PDF-native prepress editing

What’s new in ArtPro+ 20?

Visit the Esko Innovation Hub to find out what’s new in ArtPro+ 20 or download the presentation.

What’s new in ArtPro+ 18.1.3?

Optimize Artwork.

• Optimize Artwork, located under the Clean tool, allows to clean up files by removing unnecessary paths. Files will look less complex in outline mode while visual appearance is not affected
• Optimize Artwork is destructive: objects can be changed or removed

Spread and Choke for trapping

• A new option in Spread and Choke makes it possible to spread or choke selected objects as an easy way to create traps manually, without using Automatic Trapping
• When choking soft masked images, we will automatically generate a clipping path

Enhanced Adjust bleed

In this version, when setting higher bleed values, overlap bleeding areas from different panels are now no longer merged so different bleed decisions can be made for each panel.

Shortcuts for quick 90° rotation

With the Transform tool (E) active, you can now rotate your selection by 90° degrees

On Mac: Use shortcut Option (⌥) + Space Bar to rotate the selection 90° clockwise, use shortcut Shift + Space Bar to rotate the selection 90° counterclockwise

On Windows: Use shortcut Ctrl + Space Bar to rotate the selection 90° clockwise, use shortcut Shift + Space Bar to rotate the selection 90° counterclockwise

What’s new in ArtPro+ 18.1.2

Trapping – The best of both worlds
The new trapper can trap files fully automatically. Individual enhancements require 70% less human interaction.

• It uses a brand-new trapping engine coping with highly complex packaging designs
• Innovative trapping algorithms optimize the trapping result towards aesthetical expectation of consumers
• A patented method to tag individual objects with trapping instructions removes the need for rework after design changes and allows for keeping product ranges in sync.

Video: Object-based trapping in ArtPro+ 18.1.2.

Dynamic Marks improvements:
This version features many new and improved Dynamic Marks to drive automation of sheet and web layouts.

• Use the new barcode mark to identify and trace printed sheet or plates.
• Mark sets can now link to variable external files reducing the number templates needed
• The extension of separation filters, the possibility to establish a relation between marks and even use formulae for positioning takes the exception and condition handling to the level of scripting without the need of having special programming skills.

More PDF actions

A series of actions have been added and incoming artwork can be prepared for production without repetitive human interaction.

• Create shape on selection
• Create shape by parameters
• Clip on page box
• Update structural design

Next to support for the latest MacOS Catalina improvements to Gravure Tiff export, Spot color definition, Rasterization quality and Warping are adding great value for ArtPro+ users.

What’s new in ArtPro+ 18.1.1

Convert outlined barcodes
It is now possible to convert outlined barcodes or images of barcodes from any source to editable barcodes and detect differences between the recognized barcodes and the original outlines.

Conical warp grids
You can now create conical warp grids with ArtPro+ by entering the necessary dimensions or by selecting a technical drawing in your artwork, in which case the warp engine will automatically calculate the parameters to match the selected technical drawing. Once the grid is created, you can warp your artwork in the same way as when using legacy GRID files.

Shrink sleeve grids
This version now also supports existing shrink sleeve grids. When using a GRID or GRD file to warp, ArtPro+ automatically detects whether or not it is a shrink sleeve grid. For shrink sleeve grids, to achieve an equal distortion on each side of the shape, the warp grid is now automatically moved horizontally and centered on the selection and the ‘visual center’ is used for warping.

Dimension lines
You can now add dimension lines to your page boxes, to selections or in a columns / rows approach. You can define the look and positioning of the dimensions using the inspectors. The dimension settings are editable until you save the file.

Convert a CMYK color mix
You can now convert a CMYK color mix to the nearest spot color of your choice. If the selected color belongs to a cluster of tints, all tints will be converted to the corresponding tint of the chosen spot color.

Dynamic Marks
This version adds many improvements to the Dynamic Marks:

• A new Area Text Mark: This mark allows you to position the text within the boundaries of a text box. When the text grows, it will be wrapped or shrunk to fit the text box
• A new Repeat by Count Mark: This mark creates a repetition of the shapes of the selected objects by a count of choice or repeats to fit the size of the page box or other mark it is attached to
• A new Clip Mark: This mark has been added for the specific use case of clipping eg. square patches of a specific size to a page box to end with a full patch for correct measuring
• New ink filters: All marks now contain the same 4 ink filters for fill and stroke – Static Color, Dynamic Color, Darkest Color, Registration Color
• A number of text mark variables have been added:
  • Separations: Short Separation Names, Abbreviated Separation Names, Ink Books, Separation Indices, Separation Printing Methods, Ink Coverage
  • Document: Font Names
  • Links: Structural Design Files
  • Server (name)
• Horizontal bearer bars: Bearer Bar Marks can now also be positioned top and bottom of the page box or objects they are attached to
• Multicolor support for the Repeat for Separations Mark: when your content contains more than one ink, you can now choose which ink to repeat for separations and what should happen to the other inks – map to the darkest separation, keep static or remove.

NOTE: In order to use these new marks and improvements in Automation Engine tasks and workflows, a hotfix for Automation Engine 18.1 will be made available shortly after the AP+ 18.1.1 release.

New PDF Actions
Following new PDF Actions have been added:

• Place PDF File
• Position Crosshair
• Expand Object

When editing Action Lists, a warning will now be shown in case certain Action List parameters are empty or an invalid combination of parameters is entered.

NOTE: To keep Automation Engine (version 18.0 or higher) in sync with the ArtPro+ 18.1.1 Action List additions, Automation Engine customers can install the PDF Action List Processor for AE on their Automation Engine server. They will have access to the download on mysoftware, provided they have an AE 18.0 or 18.1 license.

More changes:
When creating a CAD-based Step and Repeat, via an MFG or CF2 file, it is now possible to create the back page as well.

The barcode type SICK has been added to the list of supported barcode types. This code can be represented as binary or decimal input.

Flexo Print Preview has been added as a new Quality Control tool. Preview will display percentages below the first printable dot as 0% and bumps the first printable dot.

This version adds optimizations to the compare feature. Compare will now automatically align on the visible objects, irrespective of the trim box size and position, making it possible to align files with different trim boxes.
You can now easily compare your file to a reference file, without the need to browse for it if it is already open.

You can now extract and link all selected embedded images at once, previously you would have to extract them one at a time.

What's new in ArtPro+ 18.1

CF2 support
You can now also use the common CF2 CAD format for one-up preparation and sheet layout in ArtPro+

• Like ARD files, one-up CF2 files can be opened and placed with an ArtPro+ Essentials license.
• Like MFG files, an ArtPro+ Advanced license is required to open layout CF2 files, replace stations and adjust bleeds.

One-up CF2 support
Opening or placing a one-up CF2 file is very similar to opening or placing an ARD file (ArtiosCAD). The CF2 file is placed in a separate "Structural Design" layer.

The separations present in the file will be shown as a Processing Step colorant (Crease, Cut, Dimensions and Text...). Non-supported line types will be mapped to ’Annotation’.

CF2 files have the same inspectors that exist for ARD files.

In the Structural Design inspector, the Print Item will always be ‘None’ because Print Items do not exist in CF2.

Layout CF2 support
It is now possible to open layout CF2 files and produce folding carton layouts with the ArtPro+ Advanced Edition. The behavior is similar to the MFG based flow.

You can define and apply station numbers to your layout CF2. When opening a layout CF2 file, bleed masks are automatically generated, and an overlap decision is made for the touching panels.

This can be manually overruled with the “Adjust Bleed” tool (like in the MFG based workflow).

Dynamic Marks – Repeat for Separations Mark
With the new ‘Repeat for Separations Mark’ you can create a repetition of the selected objects in all (or a subset of) the separations of the job.

Unlike the existing Repeating Mark, the new ‘Repeat for Separations Mark’ can contain artwork objects but also Text Marks and Custom Marks.

You can for instance create a square and a text mark in the first separation and repeat them for all artwork separations.

Note: In the next release, the remaining functionality of the Repeating Mark to place multiple copies of the mark, will be ported to a new Repeat by Count Mark. The repeating Mark will then be removed.

Dynamic Marks – New smart text variables
When creating a Text Mark, you can insert Smart Text

In the inks category of the local variables, 3 new variables are available:

• Ink Angles
• Ink Dot Shapes
• Ink Rulings

Dynamic Marks – Preview in Mark inspector
The mark inspector now shows a preview of the source content, the original object(s) that was/were used to create the mark.

Click on ‘Edit Content’ to make changes to the content of the mark.

Warp using legacy grid files
You can now warp objects using existing ArtPro GRID files or a PackEdge GRD files

• Choose Prepress, Warp, Place Warp Grid.. or File, Place and navigate to the .grid or .grd file you want to place
• The warp grid object is placed on a new layer called ‘Warp Grid’
• The grid is positioned centered on the Trim Box, showing the outer lines of the source grid
• You can move the grid using the transform tools
• Select the objects you want to warp
• Click the Warp button in the upper toolbar and define the settings to warp

After warping you get Warped Art and now the destination grid is shown. If you select a warped object, you can click unwarp to return it to its unwarped version.

New PDF Action Lists
Following PDF actions lists have been added in this release:

• Update Barcode
• Update Linked Image
• Update Placed Art
• Update Mark
• Reorder Layers
• Convert to CMYK
• Set Stroke Overprint
• Set Stroke Width

A full list of actions that are available in this release can be found here.

Moiré Detection
This new quality control tool allows users to detect potential screening problems. Enable ‘Moiré Detection’ to highlight areas with potential screening conflicts or without screening.

Several moiré generating conditions are checked, the ones that do not apply for the file are greyed out. You can manually toggle each condition on and off to only look at specific conditions. Only visible objects and separations are considered.

Rich Black
Produce a darker black by overprinting selected black areas with the color you specify.

• Make a selection of objects to apply Rich Black to
• Click on menu Prepress, Rich Black
• Select the separation you want to enrich
• Specify the ink or mix of inks you want to add
• Enable ‘Only create Rich Black if no other separations are present’ to exclude objects that are not pure
• The rich black objects are created in a separate Rich Black layer, using the defined color in Darken blend mode

Trapping improvements
When you enter Trapping mode with Trapping Suggestion enabled, the trap direction has become more consistent since version 18.0.1: there is less disruptive trap direction switching.

As of version 18.1, when you want to modify the entire trap chain in one go, this is possible in the Trap mode.

Using the ‘Trap Processing Steps’ option you can choose whether Processing Steps should be included in the Trapping Suggestions or not. When the option is disabled, all Processing Steps are not visible in the Trap mode and will not be considered for trapping.

Because Processing Steps are not available in Normalized PDF, this option is only visible when working with a PDF+ file.

Convert to PDF+
You can now convert a Normalized PDF file to a PDF+, allowing you to apply PDF+ marks to your file.

When your current document is a Normalized PDF file you can use File, Convert to PDF+ to convert your document. Several changes are made to the document during conversion (see documentation for details). You can’t revert the conversion during the session. Once you save, you can’t go back.

Text Recognition
With the ‘Convert Outlines to text’ function outlined text can be converted to live text. The following additional languages can now be recognized from this version onwards: Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Greek (Modern), Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Turkish.

Magnetic measuring
The Dimensions Tool (shortcut D) is now magnetic to measure more accurately. It snaps from and to any point you may want to measure between, no selection is required.

Path Select Tool: Transform support
With the existing Path Select tool, it was already possible to select and delete paths inside a compound. Now it is also possible to first select paths of a compound and then switch to the Transform Tool to move, rotate, scale or snap to the crosshair.

Clip on Page Boxes
You can now clip the contents of a file to the size of a chosen page box. Make a selection and open menu Object, and choose Clip. All defined page boxes are enabled.

After clipping, a clipping mask is created with the size of the chosen page box. Any data outside is clipped away, however, the objects remain unchanged.

Fix Text box reflow
The Split Erratic Text Boxes option in Clean has been renamed to ’Fix Text Box Reflow’. This feature has been optimized so it can, under certain circumstances, keep text together in a text box, with higher editability than before.

ArtPro Quick Look
The ArtPro+ installer on Mac now includes a Quick Look for ArtPro files. Installing this plugin ensures that a preview is available in Finder for ArtPro files generated with separated preview in ArtPro 18.