Help! Buying New Prepress: inline, viper, level 2, level 3?

[Streetpraise]

We are currently using HP5000's to output laser plates at 120LPI. We use Indesign CS1, setting most everything 2-4 up to run on small duplicators (we have templates created that are exactly the same size as the plates). We do alot of 2 color work (95+%) and will be doing more 4 color work with our new true 2 color presses (installing at same time as prepress).

We are looking to upgrade our prepress equipment to:
1. increase our quality to 150LPI, with better dots
2. make more durable plates
3. better registration, including capacity for 4 color work

I have seen the Agfa Accuset 1000 and Rapline setups with the Rip go for around $5k. I have also seen a few other fancier systems (Heidelberg and Itek) that process, cut, and sometimes punch in line, go for $6-15k.

What would you all recommend?

I have heard alot about level 2 versus level 3, but I am not really sure what that means.

We would hope to use poly plates, as I have heard that many use those for all of their work, including process.

Most of the files that we output are either PDFs sent to us by our designer or InDesign files. We are primarily an inhouse print shop, so the majority of our files we have control over.

We make around 80-120 plates a week.

Thanks so much!

 

[apepp]

Postscript

Introduced by Adobe in 1985, the page description language known as PostScript has undergone improvements and changes over the years. Just as new versions of software contain new features not available in earlier versions, subsequent PostScript levels have added support for new features and the way the underlying code is written has undergone modifications.

The key differences in the primary PostScript levels are:

1. Adobe PostScript Level 1 was the original, basic language.

2. Adobe PostScript Level 2 added support for different page sizes and better color printing.

3. Adobe PostScript Level 3, released in 1997, has better graphics handling, supports more fonts, and speeds up printing.

In terms of desktop publishing, the PostScript level used for creating PostScript (and PDF) files is partially dependent on the PostScript levels supported by the printer and the printer driver. Older printer drivers and printers cannot interpret some of the features found in PostScript Level 3, for example.

 

[apepp]

...postscript 3 overview...

http://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/overview.html

andrew

 

[Streetpraise]

Thanks Guys. That is helpful. In real world production, what does that mean though?

Are we talking about increased problems with things coming out correctly with level 2?

Thanks again!

 

[apepp]

1991: PostScript level 2

Around 1991, Adobe released the next revision of PostScript called level 2. It was a pretty significant upgrade that had been awaited eagerly by the prepress community.

The most important features are:

* Improved speed and reliability: Limitcheck and VMerror PostScript errors got really ugly right before level 2 popped up. Adobe fixed all of this by improving the memory management of its code and by optimizing the code. This also gave us better performance, especially with rotated scans.
* Support for in-rip separation: Level 2 RIPs are capable of receiving a composite PostScript file and performing the colour separation themselves. This is not a mandatory feature and there are certainly functional differences between level 2 RIPs from different manufacturers.
* Image decompression on the RIP: Level 2 RIPs can decompress JPEG and CCITT group 4 compressed images.
* Support for composite fonts: This is important for Asian countries which use bigger character sets than we do in Europe. Apple was supposed to support composite fonts through QuickDraw GX. This can nowadays be found in an Apple closet somewhere, next to other breakthroughs like OpenDoc and the Newton.
* Font and pattern caching: With level 2, boring things like font cache deletes disappeared. Pattern caching got picked up years later by some imposition applications like PressWise and Preps.
* Improved drivers: essentially LaserWriter 8 on Macintosh and the Adobe PostScript driver 2.X for Windows 3.1, together with the appropriate PPD-drivers.
* Improved screening algorithms: For a lot of RIP manufacturers, this was old news by the time level 2 arrived. Agfa for instance, had already been shipping its Balanced Screening technology a year earlier, offering high quality moiré free screens for offset use. The Adobe version is called Accurate Screening.


The slow adoption of level 2

Adobe made a big mistake by first publishing the level 2 specs and then starting work on the actual implementation. Much to their embarrassment, competitors came up with level 2 emulators faster than Adobe thought possible.

Although PostScript level 2 offered immediate advantages, it took ages before applications actually started using the new functionality. A feature like in-rip separation still isn't supported properly by XPress 5, 11 years after the release of level 2.


1998: PostScript 3

For some obscure reason, Adobe preferred to call the latest update PostScript 3 instead of PostScript level 3. Compared to level 2, PostScript 3 seems like an insignificant upgrade. In some ways this can be understood since a lot of applications are still struggling to support level 2 properly.

The main advantages of PostScript 3 are:

* Support for more than 256 graylevels per colour. Adobe has included 12-bit screening in their PostScript code. This allows for up to 4096 graylevels per colour. In the past, the limitation of 256 graylevels was sometimes visible as banding, especially in blends.
* Support for PDF. PostScript 3 RIPs support both PostScript level 2 and PDF-files.
* Improved support for in-rip separation: PostScript level 2 RIPs are already capable of performing a colour separation in the RIP itself, but some types of images like duotones or hexachrome images could not be handled in such a workflow. PostScript 3 contains an extra colour space called DeviceN. If a non-CMYK colour image is encoded in this colour space, a PostScript 3 RIP is capable of performing a correct colour separation of that image.
* Web-ready printing. In these days of internet hype, Adobe couldn't stay behind and added some internet functionality to PostScript. Funnily enough none of Adobe's OEM-customers seem to have bothered implementing it.

 

[apepp]

...the above take from this site:

http://www.prepressure.com/ps/history/history.htm

andrew