In either case, do not uninstall your previous version of Caldera before upgrading to V9. That's not necessary, and could even cause problems. A V8 (or any other version) install will be upgraded smoothly and transparently. There is no need to rebuild, reconfigure, or reprofile anything after the V9 installation. With the exception of a few minor things, everything will continue working exactly like in the past, once the new licence keys are installed (see below).

2. SUPPORTED SYSTEMS

2.1. Linux Kubuntu 8.04. Caldera Debian 1.1.

2.2. Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) SnowLeopard (10.6). Lion (10.7) PPC architectures are no longer supported (see the end of this document, discontinued systems).

3. LICENCING

Caldera V9 is a major version, thus requires new licence keys. That means that right after the upgrade to V9, Caldera will restart in Demonstration mode. To get your V9 keys, either temporary or permanent depending on the situation, please contact your reseller or our commercial staff. Note that the upgrade is free for customers who have subscribed a Caldera maintenance contract. Additionally, the new Ink Saving module, InkPerformer, is an optional module, and requires a special licence key, independently of the upgrade from V8 to V9 (see later in this document for the details).


4. OVERVIEW OF V9

Major Enhancements Minor Enhancements Discontinued APPE 2.5 Spooler : Faster Connection Scan i1Prism V2 EasyMedia : Averaging measures HPGL Rip InkPerformer (Ink saving) EasyMedia : Targets reorganisation Kubuntu 7 Color Corrections EasyMedia : Print multipage targets Mac / PPC Gutters (ColorStripes) EasyMedia : EyeOne reading enhancement Mac / Tiger ReopenJobs EasyMedia: Correction Curves Logo profiler Quick Print Configs N-Color : Enhanced InkSets Relinearization Profile Browser Chinese Support Support of non-integer resolutions LiveSpooler Profile Parameters CostView 3 Spot colors : NCS and HKS library Color Books Turkish localization Printing/Cutting accuracy EasyMedia: 3D Gamut display GrandCut: customisation

5. APPE 2.5

The new version of the Adobe's engine includes a considerable number of enhancements, including better memory management, improved matching with Acrobat, better font support, better support of Xobjects (repeatable contents), and many others. 5.1. Enhancements

Most of the enhancements, as enumerated above, concerns the engine itself, thus are actually hidden. The most visible changes and benefits for the end-user are the following:

Faster RIPping of files with transparency (20% increase on average). Direct Color Substitution now works more consistently, the same way as in GhostScript. Spot Color replacement now works in RGB output. The exact list of embedded file formats (RGB vs. CMYK, Images vs. Vectors) contained in the PDFs

can now be retrieved during the preview. The "Adobe Advanced Spot Blending" option has been improved.

5.2. License

The more important change in V9 is that the APPE key is now shipped standard with every Caldera product. More precisely, the situation is a little bit different for new installs and for upgrades:

Any caldera product purchased directly in version 9 will have the APPE key automatically. Customers upgrading from a V8 without APPE will have to pay a specific upgrade fee to use APPE

in V9. Or they may choose to continue without APPE.


6. i1Prism V2

Caldera has integrated the new X-Rite’s profiling engine, i1Prism V2, which is also the engine of i1Profiler. It has the following enhancements, compared to V1:

The smoothness in gradation rendering is much better. Especially, separation curves of the grey axis will no longer show abrupt breaks and discontinuities, as could sometimes be seen with V1. The example below shows a V1 (left) and a V2 profile (right), built with exactly the same options.

The gamut size and colorimetric accuracy are either equivalent or, most of the times, a little bit better. Sometimes much better, especially in N-Color (CMYK + additional process inks). In the example shown below, the V1 profile (left) has visible holes in the gamut, whereas the V2 profile is perfectly homogeneous.


V2 has more settings to play with, compared to V1. Especially for the perceptual rendering, 2 sliders

allow to play with contrast and saturation, and even simulate the old “Colorfull” mode of LOGO.

7. InkPerformer

Caldera has partnered with Alwan Color Expertise, a worldwide leader in color management, ink optimization and standardization software, to develop a new ink saving technology dedicated to inkjet printers. This new feature called InkPerformer is the result of more than a year of development, optimization and testing. 7.1. How it works

InkPerformer can be enabled or disabled at the job level. So it is a printing option, and not a profiling option (although it requires an ICC profile to be activated). The GUI is very simple and consists of 2 settings, one to adjust the black start, and another one to choose the ink saving level.

Black Start can be used either to preserve the output device profile black start, or to force black start to 0% or to an intermediate value. Decreasing black start allows for more ink savings, however, it consequently allows for more black dots in the midtones and highlight areas, so will possibly augment the graininess of the print. Saving Level offers four possible ink saving levels: Low, Medium, High and Maximum. The first 3 levels do not have a visible impact on print quality, since they will try preserving the original colors as much as possible. At "Maximum" level InkPerformer may introduce, depending on the output printer profile, a loss of gamut in the shadow areas in order to save even more ink.


7.2. The Dual printing mode

As shown in the screenshot above, InkPerformer has an option to Rip (or Print) the job twice, the first time without ink savings, the second with ink savings. This Dual printing mode can be used as a shortcut to avoid clicking the Print button twice. But it's also more convenient since in this mode the Spooler will also display the percentage of ink saved.

7.3. Ink Saving Results

The percentage of ink saved depends on the image as well as on the output printer profile gamut and built-in separation. Therefore, it is not possible to mention any percentage of saving that would be guaranteed for all jobs. However, our tests have shown that in High Saving Level mode, ink savings of 20% were relatively common and a number one could count on – knowing that in certain conditions, and especially with the "Maximum" level, savings of 30 to 40% are possible. In term of color accuracy, the "Low", "Medium" and "High" ink savings levels will most likely maintain color without introducing any visual difference to the printed image. However, they may occasionally show small differences in certain regions of the spectrum, usually in the dark shadows. Another benefit of InkPerformer's sophisticated black generation algorithms is that near neutral colors and greys will often look more neutral with InkPerformer enabled. This is due to the fact that appropriate black ink usage reduces ink metamerism effects.


7.4. Licenses

InkPerformer is an optional function, so requires a special licence key to be used. This key is scalable, meaning that you will need as many as the number of drivers you have – or want to be able to use InkPerformer. There a 3 licence levels available, allowing you to drive, respectively, 1 to 3 printers, 4 to 5 printers, and 6+ printers. Note also that the CostProof key, which allows displaying the ink consumption in the Spooler, is also shipped with any InkPerformer key. 7.5. Known limitations and restrictions

InkPerformer does now work at all in RGB printing modes – since being able to control the Black ink is essential.

InkPerformer works only when ICC color management is enabled. InkPerformer saves less ink when the ink configuration includes a light black (or grey) ink, and even

less when it includes a superlight black (or light grey) ink. InkPerformer is not available in CopyRip.

8. COLOR CORRECTIONS

This feature, sometimes called "Last minute Color Corrections", or “Color Corrections on-the-fly”, allows one to correct the colors of a job while printing, i.e. without retouching the original file. 8.1. Description

The GUI is located in a new tab of the Print GUI, named “Colors”. The left part previews the corrections in real-time, and the right part displays the actual controls, which are divided into 2 groups, one for the corrections of the primaries, and one for the corrections in LAB space.


The way both groups operate is very different. LAB corrections are applied during Color Management, before conversion to the output space, while primary corrections are applied after Color Management. For this reason, LAB corrections will preserve the neutrality of gray scales, while primary corrections won’t. Actually, LAB corrections are to be used when you want to correct the Colors of the file (but when you trust the output profile), while Primary corrections are to be used when you want to modify the way the Colors are rendered (i.e. when you think the output profile is faulty). 8.2. Known Limitations and Restrictions

In N-Color mode, the additional colors (Orange, Red, Green etc..) can not be corrected in this version.

The preview is not supposed to be a very accurate softproof. The goal is mainly to give an idea of the effect a setting will have.

The interactions with Color Substitution and Spot Colors replacement are not very consistent. LAB corrections will not affect Spot Colors, while Primary corrections will. But neither will be shown in the preview.

This feature is not available in CopyRip.

9. Color Bars

This is also a new function of V9, allowing to print "Color bars" (aka “Color Stripes” or “Gutters”) with each job, i.e. multiple bands, one for each ink, all along the side of the prints. The goal is to have the printer spitting ink at all times to prevent abrupt density variations or nozzle clogging. The Color Bars are available for all drivers, and are configurable in a certain number of ways, as shown in the snapshot below.


10. REOPEN JOBS

This new function allows users to take a job in the Spooler, and to reopen it in the Print window, with exactly the same printing parameters as initially specified. This has many different usages, like checking the parameters of a job in case of doubt, or resubmitting a job with slightly different options, or even applying the selected job's parameters to a new file, or to a set of file. To use this functionality, one just has to select a job in the Spooler and click the "Reopen" button or, even faster, to double-click a job.

Note, however, that the original image must still be present in the Image's Bar. But even if that's not the case, the settings of the job will still be reloaded, so one will just have to reopen the file with Fileman and drop it in the Print module manually, to get back to the initial printing configuration.


11. QUICK PRINT CONFIGURATIONS

This functionality enables users to save the current Print configuration (in the Print window) in a named file. A menu gives access to all saved configurations, therefore allowing the user to switch quickly between different kinds of printing workflows – or to save a configuration dedicated to a very specific job.

Note that the underlying technology is basically the same as the one used for ReopenJobs. So there is no real need to save explicitly a configuration for a job, since each job embeds its own configuration. Note also that defining a Quick Print Configuration is basically the same as duplicating the Print icon in the Application Bar. However it's faster and offers much more flexibility. Quick Configurations also have some similarities with the "Worfklows" (automated print processes) of Caldera, but are simpler to use.

12. RELINEARIZATION

This new function of EasyMedia (often called "recalibration" in other Rips) allows resynchronizing of an ICC profile with the current printing conditions. The effect is to correct the Linearization curves in order to compensate for a shift of densities in the primaries, for example after a head change, or after a certain period of time, when the nozzles fire less ink. 12.1. The procedure

The Relinearization procedure is initiated from the Linearization menu of EasyMedia.


One has to print and measure a Linearization target, exactly like in the case of a standard linearization. EasyMedia will then analyze the measurements, display the new and original density curves, and finally display some statistics about the density variations for each ink.


In this example, we see in the "Current deviations" section that the densities have dropped a little bit. So EasyMedia recommends proceeding with relinearization, and also displays what would be the expected deviations after relinearization. After clicking the "Next" button, the linearization curves would be corrected, in such a way to have the ICC profile behave in the optimal conditions again. In certain cases, EasyMedia will warn the user that relinearization is not desirable. There are 2 main cases: either the densities are still matching the original ones, and in that case no relinearization is needed, or the ink behavior has changed in a way that can not be compensated by relinearization. For example:

In this particular case, the chroma of an ink differs too much, compared to the original one (it's possible to know which ink(s) is (or are) concerned in the chroma view of the density display). There are other possible cases, such as non matching white points (indicating that the measurement device is not the same as the original one, or that the paper white has changed), or target densities too high. In all cases, when EasyMedia does not recommend relinearization, it will always explain why. 12.2. Limitations and Restrictions

The more important limitation of the relinearization procedure comes from the respective measurement devices used for the initial linearization (the one you try to align to) and for the relinearization target. In the ideal case, it should be exactly the same. Or at worst, it should be a device of the same brand and same model. In all other cases, relinearizing can be dangerous since you are likely to correct the deviations between the 2 instruments, and not the deviations of the printer itself. As a result, you may actually print worse after relinearizing. This limitation concerns especially the relinearization of generic profiles, installed with the Rip, or 3rd party profiles. In both these cases, it may be tempting to relinearize immediately, in order to compensate for the differences between the profiling printer and yours. However, this is not always a good idea, for the reason mentioned above. It all depends on whether the measurement process is more or less stable than the printing process, but that you'll never know in advance, since to evaluate the stability of the print process you have to measure some patches. So in short, use relinearization with care, know its limitations, preferably relinearize only your own profiles, and keep your measurement device in a good state, by recalibrating it from time to time, according to the recommendations of the manufacturer.


13. CHINESE SUPPORT

The Chinese language and characters are now fully supported, including the special method to input Chinese text on the keyboard. For example, the snapshot below shows the input of a Chinese text in Fileman, which is itself in Chinese.

14. LIVESPOOLER

LiveSpooler offers the ability for the Caldera Spooler to monitor the printing queue of "Offline" printers (i.e. file-driven printers). It is based on an XML exchange protocol specified by Caldera, which allows the printer controller and the Caldera Spooler to exchange information. For the printers supporting this protocol, the Caldera Spooler will precisely display what happens with the jobs: when they enter the printer's queue, when they are printed, the number of copies, and when they are deleted. Additionally, the Spooler can report errors or warnings emitted by the printer, as well as ink levels.


The printer's queue is displayed in a 4th section in the spooler, below the 3 usual ones. In this snapshot we see that 3 jobs have entered the printer's queue, one of them being currently printed. Flow+ users will benefit a lot from this feature which transforms the printer, from a user point of view, into an "Online" printer, therefore automating all the job tracking operations.


15. COSTVIEW 3

CostView 3 is a tool for monitoring the costs of the jobs. It runs on an HTML browser, or on an IPad tablet. Once connected to the master RIP, it communicates with the Spooler to show what happens at the production level. It also has a "green" dimension, allowing evaluating the Carbon footprint of jobs.

16. COLOR BOOKS

A "Color Book" is a multi-page PDF file including a certain number (usually large) of color swatches, allowing one to make a visual match between a reference color (e.g. the color of a logo to reproduce) and a color that can be effectively reproduced by a given printer. In Caldera, there are 3 different types of Color Books available:


Device Color Book

Displays all possible ink combination in the current printer space (e.g. CMYK or CMYKOG), given a configurable sampling step.

Spot Color Book

Displays all colors found in a given Spot Color file of the Library, e.g. "PANTONE Solid Coated".

Targeted Color Book

Displays close variants around a base color (e.g. a given Pantone). This type of book is commonly used to refine an initial selection.

The Color Book window can be opened from the Spot Color management window. It includes many options, such as the page size, the margins, the swatch size etc., and of course the type of colorbook.

Once the parameters have been set up, one has to click the "Export" button and select a location and file name for Color Book, which is generated as a multipage PDF. This file must then be opened in Fileman, and can be printed like any other PDF file. Please note that the PDFs are protected by a password, thus they can be opened and printed only in Caldera, and only with APPE (not with GhostScript).


17. PRINTING AND CUTTING ACCURACY

In V8 and all previous versions of Caldera, a certain number of approximations and interpolations were accumulating each other from the opening of the files to the printing or the cutting. As a result, the precision in sizing and positioning was not always as high as it was supposed to be. Especially, jobs printed with large printing scales (x10 or more) were sometimes missing 1 or 2 mms, or the cutting contours were not fitting perfectly to the printed contours. All known problems have been solved in V9. The accuracy of all computations involved in layout operations has been improved by a factor at least 10.

18. MINOR ENHANCEMENTS

18.1. Faster Connections in Spooler

The V8 Spooler sometimes had troubles to manage all the connections to all the servers, in complex master/slave configurations (especially with Mac OS X systems). This was resulting in errors of type "RPC connection failed", and sometimes in lost connections. The code handling this has been partially rewritten, and is now much more reliable. 18.2. EasyMedia: Averaging measurements

EasyMedia now allows to read multiple times the same target (or different targets), and will average all the collected data. 18.3. EasyMedia: Target reorganization

The labels of the targets were becoming confusing. They have been redesigned to mention only the more important properties (e.g. number of patch and reading apertures allowed). Additionally some useless targets have been removed, and new ones have been added (e.g. linearization targets with a sampling step of 2.5%). 18.4. EasyMedia: printing multipage targets

Multi-page targets (meaning: targets that have to be cut into multiple pieces to be read on a table spectro-photometer) can now be split into different output jobs. 18.5. EasyMedia: Correction Curves

It's now possible to import CGATS Correction Curves in EasyMedia in order to correct the original Linearization Curves. This feature can be used, for example, for G7 calibration. 18.6. N-Color: Enhanced InkSets

The N-Color InkSet creation procedure now support replacement of the standard process colors (e.g. Magenta can be replaced by Brown), and also CMY configuration (without black). 18.7. EyeOne reading

The reading of a target with the EyeOne is made easier by the display of the current line (expected values vs. measured values). Especially, reading errors are easier to detect.


18.8. Profile Browser

The selection of a profile is now made easier by a dedicated and hierarchical profile selector, which displays clearly the printer, media and resolution names, instead of some cryptic file names. This is especially useful for comparing gamuts in EasyMedia. 18.9. Resolutions in Raster files

Caldera will now import correctly raster files having either non-integer resolutions, or different horizontal and vertical resolutions. This is possible in most common raster formats, such as TIFF, JPEG and PSD. 18.10. Profile parameters (vs. Media parameters)

The so-called "Media parameters" are now linked to the profile, and no more to the Media (even though they are still named "Media parameters"). This allows having, for example, different temperatures for different profiles made at different resolutions, all for the same base media. So it's no longer necessary, for example, to create artificial medias such as "Banner 540x720" and "Banner 720x720" when it is only to select different temperatures for the 2 profiles. 18.11. Spot Colors: NCS and HKS libraries

Integration of the NCS (Natural Color System) and HKS files in the Spot Color library. 18.12. EasyMedia: 3D gamut display

Profile gamuts can now be visualized/compared in 3D. 18.13. GrandCut: customization

It's now possible to customize certain parameters used to generate the positioning marks, in GrandCut drivers (Cutting drivers generating a file). The list depends on the exact driver, but mainly the internal and external margins, the spacing between marks, and the dimensions of the marks can be configured that way.

19. NEW PRINTER DRIVERS

List of new printer drivers, compared to the initial V8.01 DVD (certain ones have been released as stand-alone distributable drivers in the meantime). CET Color: FK512 Canon: IPF6300S, IPF8300S, IPF8310S Durst: Omega1, Kappa, Gamma's, Pictoter HD Epson: 7890, 4900, 3880, 9890 Grapo: Gemini HP Scitex: LX820, LX850, XP2300 S2UV, XP5300 S2UV, XP2500 HP Designjet: T7100 Inca: Onset Mutoh: Zephyr-T, ValueJet 1628TD, 2628TD, 1324, 1624 Neolt: X-Jet, Aster-Jet

Oce: Colorwave 600 PP, Arizona 300 GT Seiko: ColorPainterW54S, ColorPainterW64S SunCO: NEO UV LED, NEO UV LED EVOLUTION Meital: Meital 3000-10 Inktec: Jetrix 2030 FRK, Jetrix 2513 FRQ, Jetrix 3015 FQ Fujufilm-Sericol: Acuity Advance HS X2, Acuity Advance LT Agfa: JETi 1224 HDC, JETi 3020 Titan, JETi 5048 UV


20. DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS, MODULES AND SYSTEMS

20.1. Scanner drivers and related products

As announced when the V8 was released 2 years ago, scanning will no longer be supported in V9. All the related products, Copyshop, Copyscan, and Reproshop will thus stop working (at least their scan components). 20.2. HPGL Rip

The support of HPGL files is also discontinued to fit with our PDF strategy and with the predominance of the PDF format in the market. 20.3. Kubuntu 7.04

This was the first Ubuntu supported by Caldera. Since it has been very shortly replaced by 8.04, there are probably not many systems running it. Note that 8.04 is still being supported in V9 (then will be stopped in V10). 20.4. i1Prism V1 and LOGO profilers

With the integration of i1Prism V2, the other profilers are no longer available. 20.5. Mac /PPC and Tiger

V9 will no longer support: PPC systems Tiger (10.4) and below –whether PPC or x86.

So the complete list of Mac systems supported in V9 is:

Leopard x86 (10.5) SnowLeopard (10.6) Lion (10.7)

21. MODIFICATIONS OF KEYS AND LICENCES

The APPE key comes now standard with all Calera products, and is no more scalable (i.e. one APPE key is enough for all printer drivers, whatever their type).

VisualRip now includes a key for Compose. The Canon, Epson and HP Designjet drivers no longer require an "N-Color" key to print with their

native additional inks (Red,Green,Blue for HP and Canon, Orange and Green for Epson).

Documents

Caldera V9 En