That explains why so many manufacturers look for ways to improve proofs, to get a perfect match the first time that accurately predicts the completed press run.
According to John Parsons, director, marketing communications, CGS Publishing Technologies International, proofing has been revolutionized by several disruptive graphic arts technologies, including digital color management and low-cost, high-resolution inkjet devices.
The Digital Effect
"Over the past five years, proofing has gradually evolved into the electronic age as digital print has evolved as well," says Joyce Virnich, VP of marketing, Océ Digital Document Systems. "Not long ago, the only proof available was a printed one, but the need for digital print created a problem. To do a proof, the digital printer that provided the proof was also a production printer. To run a proof would stop production and slow down the overall workflow. Today though, with the enhancement of digital printing and its capabilities, soft proofing is becoming a more viable tool to help improve and streamline the approval of proofing for digital printing."
"The acceptance of a digital proof is what stands out as probably the most significant change in my mind. Along with that, is the demand for color accuracy from a digital proof, including an accurate simulation of color on different paper types. The expectation of accuracy in color is much higher now than was prior to film leaving the process," suggests Kimberly Brown-Azzarello, large-format application specialist, Hewlett-Packard Americas.
The Inkjet Boom
A huge reason for the change in the proofing industry is the widespread acceptance and adoption of inkjet proofing, "where costs have dropped, and quality increased dramatically," says John P. Sweeney, VP, sales and marketing, ICS Inc.
Jim Summers, president, GMG Americas, agrees. "Whereas only a few years ago they would have cost as much as $120,000, high quality inkjet printers can cost as little as $2,000. With inkjet systems in the $2.25 per square foot range, proofing becomes affordable for even the shortest-run jobs, and they are more than capable of keeping up with the workload of most shops."
The Options
Over the past five years, various new proofing technologies entered the market. In many cases, rather than replacing the previous technology, it has complemented the existing technology. "Proofing is used in many different ways to meet the wide range of price, quality, and cycle time needs. Today, most users routinely use multiple proofing technologies in tandem to meet their daily needs," says Brad Palmer, general manager, proofing and color, Kodak.
Inkjet-Based Systems
There are several types of inkjet technology, but the most common are drop on demand (DOD) and continuous flow. The quality, resolution, and speed of inkjet systems have increased, while cost of the equipment and consumables continues to drop.
DOD inkjet systems drop small amounts of ink onto the substrate. They are driven by a wide range of available software proofing systems, typically purchased with hardware as a bundled solution. "Resolution is not quite as fine as thermal systems, but color matching, as attested by results by third-party testing, is comparable, if not better. Halftone dot proofs up to 175 line screen are also practical, making inkjet systems a leading price/performance choice for contract quality proofs. A proof usually costs about $2.50 per page, not including amortization," says Summers. This explains why DOD proofing has become the market standard for hard copy contract proofing according to our experts—and now dominates the marketplace. It fills the need for a reasonably accurate proof at an economical price.
Continuous flow ink systems work by depositing a continuous flow of ink onto the receptor base, which is mounted onto a drum that spins. Ink droplets are deflected and captured by a waste collection system in non-image areas when color is not needed.
"The quality of output from some inkjet printers ranges reaches excellent and near-photographic quality—depending on the device used. Whatever technology is applied to the printer hardware, the final product consists of ink on paper, or any other media that is coated to accept the inkjet ink, and those two elements are vitally important when it comes to producing quality results," says Eric L. Neumann, product marketing manager, color and proofing products, Fujifilm/Enovation Graphic Systems Inc. Adding that while inkjet proofing is typically less expensive than high-end proofing, the quality will depend greatly on the investment in the proofing technology, color management, and consumables.
Thermal Systems
Thermal halftone proofing has been commercially available since the early 1990s. Within the last three years, it has been updated with new capabilities. High-resolution thermal systems typically use pinpointed heat from a laser to transfer a dye from a donor sheet to the wide range of substrates. They are driven by either proprietary software or by open color-managed proofing software systems. The downside is the cost to purchase, maintain, and operate. "Unless you are using unusual colors such as metallics, [they] do not provide any advantages in color matching," GMG’s Summers explains, adding that a thermal proof typically costs from $12–14 per page, not including amortization.
High-end digital halftone proofing systems offer exceptionally high-quality output for the prepress industry. "Many high-end systems offer the ability to reproduce the proof on the final printing media, resulting in a proof that is often indistinguishable from the final printed product," notes Neumann.
Here again, the downside is price. Typically, high-end proofing is, as the name suggests high-end for equipment and consumables, "however many consumers are willing to pay for a technology that is unmatched by any others in terms of quality and resolution," adds Neumann.
Xerography
Xerography is yet another way to generate a proof. The process uses a marking engine or laser to deliver an image to a light-sensitive material, called a photoreceptor, which in turn transfers the image to a substrate. Its big advantages are speed and cost. "Analog and digital proofs that once cost $40-plus in the past can be produced for pennies a page today. Sophisticated color matching can be accomplished so the designer can produce proofs that will match any number of targeted print engines. This profiling operation can be very effective and extremely reliable," says Jon Renault, worldwide product marketing manager, digital color products, Xerox Corporation.
Monitor of Virtual Proofing
When a hard copy isn’t required, color-accurate monitor proofing provides an alternative that delivers quick turnaround, which accounts for its rise in popularity. Referred to as virtual, remote, or soft proofing, users can purchase the technology outright or pay per proof, per-click, or subscribe to a service. "Subscription based seems to be the most popular as it allows for low cost of entry and the ability to grow the usage of virtual proofs as the technology is more accepted by clients," says Neumann. "Typically, the cost of virtual proofing rivals inkjet proofing in a per proof scenario, but because there are less equipment, consumable, and proof-delivery requirements the overall cost is lower than the other proofing technologies."
There are concerns about the client’s monitor accurately representing color correctly. "It only works with a good monitor when the customer regularly checks monitor calibration, and if the viewing environment around the screen is neutral," says Summers.
To rectify that problem, it has become necessary to create a hard copy proof to compare color to the monitor now being able to display the true output colors that will be created. Eizo Nanao Technologies Inc. (EIZO) offers the ColorEdge CG220, an LCD monitor that displays a true Adobe RGB color space. "This has never been capable on any display before now. The main goal of EIZO is to educate the industry on the fact that there is a monitor that can do a soft proof that will accurately represent the final output. So many people are skeptical to this fact because they have never seen it before," says Joey Sanchez, marketing specialist, EIZO.
On the upside, virtual proofing, often using a portable document format (PDF) file, allows multiple people to view, comment, and approve a file’s color and content. This allows printers, designers, photographers, and buyers to collaborate in real-time on tight deadlines to accomplish in hours what used to take days while saving on overnight courier services.
Soft Profits?
Printers worried about losing profits as soft proofs become the preferred proof over more pricey hard proofs should rest easy, say experts. "Most of the printers I have talked to would say that they make their money on printing rather than selling proofs," says Joshua Lubbers, worldwide director of sales, ColorBurst. "My experience has been that printers would rather have their clients able to get an accurate proof with their own Specifications for Web Offset Publications (SWOP) certified inkjet system. This way they can make adjustments themselves and go directly to press without having to wait for a hard proof."
"Very rarely did a print center charge for hard proofs. The cost of this process was incorporated into the overall quote of the job," echoes Océ’s Virnich.
Sanchez suggests looking at the time soft proofs save. "The time it takes to run hard proofs just to do a color check, they will be saving time, which is a cost, so they can use that time to gain more business and more profit."
With all the options available, exactly what do most proofers use?
Mid-Sized Commercial Print Shop
"Because of the trend towards CTP, commercial printers are in the forefront of the change from analog, film-based proofing to digital contract proofing," says Parsons of CGS. "Because proofing is a cost center for commercial printers, color-accurate inkjet solutions are often preferred over more expensive digital proofing, such as Kodak Approval or Fuji FinalProof. For this reason, ORIS inkjet proofing has found widespread acceptance among commercial printers of all sizes."
Neumann disagrees. He says that commercial printers rely on digital halftone proofing, either a high-end device such as Fujifilm’s FinalProof GxT, or, in some cases, halftone-capable inkjet systems.
HP’s Brown-Azzarello suggests that PDFs would be the proof of choice for this group. "PDFs can be used for anything from soft-proofing—just reviewing on a monitor-verifying content and positioning up through PDFs meant to be output—to proofs that include embedded color information, ICC profiles and rendering intent."
"It’s also very common to see an HP DesignJet 5500 in either 42 or 60 inches producing imposition proofs. It’s also very standard to see a device like an HP 1050 with a third-party RIP producing proofs for newspapers and newspaper ad proofing," he adds.
"We’d expect inkjet proofing using an 8-up inkjet printer such as the Epson 9800, quality media, inks, accurate measuring tools, such as a spectrophotometer, and contract quality proofing software," counters Summers.
Collateral Department in an Enterprise Firm
"At these sites, people are interested in collaborating with their printers to get a good sense of what their final pages might look like on the press," says Summers, who would expect these sites to use a smaller inkjet-based system with a two-page Epson 4800 inkjet. "They can also use these inkjet printers to proof files submitted by their ad agency, prepress house, or printer in real time. For less critical design work, a small, letter-sized color laser printer or even monitor-based proofing for content could be appropriate."
Enovation’s Neumann agrees, but sees a blend high-end proofing used when inkjet and monitor proofing cannot meet the needs of proofing to actual medias or specialty color matching requirements.
Parsons suggests this group would make use of digital color copiers. "Digital color copiers are increasingly used in collateral and marcom departments of large companies, as a means of predicting final color. Although these devices do not have the full color gamut or stability of inkjet, the fact that they are used for other things (e.g., short run office printing) makes them a convenient choice for non-contract proofing."
"This group could easily produce proofs from a networked copier with a RIP or produce proofs from desktop inkjet printers," echoes Brown-Azzarello. "The creative department or agency wants to get as much content nailed down correctly while they have control over it, while it’s still their job, in-house. This category isn’t necessarily restricted to entry-level proofs either. With the affordability and capability of inkjet printers, this segment can be producing SWOP-certified proofs from desktop printers in-house."
Ad Agencies
"Now that inkjet proofing is so much less expensive, an ad/design agency can afford to have the exact same proofing system used by their press. In addition to having the same system, the print certification technology we are including allows both the press and the ad/design agency to prove that their systems are matching each other," says Lubbers from ColorBurst.
Ad agencies are very concerned with color-managed solutions, explains Summers. "For contract proofing they often purchase inkjet systems very similar to those at printer sites, but often smaller in size such as two or four-page color-managed solutions."
Parsons agrees that inkjet systems driven by an in-house system or by an off-site service provider would be preferred for their high quality and fast turnaround.
The Future of the Proof
The question is whether or not hard proofs are going to disappear or at the very least, become exceedingly rare.
According to Stefan Spiegel, general manager proofing, EFI Graphic Arts Solutions, remote proofing will grow significantly in the next couple of years since it reduces distances between the players as well as turnaround times. He also predicts an increased role of soft proofing, since it provides the same advantages. "But soft proof will not replace hard copy proofing. Both systems will co-exist in the market. The soft proof will partly replace the content/concept proof, but when it comes to contract proofing, a hard copy proof will be required."
"Monitor or virtual proofing will eventually have the greatest share of all the proofing done in any plant. It is the one purely digital form of proofing and is only limited by how quickly the developers can add functionality to meet every proofing requirement," forecasts Neumann.
It may take a while for users to catch on, however. In the meantime, Parsons predicts that the future will include a hybrid combination of hard copy and soft proofing—supported by remote, web-based workflows.
"With the evolution and adoption of digital workflows, customers are looking to produce accurate proofs for non-traditional printing methods, no matter what those might be—printing on plastics, fabrics, etc. They’ll continue to seek legitimate proofing solutions for printing processes beyond printing presses," says Brown-Azzarello.
While all proofing technologies continue to evolve, for the time being, inkjet technology is the leader. "Inkjet printers are improving in gamut, resolution, reliability, substrate compatibility, and other key areas every year. Higher resolutions allow small text to reproduce better, and screens and vignettes to be even smoother," Summers says.
"Inkjet systems will eventually evolve to meet the final few technology gaps that are currently exclusive to high-end systems—whites, metallics, better color matching, high LPI halftones, lamination to final stocks—but its complete take-over is at least a few more years out," adds Neumann.
"Five years from now, all the proofing technologies discussed will still be used in tandem, with soft proofing making up ten to 20 percent of the mix," says Kodak’s Palmer, forecasting that users will combine soft and hard proofing. "Using the monitor to facilitate fast changes and approvals, complemented by a matching hard proof—most often DOD inkjet—to check the detail and overall impact of the piece and provide a permanent record," he adds.
Whatever the mix, look for the next generation of improvements to focus on better integration with workflows, easier-to-use color management, wider deployment of certified processes, and enhanced remote proofing functionality, particularly for hard proofs.
