Online Proofing - Make Mine Soft-Serve

Soft proofing technology can do the job, but its success depends largely on good discipline and the printer-client relationship.

"SOFT" PROOFING GOES by several names—monitor, virtual, online—and comes in an array of "flavors." No matter what you call it, however, the ultimate goal is as straightforward as it is universal: shrink production cycles, eliminate rework, reduce costs, and move everything faster.

Unlike traditional hardcopy proofing, in which handling and transmission of the physical proof increases both cycle time and the potential for error, soft proofing depends on workflows in which color-accurate proofs can be viewed on calibrated computer monitors under controlled lighting conditions.

Reducing time to market is critical in package design, where multiple individuals need to look at a package for reasons that range from compliance with FDA labeling requirements to shelf aesthetics to language. When every day not on the shelf means lost sales, fast online capabilities prove their worth.

Monitor proofing 101

Among the benefits of incorporating soft proofing into production workflows, the most obvious is being able to shrink the proofing stage itself by days, even weeks. Since there's no delay in printing out a proof and shipping it to the client, the instant that a job has been produced, it can be made available for approval.

"People are moving from 'I have to see it, feel it, touch it, and scratch it' to 'I just don't have time to do it anymore'," says Kent St. Vrain, vice president, sales and marketing for Paxonix, Inc., a MeadWestvaco company offering brand and packaging management software.

Sending PDFs as e-mail attachments is a rudimentary form of monitor proofing, and using PDFs for content approval is nothing new. However, newer tools like Integrated Color Solutions' (ICS) Remote Director, DALiM Software's Dialogue, and Kodak Polychrome Graphic's Matchprint Virtual Proof now enable multiple individuals to review and annotate a single file—a process known as collaborative soft proofing.

Soft proofing solutions on the market may permit viewing for color and content as well as editing and annotating; predict how an image will print on a designated stock; and enable the viewing of spot colors, comparison of proofs, and collaboration. Whether or not the monitor proof itself has the legal standing of a traditional hardcopy "contract proof" hinges on the requirements of the job.

Soft proofing for package printing

Whether or not soft proofing is feasible for packaging workflows "really depends upon the application and also on the substrate—whether bag or board or foil—that you need to replicate and, in the online realm, to add those profiles," says St. Vrain. For example, "A lot of our customers want to do new graphics for existing substrates, in which case what we're really doing is taking the same material and redesigning. And there are other applications, as in pharmaceuticals—with the FDA regulations and documentation requirements, etc.—where they are simply changing some text or graphic on the existing label to meet a new requirement. In those instances, you might get all the way to the contract proof."

There's no denying, however, that as job requirements become more complex, the bar rises, especially with respect to color acceptance.

While the primary challenge is to squeeze labor and time out of the process in order to shorten time to market, within this broad framework, package proofing issues center on the accurate simulation of non-process colors and the capability of soft proofing systems to work with file formats commonly used in packaging.

Much depends on the particular job, explains Gee Ranasinha, worldwide director of marketing, DALiM Software. "Some soft proofing systems cannot accurately reproduce certain spot colors, or have issues dealing with some of the file formats used in packaging. In such cases, there's still a strong argument for using such systems to check content."

The key is process control

With contract color soft proofing systems, much obviously depends on the choice of monitor (and, by implication, the monitor calibration software used). Some monitors are better than others at consistently and accurately displaying the wide color gamut often necessary for viewing colors made from a non-CMYK mix.

"Using a soft proofing system to contract-proof both color and content is definitely possible, but much depends on the printer-client relationship, the level of client awareness of the limitations of the print process in terms of color; and the internal process control procedures implemented at the print site," Ranasinha says. "Once a printer has 'got their house in order' on process control, tools such as online soft proofing can dramatically enhance commercial opportunities."

"It's important to control the ambient lighting in areas where people will make color judgments," observes Mike Hardiman, advanced technology specialist, Kodak Graphic Communications Group. "When we install our Matchprint Virtual Proofing systems, we are careful to coach and share with our customers the appropriate environment for looking at color. "

Dan Caldwell, VP of operations, ICS, insists that it is possible to obtain a contract-quality monitor proof, provided users exercise the appropriate viewing discipline. The reward, he says, "is the ability to collaborate and communicate more effectively with every member of the supply chain, accomplishing in hours what used to take days."

Is the industry going soft?

The technology definitely exists to take the most complicated packaging applications and proof them virtually, says St. Vrain. "The question is, are we ready? If you take it to the extreme and say we're going to deal only in cyberspace, the answer is no, we're not. More realistically, however, in terms of the way people operate today, soft proofing is primarily a question of eliminating as many intermediate steps as possible."

The good news is that a variety of soft proofing tools are already available. Workflow solution vendors, including Agfa (Delano), Creo (Synapse In-Site), EFI (Colorproof XF), Heidelberg (Prinect), Screen (TrueFlowNet), Rampage Systems (Rampage Remote), and Lucid Dream (OnTimeProof), offer soft proofing solutions as add-on components to their comprehensive branded workflows.

Browser-based stand-alone solutions include:

• Matchprint Virtual Proofing System - LCD from Kodak. The SWOP-certified system combines one of five approved Matchprint Virtual - LCD monitors with Matchprint Virtual Proofing Monitor software, a Matchprint Virtual calibrator, and the full suite of RealTimeProof Web-based proofing tools.

Browser-based solutions also may be available from a third-party integrator or application service provider (ASP) like Paxonix, which enables users to download the needed software and pay a transaction fee per proof. Paxonix integrates Kodak's Matchprint Virtual Proof into its PaxPro integrated brand and packaging asset management solution.

In server-based solutions, the software resides on a printing company's own Internet-connected server, enabling direct integration with production systems. Examples include:

• DALiM Software's DiALOGUE, which permits an unlimited number of clients and proofs and uses only a Web browser. DALiM claims that DiALOGUE is the only SWOP-certified, stand-alone soft proofing system that runs under Mac OS X, as well as the only JDF-enabled soft proofing system.

• Remote Director from ICS, a SWOP-certified, monitor-based remote proofing application specifically designed to generate a contract proof. It reportedly enables multiple reviewers in different locations to view, collaborate, and comment on color and content, as well as to build a digital record of the process from start to finish, including legal sign-off.

Education is key

In the end, wider adoption of soft proofing technologies will be built on the growing trust between printers and their clients. As such, the remaining obstacles are far less technical than cultural or psychological.

Says Kodak's Hardiman, "We do our best to educate customers as to where these monitors should be placed and viewed; we have pop-up messages that appear every 24 hours that say it's time to calibrate; we've put in application tools that allow vendors to see if their customers are making comments on a calibrated monitor to ensure consistency; we've done everything but screw handles into the monitor so that the customer can hold the proof just like they used to, but we haven't yet built the arm that comes out and smacks them upside the head when they've not viewing it appropriately."

"In the eight-or-so years that soft proofing systems have been available, it's only comparatively recently that the concept of soft proofing has risen in popularity," says DALiM's Ranasinha. "There has been growing acceptance of the medium—from both the print community as well as from clients—as people have become more accustomed to viewing files on a monitor."

Caldwell agrees. "If you look at the history of proofing, people have been persuaded by technologies that enabled them to save time and money and meet the needs of their customers for accurate reproduction of color critical work."

"There still are naysayers who insist on a hardcopy proof, just as there still are people who print out their e-mails," says Ranasinha. "However, we're still in a transitional period. Remember when clients insisted on a wet proof? "

Jean-Marie Hershey is an author and editor specializing in the graphic communications industry. She can be reached at jmh@writehandcom.com.