PressPerCent started out more than 10 years ago as a simple ink key pre-setting software tool — a popular subject at the time when press manufacturers and printers were searching for less expensive, space-saving solutions to replace hardware plate scanners. Since then PressPerCent evolved to include more features the customers and OEM partners required such as support for the job format of virtually every press type and model, total ink calculations, spot color preview, automatic job processing and flexible press configurations.
Made for the graphic arts industry standard Apple Macintosh computers, PressPerCent evolved with the Mac OS operating systems. The application that once ran under classic Mac OS 8 and was closely integrated with the Adobe Acrobat package now takes advantage of Mac OS X built-in PostScript conversion and PDF rendering features. The current version is a universal binary application that works with Mac OS X 10.5 (‘Leopard’), 10.6 (‘Snow Leopard’) and 10.7 (‘Lion’) system versions.
PressPerCent features
1. Ink key pre-setting
PressPerCent calculates area covered by the image on the plate for each ink zone of the printing press. The result is adjusted with user defined calibration curves for specific press models or ink/paper combinations and could be used as ink zone (ink duct) settings for the press. These settings could be displayed on screen, printed out on paper or exported to variety of file formats.
Press operators can use the settings to preset ink keys on the press console when the job changes. This can improve make-ready times and reduce paper and ink waste. The accuracy of pre-settings depends on press conditions and the zone curve's calibration quality.
2. Area coverage calculation
PressPerCent calculates not only individual zone coverage, but also the coverage for the entire area of the plate. Knowing this value helps estimate the amount of ink required to print the job. This feature would also be beneficial to packaging printers with flexographic equipment (to calculate amount of Pantone inks for the job) or even to digital printers (to quote the price based on a toner consumption).
If you only need to know the area coverage for a job without ink zone information just toggle the check boxes in PressPerCent preferences to switch off the zone calculation and display.
3. Maximum total ink check
Even if it is too late to re-separate photos or change vector graphics of the job when the plates are ready, the printer should pay attention to the maximum Total Ink warnings and take steps to avoid the problems: reducing the speed of the printing press, choosing different paper stocks or asking for another set of plates.
PressPerCent calculates maximum total ink value for each sheet of the job and shows the problematic areas based on user defined size settings (to ignore control bars and registration marks that may exceed maximum total ink without negative effects).
4. Export plug-ins
Almost every printing press made since the early 90's can either save printed job settings to a file (on network or removable media i.e. floppy disks) or load image area information from files prepared by plate scanners.
Proprietary job file formats can be quite different for each press manufacturer, press model or even press console version. Some presses use plain text files that are easily readable and understood by people. Others use binary data that requires more efforts to interpret it. Few press consoles may even show the press operator a preview images of the job prepared by the pre-setting software. This helps to identify and load jobs more quickly. Despite these differences, all press file formats convey the same common information: ink keys and ink feed (ink sweep) settings for each unit of the press or ink zone area calculations performed by a plate scanner.
PressPerCent uses this similarity of press file formats and supports different press models via the export plug-ins mechanism. The export plug-ins are small modules that save common information prepared by PressPerCent in a specific file format understood by this or that press console. This approach extends support for various presses without constantly modifying the application for each press or overloading it with code and features other users will not need. Just add to the application the plug-in for your press from optional plug-ins set. If you cannot find your press in the plug-ins set or you need a different plug-in version, please, contact us and we will try to create a new plug-in for you.
5. Incoming job formats support
PressPerCent supports the following file formats for incoming jobs: PostScript, PDF, TIFF and PPF.
If a job arrives as a PostScript file it will be converted to PDF with a built-in Mac OS X normaliser (or with Adobe Acrobat Distiller if Adobe Acrobat package is installed). TIFF files could be either 1-bit or 8-bit (low resolution previews) made by the RIP. For PostScript and PDF jobs with spot colors we suggest that you use pre-separated files to avoid possible problems with color separation.
However, the best choice of incoming job file format for PressPerCent is CIP3/CIP4 PPF (Print Production Format).
6. CIP3/CIP4 Print Production Format (PPF)
The new JDF/JMF formats for 'seamless integration of CRM, MIS, prepress, press and postpress' being developed by CIP4 consortium looks promising for the future of the industry. The older PPF format well defined back in 90's already delivers certain benefits today.
Unlike JDF, the PPF format does not require sophisticated workflow software to be produced or interpreted. The PPF format is more simple and ‘hardware independent’ than JDF. The PPF file created by the prepress system does not contain actual ink key settings or press unit specific information (as JDF may have). It has only a low resolution image of the plate that will be processed into ink keys by some pre-setting tool or advanced press console. Due to the simplicity and fewer steps required to implement, the support for the PPF format was included into the products by almost every prepress RIP vendor and many printing press manufacturers.
PressPerCent can work with the PPF format in every way. It can import a PPF file made by your RIP or workflow, display the job on screen and calculate ink key settings for your press. It can also export a PPF file from a PDF or TIFF file of the job. You can send this PPF file to a different software tool that calculates ink key settings for your press or directly to the press console, if it supports that format.
7. Spot and paper color preview
It is always a demanding task to predict the exact results of printing with spot colors, especially with tricky inks like varnish or metallics where the order of printing units may have severe effects on the final output. Printing on colored, tinted or metallic paper presents a similar problem.
In PressPerCent a user can define the order of inks and their units assignment, specify if the ink is transparent or opaque and choose the paper color. If the job is printed in several runs (on a two color press, for example) the output of each run could be previewed or printed.
8. Hot folders automation
Every production site has its own workflow that is based either on a sophisticated prepress software system or just on a single, stand-alone RIP that completes the job from processing incoming PDF or PostScript impositions to controlling plate production on a CtP device. Whichever you use, if the workflow supports the automatic export of TIFF or PPF files to a folder on the network file server PressPerCent could be integrated onto it.
PressPerCent can periodically scan the user defined 'Hot Folder', process incoming files and export the ink presets into another folder for the next step of your workflow. Any number of hot folders with different press and job options can be set up.
http://www.excourse.com/distr/UsingPressPerCent3.0.pdf
To download PressPerCent use the link below:
http://www.excourse.com/distr/presspercent303.dmg (Version 3.0.3, 15.8 MB, Disk Image)
System requirements: Apple Macintosh with Mac OS X version 10.5, 10.6 or 10.7. (32/64-bit Universal Binary version for both Intel and PowerPC based computers.)
Details: This is Mac OS X disk image created with Disk Utility application. If you are using non-Macintosh computer to access internet resources, download the file and transfer it to Macintosh with Mac OS X system.
This is full working version of PressPerCent application. However, until you purchase the license and enter correct serial number (that will be sent to you via e-mail after purchase), PressPerCent works in Demo mode. The difference from registered version is that you can not modify printing press sheet dimensions to match your press making it somewhat unusable for real production purposes. Demo mode allows you to test PressPerCent in your workflow environment.
Recent version changes:
3.0.3 (September 15, 2011)
Another bunch of fixes for 3.0.x versions. This version fine-tunes parts of Cocoa interface code. Recommended update for all PressPerCent users.
3.0.2 (September 1, 2011)
More fixes for 3.0.x versions (processing of subfolders within hot folders, press and page settings selection in dialogs, etc.)
3.0.1 (August 8, 2011)
The first bunch of fixes for 3.0 release (pop-up menu behaviour in spot library palette windows, resolution scaling during PDF processing, saving of ducuments with new file names, etc.)
3.0 (August 3, 2011)
Adds 64-bit code version for both Intel and PowerPC based Macs.
Major internal and minor user interface changes that were required for 64-bit support.
Some fixes for Mac OS X 10.7 (‘Lion’).
Stability fixes for multi-cores and multi-processors systems.
New minimal system requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or above.
2.9.1 (March 22, 2011)
Stability fixes for Hot Folders processing in Demo mode.
Internal changes to UI support code.
2.9 (March 7, 2011)
New release that incorporates all changes since June 2010:
New ‘Hot Folders Monitor’ window for better control of hot folders processing.
New ‘Inspect PPF File’ command that shows preview for jobs in CIP3 PPF format and lets you to tweak some options before processing them.
Improved CIP3 PPF files handling that allows to preserve page and paper properties of incoming files.
(Please, test with your PPF files and adjust ‘Page Settings’ if needed.)
New ‘Activity Log’ with improved display of jobs processing status.
New single window interface option with all frequently needed stuff displayed in one window.
New thumbnail preview for the selected job in Processed Jobs list.
Hot folders now could be configured to perform more than one action on incoming files.
New export plug-ins (old plug-ins are not compatible).
Jobs processing and other internal parts of the application were re-written to take better advantage of multi-core and multi-processor systems.
2.8.2 (March 7, 2011)
This build of 2.8.x version was released simultaneously with the first 2.9 build and was posted as an update in case there will be some problems discovered with ‘brand new and dramatic’ 2.9 version in its first few days:
Improved PDF and TIFF files processing.
Stability fixes.
2.8.1 (May 31, 2010)
Stability fixes.
2.8 (May 12, 2010)
New release that incorporates all changes since June 2008:
New internal jobs format for faster jobs opening/loading.
More polished interface look and better screen preview.
New printing and PDF export with more options.
New export plug-ins (old plug-ins are not compatible).
New paper specification options in Page Settings.
More options for press ‘indicator’.
Improved calibration curves editor.
New dialog for multiple jobs export.
Pricing and Online Purchase
PressPerCent has the following pricing:
PressPerCent 1 or more single user licenses (per user): $250
Excourse uses Kagi payment service to accept international payments. Use link below to purchase PressPerCent online with credit card:
Excourse Online Order Page at Kagi
Please, do not forget to provide your correct e-mail address. When Kagi will notify us about your payment we will send you valid serial number by e-mail (allow another three days for this procedure).
By entering serial number in Register dialog displayed at application start up you will turn Demo into licensed version.
Upgrade Policy
After more than 10 years of selling PressPerCent licenses online we decided to introduce some means that will allow us to estimate number of active PressPerCent users we actually have. So, we decided to introduce new ‘upgrade terms’ (these should also help us to collect some small funds for our future development efforts):
1. Those users who purchased PressPerCent license less than 5 years ago may update their serial number to that of current application version for free without additional fee.
To get updated serial number send us e-mail to [email protected]
2. Those users who purchased PressPerCent license 5 years ago or earlier may renew their license and get updated serial number for the current application version for small additional fee of $50.
To renew PressPerCent license purchase ‘PressPerCent License Renewal’ product from our order page at Kagi.
3. License renewal is good for another 5 years term.
(Of course, it does not stop anyone from using some existing PressPerCent installation for as many years as needed without upgrading it to a current modern version...)
Lightweight and comprehensive macOS ink pre-setting solution that makes it simpler and easier to manage offset presses and optimize their ink key zone settings
Operating System: Windows XP,Vista,7,8,8.1,10 File Size: 2.28MB System Requirements: Intel Pentium 4 or higher. Atleast 512MB RAM Number of Downloads: 92. What I saw your RIP just produce simple PPF file for Prepress. As Bloodsaler said different brand machines are using different names for.
What's new in PressPerCent Pro 3.4.18:
- Processing improvements for 8-bit TIFF files.
PressPerCent Pro is a powerful and versatile ink key pre-setting utility that comes with support for the job format of a wide variety of press types and models and is capable to perform total ink calculations, display spot color, automatically process jobs and provide flexible press configurations.
Ink key pre-setting
Thanks to PressPerCent Pro, you can calculate the area under the picture on the plate for each ink zone of the printing press. The provided results can be easily modified using user-definable calibration curves for specific press models or various ink and paper combinations and used ink zone / ink duct settings for your press. You can also display, print or export your settings to different file formats.
Press operators will be happy to know that the settings can be used to preset ink keys on the press console every time the job changes. Thus, you can easily improve make-ready times and significantly reduce the ink an paper waste.
Area coverage calculator
By using PressPerCent Pro you can calculate individual zone coverage as well as the coverage for the entire plate area. Consequently, you can assess the ink values required to print the job.
On top of that, PressPerCent Pro is capable to calculate the maximum total ink value for each sheet of the current job and display total ink warnings based on your size settings.
Support for export plug-ins
PressPerCent Pro features support for a large number of press models thanks to the export plug-ins system. In other words, you can add support for your press using various optional plug-in sets. Moreover, PressPerCent Pro offers support for the PostScript, PDF, PPF and TIFF file formats for incoming jobs.
What is more, PressPerCent Pro allows you to decide the order of inks and their units assignment, mention if the ink is transparent or opaque and set the right paper color. If your job requires multiple runs, then you can easily preview or print the output of each run.
Filed under
LIMITATIONS IN THE UNREGISTERED VERSION- This demo version will not allow you to modify printing press sheet dimensions to match your press making it somewhat unusable for real production purposes.
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add to watchlistsend us an update- file size:
- 23.6 MB
- filename:
- presspercent3418.dmg
- runs on:
- Mac OS X 10.6 or later (Intel only)
- main category:
- Utilities
10 screenshots:
- developer:
- visit homepage