What does a prepress company that manages and prints more than 2,000 jobs per year do when their workflow breaks down? The Swedish prepress company C2 simplified its error-prone workflow with Apago's PDF Enhancer 3.0. Now, its workflow has gone from a management nightmare to using only a single automated workflow folder.

C2 is a full-service prepress company dedicated to meeting its clients prepress needs with an emphasis on image retouch, scanning, proofing and delivery of CMYK calibrated PDFs to magazines and printers.

For advanced color correction and prepress services, C2 uses Apago Inc.'s PDF Enhancer 3.0. Prior to PDF Enhancer, the company was only using Printready 2.0 for the proofing process, but they were unhappy with the speed and integrity of the color-proofing process in its workflow. C2 added PDF Enhancer 3.0 to its workflow for its advanced color-correction capabilities and PDF/X-3 support.

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"In Printready we have about 40 different workflows to produce trapped, color-calibrated PDFs according to each magazine/printer spec we work with," said Mattias Haggstrom, technology manager for C2. Now that the company has PDF Enhancer 3.0, the printer CMYK PDFs that Printready produces can be sent to a single automated workflow folder, or hot folder, "which PDF Enhancer monitors to create CMYK PDFs, [and ] that when printed on our proofing devices will match the print."

Previously, Printready required a separate hot folder for each and every input color type since it could not read the embedded PDF/X color information. But PDF Enhancer can use embedded ICC color profiles from inside a PDF file and then embed output intent color profiles used by the PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 International Standards. Another benefit to the solution is that PDF Enhancer uses embedded rendering intents.

"Using [PDF Enhancer] has given us a much more streamlined automation process," Haggstrom said. "One hot folder is much easier to handle than 40 hot folders."

Color, Color, Color
C2 derives many more benefits from its new workflow. PDF Enhancer 3.0 gives the company many options for modifying the colors in a PDF document. PDF Enhancer can convert to black (text-only), grayscale, RGB and CMYK. Version 3.0 added advanced CMYK to CMYK capabilities. The solution also enables C2 to select different conversion settings for raster images and vector or text elements.

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PDF Enhancer can also optionally convert spot colors such as Pantone colors to a process simulation or leave them unmodified. (Many proofing devices only support CMYK colors so converting spot colors to process colors can make the proof more accurate.) PDF Enhancer has several unique features including support for ICC 4.0 profiles, device-link profiles, Black Point Compensation and advanced controls for protecting ink purity and black separation.

Gray reduction is another strong selling point. During color adjustment, PDF Enhancer automatically finds "pseudo-gray" or "rich black" colors and can convert them to a pure gray, CMYK (100% K) or a special "Separation Black" color space.

By utilizing the gray reduction feature, users can often fix common printing problems with documents created with Microsoft Office or similar software.

For Haggstrom, the advanced color-correction capabilities have not only offered significant time-savings in the prepress process and handling of PDF files but it's reduced losses associated with costly materials waste in the prepress process.

Next Page: C2 decreases file sizes and looks toward the future.