JDF format. Automation of processes in printing production

Prehistory

For many years, software companies specialized in printing houses created software systems one more powerful than the other, and all offered to automate processes using special file formats, software and hardware. But the snag was that by purchasing a printing press with support for a data transfer format from a conditional company X, the printing house was forced to buy from the same company X and other equipment and software all its life.

For this reason, the situation on the market is such that most of the automation systems created are not in demand among printers.

And here appears .jdf and CIP4

And in 1999 the CIP4 consortium came to the aid of the printing industry, whose name stands for “ Cooperation for PrePress, Press, PostPress and Process ”.

This community has developed a new format for transferring order data based on the CIP3 format that existed then ( cip3 — offset printing machine settings files ).
The JDF format that they developed is an xml structure containing specialized tags, the content and attributes of which describe all (or at least most) order data. Beginning from the internal identifier (order id) to how thick the material is printed and how many clips which modification should be on the product.
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Cut from .jdf file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <JDF xmlns="http://www.CIP4.org/JDFSchema_1_1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ID="TI_099fa" JobPartID="MISPRE_040051_PlateMaking" Type="Product" xsi:type="Product" Status="Ready" JobID="106061_1_1" Version="1.2" MaxVersion="1.2" ICSVersions="Base_L1-1.0 MIS_L1-1.0 MISPRE_L1-1.0" DescriptiveName="MISPRE PlateMaking v13" Template="false"> … </JDF> </xml> 

It is important to understand that the jdf file carries information about the order not only for users, but also passes the settings directly to the printing software systems and production equipment.

What became possible with the introduction of jdf

Since the release of the jdf format, more or less automated equipment for printing houses has begun to support this generally accepted format, not to mention software. You can create a jdf file both in the workflow of any manufacturer, and in a self-written system (more on this at the end of the article).

PrePress. Prepress

After the order and its jdf file is created, it is transferred to the prepress department of the printing house, where the programs of imposition (laying out product pages on a printed sheet) offer the opportunity to import jdf, taking all the necessary data for themselves and send it to the next stage in 2 clicks .

After the prepress department, a file containing links to pdf layouts ready for printing is sent to the RIP (raster processor), which in turn takes from the rasterization file, specified when creating jdf, and creates rasterized and separated tiff-b files, the contents of which appears on printing plates in the CtP area (Computer to Plate systems)

Press. Print

When the removed plates are delivered to the press, a jdf is already loaded into the computer that controls it, which sets the print settings depending on the layout.

PostPress. Postpress processing

Circulation printed by the press. After drying the sheets, it is time to cut into ready-made formats and other finishing operations. Some of the equipment for post-printing processing (for example, guillotine cutting machines) also know how to perceive the parameters of the order and adjust their parameters to the values ​​laid down in the order.

Process

The important part of the information inside jdf is information about the status of production operations and the order as a whole. That is, one file replaces the virtual (or printed on a piece of paper) order form (passport) and carries information not only about the parameters of the product, but also reflects information about the current status of the order.

A little bit about creating jdf files

The format specification tells what data can be displayed in the jdf file. On 1268 pages all possible tags, attributes and their purpose are detailed.

Also there is a wonderful man Tom Cabanski and his vintage blog . There is little information and some of the links are no longer working, but it is possible to download its Fluen JDF library and simplify the creation and editing of jdf files with it.

Generating a jdf file using this library can be reduced to the fact that using a template file containing the maximum data set and using Fluent JDF methods to edit parts of a file, customizing its content to fit your needs.

Sample C # Code

 public static Ticket JDFGenerate(ProductPart task) { InitializeFluentJdf(); Infrastructure.Core.Configuration.Settings.UseCastleWindsor().LogWithNLog().Configure(); FluentJdfLibrary.Settings.ResetToDefaults(); string finishFormat = task.Format.Replace("*", " "); ……. /**/ ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.CustomerInfo) .SetAttributeValue("CustomerName", task.CustomerName); ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.CustomerInfo) .AddInput(Element.Contact); ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.Contact) .AddInput(Element.Company); ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.Contact) .SetAttributeValue("OrganizationName", task.CustomerName); /* */ string dimentionsStrip = task.Format.Replace("*", " "); string finalFormat = ConvertDimentions(dimentionsStrip); ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.StripCellParams) .SetAttributeValue("TrimSize", finalFormat); ….. ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.Device) .SetAttributeValue("DeviceID", jdfMachine); /**/ ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.Media) .SetAttributeValue("Brand", task.Material.MaterialName); ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.Media) .SetAttributeValue("Weight", task.Material.MaterialWeight); ticket.SelectJDFDescendant(Element.Media) .SetAttributeValue("Thickness", task.Material.MaterialThickness); 

But alas

This format, which brought automation to the printing industry to a new level, is used very occasionally in the territory of the Russian Federation. Even if the printing house injects jdf into its workflow, it most likely does it only at one of all stages (as a rule, it is the transfer of print settings from the prepress department to the printing press).

This is probably due to the need for large investments in hardware and software and the almost complete lack of domestic developments in this direction. But still I want to believe that jdf has a future in our country.